"I don't have much luck with these places…" Bethany warily glanced around the bar. At sixteen, she was still afraid of walking into such a place.
"Don't I know it?" Carver grumbled coldly. "We'll just be here a minute. I need to check the back."
"You're leaving me?"
"Just don't accept drinks from anyone," Carver groused. "You'll be fine. I'll be right back."
Bethany twitched, about to call after him, but stopped. She huddled in, determined not to draw attention to herself. When the bartender stopped by her, Bethany waved him off. He glared at her with an aggravated grunt, mumbling something about mid-day, unpaying customers.
Bethany chewed her tongue. She glanced down the bar for the door Carver disappeared into, but there was no sign of him. Instead, a fine, fit gentleman at the end of the bar lifted an eyebrow. Bethany glanced the other way to see what other girl he could be looking at, but there was no one down the row from her, aside from a middle-aged man speaking to his wife. She glanced back, half-terrified as the man lifted his glass to her.
Bethany smiled back meekly and sat back into her stool, training her eyes downward. She wrung her wrists.
"If I were a templar, I'd call you out as a mage," Bethany's heart skipped a beat as the older man who cheers'ed her leaned against the bar casually. "For no one's that beautiful without a touch of magic."
In the back of her mind, it registered that she'd just been hit on. Bethany swallowed the lump in her throat. She inhaled quickly, momentarily remembering the last time a man had taken interest in her. "Hey," she managed, barely lifting her eyes to him. The man was much older than her. At a guess, Bethany would put him around thirty-five or so, but he wasn't unfortunate. With dark brown, ruffled hair, and the beginnings of stubble on a strong, square jaw.
"Hey, girl," the man winked, his suave grin sending a twinkle all the way up to his eyes. "How was the Maker when you left His side?"
Bethany flushed, not sure if she ought to be more embarrassed or flattered.
Still, it wasn't exactly a situation Bethany would willingly put herself in. She fidgeted, offering another meek smile. "So tell me, m'lady," the man prompted, an easy grin taking his features as he stood. "Has Andraste changed her name?"
"It's Bethany," Bethany mumbled, red-faced.
"Ahh, Bethany," his green eyes twinkled. "Orlesian in its beauty, Antivan for your wiles, and I adopt it now, translating it to be 'our only gem' of Ferelden."
Bethany could barely contain the warmth in her cheeks. "Oh, stop." She requested genuinely, not sure her face could take any more flushing.
"Of course, Madam. Bold as I may be, I cannot refuse the order of Divinity."
In a distant corner, just out of a backroom, Marian hopped down the last few steps, fast tracking for the door, but pulled up short at a most horrible sight.
Bethany was at the bar. With a man. She was blushing. Next to a man. Who was touching her hand.
Marian almost hemorrhaged on the spot.
Crossing directly to the bar, she sharply elbowed the first man she passed on the bar. "Wave out to 'Bethany' in two seconds, or die."
The man turned on her, expression angry, but at the sight of her receding, man-length sword, he reconsidered.
"Bethany!"
Bethany glanced up at the sound of her name and looked over the bar to the strange older man who waved at her enthusiastically.
Marian crossed behind her sister and tapped the man on the shoulder. "Hey, Nugface." The guy turned from his conquest in confusion- in just enough time to be knuckled in the face. He cried out in pain, grabbing his nose as the force of Marian's punch threw him back into another customer, knocking them both to the floor.
"Hey!" The other man yelped, lifting a fist to Nugface.
Bethany turned back at the sound of a crash, eyes widening as New Guy punched Nugface on the ground. "What- " Bethany had barely an instant to notice her sister before a shoulder pushed into her stomach, completely lifting her off the seat. "Marian!" Bethany squeaked, kicking automatically as Marian's arm wrapped around her waist. Shouldering her like a sack of potatoes, Marian turned towards the door. "What're you doing?"
"Time to go home." Marian announced, kicking the door open as something behind them went flying.
"Marian! Put me down!" Bethany squirmed. "I'm not a little kid anymore! You can't just- "
"I'm assuming that was your barfight?" Carver asked, pulling up beside them.
"He touched Bethany."
Bethany sighed, slumping on her shoulder. "I can walk now, Marian." she grumbled, kicking her once more.
"Warrior! Wait up!" Marian and Carver turned, leaving Bethany blind as she hung down Marian's backside. A pretty, petite blonde with flowing locks and dazzling blue eyes halted the both of them. Carver's eyes, like Marian's, did a quick, breathy scan of the very blessed woman. "Hey there," the girl greeted, becoming more sure of herself as both their eyes zipped up. "You're the girl that started the fight, aren't you?"
