The Vampire & Her Witch

”I don’t think it works that way,” Reynold said with a light chuckle. ”I wish it did.”

Tybal Aleese was already struggling to accept a new order in things, or the idea that there was any kind of accounting due for the skirmishes he’d fought with the High Lord’s horde over the years. From Tybal’s perspective, there’d been blood spilled on both sides, and both sides had tacitly agreed to keep their conflicts small, refraining from sowing widespread devastation, raising villages to the ground, or engaging in unrestrained slaughter.

That, in Tybal’s mind, should have bought him the right to bury any grievances that might have existed between his family and the Eldritch people of the Southern Steppe. Unfortunately, according to Lady Ashlynn, things didn’t work that way for the Eldritch. The dead demanded justice, and the warriors of the Southern Steppe who had fallen as far back as the Second Crusade had never received their due.

”I wish I’d been able to ride with you, Erling,” he added, raising his cup in the other lord’s direction. ”You’re nothing like the man the rumors made you out to be, and I wish I’d gotten to know that sooner. It wouldn’t have changed much but... I think you would have enjoyed the ride at least.”

”No, Reynold, you don’t understand,” Wes said, his eyes lighting up as he realized what Erling intended. ”Ashlynn intends to elevate Erling. She’s offering him dominion over Leufroy and LeGleau as a count. What are you thinking, Erling?” Wes asked, turning to face his old friend. ”Do you intend to trade Leufroy away for Aleese to bring them under your banner?”

”I don’t know that I can,” Erling said honestly. ”Honestly, I’d been debating all afternoon about whether or not I even wanted to take this on. Lady Ashlynn is stripping the Leufroys of their lands and titles. She told me that I’d have to find someone else to rule their lands if I accepted her offer,” he explained, confirming one of the most charged rumors that had been swirling around the manor since this morning’s breakfast.

”I know that nothing is ever free or easy,” Erling said. ”But that part... It made me worry about the sort of target it might put on my back. Valeri Leufroy has plenty of friends who owe him favors, and if taking up this mantle put my people in greater danger, I wasn’t willing to risk them just so I could climb a ladder I never cared for.”

”But if I can claim Aleese as one of my vassals,” Erling said. ”Then maybe, just maybe, my old agreement with Wolstan can actually protect your lands...”

”It won’t dissolve a blood debt, Erling,” Wes cautioned. ”If the High Lord carries a grudge against Reynold’s family, you might not be able to shield him from it.”

”Then, if that’s the case,” Erling replied, raising his own cup of wine to Reynold. ”Then at least you won’t have to fight alone.”

”Why would you go that far for me?” Reynold said, caught off guard by Erling’s strong support. ”We don’t know each other that well. You don’t owe me any debts...”

”No,” Erling said, glancing from Wes to Reynold as a smile spread on his lips. ”But I know who my friends are, and I think that you’re right. I would have liked to ride with you and to know you better than I have.”

These past few days, as he looked at the people around Ashlynn and watched the way all the people of Blackwell came together, he’d begun to realize how much warmth he’d been cutting himself off from by keeping to himself in his tiny, impoverished corner of the march.

He’d avoided making enemies, but he’d also made far too few friends, and if not for his mother’s friendship with Lady Sorcha, it was unlikely that he’d even have had Wes to count on these past several years.

Now, as the old order was collapsing, it was time for that to change.

”I don’t know what will happen in the wars we’ll find ourselves fighting,” Erling said, taking a long swallow of wine to empty his cup and holding it out to Reynold for a refill. ”But if I have to fight, I’d like a friend like you beside me. How can I ask you to ride for me in the future if I won’t ride for you now? So let’s face it together, whatever comes, and leave behind the regrets about what could have been.”

”Hey,” Wes protested. ”Don’t leave me out of this,” he said, leaning in to clink his cup against Erling’s and then Reynold’s. ”My sword arm isn’t what it once was, but don’t forget that Owain Lothian never defeated me in a tournament,” he reminded them. ”If it’s a match between champions and you can make use of me, then do it. I won’t see you two fighting alone.”

”Wes,” Erling said with a frown. ”You have a wife and child. You shouldn’t be risking yourself when your family needs you.”

”And what kind of example would I be setting for my son if I left you two to face danger alone?” Wes countered. ”But if I have to come back from all of this nonsense alive, then so do you. My son could use a few ’uncles’ who are better than the scheming, backstabbing uncle of mine, and I can’t think of two better men for him to emulate.”

”But you two,” he said in mock seriousness, pointing a finger at each of them. ”You can’t go on without wives and brats of your own. So while you’re negotiating the future of your domains with Lady Ashlynn, don’t forget to ask if she can make some introductions,” he said with a wink.

”Who knows,” Wes added with a laugh. ”You might even find yourselves a charming Eldritch bride. They can’t all look like bears who could rend a man in two... could they?”

”I don’t know,” Erling said with an answering laugh of his own as the wine started to warm both his belly and his heart. ”I suppose we’ll find out in a few days’ time...”