Chapter 243: Looking Back
For Ashlynn, the world around her faded away, leaving her mind adrift in a sea of darkness. Within the dark, she could feel her own heartbeat along with the distant echo of Nyrielle’s heartbeat. When she focused on the heartbeats, trying to count beats and gain a sense of time in this dark space, she found it impossible to keep track. Numbers slipped away from her along with any other sense of time.
She wasn’t asleep but she wasn’t awake either. Instead, she drifted in a world that was empty of everything but her.
Eventually, light began to filter into the dark space, revealing a familiar room that she hadn’t seen in several months.
Her father’s study in Blackwell Manor was part of the oldest section of the manor. The windows were small, and narrow, and let in very little natural light. They were a reflection of an era long passed when Blackwell manor had been a frontier fortress and every window was a potential firing position for a skilled archer. Now, the only thing that ever passed through the window was a cool, salty sea breeze, carrying with it the sounds of ship’s bells ringing in the harbor in the distance.
Above them, a large chandelier hung high overhead, filling the room with a soft, golden light while the fire crackling in the hearth filled the room with warmth. The scent of dozens of books blended with woodsmoke and the salty sea air to produce a scent that felt more strongly of ’home’ than anything else Ashlynn could imagine.
The room was dominated by an antique wooden desk, fashioned from hard, sturdy blackwood. The desk was older than Blackwell County, constructed in the old countries and brought across the sea as an heirloom by Yoam Blackwell, the first of his line on this continent. Now, Ashlynn’s father, Rhys Blackwell, sat behind the desk, looking between her and her mother with a complicated expression.
"It’s a difficult offer to refuse," Rhys said, dropping several neatly folded sheets of paper onto his desk. "It seems like Bors Lothian understands our circumstances exceedingly well."
It wasn’t until he spoke that Ashlynn realized that this wasn’t just a dream of her parents, but a memory... or had she drifted through time itself? But as soon as the thought came to her, it left again, replaced by a strange fog that made it difficult to recall what she’d been doing before she arrived here. It had been something very dangerous and very important... hadn’t it?
"Rhys," Ashlynn’s mother said from a seat next to the hearth. "You know that Ashlynn isn’t suited for marriage. If Bors Lothian is looking for a wife for his son, we should recommend Jocelynn instead. If need be, we can tell him some tale, claim that doctors have examined our beloved Ashlynn and pronounced her to be barren. We can’t risk sending her away."
Her mother was right, and Ashlynn knew deep within her that it was true, but she couldn’t express why. She just had a vague feeling that things wouldn’t turn out well if she married Owain Lothian.