So, as you guys have noticed the beginning gifs correspond with their matching chapters. But I have decided to change this one, which was originally Geralt fighting to Jamie. Since this is what Geralt is seeing.
As Geralt walked to sit with Queen Calanthe he watched Jaskier tug at Jamie's arm, pulling her with him so she sat beside him. One single thing that Geralt felt grateful to have Jaskier around.
"Damn this cursed thing." Came Queen Calanthe's displeased voice as she pressed her palm against her stomach. Most likely referring to the corset hidden under her dress, "I'd soon see this night out in armor."
"As would I." Geralt agrees, his eyes never leaving Jaskier bugs Jamie.
"Are you pouting?"
Geralt could hear their conversation, he wanted to focus in on them but Calanthe would much rather continue their own conversation.
"Indeed. Tell me, how does a witcher find himself at my daughter's wedding feast dressed like a..." Calanthe began to laugh to herself.
"I'm protecting the bard from vengeful royal cuckolds."
"Because you got into an argument with Geralt."
Geralt knew that Calanthe had spoken but his focus shifted to Jamie and Jaskier.
"I'm not pouting." Her voice was slow, her body;s posture adjusting which cause the coat on her shoulders to slide down a bit, but she corrected it, "I'm just... confused."
"I have no doubt blood will spill here tonight."
"Ah, save the good Queen's breath. I'm not for hire as a bodyguard."
Calanthe rose a brow to the witcher, "You were hired just so by the bard."
"I'm helping the idiot free of his coin?"
"And he's the idiot?" Calanthe shoots back at him, "I'm simply saying, surely if all goes to hell here tonight, I can count on you to strategically remove certain irritants that may prevent themselves? I'd do so myself, only I'm bound to uphold an artifice of decorum and... fairness."
"Hey. I can't help you."
"So perilously direct." Calanthe was far amused by him, and Geralt could tell, "As Queen, I could command it."
"If I were one of your subjects."
"I could torture you so very slowly into compliance."
"Her Majesty will do as she wishes." Geralt responded slowly, "I'm not for turning."
"Oh, come now. Everyone has their price."
Jaskier's voice was slightly louder now, which caused Geralt's attention. "You must be so young and blind. He is most definitely not mad at you particularly. Should be more mad at me than you to be completely honest."
All Jamie did was give him an aggravated look, "What does that even mean?"
"You are quite the beauty, Jamie. Despite your denying words. And that dress truly enhances it."
Geralt inhaled deeply, his stare intense and directed at Jaskier.
"Your point-"
"My point is that people are noticing you more and Geralt is jealous that other men want you."
"Or he's afraid of me getting taken advantage of-"
Geralt squinted his eyes, Jaskier was smarter than he seems and Jamie did make a good enough point.
"Let's stop with his feelings-" Geralt heard Calanthe say something, but it was to Paveta, "Whenever I bring it up, you talk about his feelings, which you can't ever be certain unless he says something to you, but the real question here is, how do you feel about Geralt?"
"I care about him, he's my closest friend since... since we've met."
"Not as a friend, Jamie, I mean romantically." Geralt didn't turn away when Jaskier pushed Jamie's face so she was looking at him. "Would you ride the mighty White Wolf?"
Geralt twitched in his seat, or rather, something else twitched.
Instantly, Jamie smacked Jaskier, "You mean sex?"
"Sex would be apart of the relationship, it's just a plus." Jamie went to hit him again, but she didn't do it, "But in all seriousness, what are your romantic feelings for him?"
"Has something caught your eye, Witcher?"
"Nothing." Geralt finally turns his attention away from the two of them.
"Jaskier!"
Her cry made him look back.
"It's a what if scenario, okay. How do you feel?"
"Well, disgusted because that's a public display of indecency. I wouldn't like it."
"Because...?"
"Because..." Geralt kept staring, wondering if she'd look at him again but she didn't move, "I just don't like it."
"Oh, you're so boring!" Jaskier shoved her slightly, causing Geralt's coat to slide off her shoulders, "Just admit your undying love for the big oaf. Make it easier on both of us right now."
"I don't know what that is, Jaskier."
"What? You've never been in love before?" There was a pause between the two of them before he audibly gasps, shoving at her arm, "You've never been in bloody love before?!"
