EIGHT | OSTRIT
Caira found Geralt sitting outside the castle walls amongst the snow, his hair blending in with the white backdrop. "What a shame; the king will let his pride take over at the cost of his people." Caira sighed, plopping herself down on the snowy ground next to the Witcher. "Are we going to kill her, or not?"
Geralt's yellow eyes fluttered up to meet Caira's eyes. His brows tilted upward in a shy way. "I don't want the miner's coin." He informed her, causing her to groan.
"Then why am I here? I need to make money, not frolic about with you. Why do you care about this girl so much?" Caira shook her head at him, disappointed he wasn't planning on accepting any reward for saving the striga.
"We'll make coin on the next bounty." Geralt's deep and rumbling voice had a way of making Caira meek.
"And we're splitting it fifty, fifty."
"What?! No."
"Yes!"
"No."
"I have to have some kind of compensation for this past week and a half of making no profits. You owe me, I could've completed at least three kills by now if it weren't for you." Caira folded her arms across her chest.
Geralt look away from her. She grabbed his face with her hands and turned his head so he'd look at her again. "Fifty. Fifty." She reiterated, then released her grip on his jaw. Geralt sniffed, mumbling obscenities. He couldn't believe she'd demand such a thing, a deal was a deal—no matter how long it took to complete it.
* * *
Geralt and Caira found Triss once again and stalked into the secret chambers of Foltest's castle. Around the halls, deteriorated skeletons were scattered about. The corpses of dozens of the striga's foes seemed to be on display in the hall. "Temeria reeks of secrets. I could sense them. Just like I could these bodies before we entered. I imagine you sense them, too." Triss asked Geralt, due to the fact that he had enhanced abilities like her. As the three passed through the hall, Geralt and Caira took turns attempting to open doors lining the hall. Though, they were all locked.
They passed by an enormous portrait of Foltest and Adda—the dead princess and mother to the Striga—in the abandoned hall. It was dusty and clearly old, as the image portrayed a young Foltest and Adda. "Foltest and Adda. What happened to them?" Triss sighed as she sadly gazed upon the painting. The two looked so innocent, so pure. Their blonde hair and striking blue eyes glimmered beneath the faded painting. Caira assumed Triss was still speaking with Geralt, so she didn't respond—also she had no clue what happened to the two, what had gone wrong with them. Only that Foltest had fucked his sister and the striga was his heir.
"Not answering questions is a pillar of your brooding charm." Triss scoffed at Geralt whom was giving minimum effort in conversation with Triss. Geralt was taken aback by her comment and eyed her with his brows furrowed. He suddenly turned his head away from her and continued walking through the halls, following in Caira's lead as she shook door knobs to try to open the secretive rooms. "Pretty sure Foltest is the father." Geralt spoke as he walked up next to Caira, taking a turn trying to wiggle open the locked door.
Triss seemed disturbed by this information and quickly quieted herself, following the two up to Adda's abandoned quarters. "Adda's bedroom." Triss commentated.
The furniture about the room was scattered and had a thin film of dust layered above it all. It was a quiet and lonely room. Geralt instantly headed for the music box atop the dresser, whilst Caira began to investigate the fireplace. "Do you think he cursed her?" Triss asked the questions both Geralt and Caira were attempting to figure out. "Foltest." She clarified who she was speaking of.
"No."
"Maybe."
Caira and Geralt spoke in unison. "He loved her too much to harm her. He doesn't even have the will to kill his beast of a daughter, what makes you think he could kill his sister and lover?" Caira explained her thoughts as she moved on to Adda's bed as Triss dug around as well.
Caira reached over to grab the sheets of the bed until she was suddenly stopped by Geralt. He pulled her away from the bed with much haste, then proceeded to carefully take a whiff of the scents coming from the bed. One of the smells he could faintly recall. "Your smell would've overtook the bed's." Geralt explained to her why he pulled her away so aggressively.
"Caira, Geralt." Triss called out from the other side of the room as she fiddled with the music box. The two approached her and noticed a secret compartment had opened from the music box, and it was filled with "letters." Triss announced. "From Queen Sancia, Foltest and Adda's mother."
The three's eyes scanned the letter, and it seemed that the queen had cursed her own children for their affair. It made sense, but it seemed too obvious. Almost set up in Caira'a mind. Regardless, Triss insisted on taking the letters to Ostrit—the hand of the king.
* * *
"The Queen cursing her own children for their affair. This could destroy the throne." Ostrit knocked his hand on the table as he read the letter.
Caira was still suspicious of the whole scenario. Why would the queen jeopardize her lineage? Her royal line? For a child born of incest, which was quite—disturbingly—normal for most royals. "Sancia wanted Adda to get rid of the child." Geralt added.
"Seems she refused. Repeatedly." Triss commentated.
"And now she's taken that curse with her to the grave." Ostrit seemed distraught by the news.
"You've served the family for decades. Was Sancia involved in dark sorcery of any kind?" Triss inquired, investigating a little deeper about the whole cause.
"No. Of course not."
"What was your relationship to Adda?" Geralt interrogated the man, growing suspicious of him as well.
"Well, I like to think that she saw me as a confidant. And protector, even. We used to talk at great length about her troubles. She could be very naive."
Geralt nodded. "She ever mention her brother?"
"Certainly not like this."
"She was ashamed." Triss assumed.
"Or she was frightened. What if the relationship was not...consensual?" Ostrit suggesting, causing shivers to go down Caira's spine. Geralt hummed in his usual gruff and pensive manner.
"You think he raped Adda, then cursed the child to cover it up?" Geralt asked.
"Well, kings have done more for less." Ostrit reminded.
"True." Geralt sighed, taking a deep breath in. He sensed the smell he had smelt back in Adda's room. Fortunately, Caira hadn't touched the bed, else he wouldn't have realized the smell was the same as Ostrit's. Geralt suddenly grew furious, his face twisting into a scornful look with his lips pursed. "There's only one wrinkle, though. Your scent was on her sheets."
Caira's eyes widened. She knew something was off. "Old ones... and new ones." Geralt growled.
"What would I be doing in a dead girl's bed?" Ostrit nearly pissed his pants as Geralt towered over him. Geralt clenched his jaw and leaned over to hiss into his ear. "I smelled what you were doing."
Ostrit began to angrily shake. "Foltest had no right!" He exclaimed, exposing himself. "He seduced Adda! Abused his position."
Geralt growled lowly and turned around to stand beside Caira before he decided to do something stupid. "He was always nagging her for attention! Always nagging! But he didn't love her. I did!"
"You cursed the woman you loved?" Caira folded her arms across her chest, ashamed of the man for what he had done to the innocent girl. Love couldn't be real if this is what men did in the name of it.
"I cursed Foltest, not her." Ostrit spat.
"Countless are dead because of your jealousy." Triss was shocked he'd do such a thing and hold a facade of friendship for so long.
"Countless are dead because of Foltest!" Ostrit corrected her. "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."
"You didn't love her." Caira scoffed in disgust at the man.
"Tell us how to lift the curse." Geralt calmly ordered.
"No." Ostrit refused. "Foltest will watch Temeria turn against him. Just as he turned Adda against me." Geralt groaned, taking a few intimidating steps toward Ostrit once again. Geralt swiflty drew he arm back and swung a lasting blow to his jaw, knocking Ostrit out almost immediately.