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Prince Arthur led her into his cabin, and despite his statements to the contrary, she wondered if he was not intending to sleep with her anyhow. Had he only been denying such intent for the purpose of his men? Her heart beat quickly, despite some experimentation, she had not yet had her maidenhead broken, she was as unsure as any might be.
Thankfully, or perhaps dangerously, he instead gestured for her to sit down at the table, though unlike before he brought out no wine from his cabinet. Seeing her gaze he shook his head plainly. "I would like you to be sober for this Lady Asha. I will warn you now, that I do not intend to do this by half measures."
She saw the Prince then in the shaded light of the cabin, gone was the largely sunny and cheerful face he showed his men, replaced with a dead serious tightness as if he had taken a longboats weight upon his shoulders for this conversation.
There was something dangerous behind the gaze he directed at her, that spoke of secret and risk. She would be lying if she said there wasn't appeal there, but her good sense told her that she should be careful not to cut herself. "Alright. Not like the wine is going anywhere."
The boy, though he didn't look a boy at the moment, nodded once, before sighing. "Before I make my offer to you, I would like you to understand how significant what you're asking me for is, and the potential risks I am taking by replacing your ship if you would here them. Just so you can understand where I am coming from in regards to the offer itself, as without context it would likely be outrageous in the extreme."
She rolled her eyes at the fancy work-around language. "Just get to the point and tell me why you don't want to."
The boy smiled at that, and it calmed her down a little bit, as it was one of the sunnier smiles she was used to, in contrast to his grim face of a moment before. "Ah, sorry, I forgot who I was dealing with."
Arthur seemed to visibly relax for a moment, before tightening back up though not so much as before. "Still, this is serious." He folded his fingers into each other. "Alright, so what you want is a ship to replace the Black Wind. Just to clarify, I suppose that means you want a cutter?"
"Aye." She said, glancing out of the shaded windows behind the prince. "They tack well and are as quick as knives."
"Indeed," the Prince said, nodding. "And how do you suppose to crew it?"
"Well, I assumed I could recruit one when you give it to me." As much as she would prefer an Iron born crew, one made from green landers would be alright in the short term.
"Most likely. And tell me, what would happen to that crew once you got back to the Iron Islands in all likelihood."
"Well I'd replace them with Iron born and they'd be... " the point he was getting at hitting her like a brick, and she turned her gaze down to the table. "Oh…"
"Yes, while they might get lucky and buy passage back to the mainland, they would probably end up getting taken as thralls by your father or some other lord instead."
Asha kept staring at the table, that wasn't something she had really thought about when asking for a ship, but it made her feel stupid now. Obviously, no Greenlander would willingly agree to be a thrall, Gods knew she wouldn't in their place.
"And that doesn't get into the possibility of your father or the Iron born as a whole copying my ship designs, something the Braavosi have already been up to with mixed results. I have no doubt that everyone will figure them out eventually, but I have little desire to gift a better type of ship to your father for nothing in return."
"The Ironborn have used longships for ages, thousands of years, what makes you think we'll change now?" The idea was a little preposterous, her father was a strict adherent of the Old Way, he would never do that.
"Perhaps not quickly, but in the long term, I would be helping with the rape and slaughter of potentially tens of thousands of people. Do not think that I don't know of the Ravine your people still practice in Essos, or in the parts of the North that lack a lord to protect them."
"We don't raid the North," Asha said firmly, at least-
"Not since Lord Stark took your brother I'm aware, even your father is not so much of a fool." Asha bristled for a moment at the insult, but then recalled his refusal to chase Euron. "Which brings me to my last point. I believe your Father is likely to rebel again the moment my Uncle dies."
Her eyes widened at the insinuation, clearly pointing at her, but she could find no crack in the Prince's face.
"All that said, you can understand why I am going to demand something significant, and I mean truly significant, in exchange for a ship."
Asha nodded. The Prince did put into perspective a little how much she was asking for, but still, whatever he asked was better than being shut away in a castle for the rest of her life. She steeled her nerve for what he might ask of her, what he thought she could offer that would match the risk in his mind. "What do you want then?"
"The rest of your life." The Prince said plainly, raising his hand before she could reach for the ax at her hip. "Hold, let me finish." Asha sat tensely, her eyes meeting his deep blue gaze. "I want you to swear your life in service to me. Not a vassalage contract, but a direct, personal pact to follow and obey me for the rest of your days. Sealed in blood, and above and beyond any other oath or obligation, on either of our parts."
