"You useless bitch!" Her father screamed as Stella was crying and hiding in her room.
"Asher, I'm sorry! I have a side job to heal, you know!" She informed as he broke a plate.
Stella had heard fights like that all the time, and she was only ten, so she couldn't do anything about this. They also lived in the middle of nowhere, so one heard them fighting. On days like this, she was terrified that he would kill her mom. He had threatened her often, even Stella, if she wasn't good. She had no idea why her father changed so much over the years and often blamed herself for it. How could she not?
"Forget about the business you're running for ten seconds and think about me and my needs! I said I wanted sex after lunch, and you deny me!" He screamed.
"Do you think I want another child with you? You are abusive to my daughter and me! What happened to you? You used to be the love of my life! Keep this up, and I am leaving you!" She yelled back.
"She is my daughter, and I can do whatever the hell I want to either of you! I own you! Do you think anyone could love a witch like you?! That animal in that room doesn't even look like me! You cheated on me and had his child! I'm going to make sure that if you leave me, I will hunt her down and butcher her like a pig!" He yelled.
"I know she looks like me more, and I told you black hair runs in my family. I was lucky enough to have it! I never cheated on you, and I have always been faithful to you! I see you at the whore house all the dame time! I'm leaving with my daughter, and if you try to stop me, I will kill you," She hissed.
"You will get into our room now and do as you told, or I will make Stella sleep outside all night! You will never leave me; the only time you will is when you are dead!" He yelled.
"There is snow on the ground; she will die, and I won't let you touch her! I'm done with your threats, and she deserves better than you; remember that witcher that came by to slay that Bruxa; maybe I will go to him because he treated me like a lady!" She screamed.
"No one will ever love you, only me! Do you think anyone will love Stella? Look at her; she already is getting your figure, and she is ten! I might sell her off to the whore houses. Virgins cost more than non-virgins. I think I will do that; she isn't worth that much anyway; give me a boy, and I will spare her, don't, and I will end the both of you!" He growled.
"I'm the witch here, and I will do whatever it takes to protect my family! I loved you so much, and now I know you were a big mistake!" She yelled as her mother went to her room.
Her father got a knife and stabbed her in the back, and killed her. He turned her over and stabbed her over and over again. Blood ran under Stella's door, and she started crying harder, knowing her father had finally killed her out of anger.
"Stella, come on out of there," her father demanded in a cold tone.
She didn't want to and held her legs to her chest as if she was going to be next. Her heart was broken, realizing she was never going to be safe again. She tried so hard to make him happy, and it didn't work. If only she were a boy or looked like him more, then maybe her mother would have been spared.
"Get out of the room now before I kill you!" He screamed as she got up slowly and opened the door and screamed seeing her dead.
"You know there are monsters like me, and some are worse. I had to kill her, you know. She was worthless, and you know what, so are you. I think I know exactly what I am going to do with you," he smiled as he touched her face with his bloody hand, and she cried as he smiled at her brightly.
"People will never love you, love does not exist, and you will die alone. I will make sure you know what real pain feels like," he smiled.
Geralt, Jaskier, and Stella were hired to keep a wedding safe. They had been working together for about a month and made a great team. With the extra person, they were bringing in almost three times more coin than just Geralt alone. But Geralt could see that this wedding was rubbing Stella's way but never asked her why. He just assumed it was because she was not very fond of men, and being at a wedding where there was going to be a lot of added annoyancehy, and he took the job. It was flattering, eaten by giant ants; he wanted a break from hunting the big evil monsters. Lord Jan and his bride Rose were getting married in three hours today, and there were more people than the Lord said there would be, making their job harder. The mansion was decorated beautifully with light pinks and white colors. Fancy meals were laid out on the large tables along with fancy forks, and everything else you could think of was there. There were over three hundred guests there, and the entire time, Stella looked angry to be there, so Jaskier was going to ease her pain a bit and maybe score alone time with her.
