You sat beside your sister Yara whilst your father greeted the visiting men from Dorne. It was unusual to have visitors in Pyke, especially ones from far away kingdoms, and your Father had neglected to give you a reason for their arrival.
"You know," Yara spoke quietly beside you, drawing your attention to her. "You will probably marry one of these men," she continued, watching as your mouth fell open in horror, "I'm more like a son to Father than a daughter, so I doubt he'll bother with marrying me off any time soon. But it would be easy to find you a husband."
"Father wouldn't just send me away like that," you uttered, shuffling and sitting up straighter, staring ahead, instead of at your older sister. The men were all starting to settle in and one caught your eye, he was tall and handsome, and he smiled at you when he caught you watching him.
"Why not? He did it to Theon," Yara murmured, causing you to shoot her a glare as she stood to go and greet the men. You quickly stood to join her. "This is my sister, Y/N," she told the men and you nodded a greeting with a small smile. The man from before reached out and took your hand in his, kissing it and watching as you turned a deep shade of red. "Y/N, this is Prince Oberyn," Yara told you, grinning from ear to ear as your attempted to hide your flustered appearance.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Your Grace," you uttered softly, forcing your smile to remain in place as you glanced down at your feet.
"Please, call me Oberyn," he started, returning your smile so genuinely that you felt a little guilty for having to force your own.
"Y/N," you Father spoke from behind you, allowing you to escape from the growing awkwardness between yourself and the prince. Your father ushered you away from the larger group of people to stand alone, and then smiled down at you, setting your nerves on edge. Baron Greyjoy didn't smile, you didn't think it was even possible, and yet here he was doing just that. "You will be returning to Dorne with the prince," he started, "your chambermaid will begin packing in the morning." For a moment, you felt as though the breath had been knocked out of your chest as you stared at your father, brow furrowed. "I expect you to behave correctly, do you understand?" he added, glancing around the room until you gave a short nod. With that little confirmation, he was back amongst his guests, leaving you standing along in a far corner of the room.
You knew enough about Oberyn to understand that he was a kind man. But, you had also heard other, less enticing rumours. He was known to share his bed with all manners of people, there were even mutterings of bastard children. You felt sick just thinking of how they would receive you joining their family.
*Time Skip*
Yara had decided to sail with you on your first journey to Dorne, an act of sibling love that you had never experienced before. She would be returning to Pyke within days of landing in your new home, but she seemed excited to see where you would live. She had always enjoyed visiting foreign places, it was one of the many ways you differed from your sister. You had always preferred being at home in your chambers with your sewing than riding off on an adventure.
You remained silent beside Oberyn as you disembarked from the ship. A group of girls came into view and saw a smile crept onto Oberyn's face. They were all stunning, with tan skin and dark hair, and you immediately knew than the rumours had been true. He approached each girl, drawing them into a hug with a large smile, and you simply stood completely still, stunned.
There was another woman in the group, older but equally beautiful. You understood why Oberyn would still want to be with her, a goddess amongst women, and when she smiled brightly at you, you felt yourself pale.
"You must be Y/N," she started, stepping forward as Oberyn stood behind her smiling. "I'm Ellaria, and these are my daughters," she continued and you forced a half-hearted smile onto your lips, feeling a little queasy.
"Hello," you uttered, the word sticking in your throat as all of their eyes fell on you. You had always detested being the centre of attention, and luckily Yara came to the rescue again, as she came to stand beside you. "This is my sister, Yara. She is my father's heir," you started, glancing over at your sister for a moment with pleading eyes. People always found Yara interesting, she was a strong woman, a trait that wasn't too common in the Seven Kingdoms. The girls beamed at Yara, apparently agreeing with your assumption that your sister was utterly incredible, and you found yourself a little hurt.
"Y/N," Yara started softly, touching your elbow lightly to draw your attention to her fully. "The ship must leave tonight or we'll hit the storm coming from the West," she added before pulling you into a tight hug, leaving you shocked.
"Please don't go," you whispered into her shoulder as tears started to run down your cheeks and you buried your face into her neck.
"Girls, head up to the dining hall. Y/N and I will come and join you in a moment," Oberyn uttered softly, waiting until the girls had made a hasty exit to approach you. "Yara will be welcome in Dorne whenever she pleases," he told you, moving forward to rest a hand on your back, "and you are free to travel back to the Iron Islands as you please," he continued.
"If I was free I would never have been brought here in the first place," you uttered, finally allowing Yara to pull out of your grip.
"I understand," Oberyn murmured, giving a short nod. "Yara, it was a pleasure to meeting you," he started again, and yara silently nodded, mustering up a half-smile for you before walking back towards the ships.
*Time Skip*
As you sat at dinner, the girls spoke around you and you found that they were very similar to your sister. You felt yourself slowly relax, pushing the food around your plate and taking tentative bites of the foreign food.
"We'll find you some more suitable dresses," Ellaria told you softly, her smile still as sweet as could be, "you must be so warm in those clothes." You gave a short nod of agreement, glancing in her direction for just a moment before returning to your food. "You will need to learn to talk more, my dear, or Dorne will eat you alive," she added and Oberyn glanced over at her with a small frown.
"I find that I learn far more when I listen than I do when I talk," you stated softly, a small smile playing on your lips. "When you live on a small island with a rather divided population, knowledge becomes the best form of power." Ellaria smiled at you, again, a small chuckle escaping her lips as she nodded her agreement.
"I would like to see your knowledge stop a weapon," one of this daughters uttered from opposite you, and you raised an eyebrow in question. "Being able to fight is more important than knowing secrets," she continued.
"Is it?" you asked softly, leaning forward to smile at her properly. "If you know someone's weaknesses you know how to stop them from ever becoming a threat in the first place," you continued. "I've been here for less that an hour, and I can already tell you that your father's weakness is his children. Figuratively speaking, if I wanted to hurt him I would just have to hurt one of you," you finished, picking up your fork and taking another bite of food.
Oberyn's clap caught you off guard, drawing your eyes to him where he sat, laughing. "You are far smarter than your father led me to believe," he chuckled "I think you will fit in very well with my family."
Please consider supporting me for just £3 using Ko-Fi. The link is available on my profile page. If you have any questions about Ko-Fi please feel free to private message me. Thank you. L x