Into the Unknown | The Witcher [HIATUS]

seven.

Jamie was trailing behind Geralt and Triss while inside the castle. She was curious, looking around at the walls. She faced forward when she noticed Geralt had turned to look at her.

"You did good."

Despite having this odd feeling, Jamie couldn't stop the smile from appearing on her face, "Thanks." She even surprised herself that she knew about the striga, it was one that she read on a month ago. She didn't really pay too much attention, just kind of skimmed over it.

Geralt hadn't moved from in front of Jamie after they got inside the dining room with the king. Who was too busy stuffing his own face to speak with them.

"Miss Merigold, you were dispatched to settle a family affair, not to enlist a mutant mercenary and his whore for a game of sleuthing."

Triss squinted her eyes, "Do not refer to Miss Jamie in such a degrading manner. This is no game, Captain. Tonight is a full moon. Geralt and Jamie have already proved themselves to be invaluable. We believe we can cure the creature."

"You say she's a girl. Then you will refer to her as Her Royal Highness."

The same man from the mines who had been spat on crossed the room, "Segelin, I believe urgency warrants flexibility in court decorum."

Segelin still disagreed, "The witcher's theory is nonsense. Princess Adda was the people's angel. Who'd wish to murder her?" Triss ended up looking back at Geralt and Jamie, but was cut off before she could answer.

Instead, Geralt answered gruffly, "What about her lover?"

Jamie hadn't really been looking at Segelin, but at the King. She caught how he had shifted, his demeanor changing at the mention of the lover. Her head cocked to the side and she moved closer to the table to continue watching him instead.

"Seditious rumors. Idle courtesans trading out boredom for jealousy."

Triss shook her head, "Perhaps if you called off your guards, if we were able to search the abandoned castle, we could find clues as to who cursed her."

Segelin harsh eyes fell back on Geralt, "Except this witcher would kill the princess as she sleeps, and collect the miners' coin."

"Call her a princess." Geralt interrupted without caring about hurting their feelings, "Call her a unicorn if you'd like to. She grew inside Adda, feeding on her petrified womb."

"Have you no respect-"

He continued, "Mutating. Growing for years till she got so hungry..." Geralt took slow steps towards them, pressing his words into them like a knife, "-she was forced to slither out. Rotten muscle, bent bones, two spidery legs, claws dragging in the dirt. An overgrown abortion."

The King finally spoke out, his voice hoarse and his eyes downcast to the table, "Enough."

"Your highness?"