Born of spite, fostered in pity, shrouded in fear.
Malaeya Lannister was a mystery to every soul in the Seven Kingdoms and far beyond. Many a song written in her name, yet few eyes had laid upon her. Locked away in the Red Keep, a need budded within...
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~͓̽~͓̽~
41 | ᴄᴏᴍᴇ ꜰɪʀꜱᴛ
𝐂𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐄
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐓𝐘𝐀𝐑𝐃 𝐒𝐄𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐌𝐀𝐄𝐆𝐎𝐑'𝐒 𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐃𝐅𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐊𝐄𝐄𝐏 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐀𝐒 𝐁𝐄𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐈𝐅𝐔𝐋 𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐎𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐑𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐌𝐁𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐈𝐓. Now that she'd seen Dorne, it seemed dull. But that wasn't always the case.
When she'd first walked through the beige stone walls keeping the city from the castle, it was like stepping into a dream. She couldn't count how many times she had stared up at the castle - contrast against its walls like a big drop of blood on white clothes - wishing that she could step inside and see.
For years, she'd watched countless wheelhouses of nobles and carts of food for Robert's feasts clop down the cobblestone streets of peasants only to disappear behind the stone walls of luxury.
Sometimes, she could hear them at night, when the rest of the working city had retired to sleep, resting in preparation for another hard day's work. She could hear them hooting and hollering, laughing and dancing to the loud flutes that played all through the night like a loud lullaby. She could smell the delicious food that made her Bowls of Brown smell even worse than it already did.
Her mother had told her that one day, if she prayed to the Mother, Maiden, and Crone steadily, they might bless her. And she might be chosen by some fancy lord or prince at Maiden's Day to be their wife. Then, she could have everything she'd ever wanted. She could go to balls and feasts, and tourneys and parties at court.
But her mother had also made it clear that she didn't need a man to be happy. She'd told her, 'Look at me. I've no man in sight, and yet I'm perfectly happy with my two children and job.'
Celesse, naive and without compunction, had replied, 'But you don't have a castle or feasts.'
To which her mother said, 'I don't need it to be happy. Those are for the rich sheep. I have a home and dinner every night, and laughter from my children. I'd take that any day over a cold marriage and a loud court.'
Had Celesse been older, she might have noticed how much her words had hurt her mother. She didn't understand that her mother wasn't choosing the life they'd lived. It was simply all that she could afford.
Celesse wished for years that she could change that. She still wished that.
Especially when she found out her mother had gotten the fever that killed her from working in a brothel, trying to earn a dowry for her daughter so that she could marry her off to a lesser noble, but still a noble.
