Apr 04, 2017 19:44
By the laws of his land, he had not committed a crime. Nor had he done wrong, by the social mores of his people. He had caught her as was traditional, when she changed form. He spied her out, took her coat from where she had hidden it, and made her his bride.
There is magic in having a Selkie in your power. By controlling her, he was able to control the fish, and thus became prosperous. But he was careful never to let her be seen by prying seaborn eyes.
He had believed her properly broken, but he knew the tales (how else would he have known how to capture her to begin with?) And the tales said she would never stop seeking her coat. So he kept it well hidden. Or so he thought. Three children later she proved him wrong.
Still, she did not know that he had paid to have a geas placed upon them. And when at least she had discovered where the coat was hidden, and attempted to leave with the children, they had held her, weeping, while he snatched the coat back.
Declaring that he should have done so at the outset, he tore the coat in two. And his Selkie bride fell dead at his feet. That consequence, he had not known about.
All this he defiantly confessed to Mab. The children had not known, or at least understood all this. They had known only their father's cruelty.
Though he could not bring consequences against someone outside his country for sheltering his children, nor could Leda have punished a foreign visitor for crimes committed elsewhere.
Mab could though.
But upon hearing a full account of his misdeeds, she decided it wasn't really her place.
"I believe your in-laws would like a word with you."