The Vampire & Her Witch

”Tell me, Sir Ollie, have you given much thought to marriage? Is there already a woman in your heart, or are you betrothed?”

Forks and knives froze on plates as Serle Otker made a move so bold and daring that it caught everyone off guard, especially Adala Leufroy.

It took every ounce of restraint that Adala had come to possess after spending years in the Iron Kingdom to keep herself from blurting out the words that surged from her heart when Serle Otker moved from offering up a suit of armor to offering his own daughter.

Part of her, the calm, rational part, wondered if this had been Serle’s intention all along. It was obvious that Sir Ollie was favored by Lady Ashlynn, and it was unlikely that he would want for anything that Lothian March could provide now that she sat upon the throne. Whether it was armor or horses, if it could be bought with gold, the marchioness could likely provide it, and Serle Otker had little to offer besides gold.

There were no famed artisans in Otker who could provide armor that couldn’t be bought without Serle’s patronage, and the finest horses to be found all came from Aleese Barony. Whatever Serle could buy for Sir Ollie, Lady Ashlynn could buy too.

But a bride... That was something that money alone could never buy, especially when the bride in question was the daughter of the wealthiest baron in the whole of Lothian March. Very few people would ever be considered worthy of her hand, and that ’value’ had kept Serle Otker from making arrangements for Charlotte before she came of age.

Now that she had, however, it seemed like the baron had decided the time was finally ripe to harvest his daughter’s value in exchange for a tie to one of Lady Ashlynn’s most trusted knights.

If it had been anyone else, like Liam Dunn, Reynold Aleese, or even her own brother, Tulori, Adala wouldn’t have hesitated to let loose with her sharpened tongue to prevent Charlotte from being sold away. But when it came to Sir Ollie, the knight who had saved Charlotte’s mother from the dark, predatory sorcery of the Lothian throne... Adala could say nothing at all.

Perhaps, Adala thought as her eyes turned to the cheerful, bubbly young lady in the vibrant, colorful dress who looked just as startled as everyone else. Perhaps this would be the moment that an idle, impossible fantasy finally came to an end.

The thought tore through her heart like a knife made of ice, and Adala’s hands tightened on the handles of her knife and fork as she held herself back from moving, but the pain of that thought only grew the more she considered how much Charlotte might find relief in being matched to a man as handsome, heroic, and capable as Lady Ashlynn’s flame-haired champion.

”Father...” Charlotte said, looking from her father’s sharp, calculating gaze to her mother’s warm and hope-filled eyes as she found herself suddenly the center of attention that she’d never wanted. ”Mother...” she added in a softer tone, though she seemed too much at a loss for words to say more than that.

Charlotte’s soft, rounded cheeks had turned a brilliant shade of pink, and she seemed unable to so much as glance in Sir Ollie’s direction; she fidgeted awkwardly with the fork between her fingers as the blush spread all the way to the tips of her ears.

Across the room, Lady Eira’s gaze instantly swung to Morwen Thorne, wishing for the first time that Lady Ashlynn’s steward hadn’t scattered their families across different tables. She knew that Sir Ollie didn’t return Morwen’s feelings yet; how could he? But this was exactly why she’d encouraged her friend to make a move early and to draw as close to the Cypress Knight as she could because the competition for his hand would be fierce.

Now, Morwen found herself competing against the daughter of the wealthiest baron in the march, and Serle Otker was only the first to move, but once he did, his words were like fresh blood on the flanks of a frightened doe and the room’s remaining wolves quickly caught the scent.

”Isn’t it a bit hasty to be asking about Sir Ollie’s affairs, Lord Serle?” Baron Onen LeGleau said. ”This is his first time attending a gathering of the court, and he’s still a young lad,” he said smoothly. ”Give him time to meet the ladies of the realm before you start offering up your daughter to repay his act of heroism.”

”Sir Ollie,” Onen said, turning to face the young knight whose eyes looked as wide as those of a startled warhorse. ”If you’d like an opportunity to become acquainted with the young ladies of the realm, my darling Fillia’s coming-of-age banquet is just a few months away, and we’d be delighted to host you in LeGleau as one of our honored guests.”

”Don’t mind this lot, Sir Ollie,” Loghlan Dunn piped up after a sharp pinch from Lady Mairwen accompanied by a pointed look at Morwen and her family. ”These folks have only seen a portion of who you are, and already they’re lining up. Best to wait for someone who sees you for all of you and can love you for everything rather th to let someone press you into an arrangement that suits them more than it suits you,” he said, hoping that the young man would catch his meaning.

After all, Lady Morwen already knew that Sir Ollie wasn’t just a knight, but one of Lady Ashlynn’s witches as well, and still, her heart leaned towards him. How many of these buzzards would say the same once they learned the truth?

”Everyone,” Ashlynn said, tapping sharply on the wooden table with a single finger, using enough force to produce a loud -thump!-

”Sir Ollie and I have spoken at length about his plans for love and marriage,” Ashlynn said, coming to his rescue. ”He believes, as I do, that the choice of who you marry is one of life’s most important decisions and that the only people whose opinions on the decision truly matter are the couple themselves.”

”I only barely survived the fate of marrying a man chosen for what an alliance with his family would mean for mine,” Ashlynn said as her emerald eyes fell on Serle Otker, narrowing as her tone grew sharp. ”So if your daughter wishes to court someone, be they nobleman or commoner, man or woman, young or old... That is a decision for her to make.”

”But from this day forward, so long as it concerns a man or woman within the territory I rule,” Ashlynn said, speaking as if she were making a formal decree. ”No one who isn’t willing is to be wed. You can extend your invitations,” she said, offering a slight smile to Onen LeGleau. ”But after that, if love sprouts between two people, nothing can stop it from taking hold. And if it doesn’t, then no one can forcefully join their hands.”

Ashlynn’s words fell like a wet blanket on most of the men who were already thinking of how they could present their daughters to Ashlynn’s favored knight, but for one person, they landed on her heart like a thunderclap so loud that she found herself repeating them in a whisper few could hear.

”If she wishes to court someone... Man or woman,” Adala whispered in quiet disbelief. She knew that Lady Ashlynn had said it, but did she... Did she truly mean it? And, more importantly, if Adala dared to take her at her word, would Charlotte accept her interest?