K IDAN NEEDED S LEN’S CONFESSION MORE THAN AIR ITSELF.

Fiddling with her phone in her pocket, she settled on the secluded steps where she’d first met Slen and thought of Mama Anoet’s confession. The last rays of sun hit her eye, and her leg bounced with anticipation. She hadn’t seen Susenyos or Taj anywhere. Hopefully, they were too busy taking care of Iniko to come hunting for her. Her best option was telling Dean Faris about Susenyos’s immortality, and that he’d kill her for discovering his secret. The dean would offer protection—but what if… Kidan was wrong? What if Susenyos was entirely innocent?

A breeze snuck under her sleeves, chilling and taunting. If she was in the house, the hallway would punish her for such a thought. Of course he wasn’t entirely innocent. He played some part. He’d simply mastered concealing it, like his stolen immortality.

Now Slen might be just as guilty. If Slen was a new member of the 13th, did she know anything about June?

Kidan’s brain hurt. She wasn’t thinking straight, needed time to come up with a plan.

Short, thick braids curled around Slen’s aggressive jaw, the sun a harsh glare behind her. She climbed the stairs, with hands tucked into her large pockets. They were positioned like at their first meeting, with enough space between them for two people. The wind whistled and tickled Kidan’s ears.

Kidan’s voice carried in the shifting gust. “Have you heard of the Green Heights foster case? A girl burned down a house with her foster mother inside. She discovered that her foster mother was behind her sister’s disappearance.”

“Parents can be cruel.”

“Yes, but children? Children can be merciless.” Kidan studied her profile. “You don’t think it was wrong?”

“In regard to whose interpretation?”

“I’m not discussing Dranacti, Slen. This is real life.”

“You believe there’s a difference.”

If Slen knew Kidan’s secret, she was doing an impeccable job pretending otherwise.

Kidan sucked in a breath. “What if I told you it’s not just a news story, that it’s about me and my sister?”

“So why aren’t you in prison?” Slen asked.

“Why aren’t you?”

Their eyes met, and for a moment Kidan glimpsed a muscle curving slightly on Slen’s mouth before it disappeared.

“Your father is a violent man,” Kidan said.

“Yes.”

“He was arrested.”

“Correct again.”

Kidan’s hand shook in her pocket, rolling back and forth on the play button. She couldn’t bring herself to press it. It was like jumping into an abyss and hoping a giant net was at the bottom. Slen wouldn’t confess without demanding something in return. But what would it feel like to finally tell someone? Someone who’d taken a life because of an unforgivable betrayal? Her bracelet twinkled with caution in the fading light. June wouldn’t want her to.

“Did you know your father was a member of a group called the 13th?” Kidan asked softly.

Slen tilted her head to the purple and orange sky. Her profile was beautiful, even though it was obvious she didn’t want it to be.

“Slen. Answer me. Did you know your father was a member—”

“I know you’re a member of a group called the 13th. I know you’re here looking for June. I know you’re a killer, Kidan. I know.”

Kidan’s vision faded around the edges, her mouth parting. She tried to speak but couldn’t.

Slen spoke to the sky, oblivious. “I even know your next question. Where is June? I don’t know if the 13th took her. For that, you’ll have to ask the older members.”

Finally, a strained question slipped out. “Why… why did you join them?”

Slen placed a cigarette between her graceful fingers and lit it.

“Isn’t it obvious? My father loves two things: power and music. The 13th protected him well. For years, no one could touch him. There’s no defeating the 13th, only joining. I approached them when I turned eighteen, and they refused. I tried again this year, and I received my first task. Get other houses to join the 13th cause. In exchange, my father would be removed. Surely you can understand that.”

Kidan couldn’t speak. Her temples hurt, and her forehead creased. “But why go after Ramyn?”

Flints of fiery ash lit Slen’s flat eyes. “Only a true threat within Uxlay would move the houses into action.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Think about it, Kidan. Why do you look so upset even though you knew Ramyn for such a short time?”

Kidan didn’t know the answer to that. She just cared for Ramyn. It had been as natural as breathing.

