The Vampire & Her Witch

The inside of the tent had been decorated simply with small, individual planks of polished wood that could rest on a person’s lap or in front of them in place of a table. Where most nobles would have insisted on bringing proper furniture, Ashlynn only required a thick rug to lay over the damp ground and piles of cushions that people could lean against when sitting on the ground. A single lantern hanging from the pole at the center of the tent was enough to fill the space with soft golden light, revealing just how sparse the interior of the tent was.

If it had been a normal meeting, Ashlynn would have put more effort into welcoming people like Master Isabell and Master Tiernan, but out here in the wilderness, practical considerations trumped normal displays of hospitality. In the days to come, if they accepted her offer to join her in the Vale of Mists, she would make amends for any slights they felt in their first meeting.

”Congratulations on your betrothal, Lady Ashlynn,” Marcel said softly when he entered the tent. ”I’m sorry I couldn’t be present but things are beginning to move quickly in Lothian March,” he said as he flopped onto the cushions in a graceful sprawl, briefly posing like a boy toy before their patron. ”You can praise me for my efforts any time,” he said with a light laugh.

”Only if you do that in front of Mistress Nyrielle,” Ashlynn said, flinging a small cushion at him while she fought to suppress the surge of giggles that threatened to spill past her lips. ”Thank you,” she said after a moment of catching her breath. ”I needed that. You brought some unexpected guests with you. Men loyal to Marquis Bors?”

”Hardly,” Marcel snorted as he gave Ashlynn a pouting look that said he hadn’t intended to move so quickly to business, but he gave in to her desires anyway. After all, their time this night was limited and the rising of the sun didn’t care if their meeting ran long.

”They’re men loyal to Owain Lothian,” Marcel said, looking around the tent and wishing that there were some sweets or nuts to snack on while they spoke. ”And they’re close enough to him that he sent them to me to hire assassins to torture the family of someone who slighted him. Sir Rain has replaced Sir Tommin as Owain’s personal guard and Sir Hugo took over from Sir Kaefin as his Steward. You can think of them as Owain’s left and right hands.”

Ashlynn’s eyes widened in surprise before narrowing into an intense stare as she realized just how valuable the men were who had wandered into her camp tonight. She’d expected Owain to send some soldiers to guard Isabell and Tiernan, and perhaps even one of the aging knights in his father’s court as a token show of support, but she’d never once expected that he would send his personal guard and steward. Even if it had been at Marquis Bors order, it truly was the sort of ’gift’ that she couldn’t ignore.

”I know Sir Rain by reputation but I only met him briefly at my wedding feast,” Ashlynn said. ”I’ve never heard of Hugo Hanrahan. I thought that Baron Hanrahan’s son was a man named Bastion?”

”Bastion is his rightful son and heir,” Marcel acknowledged. ”Hugo is the bastard child he fathered with a chambermaid. Recently, Baron Hanrahan was forced to recognize Hugo as his child when it seemed like Bastion might become an invalid after falling off his own horse. Bastion’s recovery made things awkward for Hugo and he’s suffered greatly for receiving his surname ever since.”

”I see,” Ashlynn said, resting her chin on a petite fist as she thought about how she wanted to handle the interlopers. ”You wouldn’t have brought them here if you didn’t have something in mind for them. What are your thoughts, Sir Marcel?”

”I think that they can be useful to us in a number of ways,” the vampire said slowly. ”At the very least, they have been close to Owain Lothian for months, from his raid on the Heartwood Village all the way through his visit to Blackwell County and even now, they have been his closest aids. If we did nothing more than handing them over to Madame Zedya to extract information from, we would gain treasures worth their weight in gold.”

”That would be the obvious choice,” Ashlynn agreed. ”But I doubt you’d bring them to me if the best use of them was the obvious one. What else are you thinking?”

”In this case, my lady, I don’t dare think too much,” Marcel admitted, greatly surprising Ashlynn. ”Dame Sybyll has first claim on Sir Hugo’s life so I dare not suggest killing him until she decides his fate. As to Sir Rain, he’s less valuable for what he knows, but he may be useful as a hostage to force his father to capitulate later, or you can wash your hands of him.”

”Whatever you do,” Marcell added after a moment. ”I suggest that they accompany us back to the Vale and that they be allowed to vanish amidst the chaos of tonight,” he said. ”Once news of tonight’s events reaches Lothian City, Owain may curse his luck, but his suspicions won’t be raised too greatly. If you’d like, I can even strip them of their clothes and armor and create a believable ’battlefield’ to convince Owain and anyone who comes looking that they died in one of tonight’s raids.”

”I’ll consider it,” Ashlynn said as she thought carefully about how to handle the men that had fallen into their laps. The more she thought about it, the more the notion of handing them over to Zedya appealed to her. Not simply to extract information from them, but as a means of allowing them to return to Owain’s side, unaware of what had transpired and with instructions to execute that even they wouldn’t remember receiving.

It might take Thane’s help to turn them into true spies and saboteurs but she had seen the results that the two were able to achieve even when they were working quickly to place her among the servants of the Summer Villa. The entire time she’d been there, people believed that she was a woman named Lynnda who might be the illegitimate daughter of Bors Lothian and no one had questioned why they believed that.

If they did something even more extensive to the two men who served as Owain’s left and right hands, she was certain that the results would be devastating.

”Not everyone working under Owain’s command is irredeemable,” Ashlynn said after a few moments of thought. ”Do you think that either of these men could become willing allies rather than unwilling tools or hostages? Eamon proved himself to be loyal tonight and Constable Daithi has adapted well to life with his family in Ollie’s village.”

”From what I can tell, Sir Rain represents the most basic forms of corruption and vice that are common to men of privilege and high station,” Marcel said as a knife appeared in his hands, spinning lazily as he toyed with it. ”He’s known for excessive drinking and whoring but he isn’t like Owain. He doesn’t leave a trail of broken and battered women in his wake and I’ve never heard of him ordering someone killed for offending him.”

”The bar in Lothian March is so low that men and knights must trip over it,” Ashlynn said bitterly. ”And it all flows from the top,” she said with more heat in her voice than she’d intended. ”The people deserve better than to be led by these pigs dressed as men,” she said before shaking her head and fighting to rein in her temper. ”So Sir Rain isn’t known for beating women or killing commoners. What of Sir Hugo? You said that he suffered for his illegitimacy?”

”He’s a poor bastard in every sense of the word,” Marcel agreed. ”His father abuses him, his half-brother abuses him, and now that he’s been pawned off on Owain, Owain and Rain both abuse him. If you’re looking for a man to turn to your cause, he’s primed and ready, and Master Isabell seems to have been working on turning him already.”

”I see,” Ashlynn said as she extended a hand for Marcel to help her stand. ”Then let me test their characters a bit tonight. Depending on how they respond, I may give them an opportunity to join willingly rather than coming as captives.”

”Oh?” Marcel said, raising an eyebrow as he helped Ashlynn to her feet. ”What does my lady have in mind?”