Page 132 of Eternal Ruin

But Kidan knew no other way to be. She had to consume everything, both rotten and good, to carve out a place in this world that’d already discarded her once.

“You wanted me to live,” she said, holding his gaze. “You told me to live.”

And that was what this was.

Her, living.

It would be riddled with mistakes, but God, she was trying.

Susenyos’s brows met as she reached into her pants pocket and retrieved a wrinkled paper. Her hand shook, still bound to him with the band. She couldn’t lift her chin to look at him.

Nor to tell him what it was.

Kidan held his letter between them as a relic of the past, something magic that could return them to words that were healing and kind.

He didn’t touch the paper. In fact, he inched back like it’d weaken him. But they were his words peeking through the sheet like translucent skin. He must know what they were.

She wished he’d say something.

Instead, Susenyos turned his shoulder. “Finally.”

Kidan jerked her head, trying to find whom he was talking to.

The most beautiful woman Kidan had ever seen appeared. She was perched on top of the stone shelter, her skin dark and smooth as obsidian, long legs ending in boots crossed at the ankles.

Arin Tawendyo.

Kidan’s throat tightened, taking in the ruined rubble to the right. Arin was the only vampire she’d seen crack pure concrete with a simple closed fist.

The vampire shot Kidan a curved smile, eyes cruel. Arin retrieved a black near-onyx flask and drank from it, her dark brown features becoming iridescent. The ends of her hair shading into a deep scarlet.

Slow dread crept into Kidan and she asked, “Why did you bring me here?”

Susenyos spared her a dark glance before facing Arin, voice commanding. “Let’s conclude the last test. Tell me where the Nefrasi hideout is.”

Test?

Her panic shot forward at once.

Susenyos wasn’t going to offer her as some sort of sacrifice, was he? Kidan tugged on the rope connecting them but if he felt it, he gave her no indication. No clue this was safe.

Kidan eyed the clearing. It was just the three of them. If she had to run back into Uxlay, she wouldn’t even know which direction to take. They’d come from the east side, through those broken branches, she was sure—

Something vicious locked around Kidan’s jaw, ripping her attention away. Shegasped, unable to comprehend how quickly Arin had traveled. Her speed… it was unlike anything. As fast as Professor Andreyas, maybe faster.

The vampire’s nose was pierced with faux silver, making her feline golden-black eyes almost sparkle. It hurt to look directly into them.

“Yourcompanion.” Arin said the word like it was rotten. “How many of her ancestors have you served?”

“Too many.”

Kidan made a sound, but she couldn’t move a single inch.

“Show me your strength, then.” Arin tilted her head like a boneless creature, her hand still on Kidan’s jaw. “Remind me why I chose you.”

The sound of a weapon being drawn reached Kidan. In her periphery, she saw Susenyos step behind her, wrathful as a hidden storm.

His dragon blades, the ones he had used to protect her during Cossia Day, pierced a point on her back. Tears bloomed in her eyes.