Re: 9
The idea of respect had gone out the window long ago. So had the idea that Astarion had any say in what did or didn't happen with his body. That, however, was an entirely different subject he had no intention of every speaking to anyone about.
Unfortunately, the scars probably deserved a little lesson in what it meant to be a spawn and Gale was smart enough to piece things together from there. "Yes. Quite." He murmured. "And, before you ask, I had no choice but to accept. Cazadore's word is law... was law. As a spawn I had no choice but to do what I was told. Submit to whatever he demanded of me. That includes kneeling perfectly still over his lap as he carved poetry into my back."
It wasn't a poem. It was something far more sinister but Astarion, being unable to see it, didn't know that. Nor did he know that it was written in Infernal. He only knew what he had been told and Cazadore had no reason to tell a lowly spawn the truth.