Ashlynn woke from the vision with a start and her heart hammering in her chest. She could still hear Olive-Ashlynnâs words echoing in her ears and taste the coppery-metallic sharpness of her sisterâs hot blood on her tongue, but those sensations faded quickly, driven away by the quiet crackle of the hearth and the faint sound of rain against the glass panes of the windows.
The warm weight of furs pressed down on her, and Ashlynn could feel the echo of Nyrielleâs heartbeat in her chest, anchoring her in the reality of the moment in a way that reassured her that this time, she hadnât woken into yet another dream.
Part of her wanted to reach out to that thread that bound her to Nyrielle. The gray clouds that blanketed the sky, blocking out the stars and the light of the moon, had already begun to show the first hints of growing pale. From the feel of the echo in her chest, Ashlynn was certain that Nyri had returned to the Vale by now, reaching their home just in time to curl up in bed before the sunâs first rays broke above the distant horizon.
It would be easy, she thought, to linger here and drift back in dreams so she could throw herself into Nyriâs arms and wash away the horror of what sheâd just seen... But that meant turning away from the warmth of her sister, snuggled close against the swell of her chest and drawing the deep, even breaths of sleep.
"Jocey," Ashlynn whispered, intending to pull her sister closer with the arm wrapped around her sisterâs waist. But when she started to move, she found that her arm was no longer draped over Jocelynnâs slender waist; rather, it had crept upward during the night, settling into a claw-like grip around her sisterâs throat!
The moment she realized it, a piercing pain surged within her chest as the Olive Seed tightened around her heart. A red haze clouded her vision, and the sound of Jocelynnâs voice telling her how sheâd wished that sheâd been the one to marry Owain filled her ears.
In an instant, her hand tightened around Jocelynnâs throat as a surge of hot hatred overwhelmed her senses, and it was all she could do to lock her fingers in place before they put any real pressure on Jocelynnâs neck.
"Ash," Jocelynn murmured. "...watch the ships together again," she said softly. "...steal the cheese this time... get in trouble again..."
"Jocey," Ashlynn whispered as she struggled against the hurt and the fury that left her wanting to rip out a throat or smash her sisterâs head against the heavy oak headboard, or... Or any one of a dozen gruesome, violent things that flashed before her eyes as she lay there in the darkness.
Desperately, Ashlynn gathered up her fury and shoved it down, only to stop, her face going pale and bloodless as she realized that she was about to direct yet another dose of fury toward the Olive Seed in her chest.
"I, I really was doing it," she whispered, her emerald eyes opening wide in horror. Every time some pressure or pain pricked at her heart, she shoved the pain down but she hadnât been setting it aside the way Nyrielle had encouraged her to do. Sheâd been feeding her pain and her heartache to the Olive Seed, distorting what it had been meant to come so that she didnât have to confront the growing turmoil in her own heart.
"I love you, Jocey," Ashlynn whispered, both to remind herself and to remind the seed that she nurtured in her heart.
The pain of Jocelynnâs betrayal had never gone away, but it wasnât something she was willing to let define her. Last night, Jocelynn had been willing to die if Ashlynn had wanted to kill her, and when she offered up the Olive Seed, Jocelynn had leaped at the opportunity to join her sister, no matter the peril or pain that would come with her decision.
They were broken and fragile, but Jocelynn was willing to risk everything to find a way to mend what sheâd destroyed... And Ashlynn could do no less.
"The Willow sways, its roots run deep,
Drift now, Jocelynn, in pure, perfect sleep."
Emerald energy flowed from the hand that Ashlynn held at Jocelynnâs throat, wrapping around her sister and pulling her into a deep, restful sleep from which she wouldnât awaken for at least several hours. Long enough for her sister to slip away without revealing how close sheâd come to claiming her life in the night.
"Iâm sorry, Jocey," Ashlynn whispered as she slowly pulled back her hand. "Itâs not safe for me to be close to you right now," she said as she slid out from under the blankets and the furs. "Iâll find a way to fix this, I promise," she said as she padded slowly across the floor.
She had hope. The Olive Seed within her chest contained far too much hatred, but when sheâd begun the process of nurturing it, sheâd impressed upon it both her love and her heartache. Sheâd shared all the wonderful things sheâd seen in the High Fen, the Briar and elsewhere... the things she wanted to share with Jocey one day.
Ashlynn believed that a core of the seed still held those things, along with the love she carried for her sister. If it didnât, it would never have reached out to her like this to show her the horrors of the seed sheâd corrupted into an agent of malice and torment. And if that was true, then there had to be a way to fix it... she just didnât know how.
"Just give me a little time," she said, taking one last, lingering look at her sleeping sisterâs peaceful face before she slipped through the door to the sitting room outside the bedchamber.
She expected to have a moment of peace to herself in an empty room where no one else would disturb her, but sheâd forgotten that there were still a few people who would dare to intrude in the suite of rooms that Jocelynn had brought her sister back to, and one of those people lay sprawled on the sofa, half under a blanket with her boots on the floor and an open bottle of the Lothianâs best wine sitting on the table nearby.
"Isabell," Ashlynn said, smiling slightly at the sight despite her surprise at finding her Hemlock Witch sleeping on her sisterâs sofa instead of finding a room of her own in the sprawling Lothian Manor.
"Mmm?" the silver-haired engineer said as she shifted on the sofa, knocking the blanket aside as she shook herself awake. "Is it morning already?" she asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes before she managed to focus on Ashlynn, looking haggard and teary-eyed as she stood by the door in her sweat-soaked night-dress.
"What happened, Ashlynn?" Isabell asked, instantly awake. "You look like youâve had the second worst night of your life..."