Page 126 of Eternal Ruin
Death, especially the death of those she loved, should have burned like it was her own.
Samson grabbed Kidan’s arm and led her out of the lounge. Susenyos didn’t lift his haunted eyes from Etete’s limp body.
After hauling Kidan out of the study lounge, Samson locked the door.
“What are you doing?” she asked, her own voice unrecognizable.
“He will not leave that room.” Samson stared at her. “Tell June to come to my room once she gets here.”
He rubbed his metal arm with a wince and stormed upstairs.
Again, the words stirred no disgust in her. No hatred.
Kidan stumbled, faced the mirror above the kitchen stove. Her features—there was a horrible blankness to her expression, the fire in her eyes extinguished, the brown of her face faded, the movements of her mouth downcast.
She tried to smile, to frown, but she couldn’t. She opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out.
Of all the things she could become,thiscouldn’t be it. Alive yet no different than a corpse. She’d gone wrong somewhere. Of course she had. Without her bracelet, her little blue pill, there was no divine end. Nothing to rescue her from her fragility or the depravity of her heart, both of which kept her awake at night. Endless possibilities stretched and stretched, and she was a coward, avoiding each version of herself. Maybe she wanted them all, selfish and impossible, or she wanted things she’d never have, her sister, her friends, and that’d hurt more than a knife through her lungs—it was too overwhelming, too loud.
Except now there was nothing at all. Her heart might as well as have stopped.
You did it,a horrible voice said inside her.You’ve finally killed yourself.
After all, there was more than one way to die.
Kidan went to the kitchen, opened the last drawer where extra keys were kept. She needed to see Etete’s body, understand what had happened so she could feel something.
The brass key turned the lock of the lounge. Inside, firewood crackled, embers taking flight in gentle cycles. No one was here. For a moment, something like relief traveled through her.
It had been a vision, a manifestation of the house.
Kidan walked inside until something wet smacked beneath her.
Blood drenched the carpet, right where Etete’s neck had been broken. Adjacent to her, the artifact room was slightly ajar, the red tapestry of the lion hanging lopsided.
Tremors danced up Kidan’s spine. She didn’t know there was another way out of the lounge house through the artifact room. But the droplets of blood led there, disappearing behind a sliding shelf.
Susenyos must have carried Etete through here.
Kidan shut her eyes, another tear ripping into her armor. She was coming undone and there were only two options: tighten her command on the house or loosen the knot and face the repercussions.
Weightless, Kidan traveled down the line of shelves to the portrait of the goddess, the one Susenyos had commissioned. The Sage was masked, her blades strapped to her back, and a ring on her third finger.
Power emanated from her and Kidan couldn’t help but wonder how she did it. How did she acquire power that wasn’t corrosive to the soul? Where was the balance?
A humming sound came from the portrait, like a woman singing. Kidan frowned, trying to figure out where it was coming from. The canvas was ripped, yet the Sage’s piercing gaze didn’t lose its edge.
Soft careful footsteps sounded, echoing wildly in the metal room. Wildflowers, that was her sister’s scent. As if she spent all her days in a field. Kidan inhaled deeply, going far away from this house to a time when she knew who she was.
An older sister.
A protector.
June’s skirts swished as she came to stand next to her, staring up at the mighty figure.
Aseracti whispered inside Kidan like a hissing snake.Kill her. She is the last thing you have to kill.
Lessons from the Last Sage
