The Vampire & Her Witch-Chapter 1342: Ashlynn’s Judgment (Part Two)
Ashlynn pushed back from the table slightly, needing space to think, to process everything she’d just heard. Her mind was racing, cycling through everything Liam and Ollie had told her, trying to understand how things had gone so wrong.
"This is my fault," she said finally, and both Ollie and Liam immediately started to protest. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖
"My lady, you can’t..." Liam began.
"It was my decision to..." Ollie said at the same time.
"Stop," Ashlynn said, cutting them both off with a gesture. "Just... stop. Let me finish."
She looked at Liam first, and her expression was gentle but firm.
"I asked too much of you," she said. "You’re brilliant, Liam. You have vision and courage, and you understand the strategic value of this alliance in ways that very few people could. You’re willing to look past centuries of prejudice to see the possibilities of what we could accomplish by working together instead of fighting each other, and that’s a very rare thing.
"But you’re young, and you’ve spent your whole life preparing to be a lord in the Kingdom of Gaal," she added. "You understand the give and take of negotiations, but sending Ollie with you put you in a position you didn’t know how to deal with."
"He wasn’t there to broker an agreement with your father," she reminded Liam. "That was your job. But in the face of his power and prestige, you yielded to an utter novice in the world of politics between aristocrats," she said, not bothering to plaster over Ollie’s weakness despite the number of people who were present.
She saw Liam open his mouth to argue and held up a hand to stop him.
"You should have kept this to a private discussion with your parents," she said firmly. "The knowledge you had to share was far too explosive, and much too dangerous, to share with a room full of vassals before you’d had time to gauge their individual reactions. You knew better, but when things became difficult for you, you let Ollie step in where he shouldn’t have, and while he tried his best, this isn’t why I sent him with you."
Ashlynn then turned to Ollie, and her expression softened, but her voice didn’t lose its edge.
"And you," she said. "You beautiful, compassionate fool, need to learn that there is a time and place to act, and you cannot be reckless with your witchcraft in human lands. Sir Gavin could have been healed hours later. Days later. There was no urgency that required you to put on a demonstration of your full power in front of people who weren’t prepared to see it," she said, poking him in the chest with one finger to drive home her point.
"But he was in pain..." Ollie started.
"And he’d been in pain for two years," Ashlynn interrupted. "As cruel as it sounds to say it, a few more hours wouldn’t have made a meaningful difference to him, but it might have made all the difference to how the Dunn court processed the information about what you are."
She leaned forward, catching and holding his gaze.
"You need to understand something, Ollie. The people in your village, Constable Daithi, Eamon, and all the other humans who have joined you there, they’ve had months to adjust to life among the Eldritch. And even with all that time, even with all the good you’ve done for them, you still had a traitor in your midst who was willing to go running back to Owain as soon as he had a chance!"
She saw him flinch slightly at that reminder, and she softened her tone a bit, though she was still very firm with him.
"Not everyone can adjust as quickly as the people you’re used to dealing with," she said gently. "Some people need time. Some people need to see your actions over weeks and months before they can overcome a lifetime of teaching that witches are demons. And some people..." She paused, thinking of Lady Cerys. "Some people might never be able to overcome that fear, no matter how much good you do."
She sat back, looking between both of them.
"I need better from both of you," she said, and her voice held equal parts plea and command. "I need you to think about the consequences of your actions before you take them. I need you to understand that every demonstration of power, every revelation of what we are, carries risks that go beyond just the immediate moment."
She gestured around the table, encompassing not just Liam and Ollie but the Dunn youth as well, and Diarmuid and Hugo and everyone else who’d joined them in this alliance.
"We’re trying to end a war," she said. "We’re trying to rescue my sister and put an end to Owain without turning this entire march into a bloodbath. And I can’t do that if you’re so reckless that you’re willing to risk everything just to..."
Her voice cracked slightly on the last words, and she had to pause to gather herself.
"I need you," she said finally, looking directly at Liam and then at Ollie. "I need both of you. And I need your help, and the help of all our new allies. But I need you to be smarter about how you help. I need you to think about the consequences of your actions. I need..."
She trailed off, and when she spoke again, her voice was barely above a whisper.
"I need you to come back safely," she said. "I can’t lose anyone else. Please."
"Ashlynn," Ollie said, reaching out with both arms and pulling her into a gentle embrace as emotions overwhelmed her once again. "I’m sorry," he whispered as he held her close. "I’m sorry, and it’s all my fault," he added.
"I promise, I’ll be careful next time," he said, and he meant every word. "Whatever you need me to do, I’ll do it, and I’ll find a way to make sure that I come home safe and sound afterwards too."
"You’d better," Ashlynn said, pulling back slightly from the embrace so she could thump his chest gently with a small fist. "Because I’m counting on you to help me rescue Jocelynn from Owain, and I won’t have any of this nonsense of you trading your life for hers..."
