Chapter Thirty One: Assumptions.
Fifth Day of the Sixth Month, 114 AC.
"So…" I asked as I starred at my fellow conspirators while tea was being prepared for us. "Can you all explain what exactly is happening?"
Apparently Corlys felt that it was inappropriate for the betrothed couple to have yet to see each other and so decided to visit.
On dragonback.
With his ships and supplies sailing the long way.
The man might be attractive, he might be charming, he might have a hell of a business sense, but I found few things to quite as much of a turn off as being played for a fool.
"Whatever do you mean?" Laenor asked. I was surprise he had the where-with-all to ask the question given that he was busy working his way through a small pile of books he had looted from the Citadel. It was disturbing to watch him devour them so quickly, I was not sure if he had an eidetic memory, was an incredibly fast ready or both.
He might well have been a maester if Corlys had a spare, that would have solved a lot of problems, I reflected.
"Laenor," Joffrey massaged his eyes as he spoke. "He refers to our rather sudden presence in the very heart of Green territory."
"Yes," I nodded. "That."
"Oh?" Laenor pulled his head from his reading and quirked his head. "Well it seems to be your fault Gaemon."
"My fault?" I asked with more than a little annoyance slipping into my voice. "Please explain."
"Apparently you made yourself quite a bother to mother," he shrugged. "Something about you not wanting the wedding because you took exception to Laena's illness."
"Apparently you found her undesirable," Rhaenyra seemed a little annoyed at me. I guess they still had some of that affinity. "Because of the whole matter with uncle Daemon."
I sighed, Alright, if you really want to play that game.
"If we are to be frank here, we all know what happened," I sighed. "Laena ran off with Daemon and we all pretended things were all right, it was a necessary measure to save face but I understandably-"
"What?" Laenor asked, his entire face twisted in conclusion. Joffrey and Rhaenyra mirroring his expression.
Really guys? I understand the need for subtlety as much as the next guy, but this is frankly ridiculous.
"It will not serve any of us to contend with delusions," I said with a bit of an edge to my voice. "You claimed what was appropriate but do not treat me as a fool-"
"Gaem." Rhaenyra stopped me with a shocked look, "What are you speaking off."
"Of Laena's foolishness of course," I shrugged.
"Gaemon," Laenor said warningly. He looked like he was biting back a considerable amount of rage. "Cease your accusations."
I blinked at the hostility, alright.
"Laena at no point 'ran off' with that bastard," Laenor said flatly at my silence.
…What?
"Then why has she been absent?" I asked.
Laenor hesitated, "It is complicated, she was absent from the wedding because of illness. We were all quite put out by it."
I rubbed my eyes, trying to think of the wedding.
The Valeryons had been very insistent on the excuse that Laena was actually ill and not off somewhere servicing Daemon. But it was natural to levy such an excuse in such a position, even if it had been an inordinately bad excuse.
Very bad.
To such an extant that I had scarcely believed that the Velaryons had not come up with a more creative deceit…
Oh fuck, I realized. They weren't lying.
I had a second realization, Sweet Progenitor of Souls, I have been behaving like a total ass.
My eyes turned to saucers and the staff around us seemed to stiffen in time with my own reaction.
It was Joffrey that answered, "Please prince Gaemon, I assure you that Laena did nothing to shame you. I promise that on my honor."
How did I end up the bad guy in this? I wondered absently.
"I do not like this," I rubbed my eyes. "If we are to be honest this entire arrangement is foolish at best."
"How so?" Rhaenyra asked.
Really Rhae? I made a mental note to look into her relationship with Laena because she was providing a bit too stubborn of a defense.
"Laena is my elder by nigh a generation!" I groaned. "It would be easier if she did run off."
Rhaenyra looked stricken by that while Laenor raised a brow.
"Your point?" Laenor asked. "Your own mother is more than eleven years the junior of your father."
Why was I having this conversation?
"This is," I sighed. "Look this is not fair to anyone involved! Neither of us could possibly come out happy of this relationship!"