Geralt tried to recall back to the age of Jamie when they first met, she was definitely young and naive. Very bubbly like nothing bad had ever happened to her. Like falling in love and that love not being reciprocated.
"I never really cared about that kind of thing."
"No wonder you're in your twenties unwed-" Jaskier released a cry of pain when Jamie punched his arm, "And you're so violent! How can you be so beautiful and so violent at once?"
"You're an ass."
"And you're in love."
"Stop."
"Tell me I'm wrong. Tell me you don't have feelings for him and then I will stop my incessant bickering about your love for Geralt."
"I can't say it."
"Why not? Come on, if you know it's true just tell me."
"I'm scared, Jaskier." She finally admits to him, "What... What if I admit it and everything just changes?"
"Nothing will change, stop worrying. Come on, I already know, just admit it."
"I-"
Geralt didn't turn away from her even after the announcements started. His focus did not shit from Jamie.
"Lord Peregrine of Nilfgaard."
A young man walked forward with two of his guards, he was short and obviously fresh faced, just before he could start someone began to play bagpipes causing the Cintran people to burst out in laughter. The second he tried to speak again, the bagpipes came back and so did the laughter.
Queen Calanthe chose to put a stop to it with her usual abrasiveness, "Make another sound, Draig Bon-Dhu, and I'll have your guts sewn into pipes and sent to your mother." Her words stopped everyone's laughing, even though most were having trouble diminishing their smiles.
Knowing he wouldn't be interrupted again, Lord Peregrine finally began, "Queen Calanthe, my marriage to your daughter will unite the jewels of the north and south, forging an unbreakable alliance that none would dare cross. And... I am one of five brothers with no sisters. My potent seed inside Pavetta will produce the strongest of male heirs."
"Cintra is indeed the jewel of the north-" Queen Calanthe began smoothly, then drops the kindness, "Yet Nilfgaard remains the shit rag of the south, and that's saying something! Tell me, is it true you drink piss water and feast on your own young? Nilfgaardian kings don't remain kings for long. Who will take the Usurper's crown? You? How long will you last? A year? A month? A day?" As the cheering continued, Lord Peregrine turned away.
The announcer came back and bowed to his queen, "Lord Steergart of Kaedwen."
Geralt was not that amused, sure he would not openly reveal it but he never did enjoy these kinds of things. And, after listening to Jamie again, neither did she.
"This is ridiculous."
"It's royalty."
"Are all the royals this rude?"
Geralt huffed, his smile was faint and disappeared instantly after.
"Oh, Lord Peregrine wasn't too bad. Maybe a bit blunt-"
"I was talking about Queen Calanthe."
"Oh-" Jaskier stopped his train of thought, "It was all messing around, come on. A Queen can joke."
"Do you think being degraded was funny to Lord Peregrine?"
Geralt knew what he liked about Jamie and that was one of them. She saw the wrong in everything, even if the people perceived to be the good guys do something bad. She was not afraid to voice it either, just as she did back with the elves.
"What are you doing?"
"Oh, fishmonger, oh, fishmonger. Come quell your daughter's hunger. To pull on my horn-" The clapping frightened Jamie for a moment, but she understood why they did so. So she just laughed and joined with the others, "-as it rises in the morn. For 'tis naught but bad luck to fuck with a puck. Lest your grandkid be born a hairy young faun. Bleating and braying all day, hey ho! The fishmonger's daughter, ba, ba-"
Geralt saw Jamie smiling and laughing, something he hadn't really seen like this. She was happy, but she was never this happy. His own feelings were stunted at the sight of Mousesack approaching Jamie.
"May I have this dance?"
"I-" Geralt noticed how Jamie looked at the dancer, then quickly looked at him, "I don't know how."
"It's simple." Mousesack held her hands and moved her to one side, "Just look at the others."
Geralt scowled, especially after Mousesack shot a smirk over to him.
"I'm not trying to make you uncomfortable, Jamie." Mousesack kept his smile on his face, knowing that Geralt was watching, "You just looked as if you could use a smile on your face."
"Thank you." Jamie's grateful voice filled Geralt's ears, actually irritated, "So, how does this all work?"
Geralt kept his eyes right on Jamie as she danced with Mousesack, laughing whenever she would mess up. Calanthe was making comments under her breath, but Geralt did not truly care to hear it at all. And once the song was over, Jamie fixed her dress.
"That was really fun."
