I was arrested by Anastasia Luccio after arriving home in Chicago. I was too far gone to care much, let alone panic.
In the days following, time was measured in increments of consciousness. I caught tiny snippets of conversation now and then. Conversations between some people I knew, and a lot of people I didn't. Harry was a constant, standing vigil at my bedside when my father couldn't. From what I gathered, he'd only just escaped the need for amputation. He'd have a long road of recovery ahead of him, and at the end of it, a permanent disability as the best-case scenario.
I was happy that he'd survived. Glad that he'd be home more often for mom and the others. Glad that he'd be there to bolster them after I died. They'd only just gotten me back. Now they were going to have to watch me be executed. I really should have been more scared. All I could feel, when not consumed by unbearable pain, was a deep sense of melancholy.
My poor family. They were the real victims in all of this, not me.
I swam my way to consciousness briefly when a weight settled into the chair across from Harry's.
"What's it look like? Do you think Martha will be able to pull it off? She's been lobbying hard. Maybe she can make it stick before trial."
"Not sure, Hoss. It's shaky. And the Merlin doesn't like the naked politicking going on. It could be seen as favoritism. That bastard had a point, you know. One warlock in a family is a coincidence. Two looks like a pattern. The Council shouldn't have even spared your apprentice. They're not likely to extend a second chance to an even worse offender."
"You heard Wizard Solis. Molly saved the lives of several dozen children and many captured Wizards in San Ignacio."
"One good act don't redeem her of a whole mess of wrong, Hoss."
Harry continued to argue. I slipped away.
Then...
"It might be better," a man said. Soft fingers, leathery with age, pulled away from my temples with a sigh. "So much damage. She will never be the same, Dresden. Even if she survives trial...it might be a mercy. She will live with pain for the rest of her days. There's nothing I can do about that."
"Just so long as she lives," Harry said fervently. "I made a promise to Michael."
Through a crack in my eyelids, I saw the aged wizard frown at Harry. He had long, gray-white hair, with just a few strands of dark remaining in the braids. His skin was bronzed from exposure to the sun.
"Remember the Doom, Dresden. It's not only your life you risk by challenging the Council."
Harry said something heated in return. I didn't catch it. My eyes closed, and I drifted again.
The night before my trial I was moved from a bed into a damp cell. The new discomforts barely registered. I was busy trying to grapple with the war-torn interior of my own skull. It was actually a relief to be shoved in a space far away from people. It felt like Lasciel had torn my control away when she'd gone, leaving my empathy dialed up to eleven. I couldn't block out anything or anyone in my vicinity.
That was why I felt the approach, long before I heard it. There was a brief scuffle outside the heavy door of my cell. A cry of pain and then silence.
When the door swung inward I saw a group of five standing outside, haloed in the light of a genuine torch. I recognized the leader as the female healer that I'd freed in San Ignacio. Beside her stood a bespectacled man who was going prematurely bald. His beard and remaining hair were dark, though it was streaked here and there with white. He had the fussy air of an accountant. His emotions were hard to read, which was refreshing. There was something almost muted about him. Maybe he'd been briefed on my condition and was trying to shield his emotions. Whatever the reason, I was grateful.
Behind the pair were three Wardens, all of them young. The boy nearest me looked like he was probably my age.
"Come on," the woman said urgently, getting an arm beneath me. "We don't have much time."
I didn't ask what she meant. I didn't struggle when she and the balding man hauled me up and marched me right out of the cell. I barely registered our flight through the stone halls of the Council's headquarters. I did note, with some surprise, that we were leaving through a Waypoint. One that I knew led back to Chicago.
Was this part of my father's promise to me? That he wasn't going to let me die? Did he know any of these people?
"Who are you?" I slurred to the woman holding me upright.
"My name is Wizard Valeria Solis. You saved my life in Belize. I'm returning the favor now. We're going to get you someplace safe, Margaret."
Chicago wasn't safe. I knew that for certain. Harry was the Warden in that area. He'd have to turn me back in, or risk getting himself and Daniel beheaded when the Council carried out the sentence.
"Take me back," I grumbled.
But no one listened to me. I may not have even said anything intelligible, because the next thing I knew, I was being hauled through the entrance to a lovely garden space. A calm reflective pool shone at its center, stone benches. Flowers. Trees. It was beautiful. Plumeria and night-blooming jasmine perfumed the air.
A lovely woman, just a little over five feet tall waltzed toward us, seeming composed of light and inhuman grace. Her enormous blue eyes widened a fraction at the sight of me and pain rippled across her face for an instant.
"Oh," she gasped. "Oh no. Oh, dear. You're right. She needs the Lady."
"I'm calling in on the debt you owe me, Ryleigh," Valeria said, handing me gently to the small fae woman. "Do what you can for her please. Give her Summer's protection."
She looked barely over eighty pounds, and it surprised me when the smaller woman swept me up with ease. Ryleigh nodded solemnly.
"Go now. The Lady will be back soon."
"Wait," I mumbled. "Wait. I...please. Who are all of you? Why are you doing this?"
I only recognized one woman. What did the other four stand to gain?
"I am Wizard Peabody," the stuffy wizard replied, shining his glasses on his robes. "And you are too valuable to lose, Miss Carpenter. We are reaching desperate times. The end is nigh."
A shiver ran up my spine. I didn't like the sentiment. I didn't want to be near Peabody, with his intent focus on me. The muffled cadence of his emotions seemed somehow sinister to me now.
"Rest," Valeria said, taking my hand and squeezing it gently. "Someone will be in touch when you're sufficiently healed."
Solaris and the others beat a hasty retreat back the way they'd come. I didn't have a chance to voice any of the burning questions their actions had raised.
Ryleigh carried me further into the court, past marble statues and sweet-smelling flowers. She didn't say much, just kept a firm grip on me, murmuring assurances, telling me not to cry. I hadn't realized I'd been weeping.
Then we stopped. She laid me gently at the base of what at first appeared to be a tree. In reality, it was a throne of living wood, curved into an elegant seat. And on it was one of the most beautiful women I'd ever seen. Curvy, long-limbed, and elegant. Long white-blonde hair. Kind eyes.
"Hello, Molly," she said sweetly. "My name is Lily. Welcome to the Summer Court."