"Oh, for the love of ass." Carver threw up his hands. "Peaches- "
"What?" Bethany squeaked, trying to lift herself enough to look over her shoulder. "What's going on?"
"Hey…" Marian greeted back, breath bated. "I mean- yeah… that was me."
The girl smiled, stepping closer to Marian so that her breasts bunched against Marian's chest. "You were awfully impressive in there." Marian's grip on Bethany's legs loosened.
"I was?" Marian caught herself. "…wasn't I?"
The girl's mouth inched closer. Marian could almost taste her breath; a soft mix of peppermint and blueberry vodka on her tongue. "You were." The girl breathed. "You made me quite wet."
"Ahhh!" Bethany screamed, crashing to the ground. She cradled her sore, unexpecting head. "Marian!" She groaned.
"Fuck this!" Carver groused. "I'm going home." He kicked some dirt back at Marian moodily.
Marian couldn't hear, for another moment, the girl's lips pressed to hers and Marian found herself bodily pulled against the lovely, gifted girl, who skipped right past pleasantries, and snaked into her mouth. Marian groaned. She could feel the tug of the woman's fingers on her shorts.
"Marian, no! " Bethany grabbed her shoulder and yanked her back, following close after with a harsh, stinging slap. Marian blinked, Bethany coming into view. "Come on." Bethany urged. "We're going home."
Marian glanced back at her new friend, who clung to her arm needily. "Don't go." The girl urged. "Stayyy. I'll make it worth your while."
"Marian! She's a whore!"
Marian whimpered, clearly wanting to stay. "But- "
" No. " Bethany stood firm. "Now take me home."
Marian sagged, able to breathe a little easier without the girl molesting her throat. "I have to go."
"Noooooo-"
"I'm sorry," Marian apologized, extracting herself. Bethany tugged her away. "It was nice meeting you…!" Marian called after her.
"Peaches." The girl supplied, sighing wistfully.
"I'm Marian!" Marian called after her.
Bethany smacked herself. "And you're supposed to take care of me?"
"I saved you from 40-year-old Nugface!" Marian protested. "Which- why were you talking to him in the first place?"
" He approached me ." Bethany countered. "What? You're the only one who can have people lining up to kiss you?"
"I'll show you lining up." Marian threatened. "Those lips of yours better be chaste. You follow Carver's example in this, not mine."
Bethany giggled. "Double standards, Sister?"
"You can bet on it." Marian shook her head. "No one's gonna touch your boobs like that 'till you're thirty."
"She was caressing your boobs?"
Marian cleared her throat. "Right. Home. Where Mom's waiting. With Carver."
Bethany shook her head. "What would I do without you, Sister?"
XXX
Early the next morning, there came a knock at the door. Bethany left her chore of setting the kitchen table to answer it.
Her eyes bulged upon greeting the knocker behind the door. " You again ? " Quickly, Bethany started to shut the door once more.
"Wait!" Peaches wedged her arm between the door and the frame, wincing when Bethany closed it on her forearm anyway. "Please wait," Peaches requested. The door opened again slightly. Peaches was half-afraid she was about to get slammed on once more, but this time, the door fully opened, revealing the wary teenager inside.
"What?" Bethany challenged, arms crossed, glare set.
"I wanted to apologize," Peaches rushed to say. "For last night, when I… approached your sister. I was drunk and not thinking straight, mourning from… something else."
"Funny way of showing it." Bethany muttered.
"I'd have never approached her like that under my right mind." Peaches continued, pleading with her. "Please. I'm so sorry for intruding last night."
"Well, good." Bethany started closing the door. "I'm sure she'll be pleased to hear when I relay the mess-"
"Who's at the door, Beth?"
"Nobody- "
"Marian?" Peaches called through the door hopefully.
A few seconds after it'd shut, the door re-opened on Marian giving her sister a sharp, reprimanding look.
"Peaches?" Marian arched a curious eyebrow, eyes just barely flickering down for an instant. Bethany elbowed her painfully in the side. Marian pushed her sister off out of sight. "What're you doing here?"
"Marian," Peaches puffed, relieved to see her. "I wanted to find you— I looked you up because I need to apologize for my lewd behavior yesterday. When I… approached you, I was not of my right mind. Too much liquor and mourning from my boyfriend drove me to seek revenge in a terrible way— and I don't mean to make excuses for coming onto you so strongly, I'm completely accountable for trying to lure you to bed me. I just— I knew I had to find you after. I'm sorry for what I did; I'm not that kinda girl. Not at all. I was just distraught and you were so perfect; beautiful and strong…"
"Marian!" Bethany protested, seeing the stars start to take her sister's eyes again. She received another shove behind the door for her efforts.
