The Vampire & Her Witch

”So, if your cousin would be such a poor match,” Loman said as he forced himself to shake off the feeling of dejection that came from being told he couldn’t afford to court Ashlynn’s cousin. ”Who would I match up well with? Be honest,” he said as he turned the wounded side of his face toward her. ”I can take a blow,” he added, trying to make light of his injuries instead of letting them become a constant source of torment and shame.

”You should marry someone who makes you happy, Loman,” Ashlynn said with a gentle smile as her mind drifted back to the betrothal banquet that she and Nyrielle had held where the mighty Harbinger of Death proclaimed her love for the Mother of Trees, and Ashlynn told the world that Nyrielle already owned her heart.

”You should marry someone who can turn to you when they are weak and need your strength,” she said. ”And someone that you can rely on when you are struggling and need their help. Someone who laughs with you, and weeps with you... Whether that person is a princess or a commoner, it shouldn’t matter. So long as you’ve found love, then that’s enough.”

”There’s a wide world out there for you, you know,” she added as she picked up her own bowl of soup and fished through the creamy broth for a large piece of mushroom. ”You could settle down somewhere that no one knows your family’s name, living together in a small cottage and living off the land. Life doesn’t have to be extravagant as long as you’re living it with someone you love.”

”I’ve seen how you live,” Loman said, using his spoon to point at the refined furnishings and masterwork paintings that adorned her walls. ”I don’t think you know what you’re talking about when you suggest living in a cottage in the middle of nowhere.”

”You’d be wrong, Loman,” Ashlynn said with a teasing smile as she savored the rich, earthy flavor of the wild mushrooms in the soup. ”You know I spent three months living in the middle of a swamp in a hut built on stilts. I picked herbs, fruits and vegetables in the garden every morning and night, and I cooked a dish for breakfast and dinner every day too.”

Those days had been simpler and easier in so many ways than her life had been since she left the Briar to return to Nyrielle’s side, and eventually, to return to the Vale of Mists and her war with Owain Lothian. As hard as it had been to learn the fundamentals of witchcraft in such a brief period of time, they’d still been among the most peaceful days she’d known since the night of her wedding.

For a moment, she imagined a world where she returned to the Briar and Loman settled near the towering waterfall that looked like spun gold at dawn when the rising sun’s rays struck the water. She was certain that he’d be as touched by its beauty and power as she had been, and that he’d find the place just as sacred... It might be a simple life, far from the machinations of royal courts and clashing frontier lords but it wouldn’t be a bad life by any definition.

”I don’t think the world works that way for people like us, Ashlynn,” Loman said sadly as he tried to imagine living the life that she described and failed utterly. Whether it was a duty to his family or his faith, his fate was bound to greater things and he couldn’t easily step away from those things, no matter how tempting a simple life might be. ”I don’t think we get to make choices like that.”

”I think we do,” Ashlynn disagreed, setting down her soup to reach across the table and gently resting her hand on Loman’s wrist. ”I think that a world where we can’t make choices like that is a world that isn’t worth living in. And it’s not the kind of world I want to build.”

”So, I say, look for love, wherever you find it,” Ashlynn said, smiling at her brother-in-law as the tension between them finally seemed to have melted away. ”Who knows. There might even be a vampire bride in your future, or a witch,” she added with a teasing wink as she pulled back her hand. ”The world is full of surprises...”

Across the table from her, Loman wasn’t convinced that the world would contain any such pleasant surprises for him. He’d led a charmed life for a long time, but those days seemed to have come to an end the moment he raised his Bow of Stars in the Battle of Hanrahan.

But, looking at her face and hearing the wistful, almost airy tone in her voice when she spoke of love, he began to suspect that it had worked out that way for her.

It hadn’t occurred to him to ask either Liam Dunn or Hugo Hanrahan about his sister-in-law’s relationships since she’d arrived in the Vale of Mists, but Hugo had mentioned a powerful vampire knight named Thane who had evidently been Dame Sybyll’s teacher. Liam Dunn had said the man was so charming that he hadn’t even realized he was being kidnapped until he’d woken up in the Vale of Mists.

Now, listening to Ashlynn suggesting that he might find romance with a vampire or a witch, he couldn’t help but wonder if this ’Sir Thane’ had already sunk his fangs into Ashlynn. If he had, Loman didn’t know what he would do about it... but if it turned out that the man had taken her unwillingly using his vampiric powers, then Loman silently promised that he would do whatever it took to free his sister-in-law from his clutches.

After all, he owed her that much and more for what his brother had already done to her. He couldn’t stand by a second time and let someone else take advantage of her the way Owain had, or he felt like he’d be just as guilty as if he pushed her down himself....