#shoutout to whoever canonized prince voorhis tho

[bomberqueen17]

yeet

ok i spent too long dithering about this so here it is. Direct sequel to A Genuine Talent, this is what happens when Cantarella gets back to Nilfgaard and goes to find out whether Teofina Voorhis knows anything about the Harlot of Repute novels.

A Matter of Principle, on AO3

I quite forgot whether I was being coy about what Teofina does or does not know. This story is not really coy in any way, LOL.

All my beta readers have at the moment become sidetracked and distracted by life events etc.; it’s usually the case that if there are errors they are my own, but it goes double in this case, as I didn’t get any feedback on this one before posting. As there are some slightly sensitive topics in here, I apologize in advance if I missed something super obvious, as I am wont to do. But I did my best.

“You’re a woman without peer,” Amadis agreed fondly, his broad hand sliding familiarly over Teofina’s bare hip to adjust the way her weight was pressing down against his erection.

“How are you still so beautiful,” Malvina said, sounding almost upset about it.

“It’s a lie, that children ruin you,” Teofina said. “It’s a lie that age ruins you. I was not very pretty when I was your age, darling. Amadis married himself a girl everyone considered unfortunate-looking, let me tell you.”

“No one said that,” Amadis pointed out, but Teofina patted his face absently.

“It was an investment,” Teofina said. “I had to live in this body, and live in this face, and grow into it. Most of it is how you carry yourself anyway. I know, dearie,” and she patted Malvina now, “that you’re very pretty, and you were probably a pretty child too, and you were led to believe your looks would peak when you were twenty and it would all be downhill from there, but they were lying. Men want you too innocent to recognize their bullshit, that’s all, that’s why the ideal is a woman who looks too young to have ever been touched before.”

“I’ve been almost looking forward to losing my looks,” Malvina said, a little forlornly. “Then I could do something else with my life.”

“Darling,” Teofina said, and kissed her. “My sweet! Have you been told that it’s a terrible sin and waste not to use this beauty for fucking?”

“Sort of,” Malvina sighed.

“If you don’t want to fuck, you shouldn’t have to,” Teofina said. “What would you rather do with your life?”

“Oh,” Malvina said, very clearly recollecting herself, “I-- it’s not that I mind. I just. You know.”