Nine months ago, on the night of her wedding, Ashlynn died at Owain’s hands.

What had started as a day filled with light, wearing the most beautiful dress she’d ever worn, standing before her family and all the lords and ladies of Lothian march who had come to celebrate her day of joy and union, had ended naked and alone, wrapped in nothing but an oil-soaked bedsheet and buried in a shallow grave.

The Ashlynn Blackwell who had come to Lothian March to marry Owain Lothian had died that day.

When she died, she left behind the life she knew, her family, and the few, precious friends she had... She left behind every silver penny, precious personal treasure, and sacred, cherished memento, not because she wanted to, but because they’d been taken from her.

Nine months ago, in the midst of a rainstorm, in the dark of night, she’d crawled out of that shallow grave like a revenant, driven by a powerful thirst for vengeance, a desperate need to know who had betrayed her secret, and an unbreakable refusal to die.

Still, she would have died if Nyrielle hadn’t found her in the dark that night...

"For that brief moment of vengeance," Nyrielle had asked. "Would you give me all of you?"

Nyrielle’s gift had saved far more than just her life that night, and the powerful vampire had offered her far more than just the power to obtain her vengeance.

"I cannot force you," Nyrielle said as she brought Ashlynn into the Vale of Mists to begin their new life together. "But I promise that I will never let you regret choosing to give me your everything..." 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

Nyrielle hadn’t been lying. Her lover had given her so much. Ashlynn had arrived in the Vale of Mists, naked and penniless, so Nyri had given her a place to stay, clothing to wear, and enough coin to make her own decisions if she rejected the things she’d been given... More than that, over the course of several months, she’d given Ashlynn something to live for besides revenge.

"It’s time to put an end to this, Owain," Ashlynn said, staring into the eyes of the man she’d come to kill through the crooked gap in his broken visor. "The whole world demands your death. They can’t wait any longer, and neither can I."

Water’s Edge made a whistling sound, cutting through the air as Ashlynn brought the point of her blade in line with Owain’s eyes before rushing forward in an aggressive charge. The wound to her thigh screamed in pain that shot up to her hip and down to her knee, but she forced herself forward, clashing sword-to-sword as she forced him to defend himself.

Pain had become a familiar companion to her over the past nine months, and the pain in her leg was nothing compared to the pain that wracked her body when she crawled from the shallow grave Owain’s knights had buried her in.

Nor could it compare to the pain of her burned, blistered flesh when she’d forcefully used the Holy Flame Blade in her battle against Ansgar in the High Pass, or the agony she’d experienced when she cured Rosie and Tommin Pyre of the Nightweaver Venom Owain had inflicted on them.

Compared to the things she’d suffered, the pain of her wounds couldn’t hold her back from what she’d come to do.

-CLANG!- -CLANG!- -SKEET- -CHINK!-

Owain’s defenses, sliding from one guard to the next with a serpentine grace, were too well practiced for Ashlynn to easily claim his life, but with the reflexes she’d gained from Nyrielle, she couldn’t just see the opportunities Owain created in order to protect his head; she could take advantage of them.

Her first attack drew blood by sliding along his sword, forcing the clipped tip of Water’s edge into a small gap at the top of his inner arm, piercing the links of chain mail beneath his rerebrace, and slicing along the tender flesh beneath his arming jacket.

-CLANG!-

Owain’s counterattack landed solidly on Ashlynn’s breastplate, but she turned her hips a moment before the blow landed, robbing it of its force and staying close enough to Owain that she was able to launch a cut of her own at the unbroken hinge on the opposite side of his visor.

-CLANG!-

"RAAAAA!!!" Owain roared in fury, redoubling his efforts to injure Ashlynn again. Fallen Claw spun in his hands as he turned the cross-guard into a club, smashing toward Ashlynn’s face with all the force he could muster after her thrust to his arm.

-CLANG!-

For a moment, a sly grin spread on Owain’s face as Ashlynn blocked his strike just the way he’d expected her to. His muscles tensed, and the power of the throne flowed through his body as he attempted to use the guard of his sword as a hook to wrench Ashlynn’s blade from her hands.

Ashlynn, however, wasn’t so easily fooled. Her grip on Water’s Edge never loosened. Instead, she stepped in with the force of Owain’s pull, slamming the guard of her blade into his shoulder and shoving while hooking one leg behind Owain’s knee.

-CLATTER!-

Owain went down in a heap as Ashlynn used his own enhanced strength against him, dropping him at her feet for a follow-up thrust to his briefly exposed waist.

-TING!- -RATTTTLE!-

Ashlynn’s thrust went wide as Owain rolled like a log on the floor to evade her.

It wasn’t a dignified defense. To the suddenly prone Owain, it was one of the most humiliating moves he’d been forced to make this entire duel, and the shame of rolling around on the ground while Ashlynn still stood burned like a hot brand against his already wounded pride.

"More," he muttered as he came up to one knee. His eyes flickered briefly to the throne that had obeyed his will like a perfect slave, offering up the power and strength he needed to destroy the witch who haunted him from beyond the grave.

Now, he threw aside his pride in his own strength and turned desperately to the only thing that had given him a real advantage in this fight. There were fewer shadowy tendrils snaking out from the throne now, but Owain neither knew nor cared what that meant. All he knew was that he needed more from the throne... and he didn’t care what it cost to get it...