It was a long trek to her home, but it had to be done. Lillian's mark was fading, and it was dangerous. Geralt still felt guilty for blaming her for everything, and it was still eating at him even though he apologized to her. Geralt deserved the beating he got from her. Geralt wished she fought back when he touched her, and he felt like a monster for it. Jaskier had no idea that he almost... luckily, he didn't. Geralt had to keep himself separated from her because if her mark meant she was evil, he would kill her.
But his heart was telling him she had been threw a lot, more than just a year of trauma, maybe more than sixty years of trauma. They stopped to rest, and Geralt was silent, but Jaskier talked to Lillian the whole time about a new song he was working on.
"Geralt, want to dance?" Lillian asked as he rolled his eyes.
Lillian didn't mind touching her even after what he did to her.
"No," Geralt said as she put her arms around his neck gently.
"It will relieve some of your stress," Lillian smiled.
"I'm busy," he said as her long hair cascaded over his shoulder, mixing with some of his white hair.
"Doing what looks like you are playing in the dirt," she whispered
"I'm going to do something important," Geralt informed.
"Anatol, you are being a little grumpy. I can do that thing you like for fifteen minutes into the woods if you like. Or I can strip you down naked tonight. Know that we haven't had any time to ourselves since we brought the kid a long, but he needs to learn how to fight too," Lillian said in the elder, making Geralt almost fall over in shock.
He looked at her, and Lillian played with his white hair a bit.
"Lillian?" Geralt asked as she smiled.
"Yeah? So are you going to dance or not?' She asked.
"You just spoke elder," Geralt said as she looked at him, confused.
"I don't even know what that is," Lillian said as he returned to pretending to be busy.
Lillian sighed as she saw he wasn't going to dance with her.
"I'm going to pick some flowers, I guess, maybe get some other plants," she sighed as she went into the woods.
"Stay close!" Geralt ordered.
She sighed and went into the woods; Lillian spoke elder and threatened to strip him. He now knew she was in love with a guy at one point. He was hoping that he was still alive. Maybe someone put that mark on her as a punishment for being in love with the wrong guy. But the elder he didn't know why she would be speaking it so fluently unless she was an elf.... now it was starting to make sense. She stopped aging, and that mark could be an old elder. He had to tell her now.
"Jaskier stays here," he said as he went into the forest after her.
"I always get left behind! I will go after him in five minutes," he muttered.
"Lillian," Geralt called as Lillian looked up.
"I think I know exactly what you are," Geralt said as she smiled a bit.
Geralt went to her, tackled him to the ground, and started kissing him frantically and unbuttoning his shirt. Lillian began grinding on him and pinned his hands above his head. She stopped and looked at him as if she would never see him again.
"God, I love you with everything I have; I knew you couldn't resist being a bit sneaky," Lillian said to the elder, making him realize she had switched back.
It had never happened before, and it was very odd. Lillian did that before; before he had time to think, she started kissing him again. Lillian began to go for the buttons on his pants, but he stopped her and looked at her sternly.
"Anatol, playing hard to get?" She asked as he got her off and tried to fix his shirt, but she got in his lap and kissed him.
She put her fingers in his long hair and tugged hard, then wanted to get him to lay down again, but he managed to get her off without hurting her.
"Lillian, I'm not who you think I am," he stated as she was still chuckling.
"Anatol, are you still afraid of my brothers? The one we brought is here to ensure we don't do anything before we marry. Even though that is way too late for that," she smiled as his heart broke.
No, Lillian was going to be married. Now his feelings weren't right at all; he cared for her, but her heart belonged to another man, and here she was fooling around with him because she mistook him for the guy she was in love with.
"Geralt, why the long face? Something wrong?" Lillian asked as he sighed a bit.
"No, nothing. I think you might be an elf," he said as she looked at him oddly.
"An elf? Well, that could explain why I don't age," she said as he nodded.
He wanted to tell her that she was in love with a man that seemed to have treated her well. She couldn't look at other men naked without getting embarrassed or ill. She had a family that probably missed her, and here was just happened to find her three times. Her husband must be worried about her, or he could even be dead. Depending on how long that spell was on her, if the man was human, he could be long gone.
"Geralt?" She asked again as he decided to leave.
"Geralt?!" She asked as she caught up to him and got in front of him.
He didn't look at her, and he sighed a bit.
"You don't like elves do you?" She asked as he looked at her softly.
"I have nothing against anyone, especially not you, Lillian. But you may have had a family. They could all be dead, and you only survived; you could have had a human husband, and he could be dead now; whoever put that mark on you turned you into an enslaved person for who knows how long? I'm afraid we will find a bunch of bodies," he answered.
"Well, if that is the case, I need to know Geralt. I know you lost plenty, and you don't want me to feel your loss, but I need to know. Even if it breaks my heart," she said as he saw her arms, one mark was gone, probably from earlier.
He hadn't seen her eyes have that golden sparkle the last couple of times, but that was because he didn't look at her.
"But what if that mark was supposed to help you to forget what happened to your family," he said.
"Well, I still need to know; as you said, I could have a family that needs me," she said as he tucked some hair behind her ear.
God, he wanted to love her so badly that he knew exactly what her husband saw in her. Her kindness, how forgiving she was even though he didn't deserve it. But he was going to have to ignore that feeling and that thought because she was married by now. That small memory hurt him. The idea of killing her pulled him, but he was willing to do it if he had to.
"Lillian, no matter what happens, we will be here for you," he informed.
"Thank you; we better go before Jaskier thinks we are doing something we aren't supposed to. After all, I still might be a married woman or engaged to a man, and I have to keep my reputation, you know," she chuckled.
"Right," Geralt said as she started to fix his crazy hair.
"How did you get so many leaves and sticks in your hair?" She asked.
"I fell slightly," he lied as she chuckled.
"You have got to be careful; witchers can break, you know," she smiled.
"I know," he said as she left back to camp.
His heart broke, and the hate he felt for himself was growing.