Chapter 267: Picnic Beneath the Stars
"Over there," Ashlynn said, pointing to a point high above the crashing waves on a cliff overlooking the sea. "It’ll be perfect."
The place that Ashlynn had directed Nyrielle to was far enough outside of Blackwell City that the crash of waves and the occasional cry of night birds drowned out the faint sounds of the Holy Festival of Light. Here, the tall grasses bent and swayed in the summer breeze and only the moon, high in the sky, could observe the two lovers’ arrival atop the towering cliff.
"When I was younger, if Father was away at court, I used to sneak up here with Jocey in the small hours of the morning," Ashlynn said as she pulled a small table cloth out of the basket and spread it out before unpacking the basket.
"We’d get here just before sunrise and watch the sun come up over the water," Ashlynn continued, her hands pausing for a moment. Her fingers tightened on the thin loaf of crusty bread in her hands while her mind replayed those simpler days. In order to escape the manor without drawing attention, they often snuck a leftover loaf of bread and a bit of cheese from the kitchens to nibble on while they watched the sun rise.
"On the right days," Ashlynn continued, setting down the bread and pulling more items out of the woven-grass basket. "The harbor would be full of ships raising their sails to catch the morning tide just as the sun came up. We’d stay up here for hours, watching the ships and their sails until they vanished over the horizon."
"And you got away with this?" Nyrielle asked.
"Sort of," Ashlynn said, turning her attention back to Nyrielle. "Mother knew. Mother usually knew more than she admitted to. She left orders that Jocey and I were allowed to roam a bit as long as we didn’t do anything dangerous, but she had a few guardsmen follow us in secret. It was years before we found out that the goodies we were ’sneaking’ from the kitchen had been set out for us to find," she said with a laugh.
"Your mother sounds like a kind woman," Nyrielle said, placing a hand on Ashlynn’s and looking deeply into her lover’s moist emerald eyes. "My mother would never have given me so much freedom when I was young," she said in a voice that was soft and wrapped in sorrow.
"I think she was so new to being a vampire that she lived with a sort of dread that I would get stuck outside when the sun rose before I was old enough to understand what would happen to me if I did," Nyrielle said. "She was very protective of me when I was little."
"I’m sorry," Ashlynn said, pulling Nyrielle close and pressing the other woman’s head up against her generous bosom. "It must have been hard for you," she whispered, lightly stroking Nyrielle’s midnight hair.
"No more than it was for you," Nyrielle said. At first, she stiffened when Ashlynn pulled her close but after a moment, her body relaxed as she allowed herself to be comforted. How long had it been since the mighty Eldritch Lady of the Vale had anyone she could rest her head on instead of being the one who people turned to for comfort? More than a century at least.