[200 powerstones bonus chapter]
- - - - - - - - -
The family dinner went badly. Those present were myself, my father, and Lysa Tully. My father gave the impression he might topple sideways and fall asleep at any mont, while the Fish Wife looked at everyone around her as though they were sothing scraped off the bottom of a boot and terrorized the servants. I simply sat there sipping Myrish sweet wine and marveling. I have never had much love for the Tullys in general, and for Lysa Tully specifically, on account of her particular brand of unpleasantness. To that I now added revulsion at her appearance. She had been attractive once. She was not now.
She had grown heavy, her face had gone pale and puffy, the blue eyes dull and watery, the small mouth set in a permanent combative line. Lysa looked twenty years older than she was. And though the rotten fish used perfu to mask herself, she could not entirely hide the sour, milky sll that clung to her, which finished off whatever patience I had left.
After a handful of exchanges I decided to end the farce and instructed the servants to clear the table. My father made a vague attempt to object but put so little into it that I had no difficulty sending him off to bed. The Fish Wife walked out the mont dinner ended without so much as a farewell. I would need to sit down with my father tomorrow and get a proper account of things. What little I had heard tonight did not inspire confidence.
...
Having gone to bed late I woke late, which ant my training did not begin until six in the morning. There is a dedicated training yard in the inner courtyard used by the king, the lords, and their household guards. I was working through techniques, strikes, and feints when I was interrupted:
"I did not know anyone would be here at this hour. Go play sowhere else, boy. I will be training here now." The voice, thick with arrogance, belonged to Jai Lannister.
I had only glimpsed him briefly at the royal wedding, and he had not interested then. In five years the Kingslayer had grown into a tall and handso man with hair the color of hamred gold that curled slightly at the ends. He had sharp green eyes, bright as a cat's, and a smile built entirely out of condescension. If he believed his tongue was as sharp as the Red Viper's, he was badly mistaken.
"Kingslayer, you have co to the wrong place. There are no old n here for you to practice on. I can point you in a better direction if you like." My thanks to Oberyn for the endless verbal sparring. Watching that condescending smile wither was a genuine pleasure.
"It seems House Arryn does not bother with discipline." The frown was open now.
"On the contrary, it does. We are also taught about honor, oaths, and the obligations of any man who respects himself. I am happy to explain it to you, it is no trouble." He was easy to provoke. Presumably no one had ever said these things to his face before.
"Co here, I will show you a few moves and teach you so humility." He began walking toward , sword in hand.
"Co on then. Let us see what that white cloak is worth."
By tradition, fighters greet each other before a bout begins. Lannister rely smirked again in place of it. The fight began without a word.
Arryn attacked imdiately. A sharp forward surge followed by a lightning-fast, sweeping diagonal cut from high to low. Lannister stepped back instinctively and raised his blade to block, but Axel had already spun on his axis and continued the strike from an entirely different angle. Years of hard-won experience helped Jai avoid the blow, but the blade still reached its mark, leaving a visible cut across the breastplate.
A flash of sothing crossed those erald eyes, fear mingled with respect. Caught entirely off guard by the speed of it, the guardsman was forced onto the back foot, reduced to turning aside Arryn's strikes as they ca. After every third or fourth attack Jai returned with a thrust or a cut, trying to catch his opponent off balance, but with little to show for it.
The two n tested each other at a blistering pace. The only sounds over the training yard were the ring of steel and the scrape of blade on blade. Arryn's attacks looked chaotic and disjointed at a glance, but a seasoned warrior could see they were nothing of the sort.
Jai's more technical and precise swordsmanship helped him limit the damage from most of the exchanges. Axel repeated the opening combination in reverse: a cut rising from low to high, flowing imdiately into a descending blow from above after the spin.
Turning aside another of Axel's strikes, Jai countered with a thrust, but his opponent stepped wide of it. The guardsman did not let up, pressing forward and catching Arryn's next attack before it could develop, leaving a deep cut across the back of his hand. Not wanting to surrender the initiative, Lannister drove through a sequence of four strikes, but all of them were t and redirected into soft blocks. The last fared no better.
Then a loud voice cracked across the training yard:
"Stop! Lower your swords!" And soone ca striding quickly toward the center of the arena.
It was Bronze Yohn Royce, Lord of Runestone and Axel Arryn's uncle. He was plainly displeased.
"Kingslayer, what in seven hells are you trying to do to each other?"
"I am simply offering the young man a fencing lesson." Lannister decided to play the fool and irritate Royce.
"Co now, Uncle. We were only sparring, exchanging knowledge. Is that not right, Ser Jai?" The Kingslayer's face did not change, but his eyes gave away his surprise.
"Entirely correct, and I want to say that I am genuinely impressed by your talent. In five years you will be able to face as an equal." The pride in every syllable was almost architectural.
"You flatter yourself, Ser. I am quite certain that..." But I was cut off by a firm cuff to the back of the head.
"You can admire each other later. The Hand is waiting for you." Sothing important then, if they had sent a lord of Runestone to fetch .
"Farewell, Lannister. I hope for another sparring match before long."
"I look forward to it, Arryn."
Walking back to the Tower of the Hand, my uncle could not resist:
"That sounded like two sword-swallowers talking." A strangled groan was his answer.
...
"You sent for , Father?" He was still sitting there writing sothing on parchnt.
"Yes, co in. What can I pour you?" He finished the letter quickly and rose to fix us drinks.
"Do you have any Myrish sweet?" Drinking in the morning was not the wisest idea, but I have a fondness for sothing sweet and only lightly alcoholic.
"No, but I can offer Arbor gold." He offered the most celebrated wine in the world. As it happened, I had not yet tried it.
"Please." My father handed a half-filled goblet. When I tasted it he asked:
"Well? What do you think?" His interest was genuine.
"Excellent." And I ant it, feeling the pleasant sweetness spread across my tongue, the rich scent of ripe fruit filling my nose, the agreeable warmth settling in my throat.
"Good. Now that we have seen to our thirst, let us get to the matter at hand. Your betrothal." I nearly choked.
"Ahem. And are there proposals already? Candidates?" Please let there be none. I am far too young for this.
"There are, but I want to discuss it with you. Think it through. What match would suit you?" He offered to play the ga of my childhood.
"Very well. The primary political force in Westeros is the alliance of Baratheon, Lannister, Arryn, and Stark, with Tully attached as an appendage. I want no ties to the lords of the Reach, they are sitting on a cache of wildfire and any spark could ignite a civil war over the title of paramount lord. The Riverlands are out as well, there is nothing further to be gained there. And Dorne already turned down." Now it was my father's turn to choke.
"I beg your pardon? Who exactly were you quietly trying to marry without my knowledge?"
"Arianne Martell. I liked her, she liked , but Doran rejected the idea and persuaded Arianne to do the sa." That had caused a serious falling out between us. She had sworn she loved and renounced it the following day.
"Understood. But do not dare propose marriage to anyone without my approval." Sothing about this conversation was beginning to sit badly with .
"I can and I will. It is not you who will be living with her for the rest of your life." He was not going to control . That was finished. I would not tolerate anyone controlling my life again.
-------------------------
Patreon Advance Chapters: patreon / ElvenKing20
User Comments
0 comments from readers