Pollux of Temeria

"Your scent was on her sheets."

Triss snuck up on them, reminding them that they were told to leave Temeria. Her dress whipped in the cold shrill wind. Geralt offered a sarcastic response in reply, drawing a dry laugh from his companion.

"Are you going to kill her?"

"I do not want the miners coin." Pollux interjected, hoping to get her point across to her oblivious friend.

"Nor mine apparently. What is this girl to you? Why do you care?" Pollux grew silent at this, as she had not even told Geralt the full story of her exit of Temeria. Though she had told him a lot, she chose not to go into detail for her sake. She did not wish to relive memories that haunted her day and night.

"You first. I saw how Foltest and his dog spoke. Why help those who do not listen?"

"I am sure people as legendary as the two of you have already figured out several ways to get past Selegin's guards." Pollux jokingly threw a rock into the opening next to the guards. The noise frightened them as she expected. The noise caused them to flee from whatever they believed to be inside. Geralt looked at Pollux who had a dumb grin on her face. She had once again proven a point and done so with ease. She also took joy in other's fear. Sure, naturally she faces fear, the same way others do, but in the face of a 'monster' she was calm. After all it was what she had been trained to do.

"Temeria reeks of secrets and death. What happened with Foltest and Adda?"The two witchers did not answer. "Not answering questions is a pillar of your brooding charm then yes?"

"Foltest is the father." Pollux relented. Triss' face was quickly shrouded with horror, mainly because of the incest, but also at the casual tone Pollux took. The three ventured upstairs quickly into the former princess' bedroom. They spoke of the potential people who cursed her.

The two began poking through dressers. Attempting to search for any signs of recent human life. Pollux reached her small hand into the dresser, finding a small silver bracelet. Engraved on the center was the name 'Adda'. There were dirty pieces of fabric and dresses as well. She ran her calloused hand over the fabrics, an overwhelming sense of sympathy surrounding her. She continued to shuffle around the room. However, the closer Pollux got to the bed the more defined the smell became. Old and new.

Geralt seemed to have the same idea, because as he breathed in his eyes widened and he looked at Pollux. She looked back at him, confirming that she had in fact smelled the same thing as him. Pollux's sympathy quickly turned to rage. She couldn't even swallow, her body was so tense. Geralt reached his hand out to her, knowing that the more she unwillingly learned from her former country, the more she wanted to burn it to the ground. She grabbed his hand, and looked him in the eye, begging him not to let go. Her cold hands grew warmer in his, much like Geralt's heart which grew more open in the presence of the woman standing in front of him. Knowing that it would provide her a calming comfort, Geralt allowed Pollux to hold his hand as they continued to look around.

Music suddenly began to play out of nowhere. The two witcher's heads snapped towards the sound. Triss stood next to a small music box. She began pulling at keys, and a small drawer revealed itself. Inside, were old letters on decaying pieces of papyrus. Triss pulled them out, untied the ribbons and opened the letter reading its contents. She began to read them out loud to Pollux who's interest piqued at the sight of them. Knowing that they had managed onto something very important Triss called the man from earlier. Pollux had the displeasure of learning his name. She thought it was foolish of Triss to put their fate as well as the fate of the kingdom into the hands of a man who believed all women to be whores and idiotic. The odds of them being kicked out of the castle by Lord Ostrit was high, and it would be unfortunate for the kingdom if they were. Yet they presented the letters to the imbecilic man.

"A queen mother cursing her own children for their affair. This could desroy the throne." Ostrit pointed out.

"Sancia wanted Adda to get rid of the child." Geralt started.

"Yet she refused repeatedly." Pollux finished. Adda had adamantly refused to rid herself of the child as her mother had asked several times. Yet everytime she refused the queen mother sent her letters again and again and again. Though Pollux felt no burning desire to bear children she could understand why Adda wanted to keep the child. Even if it was a product of incest.

"And now she's taken that curse to the grave." Ostrit sighed almost a little too sadly.

"You served the family for decades. Was Sancia involved in dark sorcery of any kind?" Triss asked warily.

"Of course not. This family never really believed in magic as a solution to their problems. I doubt they would resort to the riddance of a child with dark magic." Ostrit denied hastily.

Pollux, who seemingly sensed the same as Geralt continued to pry at the clammy lord. "And your relationship with Adda? What was the nature of it?"

"Well I'd like to think that she saw me as a confidant, a protector even. We used to talk at great lengths about her troubles." Ostrit answered a little too confidently. His age showed as he leaned against the table, forehead wrinkling as he narrowed his eyes at Pollux, who wasn't convinced of his answer.

"She ever mention her brother?" Geralt asked skeptically.

"Certainly not like this." Ostrit replied.

"Ahamed?" Triss half asked. It was a stupid question, even Pollux would be ashamed if something like this happened to her. Yet she had no womb, nor any brothers for this to have even been a possibility with, not that she would've engaged in an affair with her non-existent brothers anyway.

Ostrit countered Triss' idea with the thought that she might've been frightened. Suggesting that the relationship between the king and the late princess might not have been consensual.

"So you think he raped Adda and then cursed the child to cover it up?" Pollux mused trying to coax the truth out of Ostrit. Though she had considered the fact that the shady lord might've been telling the truth, it was highly unlikely that Foltest wouldn't have admitted it. Afterall, he was a king, he could practically do anything he wanted with little to no consequences.

"Kings have done more for less." Ostrit replied slyly. This had confirmed Pollux's and Geralt's suspicion. Though the two had already known the scent that lingered in Adda's bedroom was the same scent that pungently filled the room they were currently standing in. Ostrit seemed to be trying to convince himself more than the others in the room.

"True, you would know all about that, wouldn't you?" Pollux said to the man, inching closer to his rat like body. "There's one wrinkle though. Your scent was on her sheets." She snarled, wrapping her hand around his throat.

A/N: Hey guys! I am officially out of college for the summer so the updates will be pushing out more frequently and regularly. Although this chapter is a filler, or is at least shorter to some sense, I will be pushing out some longer chapters. In addition to those chapters I will be going back to HEAVILY edit my older chapters. I cant lie and say English is my first language, however, I've been speaking it long enough for the writing to be a little embarrassing. So I apologize for any grammatical and spelling errors, I am doing my best to fix those, so please bear with me. As always, thank you for reading my story and don't forget to like it or add criticism, everything helps!!