Next chapter should be an interlude from somewhere outside of Dorne. The mini Water Garden's Arc is going to come to an end soon.
...
She wasn't sure why more than half the people in the Garden seemed so... Fearful? Cowardly? There was a word for it, she just couldn't find it. Either way, it boggled her mind to see the looks on the guards, the cooks, and even the bloody Maester, faces whenever Karma was around, or even spoke off.
Honestly, they saw him for a beast intent on ripping their throats out.
As if he wouldn't have already done that if he'd wanted. The guards certainly couldn't do anything about it- The man had been asleep when over a dozen corpses had filled the castle trying to kill him. One of them a faceless man.
But truthfully, it was her father that confused her the most. Karma scared him a great deal, even if he'd never admit to it. Though why was the question she wanted answered.
The man was obviously in favor of their house, yet her father was doing everything he could to push him away.
Hell, if some of the secrets he'd proclaimed out loud were true, pushing him elsewhere was bound to end badly even.
It all made no sense.
Which oddly enough, seemed the opposite when it came to her uncle.
At least he seemed to see all that had occurred for the boon it was. Instead of settling for the fearmongers that swore up and down that the man was the Stranger. Which, really, even if it was true, should've only pushed them into accepting him all the more.
Truthfully, if there was a god to connect him to, she'd figured it would've been the Warrior, simply for the complete ass-kicking he'd handed her uncle and sworn sword.
Speaking of...
"What do you think of him?" She idly turned towards said knight, the man's gaze turning towards her, his eyes softening a great deal in the process.
"Karma?" The knight questioned, a sour tone filling his voice. "...He knows how to swing a sword, I'll give him that much." The man settled on answering with a shrug.
"Hm... He knows how to kill too," She snorted. "Judging by all the corpses my father had to deal with."
The knight's gaze seemed to twist at the words, his gaze turned appraisive a heartbeat later before he nodded warily.
"He'd make a good consort, don't you think?" She added on with amusement as she leaned back into her seat, the dancing waters before calming her as her gaze landed on her youngest cousin, obliviously playing around with the other children.
"...I wouldn't know, princess." The knight remarked after another moment, his tone far sourer than before. "I can't see your father agreeing to it though,"
She let out a scoff.
"This isn't one he can easily say no to," She remarked, a hint of humor in her tone- The words, unsurprisingly, not eliciting a reaction from her knight. Besides the twitch to his face.
"...He's dangerous, princess. You-"
"I like danger, Daemon," She immediately remarked, turning to lock gazes with the man. "I thought you knew that?"
Daemon Sand's gaze turned away at the words, instead settling on the pool before them.
"He calls himself a god, Arianne." He stated a moment later, before shaking his head. "Blasphemous, and so very arrogant-" Daemon paused for a brief moment before he shook his head again. "He's the kind of man to draw armies against him." His gaze settled down onto her, softening again. "Putting that kind of reputation behind you won't end well, even if Prince Doran made the right call of naming you his heir, as he should."
She raised an amused eyebrow at the man.
"My, my Daemon, are you suggesting my father is an idiot?"
It was almost adorable the way he seemed to freeze up, his words sputtering as they came out.
"It's- I mean to say, it is your birthright and-"
She let out another snort as she turned back towards the dancing waters before her, her elbows laid on top of the table.
"If I get him on my side..." She practically shivered. "Not that I'd want it- But even the crown itself wouldn't be far from my hands." A single beat passed. "Don't you think I'd look pretty? Sitting atop the Iron Throne? To have every kingdom beg for my favor, my mercy?"
Daemon's gulp was loud enough for her to hear.
"But... At what cost?" The man eventually questioned. "All he has is the Lannister's former dog... an order of assassins... And an inability to die... He'd need more than to take the crown..."
It was telling how little the man believed in his words, judging by his tone.
"You're not wrong..." She remarked with a sigh as she leaned her chin onto her arms. "But one could only imagine what he could accomplish if he set his mind to it... My uncle seems to think everything he's gained so far has been on accident..."
"Why imagine little princess?" The third voice quickly caused Daemon to stiffen, before the sound of a sword being drawn out filled her surroundings as she rapidly raised her head from the table towards its source.
Her eyes locked onto Karma's amused ones, the man had somehow snuck up on the two of them- despite the fact, there was a body of water that should've captured his reflection.
Daemon Sand, begrudgingly sheathed his sword as he took a protective step closer towards her.
"Why not just ask me yourself?"
Karma ignored him entirely, judging by the steps he took himself, though her own focus was on the pool before them. She could see her own image clearly, as well as her knight's and yet, despite the fact Karma stood before the both of them, not a hint of him showed up in the crystal clear water.
There was something oddly ominous about that.
"That's far enough, Karma..." Daemon Sand warned, only to let out a sigh the moment she raised her hand and urged him to give them some privacy.
Turning back towards the two, she found a tense exchange between them- Well, tense from Daemon's side, Karma didn't seem to have a care in the world as he stepped up towards her table and took the free seat.
She idly wondered why Daemon had spent so much time standing when he could've done the same.
She certainly wouldn't have minded.
After her knight made enough distance between them they couldn't be overheard- He always was a little too honor-bound by duty, she raised an eyebrow at the stranger.
