Page 10 of Petals for Deadly Power

Hope followed the scent of night and pine through the safehouse, down the extremely dark corridor that left her slamming her head against the intended door.

A rush of air was the only sign that Ciaran opened his door. “Very glamorous knocking.”

Both the corridor and his bedroom were pitch black. He must have realized or remembered not everyone could see in the shadows, like his courtrade blood allowed him to. The next and first thing Hope saw were his blue eyes glittering on his pale face, followed by the shiny reflection of his metallic arm moving before dark green sparks illuminated his bedroom.

Another couple of movements of his arms reigned the black shadows to nothing. A bedroom full of packed bookshelves and weapons appeared in front of her eyes.

“Isn’t it a bit late to be playing with weapons?” Hope asked.

“It’s never too late for that,” he said, and Hope couldn’t have agreed more. “May I help you?”

“I . . . I have a question. About my magic.”

Ciaran nodded. “Do you want to come in, or would you rather talk on the patio?”

Hope hesitated for the long span of half a second. She had never been in his bedroom before, and it felt like an intrusion of privacy. Even if this man had licked her blood to find out about her heritage, had helped her become a full panom by having a Fifth Ceremony, and had protected her after she semi-destroyed the island when her magic unleashed.

“Here is fine,” she said entering his bedroom and heading towards one of the armchairs before she could reconsider her decision.

She was surprised to find Ciaran closing the door with a slight smile on his lips. Green sparks flickered intensely, rearranging themselves around the seating area as Ciaran sat in front of her.

“I’m all ears,” he said, placing his muscled and metallic arms comfortable on the armrests.

“You told me about the inner balance of the magics. Of Giving and Taking, and Healing and Harming, and how opposite powers must be used warily to not tilt the magical scales. You said different panoms react differently when their scales are unbalanced.”

His blue eyes were patient, and Hope was perfectly aware that she hadn’t asked her question yet.

“I have tried pushing the use of one of the powers of each scale to see what happens. And that’s the problem: nothing happens.” Hope exhaled.

“Why is that a problem?” Ciaran asked.

“Well, it doesn’t make sense. The other day, for example. When Jake Gave us something to practice with. After a while, Ayla was half blind, Lenna was very dizzy, and . . . What? I felt justnormal?”

“I wouldn’t say you are normal, Hope. Quite the opposite. I think that, amongst many other things, makes you extraordinary,” Ciaran said, interlacing his fingers in front of his broad chest.

Hope blinked. Being dumped as a baby on an island where unwanted beings were discarded by Thyrian society wasextraordinarilywrong. But she got his point, or a part of it.

“Is it common to not feel the inner balance tilting? Do you feel anything when you use one power without its opposite?”

“Panoms don’t share their weaknesses widely. But, in cases like Ayla and Lenna, their symptoms are visible,” he said. “My guess is every panom in Thyria feels something. You must be amongst the exceptions. If nottheexception.”

“Why?” Hope asked, playing with the loose strands of her braid as a theory grew in her mind.

Ciaran moved his eyes from the spot of dark hair she was holding to her black eyes. “You are the first female in centuries with panom blood that belongs to the Core. Your blood is linked to the strongest part of Thyria, the Organ House that rules over the others. And . . . The panom mark at the back of your neck and your magic is red.Red, Hope.”

Hope inhaled sharply. The redness of her magic was in line with her new theory.

Ciaran continued, “The goddesses who created our land are red Cardinals. Red is a sacred color, and they have blessed you with it. Perhaps not suffering from an inner balance is another blessing.”

“Only the Fifth knows,” her voice was graver than she intended to. “You haven’t answered my other question. Do you feel anything?”

“I do, and I’ve never told anyone,” he said.

Hope nodded in silence. She wouldn’t ask him for details. They barely knew each other, at the end of the day. It was none of her business to know his deepest, most guarded secrets.

For her own sake and self-preservation, she was going to keep quiet about her balance circumstances too.

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