Chapter 32 Kidan
KIDAN
The Arcane Societies intrigued Kidan.
The invitation to join was sent to outstanding Black students from every university institution around the world.
These students had to have African ancestry and, most of all, a belief in the supernatural.
Before admission, a deep search into their religious and political views was conducted so the prospect of one day living in a society of vampires would not make them run scared.
Susenyos drove, dressed in a sleek suit with his favorite whirling design of red and gold.
He had to have those custom made. With the windows down, and the night breeze playing with Kidan’s red dress, the two felt oddly normal.
A pair of college students going to a party instead of to an ancient building to find Kidan’s future husband.
More than once, Susenyos would glance at Kidan, taking in her dress, lingering on her red lips.
Then darken on her neck—she’d chosen to wear his golden crown, which had been turned into a necklace.
The beautiful ruby crosses lay cold against her throat like daggers, but it was his heated looks that made her feel like one of his prized treasures.
Outside of Adane House, her emotions were free and distracting. Kidan swallowed, fighting the urge to touch the necklace.
Susenyos was leaning his head out the window toward the sharp wind, as if he couldn’t get enough air.
The rings in his twists flickered like spun silk.
On his sleeve, the Adane House sigil of the mountains was secured.
Silver for them both. Once Kidan mastered the house, they would both wear gold.
The wind kept pushing her braids over her eye and she tucked them behind her ear.
“The orders are run by human influential families ranging from world trade to military,” he explained, voice a little rough.
“They are assets Uxlay may call on one day. In turn they request dranaics be dispatched for certain issues. Turn the tide of a civil war, rescue a kidnapped politician… It is a balance as delicate as the one between dranaics and actis. Uxlay cannot exist without the orders. It cannot birth the next generation without them. Each Order recruits students from specific universities around the world. They have some sort of contract. For instance, the Abyss Order deals mostly with East African universities. Your father belonged to the Abyss, who fund the Axum excavations.”
“Would they tell me information about my father?” she asked.
“The orders like to keep information about their alums close to their chest but yes.”
She would have to pay the Abyss Order a visit, then. See what else she could find. Even if she was going to sever, an insight into what type of people her parents were would be necessary.
Susenyos continued giving her a breakdown. “The Eagle Order is filled with untrustworthy vipers. Make sure to avoid them.”
“Etete was a member.”
His eyes slanted. “She is a rarity. One in eternity.”
A ghost of a smile touched her face. She liked it when he spoke about Etete. It showed her a softer, human side of him. “Why didn’t you give me the Arcane letter last semester?”
It took him by surprise, which she enjoyed. He cleared his expression quickly and glanced to the road. “I receive many letters. Some are bound to get lost.”
“I know you threw it away.”
Caught, he slid her a smile. “The last thing I needed was for you to declare your marriage and stay at Uxlay forever. Remember, little bird, I wanted you gone.”
She studied him for a while, not sure what she was searching for. “And later, when you wanted me to stay, why not tell me then?”
His dark gaze bore into hers, dropping to her lips for a moment. “It must have slipped my mind.”
Her cheeks warmed at the unrestrained heat in his expression and pleasure blossomed in her gut. Maybe Kidan wasn’t the only one who couldn’t control her emotions very well.
Clearing her throat, she brushed down her dress. “Perhaps I will be lucky tonight. Find myself a nice human boy.”
“I hear they’re quite harmless. Like bunnies.” The blackness of his pupils refusing to blink. “You’d be bored.”
She could smell rose oil and eucalyptus on him. A scent she missed terribly. He must have bathed before this.
Reluctantly, her gaze went to the chest visible past his open collar, his golden key still peeking through.
“Would I be bored?”
“You like vampires.”
“Can’t have children with vampires, though, can I?”
His eyes glinted. “All the more reason to increase our efforts.”
Kidan’s lips twitched, taking in his still chest. She could swear he was holding his breath. As if, if he dared breathe her in, he’d unravel. She wanted to press her hand to his chest, break his restraint into a thousand pieces.
When her lashes swept upward to his face, he was still looking at her. “You should really look at the road.”
Susenyos raised a brow. “This from the girl that crashed my car into the woods. On purpose.”
Kidan smiled, giving in. It was difficult not to when they were alone, far away from Uxlay, from the house, from the mask.
