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GOT : Chapter 96
🕑 Added 2024-05-21 12:42:00 +0000 UTC( Arianne POV )
qThe sun shone brightly over Highgarden. Far below the castle walls, the sunlight was glimmering onto all of the mazes and different gardens of the capital of the Reach. Children were playing and laughing in the orchards, the town was busy with excitement and both men and women were talking loudly in every corner of the castle.
It seemed like summer had never ended in Highgarden, and yet, leaves were slowly beginning to fall, and soon the lovely branches of the Highgarden trees would be devoid of color safe for the skeletal brown of a tree with no sign of life.
It wasn't the only thing that had started fading.
If the Reachers were somewhat joyful, the mood of the Dornish party was disparate. Ever since news of uncle Oberyn's arrest came, as a matter of fact. And it wasn't just the mood in the Dornish party that changed.
The Reachers became colder, the warm smiles that all of them had on their faces slowly disappeared and turned into scowls and frowns. Not a single one dared voice a public comment, after all, her husband-to-be was still quite protective of her, and she prided herself on that.
However, it seemed that the Rose truly had thorns. Willas Tyrell was not one of these pretty Dornish knights that she could order on a whim, using her charms as her most deadly weapon. Not even Tyene could sway the Reachman with her smiles and innocent demeanor. Not even their combined efforts to pull him closer to Arianne's grasp worked, and she had tried everything.
Tyene just shrugged and figured that Willas was just a challenge that Arianne would eventually overcome. He was resisting, sure, but even he could break. She, on the other hand, was not quite sure anymore.
Willas Tyrell was the perfect man on the outside, if one forgot his handicap. Dashing, handsome, smart, the heir to one of the greatest fortunes in the realm, future lord paramount, exceptional organization and clerical skills, and very good in the bedroom.
What more could a woman want?
Arianne had asked herself that question too many times, but she had the beginning of an answer. And it was simple: she just didn't know him enough.
Usually, Arianne didn't have to take very long to get pretty boys to talk to her, but Willas was a quiet one. Of course, quiet boys weren't new to her, but they too folded. But Willas wasn't just quiet…he was deliberately so.
Willas did not lack confidence, that she knew. His posture while receiving guests and other Reacher lords indicated as much. The heir to Highgarden knew how to be firm when needed, and did not shy away from difficult conversations.
But every man had desires, aspirations, dreams and stories to tell. However, it seemed like every conversation was extremely dull, and any attempt by Arianne to get Willas to open up to her about trivial things like what food he liked or what places he liked most were met with rebuttals from her betrothed, who just instead either shifted the conversation away, or just asked Arianne a question in turn.
In the end, while Arianne had confided some things in him, she felt like Willas just did not confide anything in her. While he knew most of her life, he barely knew anything about his. And the charade continued to go on ever since they met.
Trying with Tyene had yielded similar results, and neither her charms nor Tyene's seemed to soften the Reacher's resolve. She didn't expect him to be a frightened maiden with the prospect of both Tyene and her in his bed, but she didn't expect him to handle the situation like it was just some common task he had to do! Surely, men had gone mad for less, but Willas Tyrell was not just an ordinary man.
She had then tried to appeal to his pride, but that was met with bloody failure too. Every time Arianne had tried to make him jealous or tried demeaning him, he had found an answer or shrugged it off.
Why this act? They were to be married anyways, the only reason that there wasn't a marriage date set yet was because the Tyrells felt that it would overshadow the Royal wedding. Then why did it all feel so fake? The perfect castle, the perfect prince, everything was just too perfect.
It all felt wrong, calculated, insincere. And while Tyene had just shrugged it off and just told Arianne that she was being silly, that she would love to have a husband like Willas who was so handsome, rich, nice and pleasing, she felt that this marriage would be far from perfect.
Arianne liked dark and dangerous men, those who showed at least some initiative around her, showed some semblance of uncertainty or risk.
