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Chapter 37
The room was silent, the only sound coming from Nymella soaking the warm cloth with warm water and washing Arianne's skin with it.
"Does he have to be here?" Penelope whispered to herself as she brushed Arianne's hair.
Arianne had not dared utter a word of what had happened to cause such undesirable reaction from the ordinarily kind-hearted Prince. Rhaegar tapped his fingers impatiently on the wall, indicating that he wanted the girls to hurry up their unnecessary preparations.
Once they had finished bathing her, Nymella had made sure to cover her from eyesight and promptly wrapped a towel around her. "He might be a Prince, but you're still my lady."
Arianne thanked her wordlessly, watching as Rhaegar rolled his eyes and mentioned for them to exit the room.
Once she had been dressed, her hair dried and braided, Rhaegar excused the two handmaidens from the room. Before they left, however, he cautioned them to tell Alyse Ladybright; Arianne's third handmaiden, that missing her duties would not reflect well on her family.
The walk to the main hall was so silent that the crickets outside could be heard chirping away, even their feet made as little sound as possible. As they rounded the corner to the door, Rhaegar pulled her hand into his. "At least try and act like you're grateful for your position," he uttered as the doors were opened for them and they entered the hall.
Arianne, who was always taken aback by the splendour of the hall, couldn't focus on the festive decorations. Her mind was still with Rhaegar's last words. So focused apparently, she didn't notice being gently pulled onto the main table by the Queen and seated between mother and son.
"How are you?" Rhaella asked her, patting her shoulder tenderly.
Arianne smiled at the Queen, taking her hand into her own, "Very excited."
"I'm sure you are," Rhaella smiled, letting go of her hand and going back to her food. "I can't say my son doesn't get his way now, unfortunately."
Arianne gave her a stiff smile in return and looked down at her plate. One simple pie piece lay on it, picking up her fork she began to play with it.
"Pigeon pie," Rhaegar muttered to her.
Arianne rolled her eyes, separating the pastry from the meat, "It doesn't look as good as the ones at home," she whispered to herself putting her fork back down and looking around the hall.
"Which home?" Rhaegar asked, not bothering to look her way.
Before she could get a chance to ask the Prince if he could cut his insults down a little, the King cleared his throat and was helped up from his chair by Ser Barristan.
"He doesn't fuck about does he?" Julian whispered behind Rhaegar, rubbing his shoulders from behind.
Rhaegar turned to his friend and let out a small snicker, "where did you come from?"
"From the shadowssss," Julian laughed drunkenly, watching as the King raised his glass to silence the hall.
Rhaegar tutted, knowing all too well that he was overtly drunk, he turned to listen to his father.
"I am pleased to be standing before you on this fine night," he paused for a moment, wanting to lavish in the bewildered faces of those around him. "As you all know my sister-wife and I have two children, both males and both too young to be wed to each other," Aerys let out a small deranged laugh as the words left his mouth. "Or as we thought."
There was a sharp inhale from the table, Rhaella wanted to slide down her chair and disappear into the floor of the hall for eternity.
"Ser Dayne, Lady Ashara, it seems you and I were mercilessly separated from my daughter and your sister for far too long."
From her seat next to Elia, Ashara turned to look down the one-sided table, craning her neck to look at the King, hoping his words were merely mind clutter due to her lack of focus on his speech.
The rest of the hall seemed to mimic her reaction, murmuring to each other as the King paused once more.
"Did he say, daughter?" One whispered a bit too loudly.
Arianne, who had struggled through a few mouth fulls of pigeon pie felt the colour draining from her face and the pie she had forced down making its way back up.
"I wanted you all to know that my son will finally be marrying into the family. My sweet Serene left me with one last precious gift before she left this cursed world and your clutches," he pointed to the crowd. "My daughter, my first daughter, who was kept hidden from me all these years. My Princess Arianne Targaryen will be marrying my son. Which means at least this Keep won't be swarmed with Dornish rats, I bid you goodbye," with that, Aerys shuffled from his seat and out of the hall. Leaving behind staggered applause from the crowd and a perplexed audience.
From behind Rhaegar, Julian clapped his hands, giddily, "I love drama so much!" He exclaimed, taking Rhaegar's glass of wine and downing a swing of it.
Arianne excused herself from the Queen, pushed her chair out and struggled past Julian. Once she had stepped outside of the hall, the pie in her stomach was no longer merciful, and she retched behind a staircase that led to gods knew where.
