The Vampire & Her Witch

Ashlynn smiled as she listened to Lady Ragna working through her answer. Around the room, she could already see several noble ladies sitting up straighter as they processed what Ragna’s conclusion meant for not only their families, but for them personally.

Ashlynn had already given women the right to choose their partners in marriage. She’d further declared that women were able to inherit, though it was less clear what that meant now that titles couldn’t be passed from parent to child. It was clear, however, that the empresses intended to allow women like Lady Tosha and Dame Sybyll to rule their lands directly.

Now, Lady Ragna’s words struck a spark before the eyes of the realm’s women and in a few of those gazes, the flames of genuine ambition had been ignited.

For Brighde, however, it was more than just a spark, and the flames it lit weren’t new... If she could rise above her foolish husband’s station on her own merits, that opened several new opportunities to advance her plans. She just had to find the right opportunity to display the skills she’d long allowed her husband to take credit for, and then she could finally take flight without dragging Telent along with her like a stone tied around her neck...

If Ashlynn noticed the ambitious gleam in Brighde’s eyes, she said nothing, focusing instead on the other half of the crowd in the room. Or at least, the men among the humans as most of the Eldritch people present had long been accustomed to women in positions of power.

Some men, like Eira’s father, Sir Padraig Wyndan, were looking toward their daughters with proud, confident gazes and smiles on their lips. Others, like Lord Onen LeGleau, were looking at all of their children with fresh eyes, as if they were reappraising their children’s talents while assessing new opportunities.

Suddenly, Onen realized Empress Ashlynn’s offer to let all of his children attend her new academy sounded much, much more important, since every single one of them would have a host of new opportunities.

Still, a few men in the room, Like Serge Otker, looked toward their sisters as if, for the first time in their lives, they saw them as both competition and a threat. Here and there, the sparks of newborn rivalries flared, but when Serge looked at his sister, smiling, laughing, and openly embracing her best friend, he couldn’t help but sigh while reaching for a fresh goblet of wine. Some contests, it seemed, had already been lost.

”I couldn’t agree with your reasoning more,” Ashlynn finally said, returning her attention to Lady Ragna. ”This is exactly the sort of broad-minded thinking that brought you to our attention,” Ashlynn said.

”During your years as regent,” Ashlynn said, explaining for both Ragna and those in the room who were unaware of her reputation. ”You were known for eschewing the frontier’s harsher, stricter sense of justice. You distinguished between crimes of passion, crimes of desperation, crimes of opportunity and crimes of genuine malice.”

”A hungry man who steals food is guilty of a crime,” Ragna acknowledged. ”But he acts out of desperation. In the face of starvation, who can blame a man for acting to preserve his own life. I always believed that sentencing such men to labor while providing them with food and shelter accomplished a great deal more than severing their fingers or confiscating their possessions.”

”Exactly so,” Ashlynn agreed. ”Those who commit unforgivable crimes should be dealt with swiftly, while those who are cornered or coerced should receive milder treatment,” she said, looking out at the crowd.

”We don’t have to look further than Abbot Recared to understand that true villains who would extort others should be dealt with harshly, but his victims have much less to fear so long as they make their circumstances known,” Ashlynn said pointedly.

A few people shifted nervously in their seats while others slumped in obvious relief. The spectre of the Inquisition’s notebooks still loomed large in some minds, but it sounded like there might be mercy to be had for those who were trapped within those pages.

”If that’s the sort of justice you want me to dispense as a Lord Magistrate,” Ragna said, bowing her head to Ashlynn. ”Then I’m happy to accept the position.”

”Congratulations, Lady Magistrate,” Dirar said with a warm, genuine smile while clapping his hands lightly in applause. ”It’s good to know that one of our northern neighbors has such a broad-minded view of justice.”

”If you’d like,” Dirar added smoothly. ”My seventh concubine, Mide, is something of a scholar of the law. I’m sure she’d be happy to host you if you’d care to visit the City of Solace where she dwells. Perhaps she may even join you among the ranks of Lord Magistrates,” Dirar said, raising a brow and turning his attention to Lady Ashlynn.

”We’ve heard very little, after all,” Dirar said smoothly. ”About how the Bloodroot Empire intends to treat the Southern Steppe if we join its ranks.”

”Fairly,” Nyrielle said bluntly, unwilling to be drawn into Dirar’s convivial momentum. ”You cannot deny that I’ve helped to shield you and your people from the aggression of the Lothians and the Church for some time now. There are no great debts between us for me to be exceedingly generous.”

”At the same time,” Ashlynn said, lightly resting the tips of her fingers on Nyrielle’s arm. ”We recognize both the size and scale of the Southern Steppe and how much you could contribute to the empire. For that reason alone, we’d be prepared to welcome your City Lords, including your concubine Togene, as Lord Governors of their own protectorates, establishing six protectorates along the southern sea.”

”Of course, they’d need to establish Rides and villages where appropriate,” Ashlynn added. ”We wouldn’t want to see any of your people left behind.”

”How many protectorates do you intend to establish in the lands the Lothians once ruled?” Dirar asked directly.

”Five,” Ashlynn said, setting off a wave of gasps as people realized that her offer would immediately give the Southern Steppe more representation than the Lothian March would enjoy at the ’High Table’ she’d mentioned and in any other gatherings of powerful nobles. Combined with whatever she established in the Vale of Mists, humans would quickly find themselves in the minority in this new realm!

”Six is a start,” Dirar said, unwilling to accept the initial offer despite the favorable framing. He was already looking not only at the Vale of Mists but the High Pass beyond it. A single seat majority in this new ruling body wouldn’t be enough to prevent his people from being trampled on, nor was it sufficient for the size of the Southern Steppe’s nomadic herds.

”My Herd Masters have no fixed lands to rule,” Dirar said. ”They share in the bounty of the northern grasslands equally. A single herd is tens of thousands of people, and the largest exceed a hundred thousand. Would you deny them the status of Lord Governor simply because they lack a city that never moves?”

”Yes,” Nyrielle said, smiling just enough to reveal the tips of her fangs. ”Unless they also appoint Lord Commanders and raise armies that can fight in the wars to come. If they can do that, then I have no objections to granting your Herd Masters the status of Lord Governor and all of the privileges that go along with it,” she said.

”That leaves you with thirteen, doesn’t it, Dirar?” Nyrielle said sweetly. ”For such an auspicious number, I would imagine your people would feel sufficiently honored and respected by the Bloodroot Empire, but what do you think?”