Geralt was talking with the lord who hired him more or less against his will. He didn't want to talk to him about politics or anything like that, but the lord wanted to. Also, about the plethora of kids, he was going to have. He even asked Geralt if he had a family and if his female sidekick was his wife because word had been going around that he was married. So Geralt explained that it was to get men to leave her alone and to prevent her from having to sterilize a man for trying to touch her.
"That woman that travels with you is gorgeous. I bet she is good in bed," the lord chuckled.
"I wouldn't know, nor would I ask; she is not a person you mess with," he informed.
"Women aren't supposed to be that dangerous. You might need to put her in her place," he chuckled.
"If I did that, I don't think I would ever be seen again," he said as he saw how angry Stella looked.
It was like she could feel them talk about her. Then the lord noticed someone probably important, so he excused himself from Geralt's presence. Then before he could even speak to Stella, a hand full of ladies and men went to his side, dying to talk to him, which annoyed him. Some men left him, but most women weren't leaving his side was forced to stay there and talk with them. Some of them were trying to flirt with him, and he was increasingly annoyed by them if he didn'thminhas too tooth to handle when he was supposed to be working.
Stella was not in the mood for any of this and was happy that all the men left her alone except for Jaskier, who was talking her ear off about which girl he was most likely going to bed with tonight. He kept pointing out ladies who seemed to be flirting with him across the room thethe o grand banquet hall. She was trying not to murder anyone as she could tell which man was trying to take another woman home with him that wasn't his wife. Some women that some of the other lords were flirting with could have passed for their daughters, and it was making her ill. This place was filled with nothing but unloyal creeps. No wonder the Lord asked them to protect his wife.
His wife was going to get stolen by a sick man. Maybe the lord had three other women he slept with, and he was going to marry her for her money and then kill her. Everyone seemed off with her, and she could see women looking at her and talking about her. They looked like they were high up in the social society, and since Stella wasn't dressed according to how they thought she should be, they were mocking her, and she could hear them. It didn't bother her since she was the only woman able to fight in the building, so if she wanted, she could hit them and show them she was better. Of course,she wasn't doing it; maybe if they gave her a reason to, she would.
"I heard she is married to a witcher," a woman said.
"I heard witchers can't feel things like normal humans can. I bet she is with him for his coin. Sad really," the other woman replied.
"Look at her clothes; she is. She probably sleeps around with other women's husbands," another scoffed.
"I hate weddings," Stella informed as Jaskiers smile faded.
"Why this is a lovely wedding," he informed as she saw the look of hope and excitement in his eyes.
"I have seen lords have their wives murdered because they don't have male airs. Sometimes they get bored and want a different wife. Sometimes they even killttheirchildrenn for not being born a man. Being married is like being in prison. You have no freedom, and best of all, the man gets to do whatever he wants and gets away with it. No man can be trusted because they change so fast. One conversation can change everything," she muttered while drinking an ale.
"You are just a ray of sunshine," he said.
"You would say the same thing as me if you went threw what I did. You two are the exception for me, though. Don't tell Geralt, but my adopted father is a witcher, actually the one that trained Geralt. He thinks he's dead because he never went back to home base. But the only reason why he didn't was because of me. The first winter we were together, I got sick and almost died," she informed.
"So technically, you are a witcher like he is then," he said, shocked.
"Not blood-wise but training, yes, when I turned fifteen, I made a friend that was a witch. She taught me a lot too. I use both to help people; looks like Geralt made some new friends," she said as women surrounded Geralt and jealous husbands were standing around in a group, annoyed. Some of them may have even been boyfriends.
"I don't see why women like him so much! I'm charming, and I can sing to," he muttered.
"Because he is different, sometimes being different is a good thing. Look at the group of men complaining. Do you think they would protect their women? Most of them are probably arranged marriages. Good thing there is no such thing as love for a woman like me," she smirked.
"What messed you up so bad that you hate men so much? I mean, you are so bitter about it, even know when this is supposed to be a happy time, and here you are ruining it with your lack of cheer. Why don't you pick a guy and fuck him already? y I'm tired of you thinking that every man is the same. It's clear to me why you take to witchers so open heartily but anyone else you shut out or want to kill," he informed.
