The Witcher's Legacy: part 8
Apologies for anyone who was waiting on this next chapter - I took longer than usual, but life can be complicated, so it is what it is.
Anyway - usual disclaimers - corrupting sex & blackmail - Not my world, just some fun fanfic. No one under 18 and everyone is fictional and I give full consent on their behalf. We good?
Awesome.
I hope this chapter engages you - I have read over it too many times to be sure. Many more to come as our protagonist will find out. A lot of Witcher material to explore.
Thank you for reading.
Sister Breowyn had already made tea.
With a practiced motion that suggested she did this a lot, the priestess poured two cups of the aromatic brew. To Charlotte's frazzled mind, it was the finest, sweetest tea she had ever tasted.
"I like to keep a pot of tea on for nights like tonight. It is soothing, but tea is always better shared." She said conversationally, not because she believed Charlotte had any interest in small talk, but because it provided a sense of normalcy.
The priestess fetched a few pieces of firewood and fed them to the fire blazing at the altar. Charlotte was about to ask, but the priestess beat her to it.
"This is not the Eternal flame. I have not yet had a chance to properly sanctify this chapel. Everything, in time. This is just a fire, but it will serve our purpose tonight, I think." She gave Charlotte a comforting smile and took another sip.
Charlotte sipped the tea, enjoying the hot cup in her hands, forcing her to feel and giving her something to hold so her hands wouldn't shake.
"I'm sorry to disturb you so late at night, Sister, but I need your counsel. As you know, the day of the wedding, I fell and injured myself and I... missed my own wedding. Poor Talus was left alone at the altar, thinking I had abandoned him."
Sister Breowyn placed her cup on the saucer and set it down by the edge of the fire, close enough to keep it hot without making boiling it over again.
"Ahem, I... was aware that something was amiss. I must admit, I did not get an opportunity to speak with Baron Talus in the chapel on the day. He must have left quite quickly once the news came that you were not going to be in attendance." Her tone was carefully neutral.
Charlotte's head lowered and she sighed sadly.
"I hurt him when I wasn't there. I was drunk from the night before and I must have hit my head." The bruise on the side of her face still showed as a dark purple mark, marring her appearance.
The priestess reached out and touched her cheek, raising her chin and turning her head to survey the injury.
"You sustained this injury in a fall? Goodness, you must have been heavily inebriated to manage such a feat. You do seem to be recovering well though. So, I assume you explained and apologised to His Lordship? Surely, his love for you is strong enough to weather even such a storm as this?"
Charlotte took a longer draught of her tea and let the warm spill through her.
"I fear I did more harm than you perceive. My Talus still loves me, I have no doubt of that, but will that be enough when I have lost so much of his trust? To make matters worse, in a brief moment of lucidity, I made my sister promise to protect his heart and she is." The words spilled from her in a rush.
"What does it take to protect such a strong man's heart when his true love is not there on their wedding day?" Her question was rhetorical, as she was no fool.
Charlotte did not seem to be aware of nature of the question.
"My teenaged sister is all over my fiancΓ©, night and day, kissing, touching, wearing virtually nothing! I am afraid I -"
Sister Breowyn waited for the rest, knowing Charlotte would not be able to hold it in any longer.
" I am afraid I am losing him! I fear that he will start having sex with other women. With my sister!" Charlotte cried.
"If you fear losing him to things he must do, then perhaps you were never meant to have him? Is this man a possession to you? A treasure to be hoarded? Do you not love your sister?" Sister Breowyn challenged Charlotte, and the would-be bride's composure fell apart.
"What? Of course I love her, I just don't want her fucking Talus! He's mine!" Charlotte clamped a hand over her mouth at the outburst. Swearing in the chapel was bad, but so was her claim of ownership of this man she loved more than life.
"So, you are telling me that you love him, as he loves you, but you hurt him and then you asked your sister to use her body to soothe his heart and bring him happiness. She is now doing precisely what you asked of her, and doing it so well that you are jealous of her, despite knowing that she loves you so much that she is willing to sacrifice her honour and the sanctity of her body for you?"
