Page 17 of Petals for Deadly Power

Whenever she thought about it, she was still shocked to know being dual-powered was a possibility. But there was Ciaran, in front of her, blessed by Llunal and the Cardinals and their panom and courtrade magics, ready to answer her question.

“Not in the vessels,” he said.

“Thank the Fifth,” Hope exhaled, without realizing she had been holding her breath in.

“We’ll have to swim, then? Does that already count as an ordeal?” Ayla asked, pressing her lips.

Sasha snorted. “No fucking chance. Swim North in a straight line until something happens? We’ll be dead before we know it.” Indianna, Nina, and Lenna nodded in agreement. Hope didn’t miss Lenna’s amber eyes narrowing when Sasha saidwe.

They still had to talk about who was going on this crusade. Hope had total conviction that said conversation would come witha lotof drama and verbal fights.

“We could use a courtrade navia,” said Ciaran.

“Awhat?” Ayla cocked an eyebrow above her emerald-green eyes.

“A vehicle that transports people above the waves of the sea.”

“How, floating? You can't be serious,” Hope said, struggling to keep a smile in despite the seriousness on Ciaran’s beautiful features. Out of all the things she had heard and seen before, this was amongst the funniest.

“I think good old Ciaran here is fucking joking,” Lenna said.

“Does he even know what a joke is?” Jake asked. “If such a vehicle exists, and it belongs to the courtrades, how come it moves without panom blood? Or do they steal panom blood?”

“Not everything in the world functions thanks to panom blood,” Ciaran said, examining the unbelieving faces staring at him. “I know it’s hard to believe in a place where everything is ruled by panoms. A navia moves at night, with Llunal's shadows pushing it through. I am no expert, though. I know they exist, but I have never seen one, let alone traveled in it.”

“There is a courtrade who owes me a life-saving debt that surely knows all about these things,” Hope said, turning to Ciaran. “Is it safe to bring Marcus here?”

Ciaran tucked a long strand of his dark hair behind his ear. “If we are going to ask him about using a courtrade vehicle, bringing him to our safehouse is an initial sign of trust.”

Hope appreciated him using the plural ownership in regard tohissafehouse. She had never owned anything other than her now-abandoned treehouse in Verdania, and her daggers. Subtle remarks like that made her feel less isolated, as if she truly was a part of something that mattered.

10

Lenna

Itdidn’ttakeCiaranlong to moure to the courtrades’ Thyrian quarters and convince their leader to come to the Crystal Clear Safehouse.

Funny, that shadow-wielders were real, and Lenna had never known of their existence until a few weeks ago. Not funny, that the courtrades somehow managed to stay under the radar of the military Roix and the Houses’ Rulers. Except when Brendon regularly informed the courtrades had attacked certain areas in different Petals. None of them had failed to notice the courtrades’ attacks were more frequent as days passed by.

Lenna followed the dark green sparks back to the living room. The man talking to Ciaran was dressed in utter black, his dark eyes focused, and a beard covering his face. It was not hard to imagine him wielding shadows. Even the way he moved, the way hewalked . . .It looked as if the shadows of the room were dancing with him.

“Lenna Brachyan.” She offered her hand, tilting her head slightly backwards, and shook his vigorously. “And you are?”

“Marcus Olanett from Orizane. Honored to meet you.”

Hope entered the room, and Lenna noticed she was wearing two thin daggers in belts around her thighs. Lenna suppressed a chuckle. She was now used to seeing Hope without her blades, but she would never forget the first time she had seen Hope, wearing fifteen of them, nor how she had thrown two daggers at Jake after introducing herself as the sister he had never heard of.

Marcus walked towards her and bowed his head, grabbing Hope’s hand and placing a kiss on her palm. The middle-aged man looked at the dark-haired young woman as if he owed her his breath and his life. Cardinals, theintensity.

Hope bowed her head and said, “I didn’t think I would see you so early, Marcus. How’s life in Thyria?”

“All fun and games.” His narrowed eyes followed Jake, who paced as if he owned the safehouse until he was behind Lenna. She liked it when Jake held her from behind. Whatever the reason, the courtrade leader didn’t look pleased to be in the same room as the son of the Organ Mandor.

It didn’t take long to get into the thick of why Marcus was here. In fact, it took exactly two sentences from Hope.

“We were wondering how your floating vehicles work. We need to use them.”

Marcus looked at Ciaran with a furrowed brow. “Spilling courtrades’ secrets, are we, now?” Ciaran didn’t reply, and his marked jaw was warning enough. Marcus faced Hope as he said, “Myfloating vehiclesare blessed by Llunal and all his stars, therefore his shadows move them only at night.”

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