Chapter 752: Immediate Plans
The hot iron balls sizzled as Ashlynn lowered them into the deep marble pool, producing low clouds of steam before they sank to the bottom of the pool, where the water around them hissed and bubbled.
The pool was large, and even adding ten large iron balls from the hearth could only raise the temperature of the pool from tepid to mildly warm, but Ashlynn wasn’t looking for a luxurious soak in a muscle-melting hot bath. She wanted a chance to do something simple and normal with Nyrielle, to bathe and wash each other’s hair, but both women knew that they could only delay the inevitable for so long.
Soon, Ashlynn would need to emerge from her sanctuary in Nyrielle’s room and face the things that she had learned. But right now, as she slid into the warm water of the pool and allowed herself to drift just beneath the surface, everything still felt fuzzy and distant enough that she could think her way through what would come next.
"Why do I need to train with Thane tonight?" Ashlynn asked when Nyrielle began working foamy soap into Ashlynn’s hair, gently massaging her scalp as she worked to loosen the tangles and knots. "Is it because you thought I would hate you too much to see you tonight?"
"In part," Nyrielle admitted. "But only in part. You want to face Owain with your own strength, but in order to seize the Lothian Throne from him, you planned to do it without revealing your powers as a witch."
"Coming back from the dead will be enough of a shock to the people of Lothian," Ashlynn said, sighing as the tension in her head melted under Nyrielle’s skillful fingers. "Learning that he tried to kill me will shock the barons and the knights who rule the march. But if I prove the truth of his accusation, it won’t do me any good."
"We agreed on these things," Nyrielle said, pausing to pull Ashlynn into a gentle embrace. Her soapy hands slid over Ashlynn’s smooth skin with only the slightest of ripples in the water as she brought her lips close enough to whisper in Ashlynn’s ear.
"But the Ashlynn I saw last night could never have bested Owain Lothian with a sword in her hand," Nyrielle whispered, shuddering at the thought of an angry, wounded Ashlynn trying to press for her vengeance in the state she’d been in. "Owain, for all of his many faults, is a gifted swordsman, and you didn’t spend enough time with Thane learning how to counter a skilled swordsman to overcome the gap now."
"But I’m stronger now," Ashlynn countered. "Strong enough to cleave through his armor if I have to."
"There are better ways to channel your rage and your pain, my darling," Nyrielle reminded her. "Tonight, Thane will teach you how to fight against a person who is skilled. You will need to rely on your speed and power to defeat Owain, but you need to control them or you’ll only reveal yourself before you’re ready to."
"I can’t wait that long," Ashlynn said as anger surged within her chest. "I don’t have time to become a skilled swordsman, that would take months or years and I, I don’t know that I can wait more than a few days," she said as the pain that accompanied the anger pierced her heart again, draining away the strength that rage had given her and leaving her limp, floating in Nyrielle’s embrace.
"I know," Nyrielle whispered, splashing in the water as she pulled Ashlynn closer to her. "I know, my darling. That’s why I asked Sybyll to return. She received the Potence of Blood from me. Her body is sturdier and stronger than any of my progeny. Even those Tuscan giants cannot match her strength."