Talk:A Shard of Ice/@comment-27334094-20151211061613

A lot of people have hard time to understand this story - I like this epxlanation by CDPR's forum member StandardEpiphany:

The main idea here is that Yennefer has been off and on in a relationship with two men, Geralt and Istredd, for a while. During her breaks from Geralt she went to Istredd, and vice versa. She has known Istredd for longer than she had known Geralt and while she doesn't truly love Istredd, he offers her stability and support. Istredd is a mature and well adjusted man, and as we see later on, he is not afraid of commiting to Yennefer, unlike Geralt. Despite this, Yennefer goes to Aedd Gynvael in order to leave Istredd. She had a kestrel prepared for him already.

However, her plan backfires when Istredd asks her to marry him during their tryst. When she is confronted by Geralt she admits that she considers Istredd's proposal because he is a dependable man who understands her and can support her should she ever need that. Geralt's unwillingness/incapacity to admit his feelings for her doesn't help the situation either. Yennefer loves Geralt and she knows that he loves her back (she can read his thoughts), but she also becomes aware of all the things that prevent them from having a normal relationship. Geralt doesn't know how to express his emotions properly while Yennefer craves love, warmth and security. She is demanding and selfish with a man who needs a caring and empathetic woman. They love each other but they are too emotionally damaged to function as a couple. Both of them feel unworthy of being loved, and that is a pretty terrible state of mind to have.

Yennefer has a revelation about her own difficult nature, her coldness, her self-absorption. She leaves both men in the end because she knows she cannot return their gifts, their love, their devotion. It would be unfair of her to continue to drag them into a relationship. She is a broken woman inside her fascinating armour of beauty and power and sophistication, a woman who has suffered a lot and has built a wall around herself. You have to give something to receive something, and she couldn't. She didn't even know if she ever could, if she even had it in her. She was deeply messed up emotionally at the time. And that's what she understands in A Shard of Ice.