The Vampire & Her Witch

Maela’s heart froze in her chest, and her stomach plummeted through the floor as she stared at the words on the page. Every loop and whorl of flowing script couldn’t be more familiar if she’d drawn them herself, and she could all but see Ashlynn writing the letter with the blue-green quill that Jocelynn had given her years ago.

’Mother, it’s Ashlynn. I’m alive...’

Maela drew a deep, shuddering breath as her heart began to beat so hard it felt ready to burst from her chest. Her vision swam as tears filled her eyes and she quickly scrubbed them away with the back of her sleeve, afraid to let a single drop fall on the precious piece of parchment.

’I know you have many questions,’ the letter continued. ’And I wish I could write out all the answers. For now, the most important things, in order, and I’ll entrust many of the details you need to Marcel when you meet with him.’

”Marcel,” Maela said, turning the unfamiliar name over in her mind as she tried to think of any Lothian knight or nobleman it might refer to. ”The messenger you mentioned,” Maela said, glancing at the Mother Superior. ”Was his name ’Marcel’ by chance?”

”That sounds right,” Koulma said without turning away from the window. ”I’m told he was a young man, well dressed, and that he said he’d await you at the tavern down the way.”

”I see,” Maela said, setting aside thoughts of the messenger for the moment to focus on the contents of the letter.

’Jocey is alive and in perfect health, though her spirit has been battered in ways no one should suffer. I’m keeping her safe among friends while I secure control of the march as its marchioness. Owain is dead at my hand, Loman is my prisoner, and the power of the Lothian throne has been broken. Our family will never be tormented by them again.’

”Lothian has fallen,” Maela whispered, her mind already reeling with the implications of Ashlynn’s brief sentences.

Most people would struggle to believe something so outlandish could have happened in the few days since they’d received word that Owain would be marrying Jocelynn, but Maela wasn’t most people... and neither was her eldest daughter.

For Ashlynn to have survived Owain’s attempt to murder her, she must have used her powers as a witch. Outside of a miracle, it was the only thing she could think of that would have both preserved her daughter’s life and given her the strength to destroy the Lothian family.

Maela’s lips pressed tightly together, and her heart twisted in her chest as she wrestled with everything that flowed from the knowledge that Ashlynn had unleashed her witchcraft. For as long as Ashlynn had known what she was, she’d promised that she’d never use the powers that came with her mark and that she would strive toward the Light despite the curse of her birth...

For twenty years, Ashlynn had kept that promise, and Maela had begun to think that her daughter wasn’t even a witch at all... Until the night that Owain Lothian claimed her life for the mark she’d come to think of as meaningless.

Except, it wasn’t meaningless. Her eldest daughter really was a witch, and because she was, she’d survived Owain’s attempt to murder her. Maela clutched at the golden sun pendant hanging from her neck as she struggled to reconcile the joy of Ashlynn’s survival with everything else that came with the knowledge that her daughter was a witch... One the Church would be determined to destroy.

Eventually, her eyes returned to the letter, and a smile tugged at the corner of her lips as she read the next sentence. If ever she needed proof that it had really come from her eldest daughter, she found it in the next line her daughter considered to be the ’most important,’ as it followed her own thoughts so closely.

’I’ve embraced what I really am, Mother,’ the letter said. ’I know that may be hard for you to accept. It’s nothing like what we were taught. It’s so much bigger than that, more wonderful than that, and sometimes, scarier than that too. I hope you’ll let me explain it to you, in person, because some things need to be seen to be believed.’

’I’ve already told Jocey,’ Ashlynn’s letter continued. ’I still don’t know if I can forgive her for what she did but... I’m determined to try. It’s hard for me to be there for her and she’s suffered so much. I’m sure it’s hard for you too, but she needs you, Mother. We both do.’

”So she already knows,” Maela whispered, blinking away the tears that overwhelmed her vision and turning away from the page. ”And she saved Jocey anyway...”

That was her Ashlynn. The Ashlynn who never stopped looking for ways to help her father even when she couldn’t leave the manor. The Ashlynn who brought the vegetables from her gardens to the household staff, not because the staff didn’t make enough to eat, but so they could spend more of their salary on things that brought them joy rather than spending their snips just to keep their bellies full.

And her Ashlynn needed her...

Maela was halfway out of the chair, the letter unfinished, before she realized she’d started to move and she had to force herself to sit back down, quickly reading the last of the letter.

’Whether you can accept me or not, you won’t be safe where you are once word of what I’ve done reaches Keating. Marcel is like family; you can trust him to bring you safely back to Lothian. He also has a letter for Uncle Dylan. If you’re willing to help him deliver it, it could save many lives.’

’I’m sorry, Mother. I never wanted to hurt you or Father. I hope you can forgive me for the trouble I’ve caused and that you can trust me, at least for now, until I’ve had a chance to explain everything in person.’

’I need you, Mother. Jocey too. Please come soon...’