Page 34 of Eternal Ruin

Her chin inclined in surprise.

“Adane House was left to him fourteen years ago. Uxlay law says he cannot formally take possession of the house until he lives alone for a consecutive set of twenty-eight days. However, that is only Uxlay law. The moment Mahlet Adane named him inheritor, the house allowed him to try and master it. So why has he continuously failed?”

Kidan remembered Susenyos in the observatory room, on his knees, the moon beating down on him, trying to conquer his pain night after night. Desperate to change the house law. Something sour pooled in her gut, parsing through the four questions that pulsed in and out.

Most likely his values didn’t align with Mahlet’s.

“Susenyos was unable to fully sever his culture from Adane House nor inherit it fully, so he became stuck.”

The word “stuck” swung like a sledgehammer. But Kidan did not know her mother well enough to see what they shared or did not.

To inherit or to sever? She had no clue.

And she didn’t want to know. She’d managed to avoid learning anything about her mother, to spare herself from any more loss, but here Kidan was again, bleeding for Uxlay.

She tightened her fists, nails digging into her palms.

“Very well, begin your investigations into your house’s culture—” The professor cut off abruptly, reaching into his pocket for his phone.

He read something on it, then lifted his head. His dark eyes went to Kidan’s laptop as if he knew she’d been searching for information about rogue vampires.

“The dean would like to speak to all three of you.”

“Why?” Yusef asked.

Professor Andreyas assessed Kidan long enough to make her straighten up.

“Your curiosity about Lusidio is about to be answered.”

14.

SUSENYOS

Susenyos stood in the dense forest that surrounded Uxlay University.

Arin’s note had led him here. To a series of stone houses that once served as an outpost, deep in the forest. There was a painted symbol of a silver monster—the Nefari—on one of the broken-down shelters. Susenyos had named his people after the monster—the Nefrasi. The symbol was intended to strike terror in anyone, a whisper that a reckoning was coming, and they’d used it well in their adventures, marking their territory. If it was painted red, it meant death.

Right now, the symbol was freshly coated with blood.

Susenyos smiled despite knowing he was the marked one. On his guard, he entered one of the stone shelters, testing the uneven boards beneath his feet.

It was silent.

Arin’s skill was the ability to melt into any environment. Even with his enhanced hearing, Susenyos could not sense her.

“Well?” he shouted.

A mistake.

The floorboards beneath him exploded, a fist tearing up and nearly taking out his chin. His eyes flashed as Arin’s feline gaze locked with his mid-flight. It lasted only half a second, but it was enough for them to understand each other. She twisted and seized his shoulders, claws digging deep enough to make him grunt, and threw him with God strength into the very hole she came out of.

It was deeper than he thought and he scrambled for purchase on the walls only to find them slick. He fell for some time before the earth slid under his feet.

Some sort of well built right under the small shelter.

He looked up to see Arin’s form outlined, her eyes a burning red. His chest rose and fell rapidly.

“Can we be civilized?” he called, clearing water from his eyes.