Yennefer didn't know what she was expecting to feel when she walked back into Lettenhove. For some reason, she thought there would be evidence of the fight on the stones or the buildings. She thought there would be splashes of Jaskier's blood soaked into the dirt that she could use to track him, but there wasn't. It didn't look like there had ever been a fight in this town. Triss was a little nervous as if she knew precisely what Yennefer intended to do. She wanted the Pancratz family to know that what they did was not going to be tolerated and would not stand for it. Yennefer couldn't remember the last time she felt this murderous, but it had been some time. Perhaps Sodden Hill, but even that didn't feel as personal as this did.

Eskel was the last person she expected to see trying to get into the manor, but it appeared that he had the same thought she did about where a good place to start would be. Yennefer wasn't surprised to hear that news of the battle reached across the continent. It's not every day that you see a Viscount and Viscountess begging for the life of their son as foreign invaders drag him away. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Yennefer realized that if Vesemir knew what had happened then, Geralt and Ciri might know, and it would break their hearts, but she couldn't focus on that right now. Triss and Eskel were looking at something, but she was too focused on how she was going to get passed the guard.

"Oh, what?" Yennefer said, and she turned around. The first thing she noticed was that Lambert was walking toward her, and it was surprising to see both of Geralt's brothers in the same place. They usually avoided each other when it came to the rest of the year since having more than one Witcher often didn't end well for anyone. The next thing she noticed was that he wasn't alone, and her heart stuttered. Jaskier was wearing clothes that didn't quite fit him, and he had lost some weight in the intervening weeks. The colors were dark, but she could see the bloodstains on them. He had a new sword on his hips and a small pack on his hip that he could easily reach for. His eyes looked incredibly blue, and there was a burn scar the shape of a hand around his throat.

Yennefer didn't think about how it might look to everyone else when she began to run toward Jaskier. She didn't care that this was showing a level of weakness that she didn't like others to know about. It was one thing for all of the world to know that she enjoyed sleeping and being with Jaskier; it was another for all the world to know how much she cared about him on a fundamental level. He was running toward her as well, but he wasn't saying anything which didn't make sense. Jaskier always had something to say, and he didn't even grunt when they collided into a tight hug. Yennefer held onto him so tight that it must have hurt, but she didn't care right now. They both collapsed to their knees and just held each other.

"I thought I killed you, I thought I shoved you into that portal to die," she whispered so quietly that only Jaskier could hear. He shook his head, but he still said nothing, and now the silence worried her. Yennefer pulled back from the hug and shaped his face in her hands as she looked him over. "Why aren't you saying anything?" she asked. Jaskier took her hand away from his face and placed it on the scar on his neck.

Yennefer didn't have a lot of clear memories of the fight. After the herbs from Jaskier's parents settled in, her memory got a little fuzzy and strange. She remembered righting with Fringilla, and she remembered losing. She remembered Jaskier screaming, and she remembered pushing him through the portal, but the details weren't there. Yennefer kept hoping they would come back to her, and now she realized she must have missed an important detail. The hand-shaped burn on his neck was not just Fringilla being cruel. It was so much worse than that. Yennefer closed her eyes, and she could feel the magical wound on her bard.

Fringilla had burned Jaskier's very voice out of him.

Yennefer was shaking with anger as they helped each other to their feet, and she looked at Lambert, who was watching them with a strange expression on his face that Yennefer didn't entirely recognize. She thought he looked a little nervous like maybe he didn't trust precisely what he saw here, which was strange. The last time she saw Lambert, he was not hiding the fact that he hated her, and he might have hated Jaskier even more for asking for the medallion. Now he looked like he wanted to put himself between her and Jaskier, which was a fascinating development.

"Can you tell me what happened?" Yennefer asked as the three of them made their way over to Eskel and Triss.

"I was riding along the road when he appeared about a mile or so in front of me bleeding out like a stuck pig with no weapon and no money," Lambert said with a frown. "So I took him to this healer who basically saved his life and didn't kick me out of town when I showed up. She even let us work off our debt instead of taking coin. The fucking village had drowners, but no one wanted to pay a Witcher, so I killed them, and she saved him." It took all of Yennefer's self-control not to react to Lambert admitting he took something other than coin for a job. Jaskier squeezed her arm, so he obviously knew that this was not a small thing either.

"Did she give you these clothes and this weapon too?" Yennefer asked.

