The Vampire & Her Witch

”Is this, is this some kind of joke?”

For a moment, Reynold just smiled at Tulori Leufroy, refusing to speak as he watched the young lord sputtering in his saddle. The young man could study all the ’historical precedents’ he wanted, and he could recite Church doctrine if he pleased, but when it came to his own sister, clearly, he recognized that the manner in which Owain Lothian was treating Lady Ashlynn’s memory and her sister Jocelynn was unacceptable.

”It’s not a joke,” Reynold said after a long, uncomfortable silence. ”But it is a lesson,” he said, kneeing his horse and tugging lightly on the reins to turn it back towards the trail. ”Don’t sell out your convictions in order to justify things that can’t be justified. It makes a mockery of the virtues you swore to uphold as a knight, and makes you look like a spineless coward of a man,” he chided as he started riding forward again.

”I have no intention to marry Lady Adala,” Reynold added over his shoulder as the group began moving again, following the sounds of horns in the fog as the hunters and the hounds continued to chase the imperial bull elk towards the place where Lord Owain would be able to corner it. ”But you shouldn’t need someone to threaten disrespect towards your sister to recognize when a man is disrespecting a woman.”

”This and that are, are two separate things,” Tulori protested as he urged his horse forward. ”Lord Owain is in a different position than we are, and so is Lady Jocelynn. The affairs of baronies can’t be spoken of in the same breath as the alliance between the daughter of a count and the next marquis. Besides,” he added, though his voice sounded less certain. ”Aren’t you supposed to be riding in Lord Owain’s vanguard? Shouldn’t you be supporting him right now?”

”You think that I agree with the way he treats women?” Reynold said with a grimace, as if he’d just bitten into something sour. ”Just because I’d fight at his side against demons who hurt my brother? Rain might be willing to overlook Lord Owain’s... indiscretions. He might even be tempted to follow in Lord Owain’s footsteps, but don’t mistake me for my brother.”

Reynold’s tone when he spoke about his brother faltered slightly as worry for Rain’s safety warred with his disapproval for the path he’d seen his brother following in the years since he’d become a knight in his own right. That path had only grown more dubious when Rain stepped into the void left by Sir Tommin’s choice to join the Templars, serving as Owain’s personal guard and eager lackey.

Rain was his own man, and there was a limit to how much Reynold could do to protect him now that he was moving away from Aleese barony. Whatever trouble he’d gotten into since choosing to follow Lord Owain, Reynold only hoped that it hadn’t claimed his brother’s life. But if he survived whatever crisis had befallen him, the younger lord from Aleese would still have to contend with Owain’s influence on his behavior, and that troubled Reynold greatly.

”If you don’t intend to marry Lady Adala,” Wes said, hoping to steer the conversation away from a topic as dangerous as Owain Lothian’s indiscretions. ”What plans do you have for marriage, Lord Reynold?”

”I don’t agree with Tulori’s opinion that it’s somehow prudent to remarry without taking time to mourn and respect the fallen,” Baron Iriso added with a note of warning in his voice. ”But he’s not wrong about the wisdom of putting your affairs in order before a war begins.”

”My father has thoughts about a suitable partner for me, and so does my mother,” Reynold said with a slight chuckle. ”But I’m in no hurry. War is coming, and with it, a number of noblemen and their families from the old kingdoms across the sea will pour into Lothian March. Who’s to say that I should only look to the families of the knights and barons of Lothian March to find a wife?”

”You want to court a woman from across the sea?” Erling said, breaking his silence and blinking in surprise. ”You think that the families from the old kingdoms would have any respect for a baron on the frontier?”

”I think they’re coming here because they’ve run out of opportunities in their home countries,” Reynold said bluntly. ”I also think that many of the families from the old kingdoms have treasuries full of gold and silver, but no land left to expand into. But Aleese isn’t the same as Leufroy or Iriso,” he said, glancing over his shoulder at Wes and Tulori.

”You can’t imagine how vast the Southern Steppe is until you’ve been there,” Reynold said, shaking his head as his gaze grew distant. ”There’s enough land out there for a man to carve out a county for himself, or even more, if he has the skill, the strength, the determination... and the funds.”

”You could do the same, Baron Fayle,” the Aleese lord added. ”I’m certain there will be a number of knights errant in the first wave of Holy Warriors from the old countries. If you’re willing to finally cross the River Tuilig, you could establish at least four more villages. Enough to bring your retinue up to full strength, at least.”

”I hadn’t given much thought to marrying someone from across the sea,” Erling said, deflecting the conversation away from the topic of expanding his domain south across the river that he’d promised he wouldn’t cross.

”Maybe it’s something I should give some thought to,” he added, giving Wes a warning look before the other man could say anything for or against the notion.

Lord Reynold’s marriage plans, such as they were, had come with a reminder of something that Erling had been trying to avoid thinking about. The Holy War was coming, whether he wanted anything to do with it or not.

For now, all eyes seemed focused on Airgead Mountain and the wealth that could be extracted by whoever was fortunate enough to stake a claim to any of the rich deposits of precious metals and jewels that were plentiful there.

But eventually, once Airgead Mountain fell, there would be other fronts to fight on and other lands to conquer... including the lands to the south of Fayle Barony. And when the Holy War finally reached his borders, he would no longer have a choice about joining the fight.