[ She can't look at him, can't meet his eye. She's afraid that if she does, the dam she's been building will begin crack and she won't be able to stop it.

You weren't touched by him the way Lloyd and I were, I don't think he ever worked any magic on you. You don't have that darkness in you, Nadine had said, before they left Nott. For a while, Julie had believed her. Months later, Julie herself told Stephen Strange, when demons touch things, they leave stains.

Now she knows that she was right all along. She's poisoned, tainted. Broken. And too fucking dumb to see it except in hindsight.

Julie leans into Geralt's touch again, but she keeps her eyes cast down. Her eyes sting. Her chest hurts. It feels like she has an anvil on her shoulders. ]

He told me. He told me he was a demon. It just -- I'm so stupid. There's something wrong with me, Geralt. I heard him, I understood him, but it was like it didn't matter. Like somethin' else just took the wheel in my head. Somethin' I can't control. And if I wasn't so fucked up, then maybe... he wouldn't have been able to use me against you.

[ She takes a sharp, shuddering breath and closes her eyes tightly. ]

He showed me his eyes. They looked... they looked like yours.