The Vampire & Her Witch
Chapter 267: Picnic Beneath the Stars

Chapter 267: Picnic Beneath the Stars

"Over there," Ashlynn said, pointing to a point high above the crashing waves on a cliff overlooking the sea. "It’ll be perfect."

The place that Ashlynn had directed Nyrielle to was far enough outside of Blackwell City that the crash of waves and the occasional cry of night birds drowned out the faint sounds of the Holy Festival of Light. Here, the tall grasses bent and swayed in the summer breeze and only the moon, high in the sky, could observe the two lovers’ arrival atop the towering cliff.

"When I was younger, if Father was away at court, I used to sneak up here with Jocey in the small hours of the morning," Ashlynn said as she pulled a small table cloth out of the basket and spread it out before unpacking the basket.

"We’d get here just before sunrise and watch the sun come up over the water," Ashlynn continued, her hands pausing for a moment. Her fingers tightened on the thin loaf of crusty bread in her hands while her mind replayed those simpler days. In order to escape the manor without drawing attention, they often snuck a leftover loaf of bread and a bit of cheese from the kitchens to nibble on while they watched the sun rise.

"On the right days," Ashlynn continued, setting down the bread and pulling more items out of the woven-grass basket. "The harbor would be full of ships raising their sails to catch the morning tide just as the sun came up. We’d stay up here for hours, watching the ships and their sails until they vanished over the horizon."

"And you got away with this?" Nyrielle asked.

"Sort of," Ashlynn said, turning her attention back to Nyrielle. "Mother knew. Mother usually knew more than she admitted to. She left orders that Jocey and I were allowed to roam a bit as long as we didn’t do anything dangerous, but she had a few guardsmen follow us in secret. It was years before we found out that the goodies we were ’sneaking’ from the kitchen had been set out for us to find," she said with a laugh.

"Your mother sounds like a kind woman," Nyrielle said, placing a hand on Ashlynn’s and looking deeply into her lover’s moist emerald eyes. "My mother would never have given me so much freedom when I was young," she said in a voice that was soft and wrapped in sorrow.

"I think she was so new to being a vampire that she lived with a sort of dread that I would get stuck outside when the sun rose before I was old enough to understand what would happen to me if I did," Nyrielle said. "She was very protective of me when I was little."

"I’m sorry," Ashlynn said, pulling Nyrielle close and pressing the other woman’s head up against her generous bosom. "It must have been hard for you," she whispered, lightly stroking Nyrielle’s midnight hair.

"No more than it was for you," Nyrielle said. At first, she stiffened when Ashlynn pulled her close but after a moment, her body relaxed as she allowed herself to be comforted. How long had it been since the mighty Eldritch Lady of the Vale had anyone she could rest her head on instead of being the one who people turned to for comfort? More than a century at least.

For several minutes, neither woman said anything. Nyrielle sank deeply into Ashlynn’s touch, soaking up the warmth that radiated from her and listening to her heartbeat while Ashlynn’s fingers wove their way through her midnight hair. Both of them felt adrift on a sea of memories, recalling simpler days that were filled with a childish joy that they could never return to.

"Your basket looks like it’s holding much more than just bread and cheese," Nyrielle finally said as she pulled back from Ashlynn’s comforting embrace. "Just how many different things did you bring?"

"Not as many as you’d think," Ashlynn said, giving Nyrielle’s hand a gentle squeeze before she returned to pulling things out of the basket. "There’s a creamy, salty cheese to go with the bread, more mussels, and some crab cakes," she said, pulling out several golden brown patties formed from pale crab meat, bread and eggs that smelled strongly of fresh herbs.

She’d considered fetching a few steamed crabs just to see the elegant and composed Nyrielle making a mess of herself while cracking open the succulent claws but in the end she decided against it.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to have something to tease her lover over, rather, she wasn’t confident that she could manage cracking open freshly steamed crabs without making a mess of herself, and tonight, since she was dressed in her festival finest, she wanted to enjoy the way Nyrielle’s eyes roamed over her figure in the moonlight more than she wanted to indulge in a bit of mischief.

"I also brought a bottle of wine," Ashlynn added, pulling out a chilled bottle and a pair of simple cups. "It’s nothing special, just a common white, but it should be nice with the mussels and the crab cakes."

"Are you sure you should be drinking?" Nyrielle teased. "Not that you weren’t cute last time when..."

"Stop, stop," Ashlynn interrupted, frantically waving for Nyrielle to stop before saying anything about the time she’d gotten thoroughly drunk while dining with High Lady Erna. Her memories of the night were still slightly fuzzy but she remembered saying some very embarrassing things before Nyrielle sent her off to bed. "It’s just one bottle and you’re going to drink half of it so I’ll be fine," she insisted.

"If you say so, my darling," Nyrielle said with a look that said she didn’t believe Ashlynn at all.

For the next several hours, Ashlynn and Nyrielle enjoyed their picnic under the stars, listening to the crash of waves against the cliffs below and talking idly about whatever came to mind while they nibbled at the nostalgic treats Ashlynn had gathered for their picnic.

Mostly, Ashlynn shared stories of growing up in Blackwell County while Nyrielle compared Ashlynn’s experiences to her own childhood in the Vale of Mists.

Though their specific circumstances were worlds apart, both women found more and more things similar between their upbringings. For Ashlynn, the mark of the witch acted like shackles that kept her largely confined to Blackwell Manor. The threat of being exposed loomed over her constantly and forced her parents to make careful arrangements to keep her safe.