The roof stopped arguing with me.
Harmony sat in the walls and the floor. Grey lay under my boots like two plain pages that refused to be dramatic. Valeria felt light in my hand, not because she weighed less, but because the room finally agreed with her.
High Radiant didn't feel like sitting on top of a mountain. It felt like the mountain stood up when I did.
Lucifer eased a last sunbrand out of the brass seam and rubbed his thumb over the faint scorch. His twin crowns dimmed to companion light. "Roof's clear."
"Lust is gone," I said. The oily film that had coated every rib and bolt had peeled off like bad wallpaper. The air tasted like metal and rain instead of perfume and knives.
Erebus's voice drifted up from the quiet ring of shadow around the Archduke's body. "Spill contained. No lingering creatures. No echoes."
I breathed in four, out six. The breath came back to me the same size I sent it out. That was new. Good new.
Movement tugged at the corner of my eye.
