ROSE / THORNS

You think I’m not a goddess? Try me. This is a torch song. Touch me and you’ll burn.

[riverquccn]

stvrmbringers :

leona  → nesta

She hadn’t seen Nesta in days, usually the woman was happier away from the group of annoying people around them. But the woman was usually easily found by Leona. Walking towards her chambers she knocked hard on the door, ignoring the guards who tried to tell her she’d asked to be left alone. “My dear Nesta if you do not open this door I may tear it down!” @riverquccn

NESTA had always appreciated the company of lady lannister. a woman with a mind to rival her own and who didn’t mind nesta’s often harsh demeanour was refreshing. she had always considered the woman a good friend, but that was at another time. everything had changed now and the wrong words in the wrong hands could be disastrous. as if her life wasn’t already on the verge of destruction. nesta wanted to trust leona though, and she needed to speak to someone who had a chance of understanding. she raised herself up and glanced at herself in the mirror, giving a halfhearted attempt to fix her unkempt hair before nodding to the guard at her door. 

[kalliaswaynwood]

Apart from Cassian, Kallias had had very little contact with any other member of Helena’s family. He knew of Nesta, but the two of them had never really interacted, and given how much Cassian seemed to loathe him now, he didn’t think he would be too happy to know he had been talking to his wife. Nevertheless, Kallias saw her sitting alone and thought at the very least he should see if she was happy to be alone or if she needed someone to vent to. “Lady Tully.” He said by way of greeting. “How are you?”

@riverquccn

[riverquccn]

NESTA had heard of the man who’s returned from the dead, the man who’d once been betrothed to her good sister. she’d heard plenty about kallias waynwood, but never had the opportunity to for a judgement. “lord waynwood.” she answered easily. “i am quite well thank you, and yourself?”

[riverquccn]

edmuregrell :

The two Tully boys were playing near the water, Edmure was watching them. One day he’d have to have children and that wasn’t something he wanted, or was ready for. But it was truly expected of him. Smiling at the two boys for a moment he looked up to find Nesta Tully sitting there. “They seem to be enjoying themselves my lady. It’s nice to see in these times I’m sure.” @riverquccn

NESTA watched her children play through sad eyes. they seemed so happy, so innocent and totally unaware of all the trouble brewing around them, the growing storm in which they were the centre. it dawned on her in that moment that she would, perhaps, give her life to shield them from that. “it is, lord grell.” she said, the polite smile on her face a significant effort. 

[riverquccn]

achingblvsh :

there was a part of her that couldn’t help but feel jealousy. arianne certainly had a certain freedom that was denied to nesta, but nesta had a family. she had children, people to truly share hr life with, while arianne herself would never have that. she couldn’t have children with someone she loved, and the only one she did love had yet to so much as commit to her. still, that didn’t stop her from being happy for an old friend. “oh, much the same, really. i travelled some more, spent lots of time visiting taverns in dorne. i think the most exciting thing i did was get to see the top of the wall, though. beautiful sight, you wouldn’t believe how deep the drop is. any man who slipped off would never be heard from again.” it was probably one of her favurite adventures. “but what of you, nesta? how is that husband and darling children of yours?”

THERE was a dreaminess that was totally ucharacteristic to nesta that came over her when she spoke to the dornish princess. the woman’s life, her journeys seemed to nesta more like a tale told to children than real life. while she adored her own life, her children, her husband, her power, she had always wondered what it would be like to be arianne. “i can only imagine.” she said thoughtfully, trying to imagine what it must feel like to know you were standing at the edge of the world. “as well as can be imagined. i don’t think any of them have truly adjusted to king’s landing. the boys miss their home and they tell me that every day.”

[riverquccn]

helena-tully :

Helena jumped when she heard Nesta’s voice. She had only left Kallias a few moments ago, something she was sure her brother would find interesting. She knew Nesta was loyal to him and she couldn’t risk her plan being thrown off so quickly. She still needed time. “Good morning, Nesta,” she said, thankful they had been in her rooms all night so she at least had a fresh dress on this morning. At the mention of her nephew she couldn’t help but smile, gut twisting at what her actions might due to them. “I will have to come and see him later. It has been far too long.”

