Page 76 of Eternal Ruin
“Get out of my way—”
“I’m angry too,” he said, holding up a hand. His breathing had changed, become more erratic as his nostrils flared. “But this will solve nothing.”
“I disagree. I can slap some sense into her.”
“This is what she wants,” he stressed, finally reaching her. “Listen to her words. She’s testing how much influence she has over you.”
Slen watched them silently, her face purposefully blank. But it was clear she was observing, taking note. Kidan was about to explode. She couldn’t help but be surprised by Yusef’s calmness.
His gaze lingered, patient until Kidan was calm, before he spun and grinned.
“You really wrote my name down?” he asked, a spike of delight in his voice.
Slen stiffened when he approached, following his movements with all the cautiousness one offered a snake. He draped an arm around her shoulder and said in a low voice, “I wrote your name too.”
It was barely a second, but there was a flicker, rare shock interrupting Slen’s flat gaze and turning it into a blink.
He let her go and offered both his palms, warm brown eyes shining. “You want the power? Take it.”
“That’s not how it works.” Slen tightened her tone. “You giving it to me implies you have it.”
“Sorry,” he said quickly. “You give it to me, then.”
A lengthy pause settled between them. Charm. Professor Andreyas had mentioned it as one of the ways to exercise power. Slen broke from the pause finally, shook him off, and adjusted her jacket.
“Don’t make this any harder,” Slen said. “Both of you should vote for this proposal. It’s a compromise on both sides. Smart.”
Smart.
How very Slen.
Something horrid clicked in Kidan’s mind. But it was all wrong.Hadto be. “Did you help them suggest this proposal?”
Slen didn’t have to answer her. The prolonged quiet was damning enough.
Yusef’s head whipped toward Slen. “That’s not true, is it?”
For a moment, Slen touched her right hand, the one without a glove, before continuing. “If I didn’t propose the Founding Houses be stripped of power, the Border Houses would have left Uxlay defenseless by leaving Uxlay.”
Kidan’s blood pumped. “Oh, you’re a real fucking hero.”
Slen’s eyes slitted. “I told you last semester. There’s no leaving the 13th. More than half of Uxlay is part of it.”
“I can’t believe you.”
They’d gotten close to each other’s faces, to the dangerous point where words weren’t enough and only fists could resolve their fight. It struck Kidan Slen must have been planning this for a long time. While she taught Kidan Amharic? While they shared coffees and studies? While Slen’s hands were in GK’s chest, keeping his heart still so he would wake as a vampire? Slen’s pillar of need was always to rule. Only Kidan had been foolish enough to think she’d changed.
Yusef stepped between them, a hand on each shoulder. “Let’s just take a minute. Talk it through.”
Slen slid out of his touch as if it hurt. Her stoic gaze danced back and forth. “You know it’s the right thing to do.”
Yusef exhaled as Slen walked away, a harsh shape of black among green leaves and old stone. If Yusef’s goal was to show Slen how ridiculous she sounded, it had worked. Kidan had to curl her fingers so she wouldn’t attack her.
Yusef leaned back against the tree, his face growing dark. None of the charm from seconds ago existed now.
“You can’t let her see you get worked up. She wants us to hate her.”
“I do hate her,” Kidan growled. “She wants the Border Houses to have a shot at being dean so she can be one herself. That way she can move Qaros House to the middle. Everything else is bullshit. How are you so calm?”
