Chapter 30 Kidan
KIDAN
Kidan read Aseracti alone before the dead fireplace.
Without the fire, everything about the house felt like a husk, including herself.
The philosophy of Aseracti had stripped her of all emotion and it was blissfully quiet.
The only warmth to be found was in the instruction of the pages, every line was an answer to a problem she faced, every phrase a mantra that would help bind everything to her.
With Samson arrested, there was no threat in the house. No one demanding she feed them blood.
This is how it should have always been, she thought. In control of everything around me.
Etete eventually came, a blur of a long dress and shawl, and left a plate of injera and wot on the table.
“You’ve been reading that book for a while,” she said now. “You should rest.”
“I’m fine.” Kidan didn’t look up.
“It’s cold in here. Light the fire.”
“I don’t feel cold.”
With house armor, her flesh couldn’t even feel the turning of the pages. It was disconcerting, but she would learn to wield the strength the house lent her. When Kidan said nothing, Etete sighed and faded into the darkness.
Kidan read on: a new revelation.
Bones serve as a gate between the living and the dead.
To historians, they are prized artifacts.
To the devout, they are reminders of faith.
To the house, they are remnants of its master.
To inherit or sever, you must know the master’s mind well.
Kill them and retrieve their bones and their bones will reveal all truths. This process is called Resurption.
Kidan glanced up, a small part of her locked inside but stirring at the words. Aseracti instructed on how to kill house masters. But her parents were already dead. This made things a lot easier.
She tried to smile but her face couldn’t quite express the emotion.
The house shuddered in warning when the front door opened. Kidan had just enough time to slide Aseracti under another book and straighten up as Susenyos appeared at the entryway.
It was the first time she’d seen him since he left her alone in the broom closet. And she was worried of the room softening with desire or anger.
But there was nothing.
She relaxed.
He studied her for a while, eyes flicking to the unlit wood. “It’s cold in here.”
“It’s fine.”
“Why can’t I feel you anymore?” he asked after a moment, tilting his head.
Susenyos must have sensed the change immediately. The way the house had become withdrawn, cleaved their connection in half. Her emotions were no longer visible, and neither were his.
“I’m beginning to master the house,” she said.
His eyes didn’t shine, filled with questions.
Aseracti instructed in secrecy and she understood why. If everyone knew a shortcut to mastering a house, how many would kill for it? Susenyos himself could take it off her hands. Finally seize the house after fourteen years.
His eyes snagged on the fanged lion statue perched on the mantel.
Kidan had placed it there this morning. The Demasus religion valued strength and leadership, and every patron had a lion statue they rubbed for strength.
It felt wrong drawing faith from Demasus, a vampire, but she’d always been impressed by his war strategies.
Similarly, the Mot Zebeyas, followers of the Last Sage, decorated their monastery with the lithe antelope that produced the impala horn. Like her mother, they believed in protection and sacrifice.
If Kidan were to sever, she had to make sure she praised a different entity.
It didn’t take much to follow the religion.
Every seventh day, Demasus accepted a drop of blood from his worshippers.
There was a gathering in the community hall every Saturday, the day of feasting, and only one thing was blasphemous.
An impala statue, said to burn the skin of Demasus.
“Strength doesn’t come from statues, little bird.” Susenyos traced the lion’s mane. “You’re looking in the wrong place.”
“You worship a mask, twin blades, and a ring. Should I look there, then?”
His eyes narrowed slightly before he nearly smiled. “You’re right. So what are we going to do about your friend?”
Slen.
That must be why he was here.
His face was severe, merciless when he wanted it to be. Susenyos had warned her about Slen and he had been right.
How easy it would be to tell him to kill Slen. And he would do it.
Yet Kidan stroked the edge of the dark book, thinking. Clarity was important.
“Killing her will only make the Border Houses more angry.”
He cocked his head, intelligent eyes trying to read her. But there was nothing to read. The house cloaked her well. It served her.
“You speak so casually about killing her,” he said slowly. “It’s refreshing, don’t get me wrong, but why now?”
Kidan stared into his eyes. They were different in the house, more of a dark brown than inky black.
“Do you know what Resurption is?” she asked, her voice as cold as the room.
Caution filled his stiff posture. “Resurption is prohibited in Uxlay.”
That didn’t surprise her. “What do you know about it?”
“Houses would kill their own masters, gather their bones, and delve into their memories. It became a horrifying trend.” His eyes tracked her with curiosity. “How did you learn about Resurption?”
Kidan wasn’t interested in answering his questions.
“My mother’s bones should be in the cemetery, right?”
Kidan hadn’t been up to the task before, but at least at the end of all of this, there was a chance to see her mother’s memories, finally answer the last two questions about her political views and values and compare them to hers.
Susenyos’s demeanor was solemn.
“Daric the Cruel cremated their bodies. There is nothing.”
A pang sounded in her chest but the house caught the sound and swallowed it whole.