"You…" Asha let herself relax slightly, he wasn't threatening her at least, but still. "You don't ask for small things do you?"
"I do, but not in matters of this level of import."
Asha was near half a foot taller than the Prince, but at that moment it felt as if he were towering over her, a drastic change from the snark but kind boy who had been willing to put up with her in her weakness. Still, she was a woman and an Ironborn both, no other Greenlander would give her a ship of that she was sure, and she would never be able to live as a rock wife. "What is it that you would likely want of me?"
"For now, little." The boy gave what he probably thought was a comforting smile, though to her it seemed like the grin of a shark. "You will return with your ship to the Iron Islands, and there begin trading journeys, as you likely would have anyway, but this time under the stamp of the Narrow Sea company, or some other institution under my control. It will likely be more profitable for you due to our offices. I also won't restrict your movements, you'll be free to trade wherever you like. However, you must never Reave. I will not have a slaver or a pillager under my banner. Indeed if you do well enough I may even give you a Galleon after a year or two."
Asha nodded, that wasn't so unreasonable sounding. It was better than being a Rock Wife by a mile and a half, even if she wasn't sailing entirely under her own flag. "I can live with that."
"Good. The difficult part will be in the long term, however." The boy said. "Please do not speak of this to anyone."
Asha nodded, though she would wait and see if that was an affirmation worth upholding.
Arthur's lips were tight as he continued. "I intend to conquer the Stepstones, and refound a kingdom there, before adding islands such as these to it, and perhaps more in time." He gazed directly into her eyes. "When I begin to found that kingdom, I will expect you to serve under me directly as a captain in my fleet."
'Gods.' Asha thought, turning to gaze at a map of the Seven Kingdoms on the wall to her side. Many things made more sense with the boy's ambition revealed. The ships, his private army, and from such a young age. "How long have you been planning this?"
"A very long time." The boy nodded, smiling. "But it doesn't stop there, I will have one more expectation of you beyond that, and it is probably the one that will irk you the most."
"Oh?" Asha wondered the first two were not that bad.
"When your father dies, whether in rebellion or of age. I will install you as the queen of the Ironborn, and you will help me break the Iron Islands over my knee."
"What?" Asha stood up from her chair. "You would have me betray my people, my father, and my brother, be no better than Euron?" She reached for her ax. "This is a dangerous thing you ask Princeling."
"Peace, Asha, peace. I do not mean for you to slaughter the Iron Islands, in truth I intend for you to save them."
Asha grit her teeth."Save them? from what? you? I can do that right now!"
"And my father would then revenge himself greatly upon you, I know he already thought my Uncle sparing your father was a mistake. I'm sure he'd be happy to rectify it. Please, sit down, have I asked anything of you without good explanation yet?"
Asha wanted to strangle the brat, but some sensible part of her brain held her back, and she collapsed into her chair, throwing her hands up. "Fine, since you will take me as a hostage against my people if I don't."
"I have no intention of doing that, nor do I even intend to punish you should you refuse my offer." The prince said though she had a hard time believing it. "The Iron Islands are not going to be able to stay as they are in the coming days. The Old Way is failing already, and once the whole of Westeros has cannons? What will your longships do? What will your people do as they continue their raving against people who can now sink their ships from three miles away?"
Asha Grit her teeth harder, trying to stare the prince down, but if anything he just became firmer.
"No, the Iron Islands will change, or your people will be wiped out. That is why I need you, want you to help me. I will break slavery during my lifetime if I have my way, and your people are it's only true practitioners in Westeros. That is why I need a queen of the Ironborn in service to me, that is why I need you, and only you. With both the backing of my fleet and your will on the inside we can alter the Ironborn to a point where they can survive the coming fire and the night."
She gazed into the boy's eyes, trying to find falsehood, but eventually, her jaw sagged. He believed what he was saying. 'And dammit he's smarter than me.'
"Is that all you want? A loyal servant to rule the Iron Islands?"
