Chapter 2080: The Lost Daughter’s Words

~Father, it’s Ashlynn. I’m alive, I’m well, and Mother and Jocey are both with me...~

The feeling of reading those words was indescribable.

Rhys had suspected that Ashlynn had survived Owain’s attempt to murder her ever since the Inquisitor, Diarmuid, brought him a sketch of the mark he’d found on the body that was supposed to be Ashlynn’s. He’d received confirmation of her survival when he was summoned to the Isle of the Drowned by the Esselk’ti, the Witch of Deep Currents.

For weeks, he’d known, and he’d taken action on that knowledge, dispatching men and ships to put his plans into motion.

But knowing wasn’t the same as holding a letter from his lost daughter in his hands. Ashlynn’s handwriting was as crisp and as neat as it had been when she wrote out invitations to her tragic wedding, and he recognized it in an instant.

"It’s been a hard year," he told himself as he used the back of his sleeve to scrub the tears from his eyes. His hand shook as he held the letter, and he carefully set it on the surface of his desk, gently smoothing it out so he could read while his heart continued to race.

~There is so much that I want to say, Father, and more that I need to tell you. Most of it will have to wait until I can see you again, and I hope that day won’t be far off.~

~I love you, and I miss you. We all do. It’s taken a lot to come this far. It hasn’t been easy. We didn’t all make it. Cousin Eleanor gave her life to save Jocey from the Inquisition. I didn’t know or I’d have moved to attack the Lothians sooner. Tell Uncle Bertrem and Aunt Crera that I’m sorry I couldn’t save her, and also that she was a Blackwell to the end. Jocey wouldn’t have survived without Eleanor, of that, I’m certain.~

Rhys sighed and closed his eyes, letting the tears roll down his cheeks freely as he thought about the last time he’d talked to Eleanor. She’d renounced the family name when she donned the robes of her order, but when he needed the help of someone he could trust to watch over Jocelynn, she hadn’t hesitated to answer his call... She’d even gone so far as to arrange for a set of Templars to help protect Jocelynn from the dangers of the frontier.

"I don’t know if the stories of demons on the frontier are true or not, Cousin," Eleanor had said. "But it won’t hurt to have a few Templars in Jocelynn’s guard. It should also help to deal with any... suspicions that might fall on her if her sister’s ’condition’ is ever revealed, and you’ll have me at her side as well."

"One ship, one crew, right, Cousin?" Eleanor had said with a rare smile. "I may not have done much to help the family, but I can at least do this, and Jocelynn needs help right now. I know that everything hurts," she’d told Rhys. "But give me time with her, and I’ll do what I can to help stitch things back together. We’re family, after all. We have to watch out for each other."

The Blackwell family wasn’t large the way some noble families were. There weren’t dozens of cousins with spare heirs waiting for the day when the main line faltered. Rhys was the only child his parents had. Without any siblings of his own, the only ’cousins’ that Ashlynn and Jocelynn had were the descendants of his father’s younger brother and sister, most of whom made their way in life out in the island baronies.

Bertrem had publicly bemoaned the fact that he had no son to pass his whaling ship onto, but privately, he’d told Rhys on more than one occasion that he was happy that Eleanor had found her own way. A life in the Church, even if it carried her away from him, was far safer than a sailor’s life. His only real regret was that her choice meant he’d never have any grandchildren of his own.

Rhys had responded by taking Jocelynn to visit whenever he could, or sending her out by herself when she was old enough to go with an escort of knights. Ashlynn didn’t get to see their extended family as often, but there’d at least been some closeness between Bertrem and Jocelynn...

The news that Eleanore had fallen would break his cousin’s heart, but if anything could be a salve on that wound, it would be the knowledge that she’d kept Jocelynn safe.

"I’m sorry, Bertrem," Rhys said, resolving himself to take the news to his cousin personally. "Losing a daughter hurts too much," he said as he ran his fingers along the parchment of Ashlynn’s letter. If Ashlynn said that Eleanor had been lost, he doubted there would be a second miracle waiting to return her to the Blackwell family...

