Post by Cam Pyetr on Sept 19, 2023 19:19:46 GMT -5
Cam didn't interrupt her. He watched her face, saw it change as she realized her mistake. That was good, but was it good enough? She wasn't obeying, wasn't shoveling food into her mouth as if her life depended on it.
Still, her words were comforting for their sincerity. He did understand the impossible position she was faced with now. Despite her behavior and recent rash decisions, she was a noblewoman of good blood. Somewhere within her, she was right to still cling to her Nevermerean nobility and honor. But it was that station that had given her the unwarranted arrogance to make the moves she had. The core of her being was tied up in her deepest character flaw. Was there a cure for that?
Cam gazed at her, his face unreadable as he thought about what to do with her. His initial plan, when he'd set up this dinner, had been to make sure she was appropriately broken and then to set her back in her cell and leave her to rot for another few months. After all that she'd done--not just to him, of course--it was no less than she deserved.
But the sculptured face of the royal courtier who had visited him rose into his mind. As much as he enjoyed knowing Gunne was his prisoner, she was too connected to keep locked away forever.
"True freedom," he finally said, "is found through service, Edith."
Perhaps there was a way to maintain her program while enabling her to leave the castle. Under supervision, perhaps, with a strict reinforcement strategy of lessons and daily instruction . . . what if he could bring her out in public, make her a kind of unspoken testament to the ability of the Beldam to change lives for the better? For a moment Cam imagined himself walking in the castle, the former Gunne Cortell a step behind him, docile and ready to snap into action at his order.
The door opened, and the guard returned with a large glass vial of clear fluid. Gunne might recognize it; the "cleanser" was a disgustingly sweet tincture of herbs and alcohols that caused whoever drank it to vomit until they could barely breathe. It was often used as in lessons about purging one's innermost flaws.
"And service is achieved through obedience," he said. "Now eat."
Still, her words were comforting for their sincerity. He did understand the impossible position she was faced with now. Despite her behavior and recent rash decisions, she was a noblewoman of good blood. Somewhere within her, she was right to still cling to her Nevermerean nobility and honor. But it was that station that had given her the unwarranted arrogance to make the moves she had. The core of her being was tied up in her deepest character flaw. Was there a cure for that?
Cam gazed at her, his face unreadable as he thought about what to do with her. His initial plan, when he'd set up this dinner, had been to make sure she was appropriately broken and then to set her back in her cell and leave her to rot for another few months. After all that she'd done--not just to him, of course--it was no less than she deserved.
But the sculptured face of the royal courtier who had visited him rose into his mind. As much as he enjoyed knowing Gunne was his prisoner, she was too connected to keep locked away forever.
"True freedom," he finally said, "is found through service, Edith."
Perhaps there was a way to maintain her program while enabling her to leave the castle. Under supervision, perhaps, with a strict reinforcement strategy of lessons and daily instruction . . . what if he could bring her out in public, make her a kind of unspoken testament to the ability of the Beldam to change lives for the better? For a moment Cam imagined himself walking in the castle, the former Gunne Cortell a step behind him, docile and ready to snap into action at his order.
The door opened, and the guard returned with a large glass vial of clear fluid. Gunne might recognize it; the "cleanser" was a disgustingly sweet tincture of herbs and alcohols that caused whoever drank it to vomit until they could barely breathe. It was often used as in lessons about purging one's innermost flaws.
"And service is achieved through obedience," he said. "Now eat."