Page 237 of Eternal Ruin

“I thought I’d lost you,” Kidan whispered into her shoulder. “You know I can’t live without you.”

Her sister tensed in her hold, pulling away. This time, Kidan let her. There was a seriousness to June’s eyes that made her pay attention.

“You can live without me,” June said with a soft smile. “You’ve done it before. When I ran away.”

Kidan’s face contorted. Why would her sister bring that up now? Before she could protest, June moved toward Taj, speaking in a low, intimate voice. Kidan shook her head, refusing to let the lightness in her chest fade.

Speaking of light…

“Where’s Yos?” she asked Taj.

“Upstairs, regaining his strength.”

Kidan climbed up slowly, trying to put thoughts of the law aside.

Susenyos’s room helped with her uneasiness, vanquishing the rest of her worry. She inhaled deeply, letting the sound of rain and the crinkle of scrolls chase away any remaining tension in her muscles.

Susenyos was shirtless, facing his mirror. The damage the Sicions had done was stark against his back. The silver spikes and wires had torn his skin, forcing it open and it was healing incredibly slowly. Every movement must still be excruciating. Her lip trembled, then fury tightened her vision.

One day, Dean Faris would pay for this.

Kidan approached him and gently traced the beautiful ruined skin. His back muscles flinched.

“It’s me,” she whispered against his dark skin, reaching around to wrap her arms along his hard stomach. He went rigid, bracing forward on the mirror. “Does it hurt still?”

His fingers were smeared with ink, leaving smudges on the frame. Kidan had only seen that happen when he responded to his “Letter to the Immortal”messages. He would write hundreds of letters in a few minutes, utterly focused, ink exploding on his hands.

“Were you writing?” she asked, tracing his bruised fingers.

“Why are you touching me?” His words came out wrong, caught between a hiss and a snarl.

Kidan froze.

Her heart pounded at the violence in his tone. “What… are you angry at me?”

He shook in her hold as if he was being slowly electrocuted, she turned him to her, grabbing his face. “I’m sorry for what she did to you. I hate all of this, Yos. But it’s over now.”

Half of his face was hidden by the shadows, the other half illuminated by the glass wall. Kidan glimpsed one pitch-black eye, felt a part of his twitching jaw and scalding breath slipping from his mouth like a beast’s.

“Get your hands off me,” he rasped.

The calm inside the room fractured into white, spine-buckling fear. But she didn’t let go of his face, even as his hatred burned her palm. Her whisper was caught between a plea and terror.

“Yos.” She said his name like a lifeline, a command.“Yos.”

There was no light in the eyes that gazed back at her.

Susenyos seized Kidan by the throat, making her gasp. The wet ink on his fingers imprinted onto her neck. Her hands crashed to her sides, and he walked her back out until the banister of the stairs dug painfully into her waist.

Below was a long way down to a bone-shattering fall.

Light from the hallway bulb revealed all of him. His fangs were free, and his night eyes carried a ball of red in the middle, a raw vibrant hatred that stole her breath.

“Yos?” Kidan could only say his name, softer than a prayer.

He closed his eyes, bringing her to him by the neck. “Stop saying my name like that.”

Hope lodged like a blade in her throat. “Like what?”