Just a heads up, this post is a little dark. As I've mentioned somewhere and it was briefly talked about in Volkenheim, Dartanian and Amelia's meeting and bonding via Soul Magic isn't a fairy tale. The way in which it happened was traumatic for both of them and it caused discord between the pair for an entire year. There are still moments when it surfaces, but their bond has grown tremendously over the centuries they've been together that it doesn't stay an issue for very long. Anyway, that's what I have to say about that, so readers...be cautious with this one.
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Dartanian
My uneasy feeling proved true. MY Amelia was a worker in a brothel. I had a feeling the owner wasn’t about to give up one of his best girls, even for the right price. God I hate how that sounds but I was in ‘I’m going to get her no matter what’ mode.
My first order of business, then, was to secure her safety both mind and body. To do that while I thought of how to get her out of there, was to “pay” for her for a week. Fucking bastards. The owner was reluctant about my ability to pay until I doubled my price and slammed down the money. My urge to gut him was nearly even with my need to save Amelia. However, I needed my brothers assistance on this as I was a little too hot-headed to deal with the loser.
All my remaining effort was spent reassuring this prick that I was okay with her just being scarred for disobedience while I violently tore him apart in multiple ways in my mind. How I’d love to do it in real life. I did manage to convince him to give us a private room. How I wanted to punch that smug jerk in his face!
Once we were alone and I’d secured the feeble lock, I used my magic to create a better lock and sound proof the room. As this was an area where magic was not used and, frankly, frowned upon, using too much would put Amelia in more danger. Once I was satisfied with my work, I finally turned around to face her.
Amelia looked broken. Her shaking hand clutched her outer robe and her back was still bare and slightly bloodied. Her head remained downcast, like she was ashamed and I could hear her sniffling. My height had never been more disadvantageous than in this moment. With my inability to use too much magic, I opted to kneel in front of her and took her hands in mine, saying the only thing I could think of to garner a smile from her lips: ‘mine.’
Sure enough, Amelia snapped her head up, her face breaking into that wide smile as fresh tears of relief streamed down her face. Her hands moved to clutch mine before she fell against me, sobs racking her shoulders. It made me smile but also broke my heart as she chanted: “You’re real. You’re here.”
I ghosted my hand over her back hundreds of times, slowly healing her wounds both fresh and old. The healing words I had to use, I turned into a song to lull her to sleep. As wrong as it might seem to others, that was our first night together, and I was happy with it.
Amelia
Most forget that some magic truly changes you. Even if only for a moment.
Dartanian was such a gentleman, and while I was used to being used, he insisted we’d do nothing until after we were married. Seeing who I was, what I lived with, I told him it didn’t matter, though I was elated inside at his consideration toward someone like me. He won me over with his various speeches of how every woman should feel special and beautiful on their wedding day. I admired that he didn’t want anything between us to happen in a place where I had such terrible memories. It’ll be nice to make beautiful memories away from this place, with a man who loves me despite where I came from.
I really wish I would have fought him more on this; that we had had intimacies there. Maybe what transpired could have been avoided then.
I want to make it clear, that the events that led up to this, I was still lucid enough and in my right mind to consent. There was no foul play. Soul Magic is a tricky thing and it can make one so possessive and aggressive and rough, but what bonds us together would not let him take me by force no matter how far gone he was. I’m not sure how that’s embedded into the magic, but that was the case. I gave my permission to him that day, to save my life after he…it was an accident. I have to remind him still to this day that I’m not a porcelain doll. Sometimes I still think he feels prongs of regret about that night, for stabbing me through with his ice magic, but I feel no regret. Nor do I feel sorry for the people of that town.
That seems a monstrous thing to say, but that’s the way of it. The only deaths I’d want to have been avoided were that of the few illegitimate children. Everyone else either deserved death or needed death to fully escape their reality. Which is why I can, have, forgiven my husband and will love him for all time.
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