The Vampire & Her Witch

Ashlynn went stiff in Nyrielle’s arms, and her heart began to race as Nyrielle, for what felt like the first time in months, refused to indulge in her ’willfulness.’ There were very few things Nyrielle had ever denied her, and even fewer times she’d directly overruled her, but she’d never once done so without having a very good reason for her actions.

This time was no different. Nyri wasn’t wrong. Deep down, Ashlynn knew that she needed to face Jocelynn eventually. But right now...

”Can’t it wait until after we settle the city and the march?” Ashlynn asked, looking at Nyrielle with beseeching eyes. ”I don’t need to avoid her for months or years, but right now, everything is so fragile...”

”Then I’ll help you hold the fragile pieces together,” Nyrielle said firmly. ”You’ve already taken the first steps, my darling, but you never intended to walk a ruler’s road alone. We bear these burdens together, so let me shoulder my share while you resolve matters with Jocelynn.”

”You’ll be a better ruler for it once you do,” Nyrielle added. ”You’ve been far too kind to people speaking out against you. I see no reason why you couldn’t have claimed Valeri Leufroy’s head for standing so firmly against you. I can forgive Ignatious for his softened heart toward the members of his former order, and I hope he can make something useful out of them, but you, my darling,” Nyrielle said with a soft sigh.

”You’re letting your concern for your sister cloud your judgment when it comes to others you must judge,” Nyrielle said. ”You’re also letting your isolation from your parents taint the way you judge the parents of those who you consider allies and friends. You need to untangle these things, and the knot at the heart of it all is Jocelynn.”

Nyrielle’s words landed on Ashlynn like a bolt of lightning from a clear sky, and they shook her heart like a peal of thunder... because Nyrielle was right. Her resolve to kill Owain had been tempered over months, and when she confronted Recared as a representation of the Inquisition she’d feared and hidden from her entire life, it hadn’t been difficult to swing the sword.

But whether it was Lady Cerys’s younger brother, Cian, or Valeri Leufroy, she’d again and again spared people who deserved far harsher punishments for what they’d done. And with her ’solution’ to her difficulties with Serle Otker, she wasn’t just repeating that pattern; she was doing the same thing she’d done with Jocelynn and the Olive Seed.

She’d pushed the responsibility of handling him onto High Lady Erna just so she didn’t have to be the one to pass final judgment on the man. Even though she knew it was unlikely that he could redeem himself, she’d delayed just to give him a chance and then removed him from her presence.

Exactly as she’d done with Jocelynn by sending her away.

”You’re right,” Ashlynn said. ”I’ve been running away from too many hard decisions even when I know what needs to be done. I love Jocey; she’s been the best little sister I could ever want for almost twenty years... She’s earned a chance to be forgiven. But the rest of them... I’ve let them push too far.”

”It isn’t too late to fix that,” Nyrielle said with a gentle smile as she stroked Ashlynn’s hair. ”I have a few ideas of my own for how we should handle things once I arrive. And I’ll find something ’appropriate’ to do with Serle Otker while we wait for the High Pass to open. Since you’re sending him to Little Snake, we should make certain that she receives a useful gift,” she said with a predatory smile that revealed a hint of her fangs.

”But before you deal with any of the buzzing flies who would spoil our kingdom,” Nyrielle added. ”There’s one other thing you should do.”

”Write to your parents, Ashlynn,” Nyrielle said, cupping her lover’s face gently so she could gaze directly into Ashlynn’s emerald eyes. ”It’s time to let them know that you’re alive. It may take weeks to reach your father,” she added. ”But Marcel’s men should be able to get a message to your mother in a matter of days.”

”She’s at a convent in DuCoumont,” Ashlynn said hesitantly. ”There’s only so much I can say without exposing her to danger. Do you, do you really think it’s the right time?”

It wouldn’t take very long for word to reach the Church that she was a witch and that she’d seized Lothian March as her own domain. Whether it was the convent who questioned her mother about it, or the Inquisition, Ashlynn’s first instinct was that it would be better for her mother to be able to answer honestly that she thought Ashlynn was dead.

It might at least shield her from immediate danger... But it would be a paper shield at best. If her mother would accept it, she would happily have her brought to Lothian City where she would not only be safe, but honored by their burgeoning kingdom as the mother of the Mother of Trees.

The question, however, was whether or not Maela would accept a rescue from her heretical daughter now that she’d gone to seek sanctuary with the Church.

”I think that two daughters are hurting,” Nyrielle said as a faintly pink tear formed at the corner of her eye. ”And I think a woman who hid you away from the Church for twenty years will race to her daughter’s side the instant she knows you’re still alive.”

”And if she doesn’t, then you’re allowed to grieve for what you’ve lost,” Nyrielle added in a soft voice. ”But don’t let a fear of that pain stop you from asking your mother for help... You’ll only have so many years that you can,” she said as her gaze grew distant, looking into a past that held a pair of white-haired parents with the warmest smiles she’d ever known. ”Don’t waste a single one.”