...is she not going to win this one? It seems so.
Did she doom herself to 'tropehood' by that not happening in front of Sevar? She doesn't think so; that was a duel between herself and Keltham and not one that was really over possession of Carissa at all.
Well. Perhaps Sevar's thought was correct, perhaps everyone but her underestimates Keltham; he is doing better than she expected, even now. But at least to Abrogail, it seems like Keltham does flirt very close to the edges of losing his games and damning himself in one sense or another. He just needs to be encouraged to go on playing them.
The Queen sighs. "I suppose we could have it be - the kind of favors owed that are understood not to be enforceable even in the eyes of Asmodeus? I am a little friendlier to you for borrowing Sevar, you are a little friendlier to me for making you look good in front of her."
"Maybe what I really want is the acknowledgement that my pride has any value at all, in this. Especially since, as an outsider from a world lost completely to Good, you may not see or realize or understand the Evil thing that you are trampling on and perhaps also trample on it excessively."