Author's note - Thank you so much for pointing out the massive spelling error with Cahir's name! That's autocorrect for you! Thanks for the great review!

Before...

"You stupid little shit! Do you have any idea what you have done?!"

The sorcerer roared at the elf who coward on the floor, surrounded by broken bottles.

"It was a simple love spell...I wanted one of the women in the market to notice me...it was harmless..."

The sorcerer's face crumpled as he shook his head.

"It wasn't a love spell you fool! It was a binding spell! You got the bottles mixed up and that poor girl used it on that Witcher."

"But magic doesn't..."

"The bottle broke and her blood mixed with his...it will take a few days, but he will be drawn to her until the day either one of them dies. There's no undoing this if their blood mixed!"

The elf gulped staring up as the sorcerer stared up shaking his head before turning and walking away.

Elsewhere...

Gretchen found herself less than a week later kneeling wearing a gorgeous shimmering black wedding gown. The Nilfgaardian crest on her dangling earrings, as well as her necklace. As soon as they arrived at the kingdom, Cahir brought her to his family's home where she met his parents. His father Seneschal Ceallach Dyffryn app and Gruffyd and his mother Mawr. Both were noble respected pair from the kingdom, both featuring Cahir narrow cheekbones, and light blue eyes. They closely studied Gretchen as Chair led her in, and as strangely cold as they appeared, they welcomed her, and agreed with Chair that she was a fine match for him. Expecting questions on her past, instead they told her this would be her new home, and they were pleased that their son found such a striking young beauty to marry. Cahir then led her up to his wing of his family home, up to what would be their chambers. He brought her to what would be her room until they wed. It was the biggest room she had ever seen in her entire life with a huge oak bed with a beautifully carved headboard. Still tightly squeezing her hand, he brought her to the vanity where he sat her down on the tiny bench in front of it. Staring at her reflection, and her suitor behind her, she stiffened as his hands rested on her shoulders, firmly planted there.

"I will fetch our chamber maids to fetch you some bath water, as well as bring you new clothes. The finest dresses in all of the kingdom. I have even had my sister Dheran pick out some things for a beauty like yourself."

Gretchen nervously smiled, as Cahir stared at the two of them in the reflection of the vanity's mirror. Smirking, he leaned down, slowly lifting Gretchen's hand before softly kissing the top of it.

"Until then my love."

With that, he gently placed her hand down, before leaving her to await the chamber maids. Sitting alone, Gretchen waited until she heard the door click shut when suddenly her entire face twisted in extreme pain. Snapping her eyes shut, she fought the urge to cry out and instead lowered her head and coughed into her cupped hand. Gagging, she choked for a second, before she felt it coming up from her throat. Carefully, she pinched her fingers and reached into her mouth, before slowly drawing it up out of her throat and out of her mouth.

She watched herself in the reflection of the mirror as she did so, eyes squinted with tears as she fought not too vomit. Instead, she pulled it out and stared at it. There it was, wet with blood, but just like all the others that she had vomited up over the years and so carefully hid from the madam and the others. She remembered when she was just three years old when it first happened and how frightened she was. She vaguely remembered running to the madam trying to show it to her, terrified and so badly confused. She remembered the madam becoming absolutely furious. Believing she was lying, that she was just being stupid and probably ate the fucking thing and wanted to make up big stories. The beating she received was so badly her ears rang for days. It usually only happened once or so a month, and whenever it did happen she would make certain to hide it.

Now of course of all places, this had to happen. Thankfully, she was able to hold it down until at least after Cahir left. Sighing, she stared at when she had just coughed up.

Standing up between two pinched fingers was a bloody black feather.

Now less than a week later she found herself kneeling right beside Cahir, looking handsome dressed in his armor. She knelt there, dressed in a beautiful wedding gown, surrounded by Cahir's parents, his brothers and sisters. Other members of the count from the kingdom as they were married, sworn together in unity. In this past week at Nilfgaardian, it had been a complete whirlwind. Chair took her to countless banquets, and even a ball. Gretchen, having never danced before in her life was frightened, but Cahir led her around with ease, swaying with her, and holding her tight. In just mere hours and days she met countless people as Cahir introduced her to everyone from his family to the court. The entire time, he tightly held her hand. Aillil and Dheran, Cahir's sisters fussed over her, both all ready married women with several young children between the two of them. They along with the maids brought her rich expensive clothing, jewelry, shoes, and fine smelling perfumes. These riches never interested Gretchen, but she stayed polite as they painted her face, dressed her, and showed her how a proper woman should act. The first few nights she slept alone in her room, staring up at the darkness, hating this twisting nerves sensation she felt.

