Page 55

T ITUS L EVIGNE WAS A SALLOW-FACED DRANAIC WHO DRESSED IN A large, expensive trench coat. He smelled of cigars and cologne and spoke with a slight accent as he offered Kidan some of his pastry. They’d walked to one of the smaller campus cafés, Axum Buna, and a drizzling rain now dotted their window. This wasn’t what she was expecting when she imagined June’s attacker. But then again, the same hands that tore the delicate pastry in front of her had held Ramyn Ajtaf dangling in the air by the throat.

“Did Slen speak to you?”

“She did.”

Kidan lowered her voice. “The markings on Ramyn’s lips, why did you do that?”

He raised one perfect brow. “I can’t speak of things that might implicate me outside Cossia Day.”

“I won’t tell anyone.”

“I don’t know you.”

“Slen does, and she knows I’ll keep my word.”

“That may be true, but the same compassion doesn’t extend to me. What if you report me to the Sicions?”

Her patience was fraying. “Did you have something to do with June Adane?”

“June.” He turned the name over on his tongue several times. “I’m afraid not.”

“Then why —”

Titus leaned forward. Her voice had risen, and the waiter shot a curious glance toward them.

“Attend Cossia Day a few weeks from now, and we can speak freely. Otherwise, don’t contact me again.”

With that, he left.

Kidan reached home wet and miserable. These delays on a lead about June were irritating. She slammed the front door, shivering as she placed her scarf and jacket on the coatrack. She climbed the stairs to her room and fell backward onto her bed.

She grabbed her earbuds and played June’s videos.

“ Hey guys ,” June’s light voice cut through. “You won’t believe what I did in school today. I’m so embarrassed.”

It was like coming home. June’s voice in the videos was much kinder than the one that visited Kidan here in the real world. At times, Kidan struggled to figure out which one was really her sister. This June was smiling, nervous, and kind. The June inside this house was violent and cruel. Perhaps it was Kidan who enjoyed twisting reality, morphing beautiful things into weapons of evil to punish herself.

“Difficult day?” Susenyos asked, making her jump.

He leaned against her door, head tilted. It was odd always finding him home now.

She pulled her earbuds free. “It’s Titus. He offered to tell me more about Ramyn, but only if I attend Cossia Day.”

Susenyos’s demeanor darkened. “No acti can attend Cossia Day. You’re meant to evacuate the campus.”

She walked past him to her closet, taking off her sweater behind the door.

“Can you escort me?”

“You shouldn’t go.”

“Why not?”

“He’ll kill you.”

She paused at his dark tone and pulled on a shirt. “Well, that’s a chance I’m willing to take.”

When she popped out, his arms were crossed, dark gaze on the floor.

“I also think you’ll see things you don’t want to if you attend.”

Kidan laughed a little. “After all the things I’ve seen, trust me, I’ll be fine. Besides, it’s an official ask.”

Even though his face remained tense, he nodded. She liked that he listened to her now. This arrangement of theirs tipped power back and forth between their fingers, yet Susenyos hadn’t collected as much as he’d threatened to. She’d hoped his request would be more demanding. It was making her restless. What was he waiting for?

“Do you want to drink from me again?” she asked, pulling her shirt away from her neck.

His eyes shot to her collarbone, pupils dilating. He turned his body away. “No, you’ll need your strength.”

“For what?”

He retrieved his flask and winced at its light weight. “To face our torture room. Help me master this house. That’s my only ask at the moment.”

In the weeks leading up to Cossia Day, they spent more and more time in the observatory. During that time, Kidan burst into tears, hyperventilated, and passed out four times.

Each time, she attacked Susenyos with a feral growl. She kept seeing herself kill him, then rip out her own heart so clearly that it was maddening to feel their heartbeats in that room. To feel his breath. June demanded it. And Kidan had to fight back, begging for a little more time, listing the reasons like a prayer. He would help her save others. He would redeem himself. And in turn, she would help save others, redeem herself.

Susenyos would exit the room with deep bites and scratches along his brown face and chest. He’d always touch the blossoming blood, surprised he could be so easily injured, and tighten his jaw.

“I’m sorry,” she’d whisper, watching his skin knit closed in the hallway.

“You’ve dreamed of killing me for a long time. Don’t blame your body for still reacting that way.” He winced at the large bruise fading along his torso.

She dragged a hand through her hair. “I don’t know why it won’t stop.”

Susenyos had improved, at least—managing to stay in there for seven hours.

“An hour is still good,” he told her, frustration lining his jaw. “Tracking time doesn’t prove anything. The task is to face your pain, but I feel like all I’m doing is increasing my tolerance to it.”

Kidan remembered the source of his pain, trying to save his court from death. Now she knew he’d turned them into vampires by force. Then they’d been caught in some violent thing that tortured them in endless cycles before he stopped her from seeing more.

“Where are they?” she asked softly. “Your court?”

Susenyos stiffened. His body had become so still that she knew he wouldn’t answer.

“Are they alive?”

Silence again. His tense face rippled with guilt, but for what, exactly, she didn’t know.

Kidan let out a slow breath. “You don’t have to tell me, but if you’ve been trying to master this room for years, maybe you should talk about it.”

He got to his feet slowly and stared down the room like a wild beast. “There’s nothing to talk about. They’re gone, and my immortality is the only thing I have left.”

Kidan studied the strong muscles of his back. “Is that really what matters the most to you?”

His head turned over his shoulder, eyes pure steel. “Yes. Always.”