summary: gwayne visits the honey inn when he returns home from the war, where he pays for your company by the hour, and where ormund finds something he'd much rather keep. and with the city about to fall or hold to the black army, every hightower intends to find a use for you before it does. (8k)
contents: sex worker!reader, friends to lovers, enemies to lovers, love triangle, hurt/comfort, angst, jealousy, bi!gwayne, protective!gwayne, possessive!ormund, cw for manipulation, coercion, smut 18+ (MDNI) unprotected sex, exhibitionism/voyeurism, sub!gwayne, dom!ormund, dubcon
( NAVIGATION ) | ( MASTERLIST ) | ( AO3 )
gif creds: vhagar-balerion-meraxes
Gwayne’s arrival from the slaughter of war is announced, not by a knock, but by the low groaning of an old door thrown open on its hinges — as though he had forgotten such courtesies existed after so long on the road. You turn upon your vanity stool to find the man swaying in the doorframe, backlit by the torches burning low on their sconces. And, for a flicker of a moment, you do not recognize him at all.
He wears the road all over. Mud caked to the knee and smeared dark across his porcelain skin. Blood gone the color of rust-brown stained on the collar of his quilted gambeson, though whether it is his own or some stranger’s you could not say — and you do not think he could give you an answer if you asked. His long auburn hair hangs over his forehead, dark and clinging to his skin from the sweat along his brow.
He longs to fill his lungs with the familiar, floral scent of your apartment at The Honey Inn, but cannot seem to escape the smell of copper and horse and dirty earth that’s been clinging to every inch of him on the unforgiving road.
“Well… Look at what the storm’s dragged in…” you croon at the sight of him, rising slowly from your chair. You flash the man a smile in turn, because there’s something distinctly heavy in the moment that seems to beg for a bit of lightness to cut through it. “It’s been so long, I’ve forgotten whether I should curtsy… Or kneel.”
Gwayne gives you nothing in response.
For the first time since you met — late in your adolescence, when he needed something to prove and you needed coin to make; when everything between you was all warm cheeks and trembling hands — Gwayne is at a loss for a clever word, and unmoved by the slyness of your grin. He closes the distance between you instead, flinging the door shut behind him with a careless hand and staggering with each uneven step.
You meet him in the center of the expansive apartment — paid for, in part, by his Hightower coin alone. You hold him tentatively by the forearms, and feel the worn wool crack stiff with dried mud. “Gwayne…” you murmur gently to him, all the mockery long gone from your voice. You search his empty face with worried eyes. “Look at me— Are you hurt?”
He does not answer that either. Instead, his trembling hands lift to find your waist. The callouses along his palms snag briefly in the soft silk of your robe. He finds himself very suddenly overcome by the familiarity of having you in his arms again; a nostalgia that rises in his throat and strangles him. His dirty chin quivers as he leans further into you, burying his face in the crook of your shoulder and knotting his fists hard into your dress.
You feel the trembling start in his shoulders before you feel something warm and wet smear along your collarbone. The man weeps over you with great, shuddering snivels that he hides into your neck. It is the most vulnerable you’ve ever seen him, you think, even more so than the day you met — when all the other highborn boys teased him for his lack of experience, saying that he must not have the appetite for women, and sent him scrambling here to prove himself.
He found you instead; a girl of his age, new to both Oldtown and the Honey Inn. A girl who saw right through him and refused to take his coin, or anything else he offered that night; but embellished enough stories that made all the taunting whispers about him finally stop. It was a small kindness, though one that threatened to undo him entirely.
He’s warmed your bed ever since, both as client and something less easily named. You hold him now the same way you did that first night, asking nothing of him and expecting even less.
You draw him a bath once his breaths come more easily to him. You peel the ruined gambeson and sweat-stiff small clothes from his pale skin, and make no comment about how thin he’s grown as you lower him into the steaming water. The water runs brown, then dusty rose, and then finally clear as you work a soft cloth over his skin. Across his shoulders, down his spine, and over the frail skin of his hairless chest.
“You needn’t—” Gwayne attempts to speak, his very first words since he crossed your threshold, though his voice comes out cracked and low with disuse. He feels half smothered beneath the foreign tenderness you offer him, but he does not flinch under your touch. He never has. “You needn’t do this for me, you know?”
“I know…” you nod and smooth the cloth along the milky-white column of his throat when he tips his chin to look at you, kneeling just outside the tub. “But I want to.”
When the warm water cools, you towel him dry and dress him in clothes a size too big for his frame — softly worn trousers and a loose linen tunic; souvenirs from previous patrons, washed by your own hands. Gwayne tries not to think about who might have shared your bed while he laid shivering in the mud. It was much easier to imagine you as his and only his, though he’s never quite found the courage to ask that of you.
“I’m sorry,” he says from where he lies within your silken sheets, wrapped in the sweet scent of your perfume and the particular stench of sweat that clings to the walls of the establishment. He doesn’t ask if you’ve taken clients today; he doesn’t want to know the answer — but the hour is early enough that he lets himself believe his body is the only one your hands have touched so far.
“For what?” you scoff, sliding beneath the cool sheets to join him. The feather mattress dips slightly under your weight until your legs tangle with his scruffy ones out of habit. “For tracking half the Kingsroad across my good Naathi rug? Because Mistress Aleena will absolutely dock you for it— whether you bought it or not.”
Gwayne exhales hard through his nose in place of a laugh, pink lips curling into a tired grin. “For all of it,” he says, pale eyes as dull and empty as his voice. “For… coming here like a beggar, for… crying on you like a child. For—”
“Gwayne,” you sigh, splaying a free hand over the newfound hollow of his jaw. “You have nothing to apologize for. Not tonight, not ever if I have any say on the matter. Do you understand?”
Gwayne’s eyes soften around the edges as they flit back and forth between your steady gaze. His chapped lips part but cannot seem to summon an answer for you. Your soft grin widens into a more devilish thing as your hand trails down the curve of his jaw, past his sternum still flushed from the bath, and over the soft trail of auburn hair above the hem of his trousers.
“I said…” Your fingers creep beneath the fabric to find the dense patch of coarse hair there. “Do you understand?”
The words of a response die on his tongue when your palm squeezes gently at his cock, soft like velvet and achingly sensitive under your touch. A broken sigh spills from his parted mouth as he tips his head back, damp auburn hair wild on the pillow. He twitches slowly stiff in your hand, dribbling pearls of pre-cum at the soft pink tip that you use to lubricate each slow stroke.
He only vaguely feels the tip of your nose nudging the side of his, right before you press a tender kiss to his chapped mouth. He exhales hard through his nose as your lips slot effortlessly together, breath fanning warm along your cupid’s bow. His hips buck up into your hand with a sort of desperation you haven’t seen from him in quite some time, and your mouth curls into a smile pressed against his.
The distant creaking of the fourth step in the hall — an old plank that’s had a way of warning you of every approaching patron since you first took this room — shatters the moment entirely. Your head tilts upward against Gwayne’s when the heavy oak door swings open without a pretense of a knock, as if the man on the other side didn’t know that closed doors in a house like these only ever meant one thing.
Gwayne makes a weak, wounded sound in his throat when your hand slows around his cock. “Why’d you stop?” he mutters against your mouth, heavy eyes fluttering open to find you glancing off towards the door.
“It seems like we have company…” you croon with a smile.
Gwayne’s brows lower in confusion right before his head turns against the pillow. The screwed look drains into something far closer to dread when his eyes fall on his cousin looming in the doorway — standing a head taller and twice as broad through the shoulders. He reaches for the silver pomander chained perpetually to his scabbard and lifts it to his nose. His nostrils flare as he inhales the earthy incense, trying hopelessly to escape the stench of sex clinging to the walls of the Honey Inn.
You knew Ormund Hightower mostly by reputation rather than appearance. He’s handsome in the manner that most Hightower men were handsome, and chiseled cold in a manner that suggests all the unkind stories Gwayne’s told you about the man over the years were likely unembellished.
