"We may have overestimated ourselves," Zadia pants. "Taking on a whole castle."

I drop a soldier to the black rug, silver shoulder pauldrons reflecting light from the ball of mist over Zadia's shoulder. We've established this; I may have blindingly more power, but she's way more efficient with it.

"It's not that they're too powerful right now." I break into a weary jog past the breathing guard, since soldiers are probably still chasing us, despite the storage cellars we've ducked through and obscure courtyards we've cut across. Zadia runs at my side, backpack thumping. "I could stab the whole lot of them," I say.

"Okay, correction," Zadia puffs. "We may have overestimated how well we could avoid killing them en masse. Maybe you should figure out how to do the soul sucking thing without having to individually kiss people."

"I've only known how to do anything for barely a few days, give me a break."

"I'm just saying."

We jog through the halls, boots muffled on the rugs, Zadia's light flashing reflections in the black stones. And we've apparently lost the soldiers tailing us well enough that we run without interruptions, clear to the grand staircase up to the Empress and her servants' quarters. We pause there, panting for air. My lungs burn, heart thunders, and sweat clings everywhere that my shirt touches my backpack.

"This is the central tower?" Zadia asks, hands on her knees.

I nod.

"Do you need more souls?"

"I think I can only hold a couple more," I say, then force my legs into motion to jog up the stairs.

Zadia follows. "You want the Empress?"

"Maybe."

"Or you want her alive to watch?"

I shrug, too out of breath to reply. Quite frankly, I don't care about the Empress. She just happens to occupy the central tower of the castle.

I reach out to phantom-Perseverance, standing before a silent door. The alarm that Sun Slaves were breaking down the gate has reached those off-duty, but in the family quarters, that means stay hidden and keep the children quiet. No one's bothered Perseverance in the corridor, standing in a sun-bleached gray cloak, fingers strumming cords of mist binding his family's door shut.

I wanted to make sure they were inside when it happens. I wanted them to walk out and meet the new day, I wanted Regalia to see me and tell me she knew I was coming back here, I'm a traitor and a liar.

But...maybe I don't care about Regalia that much. It's not like this whole thing was to create drama between us; our entire relationship until now was either forced by her dad, or involved her trying to kill me for breathing some mist. And I already got to see the look on her face when Perseverance told her I'd done this to him. This is bigger than her. And her family. Or any family. This is about me.

Zadia and I run up the stairs, slow and worn out, and soldiers in lightweight armor--given the quiet patter of their footsteps--start up the stairs after us. Zadia slams a wall of mist up and we keep running, but armed servants appear on the spiral steps ahead of us, spears and shields interlocking to form a hackled barrier.

"Get up here," I whisper, and the claw of light in Perseverance's mind hums.

He runs through the corridors, weaving mist cords over random doors out of spite, making a maze of tripwires and tangling threads for anyone who comes crawling from their quarters.

I snap one of the servants out of formation with a rope of mist, bringing her close and immobilized to kiss her. She screams under my mouth but I tug her soul out. I toss her breathing body away. I snag another guard, but the night warriors grab hold of each other, so when I pull the one, they all come skidding closer, spears dancing.

"Seriously?" I grit my teeth. Zadia says nothing, panting for air and holding a hand toward the mist wall behind us. The orb bounces overhead, light flickering.

Perseverance runs through the halls.

"Stop it," I say to the guards, and shoot out lances of mist, so massive they obliterate the ribcages of seven of the eight night pests. I enclose the other in a hand of vapor and drag them close enough to peck on the lips. His spear and shield clatter to the worn steps, and I drop his body.

"I'm running out," Zadia says, blinking erratically, sweat dripping down her cheek.

"I still need two more." I step up and kick the guards I stabbed through, but none of them are breathing still. None of them still have lungs to breathe with, period. "Two more."

"Troy," Zadia grunts, jogging with shaky legs up the steps. "The wall's going down--"

I grab her wrist and feed her a trickle of light. She lets out a shuddering breath, mist going to brighten the wall, same with her orb, and we both march up the steps, thighs exhausted. "Three or four more." I grind my teeth.

"Sorry," Zadia says, "but I am too tired to let just a few through. If I drop that wall, it's not going back up."

Perseverance runs through the halls.

Thuds hammer the mist, and Zadia wobbles.

"Uh oh." I hold her elbow. We trudge up the steps, my fingers sliding along the smooth stones in the wall.

Thud. Our orb of light flickers.

"You overexerted yourself," I say.

"We're so close, yeah?"

Thud. Zadia's eyes roll and her knees go weak, but she stays on her feet, barely. Her wall of light wavers.

Perseverance roars, audible through the echoing stairwell. The wriggling claw in his mind hungers, and blades of light arc from his voice, flying down the corridor, slashing anything living. Night warriors scream, some in confusion, some in pain. Bodies thump to silence.

"What just happened?" Zadia mutters, rubbing her forehead. Together, we step upwards.

"I did a thing..." I hesitate. "I stuck part of myself in an old guy when I was born, then a little while ago I put that into a soulless body in this castle."

"Right."

"So basically all the night warriors behind us are dead, and neither of us had to use any light to do it."

"Awesome."

The light around the curve of the stairwell vanishes. "Did you just drop the wall?" I ask.

"Yep."

We trudge up the steps. Perseverance runs up behind us, bare feet slapping the stones. "Don't stab this guy," I say.

She glances over her shoulder. Perseverance slows, trailing us. She raises an eyebrow, then glances at me. "He's got a pointy nose."

"Hello, Destroyer," Perseverance sounds exactly like himself--obviously he does, what else would he sound like?--but it spears my ears and flashes me back to his glove clapping my back, his mouth hissing lies, breath warm on my neck--I shudder. A jolt of mist curls from my nostrils and gouges the wall, screeching.

"You alright?" Zadia hisses.

"I hate his voice."

She frowns between us. But more guards behind square shields run down the steps and Perseverance jumps at them, blades of mist flying, cutting down half of the soldiers. The others he stabs in the arms or legs, reeling in on harpoons of light. They thrash and writhe, but he binds them in cords. I step around him, standing on tiptoe on the stairs to press my lips to one, then another, then the third. They quit writhing in my wake.

I stare into the eyes of the fourth guard, black opals. I tilt my head at her short curls of shiny, black hair. "Hi, Empress," I say. Her silver eyebrows shoot up. "Your disguise isn't that good."

She spits in my face. "You're a monster, One."

"I'm surprised you even know who I am. I was just a lowly healer, here." I kiss her, pulling out her soul.

***

Author note: You know, I don't think I like the way this chapter ends. It needs something...punchy. But I don't know what that something is. Any ideas? (edit: problem solved!)