Page 52 of Eternal Ruin

“Let me tell you another story that’ll help you understand Sovane Ezariah,” Kidan began, voice cool as mountain ice. “The leader who suffered two minds and two souls.”

This time, they all inched forward, eager to learn.

Slen and Yusef leaned back, letting her take the stage.

“This story is about two sisters who were once very close. Never spent a day apart really, beginning from the womb. Until one fateful day, the pretty sister got kidnapped and disappeared without a trace. Poof.” Kidan snapped her fingers, the others hanging on her every word. “Now the older sister, who was quite stupid, drove herself insane trying to find her lost sister.”

A tense silence lingered above them, swelling like the gray clouds.

Kidan was careful to not look at June. Her sister was watching.

A twisted smile formed on her lips. “For fourteen months and twenty days, the stupid sister never stopped searching. But here’s where it gets interesting. The pretty sister was never kidnapped. Shechoseto leave. She’d found a new family to help her… what was the phrase she used?Feel safe.”

There was nothing but venom in her tone. A few students averted their eyes.

Kidan didn’t care.

“Wait, I’m confused,” Qara said. “She left without telling her sister?”

“Exactly.” Kidan’s answer was a dry, foreign laugh.

Some students shifted uncomfortably and played with their sleeves but they mattered little. Finally, she looked to June, taking note of every wince or aversion of her gaze.

“Now, why do we think the pretty sister could abandon her twin?”

June angled her head to the ground. She always did when she was about to cry.

Kidan returned her attention to the group, feeling like their stony professor. “How is this similar to Sovane’s story?”

An Ajtaf girl with a house pin of a golden tower fiddled with her book. “Sovane Ezariah had to leave behind his good heart so he could rule with strategy. He went on to become a cunning, cold leader. Maybe that’s the lesson here? Some people choose power over love, over family.”

Slen leaned forward, approval in her eyes. “What’s your name?”

The short-haired girl beamed. “Tal Ajtaf.”

“I like you,” Kidan said, and Tal smiled shyly.

“Maybe,” Qara Umil said, eyes hard, “she ran away because her sister wasn’t a very nice person.”

Kidan hopped off the bench, eyes latching on to Qara’s.

The girl leaned back, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. Kidan crept even closer to Qara. To her innocent brown eyes. Dranacti would soon dimthem. The air shifted, and a hum built inside Kidan, fed by the fear wafting off the students.

They were afraid of her, and she’d barely done a thing.

She tried not to smile.

“You might be right,” Kidan said. There was an intake of breath from somewhere in the group. “That is the only explanation, right? The stupid sister must have been cruel, horrible, abusive. The pretty sister must have felt trapped.”

Slowly, Qara nodded, her lashes fluttering.

Kidan looked down on them from a great height. “You hear that, June? Your partner thinks it’s a good thing you ran away.”

Qara whipped her head in June’s direction, eyes wide. Everyone’s gaze pointed like a straight arrow toward June. Never one for focused attention, her sister trembled. Kidan stared down at her with little compassion. This was nothing. Absolutely nothing to what June had put her through.

Her honeyed eyes grew glassy, but June didn’t cry. Kidan would have felt better if she did. Instead, June gathered her things and hurried off. Qara, with an angry frown, followed her.

Another memory flashed. June running away from the bullies at school, coming to hang out with Kidan in the woodworking room. Telling her how she’d never make friends, never fit in. It dissolved into the present just as quickly, leaving her cold and detached.