“So… This is where you’ve run off to,” Ormund says in a melodic voice as he strolls further inside. He scans the room with pale, attentive eyes — the tub running low by the window, the discarded clothes just beside it, and his cousin freshly home from war and spending his return in a whore’s bed. A thin smile curls at the corner of his mouth accordingly: “I confess, I do find myself surprised, cousin… I hadn’t realized you possessed the… appetite for this sort of thing…”
Gwayne goes rigid underneath you while his cock softens once more in your fist. An age-old humiliation flickers behind his eyes — the same look you remember seeing on him all those years ago.
“It’ll cost you extra if you mean to join us, my lord,” you call to the older man, with an ease about you that suggests you’re utterly unbothered by an audience. Your head tilts to your shoulder as you study the man, eyes raking slowly over his broad form. “Though I’d wager you have more than enough coin for it… And the face for it, too, no doubt…”
Ormund’s chest burns with a strange mixture of offense and pride. His strong, shaven chin lifts slightly upward as he drops the pomander back on its chain, giving you the whole of his attention now. “My faith does not permit such… indulgences,” he says in a smooth voice. “As I’m sure you very well know.”
“Mm… Well, if the Seven are half as kind as everyone insists, they wouldn’t begrudge a man for having a little fun now and then,” you answer without missing a beat. “Could do wonders for you, my lord— You look dreadfully tense.”
Ormund’s pale eyes do not stray from your squinted stare. There’s something almost involuntary in it, in the way his gaze snags and catches with yours — even when your hand starts moving again under the blankets and Gwayne’s pale form tenses beneath your touch.
“Well…” Ormund hums, trying hard not to choke on his embarrassment. “You’re a bold thing, aren’t you? For a woman who sells herself by the hour.”
“And you’re a bold thing for walking into a lady’s room uninvited, my lord,” you quip and watch him falter at the volley. You turn back to Gwayne with a huff, and swing your leg to straddle his thigh as you call back to the older man, “You can watch if you like. Or wait your turn in the hall— Either way, I’m afraid I’m with a patron at present.”
Gwayne’s eyes you with a wide, worried gaze as you coax him hard again with your hand. You swipe your thumb over the bulbous tip and gather the pearly beads drooling there, before lining him at the entrance of your cunt. His pale hands settle on either side of your waist, clenching hard at the delicate fabric of your robe. Any words of protest that might’ve risen onto his tongue dissolve into a broken moan when you pierce yourself with him, slow and without concern for the man still standing across the room.
Ormund lingers there for a while longer than he’d like to admit. He tells himself that the sour feeling curling in his stomach is disgust — decent and godly disgust that any devout man ought to feel at such a display. He, admittedly, has always been good at telling himself things.
But still, his feet do not move. And the longer he watches your hips move slowly on top of Gwayne’s — the sight of it only partially shielded by your robe and the sheets gathered at your thighs — the harder it becomes to name the thing coiled in his chest. A curiosity, perhaps, of what your hips would feel like in his hands; of what it would feel like to be nestled in your cunt—
Ormund despises himself the moment the thought surfaces, for how long the dreadful image lingers in the back of his head before he can shake it away.
He turns on his heel and storms towards the door with a mixture of jealousy and disgust and distant intrigue rising into his throat like bile. He pulls the heavy oak shut behind him with a resounding thud that fills the quiet room.
Gwayne shakes his head against the pillow when he’s finally gone. His pale eyes are still wide with alarm but glassy with a lingering pleasure too, as you continue grinding your hips over his lap. Your velvety cunt squeezes him with each pass, threatening to milk his orgasm from him entirely.
“You should not have done that,” he confesses breathlessly, and wears the warning etched across his pretty features.
“Done what?” you respond through panted breaths, bracing yourself on his soft chest. “Defended you? Dreadfully sorry, my lord— next time I’ll let him have the last word—”
“That’s not—” He inhales sharply and grabs hard at your waist to stop your movements, so that he might concentrate on something other than your warm, drooling cunt for more than a second. Gwayne peers up at you with a suddenly solemn look. “He’ll want it now. My cousin— What he saw now in this room. He’ll want it now simply because it’s mine.”
You arch a brow in a playful look. “So I’m yours now, am I?” you joke.
Gwayne exhales hard through his nose when you fail to heed his warning with any real seriousness, chest deflating under your touch. Your smile only widens at the half-hearted glare he gives you then.
“You don’t know him the way I do,” he mutters.
“No. I don’t,” you agree, planting your palms on either side of his head as you lean down over him again. The plush of your breasts threatens to spill over the low neckline of your robe; you smile when you catch Gwayne’s unabashed staring. “And I’d very much like to keep it that way… Which is a pity because I might’ve made an exception for that face of his… A shame, really, that the Gods wasted such a pretty face on such an unpleasant man…”
Gwayne’s mouth lifts into a crooked smile despite himself. “You’re going to be the death of one of us, you know that?” he tells you, close enough now that your noses brush with every word. “Though I can’t be entirely sure which…”
“Mm…” you hum, and feel Gwayne’s chest rumble with a groan when you roll your hips over his again. “I do hope it’s the more tiresome cousin then.”
You kiss him before Gwayne can argue the point. And this time, he does not pull away — and he does not for a long while after.
Gwayne makes himself at home in your bed the way he has since boyhood. He returns not quite a week later, when word of Criston Cole’s death reaches Oldtown — his handsome head struck from his shoulder and mounted on a pike by the Winter Wolves, no more than a three-day ride from the Reach now. He tells you this with his heavy head laid in your lap, staring distantly at the crackling hearth across the room, and blinking back burning tears before they can stain your pretty silk dress.
His auburn hair slides like silk between your fingers as you run your hands through it, with the same unthinking tenderness you’ve shown him a thousand nights before this one, though he feels far less deserving of it now.
“You needn’t perform this for me, you know?” he mutters, rubbing his cheek along your covered thigh while his thumb smooths absently over your knee. “I know what I am to you…”
“Oh, really?” you say with a smile evident in your voice, though he cannot see it from where he lies. “And who might that be?”
Gwayne turns his head to peer up at you. A weary half-smile hints at the very edges of his mouth as he answers, “A man who’s paid twice over for the privilege of your company over the years…”
You flinch at his words before you can properly catch yourself. It had been years since Gwayne last put coin in your palm for anything; longer since, perhaps, than he’s stopped truly needing to. He’s filled your larder more times than you could count, dressed you in silks finer than half the highborn ladies at court, and furnished this very room with the good Myrish looking glass and the featherbed you share now — all without once being asked.
So it stings a little now, to hear him speak of you still in the language of ledger — as though even after everything, he still cannot quite let himself believe he might simply be loved and not owed.
“Yes…” you sigh, combing your fingers from his temple to the side of his neck. “You’ve paid me a great deal of coin to take care of you… But no one pays me extra to love you. And I find that I very much do.”
The words threaten to undo him completely. He has not grown any more accustomed to tenderness since the war ended than he was before it began. He was not raised to think himself particularly deserving of love; not with a family that whispered often of his peculiar appetite and a cousin who made a sport of his shame at every turn. And then you came along and never once made him feel like the freak everyone at court had long decided that he must be. You are, he thinks, the closest thing to a miracle he’s ever been given.
“Where will you go?” he wonders suddenly aloud, auburn brows pinching low in curiosity. “When Rhaenyra’s army arrives, I mean?”
You shrug, and the thin sleeve of your nightgown slips from your shoulder. “The crypts with everyone else, I expect—”
“What if we left?” he blurts before he can properly weigh the words in his head. His eyes dart wildly across your face, aglow now with a prophecy he can see so vividly in his head. “Daeron has Tessarion. And surely the three of us are not so heavy a burden for a dragon to bear. We could be gone from the city before anyone thought to look for us— and already leagues away before they could try.”
