The Vampire & Her Witch

They reached camp as the sun climbed two hand-breadths into the sky, the morning well underway and most of the camp already packed and ready for travel. Morwen could see that Lord Liam had kept everyone productively busy while they were gone, turning what could have been anxious waiting into purposeful activity.

Liam himself was there to meet them as they entered the camp, his expression brightening with relief when he saw that everyone had returned safely. Lady Mairwen was at his side, and her eyes immediately went to the cart where Ollie lay beside Lady Cerys.

”Light be praised,” Mairwen said, hurrying forward to peer into the cart. ”Sir Ollie, are you alright? You look terrible.”

”I’ve been told that several times this morning,” Ollie said with a faint smile and a light chuckle. ”I promise I’ll recover. I just need to get to Lady Ashlynn in Maeril, and I’ll be back in the kitchens in no time,” he joked.

”You’ve done so much for us,” Mairwen said quietly, her expression softening as she reached out to brush a strand of red hair back from Ollie’s forehead in a gesture that was purely maternal. ”For Cerys, for Gavin, for all of us. Thank you.”

From the way she acted, Loghlan had likely told her what he’d seen in the copse of trees when Ollie healed Lady Cerys. Last night, she’d been appreciative of his healing Sir Gavin, but the expression on her face then didn’t hold nearly as much motherly concern as it did today.

”Just doing what needed doing,” Ollie said, echoing the phrase he’d used with Cadeyrn earlier. It was becoming a reflexive deflection, and he knew he shouldn’t use it so carelessly, no matter how true it felt, or how uncomfortable other people’s praise made him. ”Or, rather, just doing what Lady Ashlynn would do if she were here,” he said, fully believing it to be true.

”I wonder if she would?” Mairwen said thoughtfully. ”I wish I’d had the chance to speak to her before.... Well, before,” she said, dancing around the topic of the last time she’d seen Lady Ashlynn. That had been the night that Owain tried to murder her after their grand wedding ceremony, and she was certain that it was a sensitive topic not only with Lady Ashlynn but with the people who followed her as well.

”But whether you did it on your own initiative, or because Lady Ashlynn would expect it of you, we’re grateful,” Mairwen said, skillfully moving the conversation along. ”And I hope you won’t reject a small display of our gratitude,” she added, looking in the direction of a nearby carriage.

”I’m sure that you’re too tired to ride after everything that you’ve done this morning,” Mairwen said. ”So Loghlan and I have decided to ride to Maeril so that you and the young ones can make use of our carriage. It’s much better sprung than this cart, and you’ll be able to rest properly on the trip to Maeril.”

”Lady Mairwen, you shouldn’t, I mean, I couldn’t, um...” Ollie started to protest, appalled at the notion that he was forcing the older lord and lady into the cold for the ride to Maeril, but Mairwen cut him off with a gentle but firm shake of her head.

”It’s already decided,” she said. ”Besides, I rather think Loghlan and I could use a pleasant ride together. We haven’t had much chance to simply talk in recent days, and the ride to Maeril will give us that opportunity.”

”Lady Eira, Lady Morwen,” the baroness continued, turning to face Eira and Morwen where they stood with their horses. ”Would you be willing to ride in the carriage with Sir Ollie and my son? I think Sir Ollie could use the company, and it would help to have someone there to make sure he actually rests instead of trying to be helpful.”

There was something in the way Lady Mairwen said it, something in the brief but meaningful look she exchanged with Eira, that made Morwen think this arrangement had been planned for more than just Sir Ollie’s comfort. But before she could analyze it too deeply, Lady Mairwen was already giving instructions as if they’d agreed.

”Liam, help Sir Ollie to the carriage,” Mairwen said. ”Lady Eira, Lady Morwen, please go ahead and make yourselves comfortable. We’ll have Sir Ollie settled in just a moment.”

Morwen moved to comply almost without thinking, instantly deferring to the baroness, but before she could take more than a few steps, her younger brother Cadeyrn appeared at her side. The young squire clearly intended to join them in the carriage as one of the ’young ones’ in the group, but Lady Mairwen wasn’t about to let him intrude, no matter how much hero worship had gathered in the young man’s eyes when he looked at Sir Ollie.

”Oh, Cadeyrn,” Lady Mairwen said, smoothly intercepting the young man before he could climb aboard. ”I believe your father is waiting for news of what happened this morning. He’ll want to hear directly from you about Lady Cerys’s condition and what you thought of Sir Ollie’s friends as well,” she said, carefully refraining from mentioning any details about those ’friends.’ ”I’m sure he’s quite proud of how you handled yourself today.”

It was a gentle redirection, but it was also clearly not a suggestion. Cadeyrn hesitated for just a moment, then nodded and changed direction toward where his father stood with the other knights.

Morwen caught the conspiratorial glance that Lady Mairwen directed toward Eira as she ushered Ollie, Liam, Eira, and Morwen into the carriage. It was the look of a woman who was quite deliberately arranging things to her satisfaction, and Morwen felt her cheeks heating when she realized that the baroness had clearly changed her mind about having her spend time with Sir Ollie since last night.

For a moment, Morwen hesitated, looking across the camp to her mother, Lady Rhiannon, who seemed to be in deep conversation with Eira’s mother, Lady Seren. When she did, however, Rhiannon met her gaze before offering a briefly approving nod, gesturing toward the awaiting carriage with an encouraging smile on her face.

”Your mother and I spoke at some length after you rode out with Eira,” Mairwen said softly as she appeared at Morwen’s side. ”I’m sorry we didn’t include you in things last night, but we weren’t sure what sort of man Sir Ollie was and whether or not we should encourage you. Now that we know,” she said with a smile and a twinkle in her eyes.

”I doubt that any of us will have the ability to arrange a match for you to someone as exceptional as he is,” the baroness said. ”Politics won’t secure a man like him. But love can, if it is real and exists on both sides. We can’t give you that, but we can give you an opportunity to look for it, so go. Spend some time with Sir Ollie and see if anything comes from it. Whether anything does or not, at least you’ll have no regrets that you couldn’t try...”

”Thank you, my Lady,” Mairwen said, offering a deep curtsy to conceal the blush on her face that felt exceptionally warm in the cool morning air. ”I, I’ll do my best...”