Rhys’s heart shook as he returned to Ashlynn’s letter. He’d expected the news wouldn’t be good, but he’d never imagined it would open with Eleanor’s death. He only hoped that the rest of the letter wouldn’t be as grim.

~I expect that you’ll hear the news of my return soon. Wolstan is fast, but I held him back to wait for mother’s arrival so she could send a letter as well. That means you won’t have as much time to prepare, and for that, I’m sorry too. I’ve done my best to limit the word that gets out, but you know as well as I do that it’s impossible to stop word from traveling eventually.~

~You may already have heard that Bors died and Owain intended to marry Jocey. I stopped the wedding. Owain is dead, and Lothian March has fallen. Jocey killed the Inquisitor responsible for Eleanor’s death, and I executed his Abbot in front of the Lothian Court.~

~You’ll likely hear that I’ve taken the throne as Marchioness first before you hear the truth. That’s deliberate. I’ve done my best to expose Owain’s history of misdeeds. I heard what he did during his visit to Blackwell. I’ve made that all public. The kingdom can believe that I’m a woman who was wronged by a philandering husband. The more time the kingdom wastes responding to the scandal, the more time I have to prepare.~

"Ruthless," Rhys said with a low whistle. "And clever. But you clearly know that it won’t hold for long. It might be long enough for me to move, though," he mused. "No one would question a father sending forces to support a daughter believed to have returned from the dead," he said as he continued reading the letter.

~At this point, we’ve captured and formed the core of our Empire, Father. I know the Witch of Ebbing Tides informed you of my relationship with Nyrielle, the ruler of the Vale of Mists. Together, we’ve conquered Lothian March and the High Pass, the mountains beyond the Vale. Jalal, the Eldritch Lord of Airgead Mountain, has joined us as a vassal, as has High Lord Dirar, the ruler of the Southern Steppe.~

~Our Empire spans everything between the Little Horns and the Umber Mountains and a good portion of Umbers as well. It stretches from the northern border of Lothian all the way to the Southern Sea. It is our dream to build an empire where humans can live side-by-side with the Eldritch, where the Church doesn’t hold sway and witches have no need to live in fear... but Father, it isn’t enough if it doesn’t include our home as well.~

"Greedy little thing," Rhys said with a chuckle. He couldn’t help but smile with pride at what his daughter had accomplished. For a hundred years, the Lothians had tried and failed to capture the Vale of Mists and expand their territory enough to claim the throne of a Duchy, and what had his darling daughter done within a single year in the Frontier?

She’d formed an empire nearly a quarter the size of the Kingdom of Gaal, and larger than most of the old countries across the sea. She was a queen in her own right, or an empress it seemed, but still, she wanted more.

~I’ve already reached out to Uncle Dylan about folding DuCoumont into our empire, and he sent Cousin Micheline to meet with me while he carries my letter to Duke Argidir Keating. I’ve been told that you intend to stand with us, and I’ve prepared a place for you among the highest lords in the Empire. You and the people of Blackwell deserve no less.~

~But if we’re going to do this, Father, I need your help. Slowing the Church’s forces is a start, but it’s going to take far more than that. If Argidir will receive me, I intend to meet with him come spring. I don’t want to conquer Keating, but I can’t leave it alone either. The second page of this letter contains our plans, as they currently stand, and the places I’ll need your help. Send Wolstan with your answers, and we can prepare together.~

~One way or another, in a few months’ time, I hope you’ll be ready to join us, in DuCoumont or in Keating. Until then, I’ll watch over Mother and Jocey.~

~P.S. I know what Jocey did. I don’t know if I can forgive her. I’m trying my best. I believe we have a way forward, but it’s dangerous. I’ll let Jocey explain in her letter. Just know that I still love her and we’re trying to make amends.~

~All my love, Ashlynn~