The Vampire & Her Witch

The hot iron balls sizzled as Ashlynn lowered them into the deep marble pool, producing low clouds of steam before they sank to the bottom of the pool, where the water around them hissed and bubbled.

The pool was large, and even adding ten large iron balls from the hearth could only raise the temperature of the pool from tepid to mildly warm, but Ashlynn wasn’t looking for a luxurious soak in a muscle-melting hot bath. She wanted a chance to do something simple and normal with Nyrielle, to bathe and wash each other’s hair, but both women knew that they could only delay the inevitable for so long.

Soon, Ashlynn would need to emerge from her sanctuary in Nyrielle’s room and face the things that she had learned. But right now, as she slid into the warm water of the pool and allowed herself to drift just beneath the surface, everything still felt fuzzy and distant enough that she could think her way through what would come next.

”Why do I need to train with Thane tonight?” Ashlynn asked when Nyrielle began working foamy soap into Ashlynn’s hair, gently massaging her scalp as she worked to loosen the tangles and knots. ”Is it because you thought I would hate you too much to see you tonight?”

”In part,” Nyrielle admitted. ”But only in part. You want to face Owain with your own strength, but in order to seize the Lothian Throne from him, you planned to do it without revealing your powers as a witch.”

”Coming back from the dead will be enough of a shock to the people of Lothian,” Ashlynn said, sighing as the tension in her head melted under Nyrielle’s skillful fingers. ”Learning that he tried to kill me will shock the barons and the knights who rule the march. But if I prove the truth of his accusation, it won’t do me any good.”

”We agreed on these things,” Nyrielle said, pausing to pull Ashlynn into a gentle embrace. Her soapy hands slid over Ashlynn’s smooth skin with only the slightest of ripples in the water as she brought her lips close enough to whisper in Ashlynn’s ear.

”But the Ashlynn I saw last night could never have bested Owain Lothian with a sword in her hand,” Nyrielle whispered, shuddering at the thought of an angry, wounded Ashlynn trying to press for her vengeance in the state she’d been in. ”Owain, for all of his many faults, is a gifted swordsman, and you didn’t spend enough time with Thane learning how to counter a skilled swordsman to overcome the gap now.”

”But I’m stronger now,” Ashlynn countered. ”Strong enough to cleave through his armor if I have to.”

”There are better ways to channel your rage and your pain, my darling,” Nyrielle reminded her. ”Tonight, Thane will teach you how to fight against a person who is skilled. You will need to rely on your speed and power to defeat Owain, but you need to control them or you’ll only reveal yourself before you’re ready to.”

”I can’t wait that long,” Ashlynn said as anger surged within her chest. ”I don’t have time to become a skilled swordsman, that would take months or years and I, I don’t know that I can wait more than a few days,” she said as the pain that accompanied the anger pierced her heart again, draining away the strength that rage had given her and leaving her limp, floating in Nyrielle’s embrace.

”I know,” Nyrielle whispered, splashing in the water as she pulled Ashlynn closer to her. ”I know, my darling. That’s why I asked Sybyll to return. She received the Potence of Blood from me. Her body is sturdier and stronger than any of my progeny. Even those Tuscan giants cannot match her strength.”

”In the coming days, you will practice with her and Thane will visit you long enough to direct your training,” Nyrielle explained. ”You can hit her, hard if you wish to. She can stand up to even your abuse. She also knows a thing or two about being betrayed by her own family. If you wish, you can speak to her about it as well.”

”For how long?” Ashlynn asked. Under the water, her fists clenched tightly and her fingernails dug into her palms, reopening the freshly healed wound on her hand and spilling a thin trail of crimson into the pool. ”How long do I need to stay here and train before I can go and get the answers I need? How long before I can put an end to his life?”

”Long enough that your rage has a chance to recede,” Nyrielle said. Pushing off of the side of the marble tub, Nyrielle swam around Ashlynn until she could look directly into the other woman’s eyes. ”Five days,” she said, reaching out to cup Ashlynn’s cheek. ”Tonight with Thane and four nights with Sybyll. Then we’ll talk about what to do next.”

”Five days,” Ashlynn agreed, letting out a deep, shuddering breath. ”I can wait for five days. But, when the sun rises and Sybyll and Thane sleep, I’ll still come to you,” she said carefully. ”Because I don’t trust myself right now I, I need you to do what you did to me last night. Only this time, I’m asking you to.”

”There are other ways to hold you back, my darling,” Nyrielle offered. ”I could have Erkembalt forge darksteel chains for you if you’d prefer,” she added in a lightly teasing tone. ”I could just bar my door. Or, if you trust your coven to keep watch over you, I can release you to their care. I choose to do what I did because I could be certain that I could restrain you. If you don’t want me to cloud your mind, then we can find another way.”

”No, I, I’m afraid right now,” Ashlynn admitted, wrapping her arms around Nyrielle’s lithe figure and clinging to her for support. ”I’m afraid of myself, and I’m afraid of my nightmares. But, because of what you did, even though I’m angry and hurting and even though I want to... to... I don’t even know what I want to do about Jocey, but I want to tear Owain limb from limb!”

As she spoke, her grip on Nyrielle tightened enough that her fingernails left short, red marks on her lover’s pale back.

”But because of what you did, I could at least think with a little bit of clarity. You dulled the hurt enough that I haven’t reached out for the power of the forest even once tonight, despite how much it hurt to have your powers turned against me,” Ashlynn said slowly. ”So this time, this time, I want to give you permission. This time, it won’t be a betrayal because I’m asking you to hold me back and help me get through the next few days...”

”Since you wish it, my darling, how can I refuse?” Nyrielle whispered. ”Tell me what you would dream of and I’ll fill the daylight hours with all of it, just for you.”

For a brief moment, Ashlynn hesitated, debating whether or not her request would bring Nyrielle any undue pain. After all, for her lover to draw her into a memory meant wading back through time, either recalling the things she’d lost to Cellach Lothian’s destruction of the Vale of Mists or revisiting the hollowed-out life she’d lived afterwards. Neither of them seemed like easy things, even if there were several gems scattered across Nyrielle’s more than two hundred years of life.

”Please, don’t share anything that’s painful for you to share,” Ashlynn said as she gave Nyrielle an affectionate squeeze. ”But I’d like to see places I’ve never seen before. Dance to music I’ve never heard, watch operas I haven’t seen, or eat food I’ve never tasted. I, I don’t want to share memories that will remind me of anything. I want moments that can belong just to you and I.”

”Is that, is that too much to ask?” Ashlynn asked, biting her lower lip and looking at Nyrielle with misty eyes.

”Of course it isn’t, my darling,” Nyrielle said as she reached out to gently stroke Ashlynn’s hair before depositing a small collection of frothy soap bubbles on the other woman’s nose. ”If it will make you happy and help you to heal, I’ll share any memory you’d like to see and I’ll only cloud your mind enough to keep the pain at bay while we sleep.”

”Thank you,” Ashlynn whispered as she wrapped her arms and legs around Nyrielle’s lithe figure. ”Thank you...”