"IT HAS indeed." nesta responded with a knowing smile. she'd heard the rumours, that the man helena had been supposed to marry had returned from the dead. that they'd been spotted together all around the keep. she knew that cass didn't approve but there was a part of nesta that noted how helena was practically glowing, happier than she'd been in any of her own memories and was glad for her. "he would like that. you know the two of them dote on you." helena had almost been more of a mother to her boys than nesta had been herself. she had a confidence with the children that nesta had never quite been able to find for herself, even with all of cassian's help.

[riverquccn]

edriclangward :

He snapped the book closed and stood up to move out of her way. It never occurred to him that he could simply stay put where he was and she would have to find some other route. It just wasn’t in Edric to be rude to someone, even if they so clearly were irritated by him. “Apologies my lady, I didn’t mean to block you.”

"I’M SURE you didn't." nesta responded in a voice that could have been interpreted as kind if it had lacked the bitterness ever present in nesta's voice. "and yet, here you are continuing to block my way." she said irritably.

[tywvin-archive]

[riverquccn]

rivcrruns :

his blood runs cold. then hot, then cold again. the words are stuck on a loop inside his head. there was another man. after bryn was born. it doesn’t take long for the images to give way to something horrible and ugly and black and all consuming. his wife, his nesta. the light of his life, partner by his side, his ruling lady, the mother of his children — in the bare embrace grips of another man. ( it descends further too, not stopping despite his mind’s cries for freedom of such images: did she make the same sounds when she was with him? the same expressions and noises? did this… man touch her the way he touched her? loved and worshiped and took her, all through the night like he was prone too? did she… did she love this… thing… this creature she had taken into her bed… more than she loved him? )

for a long moment, cassian says nothing. his gaze stays on nesta, eyes locked on her own. he tries to find something he loves in those eyes, something of the woman he saw all those years ago in oldtown, tried to remember how taken he’d been with her from the moment they met, how he saw someone so like himself in her. clearly he was wrong, if she could go forth and do this. slowly, his hand slips out from her own and cassian stands, taking one sleeping one in his arms — and the other into the crook of his elbow. “i cannot…. have this argument… with them here.” he mutters, dark and chaotic and livid and disgusted — all emotions that weren’t unfamiliar to cassian, but certainly the first time his wife had ever been on the receiving end of. he leaves the room — setting his boys down some rooms away on his sister’s bed, having one of the handmaids watch over them to ensure they slept peacefully, to ask that she not be alarmed if she heard yelling a few rooms over, all was quite in fact — fine. 

gently, he closed the door behind him, exhaled once, before turning to face nesta once more. “what in seven fucking kingdoms do you mean…” his voice was cold — but loud. louder than might have ever been cassian before. his face began to crumble the longer he stared at her: eyes flooding slight with tears. “…that there was another man.”

NESTA swallowed hard, her heart slamming into her chest, every single stupid, thoughtless action running through her mind. everything she had wanted, everything she had spent years fighting for lost to some childish whim. she watched as he turned away from her, taking her children with him, drinking in the image of them together as if it was the last time she’d ever seen them. if she knew cassian, it very well might have been. she tried to keep her breath steady as she waited for his return, even as her mind raced, running through what was about to happen over and over again, clinging to what goodness still remained to her even with the certainty she was at the edge of losing it all.

some part of her thought to beg. get on her knees and weep her apologies to him, but nesta had never been that woman. even now, in her darkest, most shame-filled moment her pride rallied. she could have told him how scared she was after giving birth, how the responsibility of having a life put in her hands shook her deeper than anything ever had and how when he’d left her alone, just for a few days, doubt had crept in and sent her spiraling. in a moment of weakness she’d panicked and wondered if she’d thrown her life away, and it had been him, his love for her, that brought her back. she had been skating through her marriage, her life, until something had snapped into place too late. “i don’t know what you want me to say.” she snapped, more bitterness in her tone then she had any right to. “do you want all the sordid details? it happened and i ended it and i...” nesta’s voice broke suddenly as she met his eyes again. “whatever you want to say to me, i’ve already said to myself a thousand times over.” she finished quietly, her voice weaker than she’d ever heard it before.

