The Vampire & Her Witch

Once again, the atmosphere surrounding the table was incredibly tense as Ashlynn and Loman returned to their meal, but this time, it was Loman who put in the effort to bring things back to a companionable level between them. After all, words were easy to say, but a real apology required deeds.

”You mentioned that you’d heard rumors about my father’s attempts to play matchmaker,” Loman said, making a peace offering of his own with his choice of topic. He didn’t imagine that anyone would be interested in marrying the hideous, disfigured man he’d become, but for a moment, it felt nice to pretend that he still had some prospects.

”I wonder, sister-in-law,” he said, pointing at her with his spoon as he carefully enunciated the words ’sister-in-law’ in mock formality. ”What do you think of a match between me and Micheline DuCoumont?” Loman asked hesitantly as he stirred the rich, creamy mushroom soup that Ashlynn had prepared.

The pottage of peas and carrots was hearty and filling but it was also more cumbersome to eat than he’d realized and he wasn’t up to confronting his frustration so directly after Ashlynn had tossed him on the floor. The soup, however, was gentle and mild in flavor and exactly what he needed right now.

”With my cousin Micheline?” Ashlynn said, nearly spitting out the sip of tea she’d just taken as she stared wide eyed at Loman. ”Have you met Micheline? No, of course you haven’t,” Ashlynn said quickly. ”If you’d met her, you wouldn’t need to ask about her, you’d know it was a bad idea.”

”Why is it such a bad idea? Is it because I’m that much older than her?” Loman asked. ”I know she’s a bit young, but her coming of age celebration was this summer, and I’d heard that your uncle had invited several eligible young lords to meet her.”

”Of course he did,” Ashlynn laughed, taking up one of the duck legs and taking a delicate bite, savoring the flavor of the juicy, tender meat and the crisp snap of the perfectly browned skin. ”Do you know why you heard that he’d invited several eligible young lords to meet her?”

”I assumed he wanted it to be well known that she was seeking a suitor and looking for a good match,” Loman said, frowning at how much the idea of courting her cousin seemed to have tickled Ashlynn’s sense of humor. ”What am I missing?”

”Loman, you’re a good, kind man but the Church didn’t do you any favors in considering a woman to marry,” Ashlynn said lightly. ”You heard about my cousin courting eligible young lords because Uncle Dylan invited lords from so far away. I’d be amazed if more than one in four of the young lords who received an invitation came from Keating Duchy, and likely the same amount from Trevarthen Duchy. The bare minimum he could get away with if he didn’t want to offend his own lord, or his brother-in-law’s lord.”

”The rest likely came from families like the DuLacs, the Lazards, or even the Forbors,” Ashlynn mused. It had been a long time since she’d thought much about her Uncle’s efforts, and it felt like even longer than the several months it had been since her wedding had brought her face to face with so many nobles from across the southern lands, but then, her uncle Dylan had never been focused on strengthening his ties to the other southern lords.

”Your uncle is eyeing a match from near the Royal Capital,” Loman realized as he heard Ashlynn listing off families he’d encountered when he traveled to the Holy City. All of them were incredibly old, with noble lineages that predated the First Crusade, and even though the DuLacs and the Lazards were only counties, either of them could easily match the wealth of Lothian March.

”You can’t afford to court my cousin Micheline,” Ashlynn said, shaking her head at the deflated expression that had settled on Loman’s face. ”Uncle Dylan spent a small fortune to have her educated in the Royal Academy in the capital. She passed through Blackwell on her way to school years ago, and again when she came back last year. She’s an... intense individual,” Ashlynn said politely.

Ashlynn’s father refused to play the sort of high stakes political game that her uncle Dylan was best at. While Rhys Blackwell had concerned himself mostly with securing the line of succession for his family when he made arrangements for Ashlynn, and with maintaining the support of the merchant guilds when he made his plans for Jocelynn, Dylan DuCoumont had his eyes set on larger things.

Micheline hadn’t gone to the Royal Academy just because she was clever or talented. She’d gone because she was two years older than her brother Inry, and she was three years older than the Crown Prince.

Dylan DuCoumont harbored no delusions about marrying his youngest daughter into the royal line, but he hoped to forge a friendship between Inry and the Crown Prince. But the Royal Capital was far from the southernmost duchy, and preparing Inry to thrive in the Academy when he would be so far from his family was a difficult undertaking at best. So, rather than sending Inry alone, Ashlynn’s uncle sent his daughter to prepare the way and to learn the lay of the land, acting as Inry’s support once he enrolled.

According to Micheline, things had gone more or less as her father wished. Inry and the Crown Prince had struck up a small friendship thanks to the advice that Micheline was able to provide him with, and Inry was working hard to earn a place in the Crown Prince’s retinue at the academy.

Unfortunately, from Ashlynn’s perspective at least, the substantial sums that her uncle had spent on Micheline had set her expectations for her lifestyle after leaving the academy far too high, and even in Blackwell City, she’d looked down on the rough and tumble lives of lords who lived closer to the working class than the cloistered aristocracy of the Royal Court.

In some ways, Micheline was like Ashlynn’s sister Jocelynn. But while Jocelynn envied Ashlynn’s marriage to Owain Lothian enough to betray her for the chance to take her place, Micheline looked down on the lords of the frontier and would have considered marrying the future Marquis a terrible hardship.

Ashlynn, Jocelynn and Micheline might all be the daughters of counts, but when it came to matters of marriage, they were all very different women.