Chapter 66: THAT IS NOT A MEDICAL ARGUMENT

DIANA’S POV

Raigoro had been inside the infirmary less than an hour when he reached for the emergency report.

The Citadel healer moved it beyond his hand.

"After I finish."

"I can read while you examine the shoulder."

"You can. I would prefer you did not move while I am determining whether you damaged it further by riding here."

Daric stood near the door.

He had brought the report.

He made no attempt to retrieve it.

Diana sat where the healer had told her she could remain and watched the support come away from Raigoro’s shoulder.

Bruising spread beneath his collar and down the upper arm.

The healer checked the joint slowly.

Raigoro’s answer came a little later than the previous ones.

"Pain there?"

"Yes."

"There?"

"Less."

She checked the ribs next, then the healing cut at his temple.

Nothing about her manner suggested panic.

That helped.

"The ribs remain stable," she said. "The shoulder is strained, not broken. The head wound is clean. None of these injuries is especially unusual for someone with your history."

Raigoro looked toward the report.

"Good."

"That was not permission to work."

His attention returned to her.

"I have worked through worse."

Diana’s chalk was already against the slate.

THAT IS NOT A MEDICAL ARGUMENT.

Raigoro read it.

Diana kept the slate raised, ready for the argument.

Raigoro read it once more, then looked back at the healer.

"Finish."

Diana slowly lowered the slate.

The healer’s hands stopped for only a moment.

Daric looked at Raigoro.

Then at Diana.

Diana looked between them.

No one explained.

The healer resumed the examination.

"You are correct that you have had worse injuries. They still healed because you eventually allowed them to heal."

Raigoro said nothing.

Diana decided not to improve the argument.

The healer finished checking the shoulder.

"Strain. Support it for several days. No lifting."

When the examination ended, the report was finally returned.

Raigoro opened it.

Daric began the Rellan summary.

"Final extraction count is complete. Thirty-seven trapped. Thirty-three recovered alive. Four dead."

"Names."

Daric opened the casualty page.

The first thing Raigoro wanted after the final count was the names.

Daric read them.

"Jannik Pell."

A roof-support worker.

"Orven Tesk."

Main-shift cutter.

"Lio Marran."

Ventilation assistant.

"Pavel Dorn."

Rescue teams had reached him alive. He died during treatment at Rellan.

Raigoro repeated each name once before moving to the next section.

Diana took her slate.

FAMILIES?

Daric answered.

"Three have family registered in Blackharrow. Dorn’s mother lives outside Rellan and has already been notified there."

Diana wrote:

PAYMENTS?

"Death grants initiated this morning."

DEPENDENTS?

"Being verified."

Raigoro glanced toward her.

"You have the family-relief copies?"

She nodded.

"Good."

Nothing about the conversation called the rescue a victory.

Thirty-three people had survived.

Four had not.

Both facts stayed in the room.

Raigoro finished the emergency summary.

When the casualty discussion ended, the healer returned with a written restriction sheet.

"You may walk to your rooms. Tomorrow, one hour of seated work. If the ribs remain stable, I increase it."

Raigoro read the first line.

"Two hours."

"One."

"There are eight days of reports waiting."

"They will remain reports for another day."

Raigoro looked as though another argument was forming.

Then his gaze shifted briefly toward Diana.

Diana had not written anything.

He looked back at the healer.

"One."

Daric became very interested in the casualty sheet.

Diana noticed.

The healer handed Diana the second copy.

"Household copy."

Raigoro looked at the page now in Diana’s hand.

"Why does the household require one?"

Diana wrote: ACCURATE RECORDS.

Daric looked toward the ceiling.

The healer continued as though none of them had spoken.

"No lifting. No training. No riding until reassessment."

Diana looked down at the final line.

Then pointed to it.

RIDING?

"Not until I clear him."

Raigoro said, "I rode into the Citadel."

"I know. That is part of why I am restricting it."

The answer was serious enough that Raigoro did not argue again.

Daric opened the door.

Raigoro looked at him.

"Still here?"

"Leaving now."

Daric left.

The healer followed a moment later after making Raigoro promise, with considerably less respect for ducal dignity than Diana thought he was accustomed to receiving, that he would actually rest.

Diana remained.

"You may go," Raigoro said.

She wrote: I KNOW.

Raigoro sat back.

Diana took the chair beside the treatment bed instead of remaining near the door. Raigoro said nothing.

The room quieted after Daric and the healer left.

Diana could have followed them. The casualty report was complete, Raigoro was stable, and nothing remained that required the Grand Duchess’s household authority.

She stayed anyway.

Raigoro glanced toward the untouched cup of water beside the bed.

Then at her.

"Did you sleep?"

Diana stared at him.

Of all the questions available, he had chosen an irritating one.

She wrote: DID YOU?

Raigoro looked down at her answer.

"Apparently neither of us is answering properly."

Diana returned her attention to the casualty sheet before she had to decide whether that was amusement in his voice.

Several days ago, Diana had wanted only one thing from Rellan: confirmation that Raigoro was alive.

Now he was sitting in front of her, injured, argumentative, and asking whether she had slept.

Diana had managed her concern better when there were three days of road between them.

She pointed toward the water.

Raigoro looked at it.

Then at her.

He drank.

Diana put the slate back on her lap before she was tempted to point at the cup again.

With the casualty sheet still between them, she wrote:

THE FOUR.

Raigoro followed her attention.

"What about them?"

Diana hesitated.

She did not know exactly what she was asking.

The rescue reports spent pages describing air lines, collapsed galleries, support walls, thirty-three survivors, and the six omitted workers.

The dead had four short lines.

She wrote: WHAT HAPPENS TO THEIR NAMES?

Raigoro understood.

"Rellan records them in the mine memorial ledger."

Diana waited.

"Blackharrow records them in the territorial casualty archive. Their families receive the same verified death documentation used for soldiers killed in service."

The names would not disappear between offices.

Raigoro added, "The rescue report will list all thirty-seven."

The record would keep the four dead beside the thirty-three recovered alive.

Diana nodded.

Then she stood.

At the door, she turned back.

Raigoro had already reached for the emergency report again.

Diana looked at the restriction sheet in her hand.

Then at the report.

Then at him.

Raigoro followed her gaze.

Diana kept looking from the restriction sheet to the report.

Raigoro followed the argument without requiring it on the slate. He put the report aside.

Diana left.

She made it halfway down the corridor before realizing he had obeyed her without either of them discussing it.