Page 63 of Eternal Ruin
Joy? In a broom closet?
“You think I’ll be so happy I’ll tell you my secrets?” she asked slowly, trying to understand.
“Maybe.”
“Why wait until now?”
His dark eyes found hers. “Because I don’t know how it will affect me.”
Kidan swallowed then, her palms growing a little slick. “I thought you wanted to avoid Adane House at all costs.”
“Yes. Every room in this house feels like stepping into the hot furnace of hell. Or drowning in the observatory for hours.”
Kidan’s eyes slightly widened when the familiar black twisting threads skittered to life. Was he thinking about Lusidio again?
“But I want to test my limits. And I wonder if there’s a safe haven. A corner of this house that hasn’t been poisoned. If it’s possible to feel something other than pain when I’m like this.”
This, being human.
“I don’t see why not,” Kidan said.
A smile stretched his full lips. “Let’s find out, shall we?”
Kidan glanced over the dark outlines of mops in buckets warily. After all the pain and anger this house had magnified, joy shouldn’t feel terrifying. What were they going to do? Laugh each other to death? Confess to their secrets? It sounded silly. Susenyos raised a brow in challenge, waiting. Hardening her jaw, Kidan stepped into the stuffy room. She wouldn’t be the one to back down from a challenge.
25.
KIDAN
Susenyos shut the door with them inside. They were cramped in the smallest room in the house. If Kidan stretched out her arms, her fingertips would touch walls on both sides. They stood in front of one another, with no space to do anything but brush skin while trying not to touch. This close, his scent overwhelmed her. She tried not to inhale deeply.
A weak bulb overhead cast shadows under Susenyos’s eyes and nose.
“Close your eyes,” he instructed.
“No.”
He smiled. Waited.
After a moment, she closed her eyes.
“What do you feel?” he whispered.
“You. Breathing on me.”
He laughed again, fanning her with new breath. “Concentrate.”
She let herself relax and sink into the room. It wasn’t wet with a foul mop smell or filled with cobwebs. Instead a new scene surrounded them. A scent of wilderness and warm bread, bottled laughter of loved ones, and torch lights against the dark. Drums and strings.
“Can you hear music?” Kidan whispered, opening her eyes.
“Yes.”
The music built higher and higher, drawing them into a familiar beat. Ittraveled along every corner and tunneled into her chest. Susenyos couldn’t stop his grin when he noticed her feet starting to tap with the beat.
“Why do I want to dance?” She squinted in accusation.
Susenyos held up his hands in defense. “It’s the body. It doesn’t know what to do with such joyous energy flooding through it. Some people run, some jump, some dance. Either way, it needs to be released.”
