Not some petty throne or some blood on a stupid throne. No, I say we march to empty Casterly Rock! I say, we will not lay down our arms until the banner of the sun and spear floats over the Rock and their mines have been emptied and given to us, so that our sons and daughters may lack nothing! Will you stand with me?"
The cheers were indescribable.
"To the Rock! To the Rock!" cried some.
"Lion-slayer! Lion-slayer!" cried others.
...
In any case, whatever the goal, the prince's speech almost caused an upheaval. Huge crowds continued to applaud and gather along the road back to Ghost Hill, so much that Valena wondered if all the population of the town and then more had not come to celebrate!
And in any case, there would be celebrations tonight. For two days, the princes would be feasted before they left to reach Sunspear once more. In the meantime, the wine would flow freely and feasts would be thrown. It was the least one could do to celebrate Tywin Lannister's death.
Valena's mother spent without worrying about the cost. For her, it was well worth a few golden dragons to celebrate her brothers' deaths all being avenged. But before that, something else kept her mind, as she nudged Valena to follow her to a small room.
"Why am I coming?" she asked.
"You are to be lady of Ghost Hill one day…or better," mother smiled at her. "Prince Quentyn will be your prince…or better. I think it is wise that you attend this small reunion, and feel free to speak your mind, my sweet."
In the small room, she saw her father, busy writing letters, but her mother also, as expected, invited in Prince Quentyn, but, to her surprise, Prince Oberyn was absent from the talks.
"Thank you for receiving me, Lady Nymella." Prince Quentyn nodded while Valena's mother closed the door.
"I think it is I who should thank you, my prince," her mother replied succinctly. "After all, my brothers can now rest easy, their tormentors have been killed."
Prince Quentyn nodded.
"I hope your journey has been pleasant, anyways," mother continued.
"We had a few cases of seasickness and only one man overboard," the prince nodded back.
"Yes, a terrible incident, especially since he was quite important to you, no?" mother smirked.
"He was my maester," the prince nodded. "He was feeling sick but went overboard during a storm only a day before reaching Ghost Hill. His loss is rough since he was looking at the development of new training grounds for healers in Sunspear, but new ones will take up his work, I am sure."
"Of course," her mother smiled slightly.
Valena could not help but feel uncomfortable. She didn't remember a single storm in the area for four days. In Shipbreaker Bay, she could imagine, but around here?
"Is there any reason Prince Oberyn is not here?" her father asked, speaking aloud what Valena had been wondering for some time.
"My uncle will do what I say," Prince Quentyn replied simply.
"Forgive Lord Julian," Mother continued with a slight smile towards Father, who blushed slightly, "he is not very well versed in the current events. But may I ask, why the speech? I dare say we will finally go to war?"
"You suppose well, Lady Toland," the prince replied stoically. "I intend to go to war once I have brought back our allies from beyond the Narrow Sea."
"Is that why you wanted the ships?" Valena caught herself asking.
"Precisely, my lady," Prince Quentyn replied without skipping a beat. "The transports that can easily be converted back to merchant ships, or be sunk as blockships as soon as their duty is over."
"And what are these allies you speak of?" Father asked.
The prince smiled slightly.
"Well, the only ones who have even more reasons than us to hate the Lannisters of course," the prince mused, "and the ones with the dragons…"
Valena gasped. Dragons? How could this be?
Father wore the same surprised expression as her, but Mother barely raised an eyebrow. Did she know?
"Mhmm…but which Targaryen?" her mother asked.
What? There were several? Valena knew that Viserys Targaryen died, and that Daenerys Targaryen went east, but that was as far as her knowledge went. Then, Daenerys Targaryen was alive, that much she could assume, but who was the other? For surely there could not be more than one…
Prince Quentyn himself was slightly surprised by her question, but seemed unmoved.
"Both," was his answer, "the more dragonriders on our side, the better our chances."
"This is all madness," Father cut in, but Mother quickly regained control of the situation.
"As much as I like your plan, my prince, there remains one small step you have not considered: you cannot make such decisions."
"That may be true, but have you gone back on your commitments for Overlord?" the prince asked again, annoyed this time.
"No," Mother answered. "You have House Toland's support, I can assure you. But time is of the essence."
"I agree, which is why I mustn't delay my departure for Sunspear." Prince Quentyn smiled slyly.
