Thank you @gortashsrighthand for the tag! (Her fic Pactbound is such a good read!! 10/10 recommend!!)
Pairing: Rhiannon x Ascended Astarion
Completion Status: The story is currently in it's second act, but we still have a ways to go until act three. (Currently on Chapter 18)
Plot Summary: Three years after saving Baldur's Gate, Rhiannon- a devout cleric of Selûne- has vanished without a trace. Her former companions have been searching desperately for answers, unaware that their former rogue Astarion Ancunín, now an Ascended Vampire, has claimed her for himself. Imprisoned in the Crimson Palace, Rhiannon faces a battle far more insidious than any she found during their adventures: a slow psychological unraveling as Astarion seeks to replace her goddess as the center of her devotion. In the shadows of his opulent cage, faith and desire become dangerously entwined.
Vibes: This is definitely a gothic romance meets psychological thriller type of fic. There's a lot of 'dark fairy tale energy' and 'sexy doom' that I cannot seem to escape from! I have actually fallen in love with the obsessive/possessive mmc and the reluctant fmc, I have a lot of books like this in my Kindle Library, so I have a LOT of references to use haha! Finally, I just really enjoy it when the "bad guy" kind of wins. If you'd like to read it, please mind the tags as some elements may be too much for some!!
Short snippet from chapter one:
"Three years. It had been three long years since she had last seen him. Since the fall of the Elder Brain and the bloody struggle that had forced her to leave. She had stood at his side when he usurped the Rite of Profane Ascension from Cazador. When he begged her- her, of all people- for help in its completion. And she’d done it. Against her faith, against the vows she had sworn, she had yielded to him because at the end of the day he was her closest friend and she couldn’t take the sun from him again.
When the deed was done, when crimson light crowned him the master of his own fate, she could not bear to stay. She had left Baldur’s Gate behind- her city, her friends, her companions from the biggest quest of their lives. She even ignored Wither’s invitation to the reunion six months later, unable to face the people who had trusted her, unable to look upon him again.
The guilt had hollowed her out. She had defiled her faith with her own hands, and Selûne’s light had grown distant within her. Leaving had felt like her only chance to mend what she had broken. Her only hope of regaining the Moonmaiden’s favor once again.
And now here he was- Astarion, the Vampire Ascendant of Baldur’s Gate- standing in her temple like a specter from a life she had tried to bury.
Suddenly, the glowing eyes in the shadows shifted- then surged forward.
Before she could draw breath to cry out, he was upon her. The force of his movement drove her back until her spine struck the cold stone of Selûne’s statue. The candles she had previously lit toppled with the impact, their flames guttering out as molten wax spilled across the floor. Silver dishes clattered, prayers scrawled on parchment scattering like leaves in a storm. Offerings to her goddess tumbled in disarray, desecrated beneath the vampire’s intrusion.
One pale hand clamped firmly around her chin, forcing her azure gaze upward into his crimson. His grip was unyielding, the strength in his fingers more than mortal, more than human. With his other arm he caged her in, palm flat against the stone just beside her head. The closeness, the sheer intensity of him, left her body locked in shock.
Her chest rose and fell in short, shallow breaths. The amulet at her throat trembled with the motion. Every instinct screamed at her to move, to fight- but the weight of his presence, the piercing anger in those crimson eyes, rooted her in place. Pinned between her goddess’s altar and the monster her old companion had become. She could only stare, wide-eyed and silent, as his cold, cruel smile cut across his face, partially shrouded by the shadows.
“You should have never turned your back on me, little cleric.” " (Stealing Moonlight Chapter 1 by Cinder_Rellish181 on AO3)
What other media inspired you?
I had fallen in love with a fanfiction over the summer, but it got removed and the author ended up deleting their entire profile. I realized then that if I couldn't find the fics I wanted to read, I'd have to write them myself. That loss was honestly the catalyst- I wanted that specific flavor of dark romance, I just added my own psychologically complex and religious themes, and when it vanished, Stealing Moonlight was born!
Beauty and The Beast was my favorite story and Disney Princess movie growing up. It was a big inspiration for the main bones of this story! I love a good dark fairy tale retelling.
An author that I'm on their book release emailing list was also a big inspiration for this story. I love good dark romances and Nicole Fox with her Russian Bratva duets have always been able to scratch that itch for me!
How did your understanding of the characters change while writing?
I thought I understood Rhiannon when I started- devout cleric, strong faith, clear moral compass. But as I wrote her imprisonment and psychological unraveling, I realized she's far more complicated than that! Her faith isn't just devotion; it's also a shield, a way to avoid confronting harder truths about herself. The more I wrote, the more I discovered she was capable of rationalizing her own surrender, of finding theological loopholes for blasphemy. She'd not just a victim of Astarion's manipulation- she's an active participant in her own corruption, which makes everything so much darker!
