#inplied past dubcon

[kelandrin]

Compassion’s Cradle: Parents

Pairing: Wyll x Tav [Atlas, male tiefling paladin], OC x OC [Idda, Atlas’s mom, and Lexe, Idda’s warlock patron]

Prompt: Parents from #BG3BackstoryBash

Summary: Idda, a young warlock and mercenary, learns she is pregnant. The prospect of finally having a family leads her to confront her patron.

Warnings: M | implied past dubcon | pregnancy

Word Count: 1,239

Notes: I set it to M since I am not sure where the other chapters will go. This chapter is probably closer to T. Wyll and Atlas don’t show up in this chapter.

[ao3]

Idda pressed her hand over her abdomen, trying to pretend she could feel the possibility inside her. There was nothing but the gurgle of her own stomach under her fingertips. She let her hand fall away and sighed.

She had been sick to her stomach for several days and felt weak in general. Her travels saw her parting from her usual party a tenday ago. She had made her way to Baldur’s Gate under her patron’s orders. Lexe hadn’t contacted her since she arrived, though, and not long after arriving she began to suffer nausea and vomiting. It took three days before she decided it wasn’t a bout of food poisoning brought on by the Baldurians’ fish-based diet and she dragged herself into an Ilmatari shrine. She had decent luck with Ilmater’s clergy in the past. They were unable to turn anyone away, even cynical warlocks such as herself, and they never expected anything in return. Her hopes that a cleric would see her and wave away the sickness were dashed as soon as they asked when she last bled.

The cleric, an elderly dwarf woman with calloused hands, made sure to let Idda know she had options and that the Church was there to ease any suffering. She then asked Idda if she had any other family, suggesting that she talk to them if she felt safe to do so. Idda had no family. She was orphaned ages ago in Daggerford and raised in a private orphanage which had functioned more as a front for illegal slave trading. Her mercenary party, or adventuring party if they were given the benefit of the doubt, were friends at best and on the other side of Faerûn at worst. The only other constant in her life had been Lexe. Rather than answer, Idda thanked the cleric and left.

She sat in her inn room now, trying to trace the timeline back while she waited for Lexe. Once she heard morning sickness started in four to six weeks. She tried to imagine what she had been doing last month. She knew who placed this seed inside her. Her bed only had one visitor in the past year so it wasn’t a question of who. Instead she tried to determine how gentle Lexe had been when it happened. A little over four weeks back, Lexe had lavished her in praise and treated her like a lover but six weeks back… Idda cringed.

Did it really matter how the child was conceived? Her hand slipped to her stomach again. It had never crossed her mind to want a child but now that the possibility was in front of her, there was nothing she wanted more. She couldn’t fathom a home or family until the moment the Ilmatari told her she was pregnant. Then, as if willed by a spell, a whole future had materialized in front of her. A house. A job. Dinner every day. Someone who loved her without reason. How had she never thought of it before?

Her stomach growled and she pretended it was her child’s voice.

The air tensed and the odor of sulfur seeped out of the floorboards. Idda pulled her hand away and stood. Heat and ichor pooled up from the ground and her patron rose before her.

Lexe was red skinned with eyes of molten gold. She towered over Idda, even without her wings. Her white hair was pinned back into a practical pony-tail. Black piercings marked her lip, nose and brow. Idda recalled how they tasted like blood.

“Why the frown, doll?” Lexe purred, a grin pulling her lips back. White fangs gleamed back at Idda.

“I was hoping to talk to you.” She swallowed a lump in her throat, trying desperately to keep her nerve.

“Talk or talk?” The cambion raised her brow.

“I want to renegotiate our contract.”

Lexe’s grin faltered before she scoffed. “Renegotiate? Contracts are eternal, doll. I told you as much when you signed yours.”

“But we can alter it if we both agree.”

“And why would I alter your contract? I like what we have. Are you saying you don’t like this, doll?” Lexe stepped closer, hooking a finger through a strand of Idda’s hair. The human fought every instinct to withdraw.

“It’s not that.” Idda pushed out her voice. “I like this but something has come up…”

“Hells, don’t tell me you’ve gone and fallen in love. What could any mortal offer you that I can’t?” Lexe’s fingers tightened in Idda’s hair but she didn’t pull. Yet.

“I’m pregnant.”

The cambion blinked then dropped Idda’s hair. “Pregnant? With whose spawn?”

“Does it matter?”

Lexe’s hand shot out and Idda flinched, expecting a strike. Instead, the cambion placed her palm over Idda’s stomach.

“What are you-“

“This pup is one of mine. And here I was worried my favorite doll was being played with by someone else.” Lexe grinned again, something cruel in her tone. It turned Idda’s face hot.

“I want to raise it. I don’t want to move around anymore.” Idda didn’t look back to meet her patron’s eyes.

“Our contract states that in exchange for power and safety, you will go where I want and obtain for me anything of my choosing. Perhaps I want the infant when it is born.”

“No!” Idda took a step back. Lexe flicked her wrist and a force pulled Idda back. She stumbled and her patron caught her.

“There are no ‘no’s between us, doll.”

Idda winced, heat welling under her eyes. That future she had let herself imagine became frail and she held onto it tighter. Raising her eyes, she looked up. Lexe's gaze was ember hot. "Please. I want this. I'll do anything you want."

"Oh doll," Lexe put on a sardonic pout, cupping Idda's chin. "You'll do anything I want already."

"Please I- I won't complain or argue." The human's voice cracked and a few tears slipped free. Lexe's hand burned hot on her skin and the smell of sulfur was like acid in her nose.

"Oh don't cry. I was only teasing." Lexe dropped Idda's chin and stepped back. "No need to be so dramatic."

Idda retreated to the bed, catching herself on the edge. The air in her lungs cleared. "You'll let me keep it?"

"Of course. I have no need for a tiefling," Lexe said with a shrug. "As for renegotiating... Well, do you like Baldur's Gate, doll?"

The cambion walked to the window, glancing out at the dilapidated houses and the Grey Harbor. She eyed the city like a cat eyed a mouse. She continued, not waiting for Idda's answer. "Baldur's Gate is a shithole as far as mortal cities go. It is cobbled together by mercenaries and adventurers and bloody gold. There are cults galore and beggars and cut throats. Goods move in and out of this city. People die... Babies are born. Knowledge is spilled and locked under key. It is a place of opportunity, doll. You raise your child here. You will continue your work, though, here in the city. You will lie, cheat, steal, whore, and kill, all the things I had you doing anyway, and bring me everything I ask for. If you fail, the child is mine. Consider it a matter of collateral. Do we have a deal, doll?"

Idda swallowed, staring at Lexe's back. She had never failed before and she never would. "We have a deal."