The Vampire & Her Witch-Chapter 707: Ashlynn’s Unraveling

"Can you help us keep her safe, even if we have to protect her from herself?"

Heila’s anxious cry tore at Isabell’s heart, tearing apart the image she’d started to rebuild in her mind of Ashlynn as a rising, powerful witch. After seeing her deal with the traitor, Darragh, last night, Isabell had been convinced that Ashlynn carried heavy scars, but that she was healing from her wounds.

War was a crucible, and people either emerged from it stronger or broken. Though if Isabell was honest with herself, even the ones who grew stronger lost things in the process... things that could never be recovered. The strength they gained from surviving their trials was never free.

In Ashlynn’s case, seeing the way her eyes sparkled brightly when she talked about her vampire lover, or the praise in her voice when she spoke of her new friends and companions, it looked like she’d gained more than she’d lost. People like that, people who built lifelong bonds tested by the fires of war, gained more than they had lost, and usually found happiness after the war passed.

But from the way Heila spoke, Ashlynn hadn’t emerged from her war at all. Even though she had survived Owain’s attempt to murder her, even though she’d found a new home and a love that was mystical and magical...

She hadn’t found victory or suffered defeat. She was still fighting, still locked in her war, even though Owain himself wasn’t even aware she was alive. And as long as the fires of war still burned, she was still suffering from the heat of their flames.

"There’s too much I don’t know," Isabell said with a heavy sigh. "Tell me what you can and then we can talk about how I can help," she said. "But... I’m just one person. If Ashnlynn is facing a crisis, then I can only help to nudge her a bit. You and Lady Nyrielle probably have a much better chance of influencing her than I do."

"That... there are limits," Heila said, looking down at her feet and trying to find the words to explain. "Before I tell you about what happened to Lady Ashlynn," she said after thinking for a few moments. "Maybe I should tell you about the Vale of Mists..."

For the next half hour, as Heila helped Isabell to freshen up and change into the dark tunic and skirts, she explained the history of the Vale from the perspective of the people who lived there. From the time before humans arrived to Cellach Lothian’s slaughter of Lady Nyrielle’s parents and every war since then, Isabell slowly came to understand how long the leaders in the Vale had been nursing their grudges against their human adversaries.

"So Lady Nyrielle won’t rein Ashlynn in because she thinks that Ashlynn needs her vengeance in order to move on," Isabell said as she felt the weight of the Vale’s history settling on her shoulders like a heavy blanket of fog that made everything harder to see clearly. "Sir Thane, Madame Zedya, Sir Marcel, Dame Sybyl... all of them joined Lady Nyrielle’s cause because they were driven by powerful hurts and grudges."

"Most of them have had their revenge," Heila said as she began preparing tea for the older woman. "They think this is normal. Ignatious is different," she added with a faint blush. "He’s trying to find ways to reach Ashlynn but, whenever they talk, things get wrapped up in faith and the Church, and they never really get to the heart of the matter."

"And there’s no leaving it for later," Isabell said as she sipped the light, fragrant tea that Heila served her. "Owain Lothian has been pouring all of his family’s wealth and power into preparing for this Holy War. Even if Ashlynn wanted to retreat to the Vale and live out a better life here than the one he would have given her, the war will come to her doorstep sooner or later."

"Do you think that Ashlynn wants to die in this war?" Isabell asked bluntly. "Is she taking these risks because she no longer values her own life? I’ve seen people like that before. They start giving away all of their treasures and repaying old debts because they don’t expect to survive claiming their vengeance... and they’re suffering so much that they don’t want to survive it."

"I, I don’t think so," Heila said, trembling slightly at the notion that Ashlynn might not want to survive her revenge. "She’s preparing so many things for afterward... She’s trying to rebuild the Vale of Mists, and she loves Lady Nyrielle. She talks to all of us about creating a life after the wars end, so I don’t think she’s given up hope or lost the will to live."

"But she’s doing reckless things that could get her killed," Isabell observed. "She’s taking on all of the risks herself. Is it because she is afraid of anyone else suffering the way she did?"

It made sense, at least to the part of Isabell’s mind that could look at another person like a set of levers and gears that fit together in certain, specific ways. Ashlynn had lost as much as any war orphan that Isabell had ever known, but she also obtained tremendous power that none of the victims of war Isabell had ever seen could compare to.

If those victims had been given the powers Ashlynn received, the powers of witchcraft, the strength of becoming a Vampire’s Seneschal, the military might of the Eldritch world... Isabell could imagine several of the broken women she’d met during the civil war deciding to use that power to place themselves on the Emerald Throne or at least carve out a small kingdom of their own.

A kingdom where they and the loved ones they still had would be safe from the horrors that had destroyed their own life.

"I don’t know," Heila admitted. "Sometimes, I think that might be it. Other times, I think that Ashlynn is trying very hard to be the person she wants to be, and she’s fighting against the parts of her that can’t let go of the pain."

"She’s been getting worse since we came back to the Vale," Heila added. "I think seeing everyone else come home to the Vale, everyone who reunited with their families when they got back... it reminded her that she can’t see her own family. She misses her sister more than anything," Heila said. "And she hates that she can’t charge into Lothian City to rescue her right away."

"Now that she’s so close, she’s fighting to hold herself back," Heila said softly. "But there are moments when she turns as dark and cold as Lady Nyrielle. When Ashlynn is at her best, she’s like a cozy, warm blanket, and she wraps everyone up in her softness and makes them feel safe. But... but the blanket is starting to unravel and, and I don’t think that even Ashlynn likes what’s underneath it."

"I see," Isabell said in a very careful, very neutral tone.

During the carriage ride to meet with Ashlynn, Isabell had considered again and again how she would tell Ashlynn that it had been Jocelynn who betrayed her secret to Owain. She’d hoped to find that Ashlynn was doing well and could understand that her sister had made the sort of petty mistake that young girls were prone to, even though it had had disastrous consequences.

Perhaps a bit naively, Isabell had thought that, since Ashlynn had survived her encounter with Owain, there was a path to reconciliation for the two sisters who clearly cared about each other a great deal. But, after watching Ashlynn execute Darragh for betraying her, the notion of the two sisters reconciling peacefully felt like a distant dream.

Unintentionally, Isabell found herself standing on the precipice of what might be the most important decision she had faced since leaving Blackwell County to come to the frontier. Should she reveal what she knew? Or keep the secret of Jocelynn’s betrayal buried deep within her heart?

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