Uxlay’s House Vote
UXLAY’S HOUSE VOTE
FARIS HOUSE
Faris House has deliberated and decided Border Houses should be offered the position of dean. They support the immediate removal of Adane House from the middle position.
Slowly, Kidan rested the phone. A steady, menacing pounding filled her ears.
Dean Faris… voted for Adane House to lose its ability to cast its own laws.
Was this punishment for not telling her about the current law?
Why the hell would she open deanship to all houses when it served her most to keep things as they were?
The empathy Kidan had felt earlier quickly dissolved.
Yusef was speaking quickly. “This doesn’t mean the others won’t vote your way. It’s just one vote. Don’t let it get to you.”
“It’s the dean’s house,” Slen said, voice clipped. “It holds more power than just one vote.”
Yusef shot her a hard look, but if Slen noticed it, she did not react.
For a moment, Kidan wanted to ask Slen a dangerous question, a question about her loyalty.
The words rose in her throat and remained stuck on her tongue, sour as blood.
What if Slen’s answer mirrored June’s? Kidan couldn’t bear to hear it.
Instead, her fingers curled around Aseracti, holding on to it like a life raft.
There was already a quote from the book she liked.
It said loyalty was for starved children and blind men—those who could see and were well-fed never bothered with it.
A Founding House had voted against her. Kidan had to start opening her eyes, and stop fucking starving.