Chapter 952 - THE SCENT OF CITRUS

"Hope?" Lilac whispered the other guardian angel's name when she opened her eyes and saw her standing in front of her.

Lilac didn't realize it until Hope helped her to stand up that she was sitting on the floor made of white tiles, yet everything was white in here, even the walls… no, actually Lilac was unsure whether there was a divider around her.

This place was plain white and there was nothing she could see except that one particular color.

"Hope, where are we?" Lilac asked her, looking around her with unconcealed confusion in her eyes.

Hope smiled softly. "I don't really know what to call this place, but I could say that this place is mine," she said firmly. For some reason, Hope was sure what she said was right. This place belonged to her.

She didn't know when she started to realize it, but she just knew it.

"You know, like I own this realm," Hope added, she waved her hand toward her surroundings and smiled shyly for talking so bold.

Lilac raised her eyebrows. She knew that there were many realms and she assumed, this realm that Hope was talking about was akin to the realm that belonged to those shadow guards.

The shadow guards had the ability to create a shadow realm that just belonged to them alone, but it depended on the ability of that person and not something that could be achieved by every single shadow guard.

"Wow." Lilac was lost for words. "You have improved greatly."

Hope smiled wryly. "I think our situation now required us to finally tap into our power. And this is something we have since the very beginning, right? We just need to feel it and find the right path."

"And I guess this war and our mates' crazyness have forced us to do what is best," Lilac murmured. "Do you know what the Donovans had done?" She was not sure if Hope had already knew about it, though she was reluctant to be the one to reveal this to her fellow guardian angel, yet the latter must know about this matter too.

To her relief, Hope nodded her head and said sadly. "I just got to know about it and one second I'm in the middle of my argumentation with Kace about that crazy plan he and his brothers were following, and the next moment, I am here." 

Lilac looked around her, even though she didn't voice it out for Hope to hear, but the latter could see that she was still not convinced and worried even.

"It's okay, this is not my first time being here, in the past I will be in this state whenever I talked with Kace, his innerself," Hope said, holding Lilac's hand and started strolling around in light steps.

"Innerself?" Lilac repeated those words. "What happened to us then?"

Hope shrugged her shoulders. "We are only souls here, while our bodies…" She thought about it for a moment, to think about the right words to say. "I think we are in unconscious state right now."

Lilac stared at Hope and then laughed heartily. "I wonder what Jedrek's expression would be now when he saw me lose consciousness all of a sudden in the middle of our fight."

The moment she said that, she could already imagine how panicked her mate would be and then she laughed triumphantly, as if she had won some kind of battle.

This place sure was strange, but in a good way.

This place gave a positive aura and made her tensed nerves calm down. These past few days after they arrived at Reika, they were not in good situation which made her feel a little bit stressed out.

"Me too," Hope chuckled. "Kace would be freaked out by now."

And then both of them laughed heartily. The two guardian angels were in good mood, it was really good to be able to laugh like this after all they had been through.

The atmosphere here was totally the opposite to whatever was happening out there, it felt like Lilac could stay in this place for days, yet the moment their laugh died down, they knew there were many things that they have to do.

"Where is Raine? Why don't you call her?" Lilac realized that Raine was not with them, it was impossible for Hope to leave out Raine if she could bring her here.

Hope frowned. "I have tried to reach her, but I just can't do that." From the crease between her brows, Lilac could see that this matter bothered her.

"What happened?" she asked and prayed this was not some other problem again. They already have enough on their plates now.

"I just can't reach her…" Hope murmured and then shifted her attention toward Lilac. "I am afraid this has something to do with the thing that I saw in her."

"What is it?" Lilac found herself frowning too. What did Hope see in Raine that made her anxious?

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Raine was staring at Hope when Sybil and Belinda, along with two other healers came to check over Hope's condition.

"Let's go back," Torak said softly, he hoped that Raine's anger had receded as she spent the past few hours worrying about Hope, but from the look on her face, he could tell that she was just holding back her emotions and protests, since this was not the right time for them to talk about it. "They are trying to do what they can do and if this is not the first time for Hope to become like this, then it is only a matter of time before she regain her consciousness again."

That was Torak's conclusion, though it made some sense, Kace wouldn't want to hear such lame statement without base.

That was understandable, because if Raine was in Hope's condition now, he wouldn't listen to himself too.

"I hope you are right," Raine sighed deeply and then looked at Torak with a tired expression. "But, I want to stay here," she insisted.

"Raine…" Torak was about to argue with his mate, when he smelled her scent, the citrus scent that shouldn't be there. How could she be here?!

Torak whipped his head toward the direction of that scent and saw her walking through the door with light steps, as if this was her own room.