Page 17 of Eternal Ruin

Though during Cossia Day he’d definitely been interested.

Susenyos took a sip from his golden flask, frowning slightly before putting it away. Aunt Silia’s blood. Kidan was surprised it hadn’t run out.

“Why does the dean want to see us?” she asked, wondering why he wasn’t asking for her blood.

“No doubt to discuss the status of Adane House. How we both could potentially inherit it. It will be a House Council meeting. All twelve houses will attend.”

His eyes blazed at those words, enhanced by the blood, and it was a little distracting. His jaw was set with determination, hunger for power etched on his angular face.

She remembered his words, both desperate and honest.

If I fail—though I’ll fight like hell not to—you will be ready. You will change the current law and craft one that’ll return far greater than what I lost.

Kidan wanted Susenyos to gain his immortality back, wanted Samson dead, but that did not mean he was on her side. Because if he succeeded, if he mastered the house first, what would he need her for?

He was already beginning to push her away.

“There can’t be two inheritors. It will only tear a house apart,” she said, thinking slowly. “Sign it over to me.”

A cruel curl formed at the corner of Susenyos’s mouth. “I’m sorry?”

If he trusted her with the house, truly showed Kidan he cared more about her than the artifact or the law, she could trust him fully.

They stopped walking. The lion lamppost reflected down on them, its steel polished with rain.

“I am not signing Adane House over to anyone,” he said firmly.

“I’m not justanyone. This is my family’s legacy.”

“I’m afraid your family’s legacy is to die before you reach forty. I won’t let you take Adane House to your grave.”

Kidan was breathless. Did he just say she’d die soon anyway?

What the fuck?

“You truly believe you should own Adane House?” Kidan’s voice tightened a sliver. “Even with two of its descendants alive and well?”

He didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”

His arrogance begged for a fist to his jaw. As she glared at him, Susenyos drank from his flask again. This time making a sour face as if it was poisoned.

“What’s wrong?” she asked. How long had it been since he had asked for her blood?

“Nothing. Let’s go.”

Swallowing her frustration, Kidan spun on her heel. Something else had changed in the past four days and she couldn’t figure out what.

Like all Uxlay houses, Faris House had a line of tall, spreading trees that served as a makeshift wall, cutting off the cobblestone roads leading to the university from the family homes. But Faris House always appeared more guarded. Towering columns and several balconies made of white stone and black marble greeted them. It made Adane House’s wooden structure look pathetic, barely able to survive a thunderous night. For the first time, Kidan felt the itch to reinforce her house with steel. Clean out the garden. Plant new roots. Her parents weren’t here to take care of it, so it was up to her. Just like looking after June had been.

A lance of pain rippled right under her ribs. Sometimes, it hurt to think about what Kidan would have been like if her parents had been alive. She couldn’t remember being a child. Of course she must have been one. Once. But it felt as though she’d blinked and become careful and violent and alone. It’d done something to her mind. Turned obvious, simple things tricky. She needed to relearn how to experience careless joy or making friends, even apologizing. How to come home and close her eyes, trusting it was safe.

Reinforced steel wouldn’t be enough for such things. She needed the power of the laws to create a true home. Steal back a fraction of what she’d lost.

Susenyos’s footsteps slowed behind her. She ripped her gaze away from the house, hoping he hadn’t seen the longing in her eyes. “The dean will try to get the truth out of us,” he said. “We’re entering her house, with her laws. Be very careful.”

She kept her face turned away from him.

“Kidan.”