"I am asking then," She remarked with a smile as she leaned in. "What could you do if you put your mind to it?"
"Take over the world." He answered without a missed beat. "Either that or destroy it- It's astounding how often those two coincide." The man finished with a thoughtful look.
She rolled her eyes at him before leaning back into his seat.
"Anywho, not here about that- Have you seen Sandor?"
She ignored the bout of disappointment that filled her.
"Why? Leaving so soon?" She had in fact seen him, the hound had been skulking around with Karma's new pet assassin, trying and failing to find a brothel within traveling distance. Though she imagined the Faceless man had no interest in such a thing.
"Haven't decided on that," The man snorted. "Gotta say, messing with your father is an astoundedly fun time."
"On that, we can agree," She nodded seriously for a moment before her face broke into a chuckle. "Seriously though, all these promises you keep making my family... Aegon living- Presumably," She shrugged. Her uncle had regaled her with their tale, in his efforts to convince her to... Presumably, bed or court the man whose only interest laid in the latest idiot to make an attempt on his life. "You-" She pointed a finger, a smirk growing on her face. "Offering him a crown?" She tilted her head. "One has to wonder how many of those are genuine?"
The man shrugged in response, the shit-eating grin on his face not at all welcome as she rolled her eyes.
"Seriously though, what is your endgame? What are you after- And don't say it's to die!" She remarked with a frown. "Honestly, there has to be something you actually want."
Karma tilted his head at her.
"There is." A single beat passed. "It just so happens to involve dying first."
She blinked a few times at that, her finger lowering onto the table.
"What?"
"Oh it's quite simple," He smiled at her, though for whatever reason the atmosphere around her seemed to quell whatever desire it would've brought up. Instead, the air seemed to turn tense, her eyes briefly turning towards the pool before them, once again finding no reflection, before turning back towards the amused stranger. "How best to put this-" The man leaned back onto his seat, his finger tapping his chin.
The lackadaisical nature did nothing to fill her with ease, as she felt something almost foreboding course through her.
"Imagine a shepherd, whose only interest and well, reason for living, was his flock of sheep... Imagine that flock was terrorized by an unseen demonic fox..."
The ridiculous start to the story, for whatever reason, only seemed to turn the air cold around her, almost as if she'd walked into an eery forest naked like the day she was born.
"In this case, the shepherd is akin to your gods, and the people of this continent... world, are the flock..."
"What are you-"
The man wagged a finger before her. "No, no this is the part it gets good-" He grinned at her. "See, the fox keeps eating the flock, sheep by sheep, hidden in the darkness... And the shepherd can't seem to deal with it himself, so he seeks out some help..." A single beat passed. "But it's a demonic little fox, so naturally the shepherd needs something magical- So he summons up a magical beast if you will, one equipped to deal with the demonic little bugger." Karma's smile quickly dropped, a passive expression taking over.
The cold feeling seemed to turn colder somehow, despite the blazing sun.
Her gaze was drawn into Karma's.
"The beast arrives... And without waiting a moment, without sparing a thought into it-" Karma's eyes narrowed. "The shepherd puts a curse on it... And only realizes too late that... In hopes of dealing with a little demonic fox..." Karma leaned in. "He'd summoned a dragon, and put a leash around its neck."
Karma leaned back, his face no longer inches away from hers- A fact that somewhat startled her given she hadn't noticed.
"And all that dragon wants to do, little princess, is burn him alive for his arrogance."
She held in the urge to gulp, practically enraptured into the story.
The coldness that swept through her had reverted, the sun's heat filling her quickly.
"The curse, powerful though it may be, is slowly breaking apart... Piece by piece... And all the shepherd can do is give the dragon everything it can, in hopes of appeasing it... In hopes of making it forget the leash it forced onto it..."
She let out the breath she hadn't even noticed she'd been holding.
Karma tilted his head at her again.
"Do you get it, little princess?" He chuckled once. "My death won't lead to an end... But the beginning something greater..." He leaned again, a finger pushing her chin upwards. The sheer cold touch behind it startled her again as she shivered.
"I've no interest in your petty Games of Thrones... I can offer your cousin, if he lives, a crown, because it means nothing to me." A single beat passed. "The only thing I am interested in is paying back your gods for dragging me into this world... To burn them all."
"...Aren't you arrogant," She found herself saying, her regret piling itself up for a moment- Only to crumble the moment the man let out a laugh as he let go of her chin.
"Arrogant? Possibly. But it won't change the fact that when it's all said and done... I'll be the last one standing."
She wasn't sure why she wasn't even sure how such events could come across-
Belief in the gods was never her strong suit, a fact she kept hidden out of practicality.
But at that moment, in front of the man that claimed he would slay the very gods that presumably guided her world...
She believed him.
"...Marry me." She deadpanned towards him, her words breaking his expression as the man settled into a long hearty laugh.
"You really are insane, aren't you?" She frankly couldn't believe he'd said that to her!
"I am not the one trying to win a war against the gods here!" She scoffed, before settling into her fit of laughter at it all.
"Win a war?" The man chuckled at her before rolling his eyes. "Please. that implies uncertainty, and there's nothing uncertain about what I am trying to do."
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