Ascended Astarion on the other hand is a tough balance- he still needs to feel like the character from the game while also being fundamentally changed by power. What surprised me was discovering how patient he could be. I initially thought he'd be more overtly cruel, but the methodical psychological warfare, the way he frames everything as a gift or a negotiation- that emerged natural as a I wrote. He's not just breaking the FMC; he's rebuilding her worldview! And that's so much more insidious than simple violence.
What's one thing you put in that was just shamelessly self-indulgent?
When I started writing this fic, I was reading "Forgive Me Father" by Katerina St Clair. So definitely the religious corruption angle. I could have written a dark romance without the blasphemy elements, but twisting prayer into something profane, having Astarion position himself as a deity she should worship? That's purely because it does something for me. I'm living my best heretical life and nobody can stop me!
What's the structural choice you made on purpose that most shaped the story?
Staying almost entirely in Rhiannon's POV within the palace walls. After the kidnapping in Chapter 1, the story becomes intensely claustrophobic- we're trapped in her perspective, in these rooms, with only Astarion and the occasional spawn for company. We experience her psychological unraveling in real -time, from inside her own head as she rationalized, negotiates, and slowly surrenders.
That limited perspective shaped everything, I think. We don't get a lot of Astarion's internal justifications at first- he remains somewhat unknowable, which makes him more effective as both a captor and a romantic interest. We don't cut away to see what the companions are doing (except chapter 17). The palace becomes the entire world. Every interaction carries weight because there is nowhere else to go, no one else to talk to, nothing for her to focus on except his voice, his touch, and his version of reality as it slowly starts to replace hers.
The isolation IS the story. Her breaking point isn't dramatic action- it's slow erosion that happens with someone is your only source of touch, conversation, and stimulation. The cage isn't just physical; it's the entire narritave!
Which theme emerged accidentally, and which one did you pursue deliberately?
Honestly? It was the religious corruption that came forth unexpectedly for me. It caught me by surprise. I knew that Rhiannon was a cleric, I knew there'd be conflict between her faith and her imprisonment, but the way it evolved into full blasphemy- Astarion positioning himself as a replacement deity, the desecrated chapel with their initials carved into the altar, turning prayer itself into something profane and dirty- that emerged organically as I wrote their dynamic. Once I realized he wasn't just imprisoning her body but trying to replace Selûne as the center of her worship, it opened up this while psychological layer I hadn't initially planned! The theme became so central that it's hard to imagine the story without it now, but it genuinely was NOT the original concept!
The Cazador parallels were intentional from the beginning. I wanted to explore what happens when someone who's suffered horrific captivity gains absolute power- does freedom create healing, or does it create new monsters? Astarion swore no one would ever chain him again, but he's built and entire palace of chains with himself as the master. The kennels scene, the spawn servants, the gilded cage he's created for Rhiannon- all of it mirrors what Cazador did to him. He's not Cazador's victim anymore; he's become his prodigy, just with better aesthetics and different rationalizations. That cycle of abuse, that question of whether he can break free from what was done to him or if he's doomed to recreate it- that was always the story I wanted to tell.
What was the biggest risk you took for this fic?
Making Ascended Astarion a literal kidnapper with no redemption arc. The BG3 fandom is already divided on the ascension route, and I knew writing him as someone who imprisons and psychologically tortures Rhiannon would be polarizing. There's no 'he learns his lesson and becomes good' here- he's genuinely controlling, manipulative, and dangerous. I risked alienating readers who wanted a softer take on Ascended Astarion or who needed him to be redeemable. But I committed to the darkness because anything less would have felt dishonest to the premise,
If you were forced to rewrite the story from scratch, what would you do differently?
I'd definitely tighten the pacing in the early chapters. I spend an entire DAY in three chapters. Some of the negotiation and daily routines feel repetitive now when I look back at them.
I'd also weave in the companions more consistently from the start. I think bringing the, in early in act 2 was definitely a choice, and one I wouldn't make if I had to write this fic again.
Lastly, I think I'd plant more seeds earlier for later revelations. The chapel, the wards, certain character details- some of these feel like they appear when needed rather than being carefully foreshadowed. But writing is ultimately a learning experience and you don't learn if you never start!
Oh this was so fun to do! I think I am very late to this gravy train, so if I've tagged you and you already did this, I'm sorry!!
@dynamicducks @toomanyfamiliars @akelan and @eraserspiral
