Page 93 of Eternal Ruin

The Adane House pin. Her lip curled, the light in her charcoal eyes vanishing. Susenyos widened his stance, sensing the sudden shift in the air.

“You have one more way to prove yourself.” Her words were poised like the tip of a blade. “Sacrifice.”

Susenyos prepared himself.

“Prove to us the Nefrasi mean more to you than this farce of a university.”

“They’re my people. Of course they do.”

Arin smiled, bone-white fangs peeking through like a hunting lioness. The image was so similar to the first time he first met her, Susenyos knew her next words would be his undoing.

“Kill her. The older Adane sister. Your companion.”

Susenyos didn’t dare show the surprise on his face. Decades of it had trained him, and Arin cocked her head, listening for his heartbeat instead. If anything gave him away, it was that pitiful organ. As a human, she’d used it against him more than once. In training and other matters.

Not now.

Yet beneath it all, panic rose like a sudden tide and flattened. He had dreaded this moment, deep down. Knew it would eventually come to haunt him the more Kidan became entangled in his life.

It was Kidan or the artifact.

34.

KIDAN

The night air bit at Kidan’s skin as she left the Arcane Tower in search of Adjoa Piran. Her mother’s ghost fell into step beside her, younger, thick and soft curls around her face. Eyes made of quiet resolve. Adjoa Piran waited on a bench, the glow from the streetlight wrapping around her like a blanket. This was the woman who had Kidan’s mother and father killed. The smooth ground appeared to crack beneath Kidan, fissures hissing with smoke, pure lava straight from hell leaking out to match the wrath brewing inside her. Kidan slowed three steps from Adjoa. Tried to calm down. A well-dressed vampire, Sacro Tar, straightened up and stepped forward in warning.

Kidan bristled at the sudden movement. She wished he’d try something.

“It’s fine.” Adjoa’s voice was melodious, too calm. “I’ve been waiting for this. But we can’t speak here.”

Sacro bowed slightly and stepped back.

Adjoa stood and walked into the adjacent woods, signaling for Kidan to follow. Kidan cast a cautious glance between them, turned to the tower for Susenyos.

She should wait for him. Whatever this was, she would feel safer dealing with it with him by her side.

“He can’t accompany you,” Adjoa said, her eyes slightly slanting.

“Why not?”

“Because he can’t be trusted.”

Kidan almost laughed. “I trust him more than you.”

“Really?” The woman tilted her head. “Do you know what he’s doing at this moment? Or who he’s speaking with?”

When Kidan said nothing, Adjoa continued. “He meets with the rogue vampire you brought in, Arin Tawendyo.”

Arin… Kidan knew her only from a distance. The cruel vampire who’d burned Yusef’s hand and spent most of her time with Professor Andreyas.

Why was Susenyos speaking with her?

Kidan tried not to show her surprise and hardened her voice. “Why are you following him?”

The square of Adjoa’s shoulders straightened, her voice cold. “Because he killed a vampire from my house.”

Good, Kidan was about to say when the woman began to walk into the woods, her vampire falling behind her.