"No, you and the fucking bard owe me for those," Lambert said with a scoff. Eskel and Lambert greeted each other warmly, and he side-eyed Triss like he didn't trust her at all, which was a fair reaction. Jaskier dug into his bag and pulled out a tablet that Yennefer often saw children learn to write on.

'You can read me," Jaskier wrote, and Yennefer felt her heart stir. People didn't usually like the idea that she could read their minds, and she didn't read the people she cared about unless she was told that she could. Yennefer closed her eyes and gently reached into Jaskier's mind. His thoughts were going a mile a minute, and he thought in complete sentences, unlike most people that she read. He was saying over and over again how grateful he was that she was all right and safe, but it was what he wasn't asking her about that surprised her. Jaskier didn't seem concerned at all about the fact that he didn't have a voice anymore.

Yennefer remembered back in the cottage what felt like a lifetime ago. Jaskier had screamed his voice away from being tortured by Nilfgaard. He could speak, but he couldn't sing, and even then, he didn't seem to worry that much, and he never demanded that she fix it. It was one of the first things that Jaskier did that really impressed her because people always wanted and demanded more from her. Jaskier's entire livelihood depended on his voice, and he still was not worried. He was still so much more concerned that she was all right before even thinking about himself.

"Jaskier," Yennefer said, and he blinked as everyone turned and looked at her. "The guards refused to let Eskel into your parent's home, but they won't turn you away, correct?" Everyone always thought that Jaskier was the weak one, the one that didn't want to fight, the lover and not the fighter, but he was just as bloodthirsty as she was and much more than Geralt ever was. Jaskier was currently smiling like he was ready to kill anyone who got in his path. He pushed his way past Lambert, Eskel, and Triss and walked right up to the guards.

"Master Julian," one of them said breathlessly. "We didn't know-I mean, we thought that you were-" Jaskier couldn't talk, but Yennefer walked up to join him and watched as his eyebrows slowly raised with each stammered excuse. They glanced at Yennefer, and the brief look of terror in their eyes told her that they remembered her all too well.

"Gentlemen, it would be in your best interest to let your Master, myself, and our companions walk through these gates," Yennefer said. Most humans didn't feel magic unless she wanted them to, and judging from the way both Eskel and Lambert twitched, it was evident. The guards scrambled aside and let them through, and Yennefer took Jaskier's hand into hers as they walked toward the manor like they owned it. She could hear Lambert, Eskel, and Triss quietly wondering what exactly was going to happen here, and Lambert muttered something about getting bloodstains out of carpets that made Yennefer smirk. She didn't need to spill blood to accomplish her goals.

When they pushed the main doors open, it was evident that the Viscount and Viscountess had scrambled to greet them. They didn't look exactly put together, and they both paled when they walked in.

"Julian, you're alive," the Viscountess said, and she buried over to him like she had any right in the fucking world to touch Jaskier. He held up a hand, and she stopped dead in her tracks. "Julian, is something wrong?"

"You could say that," Yennefer said, and she saw Jaskier smirk at the pun she just made. "You see the sorceress that you willingly handed your son to decided that she didn't like what he was saying, so she burned his voice out of him. You heard him screaming, and now you know why." The Viscountess looked like she was going to be sick, and the Viscount narrowed his eyes as he looked at the two of them.

"Can you fix it?" he asked.

"I don't know yet, but even if I can, it won't matter to either one of you," Yennefer said as she took a step toward them. The Viscountess immediately took a step back, which was good. Yennefer wanted these two people afraid because what they did cannot and will not stand as far as she was concerned.

"And what does that mean, exactly?" the Viscount asked in a haughty voice that Yennefer knew from many years dealing with nobles all too well.

"It means that I'm never letting either of you see Jaskier ever again," Yennefer replied. "It means that you made the terrible mistake of trying to harm that which is mine, and I do not take kindly to that. You gave up your rights as parents the moment you decided that handing his over to Nilfgaard was the right decision."

"No," the Viscountess yelled out. "I was trying to keep my son safe! They said if I gave them you, then he would be safe!"

"And you believed them," Yennefer hissed.

"I wanted my son safe," the Viscountess said, and she wasn't looking at Yennefer anymore; she was looking at Jaskier. "You and the Witcher, you're the ones that are putting him in danger. He should be at Oxenfurt teaching classes or working in a King's Court or home with his family. It's you and the Witcher that put him in dangerous situations. If it weren't for the two of you, Nilfgaard wouldn't have wanted anything to do with my son. It's you, not me, that hurts him."