The three looks I got back made me quickly realize that I was speaking to the very trio that I had persuaded into accepting a different sort of messed up marriage.
But this is different! This is Westeros! A man could marry a girl that could be his granddaughter, and everyone would shrug it off! Marrying a freaking child to a considerably older woman is essentially a doomed marriage!
And that was before one even considered how inherently screwed up my own situation was.
I was both too young and too old for her at the same time.
I was seven, thirty-one and forty at the same time! There was no world in which any relationship I had was not messed up.
Since exploding was not an option, I instead opted to let out a breath, "Forgive me. I am unused to being mistaken."
Fourteen, that sounded arrogant out loud, I muttered.
"It is understandable," Joffrey took a drink from his tea. "I had written you with warning of our arrival but the chances of a message making it through so many castles before our dragons could arrive." He spread his arms out helplessly. "And to my understanding, Lord Velaryon had already secured an open invitation to visit the Hightower."
Twenty-twenty, thy name is hindsight. I had not thought of the invitation for months, I had assumed that it was merely for appearances sake. Even worse, Lymon was surprisingly interested in leveraging the arrangements to speak with Corlys regarding shipping so there was a slim chance of him being helpful.
The only one bothered was Otto.
But seriously, screw Otto. Even being on the same wavelength as him made me want to turn myself over to whatever Bolton was currently making the North unnecessarily edgy.
"I understand your position Gaem," Rhaenyra said softly. "Do you really object to her solely for her age?"
…Please stop Rhae, you do not need to make me seem like any more of a dick since I am apparently already guilty of slut-shaming and hypocrisy.
"It is not that Rhae," I assured her. "I could not care less about that! But I will not be in a position to marry for a decade! A child at that age is dangerous for a woman! That is before one considers that I have nothing in common with her!"
Which is to say nothing of what Daemon will do to me! Wait would he even care anymore? Did that night mean anything to him?
I felt sick to the bottom of my stomach, it was as if someone had turned gravity off. It basically threw all of my plans and predictions for such a massive loop that I did not even know how to address it.
There was nothing to do but to pass a hand through my hair and sigh.
"What do you mean?" Rhaenyra asked with confusion. "Why do you need to wait for a decade?"
"Huh?" I asked. Well I am still half of a year away from being eight, I will not be of age for another- oh, oh right Westeros.
"Father is hoping to have you married by your thirteenth year," Laenor answered. "Fourteen if he cannot manage it."
I blinked. Well that makes this even more complicated, doesn't it?
There was an urge to call all of it madness, but I choked it back. Everyone else had given so that the realm would go to hell, so I could hardly turn coward when asked for my own relatively minor sacrifice.
Oh, joy I was now thinking of marriage as a minor sacrifice.
I hated Westeros.
"I will talk to her," I sighed. "If we can work out a reasonable agreement then we will try it."
After they left my chambers I realized that my eyes were heavy, but I stayed seated for a while still, I did not really feel like moving.
"Are you not going to sleep?" Ebermen asked from behind me. I envied his poker face, he had been as surprised as me but completely failed to let that slip beyond a muttered comment that only I was close enough to hear.
"Maybe," I sighed. "Today had been going so well."
"You are correct," Ebermen noted. "It does not seem to have turned out as badly as it might have."
"How could it go worse?" I was too drained to be angered by the comment, all that was left in my tone was genuine curiosity.
"Well, we did not die," Ebermen noted as he walked over and pored himself a cup of tea. "That is an eternal possibility."
"Huh," I thought about that for a second before nodding in agreement. "Fair enough!"
"What will you do?" Ebermen asked.
"Marry the beautiful Lady perhaps?" Frederick commented dryly.
"I hear wildfire is very pretty, do you want to stick your cock in it?" I asked the guard dryly and got a chuckle in return. Turning back to the Shield, I shrugged as I refilled my own cup. "As I said, I will speak with Laena, perhaps some compromise can be achieved."
