The Vampire & Her Witch

Ashlynn took a slow, steadying breath, closing her eyes for a moment as she fought to still the beat of her heart.

This wasn’t supposed to be a day to fight over old hurts, she reminded herself for what felt like the third time in as many heartbeats. She and Jocelynn had worked hard today to make this a joyous moment of reunion, but their mother had worked just as hard, coming all this way.

Unlike Jocelynn, who had spent several days adjusting to the woman her sister had become, everything was coming at their mother at once, and there’d been no crisis or dramatic confrontation with Owain to shock her mother out of her old perception of witchcraft.

”Mother,” Ashlynn said, stepping forward and pulling Jocelynn with her as she reached out to take her mother’s hand. ”I love you. I’m glad you came all this way, and I know it was hard. I promise, I’ll explain, and I hope you’ll understand.”

”If you have questions, I’ll answer them as best I can,” Ashlynn promised. ”But I’m not a child anymore, and this is the path I’ve chosen. Can you respect that?”

For a long moment, no one said anything as Ashlynn met her mother’s worried gaze with one that held hurt and determination in nearly equal measure. She would give her mother the time she needed to understand, but there was no room in her heart for her mother to change her mind, and she wanted that to be clear from the start.

Slowly, a smile spread on Maela’s lips, and a light ripple of laughter bubbled up from her belly as she met her daughter’s fierce gaze.

”Now I know how your grandmother must have felt when I told her that I was determined to marry your father,” Maela said, shaking her head at the memory. ”You know she hoped that I’d wed Duke Timothe DuLac’s younger brother and she’d have packed me onto a ship bound for Gaalen if not for your father’s threat that he’d seize any ship flying DuCoumont colors that tried to reach the sea.”

”I don’t know if you get your resolve from him or from me,” Maela said, pulling her daughters into an embrace. ”Either way, you two are my most precious treasures and you’ve both suffered so much,” she said, squeezing them tighter as she felt again how different each of them had become since she saw them last.

”So help me understand,” Maela said. ”And I promise that I’ll listen.”

”All right,” Ashlynn said, blinking back the moisture in her eyes and turning her head toward the servant’s door. ”You heard that, Ollie? You can bring in the fish, we’re going to be fine.”

”Sorry,” Ollie said, pushing the door open with the toe of his boot while he carried a massive platter into the room. ”It didn’t seem like a good idea to intrude, but I didn’t want to carry this back downstairs either,” he said as he set the platter down on the table with a heavy thump.

”Ashlynn, is that...” Maela started, staring in amazement at the dish.

The fish Jocelynn caught had been baked whole, with the head and tail left on while the belly was stuffed with a mixture of sweetened rice boiled in almond milk, warming spices of nutmeg and clove, and tender flakes of yellow perch and rock bass that Ashlynn had caught with her net.

The whole thing had then been topped with a rich, creamy white sauce made from almond milk, tarragon, dill and the juice and peels of preserved lemons. With the delicate white rice spilling out beneath the fish, it looked like...

”Snow on the Sea,” Ashlynn said. ”It was Jocey’s idea, since we missed your name day. She wanted to make something that was special and yours.”

”I, I can’t believe that you,” Maela started as her gaze moved from the fish to her daughters. ”Jocey, you caught that fish? With a hand line?”

”Ash helped,” Jocelynn said, though the humility in her voice couldn’t conceal the pride in her eyes. ”We pulled it in together. She did most of the cooking though; I just made the almond milk and stirred the rice,” she said, unwilling to take more than her share of the credit for what she’d done.

”Even with the two of you,” Maela said softly. ”The amount of work it takes just to make the stuffing... Master Ivar tasks three of his assistants with the work, and you did all this yourselves?”

”Where did you even get the recipe?” Maela asked, blinking rapidly as she found she could no longer hold back the tears. ”I doubt that Master Ivar was willing to give it up when you left home,” Maela said, focusing on the most mundane thing she could think of while her heart felt like it had become caught in a maelstrom of swirling currents.

”I learned a lot from Master Georg in the Vale,” Ashlynn said. ”And from everyone in the Briar too. It may not be perfect, but we came as close as we could,” she said. While she spoke, she held tightly onto Jocelynn, who had become increasingly unsteady on her feet as she watched their mother’s reaction to the dish.

”Just that you tried... That you went through all that,” she said, looking back at the dish. ”It is perfect. Perfect in every way,” she said, taking a deep breath to calm herself as she fought to summon the composure of a countess while addressing the only ’guest’ in the room.

”Sir Ollie,” Maela said. ”Since you’re part of Ashlynn’s coven, you said that makes you like part of her family. Our family,” she amended. ”There’s more food here than the four of us can hope to eat. If you’d like to join us, you’re more than welcome.”

”No, this is your time,” Ollie said, shaking his head. ”I should be going. Before I do, though, I know it’s not my place, but may I say one thing?”

”Go ahead, Ollie,” Ashlynn encouraged while she used a handkerchief to blot the tears from her eyes.

”Lady Maela, Lady Micheline,” Ollie said, addressing the ladies who had arrived today. ”I know you don’t know me well, but for as long as I can remember, I wanted to be a knight like the ones I saw at tournaments and feasts,” he said.

”I didn’t need to become a witch to become a knight,” Ollie added. ”But when Owain unleashed the Church’s dark sorcery and the Lothian throne started killing people to feed Owain more power, the hall was full of knights. None of them could do anything to save the lives of their families, but I could, because I wasn’t just a knight; I was also the Cypress Witch.”

”All I ever wanted to do was help people,” Ollie said. ”And there are people who are alive today because of the witchcraft I learned from Ashlynn. She’s saved even more people with her witchcraft, and so have Heila and Isabell.”

”So, if Jocelynn is going to join our coven,” Ollie said, looking at Ashlynn’s younger sister. ”I’m sure that she’ll use her witchcraft to help people too.”

”I see,” Maela said, looking at Ashlynn with the beginnings of a proud smile tugging at the corners of her lips. ”In that case, I suppose I have a lot to learn about witchcraft, and how my daughter is using it to help other people...”