Page 39 of Petals for Deadly Power

The absolutely terrified blood in her veins ran as fast as her heartbeat. What did that mean? Had his ordeal . . . finished? Fear, as she had never known, overtook her, tears flowing from her golden eyes before she had the guts to acknowledge what that could mean. Himnotbeing successful was not a fucking allowed option—it simplywasn’t.

“Jake!” she shouted again, her voice breaking with desperation. “I swear to the Five Cardinals, I will re-kill you if you are dead!”

A broken noise sounded closely, but Lenna couldn’t see anything, anyone. Wait a fucking minut—

She ran towards the edge of the platform, gasping at the impressive drop to the deck of the navia. The very empty drop with no one there.

“Please, come to me,” her voice was loud yet broken between sobs.

She heard a scraping noise and turned to look at the other end of the platform. A bloodied hand got hold of the floor by penetrating it with a red crystal.

A heartbroken gasp left her throat as her heart felt electrocuted with relief.

Thank the damned Fifth. Cardinals, bless thefuckingFifth.

She ran towards Jake, pulling from his slippery, blood-soaked wrist as his other hand followed.

His other hand was just as destroyed, another sharp crystal in the middle of his palm. Had the goddess made himclimbthe navia? If the East Cardinal hadn’t flown away, Lenna was going to make her regret touching him.

When Jake managed to pull himself up with Lenna’s help, his head rested on her lap. His silver eyes were closed, his face suffering and anguished, his body pained with exhaustion.

She wanted to say so many things. She wanted todoso many things. She caressed his pale face with shaking hands. “Jake, I’m here.” He was so still it was unnerving. “You’re not alone. I’m here for you.”

He didn’t react; his breaths didn’t relax. When the silence of his pain was too much, Lenna spoke again. “Say something, please. Anything.”

His silver eyes opened slowly, as if it was taking all his effort to even open an eyelid. The silver in his eyes was darker, moving, as if whatever was in his mind hadn’t settled yet.

“I will always come to you, my love,” Jake said, his voice barely audible.

Lenna’s tears fell freely as her mouth tensed awkwardly between a sob and grin. “You better fucking do, because I will always be waiting for you.”

She Gave herself a wet cloth, gently wiping his sweat from his face, attempting to clean the blood from his arms and wrists with little success because two royally damned, huge crystals were stabbed in his hands.

“We need to get these out of you.”

He tried to prop himself up by leaning on his elbows, but Lenna put a hand on his chest and pushed him back on her lap.

“I’m not sure if my ordeal is finished,” he said.

Lenna frowned, combing his black waves with her fingers. “What do you mean?”

He let out a shallow exhale. “I had to climb, so I climbed. There is no feather and no Cardinal. Either my ordeal isn’t finished yet, or I was not deemed worthy.”

“Do you think my most serious concern right now is the ordeal?” He had to be taking the piss. “You are the living image of someone Harmed, Jake.SeverelyHarmed. If that is not good enough for the bloody East Cardinal, then she can go ruin someone else.”

“But I saw the feather. Before I—before I started seeing things, I saw the feather suspended in the air around the platform. That’s why I climbed.”

“There is nothing here, Jake.” Lenna swallowed. “You saw . . . things?”

Jake shook his head slowly, frowning deeply, his eyes closed again. Lenna couldn’t take her eyes off him, the pain of his expression shattering her heart as her worry increased exponentially.

He sighed. “She Harmed my mind with memories as she Harmed my body with crystals.”

Lenna bit her bottom lip until it hurt, the taste of copper filling her mouth as unstoppable rage threatened to take control of her.

It was a blessing that the East Cardinal was not present. It was a fucking blessing, because Lenna would have attempted to rip her feathered wings off.

“You’re hurt, Jake. Will you allow me to Heal you?”

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