Page 155 of Eternal Ruin

“I can’t put a Band-Aid on it,” she said, eyes tracking his. “He’ll know.”

“It’s fine.”

She put the rag back in the bowl, wringing it. “Thank you… for all this. I know how dangerous this is.”

“It’s true. Especially your aim. You nearly took out my eye.”

Her lip arched, catching the glint in his pupils. Having him on her side felt so good. She hated to ruin what little ease they’d found.

But she would be honest with him.

“I found out something,” she said.

“Hmm?” Susenyos murmured.

“Samson can’t break the blade artifact. He’s tried everything for years.”

Susenyos pulled back a little, blinked. “He can’t…”

Kidan nodded, taking a deep breath and sitting back on the concrete. It wasn’t cold, the house keeping them warm. “I saw it. If the artifacts can’t be broken, then all of this was a lie. No one can be Sage, no one can break the binds.”

His forehead creased, before he shook his head. “That’s impossible. We just haven’t found what can break it.”

Silence swallowed them. A faraway look possessing Susenyos. More than the beating he’d received, it seemed this blow was the one that devasted him.

“There’s something we’re missing,” he repeated.

“I’ll find out.”

Susenyos’s eyes moved over her. He would never stop this quest, would he?

“I saw something else,” she said, her voice a little haunted. “If he can’t have Talaa, he’ll ruin everything. Destroy the world.” Her eyes traced a symbol on the floor. “What would it feel like, I wonder. To turn all your hatred outward, to have it grow so much you can only get relief if everyone else is as miserable as you.”

When he remained quiet, she lifted her chin to look at him. His eyes were heavy, steady.

“You sound fascinated, not terrified.”

She frowned. “I’m disgusted.”

“Careful, yené Roana, don’t linger too long in the dark.”

The room softened, and she felt the barrier between them dissolve again. She wanted to be even closer, but she remained where she was.

“I thought you liked girls who dreamed in the dark,” she said.

Susenyos wasn’t unsettled but cautious, like he’d considered this path before and knew of the dangers lurking in it.

“Dream in the dark, yes. But know the dark has dreams too, a need to whisk us all to oblivion. And I very much like to exist. I want you to exist. So we command the dark, we never let it possess us.”

A very thin line. And she knew firsthand how easy it was to slip under its thrall.

UXLAY’SHOUSE VOTE

ROJIT HOUSE

65 DRANAICS

ROJIT HOUSE HAS DELIBERATED AND DECIDED THE FOUNDING HOUSES SHOULD REMAIN THE SOLE SUCCESSORS OF DEANSHIP. ADANE HOUSE SHOULDNOTbe removed from the middle position.