Kyana Of Cintra

71

The air was still hot, like electricity charged in the air. 

Geralt faced her, his arm tucked behind his head as his smile grew every second. For once, he didn't feel like he had just done something meaningless and that will be forgotten in a week, he felt like he had taken every feeling he had ever had, good and bad, and poured it into the night, showing her every side of him, something that usually terrified him. Although it was scary; leaving him unsure he would be able to show her that she wasn't something to be tossed away, Geralt had never felt so liberated. 

Kyana closed her eyes, her hair like an ocean around her. For years she had worried he could never love her, and that she would feel the numbing ache of heartbreak, true and torturous heartbreak, for the rest of her life. He had shown her, not just with actions but with indirect and subtle words, that he loved her every bit as much as she loved him. She couldn't wait to tell him she loved him, yet she knew now was not the time. Kyana had always been able to tell if the timing was right or wrong, like an instinct or a feeling in her bones. When it was time, she would just, know. 

Sweat glistened over their skin; an ethereal glow in the lamplight. Words didn't need to be exchanged, only smiles as they drew patterns on each other's skin. "If you didn't become a Witcher," Kyana started a question, opening her eyes, which consumed him all over again. "what do you think you would have been?" 

Geralt thought for a moment, wrapping an arm around her waist to pull her closer to his chest, sinking his head into the crook of her neck. "I don't know." He confessed, kissing her neck delicately. "I can't remember ever thinking about it." 

Kyana hummed, kissing his neck tenderly in return. "I think you'd work with horses." She suggested, feeling him smile against her shoulder. "Live in a cottage far, far away from people." She pictured it in her head; it was simple and delicate, yet purposeful and logical. Kyana knew Geralt didn't care much for people, feeling like that wouldn't change, even if he wasn't subjected to horrific stories and rumors and remarks. 

"I can't argue with that." He agreed, running his hand over her thigh, which rested on his hip. "It's as good a life as most." Kyana pulled her head back, meeting his gaze as he entertained the thought. "A simple home, a simple life." He stopped before he got carried away. He didn't want to scare her, move too quickly, so he kept silent. Kyana's hand reached out to touch his face, grazing his jaw as her pupils dilated.  

"You hate this, don't you." She stated quietly, stroking his jaw. He sighed, a longing look in his eyes. 

"I don't hate it, Blue, I just wouldn't choose it." He moved her even closer, placing his palm flat on her lower back. "I would rather just be normal. Marry someone and have children like someone normal." Kyana reassuringly ran her hand over his arm, soothing him as best as she knew how. 

"Normal people are boring." She kissed him gently, still finding it surreal that she could just do that now. "I wouldn't stick around for so long if you were normal." He seemed reassured, although his body was still tense. 

"What about you?" Geralt turned the question around on her. "What would you have done if you had the chance?" Kyana smiled, unsure of how to answer that she would have been turned out to the streets, and probably dead. Instead, she uttered a sweet lie to shield him from the truth. 

"Probably a musician or a bard. I could learn more instruments than the piano." He laughed, a deep rumbling that shook both him and her. "What?" She asked, a smile spreading on her face. His smiles were usually so rare, to be able to see one grace his features was something she would treasure as the moment passed. 

"You, another Jaskier." He chuckled. "I don't know what I'd do with you." Kyana laughed herself, flipping her hair over her shoulder to get it to stay out of her eyes. 

"Well we certainly wouldn't be doing this." She teased, moving hair away from his beautiful eyes. Geralt hummed in agreement, kissing her again. He couldn't help it, now that he knew it was okay, he wanted to make the most of his time with her. Her lips almost called to his, like a moth to a flame, and he wondered how he had managed to go without her obliterating kiss for so long. 

A small silence lapsed between them, both trying to understand that they had slept together, unknowingly love each other, and have changed everything between them. It was a scary thought, but for some reason, neither were afraid. Kyana needed him by her side, she wasn't afraid to admit that now. Admitting it made both of them feel more secure in their feelings, especially when it was so foreign. 

Kyana looked up, noticing Geralt's eyes start to droop. "I'm sorry I bore you." She teased again, watching his lips curl into a smile as his eyes remained closed. 

"You could never bore me." He assured, his smile unintentionally dropping as sleep took hold. "Before I met you, the days were long, and the nights restless, but now." He sighed, falling into sleep more and more by the second. "I found something important to me." 

It was as though seconds after he had said it, he was asleep. Kyana's hand lovingly caressed his face, touching the scars he grimaced at in the mirror with utter devotion. She allowed herself to feel everything all at once, and suddenly knew that she could never love anything or anyone as much as she loved the man before her. He had opened up to her in a way no one ever had, trusted her like no one else, made her feel like the only thing on Earth he worried about. 

Drifting to sleep with the sound of her thoughts, Kyana's eyes fluttered closed and her head rested on his chest, listening to the rhythmic thump of his heart. She felt warm and safe, unafraid and powerful, and terribly happy.

***

Hours of the best sleep either had had in a while passed. The sun streamed through the tent walls, dyeing everything a light, fragile blue. Kyana's eyes opened slowly, adjusting to the light. She woke facing the dresser and not Geralt, which made her frown slightly. Kyana felt cold, almost freezing, with a strange lightness to her waist where his arm had been before. Dread washed over her. Kyana knew if she turned around and he wasn't there, it meant less to him than it did to her. 

As the air around her grew colder still, Kyana's hope deflated. The space around her remained cold, and all that was left was a tilt of her head to confirm he had left. Hesitantly, Kyana turned her head, expecting plain white sheets. When Geralt's head turned to meet her gaze, his eyes already clear of sleep. He had been awake for a while, Kyana realized, although nothing could stop the grin winding its way onto her face. 

"Good morning." He said, his voice slightly gruff from a few hours of sleep induced disuse. His eyes shone brighter than any metal Kyana had seen, his beautiful lips curled into a delicate smile. Kyana was over the moon that he had stayed, turning her head back up to the ceiling with a beam on her face and a tugging in her heart.