Chapter 83 Kidan
KIDAN
In the muddled image of the study room, Kidan stared at the fireplace, losing herself in the flames. They’d be exiled out of this house, out of Uxlay, in a few minutes.
June was packing her things because all Kidan felt was numb.
Hopeless.
She clutched Susenyos’s silver house pin tightly. He’d left it on his bed. She recalled him saying he’d always wear it. That it was a sign of his loyalty to her, to Adane House. It was still warm, smelled like him.
Kidan didn’t remember walking down the hall for the last time, nor taking the stairs down the porch to the stone path.
A massive crowd gathered at the main gate to watch their humiliation.
Kidan’s eyes were raw, painful like they’d been rubbed with sandpaper, and she knew they were red—suppressing anger and grief.
Only June’s hand in her own kept her from screaming or collapsing right here.
Every few seconds, Kidan would squeeze her hand, wait for the firm pressure in response.
She would never forget the satisfaction on the faces in that crowd. A sick brightness sparked in their pupils at the public debasement. The upturned noses, like they’d found the source of a rotten smell and finally taken it out.
These were the people her mother wanted to help. To re-create Dranacti so their souls would be saved. She didn’t know how late it was.
“Finally,” one man from Ajtaf House spat at her. Green eyes and light brown skin.
Tamol’s brother.
Kidan’s gut flared with violent fire. If she was quick enough, she could land a few punches on his smug face, crush his nose beneath her knuckles.
She stopped walking.
“Kidan.” June squeezed and tugged. “No. Please.”
Her brown eyes appeared molten in the setting sun, safe. Kidan allowed herself to be dragged forward, focusing on her sister’s red ribbon. The field of poppies.
Once out of the main gate, Kidan looked back.
Dean Faris stood at the end of the cobblestone path, under a lion-shaped lamp, still as an owl.
Next to her, a shorter figure stood, dwarfed in a large jacket. Slen Qaros stared without emotion. It was still foolish of Kidan to expect any different. She had chosen her side.
I loved you, Kidan thought.
The golden gates began to swing shut, the swords caught in the lions’ mouths crisscrossing as they clicked closed.
Through the gleaming bars, Kidan watched Slen. Chosen to become an apprentice dean over her friend. Soon, Qaros House would move into the middle of Uxlay, occupy and claim unbelievable power.
The rats of Qaros House steal.
Aunt Silia had warned her.
Kidan bit her lip and turned away.
Across the road, standing under a tree, was a boy in black clothes with dark eclipsed eyes.
Kidan blinked, trying to parse reality from dream. Next to him, a giant of a man stood still—Warde.
June smiled at them and crossed over. Kidan gave Uxlay’s gate one more glance before walking over to them slowly. GK ran his gaze over her carefully, as if he knew everything she’d been through.
She said nothing, afraid she’d chase him away. GK had… left the Nefrasi cell.
“You were right,” he said, the leaves crunching beneath his feet. “A Mot Zebeya protects all life. And yours is in danger.”
The sword pressing into Kidan’s chest eased a little. She reached into her pocket and retrieved GK’s finger bone chain, holding it out to him. The moment he took possession of it, the bones responded strongly, whispering to one another.
GK’s eyes fell to Kidan’s sigil pin, red with mot paste.
“Yusef ?” he asked, eyes dark.
Kidan looked away.
“I see. I didn’t want to believe it. As angry as I was with him, I wanted him to live. To tell me why he did what he did. And tell me where I failed him in our friendship.”
Tears burned her eyes, and it was impossible to speak so she said nothing.
After a long moment, GK said, “I’ll come with you, Kidan, but you have to promise me one thing.”
Her throat tightened but she managed to speak. “What?”
GK’s voice didn’t waver. “If I lose control and hurt someone, you will stop me. You will let me die.”
She turned her cheek away, catching June’s withdrawn eyes. How long would the concoction she was giving him hold his hunger at bay? But this appeared important to him, more vital than air.
Slowly, Kidan nodded.
“I’ll stop you.”
But I won’t let you die.
June and Kidan walked the narrow path into Zaf Haven town, away from Uxlay. The two Mot Zebeyas followed them, their shaking chains of death singing in tandem.