Willas wasn't that man. He wasn't dark or dangerous, he was always proper and nice. He was always smiling, always lovely, always perfect. His movements were repeated, his actions always the exact same.
Sure, his actions were always meant with good intentions towards her, but where was his fire? He never offered to do anything out of the ordinary, to take her places or seven hells, to take her with the passion of a hundred suns.
It was always breakfast, walk in the gardens, lunch, some meetings with lords, another walk or a hunt while Arianne stayed in the castle, then dinner and finally sex and sleep.
Every day, the same thing. And while some women would have loved such a companion that doted on them and never left them wanting, Arianne needed just more than pretty words, soft kisses and fancy clothes.
Where was the adventure or the wild side of the Reacher? Would he have liked to play in the pools in the Gardens, would he have liked riding on the banks of the Greenblood, or would he have spent a day scouring the markets of Sunspear?
She doubted it.
Ever since she came here, she never saw more than Highgarden's third walls. She never got to see the large banks of the Mander, go bathe in its waters or go riding with him. Slowly but surely, she felt the walls of the fortress at the heart of the Reach close in around her, suffocating her, like a prison with golden bars.
And now, there had been the Royal wedding.
And as soon as the news had come, Arianne had never felt more trapped than now. With uncle Oberyn arrested and most of the Dornish under house arrest, the dirty looks never stopped. Everywhere she went, even with Willas, people would look at her as if she had killed King Joffrey with her bare hands.
And that is when Arianne even went outside. For the most part, she had spent her days with Tyene, providing support to her cousin who was worried sick about her father, trapped and in prison in the claws of the Lannisters.
If only she knew that uncle Oberyn's prison only differed from theirs in that it was a lot less comfortable, and they did not have to deal with Lannisters around the castle.
Her mind had wandered to Quentyn. He was in the capital, and he was always smarter than her, surely, he would be able to get their uncle out of there? Admittedly, he never really liked uncle Oberyn, but he would do anything and more for Nymeria, so if she asked him, which she probably did…
But news weren't easy to come by in the walls of Highgarden. Even her supposed husband-to-be started to get colder with her, and for a moment, she believed that uncle Oberyn had actually done it and killed the boy-king. To what end? Crown Myrcella, perhaps? But had they forgotten her?
The questions lingered in her head for several days. Several days of silence where she pressed her husband into giving her news about her uncle, brother and cousin. Were they alright? Was there to be a trial? The answer was always the same.
"They will be fine."
Nothing more. Just four words, repeated in different tones. Sometimes he would take her hand, sometimes kiss her cheek or lips, sometimes just nod. The words lost themselves in Arianne's head, and she grew ever distant, her joyous attitude fading away and her hopes of being able to control or guide the Tyrell heir disappeared faster than the harshest winter snows in the deserts of Hellholt.
However, today, something changed.
Today, Willas did not go hunting or go meet with some fancy lord from a house Arianne never even heard of in her life, which more than likely had a kind of flower or insect on its sigil, while leaving her to meander around the walls of the castle with Tyene or some of her other companions.
No, today Willas Tyrell had deigned to actually stay with her, his smile never leaving his face while he slowly sunk into a lavishly decorated chair.
"How are you faring, Ari?" he asked her while Arianne stared at him blankly from her chair, a good five feet from where her betrothed had sat.
"As well as yesterday, and the day before that." Arianne replied with a hint of annoyance in her voice.
Willas nodded.
"I must apologize." The Reachman said with an awkward tone.
"Apologize for what, dear betrothed?" Arianne asked, her interest somewhat piqued.
"I…before saying anything, I would ask that you remain discreet about what I am going to tell you. Everything I say must stay between you and me."
Arianne frowned, but remained calm. She had tried for so long to get him to open up to her, she wasn't going to let go of this chance so easily. Let him say what he has to say.
"You have my discretion." She replied.
"I am serious, dear." Willas replied, his tone almost sharply rebutting her. "You cannot say a word of this to anyone, including Tyene."
