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«Take her, Darkness. Go.» She turned and began to walk back toward her throne.
It was only when Sholto realized we were leaving for the night that he came to the doors. «The duty of the sluagh is to protect the queen, but when our bargain is done, we will also protect you.» It was almost an apology for not having helped more tonight. Sholto is young for a king, under four hundred, and it keeps him more humble than most.
«I will not be striking any bargains with anyone tonight,» I said.
«That is as well, I would not leave the queen's side this night.» He glanced back at her. «The sluagh stand with Andais, and there are still those sitting here who need to be reminded of that.»
He was right, and I was suddenly more tired than I could manage. I wanted no more politics tonight. No more games. My arm throbbed, sending sharp, shooting pains through my body like small knives. The muscles in it seemed to have a life of their own, dancing and twitching involuntarily. I fought not to cry out with the pain, for that was weakness, too, among the sidhe.
Fflur touched the arm lightly, and made a small tsk ing sound. «You've torn the muscles, and the ligaments that bind your bones. Dislocated, as well. The damage to the soft tissues will be harder to heal than bone.» She shook her head, and made that faint tsk ing sound again.
«Can she be healed tonight?» Ash asked.
Fflur looked at the goblin as if she wouldn't answer, then did. «No, not tonight. She is part human, and that makes her healing slower.»
Ash gri
«As you please,» I said, and truly did not care what they did. I was fast approaching the point where the pain was all I could concentrate on. Soon nothing else would matter, and my world would narrow down to the pain. I liked a little pain in the right context, but I couldn't turn this to pleasure. This was just going to hurt.
We left the great hall to the sounds of voices, as the Unseelie began to murmur among themselves. It would be interesting to see how long it took this night's work to reach the ears of the King of Light and Illusion in the Seelie Court. I was due in two days to be at a banquet in my honor at his court. Two days to heal. Two days to finish my alliance with the sluagh and the goblins. Two days didn't seem enough time for all that.