The Monster Makes An Appearance (Finale) (Page 37)

We're walking to the Rosemary and Thyme. We've got our stuff from our room. The most important things are the bags of money. I'm grateful that we have Jaskier to help us here in Novigrad. Having free lodging and a safe place to stay is nice. When we're done talking to Jaskiers contact at The Minstrel, we'll see if Ciri is pregnant.

We knock on the door as we make it to the front door. "Who is it?!" A feminine voice comes from the other side. Geralt and Yen told me the story's about their time together with Jaskier. Apparently, he was with a different woman more than Geralt did. Yen was pretty adamant about making sure I knew that Geralt was a man whore. Her words, not mine.

Ciri knows Jaskier way better than me, so it only fits that she's the one that responds. I wonder if he does intend to make this place a brothel. It would be a waste of a nice property, in my opinion. "It's Jaskier's friends!! We were here earlier!!" Ciri is shivering from the cold. It's one of those nights. It's a good thing we have a bed to sleep in tonight.

We hear soft footsteps approach the door, and it opens. The young lady that answers the door is quite something. She looks at us, and we look at her. There is a silence that isn't breaking. She moves to allow us in. "So you're the two that Sir Dandelion was talking about. He was right in saying that you both stick out..." That means Jaskier is out right now. I wonder what he's up to?

I look at the small woman, must be 5'4. Ciri is tall for a lady, standing at 5'9. When the heels are on, she's 5'11. "Who're you? Jaskier never said anyone was coming over." I should find out her intentions, I know she isn't a threat. However, if she's waiting here instead of Jaskier, then he's doing something without us. I wouldn't think he's doing anything of ill will.

She gives me a nice smile. With a smile like that, it makes sense why Jaskier hangs around her. "I'm Priscilla, other's may know me as Calloneta. I'm a bard and actress, you must be Cera." I haven't heard of her, but that doesn't mean she isn't famous. I can see Ciri staring at me with a look, telling me to hurry up. I wonder why she's in such a rush?

I look back to Priscilla with a smile to reciprocate the warm welcome. "Yeah, I'm Cera. This one here is Ciri. It's nice to meet you." I hold out my hand, and we shake in a polite greeting. We finish shaking hands, and I feel a weird chill go up my spine. I don't know why, but I feel like I did something I shouldn't have done. "What?" I don't know why Priscilla is looking at me like that.

She takes a breath and walks to the table, and hands me a book. "Read it. I'm sure you'll find the contents interesting." Now that's a little weird. What use would this book serve me? I flip open the cover, and the first thing I see is The Emerald Death and The Massacre of Einearth city.

I look back at her, thoroughly confused. "What is this?" I've never heard of a book being written about these events. If Priscilla or Jaskier knows about this, then others will too. I can't believe someone wrote about that horrible day. There was so much blood... So much I did wrong...

She takes the book from me and puts it back on the table. "It's a story of what you did in Einearth City, beyond the mountain range of The Continent. You're quite popular with the Scholars and Bards on this side of the mountains. I would've thought you knew. I didn't think you would be such a nice guy after reading that story." Philip did say he recognized me, but this is ridiculous... If people found out that I was here, they might try something stupid.

Ciri walks over and interlocks her fingers with mine. She drags me away from Priscilla and brings me to our stuff. "I need you to bring this up to our room. Help me with it." She's upset about something. I don't know what I did wrong, though.

I stop her from pulling me so I can speak. "I need to ask Priscilla a few more questions about that book." I turn away from her before she can say anything. I feel a tight grip on my right shoulder, and I'm forcefully turned around to look at Ciri again.

Ciri gives me a happy-looking face, but I'm getting she isn't happy at all. "I. Said. Help. Me. Bring. This. Up. To. Our. Room." I'm overcome with a need to listen to her. I give her a silent nod and pick up our stuff. She goes behind me and puts her hands on my back, pushing me up the stairs. I don't know why she's acting like this. Maybe it's a girl thing.

I bring the stuff up to our room, and she closes the door behind us. I set the stuff down and turn to her. "Did I do something wrong?" She turns away from me as she releases a huff in the process. I'm really confused now.

She's still turned away from me as I hear her voice. It's much quieter than normal. "What do you think of that Priscilla girl... She seemed to like talking to you..." I get it now. She's jealous about me talking to Priscilla. I walk up behind her and hug her.

I rest my head on top of hers. I hope this doesn't happen a lot, I get Priscilla is beautiful, but I wouldn't look at another woman like I look at Ciri. "Are you jealous of Priscilla? I find it hard to have a legitimate reason to react that way..." She stays silent, and I wait for her to give me a response.

~~~(POV Ciri)~~~

Unknown to Ciri, the Elder Blood affects her mind. It's making her protect what's hers. An incredibly powerful bond has formed between Cera and Ciri. Her connection made her react in the way she did so she wouldn't lose Cera. When she first thought of how beautiful Priscilla was, her magic ran on instinct. Taking her mate away from a potential rival. Cera would've done the same thing if the positions were altered.

The feeling I had earlier is gone now. I just had to get him away from her. I feel like an obsessive lover... "I'm sorry I reacted like that, Cera... I couldn't stop myself... I feel so stupid..." In all fairness, when a guy approaches me, it isn't nice or polite these days. I was rude in yanking Cera away like that. They were in the middle of talking.

After I give my answer, he chuckles and kisses the top of my head. "It's okay. I think you should apologize to Priscilla later, though. She looked pretty shocked when you did that." I can understand that. I hope I'm not like this around every girl Cera talks to. If so, I'm going to have a problem with that. Getting past things like this will be hard for me, but it's never Cera's fault. I need not be so jealous.

After a good 10 minutes of him just holding me, we hear a bunch of noise and yelling downstairs. I don't think this is good. I remember what happened earlier today. Jaskier has trouble paying people back, from what I remember. He tends to borrow money from people and piss them off. Cera lets go of me, and we head downstairs, ready for a fight.