TEMPORARY MATES PERMANENT CRAVINGS novel Chapter 248

a hundred and forty count

Two hundred and forty eight

Lisa POV

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The corridor opened into a chamber surrounded by rows of steps. Hundreds of women filled the room. Even with that many people, nobody raised their voice. I noticed the ribbons stitched into their crimson sashes.

Most of the older women wore black, the younger wore silver.

Victoria spotted me and waved. I waved back.

“Go sit with her,” Cassidy said. “I’ll come back for you.”

I watched her leave before making my way over.

“Lucky you,” Victoria whispered. “They’re breaking protocol because of you.”

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

“You should still be under observation,” she said with a chuckle. “I’ve been here a month, and my initiation isn’t even happening anytime soon.”

“Oh.”

She smiled.

“No hard feelings. You’ve made quite an impression.”

“I’m not sure that’s a good thing.”

“Depends how you look at it. At least your man hasn’t deteriorated into Dominion, spat in your face, and almost killed you.”

I looked down at my hands.

“I’m just a surrogate,” I said.

The words sounded weak, but Victoria didn’t argue. She watched a woman in crimson walk past us. I broke the silence.

“Why are they delaying your initiation? Shouldn’t they bring you in too, if they want to pull your husband out of Dominion?”

“They wouldn’t move you ahead of protocol unless your case was more serious.”

Her eyes dropped to my stomach. “And we don’t want you to lose the baby.”

I nodded. Across the chamber, Joanna stood with several other women. Nothing about the way she dressed set her apart. No special sash or symbol of authority.

“Those are the Thorns,” Victoria said.

She told me how the sect began with a queen whose husband wanted her wealth, her influence, and the loyalty of her people. When he had everything, he accused her of witchcraft and sentenced her to burn.

My stomach tightened.

“Did she make it?”

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tube) and Forty exit

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Victoria nodded and pointed toward the podium. A dried rose rested inside a glass case.

“When the flames died, the queen walked out. She left the palace, found eleven women who’d each survived betrayal, picked a single rose, and gave one petal to each of them.”

She looked at the rose.

“Beautiful things survive by bleeding first.”

I stared at the petals behind the glass.

I’d heard those words before.

“They aren’t a sisterhood built on friendship,” Victoria continued. “They’re built on survival. If you’re looking for comfort, you’ve come to the wrong place. But if you’re looking for people who’ll stand beside you after the world decides your life no longer matters, then welcome.”

I let out a slow breath.

Cassidy returned and led me through another corridor into a preparation room where folded crimson sashes rested on a wooden table. Several women changed without speaking. She picked up one of the sashes and handed it to me.

Changing around my stomach took more effort than I liked. When I stepped out, Cassidy knelt and stitched a white ribbon into the hem of my sash.

“What does that mean?” I asked.

She tied the final knot.

“Petals are initiates. Those with silver, like me, are thorns, and those with black, like Joanna, are roots.”

I looked down at the ribbon. “So what do petals do?”

She stood and checked her stitching.

“They observe. They don’t vote, hold meetings, or enter restricted chambers. They learn.”

“For how long?”

“Usually three years. After two years, they can vote.”

“So we don’t carry most of the work?”

She rolled her eyes.

I didn’t need her to answer. But I eventually found out that the thorns, sponsors like Cassidy, carried most of the work and served only their own chapter houses. The roots, like Joanna, decided which secrets stayed buried and which were brought into the light.

Cassidy set a sealed wooden box on the table.

“Your earrings, your footwear, and your watch go in here.”

My stomach tightened. They’d already told me phones weren’t allowed, but I always wore my smartwatch in case I needed help.

I slipped off my watch, my earrings, and the elastic from my hair. Cassidy closed the lid.

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od hundred and forty nigh

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The stone bit into my bare feet.

I had come here to be saved. But what happened after? Would they really let me leave when this was over?

“The oath comes first,” Cassidy said as she unfolded a strip of crimson cloth. “You swear freely. No one can force the words from you.”

I joined the other initiates and raised my right hand.