"When can we receive an answer?" Mother asked.
"In a week, at the latest."
"Good, then I trust you will need our ships, and some of our men, I expect?"
"You presume well, Lady Toland."
"You have them. My husband will provide anything you can ask if we have the means." Mother tapped the oak table.
"Sorry, mother," Valena felt like cutting in, "but what is Overlord?"
"Well, let us just say that it will rectify a small problem we've been dealing with recently," Mother replied.
"Just so," Prince Quentyn nodded. "I cannot say much more at the present, for fear word would leak out to unwanted ears, but to easily conclude in all of our plans, we need more…how should I say this…clarity in the chain of command."
"I trust that I shall be convened to the council planned in Sunspear afterwards?" Mother cut in before Valena had a chance to answer.
"Of course. In three weeks, as planned," the prince answered once again.
"Good," her mother replied. "Very well, thank you, my prince."
As they left the room, Prince Quentyn caught Valena's arm with his hand. Softly, he asked, "Val, can I speak to you, for a moment?"
Valena was caught unaware. When the prince called her Val, it was when they were intimate, and she could call him Quent, and not "my prince."
Suddenly, her eyes lit up, and she saw what the prince was getting at.
"Perhaps…not now, Quent?" she said with a small smirk, hinting that she had understood his message. "How about after the feast, in my rooms? We shall be more at ease than here."
The prince frowned slightly but nodded.
"Of course."
"Good, I'll see you then." Valena left the room, winking at him.
This was better than expected! If the prince was still interested in her, and which sane man wouldn't, then it would be all the easier to crown herself princess of Dorne. But then again, she had to be careful. Treading in a nest of vipers wasn't going to be easy, and she needed every advantage on her side.
She asked her father to change the seating arrangements so that she could be sat next to the prince, and asked for the sand snake to be put a couple seats down the line. Then, she made sure to fix her appearance, making sure her dress put her body in a generous light.
Finally, she carefully selected a variety of different perfumes, and made sure to cover herself in them, selecting only the most exclusive and expensive of them all.
During the feast, she made sure to talk to Quentyn as much as possible, although never too much to avoid drawing the suspicion of the snake, seated only a couple seats away. She made sure to rearrange her hair several times, and adjust her dress, even asking the prince to help her during one occasion.
Finally, the most delicate part came up. Slowly, she rose from her seat, winking at the prince to follow her. Contrarily to what she had hoped, though, her heart nearly stopped when he immediately rose and followed her. Surely he knew to be more discreet, they had done the same thing years ago and he knew to wait a little.
To her complete shock, though, the snake did nothing. She continued talking with her father as if nothing had happened.
She attributed it to luck and continued on her way, skipping towards her rooms, which she opened in a hurry, locking the door behind her, kicking her shoes out of the way.
Slowly and sultrily, she got on her bed and smirked, "So, my prince, what did you wish to discuss with me?"
The prince barely registered what she was trying to do, and instead cut in with a question she never would have expected:
"Val, would you be my consort?"
"Wha-" she interrupted herself. "You want to marry me?"
"It would be an arrangement of sorts," Prince Quentyn explained. "You would become my consort, give me an heir and a spare, and then do whatever you wish, so long as you don't have any children that are not mine."
Valena was flabbergasted.
"But...your paramour…" she mumbled, completely taken aback.
"She knows I need to take a wife, and I would rather have one that can think reasonably instead of thinking about how many dresses to add to her wardrobe. Am I correct in thinking that you would be up to this task?" he asked.
"Yes, of course," Valena replied, still under shock.
"I know that I ask much of you, being second to another woman is hard to swallow for anyone," the prince continued, "However, I would grant you as many liberties as you wish past our second child."
"Quentyn…I am not fond of sharing," Valena found herself answering.
"I know." He nodded back. "Which is why I am giving you a number of privileges and liberties that you otherwise would not have had."
Valena tried to pull herself together. She could accept this right away, and try to push the Sand bitch away later, or she could stick to her plan of seducing him and making him linger and wait. If he had come to her, it means he didn't have many options…
She tried thinking in her head, and then found herself asking, "Would I rule by your side, or just be a woman for you to breed and discard?"
"I would need a wife capable of advising me correctly, yes." The prince blushed. "As heir to Ghost Hill, you would be the perfect person for this."
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