CHAPTER 1057: PREPARING FOR REUNIONS (PART ONE)

A full day and a half had passed since Ashlynn and Nyrielle discussed the legendary Mother of Forests and the meaning of Isabell’s warning. They hadn’t made any decisions that night, though Nyrielle had made a few suggestions for expanding Ashlynn’s coven.

"I, I’m not sure yet," Ashlynn said, biting her lower lip and holding Nyrielle closely as she considered how much her coven would change if it grew so large and so quickly.

Part of her wanted to press ahead quickly, to prevent large gaps from forming between the first members of her coven and any newcomers. But she forced herself to hold back from that impulse. She was in the middle of a winter war and her mind was still clouded by her need for vengeance and her worries about Jocelynn.

Once this was over, once she returned to Lothian City and began the process of blending the human and Eldritch worlds, she could think about expanding her coven again. Spring was a time for new growth and the right time for planting new seedlings. Winter, this winter at least, was a time to bring things to an end, so that they could begin anew next year.

When the messenger finally arrived, hours after dawn, carrying a detailed letter from Heila explaining the events of the battle for Hanrahan town, and the public and private trials that had taken place afterward, Ashlynn realized that some things would be much harder to conclude than she’d hoped for.

She’d never expected that Loman would turn out to be such a formidable sorcerer, or that he would be callous enough to sacrifice so many people in his attempt to defend Hanrahan Town from Dame Sybyll’s forces. Thankfully, she’d sent both Heila and Hauke to bolster the army’s ability to contend with the sorcery of the Church, but hearing about the battle and its aftermath, she couldn’t help but wonder if she should have gone herself in order to neutralize her brother-in-law.

Of course, Loman wasn’t the only one of her enemies who hadn’t come through the battle unscathed. Now, as Ashlynn gathered with a small group in the courtyard of the Ancient Fortress, her eyes fell on the other person who had come to reunite with a family member who had stood on the other side of the battle.

Ashlynn had already told Rosie Pyre about Sir Tommin’s injuries, though Rosie had yet to tell her son, Tonnis, what had happened. She wanted to see her husband for herself and speak with him at least once before she decided whether or not to allow him back into her life.

When she announced her decision to join Ashlynn in receiving the captives from Hanrahan, there had been an intense, lively debate among the friends she’d made in the village about who would accompany her.

"I’ll watch over you, Lady Rosie," Constable Daithi said as soon as the question came up. "I know your husband well enough to know that he’s not usually a violent man, but a wounded soldier isn’t the same man as he was before," he said, speaking from years of experience following Sir Broll, Sir Tommin, and Lord Owain to a number of battlefields.

"Kind men can turn into monsters when they’re laid low by their injuries," the constable said as gently as he could. "And the taller they stand on the field, the more monstrous they can become when they lose their place in the world. Your husband was, is, a great man, so I’m sure he’s suffering greatly right now."

"You can’t do that, Constable," Samira protested from her place resting near the fire. One hand rested on her large belly while the other held an unfinished carving that Noomi had set aside in order to tend to her infant son, Saku.

Sir Ollie had opened his home in the village to both women, claiming that he would be too busy with Lady Ashlynn’s coven and the war to make much use of it, and when Rosie had arrived with her son, Tonnis, it seemed natural for her to join the other refugees who wouldn’t be able to start work on homes of their own until the spring.

Now, they’d all gathered to hear Lady Ashlynn’s news of the battle in Hanrahan and to support the newest member of their rapidly growing community as she learned the fate of her husband... and they all seemed to have opinions about who should be at Rosie’s side when she confronted the husband who had abandoned her to face Owain’s schemes alone.

"I know you mean well," Samira added quickly. "But noblemen see things differently than common folk do. If you’re standing beside Lady Rosie as her guardian when Sir Tommin returns, they may think you’ve cuckholded him," she said, blushing at the memory of the time she’d accidentally implied something very similar about Owain Lothian while she was masquerading as Ashlynn.

Since then, she’d learned a great deal about the aristocracy and the subtle ways that the nobility could communicate the most shocking things in plain sight, and choosing to welcome her wounded husband home from a war with another man at her side was a sure way to tell everyone around Sir Tommin that his wife had forsaken him for another man.

"What? That’s absurd!" Daithi said, blinking in surprise that it would create any kind of an issue for him to help protect a vulnerable woman. "I’m the constable of this village now," he reminded Samira. "Even if she’s only just arrived, she’s still one of Sir Ollie’s villagers. How would it create an offense if I went along to protect her."

"That doesn’t make it any better, it only makes it worse," Samira insisted. "A constable should know better. She should be attended by a proper handmaiden. I’ll go with you, Lady Rosie, I know what..."

"You’ll do no such thing," Noomi insisted, setting down the weaning spoon she’d been using to feed Saku while her tail thumped rapidly against the soft rug beneath her. "If she needs to be attended by a handmaiden then I can go. You can watch over Saku for me and..."

"Enough," a sharp, commanding woman’s voice interrupted them. "I know you both want to help, but you should tend to your own little ones," Sionid said, squeezing Daithi’s hand to let her husband know that she would settle things.

"Lady Rosie should be attended by someone of appropriate status, who isn’t a man," she said with a pointed glance at Daithi who still looked offended that he couldn’t stand up for a woman in need of protection. "Since Sir Ollie hasn’t taken a wife yet, and there’s no other women with sufficient status available, then I’ll accompany her," she said with the same firmness that she would use when laying down the law of the house for her daughter, Bailey.

"I can still come along," Daithi offered before a trio of feminine gazes landed on him, all but physically forcing him to raise his hands in retreat. "What I meant to say is that I’ll watch over Tonnis for you, Lady Rosie," he said quickly. "Bailey can’t wait to show him her favorite creek now that he’s recovered enough from the poison to spend time outside."

For all his bravery and courage, and all the respect he’d gained as the constable of Ollie’s village, he knew better than to keep speaking once Sionid had made up her mind. Besides, after following Lady Ashlynn on her mission to destroy the Lothian’s summer Villa, he was glad to be home and an excuse to spend the day with Bailey was just what he needed to soothe the wounds and fears in his own heart...