The Vampire & Her Witch

Sorcha’s arm was the only thing keeping Jocelynn upright as they crossed the temple courtyard toward the waiting carriage.

”I’m fine-ine,” Jocelynn said, though the words came out with an extra syllable that she hadn’t intended. ”I’m perfectly, entirely, completely fine,” she insisted.

”Of course you are,” Sorcha said with a deep, rolling chuckle. Her grip tightened on Jocelynn’s elbow as the younger woman’s foot caught on a flagstone, and for a moment, the two women pressed close enough together that Sorcha could smell the light floral soap that Jocelynn had used on her hair the last time she washed it.

”You’re the picture of composure,” Sorcha reassured the future marchioness as she guided her across the courtyard.

”I am,” Jocelynn agreed solemnly, sounding profoundly dignified for a moment before she ruined it by letting out a small, hiccupping laugh that sounded so startlingly like the noise a much younger girl would make that Charlotte and Adala, walking behind her, exchanged a brief glance.

Charlotte was beaming, her round face flushed with wine and warmth, delighted by this unexpected version of the future marchioness. Adala’s expression was a bit harder to read. There was something soft in it, almost wistful, as if she were watching a candle flame that might gutter out in a stiff wind.

Most of the household staff had already returned to the manor by midmorning. Few of them could say that they had known Lady Ashlynn well; the elder Blackwell daughter had always been something of a recluse, even within Blackwell Manor.

Today, the staff had come to support Lady Jocelynn more than they’d come to mourn her sister, and when Jocelynn withdrew to a private memorial with other ladies of the Lothian court, their reason to linger had gone with her. Now, only a few people remained to see Jocelynn off as she prepared to return to her gilded cage.

The gray, oppressive sky of the morning had grown darker rather than lighter as the clouds reached toward the ground with gossamer curtains of light rain. Small puddles dotted the courtyard, reflecting the dark sky like a large, fragmented mirror scattered across the flagstones.

The ladies who had spent the past several hours with Jocelynn, drinking and listening to stories about the two sisters in their younger, happier years, insisted on seeing Jocelynn off, despite the rain and their desire to return to the warmth and comfort of their own carriages.

Charlotte was first to step up and say her goodbyes. She took both of Jocelynn’s hands and squeezed them with a fierceness that belonged to a woman twice her size, and her eyes were bright with the particular intensity of someone who had found a new friend and had no intention of letting go.

”Tomorrow,” she said firmly. ”We’re having tea together. And Captain Devlin is invited too,” she said, glancing at the looming figure of the former sailor as he hovered protectively at the door to Jocelynn’s carriage. ”Don’t forget, or I’ll be disappointed,” she threatened with the sternness of a kitten insisting it be given a dish of cream.

”I won’t. Won’t forget,” Jocelynn said, and she meant it, though she suspected her head would make her regret the wine long before teatime. ”Promise,” she added when Charlotte’s expression looked doubtful... or perhaps it was just worry she saw on the young lady’s face.

”All right then, no lingering in the cold,” Sorcha said before giving Jocelynn an embrace that was brief and warm, accompanied by a solid squeeze that steadied Jocelynn more than she expected. ”Remember what I said about strong shoulders,” Sorcha murmured near her ear. ”The offer doesn’t expire.”

”Sorcha’s right,” Ragna said, offering a brief nod rather than attempting to give Jocelynn another hug. ”Please rest tonight. It’s fine even if you sleep the rest of the day away,” she said with a brief glance toward Captain Delvin, who nodded in understanding. ”Nothing is so important that it can’t wait until tomorrow, so put some trust in the people around you to safeguard your peace while you rest.”

”Aye, aye, Captain Ragna,” Jocelynn said, nodding fiercely until the courtyard seemed to pitch under her feet like the deck of a ship at sea, and she quickly thought better of making sudden movements.

”Straight to my bed,” she said, pressing a hand to her forehead and squeezing her eyes shut for a moment until the world seemed more stable. ”Straight to my bed,” she repeated once she opened her eyes. For a moment, she looked like she wanted to say something more, but whatever the thought had been, it fluttered away like a startled bird when the next person stepped forward to say their goodbyes.

”Lady Jocelynn,” Adala said, offering a curtsy that was deep and proper before she disregarded propriety to step forward and embrace the other woman.

”If you ever need support,” Adala whispered, allowing her polite mask to fall away entirely as she finally made her move. ”You have everything I can give. I don’t know who your enemy is,” she said as her arms tightened around Jocelynn’s slender frame in a hug that looked fiercely affectionate to the outside world. ”But all you have to do is ask, and I’ll help you find a way to fight them.”

”Adala, you...?” Jocelynn said, pulling back from the young woman’s embrace and blinking at her in surprise. ”Why would you think I have...? And who would you even? For me? Don’t be silly... Why?” Jocelynn asked in broken sentences, blinking frequently as she tried to puzzle out the young woman’s behavior.

”I think we have a great deal in common, Lady Jocelynn,” Adala said, sliding her pleasant mask back into place as she pulled back from Jocelynn, giving the other woman’s forearms a gentle squeeze.

”I think your sister wasn’t the only one who knew what it felt like to live in a gilded cage,” Adala said in a voice that was too quiet to be heard by anyone other than Jocelynn. ”And I think I’m not the only one trying to find a way to escape from one. Just like Baroness Peigi said, we’re women of the frontier.”

”We can help each other,” Adala said before letting go of Jocelynn’s forearms and stepping back entirely, leaving Jocelynn wondering just what it was that the young lady was offering.