The Vampire & Her Witch-Chapter 1358: Upending Everything (Part One)

"I’m sorry," Ollie whispered as he gently wrapped his arms around Ashlynn and held her close.

He knew that anything related to Ashlynn’s sister was a dangerous topic, and he hadn’t wanted to cause her so much pain by sharing his discomfort with Lady Morwen and Lady Eira’s apparent ambitions. Now that he had, however, he wasn’t sure what he should do or say while Ashlynn wrestled with her memories of everything that had brought her and Jocelynn to this point.

But, even if he didn’t know what to say, he could at least provide a shoulder to cry on if she needed it, and a strong pair of arms to hold her while she did.

Ashlynn was quiet for several moments, listening to the sound of Ollie’s strong, steady heartbeat and his steady, even breathing as she recollected her thoughts. The things that had happened with Jocelynn were in the past, and there was nothing she could do about them right now. Soon, she would be able to speak with her sister again and then...

Then she could find out if the love she still felt for Jocelynn would be strong enough to let her try to mend the wounds in her heart, or if her sister would only inflict more wounds that would make reconciliation impossible. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

But right now, she couldn’t do anything about Jocelynn, so she turned her focus back to Ollie and the two young ladies that he’d so badly misunderstood. At least there, she thought, she could do something useful.

"Do you understand now?" Ashlynn asked softly as she turned her gaze back to Ollie’s eyes. "Morwen and Eira have only been given a few choices, and the decisions they make will affect more than just their own lives."

"I understand," Ollie said, shifting on the narrow bed in order to find a more comfortable position to lie while supporting Ashlynn. "It’s not really their fault. They’re just doing what everyone around them expects them to do," he sighed. "And in a way, they’re trying to respect me as a knight by treating me the same way, like I’d understand what they were looking for and why."

"But I still don’t like it," Ollie added stubbornly. "The most important thing between a man and a woman should be their feelings for each other. You can’t force someone to love someone else, and you should marry because you want to spend your whole life with someone... The way that you and Lady Nyrielle love each other," he said with a slight smile.

"If I had someone who looked at me the way you look at Lady Nyrielle," he teased. "I think I’d be the happiest man in the world."

There had been a time when he’d wished that Ashlynn would look at him like that, but he’d let those feelings go when he joined Ashlynn’s coven. She’d already found her love, and he’d mistaken her affection and friendship for something more...

But ever since the night of his vigil, when a vision of Ashlynn confronted him with the truth of his own feelings, he’d set aside the youthful crush that had stood in the way of a deeper friendship.

The Ollie he’d been before Ashlynn returned from her journey across the mountains could never have sat here, holding Ashlynn close and offering her the comfort she needed the way he was now.

At the same time, he’d be lying if he said that he wasn’t a little jealous of the deep, romantic love that Ashlynn and Nyrielle shared, but he’d had very little chance to find a love like that for himself since leaving the human world behind and settling in the Vale of Mists.

"Brat," Ashlynn said, giving him another light, playful slap, though this slap was much lighter than the last one. Her hand still stung from slapping his fortified, bark-like skin earlier, and she had no desire to make it worse!

"Ow," Ollie said, rubbing his chest in mock pain before he reached out for the rough blanket and pulled it up over his bare chest as if to protect himself from another punishing slap.

In reality, the gesture had more to do with the growing chill in the room now that Ashlynn had finished her witchcraft and his desire to offer her a bit more warmth and comfort as he pulled her under the blanket with him.

"How different do you think it would be if the laws were different?" Ashlynn asked, accepting Ollie’s gesture and pulling the blanket up around her own shoulders while she shifted the topic back to the point she wanted to make.

"Morwen is older than Cadeyrn," Ashlynn said. "What if she could inherit her father’s knighthood because she was the eldest child, and it didn’t matter if the eldest child was a man or a woman. Do you think she’d still be looking for the same things in a marriage?"

It was a question that had its roots in Ashlynn’s own pain. She’d watched her mother struggle through one miscarriage after another, attempting to bear a son for her father so that he would have an heir of his own to pass the county down to.

Ashlynn’s hands tightened on the blanket as she spoke, twisting the rough fabric between her fingers. The memories were old but still sharp; her mother’s grief after each loss, her father’s growing desperation, and the unspoken pressure that had shaped so many decisions in their household.

It was also part of why she’d accepted the arrangement with Owain Lothian. So long as she could bear two sons for Owain Lothian, her second son would have been sent back to Blackwell to inherit the county from her father, Rhys, preserving the family line.

If Ashlynn could have inherited her father’s position as the next Countess Blackwell, or even if he’d chosen to pass it to Jocelynn because Ashlynn bore the mark of the witch, there would have been no need for Ashlynn to embark on such a risky venture as a marriage to Owain Lothian.

Instead, she would have been content to live a spinster’s life in order to protect her secret, and she would have been happy to help Jocelynn find a husband who loved her and could help her raise a family of her own. But none of those things could have happened in a kingdom that refused to let women rule...