"Did you enjoy my song that much? I'm glad. Come, sit, we're going to be hearing from the last few suitors."
Watching Mousesack kiss Jamie's hand, Geralt was prepared to get up. "It was a pleasure."
Weapons clashing and armor clanking, a man pushed his was inside of the banquet hall, standing center in front of the Queen, "Forgive my late intrusion, your majesty, and for the misunderstanding with your guards. Please!" He held his hand up to the guards to get them to stop, "I come in peace. I need but one moment of your time." He went down on one knee, "I am Lord Urcheon of Erlenwald, and I have come to claim your daughter's hand in marriage."
"A knight..." Calanthe did her best to remain calm but her face was showing otherwise, "-of no renown... from a backwater hamlet... who dares to enter my court without revealing his face?"
"I apologize, Your Majesty. A knight's oath prevents me from revealing my face until the sounding of the twelfth bell."
Eist shook his head, "Bollocks to that." He stormed over to the knight and pulled his helmet completely off, revealing a man that has the appearance of a hedgehog.
"Witcher..." Calanthe breathes out, her eyes not leaving the knight, "Kill it."
Geralt was also on a little edge, but he was mainly concerned of the brawl about to begin, "No."
"Whatever the price."
"This is no monster."
"I order you."
Geralt couldn't take his eyes off of the man, but that was because he knew, "This knight has been cursed."
"You're as useless as the rest of them." Calanthe pointed at the knight and bellowed, "Slay this beast!"
The knight easily took down the two guards that came after him, claiming one of their sounds and pointing it at the queen, "Lioness of Cintra, I come to claim what is rightfully mine! Pavetta. By the Law of Surprise."
Geralt moved from where he was, his focus was on getting Jamie out of the middle of this and away. He brought her with him, but the second he saw that the knight was going to be harmed he went out to help. Slicing the top off the large weapon and allowing it to fall perfectly in the knight's hands.
"Kill them both!"
Geralt couldn't exactly focus on Jamie anymore, there was so much happening and he needed to pay attention to keeping himself from being impaled. Just as it was obvious that Geralt and the knight were winning, Calanth spoke.
"Stop!" The Queen's voice echoed through the room, she stood in the middle of the banquet floor with a sword in her hands.
Geralt kept his gaze on the queen and then immediately searched the crowd to find where Jamie was. He caught sight of her. Her hair was a mess and her dress was a little dirty and wrinkled. She had some blood on her nose, and food on her leg from after hiking the dress up. But she wasn't badly injured. But she was still hurt because of this.
"Duny!" Pavetta came running past her mother to the knight, embracing him. He returned the embraced and lifted her up from the ground. She placed her hand on his cheek, the tears of worry still in her eyes, "I told you to stay away."
Duny backed away from Pavetta, his eyes on all the other guards. He extended his hands out and then placed the weapon on the floor, getting down on one knee, "Your majesty... the witcher speaks the truth." He slowly stood from the ground, "I was cursed as a young boy. My whole life a living 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. Better you had let him die!"
"You knew he'd come-" Geralt confirmed aloud, "And you pushed me to kill him."
"And you..." Calanthe hissed at her own daughter, "-carousing with the beast that swindled your stupid father!"
"Tis no swindle. Asking for payment with the Law of Surprise is as old as mankind itself."
Calanthe glared, "Don't lecture me, Eist."
"It's an honest gamble." Eist kept going on anyway, "As likely as to be rewarded a bumper crop... as a newborn pup. Or... a child of surprise. 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..." Duny started, "I abandoned all thought of claiming the Law of Surprise. I knew... I knew no woman would ever accept me like this. So I waited. I waited until the twelfth bell when the curse breaks. I never intended to meet her." His loving gaze lands on Pavetta, "Just to watch from afar."
Pavetta smiled over at him, placing a hand on his chest, "Until destiny intervened... and our hearts collided."
"And at dawn, I awoke with her in my arms and me... like this."
Eist approached Calanthe, "Who are we to challenge destiny? Life was saved, debt must be paid or the whole order of the world falls apart."
Mousesack was next to speak, "Honor destiny's wish, or unleash it's wrath upon us."
"There is no us! I bow to no law made by men who never bore a child!" Calanthe snapped with fury in her veins, "Is there not a man amongst you who does not cower before destiny?" She stopped her eyes at Geralt, "You, Witcher, who has known monsters of every fang and claw... are you afraid too?"
