Simple Servant - Game of Thrones

Chapter Nine

After cleaning themselves—though Rosie could do little but lie there and let him pamper her—Arthur lay beside his love and kissed her brow when she nestled into him, her breasts brushing against his side as she laid one arm lazily across his stomach, her leg entwining with his. "If I'm not pregnant after that, I must be barren," Rosie murmured in a low, hoarse voice, a hand pressed delicately against her belly.

Arthur looked at her closely. "Is that what you want? A child?"

Rosie lifted her eyes and searched his. Her hand moved up his stomach to draw circles on his chest. There was an almost worried look in her eyes. "I always wanted to be a mother," she whispered. "Even when I was a little girl. I have wanted that since before I knew what it even meant." Arthur knew that—she had always been open with her desire to be a mother, but the exile had never considered the thought of being a father...

But being her children's father didn't sound so bad.

"You'd make a brilliant mother," Arthur said, brushing strands of brown hair from her face and kissing her brow. A smile split across her lips, and her eyes fell to her stomach again, where she still had not removed her hand. "Your dreams are my dreams, your desires, mine... If you want a child, I will give you one." They made enough gold for it to be a possibility, anyway. His love looked at him with large brown eyes, her smile blinding.

She whispered, "I love you so much."

"Then marry me," Arthur blurted. "We can go to the Sept-Beyond-the-Sea and have one of their Septons officiate the marriage. My gods can wait until we return to Westeros, where we can marry in their sight on the Isle of Faces if that is what you want." Rosie blinked at him, then flushed a dark crimson and rolled on top of him, smiling wide enough it must have hurt her cheeks. "Now, I think we'll have trouble with your family, but we can—"

She kissed him to shut him up.

Arthur smiled into it and ran his fingertips lightly up her back. "I'll marry you," Rosie whispered between kisses, a sheen of unshed tears sparkling in her brown eyes. "Of course, I'll marry you!" The exile chuckled as his love gave an elated giggle while peppering his jawline with kisses. "Oh, Arthur, my beloved, I've been waiting so long!"

The exile grinned and flipped them over, Rosie squealing in delight as he did. "Wait no longer, love," he whispered in her ear, trailing kisses down her jawline to her lips as her legs wrapped around his waist. "Oh? Eager to start on that baby project of yours, are you?" The smack on the back of the head that earned him made Arthur laugh.

Braavos 297 AC.

Rosalind. (Margaery)

"Are the whispers I hear true, Lady Rosalind?" The Black Pearl asked innocently before sipping her beverage, a type of tea from the Golden Empire of Yi Ti, subtly sweet and brewed from jasmine flowers. It was the courtesan's drink of choice when she visited Rosie in her and Arthur's modest home. When Rosie didn't reply, the brown-skinned woman opened her indigo eyes and peered at the seamstress with faux annoyance.

Rosie smiled. "Don't look at me like that. It was a silly question." The young woman's lips spread into a wicked grin, a flicker of mischief in her rich indigo eyes. "What's that unsettling look for, Belle?"

"Unsettling? You wound me, Rosie," Bellegere Otherys said, putting a hand against her bosom. She was wearing the newest line of gowns Rosie designed for the courtesans of the Hundred Isles. It was a rich indigo satin with a deep V that displayed the Black Pearl's bountiful breasts, so thin you could see the lace smallclothes beneath it. "So, I didn't get an invitation yet. Do you want me to swear not to be naughty at your wedding?"

"You'd be boring if you weren't naughty," Rosie teased.

The Black Pearl grinned. "Then I will be extra naughty."