Chapter 24 Kidan #2
What had he said about Samson once? We remove his heart from his chest and bury it beneath our house.
“Adjoa Piran.” Even saying her name tasted like poison. “Did she order him to do this?”
“The courts found her not guilty. I don’t know why Daric did this.”
Kidan searched his eyes and found only the truth. She nodded, her shoulders dropping. “Why?”
“Greed.” Susenyos’s voice gleamed with violence. “It was the rumor. Someone betrayed them. Spread word Adane House had discovered the Last Sage’s artifact in Axum and Uxlay turned on your parents. Their own vampires turned on them. Thankfully, God gave us Cossia Day to deal with the unworthy.”
Kidan’s eyes widened, recalling the list of Susenyos’s kills she’d read in the library last semester. How he had earned the name Savage Susenyos. Why he was the only dranaic left in Adane House.
“You killed them… one by one.”
There was no mercy in his pupils, one of his twists cutting across his eye like a lethal blade. “Of course.”
At times like these, Kidan thought no one else in the world would understand her like he did. Because she would have done the same thing. Had done the same thing for June. Kill anyone who betrayed family.
And yet Kidan knew that was not the only thing that motivated him.
No other dranaics meant no competition in his path to the mask artifact. Kidan didn’t blame him for having ulterior motives, but she needed to know which came first: loyalty to Adane House, or the Sage’s artifacts.
They stood in the silence, the sound of crickets and a strong wind gusting over them, looking out to the front yard.
Thunderstorms were predicted for tonight.
Good. It’d help her sleep better. Kidan’s braids danced with the brewing wind, touching Susenyos’s shoulder.
He inhaled and appeared to hold his breath.
Agitation carved his face and watching him struggle made her recall the fifth page of Aseracti.
All things act out of self-interest, even the martyr earns his praise over his grave. Even the generous is grateful for his status, a pedestal from which he can hand out coin. Every soul worships at the three pillars of need—to escape, to rule, to be loved.
Know a vampire’s pillar, and stand before it, they will bow to you in either servitude or worship. You cannot command a house if you cannot command others.
“If you want my blood, you can have some—” She barely finished before he touched her neck and pulled her to him, inhaling deeply.
Her breath hitched in surprise. Susenyos’s breathing was rough, losing itself in hunger, calling hers to wake.
His chest was hard and corded with muscle.
Kidan caught his hand quickly, keeping it away from her ignited skin.
It still felt too much to hold his hand, but she forced herself to focus.
He recovered himself enough to release a dark laugh. “Why do I sense there’s a string attached?”
She almost smiled at how well he read her. “Just tell me how the artifacts work first.”
Susenyos stared at her, then released a stunned breath.
“You’re wicked, yené Roana.” A thrill danced up her spine at the burn in his voice. “But I will not barter with you regarding the artifacts.”
Her lashes fluttered, his dizzying scent drawing her in. “Then I’m afraid I can’t help you. Sadly, my other companion has taken all the blood I have to offer. Maybe you can get his flask.”
His eyes flared with dangerous fire. “That can easily be remedied. But you’ve been giving him more than your blood, haven’t you? You’ve been talking to him.”
Kidan stilled. “You’ve been watching me?”
“I have a few people keeping an eye on you. Why? Do you intend to betray me?”
He was half mocking, but his gaze was still alert, searching. “What did you two talk about?”
Kidan pressed her lips together. The longer she stayed silent, the harder his expression became. Good. If he wanted her trust, he’d have to share his secrets. His intense forehead creased slightly as he read her mind.
“Tell me how the artifacts work,” she shot back.
Both stubborn, they stared at one another for a long while, neither giving in. Susenyos’s attention flicked to the door, an unreadable expression crossing his face, then… he smiled.
Kidan blinked, confused by his sudden change.
“Let the house decide what we should share with each other,” he said, moving past her to the porch.
Kidan turned slowly. “What?”
“Come.”
Confused, she followed. At the threshold, Susenyos inhaled deeply as if wading into cold water, then stiffly hurried down the hallway.
Kidan had to speed up to keep up with him.
Susenyos didn’t lead her into the observatory room like he had done so many times to drown in their mutual pain; instead he turned to the hall leading to the garden door.
But they didn’t step outside to the waist-high shrubs like she expected.
In the hallway, Susenyos paused by a thin door built into the wall, so small Kidan had never paid attention to it before. Inside were buckets, brooms, mops, and detergent.
“It tracks to reason if we feel pain in the same room, then joy shall have its own corner,” Susenyos said, an ease to his voice. “And joy has the tendency to loosen tongues.”
Kidan studied his shining eyes and crinkled her nose. “It’s a broom closet.”
Surprisingly, Susenyos’s eyes lightened.
All brown. No trace of the burning hunger from moments ago.
His claws and fangs were gone too. It was perhaps the first moment Kidan could clearly note the difference between human Yos and vampire Susenyos.
He truly appeared to be two different people.
She couldn’t begin to imagine how disorienting that would be.
“A little faith, please. After you.”
Kidan didn’t move.
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.