Page 21 of Petals for Vicious Secrets

Theon heard her. “Less moaning, more—“

“Fighting, yes.” Cardinals give her patience. And focus.

Theon and Lenna adopted the fighting position facing each other. It was just them in the room. In the world. Her golden eyes connected with his brown eyes. She was ready to let go of her mind. Knowing Theon, she trusted him not to inflict more harm on her than she could bear. She was used to the bruises on her forearms after hand-to-hand fighting against him. It was part of her body’s preparation. But she knew he would not allow any serious harm on her. And as he shouted “Fight!”, Lenna stopped thinking.

Lenna felt her body move by itself, as if she was watching someone else fighting. Someone else blocking strikes to her chin and stomach at a speedy pace. Someone else counterattacking with her elbows and the side of her hands, most of them masterly blocked by him.

Theon gripped her wrist and tried to send her to the floor by twisting it upwards, making her whole body move with it. Lenna swiftly positioned her wrist sideways inside his grip and moved out with a fast and strong movement. As she took one step backwards, she lifted her front leg and kicked him in the jaw.

Theon opened his eyes wide, a rough redness already appearing in his jaw. Lenna was equally surprised that she had actually touched him before he had time to block it. But that was not enough. She was going to finish this nonsense, never-ending fighting. She allowed herself half a second to let go of her mind and—It was too late.

Theon stood behind her, his chest against her back. He held her hands together behind her with one too-fucking-strong hand, and had the other across her chest, her shoulder pretty much under his armpit. So damn close she could feel his warm, steady breathing in her right ear.

It was like time had slowed down so much it had stopped. Lenna felt some strands of his unexpectedly soft hair over her shoulders. She was suddenly very aware of how comfortable his muscled chest was on her back, how warm it felt, and exactly how many inches taller than her he was as his cheek was almost leaning on her wavy red hair. She felt the strength of his left hand that firmly but carefully held both of her hands together, one on top of the other. And how he was unusually still, as if he was also taking in this moment, breathing it in, absorbing it as much as he could.

When he could have perfectly sent her to the mat already, trapped as he had her. She wanted today’s fighting to be over, and she would not lose her chance.

Being careful to not move any other muscle on her body, Lenna lifted her right foot in the air, bending her knee in front of her. And gathering all the strength she hoped she had, she sent her heel down on Theon’s foot, at the same time as she moved her face to the right and bit the biceps leaning on her shoulder with all her might.

“Fuck!” Theon shouted, letting go of his grip on her hands as he moved his foot, making small jumps backwards.

Lenna used both hands to hold one of Theon’s, and with a quick sweeping movement of her leg under his hurt foot, she sent him down on the mat. Lenna couldn’t keep a cheering shout in.

“About fucking time,” Lenna was grinning as she kneeled next to her friend.

Theon chuckled. “I knew you could beat me. I wasn’t expecting a dog-bite elephant-stomp style from a future panom, but still.” Laying on the floor, Theon offered a hand to Lenna. “A beat is a beat.”

Lenna stared at his hand, her grin still on her face. “Am I meant to shake this? Is this your official loser declaration?”

Theon laughed. “Oh, enjoy this as much as you want. You caught me off-guard. It’s not likely to happen again.”

Lenna was perfectly aware of how off-guard he’d been. She could still feel the warmth of his body behind hers, his breathing on her ear.

She stood up, stretching her arms, technically to release the tension from all the fighting. Technically, it had been draining enough that her body needed rest. Technically, she shouldn’t be thinking about how much she was enjoying seeing Theon spread on the floor underneath her. Every single muscle of him. His eyes closed. His full lips still smiling. Damn, he was handsome.

Theon opened her eyes and found Lenna staring at him. Whatever he saw in her eyes made him stand up, and he was in front of her in less than two seconds. “Session’s over, Lenna. I’ll see you after your panomy conversion.”

Oh, yes, and then there was that. She took an unconscious deep breath.

“Thanks for today. It was draining but fun.”

Theon nodded with a confident smile. “It’s always fun with me, though.” Lenna rolled her eyes and left him standing on the mat as she left the room, smiling too.

Lenna started removing her makeup, patting creamed cotton pads around her cheeks. Her mirror reflection was wearing bright yellow sedan pajama shorts and a top, and a difficult-to-ignore worried frown.

The last day of her human life had gone too fast. Even the tense dinner had gone fast, maybe because her sister and parents had been unusually quiet and not babbling about whatever political nonsense they considered relevant. As if they also had been thinking that their lives were about to change and there would be no going back.

She was both excited and nervous as if she was about to jump from a very high cliff and she didn’t know what she would find at the end, not even if it was “safe”.

It would be as safe as one could be under the presence of the five Rulers of Thyria, her father included. Which, considering that they were the five most powerful people in Terrha, was quite a statement. She guessed the fact of them five unleashing her powers and Ayla’s tomorrow was not freaking her out as much as it should, because she was so eager to become a panom.

Lenna had been waiting for this moment since she could remember. She couldn’t even count the times her mother, who had been an Elite member until she married her father and became a converted panom, had told Lenna that the Fifth Ceremony would mark a before and after in her life. That having unrestricted access to magic was dangerous and beautiful, and how important it was to use it properly.

Lenna looked at her hand, seeing her reflection lifting it too, and opened it slowly, releasing golden sparks and allowing them to float around the wide marble bathroom connected to her bedroom. Over the years playing and experimenting with them, she had somehow gotten attached to them. To their silent but bright and playful company. She looked at the sparks moving around gently, in non-perfect coordination. Lenna sighed and closed her eyes. A tiny spark sat on her shoulder, as if giving her a small cuddle. “Thanks,” Lenna said with a small smile.

Even the well-known sparks were not enough to avoid the guilt punch she felt in her guts at remembering how she had tried to avoid thinking about Raoul. She had been postponing it after the Fifth Ceremony, and the days had gone too damn fast to even squeeze a moment to figure out what to do with her friend. His body being in the West House and his mind Cardinals knew where. She felt the need to explain all of it to Theon. He tended to be matter-of-fact-but-positive, so maybe he wouldn’t think the situation was royally fucked up.

Lenna peeked at the small silver clock incrusted on the wall of her bedroom. Almost ten o’clock. The sky was dark outside and she had to be up by eight to get to the Organ House in time for past meridiem, when the Fifth Ceremony would start. Why the Fifth her parents were not mouring the four of them, which would take less than a few seconds, and instead they had to use traditional methods, was a good question.

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