Page 77 of Petals for Vicious Secrets

Lenna tilted her head backwards, her back arching as she moaned hoarsely, her absolute pleasure uniting with his deepest growl as he moved his hips skillfully against her, until both bodies stilled with their unison climax, both minds melted with lust and heat.

She was him, and he was her, and they were one.

49

Hope

Apparently Ciaran’s friends had a petal of the panom mark. Just a petal each. Which didn’t make any sort of sense in Hope’s mind, but since she hadn’t even know panom marks existed until recently, although she was the owner of an invisible one, she would not start questioning other people’s marks, half-marks, quarter-marks or whatever the Fifth these beings had.

Ciaran insisted that all that was needed for a successful Fifth Ceremony was the individual in question to convert to full panom and five sources of panom blood, regardless of these being birth blood, acquired blood or recipient blood.

“The panom society and most Rulers of the Houses love to make a big fuss of any Fifth Ceremony, aligning it with the birth date and all, to give themselves a lot of self-importance and boost their already boosted egos. It’s all pretense and their usual political bullshit,” Ciaran said, with a half-bored look on his face.

Maybe it was the ink covering his biological arm, the metal ring on his bottom lip or the ones on his ears, or that he didn’t seem to care about his long dark hair being attractively messy, but Hope believed that this man couldn’t care less about societal expectations or political games.

“I don’t understand what you get from this.” Hope was looking at Indianna, Sasha, and Ciaran. Nina was taking a shower, and Carson and Brendon were working at whatever jobs they had.

That right there was what had kept her awake for many hours the previous night, despite the extremely comfortable and wide bed in the guest room Ciaran had allocated her to. It could have also been the intense comfortability what kept her turning over and over under the silk sheets for hours. She had never been in a bedroom with such utmost luxuries.

Or it could have been the very soft texture of the minuscule sleeping clothes Indianna had lent her. Even though these were so uncomfortable that Hope had explored the multiple chest of drawers until she found a wide, white T-shirt, big enough to cover the top of her bare legs and her underwear, which she didn’t mind being minuscule. Ciaran had almost choked on his coffee when he had seen her coming out of her bedroom to go to Nina’s, but didn’t mention anything about the ownership of that T-shirt, and Hope would not risk letting go of such a loose, cozy piece by asking questions.

“Who gets what from what?” Sasha asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“I don’t know any of you. Why would you want to waste your time doing this Fifth Ceremony thing to help me?”

Sasha and Indianna crossed a confused look. Ciaran didn’t take his blue eyes from her. “You have panom blood by birth, but your father will never allow you to have a Fifth Ceremony if this means you might access powers greater than his. His whole governance could end by you becoming a panom.” Hope very much doubted that was the case, but she only swallowed before he continued, “I saw that motherfucker kill your mother with my own eyes. That is what he has done for decades. Kill and destroy lives as he pleases with nobody to account to. I would love to see him freaking the fuck out when someone hands him his ass.”

“And also, why wouldn’t we help you?” Indianna said. “It’s your birthright. It’s only fair that you can use what your blood already owns.”

Before Hope had a chance to reply, Ciaran tensed, his hands at the ready on both sides. He stood up, walking towards the main entrance of his house a couple of seconds before someone knocked decisively.

“Not like you to knock before entering, Lenna,” Hope heard him say, and Hope didn’t let go of the blades she just gripped from her belt because he added, “What the fuck is he doing here?”

“Nice to see you alive too, Ciaran. He is with me,” a female voice said matter-of-factly. “We need to talk.”

Hope didn’t need to see Ciaran to know he was looking at said he with deadly eyes. “You do half a move wrong, and I fucking kill you. I won’t give a shit about repercussions. Are we clear?”

“So bossy, Ciaran,” the man said, with the tone of someone curling his lips upward.

“Oh, for Cardinals’ sake. Will you two shut the fuck up and leave your dick length competitions for another day?” The sound of high heels storming into the apartment followed the voice of this woman. “Where is everyone?”

Fire-red waves of hair covered the woman’s head, and the effect when she walked was hypnotizing. Her golden eyes were analytical and clever, and landed straight on Hope the instant she crossed the doorway to the living room. Her red and black clothes were full of laces and transparencies, revealing the generous curves of her body that she clearly had no intent on hiding. She wasn’t very tall, but her posture was as straight as if she was the Ruler of the Cardinals-damned world.

She stopped dead, and a gorgeous man entered a few steps behind. His black clothes matched his black hair, yet his eyes were silver and intense, like someone full of secrets would have. His expression, with a raised eyebrow and full lips tight in a semi smirk, was that of someone who rules the world. The shape of his jaw was unusually familiar.

“Who are you?” Hope did not let go of the blades. Not yet.

The man stared at Hope from top to bottom, his silver eyes narrowing. Hope was totally on board with Ciaran’s plan. If he so much as blinked with anything that looked like bad intentions, she would stick a dagger into his eyelid. Her expression must have reflected that, because his chin lifted upwards.

The woman didn’t seem to care about his attitude or her daggers, and she only said, putting a strand of fire hair behind her ear, “Lenna Brachyan, proud ex-heir of the North House. And Jake Coralt, not-so-proud heir of the Organ House.” She blinked once before adding, “And you are?”

“I'm Hope, daughter of Rhei Coralt,” she smiled grimly. Her daggers left her hands, aimed at Jake’s thighs until she could assess if he was a danger like his father. “Nice to meet you, brother.”

Jake grabbed the blades with his bare hands, smiling despite the red drops falling from his palms. As if he didn’t feel the pain at all, or he was absolutely used to it and therefore immune.

“I can't make half a move wrong, but your people are going to be throwing blades at me? And beings complain about the unfairness of the system.” He did a movement with his hand and the daggers flew away, landing at a side table far from Hope. “And by the way, I have no sisters. Sorry to disappoint.”

Lenna raised her eyebrows with a mix of shock and absolute enjoyment. “Not like you to not hurt someone daring to attack you.”

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