"I am not a man but nothing but a barrel in this wasteland" ~Anonymous.
"What about what I want? I want those who've hurt me to be brought up to justice" ~Oberyn Martell
Tyene struggled against the men holding her down. She didn't want to marry the king of England. She wanted to go back to Dorne to her family was, it was where she belonged. The King had to calm her down breaking custom not to see the bride before her wedding, before they dragged her to the altar.
She spotted her sister Mary sitting there with a crossed look on her face. Next to her was a three year old girl she guessed must've been the lady Elizabeth. She looked less apprehensive but no less unsure of this new girl who was going to marry their father. She waved her hand in a small gesture of friendship as the priest began his long sermon but the girls turned their faces away.
Well two can play that game.
Tyene returned her attention to the archbishop hosting the ceremony. She had been present for king Joffrey's wedding to the beautiful Margaery Tyrell. The walls of the great sept were lined with pink carnation roses and white ones at the pillars to mark the importance of the Tyrells. Her father hated the Tyrells with a passion -even though he was great friends with the heir Willas. The Tyrells always blamed the Martells for his accident but it wasn't her father's fault. It was a jousting match, accidents happened. Her father won that match fair and square and to be honest, the Tyrells were not so honest themselves putting their prized golden boy on a mare who was in heat.
Henry snapped his fingers at Tyene. Tyene looked at the archbishop who'd finished his sermon.
Tyene knew what she had to say but the words fell out flat from her mouth. "I do."
The archbishop gave his customary nod of approval and pronounced them man and wife. As they headed to the banquet ceremony, Tyene felt a strong pair of eyes at the back of her head. She turned briefly. Her sister Mary's eyes hardened as the younger girl made eye contact with her.
Tyene sat at the king's left while his brothers in law and his ministers sat on his right. She had to bear the presence of the king's two daughters next to her. She tried smiling at them, engage in conversation but they always laughed at her, whispering in each other's ears how bad she looked.
She gazed down at her dress. This was one of the few dresses her kidnappers brought with them when they took her to England. She didn't like the European fashions with all those wide skirts and extra jewels. She loved to have her arms and neck seen, otherwise what was the purpose of showing off?
She was are many ladies looked at her with great envy. Just who was this bastard, they thought, who won the king's heart and had the boldness to wear these types of clothes that made her look like a harlot? Then again -some whispered- her mother was a harlot. The greatest they ever knew. She had fooled all of Christendom into thinking she was a pious lady but she was just like the rest of the serpentine women who roamed her husband's court.
Tyene looked down at the locket around her sun and spears belt. She unwrapped the chain and opened it. Her father had trusted his brother with this locket and her uncle had given it back to him saying it was too much responsibility for him to keep and he didn't want to clean up his brother's messes anymore. His father had considered giving it to Ellaria but then thought against it and finally he kept it locked in his secret drawer where he thought no one would look.
All those times he caught him looking at it, wondering what was he saying; she never had a chance to look inside.
Her thoughts were interrupted by her sister's whose angry voice made Tyene look up. "Where did you get that?"
"What? This. It's just a useless trinket my lady, nothing more."
"It's not a useless trinket and it is not my lady to you, my sister and I were princes before our father decided to replace both our mothers for younger women." Namely you, she left unsaid.
"I am deeply sorry my lady, this would never happen in Dorne. Our laws are better towards women."
Mary chuckled and said sarcastically "So I've heard." She sipped more wine from her cup then turned to Elizabeth who was also eying her.
"Are all girls in Dorne dressed like you?" Elizabeth asked.
"Not all my sweet lady, some of us dress like these because of our fathers are noblemen. My father is the prince of Dorne, second born son of the late ruling Prince. I have a little sister who is your age, you remind me a lot of her."
"Really? Because you don't remind us of anybody we know, isn't that right Bessie?"
Elizabeth nodded then pointed smugly to the pearls around her neck.
"Those are very beautiful, who gave them to you?"
"They were my mother's, nobody gave them to me. I don't have any recollection of her except when she said goodbye to me. My father, Edward, and Mary are all the family I have now."
"I am deeply sorry but I don't see how is that my fault." Tyene said knowing what the girls were thinking.
"My father's late wife chose to restore Mary to favor then she and my sister convinced my father to bring me back, she gave us gifts and made us feel welcome again. What are you going to do to win our favor my lady?"
"I- I … I don't know. What would you like me to do?"
Elizabeth thought hard on that then that answer came and she said: "A golden locket just like the one you have with suns and spears."
"I don't think that's a good idea Elizabeth. I am sure lady Tyene won't like to have her prized possession taken away from her."
"But she said everything I wanted and I want *that*" She pointed to her necklace.
"My lady your sister is right. This is the only thing I have from my country and it belonged to my mother." At this Mary's eyes darkened. She snapped the locket from her fingers and looked inside. Just as she suspected. The harlot born prince and her mother with another lady at the opposite side she didn't recognize, staring back at her.