Wiping the remnants from her lips, she sat down on the floor. The King mentioned she was 'his' daughter so many times but didn't even bother speaking to her the entire night. His daughter. Rhaegar's sister. She had kissed her brother. She had let her brother kiss her. She was to marry her supposed brother. If ever a time was right for her to vanish, it was now. If ever a time was right for her to be wrapped up in her bed at Winterfell, it was most certainly now. Damn her need for escape and freedom, this was a bittersweet ending for her want to rebel against her father. Well ... against Rickard ... who were the Starks to her now?
A foster family?
Her train of thought was interrupted by a long whistle behind her. "I've had some rough ones, but this is the roughest I've seen in my lifetime." Julian chuckled and held out a hand.
Oddly enough, his voice soothed her, even if he had annoyed her and given her an unsolicited kiss some time ago. She took his hand, careful not to step on the stench of vomit next to her as she stood up. "Thank you," she whispered, dusting herself off.
In his other hand, Julian held a full wine glass, which he offered to her, and she readily accepted. "To be fair," Julian started sitting on the steps, "no-one apart from you and Rhaegar and Ashara ... and Arthur ... and Cersei ... and some others are phased. Not too many things surprise these court goers."
Arianne let out a snort, putting the now empty wine glass on the step next to Julian and sitting above him. "I can't believe I was excited to come here."
In their seconds of silence, there was scraping of chairs and the dull sound of a chipper song being played. "They love it. Every excuse to be a complete weirdo with no one to hold you accountable for it inside these walls because everyone is one and the same."
She nodded her head in agreement, feeling her head get lighter and lighter as she talked to Julian. "I think I may be drunk," she blurted out, hiccups at the end of her sentence.
Julian let out a laugh, "from one glass! Grow some backbone, Princess!"
"Don't you dare call me that," Arianne smiled, her tone not coming out at all how she wanted so she held a finger over her mouth.
Julian pushed himself up a stair and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "Let the wine invade your mind and make you way too friendly for your own good."
"Do you want to know something funny, Julian? Rhaegar, my brother, my brother from a differing mother, caught me with Jaime sister fucker Lannister about two seconds away from taking my-,"
She couldn't finish her sentence, with Julian cutting her off. "And he was mad at you for wanting some action because he's a prude and only fucks other girls just to inflate his already inflated ego."
"Oh?" Arianne perked, raising her brow at him.
Julian shrugged, "I mean he's a Prince what do you expect. It's a fuck or get fucked world in this Keep."
"Youuu swear an obscene amount."
"I know."
"So are you saying I should fuck to avoid getting fucked?" Arianne asked, turning to Julian, his face closer to hers than she had expected.
Julian nodded his head, "welcome to our world, Princess. We are quite vapid and constantly horny," his voice dropped to merely a whisper as he brushed his nose over hers.
Arianne let out a giggle, his wild curls tickling her forehead. "And are you?
"Am I what?" Julian smiled, swiftly pulling her onto his lap and letting her legs dangle at his side.
"Vapid?"
"I'm so vapid. All the time. In fact," Julian took Arianne's hand in his and put in on top of his trousers, "that's how vapid I am for you right now." Arianne took her hand away with a chuckle and indicated to the hall. "Oh please, they are too busy worrying about who dances with who."
"I'm literally the betrothed!"
"That is true, but I am yet to see a search party out for you...besides, I may have told Rhaegar I'd get you to bed safely."
Arianne threw her head back, laughing at him, "I know that if you hadn't given me that wine, I'd probably still be thinking about the fact that my brother's tongue was halfway down my throat once upon a time."
Julian covered his ears, "please don't bore me."
Arianne smiled, placing her hand on top of his trousers once more. "So tell me then, Julian Tyrell, how do I excite you?"
"Kiss me, and then we can take it from there," Julian said, reaching for her hand once more.
And then they were kissing, Arianne's hands reaching for Julian's hair in their awkward position. She pulled away from the drunken kiss and set herself down a few steps so she could untie the rope that held his trousers together and pulled them down.
Julian smiled down at her, entangling his hands in her hair and letting out small words of confirmation as he pulled her back up for a kiss. "Has anyone told you that you are insanely beautiful?"
"I don't need to be told that," Arianne said, standing from the steps and pulling his silk shirt over his head.
Julian, who by now had lost his breath, looked up at her. His elbows were by the steps and legs spread apart. "Where are you going?" He asked her, wondering why she had stood up so suddenly.
Arianne folded his shirt and tied it with his pant string. "To sleep, Lord Tyrell. I need to go ponder my future, suicide or every lasting sadness."
"Can I have my clothes back?" Julian asked, standing from the steps as well.
Arianne smirked and waved her index finger no. "If you really want the clothes, you wouldn't have given them away so easily."
Julian grinned as he watched her walk away, rubbing his hands together. "Finally, somebody worth my time."
"Lord Tyrell? What on earth are you doing?"
...