"No." Geralt says with an uncaring tone, he did not wish to be apart of this. He just wanted to get Jamie and Jaskier out of there, "I've seen mothers lash themselves raw over the death of a child, believing they crossed destiny, ignoring the stench of the fifty other children in the plague cart outside. Destiny... helps people believe there's an order to this horseshit. There isn't. But a promise made must be honored. As true for a commoner... as it is for a queen."
Pavetta brought her hand to Duny's cheek, looking into his eyes with no fear or revulsion, "I love Duny, mother. I will marry him. I will finally be free."
A silence fell upon the banquet hall, all eyes on Queen Calanthe. She looked at Eist, holding the blade for him to take from her. She took slow steps towards Duny, there were tears in her eyes while she held a hand out to him. Duny accepted the hand, coming close to her. She whispered something in his ear, appearing to have a smile on her face before drawing another blade. Before she could dig it inside of his chest, Pavetta released an unholy scream.
"No!" Her scream caused a wave, throwing everyone around Duny and Pavetta back. Geralt's body slid back and into one of the pillars, he brought his hand up to block his eyes as he looked at Pavetta.
Geralt got up but he could hear Jamie over all of this wind, he looked over at her in surprise. She shouldn't be able to talk over any of this. Of course, he could hear very well, but her voice shouldn't be so clear.
"You-You're hurting people! Princess Pavetta! Princess Pavetta!"
Geralt saw it, he saw Pavetta look over at Jamie, but then her eyes moved back to Geralt just as he blasted her with magic. She releases a gasp and the wind slowly disperses as she makes it gracefully back to the ground.
Eist helped the Queen stand, "Do you believe in destiny now?"
Geralt stepped over to where Jamie was, giving her a once over then looking between her and Pavetta for a moment. He just witnessed something. Something that made it clear how strong Jamie truly was.
Queen Calanthe slowly approached her daughter, bringing her in a tight hug. Almost as an apology. "I thought your grandmother's gift had skipped you... as it did me. It seems I was wrong. About so many things. Destiny as spoken! And I have listened. The Law of Surprise will be honored. Pavetta will marry... Lord Urcheon."
Eist sent a glare of authority as people whispered, "React poorly, and you won't just face the Lioness, you will be facing the sea hounds of Skellige. Because Queen Calanthe has agreed to my proposal of marriage."
Queen Calanthe looked over to Eist with raised brows, but she did not object to his declaration, "There will be two vows here tonight! I assume, that's agreeable. Delightful."
Geralt set his eyes back on Jamie, he grabbed Jaskier's coat right off of him and draped it over Jamie's bare shoulders. Then yanked at the knot she created to lift her dress until the fabric fell back. But something concerned him, even with his mutations, the sound of the wind was hard to make anything out. He had barely heard Jamie, but she had said something and Pavetta had heard it within the noise. She shouldn't have been able to do that if she were human.
Jamie looked up at Geralt, tearing her eyes away from the Princess, "Not what I expected from tonight."
Geralt nodded his head, "I don't believe this was expected from anyone."
"I guess you're right." She smiled at him and then repeated slowly, "I guess you're right..."
Preparations for the ceremony happened quickly, most people holding candles except for a few including Geralt and Jamie.
"Pavetta." Queen Calanthy says softly while tying their hands together gently, "Duny. With my blessing, I thee bind."
Duny and Pavetta faced each other, kissing with smiles on their faces. Suddenly Duny barked. He began to growl and moan in agony, then he lifted his head up with a wheeze, no longer appearing like a hedgehog. Pavetta gasps in amazement and kisses her husband.
"The twelfth bell has not yet rung."
Calanthe was stunned as well, "What has happened?"
"I think your blessing of this marriage has fulfilled a destiny." Mousesack states, "The curse has been lifted."
"Whew..." Jaskier says from beside Jamie, "I think this has the makings of my greatest ballad yet."
"If you're alive in the morning. Don't..." Geralt eyes Jaskier for a moment, taking Jamie's arm in his hand to bring her along, "-grope for trout in any peculiar rivers until dawn."
"No, wait!" Duny cries out to them, "Wait."
Geralt felt Jamie stop walking, "Geralt..."
With a low sigh, Geralt turned around to look at the man asking for him to halt in his departure.
"You saved my life. I must repay you."
