Page 6 of Petals for Deadly Power

Hope and Ayla sat next to each other in an awkward silence since the cheerful white-haired female had left to check in on her brother next door. Hope would never understand how Nina could be so talkative and look like she enjoyed talking at the same time.

Hope found both things equally exhausting and totally draining, especially when she was in groups, which was often the case while they were secluded inside this house.

Living a quarter of a century in the peaceful woods of Verdania with the sole company and presence of her mother was not the best preparation for when one started living in wider society from one day to the other.

“This is delicious, Ayla,” Hope said, putting the fork with cranberry tart on her plate. “I’m going to check if Nina is okay.”

That was a good enough excuse to go get some air. It wasn't a lie. She would check in on Nina, right after taking a few deep breaths on the patio. She needed air and clarity of mind to recharge her social energy long enough to make it until the end of dinner without feeling overwhelmed.

The scent of jasmine hit her as soon as she stepped outside, and a smile spread across Hope’s face. She walked to the jasmine plants covering the walls and stayed there, inhaling in the nature and exhaling the crap that her mind struggled with.

She could do this. Of course she could. Feeling overwhelmed had never stopped her before.Nothinghad ever stopped her before, but she truly wanted to get to know these people. From the science-related obsessions of Sasha to Jake’s sarcastic comments; from the intelligent yet quiet eyes of Ciaran to Lenna’s wishes for an equal and just world, where all beings’ lives are respected and valued fairly.

Hope gritted her teeth as a slicing pain made her arm twitch involuntarily.

She didn’t need to look at her now blood-dripping inner forearm to know who had sent her an inked message.

Again.

At this point, Hope knew his handwriting by heart.

When panom beings sent inks, the words of their written messages had the color of their panom magic, the same color of their sparks and the panom mark on their skin.

But this wasn’t the case.

Rhei Coralt, the Organ Mandor of the Organ House, and Hope and Jake’s father, had been sending herbleedinginks. Inks that cut through her skin and didn’t vanish for hours. The reason Hope did not wear short-sleeved tops anymore and only wore clothes that were between the range of very black and utterly dark.

For the sole purpose of not having a soaked shirt, she pulled her left sleeve up and patted the drops of blood with one of the black tissues she now always carried with her.

She had tried not to read his ink messages while cleaning them, but that proved to be very messy and not as easy as she might have expected. Right now, the bleeding ink on her arm read:

Herdaughter, as if Hope wasn’t also his own daughter. Bastard daughter, perhaps, but daughter all the same.

Ironic, that he who had broken her mother’s heart twice dared to mention it.

Rhei Coralt didn’t have the slightest idea of the many ways Hope was planning to slice him.

Impatience riled Hope as she and her not-dripping-anymore-but-still-sore arm walked to Raoul’s room.

Of course, her father wanted to bait her to come out of hiding and confront him now. But she would not be hiding for the rest of her life. She only needed to get the Fifth Power first to stand a chance against her father.

The young man with ocean-blue eyes standing next to Nina resembled her so much that no one could miss they were brother and sister. Raoul was taller than Nina, and his white hair had a couple of black streaks coming from his temple.

“You’re looking good, Raoul,” Hope said, walking towards his side to offer an arm as Nina was helping support him from the other. “First time standing?”

“First time, indeed.” His voice was less weak than the last time Hope heard him.

“Are you coming to join dinner?”

“If I make it that far,” his voice lacked the confidence that Nina’s encouraging nod had.

Hope surreptitiously moved her spare hand to send her red ink to Ciaran, Indianna, and Ayla, the ones more likely to act quickly and without making the fuss that Raoul surely wanted to avoid.

The chatter coming from the living room stopped for long enough to let Hope murmur, “Shit.”

Of course, making three out of seven people look at their inked forearms at the same time hadn’t been the best strategic decision of her life. Of course, the short-lived silence was followed by multiple chairs dragged in a rush, and a louder, more energetic and approaching chatter.

And, in a matter of seconds, multiple people appeared at the doorway simultaneously. Mainly people standing, with Lenna already sitting on Jake’s shoulders to get a better view, Sasha pushing Brendon to the side with a bit too much elbow, and Ciaran not lasting long inside the tight crowd before he moured next to Raoul and supported him from behind.

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