Chapter 14
The Dragons were watching them again.
Although Oberyn loved the way that they cared for their mother, he couldn't deny having young Dragons watch their every move was rather unnerving. "Oberyn!" Rosaerys's soft voice drifted through their small apartment from the confinement of their wardrobe. "Stop watching them and they'll stop watching you, you're making them anxious."
His eyes flittered from the wardrobe to the dragons and back again. How could she ask that of him? It was impossible. Their eyes were rich, like swirling vortexes of fire, dangerous in the way they held themselves. The extent of the black diamond teeth baring menacingly. Oberyn turned, quick to shuffle from their view and into the clasp of his wife.
"What? I can't help it. They're hovering, it's unnerving." He was rather curt in his words but he couldn't help it, they were like immortal flies. He loved the dragons, and thought highly of them but recently... they were all he saw.
Meraxes silver scales glinted against the expanse of the sun, capturing like billions of glass shards. Balerion rough against her beauty, holding Alpha aura; with Rhaegal to the side.
Rosaerys turned, her hands finished shuffling through her Dornish robes before sighing in defeat, eyes capturing his. "They can sense that, that's why they're hovering. Calm yourself and they'll go away." She had little time at the best of it, let alone the day before they set sail back to Westeros.
R'hllor, did she not want to be there without her army. There were so many possibilities of what could go wrong, if they found out who she was and that Oberyn helped her? Her hand clutched the desk, steadying her beating heart. She couldn't! She wouldn't let them find out who she is, she had to blend in.
Rosaerys stared another second at her husband, eyes rummaging his disheveled state before frowning. "Have you packed Oberyn? Got everything you needed?" He nodded, his arms seeking her smaller frame. She was too frantic for her own good, and stressed never helped.
"Relax, my love. Everything will be fine, we will have the Dornish and the Unsullied; so please. Relax. Pack what you want, I can always have some gowns made or get some coming in from Dorne. Your aunt has everything under control, as does Barristan and Daario. So please, calm down and enjoy your last few days here."
Rosaerys nodded, pulling to a halt; the words slowly ticking in her mind. Oberyn was very much right, and that was all she needed; his wise words.
"Sorry Oberyn, I have just been so worried about our safety there, I want us to remain as we are, and I'm not keen on being so close to the Lions in the moment of time." He nodded, pulling a silvery strand between his fingers and pushing it back.
"I understand, Rosaerys; I do, but remember that you are going to be protected, and you are going to be just fine. I promise." He whispered before pressing a gentle kiss to her temple and stepping back, their eyes remained on each other. She nodded in response before turning away.
"Do you know if the dye is packed? I don't want to give them any reason to suspect us." Oberyn nodded, noting that not just one jar was in the trunk, but in fact almost 20.
Oberyn sighed. "My love, you're doing it again. Everything is packed, now come, let us go out, explore, do something. Anything to take your mind off this trip." His hand reached out, letting it hover in the air before Rosie moved forward, placing hers on top. The warmth snaked between their finger tips, twisting up their arms, before Oberyn pulled her close.
"Good, now, where should we go? The market? The Pits? Perhaps even the gardens?"
Rose twirled in his arms, before swaying to. Her eyes darting across the pyramid grazed horizon. She could see the soft rolls of blue from her tall tower, even the smaller pyramids were no match to block the view. Often she would walk to the window on restless nights, and peep across the land and there opposite her, nestled against the bricked pyramids was the stretching expanse of dark water.
The moon, typically standing high in the sky would grace the lapping waves, letting the two mingle before the sun would interrupt. Rose always hated that, but in the sun the glistening blues would come to play, and everything seem that much more alive. "No, I want to visit the sea. Experience the water before we are to sail upon it."
Rose turned to Oberyn before looking up. "Let's go, it'll be fun!" Her smile met with his own.
Oberyn nodded. "Alright, we'll go. Do you want me to bring the Unsullied? Or the Dornish guards?" Rose nodded, safety was key now more than anything. She wasn't going to crawl back into her Pyramid all because of an assassination attempts.
"Only a few, not many. I want Dany and Daario to be with us, as you know, a last day together." Oberyn soured at the name, Daario. The cocky guard had always kept him on edge, something that he was never fond of. Who wants to constantly get glared at all due to their relationship with the Queen? Oberyn shook his head before looking to Rose, her eyes wide as she stared at him.
Oberyn nodded. "Of course my love, I'll grab the guards, busy yourself with Dany."
It didn't take long for them all to be ready, and arrive at the beach. By the time they had arrived the sand burned at the tips of their toes, with the sun peak above them. The azure water looking tempting.
Rose stripped from her flowing dress, leaving a cotton small dress on her tiny frame. Dumping her stuff behind her, she raced to the water jumping into the warm waves with a smile on her delicate face. Oberyn watched amused, his small wife splashing the water around her body, hair hanging in damp curls around her face.
