The Vampire & Her Witch

”No,” Ashlynn said, shaking her head slightly after taking a sip of the warm, soothing tea. It did nothing to dispel the hunger in her belly but it at least helped to spread warmth throughout her body and press back against the chill that had nothing to do with the cold winter winds outside.

”I have a request, but you can refuse and it changes nothing for you and your son,” Ashlynn said as she set the cup down. ”But if you’re willing, I’d like you to write a letter to your husband, Sir Tommin and ask him to surrender to my army instead of fighting to defend Hanrahan Town.”

”You can tell him what Owain has done to you and Tonnis,” Ashlynn suggested gently. ”And that we’ve cured you if you think that will help. You can use whatever words you think will reach him. The important thing is that there are very few people who can make him stand down, and I believe that you’re one of them.”

”I, I don’t understand,” Rosie said, blinking in surprise. Why would a Saintess need to attack Hanrahan Town? She remembered Zedya saying that Lady Ashlynn was at war with the Lothians for trying to murder her, but what did that have to do with the Hanrahans? And why would Tommin be involved in the battle?

”There’s too much to explain,” Ashlynn said. ”Dame Sybyll Hanrahan marches under my banner, and Ian Hanrahan murdered her mother while his father murdered her father. There’s more to it, with plenty of grievances to go around, but the important part is that within two days, a battle for Hanrahan Town will begin and your husband will be there.”

”If he takes the field,” Ashlynn explained as patiently as she could. ”I’m worried about the number of lives that will be lost to his Holy Light Blade. So I’d prefer it if he would stand aside and allow us to take him prisoner. If he agrees to that, we’ll bring him here and he can stay with you and Tonnis until the end of the war when we can release you all.”

”But Tommin is a Templar now,” Rosie protested. ”He won’t involve himself in battles between men unless there are... oh,” she said, suddenly stopping as she realized the problem. Lady Ashlynn called herself a witch and whether she was or not, the Church thought of her as one. If she had sent an army to attack Hanrahan Town, then there might be more witches with that army, perhaps even demons. And if that was the case, Tommin would certainly take the field to fight against evil.

”There are witches in your army, aren’t there?” Rosie asked, her voice barely a whisper as she held Tonnis tightly. For a moment, she wondered if she was still trapped in the delusions of the Spider Demon venom. The whole situation seemed impossible. The Saintess standing before her was a witch, but nothing she’d been taught about the savage cruelty of witches lined up with the kind, gentle woman who had cured her and saved her son’s life.

How could someone who performed such miracles of healing be the enemy? Yet if Saintess Ashlynn commanded an army that included witches and she was going to attack the Kingdom of Gaal, then by everything Rosie had been raised to believe, she should flee this place. But where could she go? And how could she abandon the woman who had given Tonnis back his life?

”There is a witch with the army, and ’demons’ too,” Ashlynn acknowledged, refusing to hide the truth from this woman who had already suffered so much. ”My lady-in-waiting, my apprentice, and a number of good friends who protected me in my times of need,” she said softly.

”I don’t want anyone to die who doesn’t need to,” Ashlynn explained, choosing her words with care because there would be many deaths on both sides no matter what happened. ”But if Sir Tommin fights, even if Dame Sybyll tries to preserve his life, no one can promise that he will live. The threat he poses is too great to be taken lightly. If he doesn’t join the fight, the battle will be less intense. It will end sooner and fewer people will die.”

When Ashlynn sent Heila and Hauke to counter Loman and the Inquisitor Diarmuid, she’d believed it was the right decision and that they were strong enough to overcome the combined forces of Sir Tommin and the others from the Church. As the days since her decision dragged on, however, a growing seed of doubt gnawed at her and she unconsciously cradled her sword hand as she remembered the pain of the burns she suffered from Ignatious’s Holy Flame Blade.

As a powerful witch, the weapon had still burned her badly and those wounds only came from her attempts to control it. To have such a powerful weapon turned against her loved ones... She believed that Dame Sybyll could counter Sir Tommin, even with a Holy Light Blade in his hands, but if she couldn’t stop him from reaching the others...

She dared not dwell on the things that could go wrong or she would find herself rushing off to join the battle, and she knew that was the wrong decision. But if she could do something else to protect her people from here, then she resolved to make the attempt.

”So, Rosie, can you write a letter for me?” Ashlynn asked gently, hating herself for manipulating the other woman even as she recognized its necessity. She could see the gratitude shining in Rosie’s eyes, the desperate desire to repay an impossible debt, and part of her recoiled at using that devotion as leverage. But if a simple letter could spare even a dozen lives in the coming battle, particularly if it could stop Heila and Hauke from the risk of facing a Templar with a Holy Light blade in battle, then she had to try.

”Not because I healed you,” the young witch added quickly. ”But because it may save many lives, including your husband’s.”