Oberyn was standing at the balcony, staring at the sky and at his nephew playing with his betrothed and his cousins. He was the only boy inside the castle, yet he had been raised with his cousins like a brother would be.
People used to say that Oberyn Martell would make a daughter everywhere he went to. Not that it bothered him since it was, partially, the truth. Many people around the Seven Kingdoms thought it was disrespectful for him to bring his bastard daughters to court, but most of those people were stupid, to begin with.
He never regretted his choices for one minute. He didn't regret any of it. Bringing his daughters to Court, recognising them as his.
Many argued that a child's place is with the mother, not with the father. However, Oberyn knew that if it weren't for him, most of them would live a miserable life. He loved them, every single one of them. The easy daughters, the complicated daughters... all of them.
"Licked your wounds already? Or did you have the Stark girl kissing them?" he asked once he saw his squire arriving by the corner of his eye.
"Licked them myself, Prince" he stated recomposed once again. Oberyn indicated for him to come closer, which the boy did.
"She's very fond of you, you know that?" Daemon nodded in silence. "Then be careful"
"I would never treat her wrong, My Prince" he assured defensively. "I was hoping you knew that"
"She's not just any girl, she's gone through a lot herself" he began, turning to face his squire. "She's not like my niece or any of my daughters. She's not a dornishwoman"
"I know she's not," he said. "She's of the North"
"She comes from a place where no one would ever want to marry her after seeing her being taken on a stroll by you" Oberyn explained. "She has gone through things you could never even imagine. Do you know what they did to her in King's Landing?"
"They executed her father and held her as a prisoner" Oberyn gave a sarcastic laugh that made Daemon warry. Had he spoken such nonsense? That was what he had been told! "I apologize, but is it funny to you?"
"That was a tragedy, but out of the monstruosities that happened there, that was the smallest one" Daemon's facial expression changed as he listened carefully, afraid of what he was about to hear. "They did what Lannisters and usurpers are best at! You know what they do to women and children there?"
"I've heard rumours" he stated as he swallowed dryly. "About what they did to your sister and her children"
"Aye, so have I" the mentioning of Elia was poisonous to Oberyn. There was nothing that made him sadder, angrier, or more upset than what happened to his sister. "I heard many rumours but the one I keep hearing is that Tywin Lannister marched on King's Landing pretending to be on the Mad King's side. And Aerys Targaryen, the Mad King, was foolish enough to believe his genuine devotion and obedience to the crown. Then, when he invaded the city and while his soldiers killed and raped the citizens of the Capitol, he sent Ser Gregor Clegane... what a knight he was! He ordered him to get rid of Prince Aegon and Princess Rhaenys! My nephew and niece! And as if it weren't enough, he made my sister, Princess Elia Martell watch as he dashed her infant son's head against the wall, raping her afterwards and split her in half with his great, knighted sword!"
"It was a vile act, an awful crime" Daemon stated as he watched Oberyn getting furious. He was vengeful, he wanted to avenge Elia and her children, he wanted to make the Lannisters pay for their crimes. Not with fancy marriage alliances or apologetic letters... no, that wouldn't do! He wanted them dead, all of those who were responsible for the crimes committed against his family! "Lannisters only care about themselves, My Prince. They protect each other to make their family name live on, to carry on with their legacy"
"What a legacy they have!" the Prince yelled out of rage. He couldn't think about it, he couldn't rest while they were there, breathing the air and showing off with their pretty, expensive clothes. "But tragedy has hit their family! Too bad innocents died for crimes they did not commit!"
"What are you talking about, My Prince?" Daemon asked out of curiosity. He was very little when those things had happened and he remembered nothing. Back then, he was a baby, maybe an infant, he couldn't say accurately.
"Joanna Lannister, the tragic death she had to have for the crimes her husband would commit years later! His imp son, his mad grandson..." Oberyn enumerated. Seeing Tywin Lannister's disgrace was the only joyful thing he could find in all that tragedy. Watching as he suffered from the losses of his loved ones and the curses from the Gods were the only things that brought Oberyn joy when he thought about the Sack of King's Landing.
Watching the Lannisters crashing to the ground slowly, stone by stone, one would fall and then others would follow, bit by bit. His family name and the legacy he talked about so eagerly was falling to the dust and that made Oberyn smile out of pleasure. Not even hundreds of lying whores could give him such joyful satisfaction, not even close.
He pitied the innocents in that family that had to die as punishment to others. He knew how to distinguish those who played a part in the crimes that had taken place in King's Landing years ago, from those who just happened to be at the wrong place, at the wrong time.
However, the joy he felt as he watched them fall slowly was also filled with another feeling... he couldn't be satiated enough with it. He wasn't absolutely satisfied. Because he had to do another thing – kill those who played a part in Elia's murder.
When the day where he would stand there, watching the corpses of those who played a part in his sister's murder... those rapists and assassins... as a result of the torture they had been put through – in his hands and also in the Gods' – came, he would be able to rest in peace for the rest of his life, given the fact that the debt would be paid at last.
"Have you ever heard of Cecilia Lannister before?" Oberyn asked curiously as he agitated his cup of wine. His squire shook his head negatively, earning a sarcastic giggle from the Prince. "I should know. Most people never heard of her. Tywin Lannister made sure he would keep it a secret and make everybody silent about her. No one should mention her name, her existence, her appearance... nothing! And because people feared him, they didn't. But I don't fear Tywin Lannister"
"Who was she?" Daemon asked interested in the girl. In his eyes, there should be a reason as to why the Old Lion would want to keep her a secret. Perhaps she was a deformed daughter of his or something of the sort.