"Julian," the Viscount said. "You're upsetting your mother. This has all clearly gone on long enough. If you no longer have a voice, then you can't sing the songs of the Witcher or this witch, so you're not of any use to them. It's time to come home." Yennefer could feel her Chaos threatening to explode out of her at the mere mention that all Jaskier was good for were his songs. It enraged her, and she didn't think she had ever been so angry and so insulted on behalf of someone else before in her life. Jaskier touched her arm, and she glanced at him. He was projecting calm at her, but she could see that he was nearly vibrating with how angry he was too. Jaskier shook his head exactly once.

"How dare you assume that I have claimed this man because he's useful to me," Yennefer said lowly, and she could see that the Viscount and Viscountess both realize that they had made a terrible mistake. "How dare you insult him and me like this. I have burned people for far fewer grievances." The Viscount stood up a little taller like he had any power in this room, and Yennefer could feel the guards in the room tense up. Eskel, Triss, and Lambert were at her back, and she knew they would protect them if the worst happened, but she didn't intend to let Jaskier witness the death of his parents. Death didn't solve anything, but fear often got Yennefer what she wanted.

"You cannot threaten me like this," the Viscount said.

"I can't? Jaskier told me that his siblings are more than ready to take your titles, and as far as I know, they have no grievance with him or me. So why shouldn't I threaten you?" Yennefer asked, and she narrowed her eyes. "You would be wise to remember this moment because I am about to show you mercy. You touched and hurt what is mine. He has no voice because of the two of you. He is scarred and wounded and nearly died because of your actions and not mine. I can protect him, I have protected him, and I will continue to protect him long after your bones have turned to dust." Yennefer turned to one of the guards that were standing nearby and glared at him. "Go get our things, including his lute immediately." The guard was not an idiot and immediately ran off to find their things.

"Please-" the Viscountess begged.

"Julian, this is your last chance to come forward and leave this foolishness behind," the Viscount snapped. "If you walk out of this room, you can consider yourself disowned. I've been looking for an excuse since the day I found out you were a bastard, but if you allow this witch to talk to me like this, you can consider yourself a man without a family."

"He has a family," Eskel said from behind them, and Yennefer turned because she wasn't expecting the Witcher's to get involved. Both Lambert and Eskel walked forward and put themselves on either side of them and stood tall. Now the Viscount and Viscountess weren't just staring down an angry witch but two angry Witcher's. "And it is a far better one than the family I see standing before me."

"Also, his name isn't fucking Julian, it's Jaskier, and you would well to remember that," Lambert said, and he spat on the ground. The guard returned with all of their things, and something in Jaskier's expression softened the moment he put his lute case over his shoulder. Yennefer wasn't overly attached to anything in her bags, but she refused to leave a part of herself in this horrible place.

Behind her, Yennefer could feel Triss opening up a portal so they could leave. It was just a portal that took them to the local inn, but the point wasn't to be practical but to make a point. Eskel and Lambert both turned to walk through the portal, but the Viscountess shook her head with tears in her eyes. She grabbed a quill and a piece of paper and thrust them at Jaskier.

"Please, Julian, tell me you'll come home, please. You're my son, and I just want you away from these people that will continue to bring you harm," she said. Jaskier took the quill, and Yennefer watched as he wrote five words on the paper;

'My name is Jaskier. Goodbye.'

The Viscountess wailed like someone had hurt her, but Yennefer didn't care. She took Jaskier's hand into her, and they walked through the portal, leaving the Viscount and Viscountess behind them. Eskel and Lambert were already gathering their horses and their things like they needed to go, and maybe that was a good idea. Yennefer thought that the fear would be enough, but these were two people who drugged Jaskier and put him in a position where he could have been killed because they thought they were doing the right thing for him. She didn't put it past either of them to do something stupid like attacking a party with two Witcher's and two sorceresses and a former bard that looked like he's wanted nothing more than to fight.

"I think getting away would be in our best interest," Yennefer said, and she opened a portal to take them much further south and somewhere out of reach of Jaskier's parents. It took some coaxing from Eskel and Lambert to get their horses through the portal, but they eventually walked through. Triss followed, and Yennefer turned to see Jaskier looking back at the Lettenhove manor and his home. For a moment, Yennefer wondered if she had made some sort of terrible mistake in all of this, and Jaskier didn't want to come with her. She wondered if she was taking someone away from their home. Then Jaskier turned and took her hand. He brought it up to his lips and kissed her palm. He smiled, and they walked through the portal. It closed, and Lettenhove was behind them.