"Then I will leave then; they don't need me anyway. I am just so defenseless, and I all the fun out of a good wife killer marriage," she said as she put her ale down and quickly left the room.
She was going to leave, no one saw how toxic this place was but her, and it annoyed her. Maybe both of the men would get lucky and get their brains fucked out, but she only wanted peace from a place like this. She wouldn't even let Agata eat the grass on this land if she wasn't so hungry at the moment.
"Stella," he said as he started going after her rather quickly before Geralt could realize she was gone.
She sighed as she untied her horse and was about to leave when Jaskier went outside and quickly went to her. She stood there waiting for him to insult her or something so she could release all of thins anger she had acquired from bringing there six hours. She already had plans of dying in battle one day and not dying being married to a man who only wanted a male air from her. Sure she wanted kids, but every man reminded her of her abusive biological father, who did things no man should do to their flesh and blood. He was a monster, and that alone made her see what all men were capable of except for witchers.
"Tell me what the fuck has gotten into you?! Ever since Geralt agreed to this job, you have been acting as if everyone is against you! This is a wedding, and you can get as drunk as you want and sleep with any man you want to because you have the body of a goddess! Yet you chose to widdle every man here. You haven't even met the husband or the wife yet, and you are making assumptions that the husband will kill his wife!" He informed.
"I didn't ask to be here; take my cut; I'm leaving you two behind," she informed us. He started laughing.
"Running away solves every problem for you. You don't like something; you run away; if Geralt were here, what exactly would he say to you right now? What would your adopted father say about you? I bet you ran away because your family was poor and you didn't like it. Well, sorry, princess, that you don't get what you want. No wonder you don't like any man; you only like men with money in their pockets," he scoffed as she quickly picked him up by his collar and held him against a wooden post in the barn.
Glass jars broke around him, and he gulped as she glared at him with anger he had never seen before in his life.
"You do not understand anything because you are a man, and you can get away with anything you want to. My father murdered my mother and butchered her right in front of me. He made me watch and hold her organs as he cut them out of her. He beat me every day after he killed her, and then when I had my first period, he sold me to a whore house where I was forced to sleep with men for almost a year. I lost my virginity to the innkeeper the night he bought me!
The only man that was ever kind to me was a witcher who murdered the innkeeper when I told him everything. He heard me crying because I had lost my baby three hours before he arrived. Men get away with everything, and I tend to make it right because no little girl deserves a fate that I got handed to me. You haven't seen what I can do yet when I get furious, so don't push me again; otherwise, your head will be on a spike, and your organs will be spread across the woods," she hissed as her nose started bleeding.
She put him down and took a deep breath to calm herself down. If she didn't see Jaskier as a brother, he would be dead. She told him everything only the witcher that adopted her knew about her. Her life was nothing of pain but the few years she was with her witch friend and the witcher that cared for her and never left her. The man that taught her how to fight brought her back home even when she ran away from home a couple of times the first three months that she was there. He believed in her, but the scars from what those men did to her were still there and never going away.
"I'm sorry, Stella, truly. You deserved better than that," he said as she scoffed.
"No, I didn’t, if I deserved better, ouldn't have gotten what I got now,ld I? Don't tell Geralt anything because if you do, I know how to make you feel pain u, unlike you have ever felt before for the rest of your life!" She growled.
"I can do that," he answered as she sighed.
"WhWhereeralt of Rivia?!" A man yelled as she sighed, seeing a man come threw a portal with pure anger in his eyes.
"Get Geralt, and I will hold this fucker off," she said as she put up a shield to protect him.
"Do you think that will protect you from me, witch?!" He asked as she smiled.
"It might you look like a dandy lion!" She yelled as she quickly used her magic to throw him out of the barn.
"Run, Jaskier, now!" She screamed as she quickly started using her magic to block off his attacks while Jaskier went inside.