We swore to keep the Order’s secrets, stand beside the women beside us, protect what had been entrusted to us, and prove our loyalty through our actions.

The words barely left my mouth.

I closed my eyes.

My baby.

Cameron.

My mother.

My brother.

I held onto each of them as I spoke.

Cassidy unfolded a black silk veil. My chest tightened as she lowered it over my head.

Darkness closed around me. I reached for the fabric, but her hand slapped mine away.

“Stop it. You’re not a child.”

I let my hand fall.

Two women took hold of the weighted edges of the veil. The others had only one guide. Maybe they gave me two because I was pregnant.

The weight kept the silk against my face. I couldn’t see where they were leading me. I walked because they pulled me forward.

A lock clicked and wood creaked open.

“What do you surrender tonight?”

The voice wasn’t Cassidy’s or Joanna’s.

“My certainties and my loyalty.”

Silence.

“Step forward.”

The women guided me through.

Another door, another voice.

“What do you seek?”

The answer caught in my throat.

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Ay hintarod and forty might

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“I want this child to live. I want to live. And I want Cameron.”

The words made me flinch. ‘d never admitted that last one.

“You don’t save the child,” an older woman said. “You claim the child. The child belongs to you.”

My throat tightened.

“Yes.”

They led me on. Nearby, pages turned. Someone opened a ledger and placed a pen in my hand.

The veil lifted. Sweat ran into my eyes, and a black ledger waited in front of me.

“Write.”

My hand moved before I could think.

My child.

The veil dropped again.

Another doorway, then light.

I blinked against it.

Mirrors covered every wall. Every reflection showed the same woman. Barefoot, pregnant, and wrapped in

crimson.

The women stood behind me in a silent circle. No one looked away.

Joanna stepped forward with a fresh crimson rose. She placed it in my hand.

“Repeat after me.”

“I leave my old loyalties at the door.”

I repeated her.

“I will hold what is beautiful even when it bleeds me.”

I repeated that too.

She smiled.

“Now squeeze.”

I looked at the thorns, then I closed my hand.

One thorn drove into my palm. Then another. Warm blood slid between my fingers and fell onto the stone.

I waited. Nothing changed. I was still me.

Joanna took the rose from my hand.

“It is done. Lead her away.”

Cassidy led me outside. She helped me fasten my sandals and handed back the wooden box.

“Is that all?” I whispered.

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wa handwd and only eight

She tightened the buckle.

“The ceremony didn’t change you. Your choices will.”

P

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hundred and forty mann

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Two hundred and forty nine

Evangeline POV

The silence from everyone, including my handler, unsettled me.

The Meridian had lost faith in my ability to bring Cameron to Dominion, but that had never stopped them from dragging me into meetings held in different locations at odd hours of the night. Now days had passed without a single message.

I reached out to my handler myself. We sat across from each other in the coffee shop where we usually met. I slid a folder across the table, every report from the last seven days arranged inside.

“We’re making progress,” I said with a smile. “His episodes are getting worse. He depends on me again.”

She didn’t touch the folder.

I glanced at it, then back at her.

“His sister and friends think he’s getting better, but he isn’t.”

She kept staring at me.

“I’ve also noticed…”

“Stop.”

Her voice stayed flat.

“The Meridian doesn’t measure effort. It measures results.”

“I know.”

“Do you?” She raised a brow. “Months have passed. Your target is still resisting, and you’re sitting here trying to convince me that you’re close.”

“But I am trying.”

A harsh chuckle escaped her.

“Trying doesn’t matter. He reaches Dominion, or you fail.”

My grip tightened around the edge of the chair.

“It’s taken longer than the Meridian allows. You should be grateful you’re still alive.” Her gaze stayed on me, never reaching the folder. “Stop dressing failure up as progress.”

“I wasn’t. These are reports.”

“I don’t need them.”

I looked at the folder between us.

The Meridian had always dismissed me whenever it suited them. She never had. She was the only person I could go to, even after my own mother made it clear the Meridian came before me. Now she looked at me like she’d already decided I wasn’t worth listening to.

“Have I done something wrong?”

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