A DANCE WITH GHOSTS » VISERYS TARGARYEN

CHAPTER SEVEN

VISERYS
VULNERABILITY

"'AND THEY LIVED HAPPILY, UNTIL the end of their days,'" Evelyne finishes, a proud gleam across her soft features. She looks to Viserys as soon as she speaks the last word, her green eyes finding violets.

Viserys doesn't hide his grin. "You did well," he tells her. A smile melts into a smirk. "I told you I could do better than my sister."

The prince watches the girl roll her eyes at his jest. He cannot help himself from mirroring the happy expression she wore so openly. Evelyne closes the book and places it on the table in front of the pair, the same table they first agreed to lessons.

Two months passed and for a few hours every other night, Viserys offers his time to help Evelyne learn to read and write. In truth, he had done a far better job in comparison to his little sister. Already, Evelyne was able to read and her penmanship was growing neater and more eligible by the hour. Viserys felt his chest puff in pride, but he was just as happy for the girl. 

In the time that it took for Evelyne to learn letters and finish the story, she was able to plant and nourish a blooming sense of warmth in Viserys. It took the prince some time to get used to Evelyne's quirks, but now he enjoys all of them, even the surprise crowns she brings him every so often after mentioning his favorite flower in passing (blue hydrangeas, specifically). Whether he loves or hates what she has done to him, it does not matter; his words became slightly more gentle, his crude language toned down, and it seemed all Pentos has noticed.

In their time together, Viserys opened up to Evelyne in distant ways. Parts of him were hidden, but she was allowed to teeter around the edges of his thoughts and indulge when he wishes to speak to someone other than Illyrio. Intentional vagueness hung around stories he'd share, but she would never question them. In return, Evelyne would also tell him stories of her own. And still, he realizes now that he knows very little about the Flower of Pentos.

"How did you come by to know all your little songs, petal?" Viserys asks. It was a random question, but he had been wondering for quite some time. "I assume by ear, but who taught you?"

Viserys can see Evelyne's face fade, as if she was caught in surprise before captured by the past, a memory manifesting before her eyes only. He struck something, something he assumes was better left untouched. But the yellow-haired woman answers. "I never asked how, but I was found by a witch. She raised me and she loved to sing and dance." Evelyne sits back, her eyes elsewhere as her fingertips play with the curl that slipped from her braid. "She taught me everything I know."