Now she knelt in her black wedding dress, a radiant beauty as Cahir and here were blessed. That's when Cahir slowly turned his head, staring into her eyes, before he slowly tilted his head and leaned forward, pressing his lips against hers. Applause came from around the room, as Gretchen experienced her first kiss. His thin lips against her full ones. Opening her eyes, she watched as he pulled back smiling.

Her husband... Cahir Mawr Dyrrryn app Ceallach of Nilfgaardian.

That night...

Gretchen now sat in her shared chambers, sitting at a new beautiful vanity, with an even more beautiful bed behind her. She sat, hair pinned up, wearing a black nightgown that revealed the swell of her breasts she had just gotten a few years ago. Sitting nervously, the entire wedding ceremony raced past her mind like a complete blur. Instead, she now found herself completely frightened knowing very well what would come next. She guessed she counted herself lucky, but for some strange unknown reason her mind kept going back to the wounded Witcher. Grasping her wrist, and staring at her with his glowing amber glowing eyes.

"What are you?"

Gretchen sighed, smoothing down the smooth material of her nightgown, before staring at her reflection one last time. With that, she took a deep breath, got herself up, walked to her bed...no...their bed and pulled back the covers and eased herself down. Pulling the covers up nearly to her chin, she laid back and stared up at the ceiling. Just like clockwork, she heard the click of the door, and in stepped Cahir, no longer in his heavy frighting looking armor, but dressed head to toe in black. His boots clinked against the hardwood floor as he held a candle. Shutting and locking the door behind him, he turned and faced her. The flame lighting up his slender face as he smiled at her.

The white flame...

Yet that smile didn't make Gretchen feel at ease, or safe. No, she saw it in his eyes. A hunger, a hunger she was absolutely terrified of. She laid there, underneath the covers, staring up with wide eyes like a frightened child as he crossed the room, and laid down the candle on the surface of the vanity. Crossing the room, he stood on the other side of the bed as Gretchen silently watched as he slipped out of his boots with ease, pulling one off one at a time. He then pulled his shirt off, revealing his slender chest and flat stomach. He stared at her for a moment, before he then pulled down his slacks. Too embarrassed to watch him and see what came next, her eyes shifted across the room to the vanity, and the candle sitting on top of it. She stared at the flickering flame, and heard Cahir finish undressing, before feeling him climb into bed, right beside her. Laying there, stiff as a board, Gretchen trembled before she felt him turn to face her. Slowly his hand reached out and gently stroked the side of her face with his thin fingers.

Gretchen fought back tears, before closing her eyes for a second. That's when she heard her husband's voice.

"What is it my dear?"

Gretchen took a second, trying to control the tremble that shook in her throat before she opened her eyes, glittering with tears.

"This...is the first time somebody has ever..."

She couldn't finish. Instead she nervously bit down on her bottom lip, using all of her strength not to shed a single tear. Instead, she stared across at this stranger, this mysterious intense man who had been kind enough to take her away from that dreadful life, and actually give her somewhat of a future, even if she wasn't completely certain she wanted it. Sighing, Gretchen closed her eyes for a second as a single tear rolled down her cheek. Feeling her husband reach across and gently wipe it away with his thumb, she opened her light green eyes again before deciding it was now or never to show him.

"I was abandoned when I was just an infant. The madam who ran the whore house...told me tall tales about how she found me. Nonsense really. I was put to work there...and it wasn't until I met you that anyone had ever even so much as noticed me or...touched me before not intending to do harm..."