“And do what, exactly?” you wonder with a warm laugh. “Comb my hair by firelight and pray the open road pays half so well as Oldtown? I have a trade here, Gwayne, one that will long outlast this useless war. And one that does not travel well.”
“You wouldn’t need a trade,” Gwayne scoffs. The mattress dips under his weight as he sits up ahead of you, drawing his knees to his chest and resting his forearms across them. His face is very suddenly close to yours now, and very suddenly solemn. “I’d take care of you.”
“So I’d go around being your whore then? Is that it?”
His face screws in a pained sort of look. “You wouldn’t be my whore. You’d be my lady.”
The promise steals the words of a clever response from your mouth. You’ve heard enough of them fall from enough men over the years to fill a maester’s ledger — vows made drunk with sex and unmade sober when it was done; declarations of earnest men who meant well but were misled by their own wanting. You’ve learned the sound of deceit well enough over the years to recognize that this was not one of them.
Gwayne was, perhaps, the first man of any real means to offer you true courtesy that was not only spent with his coin; and you would like nothing more than to return the favor, to be his lady. But you learned long ago, the hard way a girl born into nothing usually learns such things, that some fates are simply not written for women like you.
A strange feeling settles heavy in your chest accordingly. It weighs down the edges of your tender smile as you reach to smooth a piece of silken auburn hair back from his temple, if only to buy yourself half a moment before you answer him.
“I cannot leave,” you mutter gently to him. “The road is not… gentle to women, whatever protection you mean to offer me… What if we were separated? What if you grew bored of me? What if I became a burden to you—?”
“Never,” Gwayne protests, words sharp with hurt.
You meet his frown with a much softer look in return. “Whatever’s coming for this city is no kinder than whatever’s waiting for me out there…”
Gwayne’s face falls. His taut look of offense softens slowly, through a thick swallow in his throat — the kindling hope of the fleeting moment folds in on itself like a flower at last light.
“But I do want you to go, Gwayne,” you whisper, bringing both hands to cradle his flushed cheeks. “You’ve never been happy in this city, not truly, not since I’ve known you. Take the boy and go somewhere it’s safe. You deserve that much, if nothing else."
He shakes his head between your palms, though not quite in protest. “Who will take care of you with me gone, hm?” he asks with a sad sort of grin.
“I take care of me," you answer with narrowed eyes. “I always have. Long before I found you, and long after I expect.”
Gwayne falls quiet for a moment thereafter. It takes him a while to find the words to speak again, and when he does, the words go as distant as his forlorn gaze. “I’m not certain I could manage it regardless… Ormund watches everything— every-one. He always has… He’d know I meant to slip away before I’d so much as breathed a word of it to Daeron…”
Your thumb stills on the warm apple of his cheek. “All you’d need as a distraction,” you shrug. “Something shiny enough… And perhaps close enough to his own doorstep that he’d have no choice but to look at that instead of you…”
Gwayne catches the change in your voice before he catches the true meaning underneath it. His brows lower in a dubious look. “…Do you have something in mind?”
You give him a slow, sly, and devilish smile in response. “Oh, I have a great many things in mind…” you coo to him. “Do try to keep up, my lord…”
The plan comes together slowly after that, whispered low against the pillows with the candles burning down to near nothing. You outline the basics of it, and Gwayne fills the gaps with everything he knows of his cousin — of his habits, his pride, his cruel nature. And though you find yourself almost fond of it, the surest way you can think of to buy Gwayne and his nephew their escape, the man cannot quite stomach the thought.
“Ormund is not the kind of man who plays fair,” he warns you in a whisper. “Even in games he thinks he’s winning, if he so much as suspects—”
“He won’t,” you assure him, tracing a slow finger along the tense edge of his jaw. “I’ve made a trade of reading men like him, Gwayne, and it’s only for one night. You find Daeron, ready the dragon, and leave your cousin to me. Trust me, I have handled far worse men for far less worthy causes.”
“The scouts say they’re a day’s ride out, maybe less,” Ormund says beneath the soft scraping of his boots along the dim passageway. His voice bounces off the walls, where the torches gutter low with the late hour. “Though… Rhaenyra’s army has proven rather slow as of yet, haven’t they? Dragged down by supply, no doubt, and by the unfamiliar country… Much to our advantage, just as I knew it would be.”
Gwayne tenses his jaw, struggling to stomach the older man’s hubris — a thing he has choked down often enough over the years that it should no longer taste of anything at all, though it still has a way of burning going down. There is a small satisfaction in it, though, Gwayne realizes; in knowing something that, for once, his cousin does not. A little victory in knowing that Daeron is saddling Tessarion in the dragon’s stable at this very moment, while Ormund waltzes through this castle, utterly unaware of it.
“Many men will die regardless,” Gwayne reminds him.
“Yes. We will lose men,” Ormund nods on an exhaled breath, then tilts his head to flash the man a feigned look of sincerity — a kind, tight-lipped smile with no warmth in it at all. “Which means you’ve got nothing to worry about, cousin. You were never counted among the men anyway, were you?”
He lifts a ringed hand to pat the younger man on the shoulder, a little harder than necessary, before wrenching open the door ahead of him. Gwayne stands in place and watches him, jaw flexing as he grinds his teeth. He clenches his hands into fists, exhales a slow breath through his nose, and lets the insult pass slowly over him. He watches, instead, as Ormund strolls into his solar and falters a half-step past the threshold.
Ormund’s nose catches it before his eyes do — a strikingly foreign scent hanging in the air, of warm oil and crushed petals, sorely out of place amid the leather and parchment and wet stone. His nostrils flare faintly as his eyes finish the work his nose began. His gaze scans the room until it lands finally on you, arranged on the couch by the hearth like a thing to be painted. The sleeves of your dress threaten to slip from your shoulders as the neckline dips low enough to reveal the canvas of your plush breasts, kissed by the flickering candlelight.
Something in his chest leaps before he can help it, a red-hot flare of gladness at the sight of you lounging so delicately in his own chamber, which was only ever possible in his dreams before now — vividly and more often than he’d like to admit, since the morning he found you at the Honey Inn. He told himself it was only the irritation of you that lingered, the bitter memory of a woman far too bold for her station, though the lie only stuck so much.
He swallows down the boyish excitement rising like bile in his throat, and disgust follows hard on its heels — first at himself and then at the reflexive worry of some guard or handmaiden or septa seeing someone like you waltz into his chambers looking like that. He has spent too long manufacturing his reputation for it to go to waste on some common whore.
“What… is she… doing here?” Ormund spits each word like venom.
“You said it yourself. Rhaenyra’s army will likely make Oldtown before break of day,” Gwayne says lowly as the door clicks shut behind him. “This could very well be the last night either of us has left… And I thought you might want one happy memory before you give yourself to the dust.”
Ormund’s ringed hands twitch into loose fists at his sides. He tilts his chin and swallows hard and finds that it’s near-impossible to break your stare, no matter how plainly he wears the mask of disgust across his face. It takes him a second too long to turn away from you, and to plaster a brittle smile on his mouth when he looks over his shoulder at Gwayne.
“So you’ve brought me your leftovers?” he says with a short, humorless laugh. “How generous of you, cousin.”
“Well, leftovers would imply that I was once his, my lord,” you call from your place on the couch, twisting your pointer finger around the golden tassel of the pillow just beside you. “And I don’t much recall belonging to anyone… It’s bad for business,” you punctuate your quip in a whisper and with a devilish grin.
Ormund gives you a realer smile this time, though it’s quickly swallowed by his usual narrow-eyed look of composure. “Well… You’ve certainly got a mouth on you, don’t you?”
“Hm…” you shrug, and let the sleeve of your gown slip from your shoulder. “So I’ve been told.”
Your glimmering look of amusement stays locked with his pale-eyed stare as he saunters slowly towards you, like a predator to prey — though you look rather pleased to be caught in comparison. So much so that Ormund struggles to tell which of you is the apex now, even as he towers over you lounging form.