"If I may?" Ebermen asked as he sniffed his tea and took a drink with an appreciative smile.
I raised a brow, "Since when do you need permission to speak your mind?"
"As you say," the knight agreed. "It might be wise to not assume that you understand the lady when you speak to her."
I laughed, "Was I that acidic?"
"I am surprised that the Faceless Men have not come begging for your words, they seem more lethal than any toxin I know of." The man's eternal deadpan made him rather excellent at delivery.
"Once again, fair." I acknowledged.
We stayed there for a moment
For her part Sky was eyeing me in a fashion that seemed to say, 'I am glad you worked out your petty mortal concerns, can we sleep now?'
I did not disagree with the sentiment.
"Sleep deprivation is going to kill me," I grumbled as I pulled myself out of my chair.
"Perhaps," Ebermen nodded as he pulled himself up.
That guy was not human, he basically had as trying a day as I had only in full armor and the others seemed about ready to collapse in their plate (I could swear that I heard Morgan snoring).
"You know Ebermen," I stretched my arms and yawned. "It is funny that after all of these years I have never seen you fight."
He shrugged, "You see me fight frequently, do our spars not count?"
"Knowing you can beat me proves nothing beyond a basic ability to move your limbs," I smiled. "I mean a 'real' fight."
He shrugged, "A shield should not draw blood for the sake of it, fear not. With your ability to draw complications I am sure that I will be required to fight sooner or later."
"Once again, fair." I repeated as I headed towards my nice, soon to be scalding bath.
Even if I was not planning to carve my heart out, Sky's training had its uses.
"I am marginally offended by that," Omeld snorted as he and Lambert followed while the other guards retreated.
"I have no idea how good any of you are in a fight," I tried to fight back a yawn. I was too exhausted by the day to even bother with flattery.
My guard regularly sparred among themselves and even drilled the other pendants in the tombs but knowing that thing was equal to three of the other things was useless if you had no baseline for quality.
Tourneys and melees were useless measures. My guard had a common trait of preferring a vicious economy of motion that had little to do with fairness or honor, at least half of them favored the 'stab them in between the legs' school of fighting.
"My prince," Lambert shook his head. "Either we are supremely competent and treacherous or incompetent and loyal, please make up your mind."
Instead of either, I met his dark eyes. "I could instead ask after little Sera is liking her new doll."
"She sleeps with it most nights, My Prince," The knight rolled his eyes. "Although she might actually suspect it of treachery."
That got chuckles from around me and I shook my head.
It was becoming a new game among my staff to poke fun at my caution in private.
That the ribbing does not bother me probably does not speak wonders about me, I reflected.
After we had bathed, I dismissed them to their barracks and bid Ebermen a good night. Lymon had seemed to have gotten the hint and provided a relatively small section of the vast Hightower servants rooms for my Pendants and their families (that all fit in less than a twentieth of the rooms spoke volumes) but I still kept a small number in my own apartments on rotations.
Nessa is going to have a stroke when she hears what she missed, I reflected. My adjutant had spent the night in the city with Frederick and the Huberts as escorts, seeing to some recalcitrant business-partners.
Yet another reason why I actually need to be able to get some sleep tonight.
Not that the dreams took the hint as I yet again dreamed of knives.
It had been the same for seven months by that point.
…
"She is a beautiful creature," I nodded to Vhagar as the massive brawler lay napping on one of the fields beyond the city.
I had promised to see Laena and first thing in the morning seemed like as good a time as any, I could finish reading about Garth some other time and the current Garth could hardly blame me for skipping out on playing with him.
It had been a surprise that she was inspecting the oxen being prepared for Vhagar so early.
In retrospect, it probably should not be surprising that the great beast required so much upkeep.
Remarkable that she had the presence of mind to look after her- No, that is not charitable.
She jumped on her borrowed horse, I must have startled her when I shouted. I wondered what she had been thinking about.