It didn't take Yennefer and Triss long to charm a man out of his home, so they had somewhere to stay. She wasn't in the mood to deal with innkeepers that might have something to say about Eskel and Lambert, and she was not in the mood to deal with other people. The large quiet house calmed her nerves in a way that was hard to quantify, and Yennefer loved it a little.

"Is this what happens when you travel with a fucking sorceress? No wonder you took them with you to Kaer Morhen," Lambert said.

"We didn't get a fancy house, but there was an enchanted tent," Eskel replied.

"Oh, those are very useful indeed," Triss said, and the thought of the Pancratz family seemed so far away from this place. Triss seemed to be getting along with Eskel and Lambert, which was good. Lambert, in general, seemed to be accepting them a lot more than he did when they were at Kaer Morhen. Jaskier had a way of endearing himself to people, and Yennefer could only assume that this was another example of that.

Jaskier collapsed into one of the large chairs and sighed heavily but silently. Yennefer wanted to look at his throat and see if she could get a better idea of what exactly Fringilla did to him, but it was getting late in the day, and she was tired. She didn't want to deal with a meal either, and when she glanced at Triss, her friend seemed to read her mind. Triss walked into the kitchen and began to make them some dinner. Eskel eventually joined her, and Lambert followed as he lurked in corners and seemed to think that someone was going to jump out at them any second. Yennefer appreciated his paranoia.

She climbed into the chair with Jaskier and wrapped her arms around him. He closed his eyes and leaned close to her. When they were close like this, it usually meant that they were about to have sex, but this time, it just felt so good to be close to him. Yennefer began to run her fingers through Jaskier's messy hair, and if he could speak, she knew he would practically be purring as she pets him like this.

"So Lambert found you," Yennefer said, and he nodded. "I have to wonder if I managed to do that on purpose. Of all of the places I could have sent you, I sent you right in the path of one of Geralt's brothers. Even if it was the brother that was much more likely to leave you bleeding in the middle of the road."

"Oi, I heard that!" Lambert said, and Jaskier grinned. He reached into his bag and pulled out his tablet to write on. She knew that she could take the words from his mind, but Jaskier's mind and body were already violated by magic before. She wasn't going to let that happen again, not on her watch.

'Once I woke up and saw who found me, I realized it must have been intentional somehow,' Jaskier wrote.

"So, the grumpy asshole took good care of you?" Yennefer asked.

"I swear to the gods-" Lambert said from the kitchen, and she was enjoying baiting him like this. Jaskier smiled and began to write again.

'Yes, he did, and he really did get me all of these things,' Jaskier wrote. 'Ask him to tell you how we met up with Nilfgaard again.'

"Lambert," Yennefer said as she went cold all over at the thought of Jaskier being anywhere near Nilfgaard. Lambert walked into the room and put his hands on his hips like a petulant teenager, but that wasn't what Yennefer was focused on right now.

"What now? Do you want to insult me some more, witch?" he asked.

"Jaskier just wrote that you ran into Nilfgaard again," Yennefer said. Lambert stared at her for a moment like he was debating on whether or not to trust her with something.

"He was bound and determined to find you," Lambert said as he sat down across from them. Jaskier tightened his grip on her a little, and Yennefer touched his hand to try and tell him that everything was going to be fine. "He thought you were captured and said that he was going to go find you alone if I didn't come with him. So I went with him because I didn't want to waste all of the coin I spent keeping his ass alive. I knew we needed help, though. There is this-" Eskel cut himself off as he tried to find the next word for what he wanted to say. "-he's a friend of mine. His name is Aiden, and he's a Witcher too."

"Wait a fucking minute," Eskel said as he walked into the room and stared at Lambert. "You went to the Cats for help?" Yennefer didn't know a lot about Witcher's, but Geralt had warned her years ago to stay away from Cat Witchers. They are apparently mad as hell and ready to kill someone at the drop of a hat. Yennefer didn't know why she was surprised that Lambert was friends with someone like that, but there was apparently more to it than that judging from the way that Eskel bounded into the room like it was on fire.

"I knew where Aiden was, and I had a pretty good feeling he could convince the others to help too," Lambert said with a shrug.