“You’re very devout, I hear,” you tell him, tilting your head to your bare shoulder to study the breadth of his frame — his long legs, his ringed hands, his broad chest, his sharp jaw, his cold cold eyes. “The Faith frowns on this sort of thing, doesn’t it?”
Ormund scoffs out a laugh. “Whoring?”
“Idle hands.”
You shift on the plush cushions until you’re on your knees before him, eye level with his scabbard and the silver pomander glinting in the torchlight. You reach for his hands in a smooth, unabashed motion — palms soft against the rough skin of his knuckles as you splay his ringed fingers flat against your ribs, just beneath the swell of your breasts.
His hands go stiff beneath yours, forgetting how to move them for a moment. And though his breath catches at the foreign contact, he does not step back from you, not even when a faint red flush begins to climb up the column of his throat. His mouth parts softly as his pale eyes go lidded, and your smile sharpens at the sight of it.
“You can touch me if you like, my lord,” you tell him, smoothing your hands over his green-leather coat up towards his shoulders. “I promise I don’t bite… Unless you’d prefer that I did.”
Gwayne watches your arms curl around Ormund’s shoulders with his stomach in knots. He feels suddenly very nauseous, watching his brutish cousin rest his undeserving hands where Gwayne has lain his own a thousand times over. Even now, knowing exactly what game you’re playing and why, he wants so desperately to pull you away and take you back to the Honey Inn and drown in your silk sheets forever.
But the gods aren’t that kind, and you are far too stubborn to come with him, so he clears his throat and bids his final goodbye. “Well…” he calls into the quiet, forcing a lightness into his voice as he folds his hands behind his back and moves towards the door. “I guess I’ll leave you to it…”
“Stay,” Ormund commands in a flat voice, without once taking his eyes off yours.
Gwayne freezes mid-step. His eyes widen right before an awkward laugh sputters from his mouth. “What?” he chuckles, forced from a half-strangled throat. “You’ll surely not have much fun with me standing about, cousin—”
Ormund turns finally to face him. A hint of a pleasant smile sits on his mouth, though his eyes carry a much icier glare in comparison. “Stay,” he repeats. “It’s only fair, isn’t it? You’ve been keeping her to yourself all these years, I’ve heard. Now you’ll have your turn to watch. I find I rather like the idea of you learning what that feels like.”
A flicker of anger passes over Gwayne’s face.
Ormund’s smug grin widens. “Do sit, cousin. You’ll want a good view, I expect.”
Gwayne does not move from where he stands but does not close the scant distance between him and his escape either. He has seen what Ormund does to people who do not abide by his every command, and he is less inclined to witness it himself now — or, worst of all, have that cruelty brought upon you.
You watch the exchange with an unreadable expression and file the encounter in the back of your head for later use, should you need it. One hand drags from his shoulder to his neck, coaxing him to look your way again with gentle fingers splayed along his shaven jaw.
“Fond of an audience, are you, my lord?” you murmur to him. “I confess, I wouldn’t have guessed that about you before now.”
Ormund nods, almost pleased. “There’s a great deal about me that you couldn’t possibly guess,” he retorts in a low voice.
“Good thing I’m a quick learner then, isn’t it?”
You urge him further down and tilt your chin to meet him halfway, slotting your lips in a lingering kiss. He’s warm and firm pressed against you, though his tongue tastes of nothing more than mint leaves and well-water when you lick into his mouth; as clean and sterile as all the rest of him. So much so that you think he could probably get drunk on the Dornish wine stained on your tongue alone. And you figure that he must, the way he relaxes against you with a slow breath, planting one hand along the back of the couch to brace himself and urging you backward along with it.
Your lips part with a quiet click. You smile to yourself when Ormund attempts to chase your mouth, nudging the tip of your nose against his broader one. “Let the poor boy go,” you coo softly to him. “I don’t suspect you’ll want an audience for the things I have planned for you, my lord.”
Ormund’s broad chest warms at the promise in your words, but his stubborn will never wavers. “No… I don’t think I will.”
You try not to let your face fall completely as you scramble for another excuse that might set Gwayne free. The auburn-haired man scoffs a faint laugh from across the room. “Cousin, I—”
“You will stay,” Ormund commands. “And learn exactly how it feels to stand apart and watch.”
Something cold and heavy settles in the pit of your stomach at his words — at Gwayne’s previous warning come to life right before your eyes. “He’ll want it now,” he’d told you. “He’ll want it simply because it’s mine.” You hadn’t understood the true weight of his meaning until now, with both you and Gwayne trapped beneath the man’s easily irritable, if not dangerous temper; and watching the promise of freedom slip through your fists like grains of sand.
You replace the distant look of worry on your face with another small smile the moment Ormund turns back to you, and try hard to kiss him back without reservation when he presses his mouth to yours again. There is little restraint in him now — in the tongue he licks between your parted lips, or in the ringed hands that trace the neckline of your dress.
His fingers curl beneath the thin fabric, urging it down down down until your bare breasts are exposed to the firelight and your delicate nipples pebble in the cool air. They’re sensitive within his rough hands as he cups them in his palms. You sigh hard in place of a moan, and feel Ormund grin softly into his kiss at the sound of it. His wet mouth smears across your skin as he trails his kisses from your mouth, to your jaw, and down your neck, before planting them to your left breast.
You sit back on your haunches and cradle the back of his hand, whimpering quietly when his tongue flicks across the sensitive nipple. Your eyes fall to Gwayne’s on instinct, where he remains across the room with his jaw locked tight, his hands balled into fists, and his pale eyes flaming with a withheld rage. He feels every inch of the late hour slipping away from you both — Daeron is still waiting for him at the stables now, and soon it will be too late to flee. And somewhere beneath his fear is a simmering jealousy, as he’s forced to watch his cousin’s undeserving mouth caress your body.
Your eyes dart to the door just beside him; a silent plea for him to leave with Ormund now distracted, as his mouth trails to your right breast. Gwayne answers with a curt shake of his head, to the left and back again. He wouldn’t make it down the hall before Ormund would realize he’d gone, and the both of you would likely suffer far worse for it.
So he suffers the sight before him instead, watches Ormund’s swollen mouth pluck off your breast and kiss the breath from your lungs once more.
He pulls off of you with a rosier grin. “Alright,” he pants. “Undress me.”
And though you’ve undressed many men over the years, your fingers tremble around each clasp of his leather coat for a reason you can’t name. You struggle now to meet his gaze with as much confidence as you had moments ago, as you urge the heavy fabric from his shoulders. His tunic goes next — the lace unknotted and the hem pulled from his trousers. You tug it up and over his head until the golden canvas of his body is revealed to you, toned from years in the training yard and unblemished from years of hiding from battle.
You run your hands down his shaven chest to the sparse at his stomach, a line that leads down into his pants. You unbuckle his scabbard next and then loosen the knot at his trousers, urging the fabric down his scruffy, muscular thighs. He sighs through his nose when his cock meets the cool air of the solar. He’s a few inches shorter than Gwayne, but thicker where it counts, with veins that trail in jagged lines from the base of his cock to the soft pink tip.
“Go on…” Ormund coaxes with a nod. “Kiss it.”
He’s half-stiff and smoother than velvet when you take him in your fist. He twitches harder in your palm when you duck your head to press a languid kiss to the satin head of his cock, right before swirling your tongue under the ridge of it.
Ormund watches you from the bridge of his nose, laughing through a low moan in the back of his throat. “Look at that… She is a good whore,” he hums with a smug smile, as he cradles the crown of your head in his wide hands. “And I didn’t even have to pay her…”
His head swivels in Gwayne’s direction, where he finds the younger man still scowling by the door, mere inches away from his escape. Ormund’s grin only widens at the sight of it.
“Careful now, cousin, or I’ll start to think you’re jealous… She said it herself, didn’t she? She doesn’t belong to anyone. Bad for business… Right, dove?”
