Page 50 of Eternal Ruin

Collection of Every Member’s DeathYear 2009

Kidan’s fingers drew a repeated square and triangle, fear and anger, on the table again and again.

She reached for her phone, shaking, and texted the one person who could give her answers. Susenyos.

I need to talk to you.

Kidan had barely seen him since the House Council meeting and their near-kiss by the willow tree. Knowing him, Susenyos would be looking for the blade artifact, but she needed him here.

Kidan searched up an image of Daric—a tall, muscular vampire that often smiled in his pictures. Her finger traced a triangle over the table, blood pumping furiously.

She recognized the person next to him: a young Adjoa Piran, captured outside the Acti Gala in an elegant dress, eyes shining.

Daric was a vampire sworn to Piran House. And he had murdered her parents.

Then someone had killed him.

Kidan stared at her mother’s photo on her laptop, those dark eyes, trying to see into her mind. Mahlet Adane had to graduate in order to master her house and set a law, which meant she’d taken a life.

Had Kidan’s violence come from her mother, then, instead of from vampires? Who had her mother killed during her Dranacti studies? Was it driven by creative jealousy and revenge like Yusef’s act, or was it more calculated like Slen’s? Or were her motives similar to Kidan’s, the urge to protect someone roaring so loud, white anger possessing her very soul? The questions whirled and buzzed in her mind until Uxlay disappeared into nothingness.

Kidan needed to know.

Everything.

On Uxlay’s database, her mother had written several articles in Amharic, the complexity and depth of which Kidan could never understand.

A hollowness spread between her ribs as she pulled out the Four Points of Culture and answered the first question for her mother.

What language does the house master dream in?

Amharic.

Does the house master believe creation comes from the Last Sage or from Demasus the Fanged Lion?

Does the house master believe power should rest in community, tradition, or individuals?

Does the house master believe in bravery, revenge, loyalty, responsibility, or family?

Kidan was right about her mother tongue. It felt like a bridge to every question she had about herself. A path to where she came from. Whether she was a myth or real, whether her lineage could reach her with a message or a sign. But how many years would it take her to learn the language? To “dream” in it?

Severing already sounded easier, though the concept made her mouth run dry.

Slen and Yusef had their readings fromMastering Power Before Lawopen on the café table and were arguing about Arin, but she barely heard them.

“I avoid her at all costs,” Yusef was saying. “If she doesn’t see me, she’s not interested. Professor Andreyas keeps her busy. I swear I saw him smile at Arin in his office.”

“The professor doesn’t smile,” Slen said.

“Exactly. It was weird.”

The trees bracketing Sheba Square shifted with a high gust of wind, ruffling students’ papers and books.

Kidan’s eyes snagged on a pretty girl in a long skirt, tucking back her curling braids.

Everything came to a sharp halt.

June was smiling broadly, surrounded by a group of students. Entirely at ease. This was how she moved through the world, without a care for those she burned. There were places in Uxlay Kidan had wanted to show June, like the shimmering fountain or the sugar-dusted doughnuts from Sweet Fang Bakery but seeing her in this space now rotted everything. Reminded her of how selfish her sister had been.