“I’ve learned there are better ways to get rid of my enemies.”
There was a glint in his pupils when he looked to the road.
He was polished under the refracted road lights, no strand of hair out of place, rich brown skin without a scar.
Had she really told him he was beautiful in the broom closet?
And he had said something similar, a phrase she wanted to erase but instead visited again.
Death had never looked so beautiful until it was delivered by your hands.
“Let’s hope I’m not on your list, then.”
She turned her face to the window so he wouldn’t see her smile.
The Arcane Tower was a tomb of spiraling staircases and candles. They stood before the shadow of the column, its carved windows revealing pockets of blue light. A shiver climbed down Kidan’s spine. The entrance was marked by a thick, red-tongued curtain.
Susenyos kept a good two paces between them. The actis were entering with their companions.
“You’re not going to take my hand?” Kidan asked, trying not to sound disappointed.
“Best we don’t scare away your future husband. Go ahead. I’ll wait for Iniko.”
She frowned as he sped away. But her frown faded when a handsome boy similarly dressed in a red suit jacket joined her from the parking lot. The Arcane Societies insisted all actis wear red, or rather “shine as a rose.”
“You came,” she said to Yusef in surprise.
“I couldn’t stay away. It’s my duty, isn’t it?”
His tone was light as they stared at the tower with apprehension.
“I hate that word,” Kidan said. “‘Duty.’”
“Me too.” Up close, Yusef’s face was overwrought, tired circles under his eyes. “I can’t help but wonder, you know, if Koril Qaros was dead, Slen wouldn’t be tied up in the 13th.”
Kidan slid him a cautious glance, studying the pain in his eyes. “I wonder what he would think of all this. What’s become of us,” Yusef said.
For a moment, she didn’t know whom he meant. She cast her gaze away, feeling the branches crinkle. GK’s ghost was right behind them, watching.
“I keep thinking about his journal, you know. There are things I didn’t understand before that make sense now.
Like why he was always quiet, letting me talk endlessly.
Agreeing to my stupid requests. It was almost annoying, how he always put others first. Hell, he barely fought when I drove that knife…
” Yusef’s words cleaved, a wince carving his face.
He shook his head, as if trying to clear a haunting image.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever be as selfless as him, but I want to be better.
We have to be better, don’t we? We owe him that. ”
Kidan’s eyes squeezed shut, recalling GK’s face among the gravestones at their first meeting, warm eyes, and odd formal language.
All life must be protected, and if you’re in danger, it’s my duty to protect you.
Her fingers traced a circle along Yusef’s upper arm, warm against the breeze. He was the only one who remained from their original group, unchanged.
“You’re doing it again, those symbols.”
“What?”
Yusef studied her finger. “If you weren’t playing with your bracelet, you were tracing those symbols. I debated how to sketch your hand for the exhibition. What do they mean?”
She shook her head, dropping her hand. “Nothing.”
He gave her a curious look, nodding. Kidan had wanted to ask GK what these symbols meant since he drew them in his journal.
Yusef adjusted the silver Umil House pin on his red jacket, looking ahead.
The Arcane Tower lit up with blue flame, the heat of which was so powerful even the cold grass beneath them caught light.
Misery was etched in Yusef’s voice. “Ready to play the twisted game of legacies?”
Kidan scanned the approaching crowd for Slen but she wasn’t here. A moment later, Yusef and Kidan were past the dwarfing curtains and climbing the spiral staircase.
“Wait. What are we supposed to do once we’re in?” he asked.
“Each floor is dedicated to an order,” Kidan responded, recalling Susenyos’s words.
“To remain on each floor, you have to partake in the ceremonies. A welcome initiation, a vampire companionship display, and a recital of the Code of the Arcane. Then you will receive interest from prospective bachelors and bachelorettes. If you accept their glove, you announce your intention to court. Don’t accept anything.
The rooftop is communal, and where declarations are made. ”
They reached the first door, illuminated by two lion statues with blue candles caught in their maws. Kidan went to rub the lion’s mane for strength.
Yusef raised a brow but didn’t say anything. It was part of the Demasus religion to ask for strength and she was still getting used to it.
Welcome to Abyss Order.
A five-petaled flower glowed white on the door. Rosa Abyssinica. The only rose once native to Ethiopia.