She looked so childlike.
Innocent.
Oberyn pulled on the tunic that clung to his shoulders before joining her, the warm water rushing around his waist as his arms gripped hers, pulling her to him. She screamed, the giggles lacing with the high pitch.
"Oberyn!" Rosie called, slapping his arm as she turned into him, smiling up.
"Rosie!" He called back, childish in his actions but he didn't mind. He felt like his youth had taken over him, swimming in the mainly pools of water on this Earth, experiencing the finer taste of things, before it all went to shit.
Water glistened against the pale of her skin, droplets captured on the tips of her lashes. Their eyes meeting in a strange form of Earth and Violets. Hands snaked across her waist before pulling her from the water and spinning her around; a shrill laugh filling the air surrounding them.
The four enjoyed each other's company as the sun sank against the deep, dark hues of the ocean; the plunging darkness of the night wrapping around them. Rosie shook, the water having quickly dried against her skin and replacing it in the gentle powdery feel of salty water and sand.
Rosie glanced at the distance, on one side she had the Pyramids of Meereen and Slaver's Bay; on the other awaited the future of Westeros, a land where she had once lived and was one day going to again.
Oberyn squeezed her hand in comfort before going back to the carriages, ready to go back to the Pyramid.
***
"Do you think they'll find out Oberyn?" Rosie whispered to her husband as the dead of night settled across the city, the odd hums of various animals filling the hot night. Oberyn was nestled beneath her, his body bare from earlier activities. His chest rising and falling in a soft, off beat way that he so regularly did. Rosie curled against him.
Oberyn's eyelids flickered, his tired dark eyes scanning across her face before closing again. "No, my love." His voice whispered, thick from exhaustion. "They haven't seen you since you were 6; if they recognise you it'll only be through the eyes. When the dye has settled on your skin and hair, you won't be recognised."
Rosie nodded before stopping again, her head falling back against his arm, looking up to the ceiling. The nervousness had snaked back into her system and coiled itself across her thoughts, her stomach jumping every time she couldn't shake them. "I can feel the worry roll off of you, Rosaerys. There is no need for it, please; you'll get yourself into a fit."
Again, she nodded and pressed herself closer to him. Oberyn was right, she didn't need to worry. The Unsullied had received sufficient training and had relaxed greatly, well... perhaps not greatly, they were still rather stiff. The Dornish guards were comfortable enough around the Unsullied that they cracked jokes and shared drinks.
Soon, she would become Aerys; a Dornish-Lyseni woman who had been a bastard daughter and possible whore; not a Targaryen Queen. Oberyn sighed, tugging her from his arms and setting her on his laps; their skin connecting. Rose blushed, feeling the contours of his body against her thighs.
His dark eyes swirled up gazing at her with a form of adoration; in the somewhat short time that they had known each other, the two had formed a bond that she couldn't seem to describe; it was like they just clicked. Rose stroked his cheek, his head leaning into her.
"Have you written to your daughters recently, Oberyn; I know they must be missing you." Oberyn nodded, reaching up to grasp her hand.
"Yes, Elia wrote this time and that came with Sarella's letters. Elia misses us, as do all the smaller girls; Sarella has completed another ring on her Maester's chain."
Rosie smiled, as Oberyn's eyes misted at the thought of his girls; the gentle curve of his lips tugging up. "That's great Oberyn, is everything better? You know with Ellaria and such?" Oberyn grew quite, his body tensing beneath her thighs. Rosie shifted, the tense air encasing them.
He sighed. "I'm going to move Ellaria to a room furthest away from ours; although we won't be there often. I don't trust her enough to be left outside and free to talk about what happens in those walls but I don't want to see her kicked out of her home. She is the mother to four of my girls." Rosie understood, Ellaria would be a part of their lives forever. Oberyn's forehead creased, deep lines running across his olive skin.
"I know Oberyn, don't worry about it." She smoothed the lines. He nodded, taking comfort in her words; she was always so accepting over everything. "Do you think she'll be more accepting? At least for the girls, if not anything." Oberyn shrugged, he wasn't sure; Ellaria had always been... difficult and assertive. "How about when we reach King's Landing; you bring the girls for a couple of weeks before letting them go back home. It'll give you some time to spend with them; just you."
Oberyn turned it in his mind. Of course he wanted to have his daughters with him; he craved that quality time with them, there wasn't enough hours in the day that he could spend with them. But King's Landing always left a sour taste in his mouth, the very thought of taking his small daughters there disgusted him.
They hurt little girls there, Rosaerys was proof of that; what she had seen. Oberyn shook his head. "No, the girls are going no where near that place unless you are sat on that throne. I do not trust those putrid lions. I don't even want you going there, let alone them."
"Of course, Oberyn; I understand. You know nothing will happen while we're there."
"I know, Rosaerys; but you can never be too careful around them. You know that."