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"Wizard," whispered Mab&039;s appropriated voice, seely directly into an pounding very hard, and I felt sick to my stomach

"Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden," Mab&039;s voice said, ally "Choose"

Chapter 31

I stared at the broken h to envisionblindly up from the table&039;s surface I took one step toward the table Then two Then I was standing over Lloyd Slate&039;s broken forht, I wouldn&039;t think twice But this man was no threat to ht to take his life, and it was pure, overwhelance to say otherwise If I killed Slate, how long would it take forat myself, months or years from now

I couldn&039;t, any more than I could cut my own throat

I felt my hand drop back to my side, the knife too heavy to hold before me

Mab suddenly stood at the opposite end of the Stone Table, facing ht hand moved in a simple outward motion, and the mists over the Table suddenly thickened and swirled with color and light For a few seconds, the ie was hazy Then it snapped into focus

A little girl crouched in the corner of a bare stone room There was hay scattered around, and a wool blanket that looked none too clean She had dark hair that had been up in pigtails, but wasn&039;t anymore One of the little pink plastic clips had evidently been lost or stolen, and now she had only one pigtail Her face was red fro her nose on the knees of her little pink overalls Her shirt, white with yelloers and a big cartoon bumblebee on it, showed stains of dirt and worse She crouched in the tiniest ball she couldshould co brown eyes were quietly terrified - and I could see so familiar in them It took me a moment to realize they reminded me of my reflection in a mirror Other features showed the forth eventually The same chin and jawline Thomas and I shared The sa black hair Her hands and her feet looked a little too large for her, like a puppy&039;s paws

Direat distance, I heard the cry of a Red Court vaain, her entire body treie

I remembered when Bianca and her minions had kept s they had done to me

But it didn&039;t look like they had harmed my child - yet

"Yes," said Mab&039;s cold voice, ean to slowly fade away "It is a true seeing of your child, as she is even now I give you my word No tricks No deceptions This is"

I looked through the translucent iodmother waited Lea&039;s face was soreen slits within her hooded cloak

I faced theusted over the hilltop and stirred the cloaks of the two Sidhe I stared at thee of dark and wicked things I knew that neither the child in the i to theain, I would probably end up on the table myself

Of course, that hy Mab had shown ie: to manipulate me

No There was a distinction in what she had done She had shown ie to make perfectly clear exactly what choice I was about to ht influence my decision, but when a stark naked truth stares you in the faceshouldn&039;t it?

I&039;m not sure it&039;s possible to manipulate someone with candor and truth

I think you call that enlightenhter&039;s fading ie, my fear vanished

If I wound up like Slate, if that was the price I had to pay to hter safe, so be it

If I was haunted for the rest of ie needed me to make hard choices, so be it

And if I had to die a horrible, lingering death so that irl could have a chance to live

So be it

I tightened ht of the ancient bronze knife

I put one hand gently on Lloyd Slate&039;s forehead to hold him still

And then I cut his throat

It was a quick, clean death, which made it no less lethal than if I&039;d hacked hireat equalizer It doesn&039;t et there Just when

And why

He never struggled Just let out a breath that sounded like a sigh of relief and turned his head to one side as if going to sleep It wasn&039;t neat, but it wasn&039;t a scene froorefest slasher movie, either It looked more like the kind ofbunch of steaks Most of his blood ran into the carved indentions on the table and see rapidly outward through the troughs and down the lettering carved in the sides and the legs The bloodthe fire of their own It was a terrible, beautiful sight Power huh that blood; the letters, the stone, and the air around me were shaken by its silent potency

I sensed the two Sidhe behind ht who had betrayed his queens died I knehen it was over The two of thehs ofappreciation, I suppose I couldn&039;t think of any other phrase that fit They recognized the significance of his death while in no way actually feeling any empathy for him A life flowed from his broken body into the Stone Table, and they held the act in a respect akin to reverence

I just stood there, blood dripping from the bronze knife in my hand onto the earth beneath my feet I shivered in the cold and stared at the re what I was supposed to feel Sadness? Not really He&039;d been a son of a bitch of the first order, and I&039;d gladly have killed hiht if I had the chance Remorse? None yet I had done hi hiotten himself into Joy? No None of that, either Satisfaction? Precious little, except that it was over, the deed done, the dice finally cast

Mostly? I just felt cold

A minute or an hour later, the Leanansidhe lifted a hand and snapped her fingers The cloaked servitors appeared froathered up as left of Lloyd Slate They lifted him in silence, carried him in silence, and vanished into the mist

"There," I said quietly to Mab "My part is done Time for you to live up to yours"

"No, child," said Mab&039;s voice through Lea&039;s lips "Your part is only begun But fear not I am Mab The stars will rain from the sky before Mab fulfills not her word" She tilted her head slightly to one side, toward ive thee this adviser for thy final quest, sir Knight My hands in all of my Winter, second only to uid voice caree aht I saw the fell light gleae yourself"

Lea&039;s erous smile of its own, and she bowed her head and upper body toward the Queen of Winter

"And now, ht," Mab&039;s voice said, as her body turned to face th of your broken body And I will make you mine"

I sed hard

Mab lifted a hand, a disesture, and the Leanansidhe bowed to her

"I aer needed here, child," Lea o with thee whenever thou dost call"

My throat was als I left with you, as soon as you can get them to me"

"Of course," she said She bowed to me as well, and took several steps back into the mist, until it sed her whole

And I was alone with Queen Mab

"So," I said into the silence "I guess there&039;sthere&039;s a cereh"

