Page 224 of Eternal Ruin
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?
The Last Sage.
Does the house master believe power should rest in community, tradition, or individuals?
Community.
Does the house master believe in bravery, revenge, loyalty, or responsibility?
Responsibility.
Kidan placed her mother’s finger bones on the white-clothed table, pushing aside the plate assigned to Mahlet Adane. Next, she drew a symbol for sadness, a teardrop, and called on the echoes of memories tied to it—loss, broken heart, death. Just as Resurption instructed.
Bones serve as a gate between the living and the dead. To historians, they are prized artifacts. To the devout, they are reminders of faith. To the house, they are remnants of its master. To inherit or sever, you must know the master’s mind well. Kill them and retrieve their bones. Their bones will reveal all truths. This process is called Resurption.
Death. Death.
She recalled the article.Gruesomely propped up at their dinner table with everything intact except their hearts.
Maybe, finally, she could find out why Daric really killed her parents. If Adjoa Piran had ordered him, and if Adjoa was the hidden enemy Kidan had to kill.
A white thread emerged from the finger bones, swimming in the air before splintering into a hundred wisps. Each one rushed to spread around the house, hunting, collecting, and returning before her eyes in a wash of brilliant light.
Kidan threw her arm up and squinted. She gasped. The dining room came into view again, but now two people were seated below her. June faded from beside her.
Mahlet’s forehead was high, her nose straight like Kidan’s, with loose curls that softened her features. Next to her, a thick mass of hair crowned Aman’s head, his brow furrowed. They sat at the head of the table.
“You’re not making sense,” Aman said, trying to grab her hand.
Mahlet shook him off, eyes wild. “We have to stop. What have we done?”
“We’re changing Uxlay!” he stressed. “The world!”
Mahlet’s face became slick with tears, and Aman paused, a look of fear possessing him.
“Did they threaten you? Threaten the kids? We can send them away, hide them. But the Dirt Diggers can’t stop. It’s bigger than us. You told me that. So what is different now?”
Tears flooded her eyes. “Because twenty-one is not enough. It’s not enough, Aman.”
Confusion swirled in Aman’s eyes as Mahlet sank into a chair, gazing out the window. “I know where the ring artifact is.”
The entire house shuddered with Aman, and he let out a small sound of wonder. “We’ve done it, then. We only need to find the blade artifact?”
Mahlet shook her head, furious, but before she could speak the warning grew louder, the figures shimmering in and out of view.
“Armor,” her mother said in a low voice, and the house hitched forward, rushing to shield her.
They both whirled around but the house was empty of threat. Then soft low clicks sounded. A shadow climbing on the living room floor.
Terror fluttered in Kidan’s stomach.
She didn’t want to witness their death. But their murderer was here, in the house, she could sense the curtains rioting, and the lights flickering with danger.
Aman was slowly moving toward the right, toward the cabinet. Mahlet did not move from her seat, eyes fierce.
