The battle is won

For a while, Lux can only lie shivering and panting on the floor of the citadel. Slowly, groggily, her consciousness swims up from dark depths; memory and awareness trickle back in. Funny – of all things, she thinks she was dreaming that she worshipped Athisz…

As her vision clears, she sees Sylvia hovering over her, the Erlking standing close behind. Both of their faces are flushed with effort, or excitement – or both – and their clothes are in disarray. The Erlking’s robes, in particular, struggle to contain the conspicuous bulge of a very impressive erection.

“You took your…” Lux begins to mumble. Then a horrible thought seizes her. “Wait,” she croaks, half-sitting up. “Minn – ”

Sylvia nods, and turns to find Minn still lying on the floor. She kneels down, whispering under her breath, and relief washes through Lux as the sprite’s tiny body stirs, wings fluttering weakly.

“You have done well, little one,” Sylvia says, quietly. “I release you from your oath. Fly free.”

Lux sits up slowly, woozily. She watches Minn do the same; making a couple of experimental hops before flittering up into the air. She can’t stop herself from smiling – at once wincing, though, as sensation gradually returns to her aching body.

Sylvia studies them both for a few moments more before she relaxes. She rises to her feet, her husband moving close behind her. “You did well,” she says, a little breathless herself. “Now – go, you have earned some rest. Leave us to deal with the boring matters of – ohhh!”

She breaks off with a gasp as the Erlking kisses the side of her neck. Whispering something that sounds like encouragement in the sylvan tongue, she wraps her arms around him and drags him back through the doorway. They vanish from sight, Lux and Minn apparently forgotten; and from the throne room, their echoed cries of passion soon begin to rise once again.

Lux sits on the floor, dazed; not from venom any more, but from a cocktail of exhaustion and residual pleasure, of elation and a strange sense of disappointment. In the corner, coiled up and discarded, she sees Athisz – the body motionless. It really is over, then.

So what happens now? She rubs her head, trying to wipe away some of the fuzziness, and with shaking hands begins to tie up the severed laces of her bodice. All that seems to be left is to wait for the King and Queen to set things in order. But what are she and Minn meant to do?