The Vampire & Her Witch

”If I could,” Nyrielle said, raising a hand to gently caress Ashlynn’s soft, tender cheek and feeling the warmth of her lover’s skin under her cool fingertips. ”I would give you a grand wedding this very night because I cannot bear to deny you any happiness.”

”But as much as I wish to give my darling Ashlynn the grand wedding she deserves,” Nyrielle said as she turned to address the crowd. ”There are two things standing in our way, and we must resolve them both.”

Across the great hall, a few people stared in open-mouthed disbelief at Nyrielle’s words. She was the Harbinger of Death, and she was betrothed to the Mother of Trees! What could possibly come between them?

”By the customs of her people, as much as it sickens me, my dearest Ashlynn is still considered the wife of Owain Lothian,” Nyrielle said. Her brows furrowed and her entire expression darkened as her shadow grew larger behind her until she forcibly reigned in the fury in her heart at the notion that a man who had treated Ashlynn the way Owain had could still have any claim to her beloved.

”Until Owain Lothian dies, we can never be considered properly married in the eyes of her people,” Nyrielle explained. ”And there’s a greater gift I wish to give my darling on her wedding day, but this is the second thing that stands between us and our union.”

Cradled in Nyrielle’s embrace, Ashlynn felt her heart begin to race as Nyrielle vented their frustrations. It wasn’t only because of customs or the opinions of the Church that they couldn’t be wed, it was also because Ashlynn herself couldn’t take that step until she had buried the ghosts within her heart that haunted her dreams and clawed at her spirit whenever something pressed up against the scars Owain left on her soul the night of their wedding.

But Nyrielle was too kind to expose the things that tormented her lover, and so she revealed only a portion of the truth to their people, leaving the rest as a secret between the two of them.

”My darling deserves to have her family in attendance at her wedding, but her parents are weeks away by even a fast carriage, and bringing them here, at present, would be far too dangerous,” Nyrielle continued, as though she were truly helpless to solve the problem. ”Worse, her sister is held captive by Owain Lothian, and she may yet be forced to take my darling’s place as his bride in the name of the marriage alliance between their two families.”

Instantly, the temperature in the hall felt like it rose by several degrees as countless eyes blazed with fury at the notion that the man who had tried to murder the Mother of Trees would then force himself on her younger sister. At the back of the hall, even Darragh struggled to resist the surge of bile that rose in his throat when he heard that his lord would even contemplate something so vile.

”If it would please my darling, I would fly to Lothian City tonight and return with Owain Lothian’s head on a platter and her sister in my arms,” Nyrielle proclaimed as she pulled Ashlynn into an even tighter embrace. ”But my darling has never asked me to solve her problems for her, and even if I did, we both know that such hasty actions would only cause greater problems.”

”So if I cannot give her vengeance, and I cannot rescue her family, then I will do the next best thing to honor the dowry she has presented me with,” Nyrielle said, giving Ashlynn a final squeeze before stepping back from her and gesturing to the people gathered at the high table. ”My darling, I place the armies of the Vale under your command, and my progeny as well,” she said, shocking all but a few people in the great hall who already knew what was coming.

To anyone else, this moment might seem strange, and Nyrielle’s offer felt like anything but a sweet gesture. But to Ashlynn, it was everything she wanted and exactly what she needed if she was going to put the past behind her and create a world where they could live their lives together in peace.

Moreover, Ashlynn herself needed both this war and this victory. The distance between her power and Nyrielle’s strength grew smaller every day, but there was still a vast gulf between them in terms of the experiences that had shaped them. If Ashlynn truly wanted to stand beside Nyrielle as her equal in the conflicts to come, she needed to take the lead here and learn what it meant to bear the burden of command in a war against the Vale’s longstanding enemies.

To anyone else, it would seem like the strangest of gifts, but to Ashlynn, no other gift would mean as much as the support she needed to free herself from the ghosts of her past and put an end to more than a hundred years of generational wars.

”Use our soldiers as you see fit to claim your vengeance,” Nyrielle said fiercely. ”Free your loved ones, and take back what is yours by right! Soldiers of the Vale,” she said, turning to face the tables of honored guests. ”Are you ready to help my Ashlynn topple our enemies and take back what is hers?”

”The first army is ready!” Commander Bassinger called, standing from his seat among the guests of honor and saluting by placing the tips of his claws over his heart, as if he were prepared to rip it from his chest if Ashlynn gave him the order to do so.

”Whether you need us to defend the Vale while you advance, garrison the lands that you conquer, or charge the enemy’s gates, we stand ready!” he shouted.

Across the great hall, dozens of men who stood guard over the festive celebration matched their commander, saluting with their claws over their hearts and stomping their feet as they snapped to attention, proudly presenting themselves as if they would march to war at this very moment to slay Ashlynn’s enemies and rescue her family.

”The second army is hungry for battle!” Commander Savis said, his brilliant white fur and sharp fangs gleaming in the light of the great hall’s chandeliers as he stood next to Bassinger while matching the bearish man’s salute. ”Let us off our leash and we will tear out your enemy’s throats, cripple their captains and slaughter their lords! We are ready for war!”

This time, the response was even greater as Captain Ipiktok stood for the first time since entering the hall, towering over everyone present as he raised his trunk and let out a mighty trumpet blast as if he was sounding the charge to battle.

”The third army has already begun!” Commander Tausau said, rising next to Savis and Bassinger. The smile on his lips was eager and filled with pride as he imagined the men of his Mongrel Horde, so often looked down on by the Eldritch World for their Clanless origins, being the first to shed blood in Lady Ashlynn’s war of vengeance. ”My scouts have already marked the way, and our men are prepared to strike. We will teach the Lothians to fear the night and pave the way for you to claim your vengeance!”

This time there was no answering call from gathered soldiers, but the lack of response seemed even louder and more stunning than Ipiktok’s trumpet blast.

”Did he say that his men were already in position?” someone whispered to their neighbor. ”Then, is that why there aren’t any people present from the Mongrel Horde? They’ve really already begun?”

”The fourth army is at your disposal,” Commander Aspakos said as he rose from his place at the second table for honored guests. ”Though I doubt you will need us, should the enemy send their Inquisitors, their Templars or their miracle workers, call upon us and we will treat them as kindling to light the path to your victory,” he proclaimed.

While Aspakos respected the need to create this moment to unify the people of the Vale, especially the ones who had journeyed across the mountains to fight in this war, he still did what he could to hold himself and his sorcerers back. Too much force, applied too soon, would only provoke a reaction from their greater enemies that they weren’t yet prepared to face. Until the time came, he would restrain his support as much as possible and preserve their strength for the greater battles to come.

”You have my sword, should you require it,” Thane said, walking forward to kneel at Ashlynn’s feet and smiling up at her. ”My sword and anything else you require from me or my siblings. As we serve Mistress Nyrielle, we serve you as well,” he said formally, drawing the sword at his hip and presenting her with its hilt in a timeless display of knightly loyalty and service.

At the table of honored guests, Kaisen and Helga blinked several times as they looked at the increasingly aggressive displays from the commanders and soldiers present in the great hall. Lady Ashlynn had offered a throne and the whole of a nation as her dowry, and the scale of it was already beyond belief, but were they understanding Lady Nyrielle’s betrothal gift correctly?

Did the Harbinger of Death just offer her betrothed an army, primed and ready to take up Lady Ashlynn’s cause and wage war? When did this event transform from a celebration into a prelude to invasion?