[edriclangward]

Being outside was the only way Edric could survive in this place. Having spent almost his entire life growing up on farmland, being outdoors was as natural as breathing to him, and his only respite from the keep was its gardens. The fresh air alone helped him to breathe as he pored over one of the books he’d brought with him from Langward. His late father had taught him the best he could despite his illness, but now Edric was on his own in trying to learn all the requirements of a ruling lord. The sound of footsteps made him look up from his studies, and he immediately assumed he had done something wrong. “Sorry, am I in your way?”

[riverquccn]

THE SCOWL sat easily on nesta’s lips. she was not a friendly woman at the best of times and with each passing day her frustration, her fear, grew, leaving the tully lady in a foul mood. “no, i’m simply standing here because i’m intrigued by your reading habits.” nesta shot back, sarcasm dripping from her voice. “clearly.” she finished with a roll of her eyes.”

[riverquccn]

NESTA would never dare admit it out loud, but she had often thought that if she’d had a sister, she would have liked her to be something like helena. the girl was more than just kind, she was surprisingly clever and that iron will of hers, she could sense some of herself in her. if she cared to look. somewhere deep down, nesta hoped desperately that what she had done, the way she’d betrayed cassian, wouldn’t affect whatever scrap of friendship she had with his sisters. “helena,” she said by way of greeting. “i’ve been looking for you. brynden was crying all morning because he misses you so much. i’ve only just managed to get him to go to sleep.”

@helena-tully

[riverquccn]

edwynbrackcn :

Edwyn had crouched down, carefully pulling together the debris from his outburst. He carefully handled contents, embarrassment clicking into place. Ed had never been a tempermental person, even when his brothers went in on him, so the situation wasn’t something he’d let go from himself easily. At her gratitude, he turned back to her and simply nodded. He didn’t think there was anything he could really say, and she wasn’t clearly keen on talking to him. The mistakes made were not her own, he held as much blame. He could have been more careful, with his manhood and his heart. He recognized that. “I’m sorry for putting you in this position,” he mumbled before returning to lift the table and fix the only thing he had any control over. “Just keep your husband away from me.”

SHE WATCHED quietly as he bent down to clean the mess he’d made in his outburst, the familiar look of disdain returning to her pale eyes. as if she would ever let a man like that near her child, she thought to herself, easier to supply herself with endless excuses justifying her behaviour than to think about the damage she might have caused. “i will.” it was in her own best interests just as much as it was in his to keep her husband and her former lover away from each other. “just keep your word.” she finished firmly, her words a final warning echoing through the little room he’d dragged her into.

[riverquccn]

pxppybaratheon :

“Men will try to fix their problems by aligning themselves with my house through marriage regardless of my opinion. If they believe it to be helpful, then so be it. Most are quick to forget that every strong man throughout our history has a stronger woman beside him.” That was what she’d been raised to become - a strong companion or a woman who pulled at the strings of a weaker man.

“WISE words.” nesta mused, quirking an eyebrow at the younger woman. the baratheon certainly was proving herself to be more than she appeared to be. it was refreshing as well, to speak to a women who craved more than to be the pretty face beside a powerful man. “there is no better feeling than reminding a man of such history though.” she continued on with a low laugh.

[riverquccn]

rivcrruns :

there was pure and utter contentment about his frame, in that moment — something not always easily attainable, given what had become of their lives and the allegations against their house. but in that moment, with one arm around his wife, the other his eldest son as he slowly drifted off into slumber, his youngest feet pressing softly against him: he had it. ( it was everything he was fighting for, selling his ass to protect. to ensure his two boys had everything they deserved, everything that was their birth right — was owed to them as both tullys and hightowers. his sons wouldn’t be like him and his brother, no. no there would be disappointment or rivalry found — only family, duty and honor. )

“hmm?” roused, his eyes glanced away from the top of bryn’s head, instead glancing back to nesta. the easy content look on his face grew somber and serious, the whisper and break in her voice shooting pangs of worry through him. ( her tone suggested the opposite of what he hoped — not another child to join their family, a little girl with her mother’s eyes and father’s nose, the perfect blend of them both, bridging the gap between their two sons. no. it couldn’t have been. could it? ) “what is it? is —” he hesitated, frowning slightly and arms tightening around both her and their sons. “ — is everything alright?”

