Page 57 of Petals for Deadly Power

A tear rolled down her face. Her voice was thin, labored, but clear.

“I see you too, Ciaran.”

He swallowed.

He swallowed his fear, his desperation, his pain. It physically pained him in his heart, in his chest, in the hands that couldn’t let go of her body. He swallowed his love.

He swallowed it all, for there was Hope.

37

Lenna

Hergoldeneyeswidenedwhen Ciaran’s ink tickled her skin.

Four ordeals finished, four successful strivers, four crystal feathers achieved. One left to go.Herfucking one left to go.

“You’re quiet,” said Jake.

“Good news.” Lenna sighed. “Ciaran got it.”

Jake lifted his eyebrow, the corner of his lips curling upwards. “Don’t be too excited about it.”

Lenna covered her eyes with cool, almost numb hands. “Cardinals, I am happy—Am I happy? I’m happy for him, for us, for getting closer to getting the Fifth Power. But I’m not excited one fucking bit about my ordeal.”

“I wouldn’t say I was exactlyhappyabout mine.”

“I doubt Hope, Ayla, and Ciaran were either. But—fuck, I just have such a horrible gut feeling about it.”

Jake’s silver eyes stared into her golden ones. “You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to.”

Lenna snorted. “Sure, and make this whole Fifth crusade a failure. Not only that but also lose the chance to kill the Organ Mandor.” They would never stand a fucking chance against the main Ruler of Thyria without the Fifth Power. “Ciaran got the West, Healing feather of his House. Ayla the North, Giving feather from our House. You got the East, Harming feather, and fuck, the East Cardinal point-blank told you that you would make a better Ruler of her Petal. Hope got the Core feather.” She pursed her lips, a hand on her waist. “Of course I will fucking do my ordeal. I’m not a rotten quitter.”

“Which is precisely why I love you.”

Lenna bit her bottom lip, trying to keep a serious face with all her might in the most unsuccessful way. “That, and because I’m the Sovereign Ruler of your hea—”

Jake’s hand was covering her mouth before she could finish her sentence. “Shut that pretty mouth, sweet fire.”

Lenna grinned against his palm, and then she bit. Not hard, not deep, just enough to make a man remove his hand. But, of course, Jakedidn’tfucking remove his hand, of course his smile widened, his eyes darkening a few shades of grey.

“Wild like that golden cat of yours, are you?” He chuckled, freeing her mouth, his hand lingering on her fire-colored hair, playing with it.

Lenna opened her hand, and her golden sparks appeared, the shape of the lynx cub forming next to her. The wide eyes of the beautiful animal observed Jake and her with a half-interested look before she went to a corner to lick her paw. Such an accurate can’t-be-arsed-with-these-pair representation.

“Don’t be an asshole. She’s alynx.”

Jake blinked. “Cat, lynx. Same thing. Does she have a name?”

Of course she hadn’t picked a damned name yet for the animal who now growled. “Lover, boyfriend, partner—same thing.”

“What did you just say?” His grey eyes narrowed, his hand putting a few strands of her hair behind her ear.

Her eyebrows lifted. “Deaf like a Cardinal post, are you?”

“Lenna Brachyan, you just called me yourpartner.”

She put a finger on her lips, pretending to think. “I don’t think I did, did I? Maybe I meant lover, you know, all the fucking and that. But I guess it doesn’t truly matter. It’s all thesame thing.” She tilted her head, frowning, demanding explanations.

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