"Well, that's okay." Marian forgave. "It's not as though I hated the attention."
Peaches smiled coyly. "I… couldn't stop thinking about finding you today."
Marian grinned lazily, growing fonder of that face by the second. "Is that so?"
"Yeah," Peaches' blues sparkled in the sun. "You were so beautiful in my mind's eye, I half thought I'd simply made you up when I went to look…"
Bethany gaped, unable to accept her sister was prone to such petty flattery. "Marian, she's seducing you right no- " Marian clamped a hand over Bethany's mouth to silence her.
"Anyway," Peaches shifted, her front wiggling generously. "I wanted to let you know. I'm in your debt for… handling me so admirably when I was beyond myself.
Bethany gripped Marian's arm with both hands in an effort to detach her hand. Marian's grip was damn strong! When pulling failed, Bethany kicked her, rewarded when she dropped from Marian entirely and stumbled to her butt.
"Really?" Marian leaned against the door frame, wide grin splitting her features. "In my debt, you say?"
"As you say." Peaches held her own wicked grin, bowing slightly. Her eyes glistened when she noted Marian's dropping.
"Maybe you should buy me dinner." Marian suggested.
"Maybe you'll get dessert."
Marian's eyebrows went up, cocky grin quirking. "Be back here at eight."
"Ooohh, commanding. I like that." Without further notice, Peaches stood on her tiptoes and lifted her face to Marian's, hand curling around Marian's neck. She kissed her, voluptuous lips smoothing over Marian's for only a teasing moment before she stepped back away.
Bethany gawked.
"I'll be around later, my warrior."
Marian stared after her, blissfully happy. "I should hope so."
Bethany waited no longer than it took to gain control of her legs again before she jumped her sister, taking them both to the ground in front of the door. "What's wrong with you?" Bethany pounded her chest until Marian grabbed them, deftly restraining her without even an effort. "Must you lose all wits when a pretty girl approaches you?"
"Hey, stop that. What's gotten into you anyway?"
"She's a bimbo, Marian! What, she came over to apologize for molesting you, then suggests sex after dinner as a way to make it up? What. About. Bella! Marian!"
"Beth, Bella tells me to date people all the time. You've seen it."
"She doesn't mean it!" Bethany protested, fighting to escape the grip. "It's just something people say when they're in love with each other and don't want the other to be lonely!"
Marian winced. "Bethany…"
"Don't you love her?" Bethany's eyes blurred heatedly as she struggled to hit her. "Why're you cheating on Bella for the first big-breasted bimbo sleazy enough to immediately take you to bed? You love Bella! You love her!" Failing to break Marian's grip, Bethany let out a sob. "Why're you throwing that away? Marian, don't!" Bethany buried her face in Marian's shoulder. "Don't be stupid, Marian." Bethany sniffled, voice muffled in Marian's shoulder. "She loves you."
Marian closed her eyes, releasing Bethany's wrists to wrap her arms around her sister as Bethany cried. Marian cringed. She waited for Bethany's fit to subside. Bethany punched at her shoulder meekly as her crying died out. "You're being stupid." Bethany repeated. "Bella loves you."
Marian closed her eyes. "Bethany…" she combed a hand through Bethany's longer hair gently. "Bella and I… we're not…" Marian sighed. "We're not together anymore." Bethany went rigid. Marian dropped her arms to squeeze her tightly. "I didn't want to tell you," Marian admitted. "You've been going through enough as it is."
Hot tears spilled over Bethany's cheeks, soaking into the collar of Marian's shirt. "But," Bethany choked, barely able to speak. "But you love each other." Another cry caught in her throat. Bethany bit her tongue to keep from outright sobbing again.
Marian rubbed her back soothingly, gently pressing her lips to the top of Bethany's head. "We're still friends, Beth. I still care about her, and we're always gonna write. Moving on doesn't mean I love her any less."
"I'm sorry," Bethany whimpered, voice barely audible. "I never wanted to take you from her. Not Bella too…"
Marian's brow creased. "What?"
Bethany curled up on top of Marian. Her voice cracked when she confessed, "I'm a curse."
Marian prodded Bethany in the side. "Hey. Don't say that," she said sharply, and then when Bethany didn't respond, she said louder. You're not a curse, Bethany. Bella and I breaking up wasn't your fault."
"Wasn't it?" Bethany said in that small voice. "You'd still be with her if it wasn't for me…" she took in a long, slow breath, and released it raggedly. "Maybe I really do belong in the Circle. At least there, I could stop hurting the people I love."
