The Vampire & Her Witch

Maela did her best to keep her explanation simple, but every question she answered sparked two more in turn until she found herself all the way back at the beginning, explaining Ashlynn’s mark and their decision to hide her away from the Church.

”You all know how, how hard it’s been for me,” Maela said. ”After so many struggles, when Ashlynn was finally born, we thought she was a miracle. And Rhys... I think he went half mad searching for a way to protect her from what she was going to become.”

”There are... Strange things in the Blackwell Isles,” Maela explained. ”Things that are older than Gaal. Myths, superstitions... Things the Church would call heretical if they ever really knew. Rhys always says that it’s just the way things are, but after Ashlynn was born, he was like a man possessed.”

”I struggled with it at first,” Maela admitted. ”He’d go missing for days at a time, and then he’d come home with some musty scroll or ancient book, but he was adamant that, if we handed our Ashlynn over to the Church, we’d never see her again and... I don’t think he was wrong.”

”So you hid her away for twenty years,” Dylan said, tapping the table absentmindedly as he studied his younger sister’s expression. ”And her mark only became an issue when she married Owain?”

”Mmm,” Maela said with a sigh. ”I think we’d all become a bit too comfortable with her secret. She wasn’t a witch... She was our Ashlynn. Kind, patient and far too lonely. Owain was charming and handsome even if he was a little... rough,” Maela said, clenching her hands tightly as she remembered the signs she’d dismissed as ’frontier ruggedness,’ instead of seeing them for what they were.

”I wanted her to have a chance to find the kind of happiness I’d found with Rhys,” Maela said. ”I never imagined that he would try to murder her over the mark.”

”Why would you?” Hedra said lightly as she blotted the tears from her eyes. ”You watched her grow up for twenty years. You know she wasn’t wicked. Whenever we visited, she was always so excited we’d come. She would talk for hours about books or her garden or her tutors...”

”You know,” Hedra added, glancing at Micheline. ”It was Ashlynn who convinced me that Micheline could thrive in the Royal Academy. I was nervous because most of the students there grew up with the very best tutors in Gaalen and some of them prepare for years before they ever set foot on academy grounds. I didn’t think Micheline could keep up.”

”Mother!” Micheline said, her face turning a bright shade of pink.

”It’s true,” Hedra said. ”But seeing how much Ashlynn was able to accomplish without attending an academy at all, I changed my mind. And look, Micheline, you did so well at the academy. Your poor father and I have been inundated with proposals for you from lords who think you’ll help their sons be better rulers.”

”And from lords who understand that you have the Crown Prince’s ear,” Dylan added. ”Sifting the status seekers from the worthy partnerships will take time and effort, but,” he started to say only for his voice to trail off and his expression to grow grim.

”I was going to say that I refuse to let you fall into a marriage to a man like Owain, no matter how good it is for our family,” Dylan said, turning his attention back to his little sister. ”But if she’s the cousin of a witch, I don’t imagine her marriage prospects will be very good, will they?”

”I’m sorry, Dylan, Micheline,” Maela started before Marcel interrupted her.

”Who’s to say?” Marcel said with a charming smile and a twinkle in his eyes. ”Your marriage prospects might be better now. One of Ashlynn’s first decrees after she conquered Lothian March was that women were free to marry as they pleased and no one could force them into a marriage they didn’t desire. You could marry a kitchen boy if you found true love,” he said.

”A kitchen boy?” Micheline said, blinking several times in surprise at the strange, dark-haired man that Maela had brought to dinner. ”You, you think I could find true love with a kitchen boy?”

”I happen to know a very exceptional kitchen boy,” Marcel said, spreading his hands wide and shrugging. ”A pretty exceptional chambermaid too, if women are your preference.”

”Mister Marcel!” Maela said sharply, tapping the table and giving him a warning look.

”It’s true, your Majesty,” Marcel said sweetly. ”You’ll meet them soon enough. Ashlynn’s lady-in-waiting was little more than a chambermaid a year ago, but she defeated Loman Lothian at the Battle of Hanrahan. Sir Ollie was a kitchen boy when Ashlynn met him, but he saved hundreds of lives this past year and more than a dozen lords and ladies when Owain turned the power of the Lothian throne against his own vassals.”

”Extraordinary people can be found in the most ordinary of places,” Marcel concluded. ”And your daughter has a talent for finding them.”

For a moment, the table went quiet as they digested Marcel’s words, but it didn’t take long for Dylan to tease out the most troubling pieces of news that the strange young man had mentioned so casually.

”Excuse me, but did you say that Ashlynn had conquered Lothian March?” Dylan said. ”There was a battle in Hanrahan, and Loman Lothian was defeated by Ashlynn’s lady-in-waiting? Another witch?”

”Maela,” Dylan said, turning to face his younger sister. ”What’s happened in Lothian?”

”I was getting there,” Maela said, glaring at Marcel. ”You’re pushing. Again.”

”Time, your Majesty,” Marcel replied blandly. ”We need to be on our way soon. I know you treasure your family as much as your daughter does, but understanding can come later. Right now, we need to settle affairs with your brother and be on our way.”

”It will take days to reach Lothian, even if we take a fast ship all the way to Otker Canyon, and another from the other side,” Maela countered. ”You can give me a few hours with a brother I haven’t seen in months and won’t see again for months more. And don’t think I won’t have words with Ashlynn about your behavior tonight,” she added sharply, hoping the threat would cut sharply enough for the vampire to back down.

”You’re going to drive me just as hard as she does,” Marcel said, throwing up his hands in a flutter of lace. ”I’ll find a way to make up the time, your Majesty, but please remember that I still have my own business to conclude with your brother before we leave, and time is the most difficult commodity to buy.”

”Why are you in such a hurry?” Maela demanded. ”You still haven’t explained why we need to move so quickly.”

”There are limits to everything, even for witches, Your Majesty,” Marcel said simply. ”When Ashlynn seized control of Lothian Manor on Midwinter’s Night, she took the lords of Lothian March as her hostages and prevented messages from leaving the city.”

”So long as everyone of importance was trapped in Lothian Manor, she could prevent news of what happened that night from spreading,” Marcel said. ”But soon, the armies of the Vale of Mists and the Southern Steppe will arrive at Lothian along with Mistress Nyrielle and High Lord Dirar... the ones your people call the Demon Lady of the Vale and the Horse Lord,” he added with a sour look at the titles humans had applied to the woman who had transformed him into a vampire and one of their staunchest allies.

”So tell me, Lord Dylan,” Marcel said, turning to face the count of DuCoumont. ”What do you think will happen when the armies of two ’demon lords’ arrive in Lothian to discuss the founding of a new nation?”