Slen’s eyes lost their stolen fire as if she understood. “Almost everyone loved Ramyn Ajtaf, and so everyone would mourn. When the most darling, beloved student dies, most houses would sway. Her death would change hearts.”

Kidan grew breathless with the cruelty of Slen’s actions. Even more disturbing… it sounded like Slen truly liked Ramyn too.

Why? she wanted to scream. Why ruin your soul? Kidan had wanted to spare her this. The despicable act of taking a life.

Slen focused on the fountain below them. “I needed her death. Because of it, I’m able to live twice the life I had.”

It’d all been a performance. A disturbing play meticulously planned to eliminate and manipulate. If Kidan distanced herself, she could appreciate its sick brilliance. They’d all been too blinded by the tragedy to suspect the killer among them. Why look at a defenseless girl when the obvious monster bared its teeth? She’d forgotten that terrifying creatures were often wronged girls. Wasn’t she proof of that?

“Is human life worth so little?” Kidan whispered.

A question for them both.

Slen lifted her lashes. Her gaze half-lidded with a shade of darkness so pure that Kidan hurt just watching her.

“Was your foster mother’s? I did what I needed to in order to protect my brother. Just like you did for June. We aren’t so different.”

Kidan bunched her fists. That was precisely the problem. Being similar to Kidan was a death sentence. There was no future here.

She cleared her throat, bringing steel to her voice. “Who dropped Ramyn from that tower?”

“A dranaic inside the 13th loyal to me.”

“Ramyn’s blood-stained lips. Did you tell the dranaic to do that?”

Slen blinked. “What?”

“Answer the question,” Kidan demanded.

Slen gave a slight raise of the brows. “It was the dranaic’s decision.”

Kidan wanted to believe her. To believe she still had something worth saving. Never had she seen someone play with human life as casually as Slen. Was this not what she loathed about the vampires? They weaponized human vulnerability and exerted their power. This went past the admission of guilt, this was… evil. So why was Kidan still here chatting instead of following her promise to cleanse the world of such darkness?

Because a prickle of twisted satisfaction had torn through the awful noise. Slen had taken care of her abusive father. She had survived. Kidan touched her bracelet, hearing Mama Anoet’s scream as fire ate her flesh.

Kill her , June’s voice demanded.

Spare her , Kidan pleaded back. She’s only trying to free herself from her father .

June punished her with a violent, endless quiet. Kidan squeezed her eyes shut. Every time she disappointed her sister, the fissure between them cracked wider, impossible to bridge. Kidan’s hand moved to her constricted chest.

“Kidan?” Slen asked, making Kidan open her eyes. “Are you all right? You just went somewhere.”

“I need to speak to the dranaic,” Kidan said in a rushed tone, dropping her hand. “What’s their name?”

“I can’t tell you that.”

“Why?” she demanded.

“Because I have one more task. I need your help.”

“You already got your father arrested. Why are you still working with them?”

“I must prove myself until I graduate.” A hint of tension tightened her voice. “There’s no leaving the 13th.”

Slen liked control, and the 13th were still pulling her strings.

“What do they want?”

Slen tapped her cigarette of its ashes. “Susenyos Sagad will be arrested today for colluding with my father and killing Ramyn.”

Words escaped Kidan for several heartbeats. This revelation meant Susenyos was not only innocent but being framed .

She barely heard Slen’s next words.

“You need to corroborate the prosecutor’s charges at the hearing. Only after he’s arrested will the 13th tell you anything about June, if they took her.”

“W-what do they want with Susenyos?”

“He’s a threat. But sacrificing him for your sister seems like the very thing you’d do. Don’t let me down.”

Sacrificing him … Despite everything, those words made Kidan wince.

Her mind raced to why she had suspected Susenyos: Did the 13th give Mama Anoet the wrong name? Plant June’s bracelet? Have Slen use Ramyn’s death as the final nail in the coffin?

It was all too much. Her fists clenched and unclenched.

Their target had always been Susenyos. And no one had fallen for it as much as Kidan.