Disclaimer: All hail Bioware.

II) Isabela

Isabela staggered into the Hanged Man. Her heart thumped erratically and her eyes searched wildly as she fought desperately to block out the terrible guilt that was clawing it's way up inside her. Her eyes alighted on the man near the bar. He was some kind of poet, and a bad one at that, but he had shown an interest in her from day one, and that was all that mattered now.

"You!" she barked at him, crossing the tavern in three strides. The man looked up at her, a slight look of fear flashing across his face. "Upstairs, with me, now."

"What, me?" the man squeaked.

"Yes, you" the pirate said irritably.

"What for?" the man asked suspiciously.

"A tea party" she said sarcastically. "What do you think for?"

The man's eyes widened as he got what she was driving at. "You mean...?"

"Maker, you're thick" she said to him, grabbing the man by the scruff of the neck and dragging him up the stairs after her. Anything, anything to make the guilt stop!

For the next hour, she screwed him upside down, back-to-front and sideways. She fucked him absolutely senseless and it still wasn't enough. The hollow ache in her chest never left, the terrible sense of guilt never went away. She didn't understand, sex had always worked before!

Disgusted with him, and with herself, she kicked the poet out of bed. "Get out!" she hissed at him.

"But!" the poor man protested, scrambling desperately for his clothes as she pushed him out into the corridor in his smalls.

"I said, get out!" she spat the words at him, slamming the door in his face.

Returning to her bed, she lay curled in a little ball, her knees drawn up to her chin.

Why hadn't that worked? She'd never really cared enough to feel guilty before, but the few times she had, a quick roll in the hay was usually enough to drown out her conscience.

Why not this time?

With a groan, Isabela rolled out of bed and crawled across the floor to a loose floorboard under which she'd hidden a bottle of port.

Well, there was still something to be said for getting absolutely shitfaced.