TWL Chapter - 80

This was not good.

What the hell was Cersei doing here?

And why, of all people, was she talking to Freya!

Stay calm, El. You can still salvage this.

Before I could figure out how I was going to do that, Freya called out, “Hey, El. Glad you’re back. You’ve got a patient who’s insisting on seeing you—and no one else.”

“Oh, great. I mean… sure.” The words came out too fast. “I’ll handle it. You can get back to whatever you were doing.”

“…Sure,” Freya said, clearly suspicious.

Shit.

I nudged Cersei into the examination room with more force than necessary and shut the door behind us. The second the latch clicked, I turned on her.

“What the hell are you doing here?” I hissed.

“Oh, don’t you dare play innocent,” she snarled. “You know exactly why I’m here. Remove whatever evil curse you laid on me.”

I blinked, frowning. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“You think I wanted to drag myself across half the world to this frozen wasteland? You think I wanted to come crawling to you?” Her voice rose, then cracked, and she clenched her teeth against it.

"You—you made me feel something. And then you ripped it away."

She was shaking now, hands clenched into trembling fists. Rage, shame, and something dangerous burning in her eyes.

“I can’t feel anything anymore. No joy. No satisfaction. No lust. I feel nothing but dead inside.”

I gave her a brief scan and realized what had happened. I’d blocked off her dopamine receptors completely. I mean I was quite pissed off at the time.

Jesus Christ.

I’d flooded her with a high and then cut her off completely. Honestly? I was impressed she hadn’t killed herself—or burned down the Red Keep yet.

For a moment, I almost felt bad. Then I remembered who she was and all the pity I almost felt completely disappeared.

“No,” I said flatly. “I haven’t forgotten why I cursed you.”

But what she said was not something I saw coming.

“Fix me,” she whispered in a completely broken voice — “Please.”

For a second, I just stood there. That word coming from her—her—felt like the world tilting sideways.

I thought long and hard for a moment.

With a sigh, I found some middle ground. I unlocked a few of the receptors I'd blocked.
Nowhere near enough to what a normal person had. But enough to stop her from going psychotic or suicidal.

Her body jolted like she’d been struck by lightning. She gasped, spasmed, and crumpled to the floor—overwhelmed by the sudden flood of something she hadn’t felt in far too long.

“Goddamn it,” I muttered, dragging a hand down my face.

Of course. Even a little was too much. She had essentially gone on a tolerance break of years on the entire concept of joy.

Yeah, that wasn’t going to fly.

I sent a jolt through her nerves to snap her awake again. She gasped, eyes wide, chest heaving like she'd almost drowned. I gave her a moment to steady herself, then crouched beside her.

“Listen carefully,” I said. “I’ve partially lifted the curse. Partially.”

She met my gaze with a wild look of her own. 

“But make no mistake, my mercy hinges on you not causing me any problems during your stay here. No drama. No corpses. No headaches for me to deal with.”

“Have I made myself clear?”

I braced for the outrage. A slap. A threat. A dramatic monologue about vengeance about how Lannister's always pay their debts.

Instead, she just quietly said, “I understand, Thank you”

What.

The.

Fuck.

She didn’t argue. Didn’t lash out. She just stood up, covered her face with her cloak, and walked out without another word. I stood there for a while, completely bewildered.

What the hell just happened?

It was the most out of character encounter I had ever since waking up in this world and I was including almost dying at the hands of the Night king in that list.

Shit. I forgot to ask what she was talking to Freya about.

I stepped out into the clinic. Freya was still at her desk, scribbling in her notes. She looked up once she noticed me.

“So… what was that all about?”

“Yeah, um…” I rubbed the back of my neck. “She’s a patient I treated back in King’s Landing. Had some... issues.”

Freya raised an eyebrow. “What kind of issues?”

“Uh… rare neurological condition. She couldn’t feel a wide range of emotions.”

“So you healed her?”

“Oh yeah. I mean… now, sure. But back in King’s Landing? No. She was kind of a nightmare.”

Freya gave me a long, slow look.

“El…”

“Yes?”

“Why are you leaving out the part where the patient was the Queen, and also why she was sneaking around?”

Bugger.

“…I may have cursed her a little.”

She stared at me, mouth half open.

“What? Seriously? Why would you do that?”

“She pissed me off.”

Freya squinted at me. “Yeah… that tracks.”

Then after a beat: “That’s all it was?”

“It was a while ago,” I said, shifting my weight. “Details are a bit… fuzzy.”

Her eyes narrowed.

“You slept with her, didn’t you?”

“Uhhhh…”

“Before or after you cursed her?”

“…Before.”

“So you did sleep with her.”

“…Yes.”

“Wow.” She blinked.

“Wait. You’re not mad?” I asked cautiously.

She sighed, leaning back.

“I’m still processing.”

“…oookay.”

She looked more bewildered than angry now.

“So… what actually happened?”

“Uhh… she tried to poison me, and when that didn’t work, she showed up drunk in my room and tried to seduce me.”

Freya tilted her head. “And?”

“I… didn’t exactly put up much of a fight.”

She snorted. “Shocking.”

“Then she tried to threaten me into doing her bidding, so I got pissed off and… kinda cursed her.”

“Since when can you curse people?”

“Well—it wasn’t exactly a curse, per se. I shut off her dopamine receptors.”

Freya stared at me. “That’s… horrible.”

