[Nadine's eyebrows lift at Jaskier's addition, but she doesn't stop the story. It's...neat, really. And he's a bard, it's all about presentation and performance for him. Or so she imagines.]
They all end that way.
[She nods in agreement. Of course they do, he knows her world ended. They have to end that way. She takes another sip of wine, starting to feel it a bit.]
Story number two.
[She readjusts how she's sitting, unfolding her legs to get a bit more comfortable. Her voice drops again, into that particular voice she uses for story time. She'd used it with Lloyd, too, late at night in bed in the castle, telling him old fairy tales until he fell asleep.
These fairy-tales were different. This one in particular.]
Once upon a time, there was a little girl that no one wanted. She had no family, and no friends, and she was very alone. All she wanted was someone to save her. Then one day, she thought someone did. A magic man came to her in her dreams, and told her they'd been promised to each other by fate. That one day she would be his queen, the queen of a dark and powerful land, and all she had to do was be his. And the little girl was so happy, and promised herself to the magic man. He kept visiting her, and became her constant companion and confidante, always in her mind.
But the magic man was a demon king who just looked like a man, and he used the girl to do terrible things. But she did them, because she had promised, and because as she grew up she grew to love this terrible thing. And because a part of his darkness lived inside her now, marking her. She'd do anything to be with him, even awful things that made her sick. She debased herself and dirtied her hands and did unholy things and lost everything that ever mattered to her.
But when the time was right, she'd go to him, and take her place by his side, and become something like him.
no subject
They all end that way.
[She nods in agreement. Of course they do, he knows her world ended. They have to end that way. She takes another sip of wine, starting to feel it a bit.]
Story number two.
[She readjusts how she's sitting, unfolding her legs to get a bit more comfortable. Her voice drops again, into that particular voice she uses for story time. She'd used it with Lloyd, too, late at night in bed in the castle, telling him old fairy tales until he fell asleep.
These fairy-tales were different. This one in particular.]
Once upon a time, there was a little girl that no one wanted. She had no family, and no friends, and she was very alone. All she wanted was someone to save her. Then one day, she thought someone did. A magic man came to her in her dreams, and told her they'd been promised to each other by fate. That one day she would be his queen, the queen of a dark and powerful land, and all she had to do was be his. And the little girl was so happy, and promised herself to the magic man. He kept visiting her, and became her constant companion and confidante, always in her mind.
But the magic man was a demon king who just looked like a man, and he used the girl to do terrible things. But she did them, because she had promised, and because as she grew up she grew to love this terrible thing. And because a part of his darkness lived inside her now, marking her. She'd do anything to be with him, even awful things that made her sick. She debased herself and dirtied her hands and did unholy things and lost everything that ever mattered to her.
But when the time was right, she'd go to him, and take her place by his side, and become something like him.
But then the world ended, and everything changed.