Page 129 of Eternal Ruin

“Kill all evil,” June whispered.

Kidan froze.

“What did you say?”

June said nothing else. Kidan reared back to hit her, fingers folded into a fist with all the power of the house. Her sister flinched, cheek turned to the side, eyes shut. The image stripped free a memory and the girl below Kidan disappeared, looking younger, terrified wide eyes with thin thrashing limbs. Kidan used to restrain her like this until her nightmares broke, until June returned from whatever place she drowned in. Sometimes it took a few minutes, sometimes longer, but Kidan waited.

Her sister must be trapped again, lost in a nightmare. Away from the real world.

She could come back.

A weak voice from her past spoke.

She always comes back.

“No,” June whispered, slowly opening her eyes as Kidan’s fist hovered. “Do it.”

Kidan’s whole arm shook. Tears pricked at her eyes. And when Kidan cried, June was never far away, her pupils misting.

“Do it, Kidan.” June’s voice trembled, face contorted. “OrIwill kill you.”

Blood spilled into Kidan’s mouth from how hard she bit her bottom lip. She loosened her fist.

And she reached for the knife.

June’s eyes grew bright, a trickle of relief in them. She appeared to smile. The first sign of the sister she knew creeping back.

Kidan held the knife between them.

Her dark eyes, filled again with monstrous fire, reflected back on the cold steel. If Kidan did this, she would destroy a part of herself. She would stain this house with a horrific act and live in it. Past her braids, she caught a glimpse of the Sage’s portrait, her eyes were concealed by the mask so her regal, commanding stance spoke for her.

Do it, she seemed to say.

But at what cost?

June’s bracelet slid down to her elbow, a glinting charm and butterfly.Butterflies remind us we’re in constant transformation. And Kidan has to transform again, break her cocoon and emerge.

Kidan’s fire faded into water. She released a jagged breath. “I can’t… not against you.”

Grabbing June’s right hand, Kidan placed the hilt into it and guided the blade to her own heart. June jerked, trying to pull back, but Kidan held tight.

And in that moment, the house loaned her true, unbridled strength. Strength that wasn’t wrenched or controlled, but gifted. She could feel her fingers harden, sense the unbreakability of her body.

“It’s no use.” A short sound left Kidan. But this time, it felt warm. “Whatever you do, however deeply you hurt me,Ican’t hurt you. I won’t let you make me into a monster.”

The more she spoke, the more the house cloaked her in steel.

“So you want the mask, this house? Take it. Kill me and take it, June.”

June’s eyes darted between the knife and Kidan’s face. Emotion swirled in her sister’s face, a hurricane of it, before anger won. June lunged forward, holding the knife an inch from Kidan’s chest. Kidan remained on her knees, not fighting, choosing what to focus on in her final moments.

June’s tears continued to flow, her voice anguished. “Fight back.”

“I am,” Kidan whispered, shutting her eyes. “More than you know. I’m fighting back.”

Kidan hated Dranacti with a new wave of feeling in that moment. It had taken root inside her sister, turning whatever hatred she held into unspeakable darkness.

Her mother had wanted to change this. She created the Dirt Diggers so nosister would kill her own, no brother die. She wanted to spare souls. To break this cycle of pain.