Chapter 41
Lenna
After a brief visit to the courtrades’ quarters to gather intelligence, Hope and Ciaran arrived back at the safehouse. Their faces were grave, their black leathers concealing limbs that held a new level of tension that wasn’t there before.
“Over five hundred citizens dead in the past twenty-five hours,” Ciaran said, meeting every face in the room. The numbers landed like stones.
Lenna felt the blood in her veins turn to burning iron.
“The Queen sent me a warning, threatening ink, and she’s fulfilling it.
It read, No more games. No more souls alive until you die.
” Hope shared the memorized ink aloud. “Followed by another message, not to me, but to her beasts: Sangins, sons of my fallen blood—attack any living creature that breathes. My order is murder.”
There was a silence so heavy it felt like pressure at the back of the lungs. Lenna’s jaw clenched until it hurt. “She’s doing it,” she said. “She’s keeping her promise.”
Ciaran’s face went hard. “On another note,” he continued.
“When Hope told the citizens to stand down weeks ago, they did. They thought they were safe. Then, recently, the sangins came to their homes. Their families were slaughtered before some of them could even grab a stick. Courtrades reported citizens are now taking weapons, but not nearly enough.”
“We can’t afford obedience now,” Jake added. “Fear held them still for a while. But Thyria and this war need more than frightened farmers with pitchforks.”
“I ordered my second and third in command to send my courtrades everywhere,” Ciaran explained, shadows tightening around his ankles.
“Every shadow wielder—every single one—forward. To protect citizens, break up sangin packs, shepherd people to safe zones. All courtrade hands will be on deck until we deal with the Queen.”
Hope and Ciaran stepped forward, towards the map of Corentre on the table, and began to thread the plan in the center of the room; two leaders slipping into the same space and filling it with rhythm.
Hope’s first action was public and absolute: she would stop the obedience that had killed so many. Her ink went to every Thyrian citizen.
Followed by a second one:
Then, to the panoms specifically, Hope sent a different message. As Lenna read the Cardinal-red ink on her own forearm, right underneath where Jake’s scarred ink would permanently read, she appreciated Hope’s measure.
“Our people need our magic and our protection,” Lenna read aloud. “If there ever was a time to fight for a future worth living, it is now. Gather. Shield the weak. Send magic where lives burn. We stand together.”
“How do we attack?” Jake asked bluntly.
“The Cardinal Queen might sit on my throne,” Hope said. “But the Organ House is my House. She cannot deny me entry.”
“So we knock politely?” Lenna cocked an eyebrow. “That seems dreadfully civilized.”
Jake Gave a detailed plan across the metal table—a map of the Organ House with the Cardinals’ Temple marked at the very heart.
“Four entries,” he said, pointing at each gate.
“One at each Cardinal point. The Temple sits in the middle, like the Core in our panom marks. The West gate is closest to the throne room. South and East gates feed into salons and interconnected suites—likely places for any prisoners or mind-molded roixers, including the Roix Reigner, to be billeted. If the Queen has kept them alive, they’ll probably be there. ”
“If any roixer tries to stop us, we kill them,” Hope said flatly. There was no debate in her tone.
“What about the North gate?” Ayla asked.
“Fastest route to the Cardinals’ Temple,” Jake said. “Also the most likely to be trapped.”
“Brilliant.” Lenna’s grin was dangerous. “So we split and conquer, and meet in the middle?”
“No.” Hope and Ciaran said together. Hope’s dark eyes flicked to the faces around the table. “That’s what she’d expect. We won’t split thin and decrease our chances of survival by increasing the risk. Who is coming?”
Hands rose—Lenna, Jake, Hope, Ciaran, Stevian—sparks and shadows answering to intent. Each pledge was an oath.
“Indianna?” Ciaran asked.
Indianna’s shoulders tightened. “Nina and I must stay here until the cure is brewed, and she drinks it. It’s very time-sensitive.”
Ciaran’s expression softened with a quick realization. “About time-sensitive matters, Indianna…When I was at the West House, I proposed you as heir to the West House. My father agreed.”
Indianna’s color shifted. “Me? I’ve never set foot on the West Petal.”
“You have the heart for it,” Ciaran said, determined. “You heal. You protect. You’re relentless. Plus, the Petal I donated to you was the West one. That’s more than enough. I trust you.”
Indianna’s glance slid to Nina, who had known and lived in the West, who held in her lean body the first instincts of a healer. Nobody had to speak the reason Nina had not been chosen out loud; they all felt the black answer.
“Ayla?” Hope asked. “Thoughts? You can wield the Fifth. We need you at the center.”
Ayla’s hand went to Nina’s.
“Promise me you won’t die,” Nina begged, her bottom lip trembling.
Ayla swallowed in silence.
“I don’t think I can live without you, Ayla,” Nina whispered, leaning on Ayla’s chest. “I don't think I want to.”
Ayla swallowed and pressed a kiss to Nina’s hair. “I promise I’ll see you again,” she whispered. The vow was small, fierce, private.
Lenna cleared her throat, feeling like she was intruding on a very intimate moment. “So—have we got everything?”
“Everything I ever wished for, and more,” Hope said, nodding. She lifted the Red and Lawful Stabs. “We have these. And we have us.”
“Not like you to be sentimental, Hope,” Lenna teased.
“It’s the truth. Three Fifth wielders—Jake, Ayla, and myself—who are also Rulers or Organ Mandor.
A badass panom, first and only to kill a Cardinal goddess.
The Darkness Commander and his army of courtrades, and the wisest, most experienced courtrade with us.
We are strong, and we are family. I am proud and honored to fight the final battle with you all. ”
“Who fucking knows what the Queen has under her feather-fucked sleeve,” Lenna muttered.
“We don’t,” Hope admitted. “So we’ll move, we’ll attack, we’ll pivot. And most of all—we will stay together. We will protect each other. We share one goal, and we will not stop until it’s done.”
The Organ Mandor looked around the room, at every face still alive.
“Everyone of us is breathing. Even the Cardinal Queen. It’s about time to change that.”