Page 79 of Petals for Vicious Secrets

Ciaran walked towards her, and asked, “May I see?”

Lenna opened the zip at the front of her top, revealing the skin underneath, both sides of the top covering her breasts. She felt Jake tensing at her side, surely noting her lack of bra. She said to Ciaran, “Nothing. I told you.”

Ciaran touched the skin where her mark used to be, and Lenna felt a small prickle. “No one can remove the original core of the owner’s mark without leaving them dead.”

Lenna zipped her top up and said to Jake, “How generous of your father to not kill me.”

Jake’s fists tensed, his chin lifting upwards as if he was considering what he would have done if that had been the case. “You wouldn’t have been the only dead one.”

She wasn’t sure if he meant that he would have killed his father or that he would have died trying to. Considering how untouchable the fucking Organ Mandor seemed to be, probably the latter.

“You could be a full panom again if you get the four petals donated,” Ciaran said. “I have one petal for you.”

Even though the donations to Brendon, Carson, Indianna and Sasha were single petals. How the Fifth did Ciaran ever have enough for all those donations? She doubted he would be willing to share that information in a room with so many open fronts, especially as Jake’s eyes were glimmering with profound interest.

“Do I want to be a panom again?” Lenna said, a slight hesitation lacing her words.

“Fuck yes, you want, Brachyan,” Jake snapped.

“When I had finally assumed I wouldn’t be a panom, and that I was not an absolute damned loser because of that,” she swallowed. “But if that means becoming the heir again… Cardinals guide me, I don’t want that.”

She didn’t take her amber eyes from Jake’s silver ones. What sort of being it made her that she cared more about being with Jake in whatever way than representing the House that had raised her? The House could get royally fucked. She was not ready to say it out loud, and definitely not in front of more than the being in question, but the order in her priorities had definitely changed over the past few weeks, days, hours.

“In an ideal world, the Organ Mandor does not find out that you have become a panom again, otherwise I don’t see any scenario in which he doesn’t kill you for reiteratively confronting him,” Ciaran said. “Death and him are the only ways to transfer heirlooms, so you won’t become the heir of the North House again.”

Lenna grinned, “What a shame.”

Jake looked at her with a side smile that seemed to say Free reign to fulfill our mutual desires, sweet fire, and her core heated at the thought of everything she wanted to do to him and everything she wanted him to do to her.

Ciaran looked at Jake and Lenna. “You two shouldn’t have a problem with panomquakes even if Lenna was the heir, though. Because Hope has pure Core panom female blood, which means—”

“That she is the true Cardinals-blessed heir of the Organ House,” Jake finished, his voice cutting, his eyes narrowing as the fact sank in.

“Cardinals above, I don’t think I can take any more big revelations in the span of an hour. I’m going to fucking collapse,” said Sasha, sitting down on the couch. She put both hands at the sides of her face, black curls going in all directions.

“But we caused a panomquake when… Well, the other day. That big panomquake, it was Jake and I doing things. Hot things. The type of forbidden things that two heirs shouldn’t be doing.” Lenna put her hands on her waist, a frown on her face.

“The about-to-fuck type of things,” Jake unnecessarily clarified.

“Inconveniently similar timing,” Ciaran said. “Because I saw Hope stepping into Thyria for the first time in her life, and the panomquake was definitely caused by her presence.”

“And you have known this since when exactly, Ciaran?” Hope spat, anger lining her voice.

“I had suspicions since I saw you, but you were busy throwing blades at me.” Jake and Ciaran crossed a sort of sympathetic stares before Ciaran continued, “then the Organ Mandor intercepted us, then we were in the woods… I didn’t know for sure until I checked your blood.”

Something that Lenna couldn’t identify passed through Hope’s eyes as he mentioned the last bit, but it was gone quickly, replaced by cold irritation.

Lenna turned to Jake, doubting how he would take not being the lawful heir of the Organ House, the successor of his father, and the future Organ Mandor, but Jake didn’t seem to have his mind there.

Instead, his expression had no trace of doubt as he looked at her right back.

“I will donate two petals to you,” Jake said, and the glimmer in his eyes read more than physical heat. It heated another part of her being, a part that she didn’t want to hand over so easily. That she didn’t even know if she was ready to offer. A part that, if hurt, it would destroy her much more.

“You have two to give?” Ciaran asked him.

“I would be stupid to offer what I can’t give.”

Ciaran nodded, looking at Jake with all seriousness and consideration. Lenna’s words had left her, so she only swallowed. And while she was at it, she also swallowed the emotion threatening to make her throw herself in Jake’s arms and kiss the fuck out of him. This was dangerous territory.

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