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Hope

I t made no sense that the Fifth Judgment, the moment when they would present the crystal feathers to the five Cardinals to determine whether they were worthy of the Fifth Power or not, was here. Not in Thyria, the four-petal island the goddesses had created. Not in the Vessels, the undersea net that helped keep the land balanced.

No. The Fifth Judgment was here , in Orizane, the island created by a god of darkness and shadows not related to panom magic. Yet the Fifth Power was the extreme form of panom power.

There had to be an explanation Hope was missing, something she failed to understand.

It was impossible to know what the night would bring, what the Cardinals would have waiting for them. The only comfort was the weight of her multiple blades on their sheaths, and knowing she was not going alone.

A year ago, Hope would have thought relying on others was a sign of vulnerability and a liability to one’s survival. Her life had changed, though. She had changed.

Confronting adversity with people who would do anything for each other was not a weakness, but a strength. The greatest, most powerful strength.

Over the past hour, the usually loud and bubbly group of friends had become increasingly quieter. Now, a few minutes away from mouring to the place Stevian indicated, the silence in the living room could be cut in half.

Indianna, Sasha, and Brendon sat together on a couch, the former tapping a nervous finger on her leg, the middle one curling and uncurling her already curled curls, Brendon combing his blond hair more times than were necessary. Nina held Raoul’s hand, and she didn’t take her worried eyes off Ayla, who paced up and down and up again. Lenna sat on Jake’s lap, her red waves covering her face as she leaned on his shoulder as he stroked her back distractedly, his silver eyes narrowed and focused on a spot in the wall. Arabella was nowhere to be seen, but no one seemed to miss her. Who Hope was impatiently missing still wasn’t here, and it was after the fifth time rearranging her daggers on her belt and the second time re-braiding her two plaits that she decided to go look for him.

Hope didn’t question why her feet knew which way to turn, or why her body seemed to know where his was. She followed her instinct, and two corridors and a few closed rooms later, she found him.

“Ciaran,” she said.

His curtain of dark hair moved as he looked at the door, at her. His usually straight posture looked affected and . . . Was his jaw trembling? He held a wooden frame with both hands, tightly, as if he’d fall if he let go of it.

“What’s the matter?” she asked, frowning, walking towards him and putting a hand on his metallic one.

“I think I know who this is,” he whispered, his voice shaking as much as his hand as he lifted the photography of a family of four members so Hope could see.

Her eyes widened. She thought she knew, too. She knew the blue eyes of one of the little girls in the picture like her own heartbeat. Which made Stevian—

“I think he is my grandfather, Hope.”

There were so many feelings to unpack, so many questions to ask, so many things to discuss, so many answers to get—and yet, that truth was irrevocable. Her own eyes glittering, her arms surrounded his chest, and she gave him a tight hug that he welcomed as if it was the first breath of his life.

When Hope and Ciaran returned to the living room, Lenna sighed. “Why so many weapons, Hope? You’re making me feel empty-handed.”

“Call it a comfort thing.”

“Sure. You’re not planning on killing any birds tonight, are you?” Lenna’s side smile with a cocked eyebrow was dangerous.

Hope chuckled. “I’m planning on getting the Fifth Power tonight, trouble-seeker. Are we going?”

Lenna stood up in a jump, a hand on her hip as the other flicked the mass of red hair back. “For once and once only, I’m not going to make any theatrics with goodbyes, okay?” Lenna’s tone was matter of fact and take-no-shit at the same time. “There is no reason to be overly dramatic. We go, you get the Fifth Power, I tell the Cardinals off a bit, we come back. End of.”

Hope smiled. “And then I will destroy the Organ Mandor, and we’ll live in peace forever after.”

“He killed my mother, too, and amputated my arm trying to get rid of my courtrade blood, I remind you,” Ciaran added, clenching and unclenching his metallic hand. “Share his death. Don’t be greedy.”

“ Our father tortured me during childhood and for centuries of my life, and I saw him torture Lenna in front of my eyes. Surely you can spare half his head for me to have fun with, sister?” Jake winked.

Hope grinned. It was the first time Jake called her ‘sister’. “I’ll have a think.”

“We moure, then?” Ayla asked.

“We moure.” Hope nodded. “To the Birthing Pit of Blackness in the Veiled Mountains of Orizane.”