Cahir raised an eyebrow, before Gretchen sat up, tiny strands of her pinned up hair falling and framing her face. Staring at him in the dim light of their shared room, she carefully slipped her nightgown off her shoulders, allowing it to fall, revealing her breasts, as well as her naked body. Cahir's eyes at first stared almost hypnotized before finding what she wanted him to see. What she had been so ashamed of. He rose slightly, hiking himself up on his elbow as he leaned forward, squinting at what was across her stomach. Three terrible scars, ripped white flesh as long as her own hand. Each just below her breasts in even rows. Cahir leaned forward, before he gently touched one with his finger before looking up at her.

"These are burns..."

Gretchen nodded ashamed, more silent tears running down her face.

"A few years ago the madam began to tell me that she might turn me to work with the other girls...that...men paid high coin for virgins. I got frightened and I tried to reason with her...she became so furious that...out of all the beatings I ever received, this was the worst. She took me to the fire, grabbed the poker and set it in the flames..."

Cahir closed his eyes for a moment disturbed as Gretchen went on.

"She then had the girls hold me down and she burned me three times down the stomach before kicking me so badly I passed out. When I woke up, the burns hurt so bad I could barley stand. She kept me locked in the cellar for awhile, before telling me she would continue using me as a servant since no man would want to ever touch me now...but if I ever crossed her again, the girls would hold me down as one of the most diseased men in the village would rape me. So...I said nothing and continued onto my work."

Cahir stayed silent for a second before Gretchen lowered her eyes.

"I must disgust you..."

Before she could finish her sentence, Cahir sat up, the sheets pooling around his waist, as he sat up across from her and shook his head.

"Never..."

Firmly he reached out and took hold of the sides of her face, bringing her close to him.

"Do you hear me? Never."

Gretchen gazed up at him before nodding as his grip on her face lessened as he stared at her. Suddenly with furious passion he thrusted his lips against hers, forcing her mouth to open as his own devoured hers. Moaning, Gretchen has never felt such sensations rush up and down her body, even the building tingling between her legs. She had heard from the women at the whore house, but nothing like this. Gasping, she franticly continued kissing Cahir, as his hands ran up and down her back, when suddenly he stopped. Pulling away, his bangs fallen in his face he stared at her. Gretchen was breathless, before she got her bearings, and stared at him.

"What?"

Cahir gently turned her body, before he saw two much larger scars, not burns but what appeared to be ugly scars of a dark purple. Two large slits on each side of her back beneath her shoulder blades. Gently touching them, suddenly his brow wrinkled as he turned back and faced her.

"More marks from your madam?"

Gretchen shook her head, her own hair now hanging in her face.

"I'm...not sure about those. I've had them for years. I was beaten so much I blacked out a lot...I never asked."

Cahir nodded, looking absolutely furious.

"I promise you my bride...no one shall ever lay a hand on you again. That I swear."

Gretchen sniffled, before sadly smiling and nodded. Cahir turned her hand over where her beautiful wedding ring was, the Nilfgaardian crest on it. This was the first piece of jewelry Gretchen had ever owned, let alone wear. All this afternoon following the ceremony she found herself nervously twisting it on her finger. Cahir stared down at it and smiled, before he lifted his eyes and stared up at her. They locked eyes, before he leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers again.

Later...

Gretchen laid beneath Cahir, beneath the sheets which were now stained with her virgin blood. She laid back, back arched as Cahir laid between her two spread legs as he worked inside of her at a frenzied rate, pumping and thrusting, causing the bed to creak. When he had first laid her down, she had seen his body beneath the sheets, hovering above her. Suddenly frightened, Gretchen stared up and shook her head.

"I don't think I can..."

Cahir deeply kissed her, before staring down at her.

"I promise...I will not harm you."

Knowing her duty as a wife, she laid back, frightened, before he laid on top of her. When his hands found her breasts, she gasped, tensing up, before he gazed down at her with that same hunger glimmering in his eyes. He leaned forward and entered her by surprise as Gretchen's eyes widened and she cried out. That's when he stared down at her, gritting his teeth as he snapped his eyes shut, and sank down inside of her. At first Gretchen wanted to scream and push her off him. She couldn't believe the pressure and pain. It felt for a mere moment he was completely ripping her apart. Instead, he settled down inside of her, took a deep breath and opened his eyes down at her. Locking eyes with her yet again, he moved his hips and began to move. Gretchen stared at him transfixed as he spread her legs with his own thighs and continued to enter her, drawing in and out, taking her virginity. Now sometime later, Cahir had been working up a sweat, as his shoulder blades arched, and he rocked himself against her, gripping onto her tightly. Gretchen was starting to feel a strange sensation, a building instead of the sharp pains and cramps. She laid there gasping, when suddenly he whipped his head up, flushed as he cried out and emptied himself out inside of her. Gretchen felt the warmth and seconds later, collapsed on top of her. He laid there, catching his breath, laying against her breasts for a moment, before finally he lifted his head. His face filled with color, sweat trickling down his hair which were plastered down.