“I completely agree, … wait so, you’re not mad?”

She shrugged. “A little. Mostly because you didn't tell me.”

“There wasn’t really a good time to bring it up?”

She rolled her eyes but smirked. “I do remember you finally stopped ignoring my advances after you came back from King’s Landing. I am starting to think screwing the insane queen had something to do with it.”

“Yeah, so… just to confirm, you’re not mad?”

“Not really. Unless you’ve got some other woman you haven't told me about?”

“Uhhh—”

“Oh, come on.”

“No, no—I mean, I’m not having sex with her!”

“But there is someone??”

“Well, you remember my trip to Dragonstone?”

“Yeees…”

“I found an ancient Valyrian grimoire locked up beneath the castle. It had the spirit of the sorceress it once belonged to, and she’s been teaching me a bit of magic.”

“What??” 

“Uhh… which part of that do you want me to expand on?”

“All of it.”

“How about this I can go take you to meet her now, if you want. And you can ask her whatever you want”

She agreed instantly and I led her down to the basement, where I’d permanently engraved the teleportation runes into the stone. I activated them with a thought and we were instantly in the cave.

“Since when can you do that?”

“A few weeks I think? It’s how I’ve been showing up from the basement.”

“Can I use it to come here too?”

“Of course.”

“So you can just go back and forth between here and Winterfell instantly now?”

“Not just that,” I said smugly, walking over to the stone table. The map shimmered to life. “I can go from this room to almost anywhere in the world.”

“Wow.”

She leaned closer to the map.

“What are the blank spots?”

“There’s a lot of magical interference in those areas. My basic scrying spell isn't equipped to deal with it. Once my tower’s complete, I’ll be able to cast something stronger.”

“What tower?”

“I’ll show you later—we’re getting off track.”

I brought her to the room where I kept Vaylara’s book.

“Hey, Vaylara, meet Freya, my girlfriend. Just realized I hadn’t introduced you two yet.”

Vaylara materialized in front of her book.

“Hello, Freya. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too, Vaylara. I heard you’ve been teaching El magic?”

Vaylara let out a dramatic sigh. “Teaching is not the word I would use. He barely listens to me or even tells me what he plans on doing. Mostly, I just make sure he doesn't destroy all of us in the process.”

“Hey! I’m not that bad.” I said but I was ignored.

“So you’re saying he’s a bad student? That’s rich, El. A little hypocritical, don’t you think?” Freya smirked.

“Don't listen to her. I'll have you know that I am nothing but a model student.”

“Didn’t you once tell me you got into serious trouble for running a gambling ring at school?”

“Those allegations were wildly exaggerated. It was just some friends playing poker during lunch purely on unenforceable credit, no money exchanged hands.”

“Uh huh. And yet you seemed really proud of that achievement.’”

“I was bragging when I told you that. And I am very proud of what I achieved. I introduced a bunch of mostly innocent kids to the joys of gambling.”

----------------

Tyrion dragged Jaime aside, out of earshot, and shut the door behind them.

Jaime was already fuming.

“Who does he think he is? Just because he can heal a few people, he thinks that gives him the right to bark orders at everyone?”

Tyrion sighed deeply, rubbing the bridge of his nose before fixing Jaime with a look somewhere between disbelief and pity.

“Are you daft, brother? Have you taken leave of your senses?”

Jaime scowled. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Tyrion stepped closer, lowering his voice.

“You seem to be in a huge misunderstanding—he may look human, may sound human… but he’s not.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Everyone in that room,” Tyrion said, “was choosing their words carefully—like he was wildfire in human form. That wasn’t respect, Jaime. That was fear. And they’re right to be afraid—because they’ve figured out something you clearly haven’t.”

Jaime’s jaw tightened. “Then enlighten me.”

Tyrion folded his hands behind his back and gave a slow nod. 

“Tell me—would you agree it’s easier to destroy something than to fix it?”

Jaime frowned. “…I suppose.”

“Good. Because I’ve watched him regrow a man’s limbs in seconds, Jaime—seconds. And he looked bored while doing it.”

“Now imagine what someone like that could do if he decided to take those limbs off instead.”

He let the weight of that thought settle before continuing, his voice lower now.

“I’ve read the books he’s written. Half the diseases he mentions—I’ve never even heard of them. Just reading the symptoms made my stomach turn. And if he can cure things that twisted…”

 He looked Jaime in the eye.

“…what makes you think he can’t create them too?”

Tyrion stepped a little closer, dropping his voice to a near whisper.

“I’m fairly certain he could kill someone in a room full of witnesses… without even looking at them. And no one—not the guards, not the lords, not even the person he kills—would realize it until it was already over.”

Jaime’s smirk vanished. “You really think he’s that dangerous?”

“I know he is,” Tyrion said flatly. “And the only reason you're still standing here, is because he’s civilized.”

He leaned back with a tired breath.

“And the only reason he’s civilized, I suspect, is because he used to be human. And somewhere, deep down, some part of him still remembers what that means.”

Tyrion looked his brother dead in the eye.

“So thank whatever gods you pray to that he prefers peace. That he likes to talk things through.”

“Because if he ever decides that killing you is less of a hassle than keeping you alive?”

“Then you’re dead. Doesn’t matter if you have the Kingsguard behind you or the whole damn realm. He won’t even need to raise a finger.”