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10

Lenna

I t didn’t take Ciaran long to moure to the courtrades’ Thyrian quarters and convince their leader to come to the Crystal Clear Safehouse.

Funny, that shadow-wielders were real, and Lenna had never known of their existence until a few weeks ago. Not funny, that the courtrades somehow managed to stay under the radar of the military Roix and the Houses’ Rulers. Except when Brendon regularly informed the courtrades had attacked certain areas in different Petals. None of them had failed to notice the courtrades’ attacks were more frequent as days passed by.

Lenna followed the dark green sparks back to the living room. The man talking to Ciaran was dressed in utter black, his dark eyes focused, and a beard covering his face. It was not hard to imagine him wielding shadows. Even the way he moved, the way he walked . . . It looked as if the shadows of the room were dancing with him.

“Lenna Brachyan.” She offered her hand, tilting her head slightly backwards, and shook his vigorously. “And you are?”

“Marcus Olanett from Orizane. Honored to meet you.”

Hope entered the room, and Lenna noticed she was wearing two thin daggers in belts around her thighs. Lenna suppressed a chuckle. She was now used to seeing Hope without her blades, but she would never forget the first time she had seen Hope, wearing fifteen of them, nor how she had thrown two daggers at Jake after introducing herself as the sister he had never heard of.

Marcus walked towards her and bowed his head, grabbing Hope’s hand and placing a kiss on her palm. The middle-aged man looked at the dark-haired young woman as if he owed her his breath and his life. Cardinals, the intensity .

Hope bowed her head and said, “I didn’t think I would see you so early, Marcus. How’s life in Thyria?”

“All fun and games.” His narrowed eyes followed Jake, who paced as if he owned the safehouse until he was behind Lenna. She liked it when Jake held her from behind. Whatever the reason, the courtrade leader didn’t look pleased to be in the same room as the son of the Organ Mandor.

It didn’t take long to get into the thick of why Marcus was here. In fact, it took exactly two sentences from Hope.

“We were wondering how your floating vehicles work. We need to use them.”

Marcus looked at Ciaran with a furrowed brow. “Spilling courtrades’ secrets, are we, now?” Ciaran didn’t reply, and his marked jaw was warning enough. Marcus faced Hope as he said, “My floating vehicles are blessed by Llunal and all his stars, therefore his shadows move them only at night.”

“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.

“When Llunal keeps 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 ever easy in 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 a very intense 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.