“Your confrater sorcerers have recently been trying to outdo each other in showing me antipathy and hostility,” he said. “They’re falling over one another to antagonise me and make my life difficult. I expect to find their interfering fingerprints in every misadventure that befalls me. It’s a catalogue of unfortunate coincidences. They throw me into gaol, then release me, then communicate that they have plans for me. What will your confraters dream up this time? I’m afraid even to speculate. And you order me to be patient, most diplomatically, I admit. But I don’t have a choice. After all, I have to wait until the case triggered by that tip-off comes before the court.”

“But meanwhile,” the sorceress smiled, “you can take full advantage of your liberty and enjoy its benefits. You have been released pending trial. If the case comes before the court at all, which isn’t by any means certain. And even if it does, you don’t have any reason to be anxious, believe me. Trust me.”

“Trust may come a bit harder,” he retorted, with a smile. “The actions of your confraters in recent times have severely taxed my trust. But I shall try hard. And now I shall be on my way. To trust and wait patiently. Good day.”

“Don’t go yet. Stay a while longer. Mozaïk, wine.”

She changed her position on the chair. The Witcher continued to stubbornly pretend he couldn’t see her knee and thigh in the split of her skirt.

“Oh well,” she said a moment later. “There’s no point beating about the bush. Witchers have never been highly thought of in our circles, so it sufficed to ignore you. At least up to a certain moment.”

“Until—” he’d had enough of fudging “—I embarked on a romance with Yennefer.”

“No, no, you’re mistaken.” She fixed eyes the colour of jade on him. “Twice over, actually. Primo, you didn’t embark on a romance with Yennefer, but she with you. Secundo, the liaison didn’t shock many of us, we’re no strangers to excesses of that kind. The turning point was your parting. When did it happen? A year ago? Oh, how time flies…”

She made a dramatic pause, counting on a reaction from him.

“Exactly a year ago,” she continued, when it became clear there would be no reaction. “Some members of our community—not many, but influential—deigned to notice you. No one was clear what precisely occurred between you. Some of us thought that Yennefer, after coming to her senses, broke off with you and kicked you out. Others dared to suppose that you, after seeing through her, ditched her and took to your heels. Consequently, as I mentioned, you became the object of interest. And, as you correctly guessed, antipathy. Why, there were those who wanted you punished in some way. Fortunately for you the majority thought it not worth the trouble.”