"You brought Jaskier of all people not only to the Cat Witcher's, but you brought him to the entire caravan of them?" Eskel asked. Yennefer could feel Jaskier shaking as he silently laughed at this entire exchange.

"The fucker is just as mad as the Cats and charmed every single one of them without being able to say a word. Nothing happened, and it was fine. Aiden agreed to help, and he got the other Witcher's to help too. We thought we would be facing an entire convoy of men plus a sorceress. It turned out we were a little over-prepared since someone had managed to break themselves out of prison."

"That I did," Yennefer said with a smirk. "So, this Aiden, did you sleep with him before or after the fight?"

"That depends, did you sleep with Merigold?" Lambert snapped, and he sounded legitimately angry now.

"We didn't sleep together, Jaskier," Triss called from the kitchen, and he waved her off as he continued to laugh at the antics of those around him. Eskel was eyeing Lambert but eventually threw his hands up in the air and went back to helping Triss prepare food. Lambert glared at all of them, but Jaskier was still smiling.

"Anyway, we attacked the convoy and got all of them except for that one asshole named Cahir. A portal appeared out of nowhere and saved him from Jaskier driving a sword through his throat," Lambert explained. "After that, we decided to keep heading north until we got to Lettenhove. If nothing else, Jaskier said he wanted his lute back, and it seemed like as good a place as any to try and figure out what happened to you. That's it." Yennefer wanted to ask more, but Triss called that dinner was ready, and they all went into the giant dining hall to eat. Jaskier was still smiling, and Yennefer wished she could hear him laugh.

It was clear that they all had been through a lot in the recent weeks, so while the sun was just down and there was an entire cellar full of good wine, almost everyone went to bed early. Triss didn't seem to mind that she was going to bed alone and waved Yennefer off when she asked her about it. Jaskier was sitting on the large bed, his legs crossed, as he looked over his lute as if inspecting it for damage. Yennefer settled onto the bed next to him and silently watched as he worked. Eventually, Jaskier picked up the clay tablet that was lying close to him and began to write.

'I should never have doubted that Yennefer of Vengerberg could save herself,' he wrote.

"It was a sweet gesture, nevertheless," she replied.

'How did you do it?' Jaskier wrote.

"Once the drugs wore off, I made sure that we were in a place where I could unleash my powers and not worry about anyone else getting hurt. The cuffs were easy enough to pick the locks, that is a useful skill, and I appreciate you teaching me how to do it, and once I was free, I burned them all. Fringilla and I fought, and I hurt her very badly. She had to portal away, or I would have killed her. I was weak, though, and I needed somewhere to recover. So I all but appeared on Triss's doorstep, and she took care of me until I was strong enough to come and look for you," Yennefer explained.

'Triss is looking at you a lot,' Jaskier wrote.

"Yes, well, that offer you made about the three of us taking time together is something I think she would like to do, but she also understands that Geralt is Geralt and he might not like the idea if we did that without telling him," she said and smirked. "She did almost kiss me, and I did get to touch her a little." Jaskier grinned and wiggled his eyebrows, which made Yennefer laugh a little. It never failed to amaze her how light Jaskier made her feel. All of the relationships in her life felt like they were heavy and burdened by something, whether it was magic or destiny.

Yennefer reached forward and cupped one of Jaskier's cheeks and ran her thumb along his cheekbone. She was suddenly aware that she hadn't kissed him since they were reunited, and as she looked into his bright blue eyes, that was all she wanted. Yennefer closed the distance between them and kissed Jaskier softly. She heard him suck in a breath, but that was the only sound he made. She was used to him whispering into her ear about how good she felt, how good she tasted, taking the experience of being with him, and elevating with just his words that the silence seemed even worse.

She broke the kiss but moved closer to him. Jaskier watched her carefully as she moved his lute to the floor and out of the way. Yennefer set his tablet on the table next to the bed, and she pressed a kiss to the corner of Jaskier's mouth.

"You take care of everyone," Yennefer whispered into his skin. "This time, I want to be the one to take care of you. Is that all right?" She had to limit her questions to yes or no because she didn't want to use her magic to read his mind, and she didn't want Jaskier to have to write down his thoughts. He nodded, and Yennefer settled into his lap. Jaskier went to kiss her, but Yennefer ducked and began to press soft kisses along his jawline and his neck slowly. She loved to mark him, so everyone knew that Jaskier belonged to her. He always made the best noises when she bit him, and Yennefer missed them when she bit and sucked a bruise into the tender skin of Jaskier's neck. He sucked in a breath and tightened his grip on her, but he still couldn't say a word or make a sound.

