Page 173 of Eternal Ruin

Samson crawled out, squelching the flames on his clothes, face ghastly.

His hand was around her throat instantly and Kidan knew with absolute certainty he would kill her. Exhausted, she shut her eyes. There was no more fight in her.

In her last moments, Kidan thought of the girl she was when she first camehere. How she’d taken her life for granted, eager to throw it aside. Air left her in short, painful bursts. Her vision blurred. She thought about how much she wanted to live, deserved to live. It was why she had fought for as long as she did. Even when it would have been easier to let go.

The door burst open. Samson let her neck go and Kidan doubled over, gasping. The room was blackening at the edges but she saw a horde of vampires and a girl.

A girl in a large jacket rushing to the front.

Kidan’s mouth stuck together, taking in the furious expression on Slen’s face, the harsh line of her jaw, the concern in her gaze.

She came for… me.

That was the last thought that followed her into the dark before her arms gave out from under her.

61.

KIDAN

Kidan woke up in a clean, hard bed. The endless echoes of her memory were all repressed and contained. She wasn’t in Adane House. Gradually, the scent of rosin wax and polished wood tickled her nose. To her left was a set of eleven violins, propped up like wooden toys. She’d been here before, a long time ago.

Qaros House. This was Slen’s bedroom.

Pushing herself up, the first thing Kidan noticed was the lack of pain. Her hand… was back to its usual brown color, no black threads climbing along her palm, eating at her bones. A deep well of sadness settled. Kidan couldn’t go back inside Adane House again. Not until the law affecting Yos was changed.

I did this to you. I’m a vampire again.

What did that mean?

Kidan glimpsed her image on the mirror across the spacious room. The bruise along her neck, where Samson’s metal fingers had imprinted, was fading. She winced, reaching for her shoulder, but the skin had healed, leaving a small scar. Her hand dropped. The pain was gone but something else had shattered inside her and she didn’t know what to consume to repair it.

There was a look to her brown eyes, a defeat she didn’t like. The last time she was in this house, Ramyn Ajtaf was alive, looking frail after Koril Qaros had intimidated her.

You look like her now.

The door cracked open. Kidan whipped around for a weapon, grabbing the closest object on the bed stand—a tail comb.

“Kidan?”

Slen.

Kidan slid the comb beneath the blanket, her grip still tight.

The dim light switched, illuminating the two more clearly. Slen was fully dressed, laced-up boots to her signature jacket, while Kidan felt small, fragile for the first time. Quickly, Kidan got out of the bed. On her feet, she felt stronger.

Slen’s gaze dropped down to the tail comb in her hand.

“Oh,” Kidan said, her cheeks warming. She rested it back on the bedside.

“Samson has left,” Slen said, not addressing their awkward position. “I doubt he’ll return to Uxlay with so many of us witnessing what he did.”

Kidan’s throat constricted. So he was finally gone. To Drummond North. That was where the Nefrasi estate was.

Slen was quiet for a moment. “Susenyos should be here soon. The Sicions are removing the silver shards from his body.”

Kidan briefly looked to the floor, letting her nerves calm. She couldn’t stop picturing the scene again, analyzing every angle. Susenyos’s body dropping like stone, his chest peppered with silver.

“And Taj?” she asked.