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After the beast had fled the crime scene and I started talking to Geralt about whether we should look for it or if it was already gone for good, the baker came out of his hiding spot along with his family. They cried over their loss, we offered our condolences and asked what exactly happened. All they could tell us was that they were sleeping and were suddenly woken by the old man's scream. When the baker run downstairs, the beast had already killed his father and he went back upstairs to lock him and the rest of his family inside the bedroom.
"It never killed this early in the night, right?" Geralt looked over to me and I nodded. "One kill, but nobody had been taken."
"Yes, because we interrupted it." I replied. "Let us hope we scared it away for now and it does not come back soon."
Neither of us talked on the way back to the tavern. Getting a deer's heart was long forgotten and we had no idea where the beast went, looking for it was useless, it could be everywhere. We said goodnight at the end of the corridor and we both entered our rooms to get some rest. The house was silent when I closed the door behind me, so I took it that Jaskier was already sleeping. Otherwise, you would have heard that he had been waiting for Geralt because he would have screamed at him for locking him up and leaving him.
My sleep was restless, and I was a little bit tired when the sun woke me hours later. All I wanted to do was to stay in bed as long as I could, read a book and go on a walk after lunch. Unfortunately, I had to deal with life which meant getting out of bed, quickly eating breakfast with Geralt and Jaskier before getting the horses to ride into Wonderland.
Verena did what I told her to do and came to the place where our father always took us to play. Caspian was with her, in full guard's gear, but with bow and arrows this time. They had told the Queen they were going fox hunting in the wood next to the castle and made sure nobody followed them to their actual destination. They could not believe it when I told them about the events of last night. And neither of them called me crazy for assuming Mirela was the beast who attacked the citizens.
"It would explain a lot," Caspian said with a nod when I had finished. "She excused herself very quickly after you guys had left, so she had time to do it."
Verena shook her head. "Everybody left the dinner after Davina, Geralt and Jaskier were gone. The mood was down, nobody knew exactly why they left so abruptly – well, Zora told me before she went to her chambers – and everybody was glad that this was over. Oh, by the way, I am glad you decided to spare Davina's life."
"I had never the intention to kill her in the first place," He growled and pulled Roach's reins over the horse's head to guide her deeper into the forest. Jaskier made his way quickly to his side and started lecturing him about being nice to Verena.
"Sure," Verena mumbled with a sarcastic nod. "And my mother is a good person."
"Did she say anything to you?" I asked as the rest of us followed the two men. "Your mother, I mean. Zora seemed to know a lot about Mirela's plans, she wanted me to hear the conversation."