After kissing the mark, Yennefer moved back to his lips and kissed the breath from Jaskier's lungs. It was too quiet save for the sound of their lips and her own breathless moans against his mouth. Yennefer wasn't as good with words as Jaskier was, but she couldn't stand this silence.

"You always tell me how good I taste," Yennefer whispered against his lips. "I suppose now it's my turn to tell you how good you feel. How I never really enjoyed kissing until I was with you. Even when I was with Geralt, we would kiss, and it was nice but with you. You taught me that we could lie in bed together and kiss, and it would be enough." Yennefer gently eased Jaskier back until he was lying down on the plush pillows and looking up at her like she was a miracle. "Did you know that?"

Jaskier shook his head as he watched her. He always looked at her like she was a goddess like she wasn't real like he was somehow lucky to be in her presence. Yennefer liked that look, it made her feel powerful, but she remembered their conversation at Aretuza. How the words of that bitch mage lingered in his mind and told him that he wasn't worthy and that he didn't have a place in this story. He did, and she very much intended to remind him of that tonight. Yennefer straddled his waist and looked down at him.

"You always look at me like you cannot believe that I'm giving you a moment of my time, did you know that?" she asked, and Jaskier nodded. "Do you believe that you're receiving some sort of gift that you don't deserve?" Jaskier hesitated, and she could see the wheels turning in his head. He could lie to her, and Yennefer knew that Jaskier was talented enough at deception that he could lie to her and get away with it. It took a moment, but he finally nodded.

"You want to know what I think?" she said. "I think all I wanted was to be important to someone, and when I realized that my feelings for Geralt might not be real, I thought I had lost the only person who would look at me like I was important. Then I stumbled into that camp, and you were there. You took off my dress when I was burning with fever and ran your fingers through my hair to comfort me even though it must have hurt so badly with your fingernails missing. You shared a bed with me and never tried to touch me." Yennefer leaned forward, so they were nearly nose to nose. "You never demanded anything from me even though your voice was gone. Men always demand more of me Jaskier, more of my body, more magic, more everything, but you accepted that I couldn't help you, and you never asked for more. Do you know how rare that is?" His hands were on her waist, and Yennefer hadn't even realized that they were lazily grinding against each other through their clothes. She was close, and all they had done was touch, talk, and kiss.

"That was the moment I knew you were different, Jaskier. You could have told Nilfgaard my secrets, but you didn't." Yennefer took one of his hands from her waist and guided it between her legs. Jaskier sucked in a breath when he touched her and could feel how wet she was just from what they were doing. "Can you feel what you do to me? We've hardly done anything at all, and I'm already close. Can you feel it?" Jaskier nodded and slipped a finger inside of her. Jaskier barely had to touch her before Yennefer was gasping against his mouth as she came.

She kissed him as Yennefer began to work on getting Jaskier out of his clothes so she could worship the body that was underneath. His extremely talented hands went from trying to drive her out of her mind with just his fingers to working on getting Yennefer out of her dress. She managed to get the ill-fitting doublet and chamise off and then froze. Yennefer knew that Jaskier had scars, but seeing three new ones hurt. The cut on his side was the one that could have killed him. It was deep enough that Jaskier could have quickly bled out. The wound on his shoulder could have been worse, but the scar was jagged and looked like it had been infected. There was a fresh cut across his chest that he must have gotten when he attacked Nilfgaard trying to save her. Jaskier and Lambert could have both died trying to save her when she didn't need to be saved, and she was too weak at the time to find him and tell him.

Yennefer didn't even realize that she was staring at the scars and not saying a word until Jaskier took her hands into his. He shook his head, and she knew that he was reading her. No one was better at reading people than Jaskier, and here he was seemingly trying to reassure her without words that he didn't have regrets. That these new scars on his body were not her fault even if she wanted to take that burden herself. It was enough to bring Yennefer back to reality and remind herself that she was making this about her and not him. She pulled off her dress and finished getting them both undressed.