Tyene took it from Mary and said to Elizabeth "This is all I have of her. I can't give it to you."
"But I want it." Elizabeth insisted.
Tyene tried to convince her she couldn't but it was a losing battle. Luckily her sister Mary came to her rescue and distracted Elizabeth with an amusing tale that made the little girl laugh and forget about her stepmother's necklace.
Tyene looked inside the locket. It was the first time she did. She suppressed a gasp when she saw her late aunt staring back at her, her laughing self petting a baby tiger, the one she guessed her father presumed so much about that he gave her when she married prince Rhaegar. Besides her at the other end was a miniature portrait of her real mother Katherine of Aragon, the Spanish princess whose fairy tale was well known and whose end was very tragic. She looked just like her and Mary but her hair was a lighter shade of auburn than her older daughter's and her face was far kindlier. Her father was next to her, a separate picture of him, smiling proudly.
A tear fell from her cheek. She wiped it with her handkerchief. Long before Ellaria's arrival, he had been all she and her three sisters had. He was both father and mother to them. They owed him everything.
The consummation night came -and she wished to think- went but Henry was adamant to show everyone that he was still young and able to so after the archbishop blessed their bed, he sent everyone away.
Tyene stared numbly at him. Contrary to what people said of her in Dorne and Westeros, she had never been with a man. Sure, there were lovers but all they ever did was kiss and caress each other, nothing more. Her cave was still intact.
Henry advanced to her. He took off his chemise and his breeches now he commanded her to do the same but Tyene shook her head.
"My lord-"
"Henry, I am your king and husband now."
"Henry. I am your late wife's daughter and your daughter's sister. Everyone remarks how much I look like her and it's true, if you proceed with this it will look like incest. Return me to Dorne and this will never be spoken of, you and I can go our separate ways and I will even recommend you to my cousin Princess Arianne."
"And why would I want to marry a stuck up princess when I can have the daughter of my Spanish concubine?"
"She's your wife, the mother of your children, you said you loved her."
"I said many things. I married the Spanish infanta out of duty because my father said it would bring prestige to our house but our marriage was wrong in both the eyes of men and God and now I speak for the latter so my word is as good as His."
"But it's not right."
He chuckled. "What is right and what is wrong? What words a few lawyers say or theologians in their endless debates?" He took another step forward.
Tyene remained firmly opposed.
"Tyene you are not being reasonable, I am your husband but I am also your king and I can raise you just as I can lower you." His voice rang with frustration.
"You won't touch me." Tyene said forcibly, grinding her teeth as he continued to make his way to her. "I am the daughter of prince Oberyn, if he finds that you took me without my consent he will push a spear right through your chest."
Her words angered him and he slapped her. She fell to the floor clutching her cheek. He raised her up and threw her on the bed where he spread her arms and pinned her back against the soft mattress.
"Your father is dead, if he's lucky he is alive and on a boat back to Dorne. I could have killed you both-"
"I'd like to see you try." Tyene said defiantly shooting daggers from her eyes. Henry slapped her again.
"Be quiet! You should be grateful I didn't find out about your existence before or I would have surely killed you then." He laughed cruelly. "Your mother swore undying love to me when she married me but then she run off with your father and had a child behind my back! Now the tables are turned on her, I am married to her daughter and her daughter is bound to me." He ripped her chemise.
Tyene continued to fight him but he subdued her and pressed his weight on her. "No … don't you dare!" But it was too late, Henry thrust himself upon her and Tyene screamed as she felt her womanhood being pierced by his large shaft.
"Ah!" Tyene struggled to keep herself sane through this whole ordeal. She remembered her father's song and started humming it as he kept on thrusting …
The next morning Mary found her stepmother naked on her bed crying with scratches on her arms and legs. "What do you want?" She asked her cruelly.
"Come to gloat? Laugh at the bastard? Your wish came true…" Tyene hid her head on her knees. "I want my father …"
Mary felt terrible. But she couldn't spare sympathy for the poor girl. In the last decade she had seen her father become from the loving husband to a terrible tyrant who didn't think twice on abandoning and murdering his wives. Oh, he killed her mother. He didn't cause her illness or poisoned her as she and Chapuys were ready to believe of him or the concubine of the time, but he did worsened her health when he sent her to the More and then to Kenninghall under those terrible conditions. Her mother was forced to live in a state of near-penury with only a handful of maidens, among them her loyal friend Maria de Salinas, helping her survive. And in the meanwhile her father paraded his new mistress and made her wear the crown jewels and even had the gall of calling her his queen of hearts when he and Anne visited her (then) baby sister Elizabeth. She had forgiven Anne for all of her misdeeds. She had suffered and paid for her sins but not her father. That murdering bastard had killed two of his wives and barely mourned his third one after she passed away giving him what he desired the most in the world: a son.
Now he was married to none other than his late wife's bastard daughter, the woman he had convinced himself was not his wife but his royal concubine and he relished in the thought of parading his new whore in front of everyone and just like Anne calling her his wife.