"You've proven yourself to be a kind of man who would do the same." Geralt shrugged his shoulders, at this point Geralt just wanted to leave, "I want nothing."
"No, please. Please, Geralt of Rivia, do not feel like you're doing me a service." Duny kept his grateful eyes on the witcher, "I cannot start a new like in the shadow of a life debt."
"Fine." Geralt says without a care, not really putting any particular feeling in it or thought. He just obviously wanted to leave, "I... claim the tradition as you have. The Law of Surprise. Give me that which you already have but do not know."
"No!" Calanthe gasps, "What have you done, Witcher?"
"Fear not, your Majesty, if I am seen in your kingdom again, it'll be to kill a real monster, not lay claim to a crop or a new pup. Destiny can go fu-"
Pavetta reeled forward and threw up on the ground, making everyone gasp. Calanthe and Duny drop to her side, "Pavetta... Are you...?"
Then all three look at Geralt at the same time with wide eyes.
Geralt inwardly sighed, "Fuck." He only shook his head and walked out. He didn't need this, just as he said before. He didn't need people relying on him, even if one of those people were Jamie.
"Clearly the girl has access to immense primal power." Mousesack began, getting Geralt to turn back to him. Jamie was standing there as well, not really knowing what she was meant to do.
"Yeah, and with no idea how to control it."
"I'm going to stay. Guide her."
"You're a good man, Mousesack."
"You should stay too."
Geralt looked over Mousesack's shoulder to where the banquet hall was, "This has been enough partying for me. I'm getting out of here with Jamie."
"You're bound to this now, Geralt. Whether you like it or not."
"I'm not for changing. You know me better than that."
"Yes, I do, but you can't outrun destiny just because you're terrified of it. It's coming, Geralt. Not believing won't change that."
"Bullshit." Geralt shook his head, he didn't need to believe in any of this crap, "This was just a girl using her magic to stop her mother from gutting her lover. Nothing more."
"So you say. But the bong that will come into being between you and this child..." Mousesack pointed back to the entrance of the banquet hall, "-when it is born, will be extraordinary. If you dismiss it, leave without claiming this... child surprise, you will surely unleash true calamity upon us all."
Geralt smiles slightly like this entire thing is a joke, "I'll take that chance."
"Then what of Jamie?"
"I'm sorry, what about me?" Jamie demands now.
"In there-" Mousesack pressed as he approached her, "You could hear Pavetta through all of the wind and she heard you."
"Yeah, but... didn't you..." As Jamie said this aloud, she noticed that even Geralt was looking at her differently, "You couldn't hear her, she was speaking elder."
"No..." Mousesack eyed Geralt, "Where exactly did you find this woman?
"I practically found him." Jamie says, her voice a little irritated and Geralt could hear it.
"Where are you from?"
Geralt was curious, he never actually asked Jamie this nor did he care to know. "I'm from California, in the United States from the year 2019, and it's probably already 2020 now."
"You came to be here in The Continent by the means of magic..." Mousesack shot his eyes over to Geralt, "Being afraid of destiny warrants fearing this woman. Why else would she had found you?"
"She's a girl who has magic and accidentally found me. No destiny." Geralt shook his head again, sick of hearing that word. Jamie was not his destiny, she was someone he stumbled across.
"A girl with powerful magic, maybe as powerful as the princess-" Mousesack looked over at Jamie, "You should stay here, learn what it is you have, learn to control it."
"I don't want to stay." Jamie stepped back from him.
"But-"
"You heard her." Geralt stepped to Jamie's side, letting himself slightly cover her, after the small amount of silence between them he spoke again, "Mind yourself. True words are rare birds in courts like this. Watch for daggers in your back. Or, more likely, poison." He placed a hand on Mousesack's shoulder, "Be careful, old friend."
After Jamie took a few steps after Geralt, Mousesack called to her, "Be wary, Jamie. You do not know what you possess."
Geralt knew that for sure, since he himself had no idea what she possesses now. She was not just some human girl anymore, but now something with magic. Something with very powerful chaos.
So, I have been trying to downplay the horniness that Gerald feels towards Jamie just as a precaution for you guys. But Witcher's are known to be pretty sexual, I say this after reading the books and playing the games. So if I were to add more of that in would you guys be okay?
Also, I'd like to touch base with you guys. How are you all feeling? Is everything going well in your lives?