#geralt x jaskier x yennefer

Geralt: I fell in love with a damn clown.

Jaskier: I’m a bard, you bitch!

Geralt: Sometimes I can still hear him honking his stupid little nose.

The fourteenth (and penultimate) chapter ofWatch Me Burn is up, featuring gratuitous bard endangerment and gratuitous sorceress endangerment! (And another cliffhanger. Sorry about that.)

Excerpt: “Hello again, Jaskier.” 

Jaskier goes cold all over, heart pounding in his throat. Slowly, he turns. The fire fucker smiles at him warmly, an expression that doesn’t reach those empty eyes. Standing next to him is a big, bulky man with a head shaped like a brick and the bearing of someone who knows an alarming number of ways to kill someone. 

“It’s good to see you again,” the fire fucker says. “Yennefer of Vengerberg sends her regards.”

Jaskier doesn’t stay to chat or to mull over that. Dropping his armful of laundry, he whirls to fling the door open. The fire fucker and his companion make no move to stop him, a fact that Jaskier only registers when he finds another mercenary—this one even bigger and blockier than the first—looming in the doorway. The man puts one hand on Jaskier’s chest and shoves him backwards into the cottage. Jaskier stumbles back, nearly tripping over the dropped laundry.

“None of that, Jaskier.” The fire fucker tsks softly. “You and I have some catching up to do.”

“I’m sorry,” Jaskier babbles as the mercenary in front of him draws his sword. “This isn’t really a good time for a social call. I do wish you’d written first, because as you can see, I’m doing laundry—”

“This won’t take long,” the fire fucker says as the mercenary grabs Jaskier’s arm with the hand not holding the sword. “Where is Cirilla?”

“Who?” Jaskier blinks.

The fire fucker smiles, looking delighted. It chills Jaskier to the bone. “Still being so tight-lipped. That’s alright. I don’t mind a bit of a challenge.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Jaskier tells him, hating the way his voice wobbles. “I told you, I haven’t seen Geralt in ages and I’ve never met his child surprise. It’s just me here. I’ve decided to embrace the solitary life, you see. It’s good for the muse, or so I’ve heard.”

“So if I send Toublanc into the bedrooms to take a look around, he won’t find a witcher’s armor and a young girl’s clothes?”

Jaskier swallows back the bile rising in his throat and doesn’t answer.

“I thought so.” The fire fucker chuckles. “Why don’t you sit down, Jaskier? Make yourself comfortable. We have a wait ahead of us, it seems.”