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- “I’m sorry, Catherine,” he said. “Burning out the contamination was harder than I thought. Some of the… effects may be permanent.”
- “I feel fine,” I protested.
- “I know,” he acknowledged. “And I’ve been pushing a needle into your cheek for the last twenty heartbeats.”
- I jerked away my head, watching a small sliver of metal fly away and land on the floor.
- “I- I didn’t,” I began, not sure what to say.
- “It only affects the left side of your face,” he explained, and I could feel him make an effort to be dispassionate.
- ...
- “Your right leg,” he said, walking around the bed and gently pulling away the covers after I nodded my permission. Someone had put me into soft cotton trousers at some point. “Try to kick with it.”
- I broke into a hiss of pain hallway through. A shadow passed through Masego’s eyes, gone as quickly as it had come.
- “The limb remains mostly functional, and I’ll brew you something for the pain,” he said. “But you’ll have a limp for the rest of your life.”
- “The necrotized flesh,” I guessed.
- ...
- “Tell me,” I ordered. “Tell me why I feel like I’m missing a limb I’ve never had.”
- The dark-skinned man bit his lip.
- “I operated on your soul,” he said. “The aspect that got corrupted needed to be cut out, or it would continue to spread.”
- I forced my hands to stop shaking.
- “It’s gone, the entire thing?”
- “And some other parts of your soul,” he admitted. “I did not have the right tools to be entirely precise.”
- - Book 2, Chapter 27: Cut
- -----
- I tested my bad leg by putting weight on it and had to bite my lip to stop from screaming. Fuck. Well, I won’t be running any time soon.
- - Book 2, Chapter 33: Clean-up
- -----
- I found Black’s eyes had drifted to my bad leg, the faintest trace of a frown on his face.
- “Masego said it can’t be fixed,” I said.
- “Inaccurate,” he replied. “If we amputate the leg entirely you can be grafted a fully functional replacement.”
- “But?” I prompted.
- If it were that simple, he wouldn’t be frowning.
- “Limb grafts made by magic can be unmade by the same,” he replied. “It would be a liability against any sorcerous Named.”
- “Pass, then,” I grunted.
- - Book 2, Chapter 34: Lesson
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