NESTA’S eyes searched his. she’d never found anything but love in those deep brown eyes of his. savoured the feel of his adoring gaze on her, the feel of his skin pressed against her own. the knowledge that what she’d done, the choices she had made -the things she was about to confess- could rip all that away from her sending a shiver through her body.  she didn’t know if she could do it, that instinct for survival, the one that had pushed her to lie and scheme in order to climb her way to the top was screaming at her to keep her mouth shut. the shreds of her maternal affection tugged at her heart too, fear for the child who could lose a father to her selfishness begged her to keep quiet. and yet-

she reached for his hand, lacing her fingers through his, wanting to touch him one last time before this secret she’d kept tore them apart. she knew it would, years of marriage made her certain of it. she knew what she had done would mean to him, but that was the exact reason she couldn’t hide it any longer. “cass,” she began, surprised to hear her voice strangled and thick. “there was another man... after bryn was born.”

[dailygotgirls]

[riverquccn]

ladyfreyah :

        IT WAS A SHAME THAT house tully was suspect on such baseless grounds. would the crown have been suspected had one of their servants found lord arryn?          “ of course, everyone here is happy to gossip. ”          as annoying as it was to listen to, the it did make her job easier; she didn’t have to search as much for information when people were so willing to give it for free.          “ rumors about the original suspects fill up most of the conversations, but i’ve heard some mention that house greyjoy might also be a suspect. everyone know how the ironborn like to kill and how they dislike the crown. ”

“I IMAGINE those rumors have as much foundation as the ones about us do.” nesta muttered. she was all too familiar with the way gossip was traded among the nobles, the way they thrived on spreading lies and rumors. “either way, if accusations against the ironborn take the attention away from cass and i, i’m glad to hear it.” in another life perhaps, nesta would sympathise with the greyjoys, but not in this one, such things would never get her ahead in this life.

[riverquccn]

“there is one good thing to come out of being stuck in this hell hole.” arianne announced as she walked into the room, a platter of cheese in one hand and a jug of wine held in the other as she approached. she had always admired nesta, albeit from afar more often that not. though when they met as arianne was passing through the riverlands, she had admired her spirit, her fire. it had reminded her all too much of herself and she’d always preferred to be in the company of like minded people. taking a seat beside the lady, she set down the platter and jug on the table. “it gives us the chance to reacquaint with each other. it’s been, what? three years perhaps?” ( @riverquccn )

"THAT sounds about right.” nesta agreed, a faint smile tugging at her lips. she had not been married long when she’d last came across arianne. she’d just fallen pregnant with her first child when the woman had passed through the riverlands and so her attention had been elsewhere at the time, she’d never had the opportunity to get to know the woman as well as she would have liked. she had enjoyed arianne’s company while she’d had it however, and she’d hung on every word of her stories about dorne. a place where women were treated as men’s equals with no issues raised, it had sounded like a utopia to her at the time when the opportunity to rule her homeland was becoming more and more of a distant dream. “certainly too long by any means. how have you been since we spoke last?”

[riverquccn]

        “ COUSIN, I’M SO RELIEVED THAT you are your family are safe. i hope you are taking extra precautions to ensure your safety. ”          despite the bad blood that existed between them, nikolai wished no harm upon his cousin or any of her family. he wasn’t sure if the feeling was mutual, nesta had always been difficult to read, but it didn’t matter. if a feud over oldtown was enough for her to wish him harm or worse then it spoke to her character not his.

@riverquccn

NIKOLAI was the last person nesta wished to see at that moment. after everything that had happened the last few days, she felt as though she was coming to an end of the patience she had playing her games, wearing her smiles, speaking pretty words and giving out soft smiles. irritation hummed across every inch of her. “nikolai.” she said, hard at work to keep her tone pleasant. “of course i am. i hope you and your siblings weren’t harmed either?” she already knew of course, if one of her cousins had been harmed everyone would know, but if she wanted to keep up pretenses, appear to be cordial with her cousins she had to at least act concerned.