I Know What You Did

Dear Mother,

You must be surprised that I have chosen to write to you. The truth is that, despite everything, I am not sure why I am even bothering to do so. It may be true that I accepted all of your lies when last we spoke, but surely there must have been a reason you asked me to write you only in times of desperation. Perhaps this is a desperate letter. I cannot truly hope to accomplish anything by writing to you, but the smallest part of me wishes for any of what I have learned about you to be falsified. I hope that the irreparable damage you have done to our family, and now Auntie Deidre's, was the worst of your crimes. But, as I understand things now, this may be hope against hope.

You see, I have heard rumors that seemed to follow you back west. Stories of lives ruined by violence and base depravity that defy explanation. People have started to change in this land and the most damning thread to connect each of these events is the fact that they all began after you left. Once I began to consider this fact, which should be little more than coincidence in a fairer world, what happened to us began to make more sense. You told me you had to leave because father was unfaithful to you. I didn't want to believe what I heard, knowing what I did about the good man I knew my father to be. From the lips of anyone else, I wouldn't have. I now suspect there may have been some truth to that. Father has brought many women to his bed since you left while professing attachment to none of them. What one could interpret as the acts of a philanderer who was liberated by the revelation of his true self seemed oddly similar to these haunting tales from across the country. Such a condition seems to be an isolated case in the capitol, but placing him at the fore of the list of the warlock bandit's crimes works a little too well.

Of course, this is a purely circumstantial claim, so I had to find out more. Thus I decided to look through that trunk you left behind. You did well to hide it considering what was inside, but you did not do well at hiding it. I discovered all of the notes you had collected as well as the documentation of your earliest experiments. There is an entire book's worth of secrets about "dark magic" here! I am horrified to now know what this is and you should be ashamed of the interest you took in it. You can't just meddle with the Gods' designs however you please and expect there to be no consequences! We were all made to perfectly suit their needs and what you have been doing perverts their goals. I cannot look the other way!

That is why you will no doubt be seeing knights of the Blackstone Order soon. In fact, another reason I am sure the writing of this letter is futile is that I am writing it after I have made them aware of your malicious deeds. Thus, you may never find this letter. On the off chance you do, however, I want you to know that I am ashamed to call you my mother. To me, you are now only Annette, the Robber in Robes. It is with some hope that I expect the clergy can undo what you have inflicted on Father and all of your other victims. But for me, things can never go back to normal because I can't stand the idea of ever seeing you again. If you come near Father, Ronald, or me again, I will not hesitate to summon the templars again. May you burn in the Forge for this!

With regret,

Cecilia Skye