"No Asha. I Want You, and you alone. to rule the Iron Islands as a loyal blood-bound sister. I will take your oath as I would a man's" The boy went to the side, withdrawing a bowl from the cabinet there. "I told you before, I want this oath to supersede everything else in your life. I want to be able to put my trust in you completely." The boy reached down and pulled a knife from his boot, a pale green thing that glinted in the light. "Dragonglass I'm afraid, not Valyrian steel, I haven't been given any of that yet, I suspect my father is waiting for me to come of age." He held the dagger out to her handle first. "Give me your ax."
Asha felt her hands tremble, this was all moving so fast, her heart beat in her chest like a battle drum, and she felt like she was standing between a Dragon and a cliff-face. Should she refuse? Could she refuse? The Storm-touched demon in front of her wanted her life, her very soul, in exchange for letting her live it the way she wanted to. Was it better to serve a devil on the sea than be a rock wife?
If one had asked her hypothetically she would have said yes in a heartbeat, but now she wasn't so sure. The Prince's blue eyes seemed to crackle in the shady cabin.
She thought of the Islands, of her father, of her Uncle and of all the other Lords, all the people she was probably betraying.
And she realized she did not care about any of them nearly as much as she did her freedom, of the sea and its call. Of not being some fat wore pumping out children until the day she died.
She handed him the ax, and he pressed the dagger into her hand, it was heavier than she expected, and as she looked up its blade she felt like it glowed slightly as if it were still fresh in the lava that spawned it.
She sat transfixed as the boy drove the ax's blade along the palm of his hand, splitting it open and letting his blood run forth into the bowl below.
"I swear that on this day, I, Arthur Baratheon, Prince of Dragonstone, will take into my service as a blood sister Asha Greyjoy. I shall care for her as if she were my kin, and ensure that she received all that she has asked of me and more. I will lead her rightly, and keep her wellbeing in my heart throughout the rest of my life and hers. Her sons will be my nephews, and her daughters my nieces, and I will ensure that in my service she will have status as great as any man who serves beside her."
There was a sort of stillness in the air, a greasy silence that seemed to be just waiting to burst as she turned to her own palm, and then the knife, before putting the two together, letting her own lifeblood dribble and mix with his. The words came easily, far more so than she had expected as if her heart was more willing than her mind.
"I, Asha Greyjoy of Pike will take you as my blood brother and lord. Arthur Baratheon. I shall care for you as if you… No, greater than my kin, for they are cowards and dogs and monsters." The betrayal of her family stung a bit, but she hardened her heart, it was the next words that truly hurt to speak. But she would accept them for freedom. "I will obey your will, and trust that you will lead me rightly. I will keep your wellbeing in my fear throughout the rest of your life and mine. Your sons will be my nephews, and your daughters my nieces, and I will raise you up to the heavens above the earth if that is what you desire."
It was a promise she knew she couldn't break, but to live as she chose?
She would promise anything.
The Prince clasped her bleeding palm in his own, and she felt lightning crackle between them, bolts of it seeming to fall like rain from the Prince's hand into the mixture of blood below. The surface crackled with the blazing magic, lighting up the room with flaring arcs as their blood mixed.
The Prince nodded to her, and raised the bowl to his lips, partaking in the mixture of blood. After a moment, he offered it to her.
Lightning crackled along the surface, streaming and filling her nostrils with its smell as she lifted the bowl off of the table, holding it shakily to her lips.
As it passed over her tongue it had a flavor of iron and lightning, and she swallowed the mixture with a gulp, feeling it crackle as it passed down her throat before returning the bowl to the table.
The prince nodded seriously. "It is done. I greet you now as, Sister Asha." He offered her a bandage he must have prepared ahead of time, and she gratefully covered the cut on her palm.
Then the serious tone of the binding was dropped as the boy reached over to the wine cabinet and pulled out a bottle of arbor red. "Now, let's talk about getting you some better quarters. Can't have my sister sleeping in some shared Mates bunk room now can I?"
"No," Asha chuckled, the inherent ridiculousness of the entire situation finally hitting her. All she could do was laugh, it was all just so… quick, the boy had made her a blood sister, with magic no less, and they had barely known each other a week at that. The Prince moved like a lightning bolt indeed, even before he was Storm-Touched. "I suppose not, you wouldn't want her sleeping around with the men."
"Indeed." The Prince smiled, and she wondered where the devil of a few moments before had gone. There was only her ambitious little brother, to whom she was now sworn in obedience.
If it meant being able to sail as a captain until she was old and grey, she could live with that.