Chapter 669: Severing Owain’s Hands
The inside of the tent had been decorated simply with small, individual planks of polished wood that could rest on a person’s lap or in front of them in place of a table. Where most nobles would have insisted on bringing proper furniture, Ashlynn only required a thick rug to lay over the damp ground and piles of cushions that people could lean against when sitting on the ground. A single lantern hanging from the pole at the center of the tent was enough to fill the space with soft golden light, revealing just how sparse the interior of the tent was.
If it had been a normal meeting, Ashlynn would have put more effort into welcoming people like Master Isabell and Master Tiernan, but out here in the wilderness, practical considerations trumped normal displays of hospitality. In the days to come, if they accepted her offer to join her in the Vale of Mists, she would make amends for any slights they felt in their first meeting.
"Congratulations on your betrothal, Lady Ashlynn," Marcel said softly when he entered the tent. "I’m sorry I couldn’t be present but things are beginning to move quickly in Lothian March," he said as he flopped onto the cushions in a graceful sprawl, briefly posing like a boy toy before their patron. "You can praise me for my efforts any time," he said with a light laugh.
"Only if you do that in front of Mistress Nyrielle," Ashlynn said, flinging a small cushion at him while she fought to suppress the surge of giggles that threatened to spill past her lips. "Thank you," she said after a moment of catching her breath. "I needed that. You brought some unexpected guests with you. Men loyal to Marquis Bors?"
"Hardly," Marcel snorted as he gave Ashlynn a pouting look that said he hadn’t intended to move so quickly to business, but he gave in to her desires anyway. After all, their time this night was limited and the rising of the sun didn’t care if their meeting ran long.
"They’re men loyal to Owain Lothian," Marcel said, looking around the tent and wishing that there were some sweets or nuts to snack on while they spoke. "And they’re close enough to him that he sent them to me to hire assassins to torture the family of someone who slighted him. Sir Rain has replaced Sir Tommin as Owain’s personal guard and Sir Hugo took over from Sir Kaefin as his Steward. You can think of them as Owain’s left and right hands."
Ashlynn’s eyes widened in surprise before narrowing into an intense stare as she realized just how valuable the men were who had wandered into her camp tonight. She’d expected Owain to send some soldiers to guard Isabell and Tiernan, and perhaps even one of the aging knights in his father’s court as a token show of support, but she’d never once expected that he would send his personal guard and steward. Even if it had been at Marquis Bors order, it truly was the sort of ’gift’ that she couldn’t ignore.
"I know Sir Rain by reputation but I only met him briefly at my wedding feast," Ashlynn said. "I’ve never heard of Hugo Hanrahan. I thought that Baron Hanrahan’s son was a man named Bastion?"
"Bastion is his rightful son and heir," Marcel acknowledged. "Hugo is the bastard child he fathered with a chambermaid. Recently, Baron Hanrahan was forced to recognize Hugo as his child when it seemed like Bastion might become an invalid after falling off his own horse. Bastion’s recovery made things awkward for Hugo and he’s suffered greatly for receiving his surname ever since."
"I see," Ashlynn said, resting her chin on a petite fist as she thought about how she wanted to handle the interlopers. "You wouldn’t have brought them here if you didn’t have something in mind for them. What are your thoughts, Sir Marcel?"
"I think that they can be useful to us in a number of ways," the vampire said slowly. "At the very least, they have been close to Owain Lothian for months, from his raid on the Heartwood Village all the way through his visit to Blackwell County and even now, they have been his closest aids. If we did nothing more than handing them over to Madame Zedya to extract information from, we would gain treasures worth their weight in gold."