The Wrong Prince.

Chapter Ten

Doran sighed heavily as the warmth of the sun hit his face and the sound of the waves reached his ears, the Water Gardens were his favourite place in all of Dorne and he had been grateful for Mellario's suggestion that he move the court here for a time, Sunspear was the seat of his power and he could not abandoned it for too long but in truth he had never loved it.

It was too hot and too dusty for his liking and the scent of salt wind in the air and the laughter of the children as they played in the pools had always been a comfort for him on his worst days, and the past few days had been truly terrible.

Had it only been a few days? After it had happened it seemed like the days had stretched on into an endless amount of time, Doran knew that he should not allow himself to be so weak, he was the prince of Dorne and he had a country to rule and his feelings always had to come second to his duty and the wellbeing of his people and yet even though he knew that was what he should do it was easier to think that than to do it.

Doran sighed again and got to his feet and walked closer to the balcony, the sound of the children at play grew louder and he wished that it worked as well as it had done in the past at making him feel better, but the grief was still a sharp dagger in his gut and it did not abate for a single second.

The sound of footsteps tore his attention away from the children and he turned his head to see Mellario walk in, he tried to offer her a smile but it fell away as soon as he forced it on to his face.

"Oh my love," Mellario said and walked over to his side, her hand reaching down to take his and their fingers linked together as easily as they had done a thousand times before, the comfort that always brought him did not seem as effective as it always had been in the past, all the same he did not pull away from her, he was not sure if he would ever have the strength to do that.

Doran raised her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to her knuckles, his eyes falling shut as he savoured her closeness and the warmth of his skin. "Thank you love, how is Cersei today?"

"She is sitting by one of the smaller pools, I asked that it be kept empty so she could enjoy the silence," Mellario said with a small frown, her eyes were still so beautiful that it was almost impossible for him to look away from them, he never wanted to.

"You should try and speak with her again, I know you haven't tried since we left Sunspear. I have offered what comfort I could but you are her husband, not I. And if anyone can understand her grief in this moment then it is you."

Doran sighed heavily, she was right of course and yet speaking to his own wife seemed to fill him with a fear that he had never known before, he did not know what to say to her.

He did not know how to fix it.

"I will, I promise you." And he had never sworn a promise to her that he did not intend to fulfil, the only one he had ever failed to was to take her as wife. A jolt of anger shot through him at the reminder of that failure, but if he was more angry at himself or at the shade of his mother he could not say.

Mellario took his hand and kissed his fingers, and Doran tried to take some strength from her presence before he rose from his chair and set of to see to his wife.

As Mellario had said his wife was sitting next to one of the smaller pools, none of the court had been expected to go into official mourning for a child that had never even been born but Cersei still chose to wear black all the same, her eyes were ever green fire but they were dimmer now and that saddened him more than he could say, his fierce lioness of a wife.

Cersei looked up as she heard him, she didn't frown at the sight of him which Doran was willing to take as a good sign and he approached her and sat down next to her on the stone bench, reaching out to take her hand.

She allowed it but Doran had to wonder how much of that was because she thought she had to rather than wanting it, all the same he would not let go of her hand unless Cersei asked him too. "Have you eaten today?" He asked, trying to keep his voice as gentle as possible and wishing he was better at giving comfort than he actually was.

Cersei barely shrugged, and when she spoke her voice was more subdued than he had ever heard his wife before. It made him sad, her temple could be troublesome to deal with at time but it gave her fire as well and to see it dimmed was saddening. "I had some porridge with dates earlier, your lover made certain that I ate it all and I have not been hungry since."

Doran sighed, rubbing his thumb over the back of her knuckles. "Mellario only wishes for you to be well, she has a good and gentle heart and knows how much pain you are in."

Cersei scoffed at him then and pulled her hand away, she rose and walked to stand in front of the pool and crossed her arms over her chest. "How can she? She has never lost a child, her daughter with you still lives and is one step closer to being your heir if I can not produce a trueborn child."

"Mellario does not wish for that," Doran began as he rose to stand beside his wife, Mel had made that quite clear to him when she asked him to let her take Arianne away from Sunspear in order to better protect her from any would do her harm, including his own wife possibly, or use her in any scheme to harm him. "Cersei, you are my lady wife and our children will be my heirs, I have already promised you that."

Cersei said nothing, her gaze locked on to the far wall. She did not look at him and Doran wondered if he should leave her in peace or she would take that as a slight.

But in the end, he did not have to decide as Cersei spoke again in an ever smaller voice than before, "If I cannot bear a living child then you will have to have our marriage annulled in order to take on a new wife who can give your heirs, your duty will demand that of you."

Doran did not contradict her, because the truth of it was that she was right, and simply let her continue. "But if I cannot bear living children, then my father will have no use for me. No-one will wish to marry me, I will not be welcome back at the Rock."

Cersei's shoulders began to shake and when she spoke again, Doran had never heard more pitiful a sound. "Where shall I go?"

Doran reached out and gently placed a hand on her shoulder and when she did not pull away from him he gently pulled her into an embrace and when she tilted her head up to look at him he reached down to capture her mouth in a kiss.

He pulled away after a few moments and brushed a few of Cersei's stray tears away and then cupped her cheeks, "We shall try again my lady, one loss does not mean that all of them shall end that way. And if your fears are true, I will not send you away from here. You shall always have a place here, to rest your head at night and food from my table."

"As your paramour?" She sounded dubious, if not offended. Doran could not blame her for that, who knew what horror stories she had been told about the role beyond the mountains even if her time in Dorne and how she saw Mellario being treated should have taught her better than that.

"If you would like that role then then I would be greatly honoured by your love and trust, but if you would also like me to not ever share you bed again then I shall respect that as well," Doran kissed her forehead before he spoke again. "And if you wish it then I shall continue you to do all that I can to find you a paramour of your own, if your heart and eye looks elsewhere."

Cersei was silent for a few moments before she began to sob again, burying her face into his chest and Doran held her tightly all the while she cried.

End of Chapter Ten


Hi everyone! I am really sorry for the wait when it came to this, and I am sorry it's such a short chapter after so long but I wanted to have something to update this story with before the end of the year, and I am actually quite pleased with how this one turned out.

Anywho, till the next time.

With warmest regards,

DiscordantSymphony