The Vampire & Her Witch

"I love Owain," Jocelynn said after taking a deep breath. It was a statement that she could only make to a few people, but now that she said it out loud, she realized that it was still true. Owain frightened her, maybe more than she realized, but when she thought about him, she couldn’t imagine anyone she had ever known who was as handsome, courageous, or strong and capable as Lord Owain Lothian.

Next to him, every other young lord or knight she’d met felt somehow lacking. From the first time she’d seen him, she knew that he was the greatest man she would likely ever meet, and even before her coming of age celebration last year, she’d felt like no other man would make her heart flutter the way he did.

"I match up with him much better than Ash did," Jocelynn said slowly. "I, I wanted to be married to him, and she was only marrying him because mother and father needed her to. Because they don’t have a son to inherit, and Owain said that their second son could return to Blackwell to become the next Count."

In her mind, it would have been the perfect thing for her to take Ashlynn’s place. She’d even begged her father to change the engagement early on, but Rhys Blackwell insisted that it would be impossible for the heir to the Lothian Throne to accept the youngest daughter of a Count rather than the eldest. It might have been different if her father had been one of the five Dukes of the Kingdom of Gaal but for a Count, it was already the opportunity of a lifetime to see their daughter marrying up to a future Marquis.

"So you wanted to take your sister’s place," Isabell said, struggling to keep her voice free of reproach or recrimination as she listened to the young lady. "That’s why you told Owain that she was a witch? What did you think would happen?"

"I didn’t think it would be like, like this," Jocelynn said. "I thought that it would be like it was at home. Ash’s mark is why she was never allowed out of the house other than on special occasions. She didn’t even have maidservants, so no one would see her while she was dressing or bathing. She just kept to herself..."

"Because she was afraid of what would happen if someone ever saw her mark," Isabell pointed out, no longer able to hold her tongue. For years, she’d wondered why Ashlynn had seemed like a prisoner in her own home and why she’d go through so much effort to sneak out, or why she was so eager to talk with visitors like the Master Engineer in charge of remodeling part of the manor. Now, Isabell finally understood the constant danger that Lady Ashlynn had lived in and the terrible risk she’d taken to marry Owain Lothian for her family’s sake.

"Your family went to such lengths to help conceal her mark and I’m certain that your mother would have helped your sister prepare to conceal it even while consummating her marriage with Lord Owain," Isabell said in a tone that was as firm as steel even while it was wrapped in a mother’s gentle care.

"But you decided that none of that mattered," she pointed out, leaving Jocelynn no room to retreat from the truth. "You decided that it would be better if Lord Owain knew the truth, not because it would be better for Lady Ashlynn if you were the one to marry Lord Owain, but because it would be better for you. Anything else you say is just a convenient fantasy you’ve painted for yourself to justify giving in to your jealousy and infatuation with Lord Owain."

"You’re a smart young woman, Lady Jocelynn. If you had looked at things with a critical eye instead of eyes clouded by self-interest, you would have known how things would end when you gave up your sister’s secret," the engineer said.

Isabell’s words fell on Jocelynn’s mind like spears hurled by a ballista, precisely targeted and crushingly powerful. She tore away at the polite lies, the half truths and the hopeful wishes masquerading as carefully considered predictions, leaving Jocelynn with nothing but the cold reality of her actions and the motives that had driven them.