To Heal A Lonely Heart

Please Don't Tell Me It's The Bard!

It had been eight days since Jaskier came here. We were currently sitting in the kitchen. Jaskier was going on about some courtly gossip he'd picked up in Aedirn, while I was peeling potatoes, preparing dinner. I smiled, hummed or gasped from time to time, giving the bard a sign I was still listening, even though I wasn't. But he would be rambling whether I wasn't listening or not. His constant babbling became a background noise – one I very much appreciated – that kept me from worrying about my husband. I was so thankful for Jaskier to be here, and he was glad he didn't have to pay for a room to stay.

"The princess of Cintra will be turning fifteen soon. That means..."

I tuned out his voice; a faint sound in the distance caught my attention. It was coming closer, and quickly so. My ears twitched and my head shot up as I realized what exactly caused that sound.

Without a word of explanation to the bard, I ran out of the kitchen and the house all together, picking up my skirt so I wouldn't stumble.

The thunder of Roach's hooves galloping along the distant road sounded over the open field long before I could see them. I only stopped when I reached the road, out of breath and shaking with excitement. I waited impatiently for Roach to come out from between the trees, around the turn of the road. After a few long minutes, they finally did, and I stared running again.

Geralt slowed his mare and halted her all together, jumping off her back just as I reached them, letting me fall into his opened arms. I held onto him tightly, never wanting to let him go. Way too soon, Geralt pushed me back, holding me an arm's length from him, before cupping my cheeks with gloved hands, pulling me in for a deep kiss. We savoured each other. I let my tongue run over his bottom lip and he responded, opening his mouth a little. But before I could snake my tongue in, though, he caught my bottom lip between his teeth, tugging gently. I gasped and that was when he pushed his tongue into my mouth, letting me own win the battle for dominance as I grabbed his face, pulling him closer to me, while he let his hands drop to my waist, pulling flush against his body.

After what felt like hours, we parted, resting our foreheads together.

"I missed you so much, minne," I mumbled, "I'm so glad you're back."

"I missed you too, my love," he whispered and pressed a soft kiss to the tip of my nose. "Let's head home," he smiled, one hand wandering to my bum suggestively.

"Mh-mhh," I hummed as he lifted me on Roach's back. "But before you start anything, we have a guest."

Geralt stopped his actions, as he was just about to climb into the saddle behind me, stared at me for a moment and then shrugged, swinging his leg over the mare's back.

"Then we'll tell them to leave," my husband muttered against the side of my neck before gently nibbling on the soft skin.

"I don't think he'll leave," I giggled, his stubble and long hair tickling the exposed skin of my neck and shoulder, "And certainly not when he sees you."

"Don't tell me it's the bard," he sighed.

"Then I won't say anything. But just know that he helped me a lot while you were gone, keeping me from worrying about you, me minne." I let my head fall back Geralt's shoulder and he slowed Roach, so we'd have a moment to ourselves before Jaskier saw the witcher. Certainly, he'd start asking all kinds of questions as soon as we stepped through our front door.

We managed to drag out the usually so short way from the road to our house, making it take a good fifteen minutes instead if five. We spent them in comfortable silence, just basking in the presence of one another, exchanging a soft kiss from time to time – the position on Roach's back made it rather uncomfortable to give in to what we really wanted, a full on make out session. Besides, we couldn't; things would get hard and messy, and we still had a guest at home.