Marian sat up, spilling Bethany off her chest, but caught the girl in her lap before she could tumble. " None of that was your fault, Bethany." Bethany avoided her eyes. "Look at me." When she was too slow to do so, Marian lifted her chin to force her eyes up. "Dad told me once that life's not fair; we all have our burdens to bear. Magic's one of yours." Marian stroked a hand through her hair. "But it doesn't make you cursed. You've had accidents, of course you have. We've all made mistakes before. If it'd been me in your place at the tavern, I'd have been just as susceptible to the poison as you were."
"You'd have found a way to control it, Sister."
Marian smiled at the compliment, brushing back a falling tear. "That's just wishful thinking now. And what would have happened if you hadn't been a mage, in that spot at that time? Rhotkar meant to rape you with the Spellweed he used to dose you. Do you think that would've been better, or wouldn't have affected my relationship with Bella if you'd been raped while I was fondling her?"
"You'd have never let that happen."
"Just like I never let you drink that poison in the first place?" Marian chided gently. "I could blame myself too, you know. Not watching out for you well enough."
"Marian, that's stupid." Bethany said, sniffing. "You couldn't have known what he was gonna do- "
"Any more than you could've?" Marian pressed. "Or could've controlled an innate reaction all mages have to raw Spellweed?" Marian rubbed her arms. "I know you feel guilty, Beth. You're too sweet not to. But how do you think I could get along without my favorite sister? Especially now, without Dad here. You think Carver's attitude or Mom's disapproval is what holds me up?"
Bethany bowed her head, rubbing at her eyes. "You'd have managed."
Marian smiled gently, arms wrapping around her sister. "You're kidding yourself, Beth. I'm not a Golem, you know."
Bethany couldn't quite manage a laugh, but she smiled a little bit through her tears. "Stop that."
"What? It's apparently the way you see me!" Marian grinned. "Do you still think random girls would stumble up to me if I were a giant pillar of stone?"
Bethany snorted.
"Can Golems have sex? I wonder. If I'm to be one, they must."
Bethany snorted again, but Marian could hear the mirth in this one. " That's your must have? It's okay to be a giant stone as long as you can still have sex?"
Marian pouted, giving her those adorable puppy eyes. "Don't you care about my libido?"
Bethany rolled her eyes. "Is sex really that good, Sister?"
"It's…" Marian's mind went to a faraway place when Bella held her and rubbed her and manipulated her body in the most glorious of ways. "Incredible," she breathed.
"Tell me about it," Bethany urged. "I know men are all over it, but other women don't speak of it like you do. Not that I've heard, anyway."
In her mind's eye, Bella held her bodily, fingers toying with her bare breast as her fingers thrust into her.
"Marian?"
Marian saw Bethany still in her lap and blinked. "What?" she asked, coming back to their conversation with a start. "Sex! Nooo, Beth, sex is horrible! Horrible! It's… sweaty and gross. You shall never have it!"
"Marian," Bethany groaned, swatting her sister's arm. "C'mon, you had sex when you were even younger than I am."
"And thus it shall stay," Marian said resolutely, finally offloading Bethany off her lap to stand up. "No man is worthy enough to touch you, Bethany. I shall not have it!"
Bethany came to her feet beside her sister. "Marian-"
But Marian put a finger to her lips. "We shall not speak of it," she said with dead seriousness. "Not until you're thirty and happily married, and even then, we may not. Not even with women!" she declared.
"Marian, even Andraste had sex."
"No, no, no, no," Marian said, shaking her head. "Andraste had a filthy, cheating husband-"
"I'm surprised you know that much," Bethany muttered.
"You will not follow in her example!" Marian appeared to think about it a moment. "You like the church, don't you, Bethany? And those people take some kind of vows of chastity for some reason? Yes! We shall get you initiated at the church. How old do you have to be to take vows?"
Bethany giggled, "You're ridiculous, Marian."
On the stair landing, Leandra's familiar footfalls echoed as she made her way down. "Speak of the demons!" Marian grinned wryly, then sobered quickly before Mother could reach the bottom. "Can I still see Peaches tonight? I won't if you don't want me to."
Bethany muttered. Marian thought she might've heard 'hussy' in there. "It's your body, defile it however you want. I'm not scanning you for diseases, just so you know."
Marian grinned, ruffling Bethany's hair. "I love you, Bethany."
"I love you, too, Sister." Bethany said earnestly back.
XXX
AN: As always, thanks for taking the time to stop and read : ) if you want to chat with the author further andor discuss character views, my other fanfictions, femslash or any of that cool stuff, hit up my discord on profile page or ask for a link in reviews
Comments are appreciated : )