"Good morning, my prince," she smiled politely and tried to bow as best she could. A dress was fine on her, but her leathers really complimented her figure and features.
A less refined part of my mind was drooling a bit at the sight.
She is half/twice your age damn it! That the same part of my brain reasoned that they cancelled each other out made the whole meeting even more uncomfortable than it had to be.
"To you as well," I nodded as I pulled Balerion beside her. The pony only further accentuated the differences in our height.
Really bright decision not to go for a rouncey, I cursed. Freaking brilliant.
"Yes she is," Laena nodded as she starred at the sleeping legend. "She was my greatest joy."
"Was?" I asked.
Her eyes widened for a moment, "Apologies prince Gaemon, I fear I did not sleep well last night. I meant to say that she is my greatest joy."
Her entire body language more or less screamed discomfort and I could tell that she was forcing etiquette into her tone.
This is going to go over so well. I could totally see it now.
Before the silence could awkward (well more awkward) I decided to continue.
"My lady, I must apologize," I said as diplomatically as I could. "Last night, I was quite shocked by your arrival and my manners escaped me."
"Do not worry about it," she scratched her cheek. "You are a child so it normal to- that is to say that you are still young and-"
Oh great, we both suck at this.
She was all of twenty-one at most, for all the laws of my world no one was altogether as mature as they liked to believe at that age. It was debatable whether Westerosi (or quite a few people in my original world) ever 'matured'.
My excuse on the other hand… She seems more the child than me.
So, I forced a chuckle, "Do not fear, I am used to it."
She looked a bit embarrassed and I clubbed the notion that I liked the flush over the metaphorical head.
"I have been called quite a bit worse than a child, even if perhaps not to my face, but," I very deliberately passed a hand through my hair. "You will see that I lack horns, so the songs cannot have the full truth of it."
That got a small if still awkward smile. It was also rather cute… Damn you brain.
To be fair she was beautiful, it occurred to me that in most situations I would kill for a shot with a girl like her. Hell, before constantly feeling that my life was constantly in danger, I tended to heavily favor adventurous women in my love-life.
It took my uniquely bad brand of luck to be stuck awkwardly navigating such a shot when I was stuck in a damned child.
It was a hell of a thing to simultaneously be a cradle-robber and a grave-digger.
"I do not put much stock in songs anymore," she admitted. For a moment her eyes seemed to age decades in a distinctly negative way. "They do not share much with reality."
Okay, I am still missing something.
"I know that our situation is not ideal," I shrugged. "In truth it is absolute shit."
Laena looked taken aback for a moment before chuckling.
"That is a rather blunt way of saying it," she noted.
I spread my hands, "What else can I say? We are very much the victims of our fathers' greed."
Laena's smile shrunk and seemed a bit bitter, "My father, I would not call him greedy."
That sounds pretty damn bitter.
"As you like," I shrugged. "The point remains that you are trapped in a fairly miserable position."
She looked at me with her violet eyes for a moment before they drifted behind me.
"You do not need to concern yourself," I smiled. "Ebermen is my shield. Unless you plan to have Vhagar eat me and fly off to Yi Ti, he will not tell anyone what we say."
I heard the clink of him nodding, my four other guards and Nessa awaited at a respectable distance on their own mounts and a sunbathing Clearsky.
She took a breath before speaking again.
"I really do not think it matters if I might have been happier with another suitor," She said. "I understand better now, it is better to try and be happy with what we have."
Holy crap woman, what on earth happened to you?
"You seem different," I observed. "From the last time."
"The last time?" She asked before smiling thinly. "Yes, it's been a while."
"Three years by my count," What had I been expecting? It was not like I would be able to get her to comfortable enough to spill everything in a few minutes.
She laughed awkwardly as she ran a hand through her long silver locks. "I am afraid that I have grown somewhat."
I sighed, alright. Cards on the table it is.
"Lady Laena," I smiled. "I would try to make the best of our… circumstance, I realize that being engaged to a child is not what every young girl dreams off. So, I would understand if you wish to cancel our engagement."