You nod with your lips still wrapped around him, suckling the sensitive tip of his cock and using the remnants of your spit to jerk the rest of him in a slow, firm fist. Ormund grumbles a moan in the back of his throat and tips his heavy head back. His toned stomach tightens as a pleasured feeling coils in the pit of it, wound tight by your expert mouth upon him.
He tries to even his wavering breaths in a feeble attempt to make the moment last — if only to make his cousin watch a little while longer — but the wet sounds of your mouth are enough to undo him. And when you reach a hand to squeeze softly at his heavy balls, he nearly bursts entirely.
“Enough—” he hears himself blurt, pulling you off by your hair. Your lips part from him with a smacking sound. The thin string of saliva connecting you to him pulls thin until it clings to your bottom lip. You peer up at him with wide, glassy eyes. His broad chest heaves with every panted breath as he fights to regain his slipping composure.
“Get out of that dress,” he commands breathlessly, lips quirking into a grin. “And get on your hands and knees.”
You feel your heart thrumming hard in your throat when you reach for the sleeves of your dress, having long slipped from your shoulders now. You slide your arms out and roll the remaining fabric down your torso. The silk pools like water at your feet when you rise to take it the rest of the way off. The air feels cool against your flaming skin, and leaves chills pebbling in its wake. When you turn to plant yourself on the couch, just as he commanded, you feel Ormund swat your ass with a less-than-kind hand.
“Facing him,” he scolds in a gentle voice. “Give him a show now, shall we?”
You settle on your hands and knees along the lush cushions, angling yourself to face the door — to face Gwayne. Your bare chest heaves at the sight of him, pretty face etched with an anger you haven’t quite seen from him before. The quiet wretchedness of a man watching a thing he loves be claimed by a hand that’s already taken so much from him, and knowing that he cannot save you from any of it.
You want so badly to tell him that this is only a means to an end — that you do still love him — but you cannot risk Ormund hearing the words aloud and cannot hide the slick of primal excitement going sticky between your thighs.
So for now, you can only hold Gwayne’s wet-eyed gaze, and hope he can read the apology written in yours.
Gwayne cannot seem to look away from it, not even when Ormund settles in just behind you, with one leg bent on the cushion and the other still planted on the floor. Not even when the man presses two long fingers at the entrance of your weeping cunt, and hums in satisfaction when they slide without friction within your sticky walls.
“Mm…” he laughs beneath your whimpering. “You are lovely, you know— wasted on this trade, if I’m honest…” He curls his fingers and feels you clench around them when he pulls them back out again. “Perhaps I’ll wash some of that sin off you tonight… Make you clean… Make you mine… Would you like that?”
He reaches around to press his pointer and middle finger to your bottom lip, still glimmering with your slick. Your mouth parts for him on instinct, and he presses them to the pad of your tongue. You nod wordlessly with his long fingers in your mouth, salty-sweet with your honey, and imagine their Gwayne’s instead.
“You’ll agree with anything I ask, won’t you?” He laughs when you nod and slides his fingers out of your mouth again. “Like I said… Good whore…”
He grabs himself in his fist and presses the head of his cock to your pulsing entrance. He pierces you slowly, and feels your eager cunt spread around him inch by inch. Your airy sigh mixes with his rumbled groan when he buries himself to the hilt, with his hips pressed flush to your ass.
“Are you watching, Gwayne?” he calls proudly to his cousin, smoothing his rough hands along the canvas of your back.
Gwayne’s fingers curl and loosen into fists at his sides as his features flicker with a choked-back rage. “I’d prefer to take my leave now, cousin,” he answers, half-strangled.
“No…” Ormund coos with a sympathetic shake of his head. “Not until she cums, anyway. So… best work quickly, dove.”
He fucks into you a second later with a sort of precision you’d expect from a man like him. His thrusts are shallow and rhythmic and methodical. His balls smack your leaking cunt with every pass, creating a lewd symphony of sex all around you — of skin clapping against skin, of panted breaths entwining. Gwayne figures the sounds of war must’ve been far less cruel than this.
Ormund braces one hand along the back of your neck, like you’re a hound to be forced into submission, while his other slithers around your hip. The pads of his fingers press hard to your clit and a cry falls from your mouth before you can help it, filling the otherwise quiet solar.
“Rather sensitive for a whore, aren’t you?” Ormund chuckles from behind you. “Because you’ve never been fucked by a man before, I’d wager. Isn’t that right, cousin?”
Gwayne’s eyes burn under the weight of his unshed tears. He has faced death a thousand times over in the past few weeks, yet none of it was quite as heart-aching as this. His rage simmers to a boil in his throat, and it feels like fire when he swallows it down again.
Ormund’s thrusts grow sloppy thereafter, led purely by the pursuit of his own pleasure. But his fingers remain merciless on your swollen clit, and a white-hot pleasure begins to swell in the pit of your stomach accordingly. You grit your teeth and clench your fingers hard around the gold arm of the lavish couch in a feeble attempt to fight it — for your own pride, and perhaps for Gwayne’s, too.
“You’re mine now,” you hear Ormund say from just behind you, choppy between his faltering thrusts. “You’ll answer to no one else’s bed but mine. From this night forward. Is that understood?”
You nod wordlessly in response, if only to appease him for the moment, and feel his hand tighten on the back of your neck.
“Say it.”
“…I understand,” you just barely manage to squeak out.
“Then cum for me.”
He presses harder on your clit. Your face twists with a pleasure you can no longer fight away. You squeeze your eyes shut when your gaze falls instinctively to Gwayne’s, and when his pained features make your chest sear with a burning feeling. Your mouth falls open in a silent moan as your cunt gushes around Ormund’s twitching cock. He thrusts into you once, hard, and shudders just against you. His rough groan mixes with the sound of your quiet whimpering as he spits ropes of warm cum into your fluttering pussy, milking him for every drop of it.
“That’s it…” he spits through gritted teeth, fucking you sloppily through the rest of his high. “Take it all— There you go…”
He swats your ass once he’s finally spent himself inside you, gripping hard at the plush skin there and forcing you flush against his scruffy thighs. A satisfied grin sits crooked at his mouth when his lidded gaze falls once more to the man across the room.
“Oh, don’t sulk, cousin,” Ormund calls to him, flushed chest still heaving. “I’ll have another whore sent up for you, if you wish.”
Gwayne flinches instantly at the very thought of it, at being with anyone else but you — at some other woman’s hands being where only yours have been, at having some other stranger’s mouth on him instead of the only one he knows by heart. His features flicker with an involuntary disgust before he can hide it.
“Oh…” Ormund grins wider. “Did you… Did you think you could have this one?”
He punctuates his question by thrusting hard into you once more. You make a pained noise in the back of your throat at your growing sensitivity; head bowed and shoulders heaving as your weeping cunt clenches around his softening cock. Ormund chuckles through another moan at the sensation.
“No. No, no— See, this one’s mine now…” Ormund continues, pale eyes icing over into a glacial sort of look. “And you’d do well to remember it, cousin… Because I’d hate for anyone to come to harm over… so small a misunderstanding, wouldn’t you say?”
Gwayne’s blood runs cold at Ormund’s promise, because he knows his cousin far too well to mistake it for anything less. And he knows now, too, that whatever escape he, Daeron, and Tessarion might’ve made tonight has long since closed in on itself, and will surely not open again while you remain under Ormund’s dangerous, unforgiving hand.
So he will stay. And he will wait for Rhaenyra’s army to march through these gates. And he will make certain that his cousin does not live to see the end of it, so long as it means that Gwayne gets to have you to himself when the ashes finally settle over Oldtown.
Just remembered the scene in ACOMAF where the shadows touch Feyre's shoulders and cheeks in comfort when Azriel carries her to the human realm for the first time since she turned fae. Cannot wait to see how the shadows treat his one true love and mate, who is also the one person they are already canonically obsessed with. I need those shadows to be the amorphous equivalent of the beloved pet trope
A.N: Hi my loves! 🩷 Thank you so so much for your amazing support, you've made me so happy! 🩷 I hope you'll like this one as well, and please let me know what you think🩷 ILYSM, kisses! 🩷
Ps: I'll be out of the country next week, so the next chapter will be on August 16!🩷
Pairing: Robb Stark x F!Reader
Summary: Some news brings chaos.
