Page 10 of Eternal Ruin
5.
KIDAN
Kidan and June Adane, the sole surviving heirs of their house, stared at each other long enough for the room to become water itself.
Kidan’s lungs drowned—she wished for time to speed up and was eager for her sister to speak and pull her ashore. Kidan could almost see it. How they’d survive this.
It wouldn’t take much. A simple apology. A long hug.
They’d had fights before. Never as bad as this but they could recover, if they wanted to. Kidan would rather try to forgive her sister than feel hatred.
June only had to apologize. Admit she made a mistake. Tell Kidan she loved her still.
It would be so easy to return to themselves. All she needed was a true explanation.
Instead, June’s first true words to her were, “Do you have the mask artifact?”
It was said softly, with June’s usual timidness, yet it was sharper than any knife, severing the last thread between them.
Barbed wire choked her heart, pain bleeding into Kidan’s chest with each inhale.
An artifact.
The cause of all this plotting and betrayal, between Susenyos and Samson and now Kidan and June. The hunt for the Last Sage’s artifacts—a mask, a ring, and twin blades. Once each was located, the binds on vampires would be broken.Finally, they’d be free to drink from any human, access their suppressed strengths, populate without killing themselves.
Samson Sagad was in possession of the Water artifact—twin blades. Adane House held the Sun artifact—a mask within its walls.
The Death artifact, the ruby ring, was still lost to time itself.
And here they were, facing off like children fighting over toys. Kidan wanted to scream.
Anger spilled into her voice. “You left me for an artifact?”
June’s small frame shrank even more. “Samson needs it.”
Kidan’s vision was nearly swimming, her nostrils flaring. “So that’s it, then? You and him aretogether?”
She felt a small sense of pleasure when her sister flinched in shame.
“I’m notwithhim like that.” A rare touch of anger tightened her voice. “I’m helping him.”
“You left me!” Kidan roared, and the room’s walls ignited with energy, feeding on her very marrow. Everything Kidan had bottled up came out in that powerful roar.
June didn’t realize how close she was to being strangled.
“Do you know what I went through searching for you? I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t sleep. I thought you were being tortured, fed on, and—and—God knows what else.” Kidan’s voice splintered into pieces. “How could you leave me?”
June’s face pinched, as if it hurt to hear this. June had never been able to handle people’s pain, even tearing up at heartbreak songs. Good, this was what Kidan wanted. For her sister to understand the hell she went through. Because, God, how could she not know what this had done to Kidan? Once, they could understand each other with a single look, but now a veil hovered between them.
Kidan grabbed her sister’s soft hands, staring deep into those familiar honeyed eyes. She was desperate to bridge the gap between them. “The things you said in that video… they’re not true. You wouldn’t leave me without a reason.”
The walls became streaked with blue wisps, the sadness of their memories cracking the rage like glass.
“I told you the reason,” June said, voice soft as petals, staring at their joined hands. “I needed to feel safe, and the Nefrasi helped me. Now I have to help them.”
Cold sapphire wind spun around them, leaving Kidan hollow. These poisonous words again. “Safe,” she repeated flatly. “You left because I didn’t keep you safe?”
The answer was in June’s silence, the crease of her brows, and her unwillingness to meet Kidan’s eyes.
