The Vampire & Her Witch

”I’m glad you’re willing to help,” Ashlynn said as she felt some of the tension melt from her shoulders. ”Time will be tight, but I believe that our plan offers the greatest chance of achieving the best outcome for everyone,” she said, though she silently chided herself for the lie.

Her plan was a compromise, and Jocelynn would be the one to pay the price if anything happened to her before Ashlynn’s arrival. Marcel’s men in Lothian Manor were already watching over her, but Jocelynn wouldn’t truly be safe until they were together again, and every hour that she left Jocey in danger in order to secure a ’better outcome’ for the rest of the march cut Ashlynn like a knife.

Still, she couldn’t forgive herself if she sacrificed the lives of so many innocent people just to rescue her sister. So, she told herself that she was doing the best she could for everyone, even though she knew it wasn’t true.

”I intend to seize the throne of the march during Owain’s ’Grand Ceremony,’” Ashlynn said bluntly. ”It’s mine by right for marrying Owain, just like his life is forfeit for attempting to murder me,” she said in a tone that was as hard as steel and twice as cold.

”The king might dispute your right to rule,” Loghlan pointed out. ”But Mairwen and I don’t. I assume, however, that you don’t intend to reveal your plans to redraw the map during the Grand Ceremony,” he said carefully.

”No,” Ashlynn said, shaking her head. ”During the ceremony, I intend to present evidence of Owain’s crimes and to pull as many of the barons to my side as I can. If all goes well, we can keep any fighting to a minimum, but in order to accomplish that, several things need to fall into place,” she said.

Reaching into the pouch at her waist, Ashlynn dropped a handful of silver tails on the table to use as markers while she explained her plan.

”When Owain and I were married,” she said, her voice only catching slightly on the word ’married.’ ”We were wed in the Great Temple,” she said, sliding a coin to one spot on the table. ”After the wedding, there was a parade from the Temple to Lothian Manor,” she said, placing another coin on the table to represent the manor.

”People lined the roads, it was festive, and it was slow so the people could get a good look at the bride and groom,” she said, pursing her lips together and biting back the words that wanted to spill out after. She’d been happy to see so many people cheering for her... She felt like they were cheering for her happiness and that everything would work out because it had already gone so well...

But she’d been very, very wrong, and Owain had brutally destroyed every trace of happiness that she’d felt on that day.

”This time will be different,” Ashlynn said, bottling up her feelings as best she could and pressing forward. ”This time, he can’t use the temple for the wedding because the temple will host his father’s funeral.”

”The morning will begin at the temple with Bors’ funeral,” Ashlynn continued. ”And it will take up most of the daylight hours between the eulogy, the lighting of the pyre and everything else. Owain will be impatient,” she said confidently. ”He’ll want to rush back to the manor, to complete the wedding there before he ascends to the throne with Jocey as his marchioness.”

”We need to delay him here,” Ashlynn said, glancing briefly at Isabell. ”I can’t strike at Owain until after sunset, and I can’t risk striking at him at the temple. Our confrontation needs to take place once the lords and ladies of the march have gathered in the Great Hall for the wedding and the coronation.”

She’d considered confronting Owain in the streets of Lothian City. If she stopped him from returning to Lothian Manor, then she could make her declaration in full view of the public, and common people were much easier to sway than the lords and ladies of the march.

In the end, she’d decided against it. A crowd of commoners would be easier to sway, but that also meant that it would be easier to lose control of them. If fear or anger seized the crowd, the results would be disastrous. Instead, she’d need to find ways to stall him so she could interrupt the second part of his ’Grand Ceremony’ just as it began.

”I assume the reason for the delay is so that you can rely on the assistance of Master Marcel and High Inquisitor Ignatious,” Loghlan said, glancing briefly at the Inquisitor who had known his grandfather so well.

”But even if the funeral runs long,” Loghlan continued. ”And the carriages move slowly from the Great Temple to Lothian Manor, it won’t take from sunrise to sunset to conclude the wedding and the coronation. Is it possible to make your move without their support?”

Loghlan didn’t know how powerful Marcel and Ignatious were, but as he understood Ashlynn’s plans, fighting would be kept to a minimum. With two witches at her side, plus her own strength and any strength that Loghlan could lend her, it should be enough to force the barons to listen to the evidence against Owain... Shouldn’t it?

”I need Ignatious and his Holy Flame Blade,” Ashlynn said, shaking her head. ”I don’t intend to bring Marcel into the conflict directly if I can avoid it. There will be too many priests at the Grand Ceremony, too many Templars, and too many Inquisitors. Ignatious has very little to fear from men of his own faith,” she said. ”But Marcel is a different matter.”

”It’s true, a Holy Flame Blade is a powerful weapon,” Loghlan agreed, though he didn’t sound entirely convinced.

”I’d prefer not to use it that way unless I must,” Ignatious said gently from the side. ”If we need Holy Flames to turn the tide, then I’m afraid the battle is already half lost,” he explained. ”Rather, Lady Ashlynn needs a symbol to beat back accusations that she’s a witch. If need be, she can wield my blade again,” he said with a proud smile directed towards Ashlynn.

”Again?” Mairwen said, looking at Ashlynn with wide open eyes as the word escaped past her lips before she could catch it with the hand she pressed to her lips. ”Lady Ashlynn, you can... You can wield a Holy Flame Blade?”