She took Jaskier and watched his face as she moved her hand up and down. She watched the way his eyes rolled back a little and how he began to breathe harder. Yennefer thought he never looked more beautiful than when he was lying out like this, and she, to this day, did not understand how Geralt did not eat him alive two full decades ago. She shifted enough, so he finally pushed inside, and it was just as perfect this time as it was the first time they were together. Yennefer let her head fall back as she rode him, and Jaskier's hands were at her hips nearly hard enough to bruise.

"I will find a way to give you your voice back," Yennefer said and opened her eyes to Jaskier sitting up so he could wrap his arms around her. "I can't wait to hear you scream my name again, to hear you whisper sweet nothings into my ear while you touch me, to make me feel important in a way that many never have." They were so close they were nearly breathing the same air, but they weren't kissing; they were just staring into each other's eyes as they chased release. Yennefer could feel Jaskier's thoughts, and he was offering them so selflessly. "I won't take your thoughts from your mind unless you offer them to me freely. Do you want me to take them?" Jaskier nodded and pulled her into a harsh kiss, which was all the permission that Yennefer needed to take the thought that was the most prevalent from Jaskier's mind; it made her gasp against his lips.

The thoughts that most men had while having sex were about how the woman they were with felt or how good everything was and how they wanted to come. Jaskier was thinking about all of that, but he was also thinking about how beautiful she was. He was thinking about how he trusted her promise to give him his voice back, but even if she couldn't, he would stay. He was thinking about how lucky he was that she chose him, that she claimed.

Jaskier was thinking, very clearly, how much he loved her.

The feeling washed over her like a tidal wave, and Yennefer hadn't even realized that she came until Jaskier was coming with her. He loved her, and while he had that slip of the tongue at Geralt at Kaer Morhen all of those months ago, she never heard the words directed at her. Yennefer always knew on some level, but she hadn't heard someone say them to her in so long, with no strings attached, that it took her breath away. They were still connected in every possible sense of the word as she looked down at Jaskier. His eyes widened as if he realized what he had just revealed to her, and Yennefer couldn't stand to see him hesitate. She leaned forward and kissed Jaskier with all of the passion and love she felt within herself. Yennefer would not stand for him to doubt for even a second that she didn't feel the same way.

"I love you too," Yennefer replied as they both held onto each other well into the night.

By the third day in the house, Yennefer knew it was time to move on. Eskel had told her that Vesemir, and by extension, Geralt and Ciri, knew that they were missing, and it must have been killing them to think they were dead or worse. She hadn't made any progress in trying to figure out how to save Jaskier's voice, and the two Witcher's were clearly getting antsy. They also hadn't heard anything about the Viscount de Lettenhove putting out a contract on their heads, but Yennefer wasn't sure if it would simply let Jaskier walk away like that. A good noble would have begged to keep his name, his title, but Jaskier continued to defy all expectations and walk away. It could be perceived as a sign of weakness on the part of the Viscount that Jaskier got away, and he might try and take him back. Jaskier seemed to agree with this when she told him her concerns.

'He was always looking for an excuse to get rid of me when he found out he wasn't my father,' Jaskier wrote. 'But having me walk away like this and in such a public way? It's going to get around; you know how nobles are.'

"I do, and that's what concerns me," Yennefer replied as she brushed some of Jaskier's hair out of his eyes. "I won't let him touch you, I promise." Triss walked into the room at that moment and eyed them both. They were wrapped up on the couch together, and Triss clearly enjoyed the image. Once Geralt forgave them for getting hurt, that was absolutely a conversation that needed to be had. Jaskier wrote on his tablet and held it up for Yennefer and Triss to see.

'Triss, Yen says that you are one of the best healers she's ever met, will you come with us and see if you can help me?' he wrote.

"Vesemir won't be thrilled to have another sorceress in Kaer Morhen," Eskel said as he walked through the house, gathering the last of his things.

"He'll make an exception in this case," Lambert replied. If there was one thing that amused Yennefer more than anything was the way Lambert acted like he didn't care about Jaskier or herself but still went out of his way to be nice to them. She enjoyed both of their companies and was going to be sad to see them go until the winter.

"You're a lovely singer, Jaskier, and I would love to help you get your voice back. If nothing else, undoing a spell that Fringilla did will be most satisfying," Triss replied, and petty spite can be quite the motivator. They all gathered the last of their things and bid farewell to Eskel and Lambert, who went off in separate directions. Yennefer took Jaskier's hand into hers, unwilling to let him be away from her for longer than a few moments right now, and opened the portal to Kaer Morhen.

It was time to go home.