Reincarnation ➵ The Witcher

xxxix.

EDITH stood next to Geralt in the room, Triss across from them and the man leant over the table reading through the letters they had given him.

"A Queen Mother cursing her own children for their affair." The man spoke, and Edith's gaze stayed on Geralt expectantly. He'd given her the silent treatment the entire way back to the castle, and to say it didn't sting a little bit would be a lie, "This could destroy the throne."

She watched the man's back, candle light engulfing the room in an ephemeral glow. Geralt watched the man, noticeable of Edith's figure perched next to him.

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

Triss thought over the information the letter had given, hands crossed in her middle before she gave her own input, "It seems she refused. Repeatedly."

"And now she's taken that curse with her to the grave." The man somberly replied.

Triss watched him, "You've served the family for decades. Was Sancia involved in dark sorcery of any kind?" Edith watched the man turn to regard Triss, shaking his head avidly at the question. She couldn't help but think that the man was avoiding a key part to the solution, and she was sure Geralt felt the same.

"No. Of course not."

Geralt's gaze stayed focused on the man, surveying, watching for a sign of a lie, "What was your relationship to Adda?"

Edith saw the man's gaze drop to the floor almost guiltily, as if he had been caught out, "Well, I like to think that she saw me as a confidant." His lips pursed in an unsettling anger, "And protector, even. We used to talk a great length about her troubles. She could be very naïve."

"Anything else you wanna tell us hidden in that brain of yours?" Edith questioned, head tilted towards the man. He shook his head at the her, and Geralt took it upon himself to rephrase the question.

"She ever mention her brother?"

His gaze moved in thought, gesturing behind him to the letters, "Certainly not like this."

Triss' eyebrows pulled together in sympathy, and Geralt's gaze stayed surveying the man, "She was ashamed." Triss stated. The man's gaze whipped towards her almost accusingly, brown tunic almost mimicking the atmosphere of the room.

"Or she was frightened." His gaze stayed pinpointed on her, eyes almost lost in a sea of memories, "What if the relationship was not.. consensual?"

"Hmm." Geralt replied, looking down briefly in thought over his words, "You think he raped Adda, then cursed the child to cover it up?

He shrugged his shoulders almost in shock, "Well, kings have done more for less."

Geralt looked down, "True." He sighed under his breath, softly moving Edith out of his way as he began to walk towards the man, "There's only one wrinkle, though."

Edith watched him intimidate the man, and to say it wasn't the smallest bit attractive would be a lie. His golden irises glared down at him accusingly.

"Your scent was on her sheets."

"Geralt-" Triss attempted to interrupt, but Edith reached forward and grasped her upper arm before shaking her head silently. Triss understood.

"Old ones.." he continued, "and new ones."

The man had lost his composure, beginning to shake slightly at the words. Edith bit her tongue from biting at the man, instead letting him attempt to redeem himself, "What would I be doing in a dead girl's bed?"

Geralt didn't like this answer, invading the man's personal space so his harsh words was near his ear, "I smelled what you were doing."

He stood back from him, and Edith frowned at what he'd said. The man's face fell, tears beginning to brim in his eyes at the harsh reality, "Foltest had no right!" He shouted, "He seduced Adda. Abused his position. He was always nagging her for.. attention. Always nagging! But he didn't love her. I did."

Edith shot the man a harsh glare, teeth clenching at the man's actions, "You have a good way of showing it, dickbag. You cursed the woman you love." Geralt now stood next to her, and she took comfort in his presence, but this didn't stop her sharpened gaze.

"I cursed Foltest, not her."

Triss gazed at him in disgust, eyes showing the disbelief at what he had done, "Countless are dead because of your jealousy."

"Countless are dead because of Foltest!" He shouted, chest rising in anger, "He spoiled Adda with his seed. He refuses to kill this striga. He lies to his people. And yet you wag your finger in my face."

"If you wanted him to suffer, you could have just exposed the affair." Triss replied.

"And hurt Adda?" He shook his head, "Never."

"You already have hurt her." Edith retorted, and his tired gaze switched to her in a small sense of sadness.

"Her memory will not be sullied, not while I'm alive to protect it."

Geralt ignored his words, irises heavily glared onto the man, "Tell us how to lift the curse."

The man's face hardened once again, hiding behind a shell of cowardice. Edith anger simmered at the pot, watching as he uttered one single word, "No. Foltest will watch as Temeria turns against him. Just as he turned Adda against me."

"Hmm." Geralt approached the man once again, raising his fist to deliver a harsh punch towards the man's face.

Edith sighed, hands crossing over her chest, "Humans seem more like monsters than actual monsters most of the time."

She offered Geralt a small smile, but thought over what had happened. She sure could enjoy a long nap after this whole ordeal.