Page 229 of Eternal Ruin

Dean Faris wore the face of a war general, watching Kidan with the same caution she’d given her mother.

There were no more pretenses. No more false kindness.

“Kidan Adane, you have put the residents of Uxlay and the dranaics and acti society at large under threat,” the dean declared. “You will answer for these crimes under Uxlay’s most punishing lawandyou will surrender the Last Sage’s artifact hidden within Adane House.”

79.

KIDAN

It happened too quickly.

Susenyos was pinned to the ground with the Sicions’ crescent swords, even as he shouted at them to obey protocol but they’d come to brutally restrain them both, not listen.

Before they shoved Susenyos out of Kidan’s sight, he caught her eye, a blooming red in his pupils.

“Don’t give her anything,” he ordered mid-struggle. “She won’t harm you. She needs you—”

He almost reached her, before their hands were wrenched apart, his roar ringing in her ears.

Then Kidan was in Drastfort Prison.

She had not been locked inside a cell since the night she killed Mama Anoet. The concrete walls made her breathing shallow, frizzed her braids, and dotted her forehead with sweat. Back then, when she’d thought she’d die in prison, a miracle had arrived to rescue her. An angel had paid her bail in full.

Dean Faris of Uxlay University had pulled Kidan from that wretched life, and how ironic, it was the same woman who caged her like an animal now. When was Kidan going to learn kindness always had a price? Only a mother could care without demanding something back and Kidan didn’t have one of those. No, that wasn’t true. She’d had one, briefly. There had been Etete. A sharp ache struck her chest. How many times had Etete dragged her out of the hallways when her visions werepunishing her? Kidan pressed her fists into her eyes. She missed Etete with a painful, new, unrelenting wave. The one soul she felt safe with and she’d lost her too.

Professor Andreyas and the dean thought they could break her in this darkness, scare her into compliance. But Kidan had stayed and studied in Uxlay long enough to know changing the Adane House law would be the only thing that could break her further.

And she wasn’t ready.

If Kidan Adane endangers Adane House, the house shall in turn steal something of equal value to her.

She knew deep inside her soul what would be taken from her. An unthinkable, disturbing thought.

June would die.

So Kidan let the dean lock her up, and drowned in the complete darkness. It wasn’t entirely unfamiliar, and she was thankful to GK for it. She’d felt this with him, in her dreams, in her body. If she concentrated on a specific sound to count time, like the jingle of the keys held by the officer outside, her panic would fan out instead of remaining trapped in her chest.

Where is June?

Where is Yos?

The ominous quiet following that question made her lose count of the jingles.

Dean Faris changed tactics after a week. She stormed in, the same beseeching speech about the world’s safety pouring from her lips. Kidan leaned back against the wall, not saying a word.

“Very well.” The dean’s voice seldom shook from its calm rhythm, but it almost did now. “Bring it.”

A guard brought a tablet with a live feed. Kidan forced herself to her feet, swaying a little, and approached. She winced against the bright light, trying to focus on the images. Unbridled horror made her stumble forward.

“The Sicions excel in interrogational torture. I’m afraid you’ve left me no choice,” Dean Faris said.

Kidan barely heard. A girl was blindfolded, with Professor Andreyas circling her. Only her ribbon gave her away.

Kidan’s vision went red. “I swear I’ll kill you.”

Dean Faris ignored it as if she received death threats daily. “I will continue tobring pain to your sister if you do not cooperate. We are talking about the very gravity of our world. You will surrender the mask artifact to me.”

Rage made Kidan’s words grow teeth. “No. I will lose my sister if I do this—”