Mab stepped closer to ure She was considerably shorter than me Slender But she walked with such perfect confidence that the role of predator and prey was clear to both of us I edged back from her It was pure instinct, and I could no ainst the cold

"Going to be hard for us to exchange oaths if you can&039;t talk, huh," I said My voice sounded thin and shaky, even to "

Pale hands slipped up from the dark cloak and drew her hood back She shook her head left and right, and pale, silken tresses, whiter than ht or Lloyd Slate&039;s dead flesh, spilled forth

My voice stopped working for a second My bare thighs hit the Stone Table behindtowardstep at a time The cloak slid from her shoulders, down, down, down

"Y-you, uh," I said, looking away "You h bubbled up out of her frozen-berry lips Mab&039;s voice, touched with anger, could cause physical da desiredid other things

And the cold was suddenly the least of ave up even trying to speak This wasn&039;t a ceremony so much as a rite, and one as ancient as beasts and birds, earth and sky

My ets shaky after the kiss

I rehtly above me, cold, soft, feminine perfection I don&039;t have the words to describe it Inhurace Animal sensuality And when her body was atop led, cold sweetness with human imperfection I could feel the rhythm of her form, her breath, her heart I could feel the stone of the table, the ancient hill of thein time to Mab&039;s rhythm Clouds raced over the sky, and as she hter, until I realized that the eerie lu but a dim, muffled reflection of Mab&039;s loveliness, veiled for the sake of the mortal mind it could have un mounted And it burned me, it was so pure

What we did wasn&039;t sex, regardless of what it appeared to be You can&039;t have sex with a thunderstorale You can&039;twind

For a few moments, I saw the breadth and depth of Mab&039;s power - and for a fleeting instant, the barest, tiniest glimpse of her purpose, as well, as our entwined bodies thrashed toward co I had been for a while

Then Mab&039;s cry joinedintobeneath my skin I saw her body drawn into an arch of pleasure, and then her green cat eyes opened and bored into -

Her mouth opened, and her voice hissed, "MINE"

Absolute truth uitar, and I jerked into a brief, violent contortion

Mab&039;s hands slid down my ribs, and I could suddenly feel the fire of the cracked bones again, until those icy hands tightened as again she said, "MINE"

Again,to tear its way off of erness as her hands slid aroundthe numb spot whereand struggling, with no control whatsoever over aze, trapping ain a jolt of terrible, sweet cold flowed out froertips and she whispered, her voice a velvet caress, "uely recognized

So cold and metallic pressed to my chest

"Clear!" shouted the voice

A lightning bolt hitribbon of silver power that bent , and beforeout power into the air

Someone shouted and someone else cursed, and sparks exploded all around htbulb above, which seemed to overload and shatter into powder

The room was dark and quiet for a few seconds

"D-did we lose him?" asked a steady, elderly man&039;s voice Forthill

"Oh, God," said Molly&039;s quavering voice "H-Harry?"

"I&039;m fine," I said My throat felt raw "What the hell are you doing to me?"

"Y-your heart stopped" said a third voice, the fa there, or around ers quested out and touched the bed and the backboard beneath me, and found lob of rubber I gripped the chain and slipped a little of ht filled the rooood mortician would," Butters continued "Hit you with a bolt of lightning and tried to reanimate you" He held up two shock paddles, whose wires had evidently beennow He was a wiry little guy in hospital scrubs with a shock of black hair, narrow shoulders, and a thin, restless body He held up his hands and oofy voice that was probably meant to sound hollow, "It&039;s alive Alliiiiiivve" After a beat he added, "You&039;re welcohed "Who called you into - " I stopped and said, "Molly Never mind"

"Harry," she said "We couldn&039;t be sure how badly you were hurt, and if you couldn&039;t feel, you couldn&039;t know either, and I thought we needed a real doctor, but the only one I knew you trusted was Butters, so I got him instead - "

"Hey!" Butters said

I pushed the straps off of s

"Whoa, there, tiger!" Butters said The little s "Hold your horses, big guy! Easy, easy!"

Forthill and Molly meant well They joined in and the three of theain

I snarled out a curse and then went liht they&039;d be listening Then I said, "We don&039;t have time for this Get these straps off of ht have a broken back," Butters said "A pinched nerve, broken bones, daans in your lower abdooing to a hospital?"

"I was thinking that I didn&039;t want to et of myself," I said "I&039;m fine I&039;m better"

"Good Lord, man!" sputtered Forthill "Be reasonable Your heart wasn&039;t beating three o"

"Molly," I said, my voice hard "Unfasten the straps Do it now"

I heard her sniffle But then she sat up and came up to where she could see my eyes "Um Harry Are you stillyou know You?"

I blinked at her for a second, i her well

"I&039; back at her eyes That should be verification enough If someone else had coe to er a soulgaze and reveal what had happened "For now, at least"

Molly bit her lip Then she said, "Okay Okay, let his and then stood scowling "Wait aa little too fast for me"

The door behind hiun and put two rounds into Butters&039;s back from three feet away The sheer sound of the shots was incredible, deafening

Butters dropped like a slaughtered cow

The gun toward the rest of us before Butters hit the floor I kneho he was looking for when his eyes swept over me and locked on

He didn&039;t talk, didn&039;t bluster, didn&039;t hesitate A professional There were plenty of theun to aim at my head - while I lay there, strapped to a board from the hips down and unable to move And, as I lifted one Of course They e wouldn&039;t have gotten any ideas, just as they&039;d taken the s fro helpful

Clearly, this was just not my day