Word Count: 4k
Warnings: Explicit language, adult themes, suggestive themes, insults, medieval era expectations and viewpoints on marriage and gender. MDNI- Do not read if you're under 18.
Series Masterlist
Sometimes you wondered how the first couple of moons of your marriage would’ve been like if the royal visit hadn’t happened.
Unlike what Robb had claimed before, a lot had changed since then. With Bran’s fall and Lord Stark going to the south with Arya and Sansa, and Lady Stark’s journey to the capital to meet with Lord Stark after an assassin was sent to take Bran’s life which had led to you becoming the lady of the castle, things hadn’t been exactly peaceful.
But life in Winterfell was slowly going back to normal, even with Lord and Lady Stark’s absence. Bran was awake, and though he had been low in spirits before, a surprise visit from the queen’s brother Tyrion Lannister on his way from the Wall had changed that. Thanks to his design of a special saddle, Bran would be able to ride again even though he couldn’t walk, and the craftsmen in the castle had been working for days to make that happen.
Bran was happy, so was Rickon, and so was the whole castle.
…Well.
Almost the whole castle.
“You seem glum.”
You glanced at Jorelle who stepped up to stand next to you on the balcony before you turned your gaze to the yard beneath you. It was busy as usual; servants, maids, stable boys and footmen rushing around, but your attention was at the corner where Robb sparred with Jon and Theon. You could swear he turned to check if you were watching from time to time especially when he delivered a harsh blow or blocked a strike of sword, and whenever he did, you couldn’t stop the smile pulling at your lips despite the storm in your mind.
“I’m just lost in thought,” you muttered and shook your head at the cup Jorelle offered you. “No thank you.”
“It’s regular herbal tea,” she assured you and held up the other cup in her hand. “Chamomile. The same as mine, I made sure of that.”
You bit inside your cheek, then took the cup from her and heaved a sigh.
“Thanks Jo.”
“Of course.”
The sound of clashing swords echoed in the yard as you sipped your tea, then subtly pointed at Robb and Jon who looked like they were having fun while Theon shot arrows at a target.
“How long have they been friends?”
“Hm?”
“Robb and Theon,” you said, “how long have they been friends?”
She shrugged her shoulders.
“Over a decade. Why?”
“He’s been trying to sow seeds of discord between me and Robb,” you said calmly. “Behind my back.”
“You are jesting, surely?”
“He wants Robb to think that I rule over his decisions, somehow,” you said and Jorelle arched a brow.
“I’m guessing we’re pretending you do not?”
You shot her a playful look and she repressed a laugh.
“The worst-kept secret of Winterfell, got it.”
What was it that Silas had told you before? Robb hearing his vassals’ displeasure all day would not make any difference as long as you heard his pleasure at night?
You had a feeling that rule didn’t apply to his best friend.
“Is that why you’re so lost in thought?” she asked. “Because Theon said something to him? It means nothing, he won’t listen.”
“You’ve said it yourself, they’ve been friends over a decade,” you said. “And if Theon is trying to undermine me—”
“He cannot,” she said with a grimace. “Lord Robb is in love with you.”
“And I’m in love with him, but if Margaery said something about him, I wouldn’t dismiss her opinions just because I love Robb.”
“Something tells me your best friend is better at such games than Theon,” she reminded you. “Theon is not smart enough to undermine anyone, let alone you.”
“No, but he thinks he’s smart enough,” you said, drumming your nails on the railing of the balcony. “Tell me about their history.”
She turned around and leaned back to the railing, your attention switching from Robb to her.
“I was a child myself but everyone knows,” she started. “Balon Greyjoy, Theon’s father, he rebelled against the Iron Throne over a decade ago. Considering how close Lord Stark and the king are, of course the Stark army fought for the king and won. Theon’s other brothers were killed, leaving him as the heir, and he was brought here as a...ward.”
You made a noise of disagreement.
“Perce and Brax were sent as wards to Dorne, to my mother’s house,” you pointed out, Jorelle’s head shooting up at the mention of Perceon. “They can go wherever they want whenever they want, and they were basically raised as princes, spoiled beyond words. Which you’ve seen with Perce.”
“My list of insults for him grows each day.”
“Turn it into a book as you said, and we can send it to Dorne with Silas when he comes to visit me the next time.”
“Much appreciated.”
“Of course—my point is,” you added, “Theon is no ward, he’s a political hostage. Him being here makes sure that his father will not rebel again, nothing more.”
“I don’t think Lord Robb would let Lord Stark kill Theon if his father rebelled again.”
“No, but he still provides valuable leverage,” you said. “To keep his father in line.”
“Well, he wants everyone to think he’s a ward.”
“No wonder,” you said. “Does he want to go back to the Iron Islands?”
“He hasn’t been there in so long,” Jorelle said. “But I mean, I would. Wouldn’t you? If you were in his place?”
“I would never be in his place,” you stated. “My family is actually smart, I would’ve been sent somewhere safe with my brothers if my father ever wanted to rebel. You’re supposed to keep the future of your house safe first before you make a move. And power or not, my father always prioritizes me.”
She bit back her grin.
“You know,” she said. “You’ve adapted to the North really well, but it’s times like these your southern demeanor comes out.”
“My southern demeanor?”
“I’ve noticed the same in your brothers too,” she said. “Don’t get me wrong but you’re all very…proud.”
“Oh come on.” A laugh escaped you. “The whole North is very proud.”
“We are,” she admitted, “but not like you.”
“We’re not that bad.” You scrunched up your nose. “I think. I don’t know, I’ve always thought I was the humble one among my brothers.”
“Does humble mean something else in the south?” she asked, drawing a giggle out of you, but you were distracted when someone touched the small of your back, making you look over your shoulder.
“Robb!” you exclaimed. “When did you…?”
“Just now,” he said. “I’m told the Norreys and Burleys are to arrive in an hour. Will you greet them if they arrive earlier? I must take a quick bath, I’ve been sparring for two hours.”
“Of course!” you said. “I’d love to, I’m quite excited to meet them. You go ahead.”
“Thank you,” Robb said and pressed a kiss on your temple before he walked away. You turned to Jorelle and gave her a grin, fixing your hair.
“Very well,” you said. “Let’s go and prepare for our guests.”
You hadn’t met anyone from the mountain clans before, and you could already tell they were not that different than the northerners you had met so far; except they wore ragged skins and studded leathers, carrying great two-handed swords and heavy axes. Their lady wives’ gowns were made of sturdy and warm velvets, embroidered beautifully by themselves if you had to guess, and as jewelry they favored bronze and beads rather than gold and gemstones. You and the rest of your ladies-in-waiting had invited Lady Norrey and Lady Burley to your guest chambers, along with their household of ladies that accompanied them on their trip.
And though you could tell Lady Norrey and Lady Burley didn’t exactly get along well like their husbands, they didn’t make it obvious.
“The road wasn’t too troublesome, I hope?”
Lady Norrey eyed Lady Burley before she turned to you.
“No, my lady,” she said. “It was not.”
“And for you, Lady Burley?”
“Though I questioned many times whether I should’ve stayed back, it went without any issues.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” you said. “I’ve never been to the mountains, I’m told it’s very beautiful there.”
“You must visit when Lord Robb comes,” Lady Norrey said and Lady Burley nodded.
“We’ll host you well, my lady.”
“Oh I’ve heard all about your generosity with your guests!” you told them. “Robb always says the mountain clans cannot be defeated in war or in hospitality.”
Your effortless compliment made both of them smile.
“And I must admit, I am still getting used to northern customs,” you added. “It’s rather different than what I grew up with, but I hope you’ll like these tokens of welcome that we’ve prepared for you.”
You motioned at the footmen by the door and four servants entered the room, carrying two chests.
