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In the stone circle outside the village, Ashlynn gently caressed Ollie’s furrowed brow as she withdrew her energy from his body.

The spirit of the seed of witchcraft that she’d formed to test him would take the place that Cecile had taken in Heila’s trial, shaping events and guiding the future witch through the challenges that would define his transformation from an ordinary person into a witch.

Though she had shaped the spirit and directed it to confront Ollie with impossible tasks that he was doomed to fail, she had no way of knowing what specifically the young knight would face.

The trial would be shaped by his hopes, fears, strengths, and flaws.

It would teach him things that he needed to know and test him in ways he wasn’t prepared for, but beyond that, Ashlynn couldn’t say which of his inner demons he would be forced to face.

The sound of vast wings fluttering through the air above pulled her from her musings, filling her heart with warmth as Nyrielle descended from the sky outside the border of stones.

Seconds after she landed, Thane and Ignatious emerged from the village, flowing soundlessly through the darkness to arrive at her side.

"Zedya succeeded?" Ashlynn asked as she left Ollie’s side and the circle of stones, hoping to hear confirmation from Nyrielle’s lips of what she’d already felt through their bond.

"She came closer to failure than I would have preferred," Nyrielle said, reaching out to take hold of Ashlynn’s hands and relishing the feeling of warmth that radiated from them. For a moment, her midnight eyes flared wide, and her nose twitched as she inhaled Ashlynn’s familiar evergreen scent mixed with the sweet metallic smell of fresh blood infused with the potent magical energy of the ritual.

The heady fragrance was like a perfect perfume that wrapped itself around Nyrielle in an intoxicating cloud, leaving her momentarily bewitched, staring hungrily at the young woman who had come to mean as much to her as life itself.

Now, however, wasn’t the time, no matter how much witnessing Zedya’s feeding and Lennart’s transformation had left her fangs craving a meal of their own.

"You can take a taste," Ashlynn said, caressing Nyrielle’s cheek and leaning forward, bringing their soft lips together for a brief peck before she leaned in closer, whispering into her lover’s ear. "I can see the hunger in your eyes. I’m not so weak from this that I can’t give you a kiss."

"The way you push yourself," Nyrielle said, licking her lips as her fangs grew longer. "I don’t know if I can trust your words."

"Then trust my body," Ashlynn said, pressing herself up against Nyrielle’s lithe figure. "Feel the strength of my heartbeat," she whispered, wrapping her arms around the vampire’s slender waist and clutching at the soft satin of the other woman’s dress. "I won’t rest if I think you’re going hungry. "

"This is a different hunger, my darling," Nyrielle said, pulling back from Ashlynn enough to look into her lover’s limpid emerald eyes.

"And tonight, if I sample your taste, I may not be able to hold myself back," she added, biting her lower lip in an effort to restrain herself from indulging in her lover’s sweet taste.

"Oh, I, I’m sorry," Ashlynn said, her face heating with embarrassment as she pulled back from the vampire. "Do you need me to stand with you while you seek an offering from the villages? If helping Zedya and Lennart has left you at the edge..."

"I’m fine," Nyrielle said, smiling slightly at the flustered concern in Ashlynn’s voice. "I will feed tonight, but not deeply. But first, I came to see young Ollie. Did my feather bring him any danger during your ritual?"

"None yet," Ashlynn said, leaning up against Nyrielle and luxuriating in her lover’s comforting presence even as she turned back to the slumbering youth in the circle of stones.

"I imagine his trail will take a dark turn the further it progresses, but... he needs to confront true darkness. It’s better that it happens here instead of later on. "

"From what Thane tells me," Nyrielle said, gently wrapping a dark, feathered wing around Ashlynn to shelter her from the chill autumn wind. "Your young friend has already walked into the darkness left in Owain Lothian’s wake. He’s been tempered more than you think."

"I know he has," Ashlynn said, her brows wrinkling and her lips tightening as she looked at the helpless seaming young man. "But walking through darkness and ruin left in someone else’s wake is different than casting others into darkness and taking a life with your own hands. It’s different than failing and watching others suffer for your failures," she added softly as ghosts of lives lost in the High Pass danced through her eyes.

"You’ve endured much to transform yourself so quickly from a blushing young bride into a powerful witch," Nyrielle said softly. "Do all of your witches have to undergo a tempering like yours?"

"If I do not temper them, then they break like brittle blades in the battles to come," Ashlynn said, thinking about the visions of unwinnable wars the Ancient Willow had presented her with when she prepared Heila’s seed.

She had seen the tragedies the future could hold, and even if she had to be harsh with Ollie and Heila, she felt it was far better that she be the one to temper them within the bounds of reason, instead of leaving it to the wars her enemies would start to provide the proving grounds where they had to forge themselves into warriors as well as witches.

"Make space for rest," Nyrielle said, pulling Ashlynn into a tight embrace and tucking the shorter woman’s head under her chin.

"Let me take you home tonight. Thane and Ignatious can help Heila and Virve with any other work that remains.

But you, you should come home now and rest, before you take up the transformation of your next witch. "

"I should stay, though," Ashlynn said softly. "At least until near dawn. This is his trial but also his vigil."

"You have already done what you should," Nyrielle admonished, sliding her slender fingers under Ashlynn’s hat and gently combing them through Ashlynn’s soft, pale blonde hair.

"Let Heila do her part, and Ollie’s people in the village as well.

Standing here with him on the first night of his transformation will do nothing for him.

The only person who will benefit from it is you, and though it may comfort you to be here, it will diminish you in the days to come if you do not take your rest."

"You won’t let me be willful this time, will you?" Ashlynn asked, looking up at Nyrielle through her lashes and pouting.

"I will indulge you as often as I can," Nyrielle said lightly. "But I’ve come to realize that if someone doesn’t tell you ’no’ when you take on too much, you will not stop yourself.

Since no one but me in the whole of the Vale can tell you ’no’, then it falls to me to care for you, even when you don’t wish to care for yourself, my darling. "

"Then, after you take me home, you’ll go and feed?

" Ashlynn said, clinging tightly to her lover and wishing she could at least offer a small bite to satisfy the vampire’s hunger.

But she understood that Nyrielle’s refusal wasn’t only rooted in her own doubts about resisting the hunger that would rise from such a feeding.

She was also doing it to prevent Ashlynn from weakening herself further.

"All will be taken care of," Nyrielle said, gently stroking Ashlynn’s hair. "But first, you should rest. You can begin again when you wake. I’ll even tell Georg to make you something special so long as you rest until midday."

"You’re back to bribing me with treats like I’m a child," Ashlynn teased, giving Nyrielle’s waist a playful pinch.

"But, since you insist, I’ll go home with you to rest," she said, surrendering to Nyrielle’s firm insistence.

"But, if you have time after you feed, come lie with me until the sun rises? "

"Of course, my darling," Nyrielle said, scooping Ashlynn up in her arms and preparing to carry her away. "So long as you care for yourself, I will always indulge you, tonight and every night, for as long as I can call you mine."

"You can call me yours forever," Ashlynn whispered, snuggling up close against her lover’s chest. "For as long as we both live, I will always be yours, and you will always be mine."