The fog in the Vale of Mists covered the Ancient Fortress like a soft, gray blanket, shrouding the tops of the towers in mist and turning the world beyond its walls into a dimly seen illusion. The sounds of horseshoes ringing on the flagstones of the courtyard were faint and muffled, and even the creek of the carriages and the clatter of their wheels sounded dull in the chill, wintry air.
Ashlynn kept the group that had assembled to meet the carriages small. Ignatious had already created a disturbance on more than one occasion by continuing to wear the robes of the Inquisition, and he was one of Nyrielleâs progeny. While she was confident that she could intervene before anyone could do harm to themselves or the âguestsâ arriving in Heilaâs carriage, given their unique identities, sheâd ordered the courtyard cleared of anyone who didnât have a strong reason to be present.
Ollie stood beside her, wearing a fine, jade green tunic, embroidered with a cypress tree across his chest that matched his mark of the witch underneath his tunic. Heâd chosen to leave his witchâs hat and wand behind, wearing only his darksteel cleaver and Ice Fang as weapons.
He did this in part because he wanted to make it clear that he was present as Ashlynnâs knight, and not a member of her coven, even though the two roles overlapped quite a bit. But he also did this because he didnât want to confuse the man who had protected his parents from becoming sacrificial scapegoats when Owain accused him of conspiring with the Eldritch in the wake of Ashlynnâs infiltration of the Summer Villa.
Everything that had happened to Ollie afterward had been afterward, and the flame-haired knight didnât want Diarmuid thinking that heâd been wrong to speak up on behalf of Ollieâs parents when he said there was no proof that the former kitchen boy had ever consorted with witches or âdemons.â
Ollie intended to set the record straight with Diarmuid when they had a chance to speak, he owed the man a tremendous debt, but for their first meeting, he wanted to do what he could to prevent the man from doubting himself. After all, just coming here would challenge Diarmuidâs faith more than any struggle heâd faced before.
Standing behind the Mother of Trees and her Cypress Knight, Rosie Pyre gripped Sionidâs hand and waited anxiously for the arrival of her husband, Tommin. Lady Ashlynn had asked her to say nothing and to wait until sheâd had a chance to address the fallen Templar before speaking to him, but now that he was this close, she found herself torn between the desire to rush to the carriage to greet the man who had loved her for many years, and the urge to flee this place before she had no choice but to confront the man heâd become.
"Remember, you can leave any time you want to, and no one will hold you back, not even him," Ashlynn said softly as she watched Heilaâs young squire, Emmie, hopping down from her place next to the carriageâs driver as she rushed to put a step-stool in place before the carriage door.
"Am I that obvious, your Dominion?" Rosie said as her face heated in embarrassment.
"Only to someone who feels similar things," Ashlynn said, looking over her shoulder to give Sir Tomminâs wife a reassuring smile. "Iâd be lying if I said that there wasnât a part of me that wanted to leave now, so I can remember Loman the way he was when I last saw him, and that the things that happened since then never did."
"I need to do this," Ashlynn reminded the other woman. "Even if he wasnât my brother-in-law, heâs still a Lothian lord, still Borsâ son and Owainâs brother, and still my prisoner in this war. I have a duty here, but you donât. If you want to go, you can go now. Even if you change your mind later, you donât have to face him when heâs so fresh from the battle," she said.
Heilaâs letter had mentioned that Sir Tommin had barely spoken since he was taken prisoner, even when she tended his wounds. It might be a kindness to give the broken Templar time to heal before he had to face his wife and child.
"No," Rosie said resolutely, glancing to Sionid for support before she turned back to face Ashlynn. "Thank you, your Dominion, but if I donât face him now, Iâm afraid I never will. I, I need to see him... and I need to know if thereâs a part of him that still cares for me and Tonnis."
"Youâre brave, Rosie," Ashlynn said with a slight nod. "And strong. Iâll let you know when itâs time, but if you change your mind before then, I trust Sionid can guide you away. Remember, youâre the one with the power to choose," she said firmly before turning back to face the carriage.
Heila was the first one out of the carriage, and it pained Ashlynn to see her closest friend looking so ragged and worn. Her simple brown dress was rumpled from sleeping in it in the carriage during the ride, and her hair under her wide-brimmed hat had lost its usual luster and the bounce of her soft curls. Dark circles were visible under Heilaâs eyes, and sheâd clearly faced more hardship in the past week than she had in the entire month before.
Her grass-green eyes, however, were bright and clear, and the smile of relief on her lips was genuine as she met Ashlynn and Ollieâs gazes from across the courtyard. That one look was enough to tell Ashlynn that, for all sheâd endured, both during the battle and after, Heila had returned home fatigued, but unbroken by the challenges sheâd faced.
Once she was certain that Heila would be fine after a few days of rest, Ashlynn gave her lady-in-waiting a brief nod before she began walking toward the carriage with Ollie following at her side, half a step behind her.
Ollieâs stride was even, and his posture remained relaxed, but his hand never moved far from the hilt of Ice Fang, and a faint, ice blue glow could be seen along the weaponâs ivory hilt. Much like Ashlynn, he didnât feel like the men in the carriage posed any real threat to himself, or to Ashlynn, or else Heila would have warned them when she emerged from the carriage.
But Ashlynn was about to see her brother-in-law for the first time since Owain tried to beat her to death, and she was about to confront Sir Tommin for the first time since heâd helped to bury her alive. So when Ollie rested his hand on the hilt of the weapon that could help him conjure walls of ice and other barriers, it wasnât because he expected that he would need to protect Ashlynn from the clergymen in the carriage...
It was because heâd experienced the power of the storm Ashlynn conjured when she learned of Jocelynnâs betrayal, and he knew how dangerous his liege lady could be when the power of the world responded to the anguish in her heart. If he had to make a move to protect anyone, it wouldnât be Ashlynn he was protecting, but the people who needed to be protected from her.