“My lady.” Lady Burley gasped. “There was no need for this.”
“I will ask you one thousand questions, it’s the least I could do to remedy that,” you jested while the servants put the chests in front of them, then opened the chests to reveal the fur cloaks.
“Oh…” Lady Norrey said, staring the crest of her house embroidered on velvet inside. “Such beautiful work.”
“I’m glad you like it,” you said. “I’ve embroidered it myself.”
Lady Burley ran her fingertips on the embroidered crest in her own wooden chest. “You’ve made this?”
You nodded while Lady Norrey grabbed the cloak and let out a breath, then reached into the chest to pull out a small wooden horse.
“And what is this?”
“Oh, I—” You cleared your throat while Lady Burley inspected the wooden cat in her hand. “I’m not sure if you’ve been told yet, it’s very possible you have not. Robb has mentioned that when the winter comes, many mothers and children come to Wintertown to survive. And I’m…” You licked your lips. “I am told most of the time, the men stay behind.”
Lady Norrey heaved a sigh. “That’s true.”
“We must all make hard choices,” Lady Burley said, “before winter makes it for us.”
“It breaks my heart to hear it,” you told them, “and while I cannot fix winter or make it gentle, I shared a suggestion with Robb, and he was kind enough to accept it. It’s a small gesture, but I’ve found even the smallest acts can ease one’s pain. I’ve asked our carpenters to make toys for the children who’ll come to Wintertown with their mothers, and I wanted to get your opinion on the quality of them.”
“You’ll do this…” Lady Burley said, confusion laced in her tone, “for our people?”
“It sounds rather southern, I understand,” you said. “However, I’d like to make things easier for the women who’ll come here, in any way that I can. Me and Robb wed only moons ago so I’m not a mother myself, but I’m told the happiness of their children is of utmost importance to mothers.”
They exchanged glances, their sharp caution from before softening into a look of gentle compassion.
“You have a kind heart, my lady,” Lady Norrey spoke first. “I’m certain my people will appreciate your gifts.”
“So will mine,” Lady Burley said. “And so do I. Thank you.”
You beamed at them, pride filling your chest.
“Of course!” you said. “It makes me very happy to hear that. Now, would you like me to show you your bedchambers so that you can rest before lunch?”
Well, that meeting had gone well.
You knew it was rather early to make assumptions, but you had a feeling you managed to earn the favor of Lady Norrey and Lady Burley. Seeing that Robb’s own meeting with their husbands lasted hours, it was quite clear that his attempts in securing truce went slower than yours, but eventually your maid Kyra let you know that he had left his solar and gone to the yard, so you decided to give him the news of your success without wasting any time.
“Hello Maester Luwin,” you greeted the old man as you walked past him in the hall, and he bowed.
“My lady,” he said. “Are you going to the yard?”
“I am. To see Robb.”
“Wonderful,” he said and handed you a scroll. “A raven has arrived from the capital. Would you give this to him?”
“Absolutely,” you said and made your way down the hall, then stepped out to the yard to see Robb talking to Theon. You rolled your eyes and heaved a sigh, then approached them.
“And I’m still not convinced they won’t kill each other once we all go to sleep—hey,” Robb’s voice went softer the minute he saw you, and Theon pursed his lips, kicking at a rock with the tip of his boot. “How was it?”
“Good,” you said. “Very good actually. Yours wasn’t very peaceful, I’m guessing?”
“That’s one way to put it,” Robb murmured and you let out a small laugh.
“Here.” You handed him the scroll. “From the capital.”
Robb broke the seal to take a look, but when his eyes darted over the lines, his frown deepened by the second. A silence fell upon him, and you had to force yourself not to take a peek at the scroll he was holding, though from his expression you could tell it wasn’t good news. Fear churned your stomach, making you gulp.
“What’s happened?”
“My mother took Tyrion Lannister hostage and took him to Eyrie to answer for his family’s crimes,” he said. “And because of that, my father had a fight with Jaime Lannister.”
Your breath hitched in your throat. “What?”
“A fight?” Theon repeated. “What fight?”
“Jaime Lannister ambushed him and killed many of his men, and…” Robb said, his voice a murmur while he stared at the scroll. “Wounded him in the leg, it says.”
“Are the—are the girls alright?”
“They’re fine,” Robb told you, “they weren’t with him.”
“Jaime Lannister dared ambush Lord Stark?” Theon asked. “You must retaliate at once!”
Your head snapped up.
“Robb, no,” you said. “No, you must be cautious—”
“You must call the banners,” Theon told him and you shook your head fervently.
“You declare war against the throne if you call the banners!” you said. “An army going to the King’s Landing will be seen as an act of rebellion, no matter the cause—”
“The king’s brother-in-law attacked the Lord of Winterfell!”
“A fight breaks the king’s peace, nothing more,” you insisted. “Lord Stark and the king are close as brothers, Sansa is betrothed to Prince Joffrey; if there’s disrespect, it will be paid, but not with war.”
“Jon doesn’t know about this, I need to find him,” Robb murmured before he walked away from you both to enter the keep, and Theon exhaled through his nose, then turned to you.
“You want to turn him into some southern milksop, don’t you?” he asked, making you raise your brows.
“I beg your pardon?”
“You’ve heard me,” he said. “He must call the banners. I know you southerners cower from war, but he’s the future Warden of the North, not some Reach knight who rushes to entertain your whims like you’re used to.”
Anger crashed down on you so fast that for a moment you couldn’t even think straight while you gawked at him in disbelief.
How dare he?
How dare he talked to you like this?
You had to remember that you were in public, and although no one was actively listening just yet, they surely would start paying attention if you raised your voice or let your fury show on your face. This was not a good time; not when you had been trying so hard to prove yourself as the future Lady of Winterfell for everyone to see. You had to remain calm no matter how much you wanted to snap at him—or better yet, order a couple of footmen to drag him out of the yard and kick him out.
“I would worry less about my whims and more about his,” you managed to say. “You ought to be careful, Theon. Your presence here depends entirely on his wishes.”
You walked past him to go into the keep, but stopped dead in your tracks when he spoke.
“So does yours.”
…Alright then.
You turned around, your mouth stretching into an unhinged grin as your brows shot up, and you kept your gaze on him in complete silence.
“So does yours,” he repeated as if he wanted to emphasize his point, then pointed at the keep. “He’s my brother. You’re just his wife, nothing more. He’s not the first to be beguiled by a…”
There had to be something in his mind that warned him against voicing the rest of that sentence judging by how he stopped himself, but it seemed he decided to ignore it.
“By a southern harlot with tricks,” he spat. “But he’ll get bored, all men do. Your power will fade alongside his desire, sooner than late.”
The familiar insecurity tightened your throat but you were too trained to let the mask of amused nonchalance slip.
“Is that why he dragged you out of the Great Hall upon hearing of your disrespect merely a day after he met me?” you asked. “Is that why he keeps insisting that it’s my castle, my house, my family? Because from where I’m standing—and where I’m standing is way above your own standing—it doesn’t seem like his desire for me will fade.”
“For now,” he said through his teeth. “Husbands grow tired of their wives fast, and they cast them aside once the thrill is gone. The whole realm knows it.”
The whole realm indeed knew it, and so did you.
You knew that. Even the thought broke your heart, but history was full of women who were pushed aside by their husbands; whether they were queens or princesses or ladies, it never mattered. Those women may have held their titles, yet the mistress or the paramour or the mother of their husband’s bastard children came first in all but name.
But only a fool showed fear in front of their enemy.
“I’m not going to be cast aside,” you stated, your voice calm unlike his. “And I recognize that you’re too daft to come to any conclusions upon reflection, so it appears I must tell you outright. Nothing bad is going to happen to me, Theon. Ever. Robb’s love for me won’t fade, and even if it did, if one day I woke up and saw he holds love for me no longer, what do you think will happen? Do you assume I would just stay here and be miserable? Be disrespected and replaced, like you hope?”
