Rhea Royce had never been happier. She was finally free of her whoring hell mouth of a husband. Finally granted an annulment by the king. Her cousin could do nothing to stop the king's order.
Her cousin was angry, he still believed that whoremonger would give her heirs. She had not let him touch her once, not that he wanted to. She may have been convinced to try once or twice if he had been interested, only out of loyalty to her house.
In truth she did not want any man, men bore her. She preferred woman herself, it had been one of the few boons of her marriage to Daemon. She was free to pursue anything to her liking without anyone to answer to. Her cousin could throw a fit all he wanted, it would matter naught.
At first she truly had been happy about the Annulment, even with her cousins winging. Then news of the Princess's betrothal came to them. She had been insulted, she was being discarded for a child. It was the grievest of insults.
She had eventually gotten past it but it still gets to her. That he would want a child instead of a woman, it just showed her how much more disgusting he truly was. She was better off. Or so she thought until her cousin started pressuring her to find a new husband.
He couldn’t force her but he was becoming more insistent, she had finally made him stop pesturing her when she agreed to go to the Eyrie for the Princess's and her ex-husband's visit.
The majority of the Vale lords would be there, she had no intentions of actually entertaining another marriage but she was humoring her cousin before he did something she couldn’t take back.
She had even managed to avoid coming in direct contact with her Ex husband and his new wife. She had seen them a few times from afar and every time it had caused her to stop and stare in shock.
Daemon, the whoremongering, scheming, power-hungry filth, was doting. He was being extremely kind and caring to his very pregnant wife. Even she could see the love in his eyes when he looked at her.
It had made her angry at first, that he was so happy while she was dodging suitors and her cousin. Eventually she just chose to ignore it and them. She had been successful, always staying where they were not.
During the Feast she had been wandering the halls until she came upon the courtyard. She had been about to go back inside when she heard a scream from further into the gardens.
She tried to peer around, her hand going to the shortsword on her hip but she couldn’t see anything in the darkness. Just the torches in the distance.
She slowly began to approach, caution going through her as she walked toward the sounds of danger. It had been a man's scream, it could be a drunken brawl or it could be an attacker, she didn’t know.
Rhea continued forward slowly until she hears a woman's scream of pain, then she moved much quicker as she approached the sound.
