Page 18 of Petals for Deadly Power

“Can we travel in them?” Hope asked.

Marcus looked around the table, taking in the ten beings waiting for his answer. “Whether Llunal will allow so many panoms on his navia, I’m not sure. I guess if one of his courtrades is on board, our god won't sink the bloody thing.”

Hope was not going to give him a break. “Can the shadows of one courtrade move it?”

“The navia?” Marcus’s lips twisted as he considered it. “One courtrade could do it, I guess.”

“And during the day? How will we hide in plain sight?” Lenna asked.

“We could Give it an invisible barrier,” Ayla suggested.

Marcus hummed. “You could. Courtrades usually cover the navia with shadows and push by quick enough when they are closer to Thyria. That way, they are out of the visible safe zone for only one night.”

“When the shadows and the night keep them safe,” Ciaran added.

“WhenLlunalkeeps them safe.”

“Can we not do that, then?” Lenna asked.

“Cover that distance in one night with only one courtrade aboard? Not unless you want to kill them.” Marcus crossed his arms.

“Panom invisible barrier it is.”

“But we will still need some other courtrades, to be safe. If something happens to me, you don't want to be stuck in the middle of the sea for the rest of your existence,” said Ciaran.

“Nothing will happen to you,” Hope snapped. Ciaran swallowed and avoided her black-eyed, pinning stare. “Could you come with us, Marcus?” she asked.

Marcus shook his head slowly, his shoulder-long hair moving from side to side. “I can’t, sadly. There is an awful lot of work to be done here. But I am sure I will find some courtrades willing to go on an adventure.”

Exactly what work was he and all the other courtrades working on in Thyria, Lenna would like to know. Considering the tightening of Jake’s grip on her waist, she was not the only one.

“Why did we not use these navias to come from Verdania? They sound much easier than the cellholt and the Vessels.”

Marcus chuckled. “The location of Verdania didn’t allow for navias to reach there safely without being noticed, hence why they were all in Orizane. But don’t be fooled by apparent simplicity, dear Hope. Nothing is evereasyin courtrade life. Navias are made for and by us. They will take you where you want, but their commodities are not to everyone's taste.”

Hope nodded, not seeming very concerned about what exactly the commodities of the navias were. “How long will it take to prepare two navias and some courtrades in each?”

“Let me see what I can do,” Marcus said, and turned to Ciaran. “Expect a whisper of night shortly.”

Right. Whatever the Cardinal’s fuck that was. Lenna leaned backwards to press her back against Jake’s muscled chest, his hands tightening his hold on her waist.

Marcus said a brief, general goodbye and did averyintense bow to Hope that had Lenna lifting her eyebrows. As soon as Ciaran put his metallic hand on the back of Marcus’s neck, they moured away.

11

Hope

Everyonehadagreedtocontinue planning for their Fifth crusade the following day.

It was a lot of information to digest, they said. It would be difficult to decide who would be the striver for each of the five ordeals, they thought. It would take time to pack whatever they needed for however long they were going to be on their navial trip, they claimed.

Everyone had agreed, except Hope. She could understand people benefiting from time to mentally prepare, though. Allowing them a brief pause before they were ready to risk their lives was a reasonable request. Hence why she had shut her mouth.

She had finished packing as soon as she lined up her fifteen blades on the table. Next to the beautiful and lethal array of her favorite weapons was a small pile of dark leathers and belts to hang those daggers from. That was all she needed. That was all she had ever needed to survive.

Compared to a few months ago, when she had packed before leaving the island of Verdania, the major difference was that her leathers were made of a sturdier, more protective material. And, of course, she now had her panom magic.

The magic that caused a panomquake that almost destroyed the world when she became a panom and left her unconscious. The warning of the Core Cardinal in the conversation they had while Hope didn’t know whether she was dead or alive never fully left her mind.

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