Page 96 of Petals for Vicious Secrets

So, the two dancers in the rooftop were the ones leading the options to wake Raoul up. Indianna, as a healer, and Sasha, as a scientist, had come up with a couple of different drugs that they had tested on a reluctant Brendon. They had come up with a modified version of one that was safe to ingest and definitely worth a shot, and had given it to Raoul earlier that morning. Yet it was now almost ante meridiem, and nothing had happened.

Tomorrow was another day, and hopefully they would have other ideas in mind worth trying. Ciaran had already tried Healing him with no success. Ayla had once offered to Heal Raoul simultaneously, as they had apparently done when Hope had been unconscious after her Fifth Ceremony. Raoul hadn’t even moved a finger.

These days, Brendon was mainly focusing on misleading roixers with false tips about their whereabouts, and intercepting any vital pieces of information on their network as he apparently used to do while working at the Invisible Grand.

Carson’s body was kept cold in a special room. Until they were safe to moure somewhere else without being caught or risking their lives and bury him as he rightly deserved.

Life as a fugitive was not a new thing for Hope. But this was something new and very different.

Hope felt safe. Ciaran had explained to her how epitellia wards worked and, even if she hadn’t tried to create any yet, she believed they worked. She felt safe amongst these people that, save for Nina, she had not even known for more than a few days or weeks.

Hope knew exactly where every single one of her daggers was in her allocated bedroom, and that it would take her precisely eight seconds and a half to get to them sprinting from the furthest spot of the Crystal Clear House. Or she could also Give them to herself, as Ciaran had taught her. But she felt safe enough to not have them with her all the time.

The panom bits—or the powers, as she less preferred to talk about her own—had been much easier to understand and use than she thought. As if her body already knew what to do and how to do it. As if she had truly been born for this.

She was convinced that the Core Cardinal had said something similar when she dreamed about her. She had to figure out all she could remember from that conversation soon, but tonight there was another conversation outstanding.

Hope went to the patio on the opposite side of the house. The powerful scent of jasmine was immediate. That and… there, night and pine. She followed his scent right to the bench where Ciaran was sitting, contemplating the small trickling fountain surrounded by pretty bushes and different fruit trees. This had been Hope’s favorite part of the Crystal Clear House since the first day.

Ciaran looked at her and moved to the side, making space for her to sit next to him.

“Thank you,” Hope said. “It’s a beautiful night.”

“Nights are always beautiful,” Ciaran said, more to himself than to her. Did he know that his scent was as nightly as it could be? Perhaps it was the shadows in him.

“The note my mother received at the Trading Table. It was you,” Hope said. It wasn’t a question. She had known since she had seen his dark green ink on her skin at the Beftac Center. The same tone as the note her mother had received. The same handwriting.

“It was me.”

“And the map of Raoul’s location for Nina.” She knew that, too. “But the compassom?”

“It was me,” Ciaran said, looking at her. His blue eyes glittered under the stars.

“How did you know?”

“I have always known. Part of it. Not all of it.”

Hope frowned. The others said that he usually wasn’t very clear or very talkative, but he wasn’t as ambiguous with her as this.

Ciaran chuckled at her expression. He added, “Imagine having five paths around you, and you being absolutely sure about which one you are meant to take.”

“Intuition, I call that.”

“It is intuition, and it is something else. Something magical. Something words can’t explain.” Ciaran smiled, and Hope smiled as well. “But I knew I was meant to do that. That the Cardinals or Llunal were moving their strings for me to do that.”

“Are they Cardinals, or is it Llunal, who you believe in?” She didn’t care if she was too inquisitive or asking too personal questions.

“Can’t it be both?” he said, and she felt the breeze or a shadow caress her cheek.

“Have you always been panom and courtrade?”

“My father is panom, and my mother was courtrade, even if she never joined their society. That’s why Rhei Coralt killed her when he found out. I have been dual-powered since birth.”

Hope looked at him. His mother had also died at the hands of the same wicked being, even if it had been a long time ago.

“The other day you said nothing can compete against the Fifth Power. I want it. I don’t want even the remote possibility of my father walking out alive when I affront him,” Hope said.

“I fear you are not the only one who wants it. It will not come at a cheap price.”

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