Page 111 of Eternal Ruin

“That’s fine.”

“Marriage is what bonds us when we’re like this. Trust is lost but business will always sway them.”

“I don’t understand.”

Adjoa gave her a grave look. “If you marry into our Panther Order, we will have no choice but to support you.”

Kidan inhaled deeply. “And whoever I marry will have access to my house, and its unlimited lawmaking power.”

Adjoa nodded. “The Panther Order will reward us in turn. Help our various business in the outside world. Uxlay can’t function independently.”

Kidan mulled it over, cautious. “And you will pass up the opportunity of being dean and seizing the middle position yourself??”

“Uxlay has survived for generations with Faris and Adane House taking position of dean. That has never been our problem. It’s greed. And the only way to combat that is with strategy. Dean Faris voted for the 13th proposal because she is protecting her image. She needs to appear like a just leader but trust me, she hopes this proposal fails just as much as you.”

Maybe. But while Dean Faris was protecting her image, Kidan was out here fighting alone.

Her mother’s ghost stood just over Adjoa’s shoulder. She seemed to nod.

“If I declare for the Panther Order, it will mean alienating the other houses.”

Adjoa nodded slowly. “I know. Goro House has always been loyal to Adane House because of your grandmother. And Yusra Umil is a traditionalist. She will vote your way. That will mean six for the proposal and six against. A tie is your best option. It will take another three years before the proposal is brought forward again. Plenty of time for you to turn twenty-one and receive the artifact.” Adjoa seemed to scan her face for a lie, but Kidan squared her shoulders. Lying shouldn’t be difficult. And Kidan would gladly take one or three years.

Despite it all, Kidan was beginning to appreciate having Adjoa on her side. Though the idea of marriage, even if it was in the future, left her skin with a pervasive chill.

She touched her pocket, Susenyos’s letter tucked inside it. Before letting it drop.

There was no other way.

“Okay.”

Together, they walked back to Rita’s Bar.

UXLAY’SHOUSE VOTE

TEMO HOUSE

97 DRANAICS

TEMO HOUSE HAS DELIBERATED AND DECIDED THE FOUNDING HOUSES SHOULD REMAIN THE SOLE SUCCESSORS OF DEANSHIP. ADANE HOUSE SHOULDNOTBE REMOVED FROM THE MIDDLE POSITION.

Declared at the Mot Zebeya Courts on Thursday the 7th.

39.

SUSENYOS

In the moments Adane House was empty, Susenyos would travel room to room, searching for his immortality. He could never find it, half marveling at the power beyond his comprehension, and half cursing his fate.

He went to the observatory, kneeling on the marble floor, greeting the burning sun at noon, and later, the lonely stars. The heavens had watched him become human in this room, and he’d fought them for years, refused to accept such a soft heart and flesh.

How could he?

He was an emperor. Named Susenyos Malak Sagad. To whom the angels bowed. How could he regress to the boy he was without a crown and power?

In the unforgiving observatory, visions of his court punished him. He could hear Samson’s wrenching cry as Susenyos emerged from that forest alone. Talaa dead in the woods with black rot. He could feel Henok and Biruk screaming from the chains the Lusidios strung them on.

Iniko and Taj being branded with him.