The wind kept guiding strands of her fire-red hair across her angry face, but she didn’t give a shit. All she wanted was to get out of the navia as soon as possible, no returns ever needed, please and fucking thank you. The crescent-shaped metal mass vehicles had allowed them to travel across the seas, fueled by the shadows reigned by the courtrades, most powerful at night, and by the Given wind of the panoms aboard.
Less than twenty beings—a mix of courtrades, panoms, and humans—had departed from Thyria on two navias a few weeks ago, wishing to return with the Fifth Power to kill the Organ Mandor, Rhei Coralt, and reestablish peace and fairness in their land.
The former Organ Mandor had been murdered at the hands of the five beings who hated him most, by his own Cardinal-cursed weapons. Ayla, Lenna, Jake, Ciaran, and Hope would never forget how the silver of his eyes lost its brightness as his rotten heart stopped beating when they stabbed it.
Now, they were returning to Thyria with an army of over two-hundred shadow-wielders, led by Ciaran Castel, in fifteen navias, as instructed by Llunal, the god of whispers and night that granted them their magic.
Ciaran, no longer dual-powered with panom and courtrade magic, had given up his panom powers to save the woman he loved from a promised death. But he was notjustany courtrade now. He was the strongest, the one they listened to and obeyed,the one they admired, the one who commanded the shadows as the sea commanded the waves.
It seemed Fate, that the strongest courtrade was in love with the strongest panom. Because it was Hope Nevada, the new Organ Mandor, bastard daughter of Rhei Coralt, the only female with Core panom blood in centuries, and the most ruthless, badass boss bitch Lenna had ever encountered, who was returning to the land she now ruled to sit on the throne of Thyria, which belonged to her.
That was the only positive of this journey. The rest was total, emotionally wrecking crap that hadn’t let Lenna sleep for days, and worry fucking not, her sleep deprivation was not doing any favors to her already foul mood.
A few weeks ago, the prospect of returning to Thyria after fighting for their lives to get the Fifth Power and killing the former Organ Mandor, had seemed like an exciting time for all. The reality was that other than Ciaran and Hope, the rest were in an apparent competition of who was more ruined. How on Terrha had they ended up in this mess?
“I’m worried about you keeping everything to yourself, Lenna.” The dark skin of her friend shone under the sun, her black curls dancing wildly with the sea breeze and her dark eyes bright under her frown. “If you want to talk, I’m here.”
Lenna sighed, trying to gather any patience and understanding her broken heart could put together. “It was horrible, Sasha. The things the goddesses did in the Fifth Judgment were worse than I could have imagined. It was…” Her eyes twitched, no more tears pouring, probably because none were left.
Sasha held her hand and pressed it tightly, giving Lenna the time she needed, as well as the opportunity to decide whether to talk now or later.
“Some goddesses are outrageous, soul-putrid beings.” Lenna’s upper lip curled as she tried to keep her anger from ripping her soul. “The North Cardinal took the eyes of my twin, Sasha. Her fuckingeyes, because they would look well in a necklace. And she did that—she bloody took Ayla’s green eyes, in front of Nina nonetheless, and hung them around her neck. The Cardinal was so smug and happy while my sister screamed in agony. My sister is never going to see anyone again. She will never admire the world around her, see the sun rise or the night fall, but hey, the North Cardinal has a new favorite jewel. How? Justhowcan the world be so fucked up?”
Sasha bit her bottom lip, silver lining her eyes as she said, “I’m so sorry, Lenna. It’s—there are no words for what that is.”
“And the East Cardinal…What she did to Jake—”
The East Cardinal had promised to kill every member of her own house, the East House, including its Ruler. All so Jake could become the Ruler of the East, because in the eyes of the twisted Cardinal, he was the purest, most deserving representation of Harming, which was the power of her Petal and her House. No one had ever been Harmed like him, the generosity of his now dead father, and no one could Harm like he did. By now, they were all dead, and Jake was indeed the new East Ruler.
What Lenna wasn’t ready to talk about was that the red, rotten winged female had also taken away Jake’s ability to love. She wasn’t ready to talk about how Jake hadn’t touched her, talked to her, or evenlookedat her since the Fifth Judgment.
“I feel broken and lonely. It hurts. It hurts too fucking much.” Her voice shook as tears wet her cheeks. Apparently, there were still tears to cry. She could not stop thinking about what to do with her life, and wanting to run as far as possible and as close as possible to the man she loved at the same time. He was here, in the same navia as her, and every time she thought about him,she felt overwhelmed by desperation, fear, and pain. So much pain.
It was impossible not to cry every time she thought about being apart from Jake, who had been there for her, cared for her, protected her and loved her—who couldn’t do this any longer.
“I understand, Lenna,” Sasha said, hugging her while Lenna sobbed uncontrollably. “Perhaps there is a way to undo what the Cardinal did. If there is, we will not stop until we find it. We will do this together. Together, Lenna, okay? You are not alone. I’m here for you. Anytime you need me, I’ll be there for you. I promise.”
Lenna couldn’t say thanks between the sobs that filled her mind, heart, and soul. So instead, she hugged her friend even tighter.
2
Hope
The red moon shone bright in a star-filled dark sky, as if the Cardinals and Llunal themselves were witnessing the fifteen navias and their passengers arriving in Thyria.
Swirls of two hundred strong shadows surrounded the moon-shaped vehicles, products of the army of wielders aboard, pushing them closer and closer to the land of petals and panom magic.
The red-haired Brachyan twins, Ayla and Lenna, Hope’s step-brother Jake, the no-longer-panom but very-much-still-courtrade Ciaran, and Hope herself had left Thyria as fugitives,wanted by the military Roix, with their deaths promised by Hope and Jake’s own father.
They were returning as murderers, some of them with additional responsibilities, but amongst everything, they returned with the promise of a better future citizens, panoms and courtrades deserved.
Their titles had changed, and Hope was far from becoming familiar with her new role as the leader of House Rulers. One year ago, when she was killing other beings to survive day by day in Verdania, she would have never thought she’d carry this title on her shoulders. Perhaps her bastard blood had known she had been born to be the Organ Mandor of Thyria, but that didn’t make Hope any more ready to rule a nation.
She was twenty-five years old, experienced in killing and death, in survival and fighting, in relentlessness and resilience, perseverance and never giving up, but that was it. She was inexperienced in absolutely everything else.
The Cardinals hadn’t picked the best candidate; Hope didn’t have any trace of doubt about it, yet she had sworn she would try her best to advocate for the voices of the living beings she now governed. Even if the easiest, most efficient way to get things done was with blades. If someone misbehaved, she could either pierce their eyelids with daggers or hang them by their balls from the wall. That much, she could do.
But representing an entire society, advocating for their voices, using communication, fairness and patience? That was surreal. The knot in her chest tightened with the pressure of the biggest task the goddesses had wrongly picked for her. She was not made for this.
