The Witcher 3: 7 Book Stories All Wild Hunt Fans Should Read
6. A Matter Of Price
What It’s About: Geralt is invited by Queen Calanthe to the court of Cintra to celebrate her daughter Pavetta’s birthday.
A cursed knight named Urcheon has come to claim Pavetta, having been promised her since birth by her father through the Law of Surprise (a custom where if a man’s life is saved by another he is owed a boon of unknown nature to both men, commonly taking the form of a child the man did not know had yet been conceived).
Geralt and the druid Mousesack lift Urcheon's curse, in reality named Duny, and he and Pavetta are allowed to marry. Geralt invokes the Law of Surprise to claim the child Duny and Pavetta have conceived without the former yet knowing so he may raise it as a witcher.
Why You Should Read It: You may not even realise this is possibly single most important story in Witcher lore, but don’t worry because I’m here to tell you why; the child is of course Ciri, and Geralt has forever bound them together.
People familiar with the game will have realised by now that Duny is really the Emperor of Nilfgaard, Emhyr van Emeris, but this is not revealed until late in the subsequent novels thanks to circumstance, and the medium keeping his face obscured behind the wall of text.
Additionally, Mousesack under the name Emion is found on the Skellige Isles in Wild Hunt.