Page 15 of Petals for Vicious Secrets

Her mother turned her back to Nina and grabbed a leaf from the nearby tree that was peeking through the window. She started bending it in multiple folds while she paced the room. “We can’t enter the quarters and leave them without a fight,” mother said as if that was a possibility, but it would be a risky one. As if she thought there was an actual scenario that they would come home alive after attempting it.

Against the Roix. For Cardinals’ sake. Hope didn’t know whether to laugh or cry again.

“Each roixer has twenty-four hours off duty every week. It’s one thing I got to introduce as the Reigner. They are on a rotation pattern, so there are the same numbers of them off at anyone time. Usually, one out of ten is off. Before I left the Roix, there were fifty roixers assigned to Verdania, meaning five would be off.”

Hope flinched at the awful thought. Did Roix workers only have twenty-four hours every seven days to themselves? She had mixed feelings about it. A part of her thought it was unfair, and it scarily reminded her of the slave systems of the past she had read about. Another part thought the roixers didn’t even deserve those damn hours for all the pain they inflicted and the blood they had on their hands. And her mother had been their captain. Their damned Roix Reigner. Hope wasn’t sure she would ever get used to that.

“What do they do with their free time?” Nina asked, her brows showing her concern.

“In Thyria, most do everything and anything that is not allowed when they are on duty. I used to stay in reading or go to the woods at the borders of the Core. Most pay for sex or company,” mother said.

Considering these people were, apparently willingly, separated from their families, it made sense that they would seek any sort of emotional connection whichever way they could. Since meeting Nina, Hope had experienced first-hand how nice it was to talk to someone and have another person in her life, to feel understood and have a laugh for insubstantial things, and not having to worry much about it.

“If we could find out where they go, I could try to get close to them,” Nina said, her silk, silver hair covering the side of her face.

Hope opened her eyes and said. “You don’t have to do that, Nina. There are other ways. There have to be other ways.” But her mother had fallen silent, studying Nina. “Mother, she doesn’t have to do that,” Hope said a bit too loudly.

“She doesn’t have to do anything she doesn’t want to do. But she is stunning, and her beautiful features unusual enough to make anyone pay attention to her straightaway. So unique, in fact, that they would recognize her resemblance to Raoul straightaway, if he looked as alike to you as you both said,” mother said, almost muttering as if she was talking to herself. “Unless she approached a brand new roixer, or someone in the lower ranks.”

“I will do it if it gets me closer to finding where Raoul is, and how to get to him,” Nina said, making Hope silently curse all the Cardinals. Nina continued, confident but serious, “I won’t do anything I don’t want to do. I have played with men before.”

Hope tried to hide the deep shock she had after Nina’s statement. She couldn’t imagine the sweet, vulnerable Nina playing with anyone. Especially not in that way Hope had only ever read about.

Aurora considered Nina’s words before saying, “It’s worth a try.” Hope couldn’t believe the pair she had in front of her and realized she was annoyed about the shit plan they had. She wanted to protect Nina from harm. Like she had done the first time she saw her being dragged in the woods.

“I suggest we head to Cralia after the next Trading Day. Hope and I will stay nearby, at all times within ears’ reach of where you are, and we will come for you if you shout for help, Nina,” her mother said, casually grabbing a dagger from one of the weapon shelves and a whetstone to sharpen it. Hope was glad she was not the only person in the room who cared about Nina.

“Oh, it shouldn’t get to that point,” Nina said, with a small appreciative smile to Aurora’s for her offer of protection. “I was planning on taking the little red vial I got in the Trading in case anyone doesn’t understand “no” as an answer.”

Hope laughed with nervous relief. She could perfectly remember how the beautiful poppy had died in front of them within seconds of a drop of the red liquid touching it. That would be a quick solution. And if for whatever reason Nina couldn’t use that, Hope would make sure to hang the balls of whoever touched her without permission from the roof of the damned Roix quarters.

10

Lenna

Despite the bright light behind her eyelids, Lenna refused to open her eyes. She hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in the Fifth knew how long. She would wake up in just five more minutes.

“After the trouble I went through for you yesterday, you could make an effort and move your ass,” an amused, masculine voice said.

“Fucking Cardinals, Theon,” she mumbled, her voice almost too sleepy to be understood. Lenna recognized his voice and tried to open her eyes against the monstrous force that was trying to keep them shut. What she saw was the well-known face of his friend, sexier than she would ever admit to him, especially now that he was looking at her from the end of her four-post bed.

“Morning to you too, sleepyhead,” he said, walking towards a table where she kept everything she didn’t know where to put or couldn’t be bothered to find a place for. Theon sat on her chair, put his feet on the table and the hands behind his head while admiring every single detail in her bedroom.

Lenna rolled her eyes and turned to the other side of the bed, putting the blanket that was a mess on her feet up to her neck. “What are you doing here?” she asked. She was fully aware of the floor-to-ceiling glass doors that led to her balcony open wide.

It was no mystery in the North House that Lenna had visitors every so often when she fancied some nocturnal entertainment. One of the many reasons her dearly concerned father was not happy with her. He was not concerned about Lenna, but about what the North people would say if they knew the successor and heir to the House enjoyed sex with strangers, very non-panom and non-Elite, on a quite regular basis without being dutifully married and bearing babies for the line. She didn’t give a shit about not meeting her father’s expectations.

But still. Theon had never visited her in her bedroom before. Why would he? They only had their daily training sessions together and went out in Borealia, the principal city that surrounded the North House in their petal, with Elite friends a few times. The so-called Elite “friends” were more a pain in the ass than anything close to actual friends to Lenna. Even if they had known each other from birth because of the multiple social nights they held in the House and to which every single Elite member was painfully invited, thanks to their generous donations to the House.

Lenna always thought most of them were disgustingly rich people that had nothing else to do with their lives than flatter her father’s ass too much. When they could clearly do something more useful with the embarrassing amounts of money they handed in too often to her already annoyingly rich family. Starting with not letting kids die from hunger in the suburbs of Borealia.

Theon was not a member of the Elite because he was “just” her trainer and therefore a “mere” servant. The fucked up social standards in Thyria were something that would never stop unnerving her. Not that those standards and rules had stopped Lenna inviting him to some nights out with the Elite.

Her politically correct sister had given Theon so many disapproving looks and not-so-subtle comments throughout the first time that Lenna and Ayla ended up in a big fight when they got home very late that night. Lenna didn’t know if Ayla had finally understood that regardless of her and some of the other’s opinions Lenna would do what she wanted, or if Ayla thought she was a lost case, but she hadn’t been so intense the other nights Theon went with them. And thanks to him, Lenna had actually had fun and laughed on those occasions. For a change. She usually went home earlier than the rest. When she couldn’t cope with so much bullshit and she couldn’t care enough about their sorry lives to tell them off for their blatant lack of morals or ethics beyond their full pockets.

“I figured that with all your secret business yesterday, you wouldn’t have known that they canceled our training session today,” Theon said, looking through the balcony to the beautiful view she had from the city.

Lenna frowned her brows and said, “House, what’s my plan for today?”

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