The Vampire & Her Witch
Chapter 387: An Answer

Chapter 387: An Answer

"Promise that you’ll keep this secret?"

"You have my word," Lennart said, without the slightest moment of hesitation. "On blood oath if you require it," he added, pullin his hands back to place a sharp claw directly over his own wrist.

"No, no blood oath," Zedya said quickly, taking his paws in her hands before he could make a move. Right now, as much as she’s stirred up long dormant feelings, she didn’t entirely trust herself if Lennart were to spill blood in front of her. "I trust you, just like I’ve trusted you all these years to watch over us when we sleep. Just understand that this secret isn’t dangerous to me, but to Mistress Nyrielle and Lady Ashlynn if anyone were to hear of it," she said.

"Then, should we go somewhere else?" Lennart asked, looking around the private dining room. Between the soft fabric wall hangings and the thick walls, the privacy here felt very good but if the secret were truly dangerous then perhaps they should return to the palace.

"I’ll hear anyone who comes close enough to overhear," Zedya said, though she still stood up from her chair, her silk skirts whispering as she crossed the small dining room to stand next to Lennart. Warmth radiated off his body, and for a moment, she placed a hand on his strong, muscular shoulder just to steady herself as she inhaled the complex scents that clung to him. His fur smelled soft and warm and standing so close to him felt momentarily like the days long past, when she’d been able to laze about in the tall grass under the sun on days she wasn’t working in the Baron’s castle. Underneath that warmth, he carried the sharper, metallic scent of his armor while the faint scent of the oil he used to maintain his equipment clung to him like an echo of the duty he’d carried for so many years.

Standing this close to him, she was almost the same height standing as he was sitting down, and her entire torso pressed against his sculpted, muscular arm as she leaned in close enough to brush her lips across the light fur covering his round ears.

"It isn’t Mistress Nyrielle’s love of Ashlynn that’s responsible for her change," Zedya whispered. "It’s the act of feeding on the blood of such a powerful witch that has restored Mistress Nyrielle’s ability to feel... and she’s discovered how to share that gift with other vampires. I was the first one that she shared Lady Ashlynn’s gift with," she said quietly before returning to her seat.

"That’s why I’m saying this now," Zedya explained. "Because, even though you’ve been one of the most precious people to me for the longest time, I couldn’t feel anything strongly enough to break out of our separate roles. I was always going to be a handmaiden, you would be a soldier and we would live out the lives that fate had given us."

"But now, you don’t feel that way anymore?" Lennart said as he took Zedya’s hands back in his own. "And that’s why you want to take me as your first progeny?"

"My only progeny," Zedya said with a slight shake of her head. "I don’t intend to be like Tausau or Hamdi. I don’t need to build a whole new family. But when this happened," she added, reaching up to gently trace the tender scar along his jaw. "I started to worry that something would snatch you away from me. I feel like, all of the sudden, I’m running out of time. And with the war coming," she said, her voice trailing off as she looked deep into Lennart’s warm, soft eyes.

"I want you to have a chance to be as strong as I am, or even stronger," Zedya said. "I want to do everything I can so you and I both get through everything that’s about to happen. And then, when Mistress Nyrielle and Lady Ashlynn rebuild the Vale, I want to share that with you, how ever far in the future it is. I, I don’t want to miss you," she finished in a voice that had grown as quiet as a whisper.

For several minutes, Lennart sat there quietly, holding Zedya’s hands and wrestling with everything she had told him. After twenty years, from the time he was a fresh recruit until now, he had served near Lady Nyrielle and he knew Zedya and the other vampires of the Vale fairly well. He’d even become acquainted with other vampires outside the Vale and so he had noticed the changes in Nyielle months ago.

But it was one thing to notice changes, it was something else entirely to understand them. Especially understanding that the changes had occurred because Lady Nyrielle had fed on the blood of a powerful witch.

Before he could put any of his thoughts into words, a soft knock at the door announced the arrival of another flight of small dishes, accompanied by even more small cups of wine. This time, it looked like a flight of small meat dishes, some of which were entirely raw while others gave off a rich, fatty aroma after having been slow cooked until the meat was tender enough to fall apart on the tongue.

"These changes," Lennart asked after savoring a spoonful of chilled beef tartar that felt so rich on his tongue that he wasn’t sure he could have eaten a second bite if there had been one available. "Will they fade with time? If something happens to Lady Ashlynn..."

"Likely," Zedya said, poking at her own tartar before taking a bite. While the flavors were good, she never found herself able to enjoy raw dishes the way Lennart seemed to enjoy this one. Something about raw meat was close enough to feeding that it felt somehow lacking. If she truly wanted raw, she would sink her fangs directly into someone’s flesh and savor the sweet richness of their blood. But perhaps this was as close as someone could get to understanding what it was like for vampires to sink their fangs into the flesh of someone still alive.

"Nothing is truly eternal," Zedya said. "Even we can be killed and die. We may need to receive regular infusions of her gift in order to keep feeling the way I do now. Perhaps every year, or decade. We don’t know yet."

"And if I become one of your progeny, this will work on me?" Lennart asked hesitantly, trying to cover the awkwardness of the conversation by focusing on which dish to try next.

"It worked on Tausau," Zedya said confidently. "There’s no reason it wouldn’t work for you."

"Do you need an answer tonight?" Lennart asked, scooping up a spoonful of succulent pork belly in a sticky red sauce that melted as soon as it touched his tongue.

"I wouldn’t accept any answer you gave me," Zedya said, shaking her head vigorously enough to send her light brown tresses dancing. "If you said no, I would ask you to spend a few days thinking and then, I’d talk to you again to see if I could respond to your doubts. If you said yes, I would ask you to spend a few days thinking, to see if any doubts appeared, and then we would discuss those too."

"So either way, you won’t take any answer from me tonight," Lennart said with a belly shaking laugh. "You’ve always been the wise one I can turn to for advice, and taking time to think it over sounds wise. But if I become your progeny, what does that make us? Will you be a wise old councilor for the rest of our days?"

"Right now, you’ll be my very best and dearest friend," Zedya said with the same radiant smile she’d displayed when Lennart first arrived outside her door. "You’ll be the first person I trusted with my whole heart and the only one I want to spend the rest of my days with, no matter how many days the future holds."

"But, if you say yes, I don’t think things will stay the same between us forever," Zedya added with a mischievous grin. "I’ve seen how a bond of blood has drawn Mistress Nyrielle and Lady Ashlynn together much more quickly than most couples form. Maybe you and I, we’d be the same," she said in a tone that felt teasing, but held a core of genuine feeling beneath that.

"Time to think about it," Lennart said after nearly choking on a piece of pepper crusted beef when he heard Zedya’s answer. "But, if we were closer," he said after taking a swallow of wine. "I think that would make me very happy, whether I was one of your progeny or not."