"When you put it like that..." Charlotte was struggling to refute the logic of Breowyn's assertion.
"Moreover, as Baron, there is an expectation, enshrined in law that he share his seed with the worthy, to make Velen strong, is there not?" Charlotte nodded again.
It was an archaic law, but it was law. She would love to ask Talus to repeal it, but how cnaould he change a law at the whim of a jealous wife?
Breowyn sipped her tea again.
"The problem, dear Charlotte, is not the sex. The only way to make him whole again is to allow it to continue. Otherwise, you risk making him resent you. No, the problem is the sin. All that sex without love for them. He loves you but risks his soul because, while sex with them must happen for all the reasons you acknowledge, it is loveless sex. Fornication. Even done for such excellent reasons, every time he does his duty, corruption will creep in from the sinning."
Charlotte could see that the priestess was building to something that was difficult to say.
"I fear there are dark forces taking advantage of this who will seek to deepen the corruption of his pure, sweet soul. It is the will of the Flame that we met, for only I can help you save the soul of your beloved Talus."
For a moment it seemed like a weight lifted from the priestess and she took a deep breath, seeming to finally feel free of something that must have felt burdensome.
"What I am about to tell you, dear Lady Charlotte must stay between us. If people learned what I am about to tell you, they could get the wrong idea. My position within the Order of the Eternal Flame, I am unique. I am a sin-eater."
The Lady Charlotte was aghast.
"Oh, how awful! You poor thing!" Charlotte said, thinking the worst.
It isn't as bad as it sounds. Sin-eaters are exceedingly rare. Our gift and our curse is that we can draw sin out of people. We take their sin upon ourselves and the purge it into the Eternal Flame where the sin burns away."
Charlotte was visibly relieved and just a little bit embarrassed. Sister Breowyn continued, smiling at the girl's concern.
"The love you share with Talus is the truest and deepest of loves. It is transformative. Magical. Holy. But such a blessing upon mortals comes with at a price. Your husband has a great and meaningful destiny that will shape all of Velen. He has it in him to change everything, for good or ill. And you are his anchor, Charlotte."
Breowyn finished her tea and Charlotte followed suit. The priestess got them both a second cup and then sat opposite Charlotte, speaking conspiratorially.
"You will help him carry the burden this destiny, as will I, in my way. To help Talus forge a destiny, we must lighten his load. You must sacrifice for him. If he spends his time with you in... carnal pursuits, two things are likely."
Charlotte listened with rapt attention.
"Firstly, asserting to him that he should only be using your body for sex will make you appear jealous and untrusting. It will diminish you in his eyes. He has already had sex and, handsome hero that he is, it was undoubtedly amazing sex with more attractive women -- probably many of them. I mean no offence, dear child, but a sugary coating is not what you need. You can't compete with the beautiful, experienced women who have been with him in the past, and you shouldn't try. You need not remain a virgin, but making yourself his sole source of sexual release will just draw comparisons that won't paint you in a flattering light."
"Frankly, he needs sexual release and a lot of it. It is what he is built for, which leaves you in a tricky situation, since you are too sweet and righteous to meet his needs. You will need to walk a fine line, Charlotte. Our first step will be to get you married and once you are, the two of you will be bonded to one another, regardless of whatever else he needs to do."
Charlotte nodded slowly.
"Wait, Sister? What is the second thing?"
Sister Breowyn's lips tightened, and she took Charlotte's hands in hers.
"What if all he has is YOU to absorb all of his physical needs, and you prove not to be up to the challenge? You will fracture Destiny itself. You will doom him, and you WILL lose him. He will abandon love. Abandon you. And with a bevy of spectacular sluts dying to steal him, he will be so changed that he will never look back."
"I will be brutal now, Charlotte, because to be gentle would not prepare you. You must use the twin virtues of acceptance and of forgiveness. Acceptance of his need to have sex with these women. Sluts. Whores. Woman who just want him inside them to hurt you. Out of jealousy. Out of spite."