How long before she gives him a daughter and he tosses her away like garbage or cuts off her head? If she had a son, she would surely die. Tudor mothers didn't fare well when it came to childbirth. Her grandmother Elizabeth of York was always weaker after each pregnancy with the last resulting in her death.
She hoped the bastard would die then they would put this episode far behind them and she could go on living with the good memories of her mother, unblemished by her birth. But just then she heard Tyene mumble something intelligible and took a knife from the platter of food that had been brought to her that morning after her husband left in hopes that it would calm her down but all it did was make her angrier and she lashed out at the servants that if they ever came near her again she would kill them. She thrust the cold steel against her skin and blood started to flow.
Mary rushed to her side and took the blade from her hands.
"No let me die! I want to die!" She tried to break free but Mary's arms were safely locked around her. "Let me go!"
"Not until you heart what I have to say."
"I don't want to listen, I know exactly what you will say. Bastard, whore monger's spawn, you think I haven't heard what you and your lot say of me? You and the rest blame me for your mother's reputation. I never met my mother, my father swore she was a septa who died giving birth to me, I never believed it. I knew he was protecting me from her true identity but I never questioned him. I wish I had not gone to King's Landing. His mistress told me to stay but I didn't listen." She laughed madly. "She always said my tongue would get me into trouble. I should have known better. Go ahead, kill me. Kill the girl who stained your mother's reputation."
"Don't be foolish, I couldn't kill my own blood."
"You said so yourself, your father moves from young to younger and takes whatever woman he can find when his current one doesn't satisfy him. To think my uncle wanted him as a spouse for my cousin."
"You mustn't upset yourself." Mary said thinking about what her father said months earlier about a Dornish marriage offer.
"I mustn't? I just got deflowered by your father, you and the rest of the English court mock me and you take my only chance of freedom away, how am I supposed to feel?"Tyene demanded.
Mary was at a loss of words. She should hate this girl, her mind told her she should but her heart reminded her of the bond they shared because of their mother. She nestled her head against her chest and cradled her like she was a newborn.
"My father swore he would protect me, many men in Dorne wanted my hand in marriage but I always rejected them."
"You didn't want to get married?"
"Of course I did, but on my own terms."
"But wouldn't your father be upset you rejected so many good men?" Mary asked. She hadn't been keen on the prospect of marriage herself but as she grew she realized it was her only option out of the hell she was living being maid to her sister Elizabeth and her mother Anne Boleyn.
"My father was the one who told me I could marry whoever I want when I wanted."
"Your father told you that? But … why? Wouldn't he want you to be married to someone respectable?"
Tyene laughed. "My father taught all of my sisters self-reliance, he said we could have our little affairs just as long as they didn't cause any major embarrassment on our family and our hearts were in it."
"Did you…"
"No. Of course not." Tyene said. "There were men but all I did with them was kiss and touch, I never slept with any of them."
"So you are a virgin." Mary said and looked down at the blood stained sheets which were proof she was telling the truth.
"Was. Thanks to your father I am used goods, even if he divorces me who will want me in Dorne now?"
"I am sure there are many noble men who will." Mary said trying to cheer her up.
Tyene shook her head. "I tried so hard to fit in. Everyone said I looked different, I never let it get to me but then my father started having more children and Ellaria became his chief mistress."
"I am sure he still loves you. If he went through all that trouble to look after you and your sisters and keep you hidden from my father all this time." Mary said relating to her sister's pain. She also felt pushed out when her father met Anne Boleyn and then had children with his new wives.
She loved Elizabeth and Edward but she always felt different with them, Edward was just a baby but he would be a child of the reformation just as much as Elizabeth and like her he would soon see her as old and outdated.
"I am never going going to see him again, am I? He will make this my gravesite until I give me another heir."
"Bullocks!" Mary said surprising even herself. "Your father's family is renown for their fertility, if you give him a son he could allow you to see them again."
"You really believe that?"
"I do." She said and wiped her tears and helped her dress.
When she emerged she was dressed in a gown of blue stain, her arms covered by fur sleeves, a golden chain in place of a leather belt with her locket safely attached to it, and around her neck a ruby necklace that belonged to Mary.
Henry asked her if she was feeling better. Tyene nodded.
"I brought you this Your Majesty." Elizabeth said, more affable than yesterday.
"Thank you my lady, they are beautiful." She handed the bouquet of flowers to one of her maidens.
Oberyn raged at the ship masters. He demanded to turn the boat around. "My lord prince we have strict orders from lord Tywin Lannisters-"
"I don't care about lord Tywin's orders. Turn the ship around!"
"My lord"
"Turn it around I say!"
"My love, don't fight this, you will only get yourself killed. Let's wait until we are back in Dorne then we can discuss this." Ellaria hoped she would settle the raging beast in Oberyn.
Oberyn sighed in frustration and kicked the bucket of spit next to the captain and went to his cabin.
Damn the Lannisters! First they took Elia's children now his own! He would not let this go.