The Vampire & Her Witch

"I’m sorry," Adala said, as her mind struggled to keep up with the things Lady Ashlynn was saying. "Did you just ask if I want to be the next Baroness Leufroy? I understand if you don’t want my father to continue to rule our barony after everything he’s done, but Tulori is next in line."

"Didn’t you just tell me that Tulori is a spineless, conniving wretch?" Ashlynn asked lightly. "Why would I want someone like that to rule over part of my domain?"

"Continuity? Tradition?" Adala said, falling back on things that had been drilled into her during her days in the academy. But those were almost reflexive answers, and once she started actually thinking, a better one came to mind.

"If you give the throne to Tulori, it meets the expectations of my family’s vassals," Adala said. "Some of my father’s knights might disagree with seeing him removed, but so long as you put Tulori on the throne, they can accept that as forcing my father to retire early. If you put me on the throne, it sends messages you may not want to send at a time when you need everyone’s support. Especially since we guard mountain passes to Keating," Adala said.

Her voice gained confidence the more she spoke as the conversation moved to familiar ground. Nothing was easy about her feelings for Charlotte, but if she could just set those aside for a moment, locking them away behind the walls of iron around her heart until she was ready to face the things that Ashlynn had told her, then she could have a conversation where she felt much stronger.

"Are you giving me a reason to give Tulori the throne because you think it’s a good reason, or because you’re desperate to avoid the throne yourself?" Ashlynn asked, sidestepping Adala’s argument and returning to the question of what Adala wanted. "Is Leufroy important to you?"

"It’s home," Adala said, pursing her lips as she prodded the complex web of feelings she had for the place she’d grown up. The gently rolling hills filled with apple orchards and the dozens of large and small mountain lakes were all beautiful, precious places...

Places whose beauty she’d learned to enjoy despite the black cloud of her father’s stern visage looming over her whenever they left the comfort and safety of Leufroy Manor. As a little girl, she looked forward to the apple blossoms every spring, but once she grew older, she couldn’t quite look at an orchard without hearing her father’s voice asking her to calculate how many bushels of apples they could expect along with the price they’d fetch in Keating or the number of barrels of cider they’d produce.

Adala knew that her father intended to sell her to the highest bidder. He made certain that she was able to recite the facts and figures about her family’s domain, its resources and wealth, along with its storied history, to any of her potential suitors.

Despite that, when she was in the Iron Kingdom, she missed everything about her home. She missed the cool, rainy seasons and she missed the lush greenery of her father’s lands. The Iron Kingdom was a hard place, hot and dry most of the year and battered by snowstorms every winter. If not for the richness of their mines, no one would want to live there... she certainly hadn’t.

But now that she’d come home, the warmest welcome she’d received had come from her reunion with Charlotte. After four years of exchanging letters from across the sea, they were finally able to spend time together again, and Adala had schemed to find any excuse she could to linger in Otker on her way back home.

That had been the homecoming she looked forward to. The hills of Lothian March felt more comfortable to her than the blasted, rocky terrain of the Iron Kingdom ever would, but... There weren’t people in Leufroy that she wanted to return to, and ever since she’d returned, she’d been looking for ways to escape it. Or to escape from her father’s schemes, which had amounted to the same thing.

"It’s home," Adala repeated, shaking off the memories that clung to her when she thought about what ’home’ really meant. "But it isn’t important to me. Father told me from when I was young that I shouldn’t expect to see it often once I married. I miss it, sometimes," she admitted. "But it’s not important to me."

"I see," Ashlynn said, pausing long enough to lightly tap the pot of tea, spilling the thinnest trickle of energy to warm the pot back up before she refilled her cup and Adala’s as well. "I’ll search for someone else to rule it then," she said, as if it weren’t of any great concern.

"If you aren’t going to rule over your family’s lands, then," Ashlynn asked as she sipped her tea while snowflakes continued to fall outside the gazebo. "What would you like to do?"

"Can I follow you?" Adala asked, staring at the steaming cup of tea in mild amazement. Adala had seen the priests of the Church perform minor miracles before, like lighting dozens of candles at once, but it had always been part of a performative ritual meant to inspire reverence or awe in the Holy Lord of Light. She’d never seen anyone work a miracle to warm up a pot of tea, and the casual way Lady Ashlynn did it took her breath away.

"I know you already have a lady-in-waiting," Adala said quickly. "And that I may not ever get to be a witch, but... I don’t have a place at home. If, if I want to find a way to be with Charlotte, if she’ll accept me," she said in a rush, skipping over the ’if’s as quickly as she could. "I should do something to support us, or we’ll just end up living off our family’s fortunes and dealing with all the demands from our families that come with the coins."

"And you think I’ll place fewer demands on you?" Ashlynn asked lightly.

"I think that I won’t mind the demands you place on me as much as the ones our families would," Adala said honestly. "And I think that I’ll find a better life following you than anything I could do on my own."

"I’m not so sure of that," Ashlynn said. "It can be dangerous following me. Last night, we succeeded because what we did was completely unexpected, but you should talk to Lady Morwen about how close she came to being hurt by Lothian soldiers when we were forcing our way inside. Once the Church and the Kingdom prepare themselves, the people following close to me will only be in more danger, not less."

"I’m not afraid," Adala said in a voice like iron as her spine stiffened with pride. "The Iron Kingdom isn’t a ’safe’ place either, Lady Ashlynn. At least following you, the risks would be worth something."

"All right," Ashlynn said, smiling as she saw the strength emerging from within the younger lady. "I can find a place for you in my retinue for now, but come the fall, I want to send you away for a time," she said, smiling as a gleam appeared within her emerald eyes. "You and Charlotte both, if she’ll go with you," she added.

"Tell me, Adala," Ashlynn asked. "I know that you finished your years at an academy in the Iron Kingdom, but would you be willing to attend a new one, in the Vale of Mists?"