Page 65 of Petals for Vicious Secrets

It hadn’t been an external something redirecting them. It had been an external someone.

For the panom force emanating from this being could only belong to the Organ Mandor of Thyria.

Her father, Rhei Coralt, was staring at her.

40

Hope

The panom who sat in the throne made of bones and black feathers needed no introduction.

Short black hair, perfectly shaped beard, straight posture that only a Ruler of a nation could have. The shape of his silver eyes were replicas to Hope’s own ones, and that look… She knew it well. It was the same as when she assessed a prey before going for the kill.

He touched the tips of the fingers of each hand together.

“For a long time I wondered if you would ever be foolish enough to come back,” he said, not taking his stare away from Hope, even though she knew he was talking to her mother.

Aurora didn’t say anything. Hope wasn’t even sure if her mother was breathing. She was so still, unmoving. Utterly paralyzed since they had appeared here.

“For a long time, I wondered if you would be as sickening as I believed you were,” Hope said.

Rhei Coralt ignored her. He looked at Ciaran as he said, “You are giving me loads of unnecessary trouble recently, boy. Such a passion to aid discarded beings. Maybe you would rather end up discarded yourself.”

Ciaran bowed his head slightly as he said, “I will be careful.”

Hope wasn’t sure if he meant he would not do it again, or that he would be careful to not get caught in the future. But the Organ Mandor only said, “You will be careful. Your father is getting old and it would be a shame if he didn’t get to live all the years the Cardinals would guide him to live.”

Ciaran looked at Rhei Coralt’s eyes, and Hope felt the air around him stop moving. She wasn’t sure if the Organ Mandor felt that, as he only added, “I see you have recovered too nicely from your recent punishment. I will make a note to double it up next time.”

As if that was a dismissal, Rhei Coralt looked at her mother again, and he smiled. Hope’s upper lip curled. That smile was the most repulsive thing she had ever seen.

“Do discarded beings lose their voices in the woods?” he asked.

Aurora inhaled sharply, and Hope did her best at resisting the urge to hold her hand. She knew the Organ Mandor would take it as a sign of weakness, and the least she wanted was her mother to look as destroyed outside as she was inside. But her mother, not opening her mouth, was not doing herself any favors.

But it hadn’t been her mother who had wanted to return to Thyria. It hadn’t been Aurora who had wanted to see the face of this man, to confront him and ask the questions she needed answers to. It had been Hope.

“Do you know who I am?” Hope asked.

“Of course I know who you are. You are a discarded being, like the soundless one next to you,” he said, and the power emanating from him was enough to throw someone to the floor. Hope was silently grateful that at least her mother was keeping upright.

Before Hope could reply, Rhei Coralt added, “Did you think someone with my blood could enter my nation without me realizing, girl? Because if you did, you are a stupid fool, like your mother is for bringing you here.”

“Why did you discard us?” Hope asked, ignoring the blood roaring in her veins at the constant humiliation towards her mother.

“I don’t answer to discarded beings,” he said, his fingers curling.

“But you must answer to your daughter,” Hope spat, her fists clenched at her sides.

The Organ Mandor laughed out loud briefly, before his face was utterly serious, his teeth exposed as his lips curled in disgust. “I damn the Cardinals every single day for letting women believe they have a say in life.”

He stood up in front of his grim of a throne. Another wave of power hit Hope’s face, and by the infinitesimal movement tensing Ciaran’s and Aurora’s bodies, she knew they had felt it, too. They were quite far from him, and Hope did not know how she would attack him should she need to. She wondered if wounds inflicted by her blades could be healed as easily if she aimed for his heart or his brain.

“You fucker,” Aurora said quietly, as if it was taking all her effort to push her words out.

“I knew the viper still kept her tongue,” the Organ Mandor’s lips curled upward.

“Why did you discard us instead of killing us? Does your son know I exist?” Hope insisted.

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