In fact, it would be a damned blessing to get this over with, especially before I hit puberty again and all cards go flying out the window.
"No," Laena shook her head. A bit more forcefully than I thinks she intended to. "I appreciate what you are attempting but as I said, it is for the best to just try and make the best of things."
I am going to strangle everyone in the freaking Velaryon family, I hated working with a limited picture. Why are you not taking the out?
"Well," I sighed. "Let us try to make the best of this then."
"That is my hope," Laena nodded.
Why do I still feel like the evil fiancé?
Eventually I made my excuses to leave after a while.
"How bad?" I asked Ebermen as we rode away.
Ebermen nodded, "You are truly a master a swaying the hearts of women, I am sure that even now bards write of your prowess."
"Your snark is improving," I nodded sagely.
Ebermen looked at me skeptically, "I am still convinced that you just invented that usage of the word and dubbed it Valyrian."
"Perhaps," I smiled dryly. "Or perhaps the Valyrians found snarks and decided that they needed a word to describe Snark-y behavior."
That had gone miserably. I needed more dirt before I could approach Laena again, that or enough wine to drown a continent. She had had her guard up and was probably operating on a great deal of fear.
I could hardly fault her, Westeros was an abominable hellhole. Being too trusting was a madman's endeavor, or a particularly stupid Stark's.
"I need to figure out how to get to her more privately," I mused.
"I would say that you'll have to do better next time, my prince," Nessa said casually as we rode up to the rest of my party. "I could see your discomfort from here, to say nothing of that poor girl. I do say, it will take quite some effort make her suitable at this pace."
"Suitable?" I raised a brow, opting to ignore the lambasting.
"As your wife, My Prince," Nessa looked at the Velaryon girl like an evaluating dowager. "It will be quite a bother."
"She is only four years younger than you," And why do am I hearing suspiciously little choice for me in this?
"Yes," Nessa frowned and adjusted her latest gift from Arral, a pair of Myrish lenses that correct her apparent farsightedness. "But we will make due."
"As you say," The guards and Shield confirmed.
"How about we begin with her actually being willing to speak with me?" I snorted.
Laena would not be open to speaking in 'public' I suspected. She would be on script as long as she felt cornered or watched.
I needed to show her that I was on her side, or at least present a convincing enough illusion that I was. It was not really a matter of choice, I could not afford to have wildcards in play if I could avoid it.
Then a thought occurred to me, a potentially stupid thought but all things considered a pretty solid one.
"Actually I think I might have a plan," I said calmly.
Nessa adjusted her lens-alright, they were glasses. "What sort of plan?"
"My sort of plan," I said as I nodded to myself.
Ebermen looked concerned, or at least as much concern as he was capable of emoting.
"And how well thought out is this plan?" The Shield asked while Nessa was already taking off her glasses to massage her eyes.
I smiled.
"It might work," I said confidently.
"Might?" He asked. I figured he knew that I was going somewhere that he did not like. So did everyone else judging from the mix of cursing the gods and exasperated noises.
"Might," I confirmed. Sky islarge enough after all. It should work.
Nessa regarded me, "How dangerous is this idea exactly?"
"Do you remember the last time I spent a night in the same castle as Laena?" I smiled mischievously.
This is either one of the best ideas I ever had or one of the worst.
Ebermen thought about it for a moment before nodding slowly.
"I suspect that you consider this plan similarly foolish?" he asked.
"It is hard to tell," I smiled. "Different sorts of danger."
"That does not sound reassuring," He said slowly.
"Do you think so?" Nessa asked sarcastically.
I shrugged, "Look at the bright side, this time the implication is that most people will hopefully never find out."
"I am not certain that this is wise," Ebermen said slowly.
"Neither am I but do you have any better ideas?" I asked.
"Define 'better' if you will," The Shield asked carefully while Nessa was trying to keep an eye from twitching.