Page 110 of Eternal Ruin

Adjoa’s thin fingers curled on the table. “You betrayed your own brother. Didn’t even give him a chance to explain.”

Mikhail sighed deeply. “I saw him, Adjoa. With my own eyes. He murdered them.”

Acid pooled in Kidan’s mouth. She didn’t want to hear about this anymore.

Adjoa’s chair screeched back, her voice shaking with anger. “There is no reviving the Dirt Diggers. It is filled with traitors.”

She turned and left. Kidan was out of her chair instantly, hurrying after her. She couldn’t let this fall apart. She had come too fucking far.

The door chimed and the evening breeze nipped at her.

“Wait!”

Kidan crossed over the cobblestone path, barely missed by a speeding car. Adjoa walked the curb of the park with her hands in her pockets.

Her breath formed clouds before her. Kidan ran in front of her. “If you didn’t want me to revive this group, why tell me about my parents?”

Sprinkles of rain caught in her wrapped-up curls. “You deserve to know their legacy.”

“Then help me now,” Kidan urged, stepping closer. “You know the 13th want my house position. Three houses have already voted against me. I can’t fight them by myself. I need all your votes. Why can’tyoulet this go?”

In the fanned wave of the lamplight, Adjoa’s features changed between hard stone and emotion. “You’ve been to the Arcane Tower. You’re meant to find your love, but your eyes keep sliding to him. Always searching for Susenyos.”

Kidan shifted uncomfortably. “I don’t know what you mean.”

A sad smile formed on her lips, before it smoothed out. “I know the love that comes with vampires. It is a ruinous thing.”

The picture of Daric and a younger Adjoa on the Graduate Portal slid before Kidan’s eyes. They were smiling broadly, not touching, but there had been… something. The way Daric’s body turned toward her, to protect, leaning in like she was his main source of warmth, a silent intimacy.

“You and Daric… were together,” Kidan said, confirming her suspicion.

Adjoa’s eyes were hard, but it was as if she didn’t see Kidan as she spoke. “I loved him. I knew I wasn’t supposed to. I knew choosing him would mean forsaking my legacy, leaving Uxlay.”

Her sadness choked the air, bleeding into Kidan in a way she didn’t expect.

“But I couldn’t leave the only home I ever knew. My family, my brothers and sisters. So I tried. I tried year after year to go to the Arcane Tower and fall for a human boy. I still try because marriage and a child is the only way to secure a legacy.”

Kidan’s eyes fell. She didn’t want to feel close to these people. All she had wanted was a deal. A contract.

But not for the first time, Uxlay’s protective walls morphed into a gilded cage. She wondered: If every acti was this miserable, why did they stay?

Why did her mother?

“Your mother saved me back then. She welcomed me with a warm smile. Gave me hope. We could break the binds so vampires could drink on all humans. We wouldn’t bear the responsibilities of birthing children vampires could feed off. Both Osa and Mikhail had their own reasons for joining.”

Nostalgia lingered in the words.

“You were friends,” Kidan said.

“Of course we were.” She shook her head. “I replay that night till this day. Every second and every moment, trying to figure out what went wrong. Daric took me to the orchestra. He escorted me back, and we walked under those lamps. He walked me to my room, and said,See you soon.I went to sleep. Two hours later, Uxlay’s alarm was raised. Even before I knew what happened, my body wouldn’t leave the bed. I let the emergency alarm ring around me, wishing it away, calling for him. He didn’t answer. Then news of the murder broke out. But I knew his heart and he would never do such a thing.”

It took Kidan a long time to speak, staring at the pain in the woman. The tangle of webs spun around the families made it difficult to trust anyone. Their history ran deep, steeped in too many betrayals to ever heal.

Help me. Kidan couldn’t help but speak to her mother for the first time.How do I fix all this?

“What would my mother do in this position?” Kidan asked, searching the woman’s eyes. “How would she fix this?”

Adjoa’s intelligent amber eyes lingered on her for a long time, then looked away. “You won’t like it.”