“You are his wife,” he reminded you. “You’ll stay regardless of what he does, unless he sends you away.”
You scoffed a laugh.
“Funny how you think a couple words said in front of a tree could hold power over my wellbeing,” you said. “I’ll tell you what would happen if Robb disrespected me in any way. I’d write to my father who loves me, or my brother who would kill the entire realm for me.” You counted with your fingers. “Or my other brother who remains one of the wealthiest men in the Free Cities, or the other one who all but rules the Citadel, or the other two who live in my lady mother’s house in Dorne like princes. My only issue would be choosing where I’d spend the rest of my life adored and in luxury. I won’t be disrespected and I won’t stay where I don’t want to, you know why? Because my family made sure of that.”
Perhaps Jorelle had a point earlier today; you could be rather proud.
And it wasn’t just her, to be completely honest. Silas used to give you a similar criticism in the gentlest manner, saying that you were still that same spoiled girl though you swore up and down that you were not.
“Disputes, I am alright with,” he used to say. “Dispute with whoever you want, but when it comes to insults, my dearest sister, there must be a line. You must know when to stop twisting the knife.”
Silas was right as always; there had to be a line that you did not cross; not necessarily for the other person, but for your own wellbeing as well. No one could foresee every strategy the other had, and while people could overlook disputes and slights, they did not let go of the hurt or fear you caused.
You had seen it firsthand. Elinor had been your enemy ever since that argument at the dinner table, she never let go. She had turned your brother against you enough for both Silas and Margaery to perceive the threat she held for your future once your father would pass away, and while Elinor herself hadn’t seen you as a threat earlier, that had all changed when you told her you would make Robb take away Alton’s title and give it to another one of your brothers, awakening fear in her too early. Lady Olenna had told you many times that while you could hold be powerful, the enemy didn’t need to see all your weapons before you delivered the deadly blow, but that had escaped your mind, you had shown Elinor how much of a danger you could pose, and in return she had come up with the idea of moon tea to make sure Robb’s love for you would fade.
So, the wise thing was to control your anger and walk away now.
And yet…
Yet, you could not.
You could not, not when he said Robb would grow bored of you, not when he had told you that you could be replaced with someone else; the two things that you had been told not to allow over and over again, the cautionary tale many women in the realm had to go through.
It was an open wound that Robb had been carefully stitching together since you met, but Theon had the audacity to come near it with a knife.
So now you got to drive that same knife into his heart and twist it.
“Oh, I forgot,” you added, hissing in a breath. “You wouldn’t know anything about that.”
His head flinched back as if you slapped him, but managed to pull himself together.
“I’m the heir to—”
“You’re a discarded heir to a failed house with a failed attempt of a rebellion,” you brushed him off. “No longer a threat but an afterthought to the realm. It could’ve been amusing if it weren’t so pitiful.”
If there was one lesson that your enmity with Elinor taught you, it was that family hurt people the most.
You had known it for a while now. Even with years of training to polish your insults to make them subtle and pretty, just like a plant that bloomed only poisonous flowers, the root was still there in your mind. Status and wealth could change, beauty could change, fortune could change, but the one thing that no one could change was their family.
The weak spot in everyone’s armor, as you had accidentally found out when you were one and ten.
“It’s not my fault your father handed you to Lord Stark like a dog,” you said, your voice silky. “My lord father loves me more than that. That’s why I came here to be the future lady of the north while you were brought here to be a political hostage, who in time got too comfortable to see the bars of his own cage.”
Theon’s jaw clenched as he glared daggers at you, and you gave him a bright smile.
“But don’t worry,” you said. “I’ll make sure you see them just fine, sooner than late.”
You whirled on your heels, walked away from him to cross the yard, then entered the keep, fury still pulsing in your temples.
just had a conversation with @summercitrus about gwayne's implied queer alligations and i just want to say a couple of things.
coming from a queer woman myself, i'm sick and tired of people thinking that one person can only be gay or straight. bisexual people pansexual, people, ect. DO EXIST, so why gwayne can't simply be one?!?!
another thing. the fact that people are getting MAD and are harrassing female creators for posting x fem reader fics is frying me like are you guys OKAY !??! nothing was confirmed and at the end of the day he's still a fictional character like.. 😭😭😭😭
that being said picture gwayne as whoever you want straight, gay, bi, pan, alpha, omega ... BUT SHOW SOME RESPECT FOR PEOPLE WHO DON'T AGREE WITH YOU AND FOR CREATORS WHO HAVE DONE NOTHING WRONG BESIDES PUBLISHING FICS.
psa: if people put even the slightest bit of energy they put into this to solve world's problems instead the world would be a better place
I HAVE ANOTHER THOUGHT WHAT IF READER HAS A DRAGON?!?!?!
like we know Ormund doesn’t like the dragons from the scene with Daeron but if reader has a dragon and said dragon is also really overprotective over reader and whenever Ormund is around growls and is about to pounce on him
Esp if reader wants to take the children flying with her and Gwayne is like yeah go for it and Ormund looks like he’s about to explode lol 😂😂
this just adds another layer of complexity !!
ormund hates dragons. canon. now imagine the dragon constantly being moody and growling around him but not around gwayne. rip. he would hate the dragon even more.
and when r takes the kids flying, he nearly gets a heart attack and gets the poor beast executed. he endlessly goes on about her being foolish and should not having let HIS children go near that beast let alone fly on it, not without asking permission from him first anyway. and she’s like ‘well, i asked gwayne… they are his kids by law.’ ormund nearly strangles her, like… metaphorically but also physically. this is a toxic relationship ok? (situationship but with kids 😭)
also he would FORBID dragon eggs from being set into their cradles. oldtown policy. he does not care about reader or gwayne or anyone’s opinion.
still hilarious how rhysand said any human that want protection can come to velaris and get it as if the city is known to public. like how will humans even enter night court, crossing all the other courts first and alive??????? and feyre😭 fucking praises that😭 bc he’s kind, girly u dumb
i swear this was a scene for tamlin and sjm changed it to rhysand bc no way she didnt see how stupid it was
wait if gwayne is gay (either it's an insult as befitting of ormund, or he's just queer) wouldn't it make it all the more ridiculous for alicent disliking rhaenyra because she couldn't create heirs with laenor who we know is canonly gay?? i'm not even a team black, or team green, but ryan and sara doing some bullshiiii 😭
I'm really confused by the whole Gwayne being gay theory. Wasn't he supposed to end up with Rhaena a week ago?
It would make sense now since apparently Ormund doesn't have any children in the show, because it was said that Gwayne was second in line, and Rhaena did end up with Ormund's son in the book.
It could be just Ormund trying to tease Gwayne, or maybe he is just bi; idk, let me know what you think.
i, personally, think it’s pretty cool to headcanon gwayne as bisexual and write fem oc/reader insert fics about him.
sexuality is a veryyyy large spectrum and it’s not like he was given a specific label by the writers or freddie fox himself; they only spoke of his chemistry with criston cole and how it could be interpreted as romantic.
it’s also cool to headcanon him as gay. if you disagree with people who headcanon him as bisexual, that’s fine but there’s no need to go around and insult people and the works they enjoy reading and/or writing. the block button exists for a reason; use it and save everyone from unnecessary negativity.
mother of fuck so Elliot Page isn't even playing Achilles in the Odyssey movie but a character from the Aeneid who's not in the original poems?
I mean not that Achilles has any business being in the Odyssey either on account of being dead but come on Achilles played by a trans dude would have actually been really cool considering the backstory, who tf asked to include fucking Sinon
edit: forgot about Achilles being in the underworld scene in the Odyssey, I was thinking of the Troy part of the movie
Homer's Odysseus: Ok, I stopped on another island and I'm gonna be praying to the gods while being aided by them on my journey
Nolan's Odysseus: Uhhh, yeah I'm gonna get home and not even the gods will stop even though that's the opposite point of the story, uhhh oh hey look at my shitty brown armour!
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