ᴡʜɪᴄʜ ᴡɪᴛᴄʜ (Geralt of Rivia)

ɪx.

ᴡʜɪᴄʜ ᴡɪᴛᴄʜ

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ: ɪx.

"Duny!"

Pavetta's eyes were full with tears as she ran from the high table to Urcheon, or, in actuality, Duny's, side, wrapping her arms around him a tight embrace.

He held her back, lifting her off the ground.

She held his face in her hand, tears rolling down her cheeks. "I told you to stay away."

Everyone was silent, watching the scene unfold.

Calanthe moved to stand before the couple. They looked at her, stunned and scared of what she would say.

Slowly, Duny turned to face her, kneeling. "Your Majesty... the witcher speaks the truth," he said. He rose to his feet just as slow. "I was cursed as a young boy. My whole life a misery until the day that I saved your husband, King Roegner, from a certain death. By tradition, I chose the Law of Surprise as payment. Whatever windfall he came home to find... would be mine."

"Oh, the stupid bastard," Calanthe spat. "Better you had let him die!"

"You knew he'd come, and you pushed me to kill him," Geralt said. "That's why the mage was so afraid."

Calanthe ignored the statement, looking toward her daughter. "And you... carousing with the beast that swindled your stupid father!"

"'Tis no swindle," Eist said. "Asking for payment with the Law of Surprise is as old as mankind itself."

"Don't lecture me, Eist," Calanthe answered.

"It's an honest gamble. As likely to be rewarded with a bumper crop as a newborn pup. Or... a child of surprise." He waved a hand toward Pavetta, who was clutching onto Duny with a terrified expression. "He could not know. Destiny has determined the surprise be Pavetta."

"When I heard that King Roegner had returned to find a child on the way... I abandoned all thought of claiming the Law of Surprise," Duny said. "I knew... I knew no woman would ever accept me like this. And so I waited. I waited until the twelfth bell when the curse breaks. I never intended to meet her. Just to watch from afar."

"Until destiny intervened... and our hearts collided," Pavetta agreed, gazing fondly into Duny's eyes.

"And at dawn, I awoke with her in my arms and me... like this," Duny concluded.

"Who are we to challenge destiny?" Eist asked Calanthe. "Life was saved, debt must be paid, or the whole order of the world falls apart."