"Forgive me my love..."

Instead of finishing, Gretchen grasped his face with her own hands, feeling the weight of her wedding ring as she kissed him. Caught by surprise, Cahir's eyes widened by the kiss, before Gretchen rolled over and now was on top of him. No longer ashamed of her scars, she sat up on him, and saw the mess they had made of the sheets. Running her palms down his chest and flat stomach, she saw his manhood, and smirked as it was all ready beginning to show twinges of movement as it started to rise. Positioning herself carefully, she eased herself down, allowing him to enter her. There was pain, but it wasn't nearly as intense. She desperately wanted to find what this building was, and this strange sensation she felt she had just been on the verge of finding. Cahir grinned up at her as she settled down, and took his hands, placing them on her hips as she began to slowly rock back and forth. She had seen countless whores fuck men before, and this was one position she had often wondered about. Tilting her head back she began to feel this wonderful sensation as her husband's manhood throbbed inside of her. If this was the big secret she had been so frightened of, she no longer cared. As she rocked back and forth on her husband, crying out with him in passion, she ignored the tingling in the scars on her back.

Unknown to them, outside just as the snow began to fall, Geralt stood across the courtyard at the stables, the hood of his cloak up, his amber eyes glowing in the dark as he stared up at the window high above. He knew she was in there, and what she was doing. Sighing, he knew he could wait. Standing, snow continued to fall on him.

The next morning...

Gretchen awoke with her long eyelashes slowly fluttering open by the light of dawn drifting in through the windows. She took a second, as she had the last few days to adjust to where exactly she was. She usually woke before the chamber maids came in to help her dress and bathe. Suddenly she remembered by her naked body, and her sore stomach what had happened last night. It had been her wedding night, and Cahir and herself had made love dozens of times. No longer ashamed of her body or scars, she let him do anything he wanted and here she discovered the grant secret of it all. When the passion had hit, she began to quiver and shake all over, before loudly crying out. Cahir seemed to feed onto this response and did everything possible to make sure it happened again, and again, and again. Both had finally collapsed in each other's arms, drenched with sweat and exhausted. Now as she awoke, laying on her stomach, she found her groom nowhere to be found. Instead, a letter on his side of the bed along with a rose. Smiling, she picked up the flower, smelling it's sweet scent before she stared down at the letter.

My love, I was called away. I shall be back by night fall. Your kiss will remain on my lips until then. - C

Gretchen gazed at her husband's handwriting feeling completely smitten. Smelling the rose again, she turned over laying on her back feeling like the luckiest person in the world.

Elsewhere...

"Please! You don't have to do this!"

Cahir and his men all surrounded the madam. They had cleared out the whore house, stating they were here on official business. The eldest of all the whores had been given a sac of coin to keep the girls away. Now the madam knelt in the center of the room inside, weeping after the men had dragged her here and surrounded her. Cahir nodded to one of his men as they handed over the hot sizzling poker that had been resting in the fire since they arrived.

Cahir walked forward, taking it with his gloved hand, all ready feeling the heat that was pulsing from it. Glaring down, he stared at her as one of his men stepped behind her and painfuly yanked her arms behind her back, causing her to yelp out.

"I hear you like to use this..."

Before the madam should say a word, her eyes widened and before a scream could escape her, Cahir's face crumpled as he brought down the sizzling poker right down her throat. The madam made a strange nose, as a sickening scent of burnt flesh filled the room before convulsing and falling over dead. Staring with disgust, Cahir turned away before stomping outside where the eldest whore waited. Tossing her another sac of coin he nodded to her.

"Looks like you are a new business owner."

The whore stared at him with frightened eyes as Cahir continued to walk towards his horse, intent on being with his bride before night fall.