Chapter 40
Hope
As Hope moured Ciaran and her from the West House to the safehouse, she realized this would be the last time entering Corentre before she claimed her throne, before she claimed her island.
The Badassery Suite had been turned into a modern war council chamber, and Hope’s heart thrummed with excitement at the sight of an enlarged four-dimensional map of the city on the metal table, with the Cardinals’ Temple inside the Organ House at its very center.
“Hi there, you two,” Lenna shouted, crossing the room in two strides and giving a tight hug to Ciaran and Hope at the same time. Her golden eyes locked on Hope’s. “I was just missing you, boss. We need a plan.”
Jake was right behind Lenna, and Hope made a conscious effort not to lift her eyebrows. His arms were covered in navy ink, in patterns too precise to be accidental or coincidental.
“Don’t we just,” Ciaran said, nodding, getting closer to the table, sending shadow trails in every direction in the apartment to gather the others.
Ayla entered the Badassery Suite decisively and in no rush. Her steps were firm, definite. Her composure was one of a Ruler. “Welcome back,” she said with a hint of a smile. Her metal eyes locked on each of them, as if she could sense exactly where and who they were.
Lenna exhaled deeply, her lips curved in a heartfelt smile, her hands on her hips as she looked at Ciaran, Hope, Jake, Ayla. “I thought I didn’t like family reunions, but maybe I was wrong all my life. It’s so nice to see all of you here together—alive. I missed you all.”
“Is this what a family reunion is like? It feels so…right,” Hope said quietly, her heart beating warmly, feeling full, and safe.
“I think so,” Lenna said with a distracted nod.
“Oh, I almost forgot.” Her hands went to the sheaths on her waist belt.
The fire-haired twin pressed the Red and Black Lawful Stabs into Hope’s hands.
“Sorry I asked so desperately for them,” she said, half-grinning, half-weary.
“And thanks for lending them. They were very bloody helpful.”
The blades sang at Hope’s touch—thrumming against both her metallic and biological palms, hissing as if relieved to be home. Hope chuckled, clenching her fists tight around the hilts. If only the blades could feel what she wanted to use them for next.
Hope couldn’t stop assessing Lenna, who seemed way more herself than when she had left the safehouse. That seemed a lifetime ago.
“You asked for them?” Hope frowned. “When?”
Jake spoke before Lenna could answer, placing a hand over Lenna’s. “Forgot to tell you Hope was dead when I moured to her. So I just took the blades.”
“You died?” Lenna’s eyes snapped back to Hope. Then, sharply to Jake. “And you forgot to tell me that?”
Jake raised one eyebrow. “I was a bit too busy dying myself, remember? I saw Hope flat on the ground, covered in sangins, and the East Cardinal was going to kill you in my House if you didn’t kill her first, but you needed the damn Stabs to do that. There wasn’t much time for explanations.”
“So Hope dying was the first panomquake, Jake’s death the second, and the East Cardinal the third,” Ayla said flatly. “The third was something out of this world.”
“Because the third separated the East Petal from Thyria.” Lenna grinned, fluttering her eyelashes. “Sorry, not sorry.”
“Fuck off,” Ayla muttered. But a smile tugged at her voice. “That’s hilarious.”
Hope’s brow pinched for a heartbeat, then eased. “It’s fine. We’ll build something so citizens can still travel through and move from the Core to the Petal. What happened to the East piece of heart?”
“Destroyed,” Jake said with a wry smile. “The Fifth was…interesting to use.”
“And you didn’t let us know?” Ayla asked.
He smirked, arm coiling around Lenna’s waist. “I was too busy staring at my woman and holding her in my arms.”
“I understand,” Hope replied softly, her eyes landing on Ciaran’s before looking at her half-brother and the woman sitting on his lap. “Congratulations on resuscitating—and being able to love again.”
“And congratulations on those eternity rings you wear,” Ciaran added, bowing his head. Hope had noticed the ink marks on their thumbs, but didn’t click they were rings. Eternity rings.
“Thank you,” Lenna said. Her grin carried a light Hope had never seen shine from her before.
“Too busy planning an eternity together to remember a Queen,” Ayla sighed. “Fair enough. Everyone is here now. That’s what matters.”
Lenna winked at Hope. “Fancy new hand, Mandor. Bet you can do all sorts of dirty things with that.”
Hope chuckled. “Such as making a mess when killing the black Cardinal sitting on my throne? So dirty.”
Her humor died the instant she turned to the new arrival at the door and saw Nina.
Hope’s chest clenched. A single thin strand of white still shone through Nina’s hair. The rest was drowned in ink-black. One of her pupils, always pure ocean-blue, was inked in black.
Hope clenched her jaw as Nina hugged her, and then Ciaran.
“Sorry I’m late,” Nina said, smiling softly, with a tinge of sadness in her voice.
“Yes, sorry,” Indianna said as she entered the room, followed by Stevian, who went straight to hug his grandson and Hope. “The timing of trying the formula was important.”
Cardinals, Indianna looked disheveled and drained, both physically and emotionally. Her black bob was no longer a bob, but a black mass of hair sitting on her shoulders. Her dark eyes had very dark bags underneath. Her skin was pale and dry. Even her loose clothes couldn’t hide how thin she was.
“How did that go?” Ayla asked with a whisper, almost holding her breath.
Indianna bit her bottom lip as her eyes shone bright, tears threatening to release. Hope could see in Nina’s non-white hair exactly how it had gone.
“It was a very close call,” Nina said reassuringly, placing a hand across Indianna’s shoulders. “The next formula is the one, I am convinced. It looks so special, fizzing and glowing. The Fifth knows the best is always saved for last.”
“It can’t be much longer until that cure stabilizes,” Indianna sighed, no doubt forcing calm and serenity into her voice. “The last few dried petals need to merge with the solution of ink and sparks.”
Hope nodded with confidence. There wasn’t a single second to waste. If that last cure didn’t work, there was one other way to stop Nina from drowning in blackness.
By finishing the existence of the source of blackness.
“Then let’s plan a murder.”