23 Chapter 23 Why are you talking to me?

"No." Lady Phenex practically growled. "Where is he?"

"I can honestly say I do not know." Lord Gremory said, the bishop in his hand disappearing as he closed his fist around it. "I had thought the mutation bishop was a gift to reunite our families. I was wrong. We will be leaving." He held his arm out to his wife. The woman took his arm, glaring at Lord and Lady Phenex in disgust.

"Wait!" Lord Phenex said, stepping forward as a teleportation circle expanded out from Lord and Lady Gremory.

"Should your son return here, please tell him I would like to speak with him." Lord Gremory said as his teleportation spell was being cast. "That young man has a lot of potential. It appears the rumors could not have been more wrong. Good day, Phenexes. Do not set foot on my family's lands again. I refuse to deal with those who turn on their own." The Lord and Lady Gremory vanished in a flash of vibrant, red light.

Ravel stared uncomprehendingly at the space Lord and Lady Gremory had teleported from, a thousand thoughts swimming through her head. Her brother had recovered Clarissa? But why hadn't he come home yet if that was the reason he left?

"Fine." Lady Phenex said, drawing Ravel's attention and that of Lord Phenex and Raycal. Lady Phenex straightened her back, folding her hands in front of her elegant red dress. She turned to face Lord Phenex and said, "Riser has declared he is not our child. I believe it is time we make that official."

"No!" Ravel shrieked, running towards her mother in a rage. "You can't!" Her mother had just suggested banishing Riser. Stealing his last name and barring him from ever coming home. Surely she wasn't serious? Ravel hadn't heard of something so serious happening to a Pillar Devil in…ever.

"He made his choice when he decided to trade away the Phenex family's only mutation piece for a worthless whore." Lady Phenex said coldly, her eyes dispassionate. "Lord Bael had shown a keen interest in that bishop. Without it we have lost a great bargaining chip. If Riser wants to consort with low-class girls and hags, then his status should reflect his decision."

Lord Phenex's eyes were hard as he nodded to his wife. "We will make the announcement tonight."

"No!" Ravel cried. "This is his home! Where will he go if he can't–"

"That is no longer your concern, my hellion." Lady Phenex said as she took her husband's arm and began to walk away. "Riser is no longer your brother."

Ravel was having trouble breathing. She felt as if the very air was crushing down on her. This couldn't really be happening, could it?

"Cheer up, little sister." Raycal said as he sauntered towards her, an amused grin on his face. "At least now we–"

Ravel stopped listening to him as she ran. She dashed through the halls, darting around servants as tears fell from her eyes. She tore open the door to her room and slammed it shut behind her. Falling onto her bed, she curled into a ball and began to sob.

Her parents had disowned her brother. There were times when Ravel had grown annoyed at her brother's obsessive drive to train, but she'd always loved him. He snuck her cookies from the kitchen when mother sent her to her room for misbehaving. He showed her how to turn her fire into explosions. He had even humored her and had a tea party with her and her dolls once. How could Riser be anything other than a Phenex?

What would happen to him now? Without the Phenex name to shield him, Riser was in grave danger. Devils would come after him for his bloodline. They'd try to force their peerage pieces on him or kidnap him to study his clan traits. Someone might even try to trap him and force him to produce Phenex Tears.

Riser was no longer a Phenex, lost who knows where in the Underworld, and Ruval hadn't checked in since he'd left. Two of Ravel's siblings were gone, leaving her alone with a sociopathic layabout and a mother and father who were willing to disown their son over something as stupid as a magical rock.

Ravel had never felt so alone.

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"I am so sorry, little brother." Ruval said from across from me. We were sitting in a hotel room he had paid for a month in advance out of his own, rather vast, personal wealth. His normally well-kept hair sagged down his face. His clothes were ruffled and out of place. And there were bags under his eyes. It was clear he hadn't been taking things well. "I did everything I could, but short of giving my position as heir to Raycal, there isn't much I can–"

"Don't do that." I interrupted him. "I know none of this was your fault or your idea. Don't give that smug prick your place." My gaze turned from him to the newspaper I was holding, and I couldn't help but sigh again. In large, bolded letters, the headline read, 'Riser a 'Phenex' No Longer'. The article went on to speculate as to why I had been disowned and banished from my household. I couldn't stomach reading any more than the first few sentences.

Throwing the paper onto the coffee table next to the bed, I turned back to Ruval. "How's Ravel?" Raycal may have been a jerk, but Ravel always liked me. At least I thought she did.

Rubbing tiredly at his eyes, Ruval said, "She's taking it really hard. She won't talk to mother or father and keeps to her room unless I'm home. Both of us have been forbidden from speaking to you."

"Then why are you talking to me?" I asked. The last thing I wanted was for Ruval to get caught up in my problems.

A tired grin broke out across his features. "What do you mean? I'm with Zissa training my peerage right now. A fact which she will vouch for."

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