“He removed their hearts,” she said in almost a trance. “Then destroyed their bones.”
Susenyos walked to her and rested a hand on her shoulder, sending streaks of warmth like shocking waves. Threatening to shatter the armor the house loaned her. Kidan quickly stood and stepped away. He frowned at her reaction but didn’t approach her again.
“Resurption is a study that’s common with rogue houses,” he said carefully. “Where did you learn it?”
It surprised her he was concerned about this.
“If their bones were in the cemetery, you would have used it, wouldn’t you?”
His eyes darkened instantly. “No.”
It didn’t matter if he was telling the truth or not. She knew he would have. To get the mask artifact. There was nothing he would not do.
Know a vampire’s pillar, and stand before it, they will bow to you in either servitude or worship.
“I’m going to attend the Arcane Tower courting,” she told him casually, as if she were merely going to the grocery store. “Omar Umil said a house would vote my way if I marry into their order.”
Susenyos clearly hadn’t expected this, because he actually moved back in disbelief. “What are you talking about?”
“Marriage. Securing Adane House.”
He stared like she was beyond comprehension. “You can’t be serious.”
“Why not?”
“Why not?” His voice rose an octave before he let out a breathless laugh. “Because this isn’t a game. Marriage isn’t a game.”
When she said nothing, his fists opened and closed. There was some thrill in leaving him off-balance. A little taste of how confused he’d left her these past weeks.
“You’re telling me you don’t feel anything at the idea?” He bridged the gap between them, though not close enough to touch. “You will marry a stranger, bring him into your home, let him share your bed.”
Her fingers danced along her thigh, caught between anger and fear. Only iron existed. Power.
“You want me to own the house, don’t you? By whatever means necessary?” she said. “Bring back your immortality? Get the mask?”
His brows pinched and he didn’t answer for a while, then forced out, “Yes.”
She ignored the tightness in her stomach. “Then you should be happy.”
“But this can’t be what you imagined for your future. A loveless marriage with nothing more than a deal struck.” He continued to speak in a low, urging voice. “You burn for those you love. And your marriage should be the brightest passion you know. It is not easy to break a marriage vow.”
Kidan’s attention drifted to the family portrait across the lounge. Of her mother and father. The many dead around them. Betrayed for objects, in the pursuit of power. If her parents had realized that maybe they’d still be alive.
“Why shouldn’t it be? It will be no more than a contract.
” She turned to him, voice still too unfamiliar.
“Families of Uxlay betray each other all the time, kill one another. Look at Slen’s father, and Ramyn’s brothers.
My own sister. Your family is either taken from you or they leave you.
Isn’t it better I choose someone I don’t love?
Someone who can help me. Someone I can use and—”
“Trade at a moment’s wish?” he cut in, eyes flashing. When she said nothing, there was a set line to his lips. “Can you really make yourself so cold? Unfeeling?”
“You’ve trained me well enough for it,” she snapped without meaning to.
Instead of anger, a brightness caught in his dark gaze. It was as if her yell was the first delightful thing he’d heard. “So you feel nothing. I’m free to leave, to trade you in for a well-tempered companion?”
Her breath hitched, and the familiar panic whenever she thought of June threatened to return. She turned away, touched her wrist where she’d etched the symbol for fear.
Traced it.
Controlled it.
Only fire remained in her voice. “As long as I have the mask, you won’t leave,” she said.
Susenyos’s shadow had gone still. When she glanced back, his pupils flared. If their minds had been still connected, this room would have been drowning in fire.
That damned mask gave her control over him whether he liked it or not. And as long as she found her future husband’s pillar and stood before it, they would live well enough.
After a while, he said, “You don’t need to marry anyone.”
“I need the houses—”
“You will go to the Arcane Tower, and announce your intention to marry,” he cut in, brown eyes struggling with something. Kidan’s heart lurched in traitorous hope but she tempered it. She was trying to understand what he wanted.
“Each house will woo you, hoping you marry into their order. All you have to do is let them think they have a chance at that elusive middle house position.”
Kidan understood the strategy slowly. The words he was not saying.
Susenyos nodded. The curtains parted and sunlight crawled onto the carpet.
He rubbed his tired eyes. “Once you master this house, all of this will be worth it.”
It wasn’t a question. Though it sounded like one.
He trailed a look down her form, caught her straight, unblinking gaze. Something made him hesitate for a second before he said, “I will be escorting you.”
“You will?”
“Of course.” His face was wiped clean of any expression, though the tightness of his voice gave him away. “As your companion, I’ll counsel you on your future husband. After all, we’ll both be living with him.”
Kidan’s ears buzzed at the words “future husband.” Especially coming from Susenyos. It stunned her how casually he said it. As if it was a fact already.
Unfortunately, the Arcane Tower was far from Uxlay, and the moment Kidan stepped out the door, her emotions would cling to her like starved leeches.