Page 83 of Petals for Deadly Power

Lenna

She’dbeenstaringatthe scarred fingers of the East Cardinal, unable to believe they weren’t talons. The pain she felt in her heart after the goddess had stolen the ability to love from Jake was physical. Talons had clawed her heart, now a miserable organ left in shreds.

The next cursed, winged female had taken her twin’s eyes to make a fucking necklace.

Her sister would never see the red moon, the Radel Sea, her silver sparks, or the face of her lovers again. She wouldn’t see the face of her children, if she ever had them. She wouldn’t see anything or anyone else again, because the North bird wanted aprettynecklace.

A. Fucking. Pretty. Necklace.

The voice of the Organ Mandor in what seemed like another life echoed into Lenna’s thoughts.Female minds, twisted indeed, he’d said. Maybe he hadn’t been so wrong after all.

These feathered deities were creatures of malice.

They were brutal, barbaric beasts. And for the first time since the five Cardinals had appeared, the South Cardinal was now looking at her.

“Lenna Brachyan, unsuccessful striver of the South ordeal. You don’t belong here.”

“Thanks for the reminder that almost dying was not good enough. I came seeking answers,” her voice broke between ragged breaths. She couldn’t remember if she’d ever cried this hard, this much. The answers she had wanted seemed minuscule, irrelevant problems now.

“So I heard.” The South Cardinal’s face was severe, impassive. “While I wait, and because your attempt at my ordeal demonstrated courage, I will answer one question for you. Pick wisely.”

Lenna narrowed her sore, golden eyes. What was the Cardinalwaitingfor? She was the last goddess, and Lenna was the last one in this chamber they could fuck over. Whatever she meant, Lenna was not going to lose her chance.

The list of questions she wanted to ask was longer than her life was likely to be. What was the future of Thyria going to be like? How would Hope kill the Organ Mandor now that she had the Fifth Power? What would happen to the West Petal now that Ciaran was not the heir to his House? Would Raoul ever stop having nightmares and his hair turning darker with each one? Would Ayla ever be happy living without seeing? How many panomquakes had happened in Thyria this ante meridiem, with so many changes in the Houses and their powers?

There were other questions, too . . . Questions that hurt too much to say aloud.

What would happen to Jake? Was the Cardinal’s price he had agreed to pay irreversible? Would Lenna survive loving him for the rest of her days, when he would not—he could not—reciprocate? Why the Fifth fuck had these Cardinals ruined the two beings she loved most? Why were they so perverse? Why, like the Organ Mandor himself, did they deserve to live and destroy lives without consequences?

Nothing in her life was certain anymore.Certainthings changed in a matter of seconds.

Love ended as if it had never existed, sight was stripped as if someone had never deserved it. Certainty was an empty concept, a fantastic creation to give reassurance to beings who craved it.

Lenna didn’t crave certainty, though. She craved something bigger, more dangerous and wilder. She craved the truth, and she had one chance to get it.

“How can a Cardinal be killed?”

The impassive features of the South Cardinal finally changed. She tilted her chin up, her red lips pressed tight in a line. “The life of a Cardinal can only end when her wings are torn by the weapon bearing her own blood, and her heart is struck by the weapon bearing the blood of her Queen.”

All Lenna had time to do was save the valuable information for later, because firm steps approached the entrance to the chamber through the path they had walked under the mountain. And when she turned to see who it was, her blood froze.

“Precisely the five beings I wanted to see. And as always, it’s an honor to see you, too, my Cardinals.”

The grin on the face of Rhei Coralt, Organ Mandor of Thyria, was as repulsive as it had ever been. His silver eyes, identical to Jake’s, shone with excitement, his obsidian black hair shorter than the last time Lenna had seen him. The suit he wore was impeccable, accentuating the tall figure of his body and every marked angle of his face.

“You’re late,” said the South Cardinal.

The Organ Mandor walked in front of her throne, bowing his head as his hand did a stupid flourish. “My sincere apologies. I couldn’t understand the cryptic clues of where the Fifth Judgment was happening. This . . .locationwas quite unexpected.”

The Core Cardinal’s nostrils flared, and her voice was angry. “If you didn’t understand it, how is it that you are here?”

“A little bird told me.” His smug smile was even worse than his vomit-inducing grin. “Since I’m here, we might as well proceed.”

He put his hand inside his jacket, and a few gasps echoed in the room when they saw what he held tightly inside his fist.

The Organ Mandor had the crystal feather of the South ordeal.

“Why the South ordeal, Ruler of the Organ House?” the Core Cardinal asked, her eyes narrowed to slits that surely could spit red fire.

---