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Lenna

H er golden eyes widened when Ciaran’s ink tickled her skin.

Four ordeals finished, four successful strivers, four crystal feathers achieved. One left to go. Her fucking one left to go.

“You’re quiet,” said Jake.

“Good news.” Lenna sighed. “Ciaran got it.”

Jake lifted his eyebrow, the corner of his lips curling upwards. “Don’t be too excited about it.”

Lenna covered her eyes with cool, almost numb hands. “Cardinals, I am happy—Am I happy? I’m happy for him, for us, for getting closer to getting the Fifth Power. But I’m not excited one fucking bit about my ordeal.”

“I wouldn’t say I was exactly happy about mine.”

“I doubt Hope, Ayla, and Ciaran were either. But—fuck, I just have such a horrible gut feeling about it.”

Jake’s silver eyes stared into her golden ones. “You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to.”

Lenna snorted. “Sure, and make this whole Fifth crusade a failure. Not only that but also lose the chance to kill the Organ Mandor.” They would never stand a fucking chance against the main Ruler of Thyria without the Fifth Power. “Ciaran got the West, Healing feather of his House. Ayla the North, Giving feather from our House. You got the East, Harming feather, and fuck, the East Cardinal point-blank told you that you would make a better Ruler of her Petal. Hope got the Core feather.” She pursed her lips, a hand on her waist. “Of course I will fucking do my ordeal. I’m not a rotten quitter.”

“Which is precisely why I love you.”

Lenna bit her bottom lip, trying to keep a serious face with all her might in the most unsuccessful way. “That, and because I’m the Sovereign Ruler of your hea—”

Jake’s hand was covering her mouth before she could finish her sentence. “Shut that pretty mouth, sweet fire.”

Lenna grinned against his palm, and then she bit. Not hard, not deep, just enough to make a man remove his hand. But, of course, Jake didn’t fucking remove his hand, of course his smile widened, his eyes darkening a few shades of grey.

“Wild like that golden cat of yours, are you?” He chuckled, freeing her mouth, his hand lingering on her fire-colored hair, playing with it.

Lenna opened her hand, and her golden sparks appeared, the shape of the lynx cub forming next to her. The wide eyes of the beautiful animal observed Jake and her with a half-interested look before she went to a corner to lick her paw. Such an accurate can’t-be-arsed-with-these-pair representation.

“Don’t be an asshole. She’s a lynx .”

Jake blinked. “Cat, lynx. Same thing. Does she have a name?”

Of course she hadn’t picked a damned name yet for the animal who now growled. “Lover, boyfriend, partner—same thing.”

“What did you just say?” His grey eyes narrowed, his hand putting a few strands of her hair behind her ear.

Her eyebrows lifted. “Deaf like a Cardinal post, are you?”

“Lenna Brachyan, you just called me your partner. ”

She put a finger on her lips, pretending to think. “I don’t think I did, did I? Maybe I meant lover, you know, all the fucking and that. But I guess it doesn’t truly matter. It’s all the same thing .” She tilted her head, frowning, demanding explanations.

“You’re wickedly and deliciously exasperating.” The way his voice was low as he pinned his stare on her lips made Lenna want to devour him, to get lost in him— with him. “When you say partner, what exactly do you mean?”

She stroked his bottom lip with her thumb. “That you better not let anyone else in your ruthless heart and you better not put your precious cock anywhere else, Jake, because I’m so deeply in love with you, I would burn the world down if that happened. I want you all for myself.”

He inhaled deeply, his hands trailing down until he held the small of her back. “A burning, raging fire.” His hands went lower and lower until they cupped her ass. “ My burning, raging fire.” The way his strong fingers pressed against her cheeks made her core ache in need of more. “My heart is yours, and my cock—worry not, for I will ruin that lush pussy of yours until the very last of our days together. There is no one else I’d rather spend my days—my life—with. I can be your partner and your lover. For you, I can be it all.”