So i heard you write for cahir 👀 can you do something where he was imprisoned in aretuza and maybe reader is being nice to him when shes bringing food and actually talks to him. And then maybe they get lonely one night (up to you, really! Bearded!Cahir is such a thing for me lol have fun ❤)
Pairing: Cahir X Female!Reader
Fandom/Franchise: Witcher
Author's Notes/Triggers: No triggers here. But maybe a confidence note. Not sure how well I captured Cahir.
Cahir’s hand dangled out from the bars. His fingers felt for the thickness of the air. Breathing it felt different here. Every inhale, he swore he was either being poisoned, or something worse, being taken advantage of. His eyes closed, but his ears opened.
It was a flicker of a sound. A torch being lit. And she was there.
“Y/N.” Cahir breathed a sigh of relief.
Her fingers slid over his dangled hand. They traced his furrowed brow, finding the knot of aggression that torture often left behind.
“I have dinner.” Y/N offered. “Let me see what else we have broken.”
The heel of his hand rubbed at his eyes. The door hinge squeaked open easily. A normal man would have taken the advantage and ran over the mage to escape. Y/N possessed a dangerous ability that Cahir couldn’t name. It was warmer than charisma. Hotter than lustful seduction. It pulled from his bones and kept him here.
“Stew.” Cahir blinked as she conjured a table and chair for him.
“Pork stew.” Y/N said. Her hands landed on his shoulders, easing him to sit. The routine started again. He started eating. Gently, at first. His mind still echoed the pain from earlier. Remembering how to eat had been a painful process as he kept biting the inside of his mouth.
“You have a gentler hand than your sisters.” Cahir said. He cringed in pain as she massaged out another knot. “Your superior says she is not cruel, but I am beginning to think you all wield lies like magic. Bending at your own will.”
“That is a cruel thing to say about Tissaia and about mages. Some of us do not have the ability to lie.” Y/N smoothed her fingers into his shoulders and back again. Each time, she pressed in different spots. Cahir’s muscles reset where they were supposed to be. Y/N continued speaking. “Some of us are mistreated by you.”
“Nilfgaard?”
“No, by those we would swear our loyalty to.” Her fingers raked through his longer hair, sorting out the tangles. “Loyalty is often punished.”
“You’re right.” He leaned into her touch. His fingers unclenched from the bowl and spoon, laying flat on the table. “But, punishment is what is deserved for weakness.”
“And what would the White Flame have to say about what you’ve endured?”
Cahir tilted his head up at her. Her eyes sought something feral in him. Her dangerous ability grew stronger with each second he allowed himself to look into her eyes. His shoulders rolled.
“He would say I did this to myself. That I failed.” Swallowing failure was difficult especially when he just ate.
Y/N conjured the table away, leaving only the chair behind. Cahir braced himself for this part of their routine. It was, in his opinion, the hardest part of her evening visits. She settled in front of him, kneeling as if he was a patron god. Her fingers raked through his hair. Each finger deliberately placed where Tissaia’s were hours before.
“She’s only going to break me further.” He murmured. “I do not understand why you would reset me every evening.”
Y/N rested her forehead against his. Cahir’s pulse quickened. Her energy began to flood through his nerves, crackling against his skin. Her fingers etched and redirected his neural pathways.
“You are just following orders.” He said out loud for himself.
“I don’t think you know how similar we are.” Y/N admitted. “Serving. Loyal. Powerful. Every night, I feel every part of you that broke.”
“Your superior is horribly talented.”
“You came to us broken by others before.”
A lump formed in his throat. “I hate that you can see that.”
“It’s not a matter of seeing, only reliving memories.” Y/N furrowed her brow as she finished it. Another flood of warmth ran through him. Joy, laughter, and victory felt like ash in his mouth. His happier memories returning to him meant nothing if they were all going to be rearranged again tomorrow. His forehead slid against hers. Y/N was the only grounding thing that seemed real.
“You can see everything?” His chest ached.
“Yes.” Her fingers scratched his scalp in comfort. “Your loyalty is flawed by your ambition sometimes. Do not let it fog your senses.”
“And here you are, having all of the ability to do whatever you please with mine.” Cahir chuckled.
“I am not cruel. I do not like going against someone’s free will.” She remained serious.
“How do you know?” He asked. “Where the limit is?”
Y/N shifted her gaze away for a moment. In that moment, Cahir felt the cold air from the cell return to him as if he wasn’t a person at all. His hand itched to drag her gaze back to him again.
“You are a man of violence. How do you know when to stop?”
Cahir nodded his head in understanding. “You have the capacity to be terrible. That thing you can do.” His gaze waited for hers to return. “It can make a man ache. I imagine you’ve turned a few minds into slave states with what you can do.
Her gaze finally returned to his. Her warmth struck his chest. “I can make men like you warm. I can create years between us that were never there. I can take away people and places. I can remake memories, turn failures into victories.”
Cahir’s chest heaved with the possibilities she could do. “If I were a king, you would never leave my side.”
“What a bold thing to say.” Y/N smiled.
“I mean it.” Cahir’s hand reached for hers. Energy surged through him. She possessed the deeper parts of every base feeling. Anger felt like the wrath of war. Happiness felt like a child’s laughter under the sun. Sadness felt like every hollow feeling he collected over the years. Cahir didn’t realize when her mouth came so close to his. “They are wise to hide you here in Aretuza. I hope your betters intend to kill me because I don’t think I can bear being without you.”
“You think you are in love, Cahir.” Her hand pushed back his hair. “You are in love with power.”
“You are filling me with the idea of you and I together. You’re a horrible creature for giving me the idea of hope.” Cahir breathed against her mouth.
Y/N glanced behind her. “Then, allow me to give you and I one thing to remember.” Her hands guided his across her chest.
“Is this another cruel trick your superior has ordered you to preform for me to give you information?” Cahir’s voice snapped.
“No.” Y/N frowned a bit. Her hand guided his to grab her gently. “I can’t lie. I can’t manipulate.”
Cahir’s eyes widened. “You really…
“…want to.” She finished.
It was a slow meeting of mouths which turned into a desperate grab at each other for something better than loyalty for once.
Border/Divider Credit: @pixopix
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