Glass Necklace ||Joffrey Baratheon fanfiction||

IV

With Joffery's strong, yet gentle, arms wrapped around my moderately sized waist I felt safe. With the delicate fingers of my right hand laced in his silky golden locks, and my left firmly grasping the fabric of the tunic on his left shoulder, I deeply inhaled the scent of his body that I knew all to well as I nuzzled my nose into the crook of his neck. In what seemed like response to my actions, his left hand gripped my waist tighter than he had previously, and moved his right hand to the middle of my back as he almost desperately pressed the tips of his fingers into my covered skin. As he pressed my body closer to his own, I could feel his heartbeat through his firm chest; it's erratic beating matched mine almost exactly. Along with his beating heart came his unsteady breath. I could feel, and hear, his breath as it gently hit the sensitive skin of the top of my shoulder that was slightly exposed to him. After what felt like a lifetime, but in reality was only a moment, Joffery and I finally let go of each other, but still stood within arms length. As our icy eyes met, smiles graced both of our lips.

"Will you walk through the market with me?" I asked with a voice so soft, that I'm sure it was hard for even him to hear. With a curt nod, Joffery cleared his throat slightly as he extended the crook of his arm out to me. "Shall we, M'lady?" He asked with quite the regal tone to his voice. Ever so slightly curtsying to him, I nodded as I placed my left hand on his outstretched arm. With both of our free hands on the reins of our respectable horses, we pleasantly made our way through the moderately crowed streets. We walked in comfortable silence, inhaling the lovely sent of the sea that was infused into the air, and listening merrily to the merchants who beckoned forth willing customers. To say in simple words, no day could be more pleasantly peaceful than this one.

Not too long into our stroll did Joffery stop and glance at me with timid eyes. Confused by his very sudden actions, I looked up at him with eyes filled with confusion. After a few more seconds of our sudden halt I dared to question his actions "Is something the matter?" But he didn't respond in the way I had expected him to. "Come this way." He said in an almost hypnotic state as he usher me over to a merchant that sold luxury jewelry. Almost immediately after we had stood before the jems did a strange woman appear from behind a dark purple curtain.

The woman's hair was a thick and unruly mess of curly black locks, and her eyes were a shade of intense violet. Her smile was slightly crooked, showing her matching, partially crooked, teeth. Though her smile was as odd as her eyes, they both seemed to emanate a very spectacular kind of warmth. Almost a maternal sort of kindness. Just like her natural beauty, her clothes were just as odd. She wore a piece of lavender coloured cloth around her head, and had a matching short sleeved shirt with a ruched skirt. Though the top had darker purple fabric sewn in with the lavender, her skirt had these sort of little gold medallions hanging from it. The golden medallions hung from almost random places along the fabric, and as she moved they made the light sound of small bells ringing. She was quite the peculiar woman, yet I was drawn to her in the most curious of ways.

"May I help you, my darlings?" She spoke with a thick accent that I have never even heard of before. As she looked at us with her glimmering violet eyes, I noticed that a spark had emerged from them as she placed one of her heavily garnished hands on her hip, and pointed the other at us, shaking it slightly, cause her bracelets to jingle merrily. With an almost knowing, yet mischievous, look in her eyes she spoke before we even had time to answer her question "Wait here, I know just what you need." Then she was gone in almost the blink of the eye; away behind the dark purple curtain she went, to retrieve gods know what. At the moment she disappeared I quickly looked up at Joffery in confusion as I gently squeezed his arm to alert him of Mg dismay. Looking down at me, I noticed the same spark of confusion coursing through his eyes as they peered down at mine. Not a moment later we whipped our heads back towards the stall upon hearing her thick voice float towards us "This is what you need." She said as she held a small black box out towards us. "What is it?" I spoke with an almost timid voice as I subconsciously cocked my head to the side in curiosity. With a soft smile, she slowly unveiled the contents of the small box to us. Inside the simple black box was a single silver ring made for a woman. Furrowing my brows, I couldn't help but stare at the almost glowing ring that was shown to me. With subtle movements she gently removed the ring from the box, and held it out to us. Only now did I notice the small, yet breathtakingly beautiful, diamond that was intricately molded into it. To say that I was blown away by its simplistic beauty was an understatement. Seemingly just as transfixed with the ring as I was, Joffery spoke in a wavering voice "How much do you want?" I was shocked by his words, to say the least. Never would I have guessed that he would buy the simple ring in the first place, and from a foreign street merchant too? I was utterly baffled.

"No charge." The woman said with a firm shake of her head, cause some of her curls to bounce slightly. "I see something special in the both of you so," her large smile never seemed to falter as she outstretched her arm some more, "I am giving this to you." To tell the truth, I was even more baffled now than I was before. She was willing to give us such an ethereal looking ring just because she saw something special in us? I couldn't even begin to form words. But with a timid hand Joffery took the ring from her, and spoke with the softest voice I've ever heard come from his lips "Thank you." After he spoke, just like before she was gone in the blink of the eye behind her dark purple curtain.

As I stared at the curtain in which she left behind, I heard Joffery clear his voice from beside me. Almost reluctantly I tore my gaze away from the curtain, and set my icy grey eyes on him. Seeming nervous he pulled away from me slightly to stand so he fully faced my side. With furrowed brows I silently questioned his actions, as I stared at him. With an airy sigh he grabbed my left hand and placed the beautiful ring on the third finger from my thumb. I couldn't help the shocked gasped the escaped my lips as he did so. As I looked up at him with my mouth agape, and widened eyes, I couldn't disguise my surprise "Joffery..." I said almost breathless. With a small smile that he only ever showed to me, he spoke as he drew his face nearer to mine "Think of it as a promise." Before I could even utter a word, his lips were on mine. The soft plumpness of his lips pressed against my own sealed our promise. This ring, and this kiss were our own secret vows to one another. Standing here in one on my favourite places in all of Westeros, embracing in the sweetest, most sacred of kisses with the love of my life will forever be etched into my memory as the most beautiful day of my life.