"Cecilia Lannister was a girl born to Tywin Lannister and Joanna Lannister right after they were wed. She was their eldest daughter, just as beautiful as her mother, but far kinder, which was something remarkable" he explained with some nostalgy as he tried to picture the girl in his head, but it had been so long ago that he couldn't quite create it in his mind. "My mother, the late Princess of Dorne, was a great friend of Joanna Lannister. There was talk of joining both our Houses, but that never really came to good port. Nevertheless, I did meet the Lannister lioness"
"How was she?" the squire indagated, wanting to learn much more about her. Oberyn smirked when realising Daemon's interest in the girl who was all but dead.
"A Lannister" he stated vaguely as if he tried to recall the day he had met her, which was what he was actually trying to do. It had been a long time ago, but somehow, it still felt like the day before. Even though it was hard for him to find and access those memories, it was also very joyful to do so. "The first time I met her, we were both very young. She was older than me, the same age my sister Elia was. They had been born a few weeks after the other. However, no one would say so. I towered her in height and in appearance. I was turning into a man, while she was a little angel. Her blonde curls that reached the end of her back, her pale skin that looked like porcelain, her deep green eyes that would make any man get lost in that immensity. People went on and on about who was the most beautiful woman in the Seven Kingdoms. Many said it was her sister, Cersei, others said it was one of the Tully girls, Lilia's mother, others said that it was the infamous Lyanna Stark, others stated that Ashara Dayne had no possible competition. However, in my eyes, no one could ever overcome Cecilia Lannister's beauty"
"What happened to her?" Daemon asked, making Oberyn gain a disgusting taste in his mouth, a sour one. The words he was about to say were poisoning him, just as the pity he felt for the girl took the best of him.
"She was kind, she was beautiful, she was smart and willful, and she was also dead before her time" Oberyn's description of her made Daemon's spine shiver. She was the daughter of the most powerful man in Westeros, how could have she died just like that?! "She was obedient, you see? She did everything her Lord father commanded her to do, whether she liked it or not. But when the time came, her father's commands and power weren't able to protect Tywin Lannister's golden daughter and so she died, betrayed by her family, as a victim of those whom she loved"
"How did she die?" the young man asked, as Oberyn filled his cup of wine once again. Going back in time to his youth, made his heartbreak... especially when it came to Cecilia Lannister.
"As she lived, unfortunately" he was short about it as he drank his freshly filled cup of wine all at once. "But enough of stories about the past. Want to hear those? Buy a History book or become a Meister. The one thing you must keep in mind is that what my sister and Cecilia had to endure was nothing compared to what they did to Lilia. The Stark girl has it much worse!"
"How could it be worse?" Daemon asked. He was scared of the answer he was about to get. What had they done to the northern beauty?
"The King tried to rape her in the throne room but was interrupted. However, that night, he gathered his guards and broke inside her chambers. He raped her, beat her... did the most promiscuous things you could ever imagine" Daemon's throat became a knot just like that. The mention of the pain his new friend had to get through was too much for him to hear. "Once he was done, he made his men take turns raping her and when they were done, he sent her nightgown, which had been torn apart, along with the bloody sheet to her brother as a gift"
Daemon didn't know how to react to that. The King had taken her pride, he had taken her honour, he had taken her virtue, he had taken everything from her. How could he do that to a girl? She was just a girl who was innocent!
"I..." he tried to formulate a sentence but he didn't know how to react to that. "Bloody bastard!"
"Indeed" Oberyn agreed with him. "You like her, so if you do, don't go too far with it, even though I know you want to"
"I don't..." before he could finish, Oberyn interrupted him.
"Oh, but you do..." he cleared out, making Daemon freeze in discomfort and shock. "You want to fuck Lilia Stark, you just don't want to admit it"
"What about you?!" Oberyn smirked at the boy's boldness.
"Aye, you're right. She's good looking and I'm curious about what she hides under those gowns" Daemon's fists were sweating as Oberyn played with his squire's mind. "I would fuck her if she allowed me to show her the hidden pleasures of the world..."
"You can do as you wish, I'm nothing but a squire" Daemon pointed out with rage in his voice. He hated to hear to those words, he hated to hear his Prince's desires concerning the Stark girl.
"Aye, you are. But you needn't worry" Oberyn said as he drank a cup of wine. He could see the anger irradiating Daemon's body, yet he didn't mind it. "I won't fuck her. She doesn't want me, she wants you"
"If you'd allow me, I should leave," Daemon said, trying to avoid the situation and an already drunk Prince Oberyn, who granted him the permission to leave.
As Daemon walked through the hallways, he tried to absorb all the things he had learnt, including the mysterious Cecilia Lannister and what Lilia had endured during her time in the Capitol. That made him realise that those were difficult times for women and that he had to do everything to help Lilia escape, no matter what it would cost him.
Hi! I'm back with a new chapter, this time, in the men's perspective.
We get to see Oberyn Martell's point of view and, amongst them, we get to know more about Cecilia Lannister, who you will get to know more and more as the story goes.
We also get to see how Daemon feels about Lilia's past and what his feelings towards her are.
Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed the chapter!
By the way, I've created an instagram account. If you want to check it out, search for @brinleynicolewalker (keep in mind that it's very, very recent).
Also, I've released a new fanfic, this time about Teen Wolf. Feel free to check it out, if you want to ;)
See you soon and I wish you a good day!