Page 376 of Light Leech

I glanced her way, wondering what she had gathered that I had missed, but settled with trusting her. She bit the air. I nodded.

“We can wait,” she said.

I shook my head. She knew I didn’t want her to see my least favorite part about me, despite the pleasure I took in it.

“It’s fine.”

I sighed, then spoke to my orca. “You can go now.” I kept my hand on her to understand her words through our light connection. My fingers were shaking.

“I want to stay with you.”

“You don’t have to.”

“I want to.”

I turned my thoughts to Zhu. Did I break her?

“I do not believe so. If anything, Zhou broke her into cognitive captivity. You’ve liberated her.”

What am I supposed to do now?

“Perhaps one of your Luxists associates has a lake to give shelter to such a creature.”

Most are as polluted as the black ocean.

“Petya!” Naoma said.

“A problem for later. Your mate needs you.”

Another problem to add to David.

“Who told you that I–”

Naoma cut Zhou off. “We’ll talk later.”

I told the orca to lower me to the ground. “Don’t think less of me because of what you see,” I told her, though I doubted she would think of me poorly as an indelicate predator herself.

I began with the closest Eunuch. Reserved behavior turned to voracious brutality the moment I touched the unblemished enamel beneath the Eunuch’s mask.

I wept. I was not afraid to admit how weak I became at the jarring euphoria of feeding not only after a taxing battle, but after an ascending transformation that demanded more light from my body than from anything before. Just as with any resource, the more powerful the light, or antilight in this circumstance, the more costly it was.

Their teeth were perfect. The standard of a violet elite’s dental perfection was raised to the next level. Without blemish or rot, these servants held more than their obedience to a higher degree. Unlike the other elites who bleached their teeth with all manners of light-based treatment and chemicals that damaged the delicate shell of the tooth, these were pure and natural without the taint of neglect. A true rarity that made my patience all the more worthwhile.

I moved to the next corpse, then to the third. My mental clarity returned with all the associated repercussions of a burdened conscience.

I finished with rich molars. There was nothing quite like the taste of the richest part of the human morsels to soothe my billowing hatred. This time it wasn’t directed at me, but at Zhou and these people who took their blind devotees and treated them like vermin for entertainment.

A sense of justice was the greatest spice I could ask for.

I stood, wiped my mouth, and looked at Zhou.

He glared, his lip turned up in disgust as he said, “You’re just as vile as I imagined.”

I ignored his poor attempt at maintaining composure and turned to Naoma.

“Bring your new friend,” she said. “We might need to clear out the hall some more on the way to the throne room.”

I nodded. “Stay close to him like I’m making you both lead me somewhere. If we can save your reputation any more, I want to.”