#setting; westeros

[anothercrowbastard]

@bratheon asked

◈

◈ for a first kiss between our muses

It happens while they ware riding outside the grounds of the estate, which in hindsight could have been a bad decision. Lyonel, of course, has many enemies, it is one of the reasons why Esha had been brought in as the Storm Lord's personal blade. Well, that and a few other reasons. His father's jealousy that his new young mistress was fonder of the far younger man most certainly was the catalist.

But in his time here at Storm's End, Esha's found himself growing closer to the Baratheon than he ever intended. He's never stepped further than his station has allowed, but he has certainly been at Lyonel's beck and call far more than a personal guard is required. Nights when the Lord is troubled and sleep doesn't find him, Esha more often than not finds himself in Lyonel's chambers playing chess or discussing literature. Sometimes quietly sitting by his side, without a word, so that the Lord is not alone in drunken melancholy.

It is quiet nights like those that has Esha realizing just how devoted to his Lord he has become. So devoted, that when an attempt is made on the Storm Lord's life, Esha isn't quite prepared for the shock and despair it causes him. An arrow in Lyonel's shoulder as they ride the countryside.

Esha's distress is brief as he spots the culprit, pulling his bow from behind his back, as well as an arrow from the quiver to let it loose in a swift motion, catching the would-be assassin in the chest. Lyonel falls from his horse just as Esha dismounts from his and rushes over to his Lord's side, diving into the mud and cradling the older man in his arms.

"My Lord..." Esha says softly, voice slightly trembling as he inspects the arrow still lodged in the thick leathers of Lyonel's riding jacket. Fortunately, it looks like it was mostly stopped by the jacket, only the tip piercing a bit into the skin, a superficial wound at best. Esha let's out a relieved sigh, tossing the arrow aside and ripping off a bit of tunic to press against the wound to stop it bleeding.

His relief at Lyonel's wellbeing is almost overwhelming for a moment, and in that moment Esha allows himself a weakness he's been holding back on for quite some time.

Gently, ever so softly, he presses a tender kiss to Lyonel's forehead, then his temple, then his cheek, and finally... a daring kiss is pressed to Lyonel's lips, brief and tentative, before he pulls back with a flush on his cheeks, just enough to speak.

"I have you, my Lord Baratheon..."

[anothercrowbastard]

Verse: A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms

Esha Rivers was born to a traveling merchant woman named Giulia from Dorne who traveled between Yronwood and Summerhall to sell her wares; tonics, salves, and balms with medicinal properties of all varieties, including a discreet and undetectable poison frequently purchased by noble ladies found useful when their overbearing or unbearable.

She had met Lord Medgar Tully during one of her travels to Summerhall, and had caught his eye. One night of passion with the Lord had produced a son, though she would not even know she was with child until her travels back into Dorne. A letter was sent to Lord Tully to let him know of the bastard's arrival, though Giulia made it very clear she did not need the Lord's pity nor did she expect help.

She raised Esha on her own, taking him with when she would travel her merchant route between Yronwood and Summerhall, and taught him how to brew and create her wares, including the poison. Esha learned the art of the sale and how to con a noble out of a little more gold. Lockpicking and pickpocketing he learned from other merchants, much to his mother's chagrin, and taught himself dagger and rapier styles he'd read in adventure books that kept him company on the road.

Selling such a poison as Giulia had eventually caught up to her, however, and when Esha was around seventeen, she had been murdered on the road by hired thugs as revenge of a noble whose brother was killed by her poison. Her dying words were to tell Esha to seek out Lord Medgar Tully, who was his father.

As Esha resembled his mother much more, Lord Tully at first did not accept that he was his bastard. But, he did have the Tully's eyes, deep blue and stormy. Eventually, after Esha had snuck into the Lord's castle for the fifth time, Medgar acknowledged him as his bastard, and took him in for proper training, in the art of assassination. Medgar recognized his skills, and offered Esha a place in his House as the Lord's personal blade.

Esha accepted, and has been at his father's side, and beck and call, ever since. Including during his time at the Ashford Tourney.

This verse can be adjusted to Game of Thrones or House of the Dragon timelines as well. Esha will always be the bastard of a Tully and a Dornish merchant woman.