Page 214 of Eternal Ruin

“My dad.” His gaze flicked up. “I just need to get my dad out of prison.”

She recognized the dangerous color of his desperation. Last semester, Yusef’s obsessive love for his artwork had been her biggest worry. That in his urgency to be the greatest of all time, he’d destroy himself and those who threatened him. She couldn’t predict in what ways his love for his father would manifest. Yusef always appeared fine—until he took a hammer to someone’s head. A shudder curved down Kidan’s spine. Right now, Rufeal Makary’s corpse was feeding the wild animals outside Uxlay.

Adjoa’s warning returned, an annoying pestering noise she couldn’t get rid of.

“I heard you’ve been spending a lot of time with Slen,” she said slowly, sipping on a lemonade vodka.

He shifted slightly, touching his right hand, Slen’s leather glove. “When she lets me.”

Kidan caught it again, a thread between the two that was private, almost invisible. It had become more solid the moment Slen gave him her glove to hide his scars, something of quiet longing.

Kidan inhaled, seeing no other way to address this.

“Yusef, do you love her?”

A moment of surprise came over him. He gave a distracting smile.

“That’s quite personal, isn’t it? I could ask you the same thing.”

Kidan spun her cold glass, remembering the first time she heard Slen’s voice, horribly flat until it read Ojiran’s poem—If the source of all hate is this eye, blind me. But if it still lingers, take my second.Cold and beautiful ever since then.

Yusef studied her face, and gave a defeated sigh. “I try not to.”

Kidan settled back, exhaling slowly. The heaviness of the words settled squarely in her chest.

“Okay,” she said slowly. She needed to reassure them both everything would be fine.

“I have my goals, I want to see a better Uxlay, I want to help you get the artifact and break this cycle of misery but when she comes to me…” He trailed off, exhaustion clear in his eyes. “I can’t say no. When I stabbed GK in that crypt, I knew it was wrong. Deep in my bones, I knew it. But she took my hand and led me to him. And for a moment, it felt right, because it was her. Because she’s the person I trust more than myself.”

Kidan shook her head, and reminded them both how dangerous loving Slen was. “She told us what she wants, Yusef. She wants power, nothing else. You can’t talk to her again, at least not until you cast your vote, okay?”

He drank a few more sips, misery carving his features. “But what if it doesn’t have to be this way? What if we can get her to see the Dirt Diggers’ plan? If she knows the Sage’s artifacts isn’t just myth butreal—”

“What?” Kidan asked, her spine going ramrod straight. Apprehension coiling in her gut.

He didn’t meet her eyes.

“Yusef,” she said tightly, lowering her voice. “Please tell me you didn’t tell her the mask artifact is in my house.”

He winced, looking away guiltily.

“Yusef.”

He jumped from his seat and held up his hands. “Don’t kill me, okay? I don’t want to choose between you two. Because the moment I do, everything will be different. If Slen knew the truth—that we actually could find the artifacts and change Dranacti, she would be on our side again. I hoped she would.”

Many curse words jumped to the tip of Kidan’s tongue, but she swallowed them because Yusef was already preparing for her explosion.

It took every bit of her to ask, “And?”

Yusef rubbed his neck. “She said I have to choose.”

It was difficult to yell at him because he already appeared wrung out, heavy bags under his eyes and the scent of coffee lingering on him. Yusef only had coffee when he wanted to “punish himself.” Still, Kidan bit her cheek and stewed quietly. Misguided as it was, Yusef was trying to fix their broken friendship.

Yusef’s shoulders hunched. “Did you know the Dirt Diggers have a few people in Drastfort too? The night your parents died, they all lost someone. Osa’s husband was imprisoned. He has twelve years left. Mikhail’s wife has twenty. Adjoa… well, you know who she lost.”

Kidan was too angry to speak but no, she didn’t know.

“That will be us in a few years if we’re not careful,” he said sadly. “Half of us in prison, the other half dead. I hate this place, Kidan. I just want us to be free.”