Capítulo 199: Arthur 3 295 AC
I smiled and waved towards the crowd of commoners as we made our way towards the Red Keep. I had plotted a long route through the city for my entrance, and taken every effort to ensure that I looked every bit the Prince for the duration of it. While I was not stunningly handsome on my best days I was quite capable of cleaning up. My black hair hung down in waves to just above my shoulders, and my costume was the second best I had, with its superior saved only for tomorrow. Gold-cloth epaulets hung with braided strings on my shoulders, and my white cavalry cape was embroidered on the edges in similarly ostentatious fashion. Besides that, the uniform was reminiscent of the footsoldiers that marched behind me, my honor guard of sorts, selected from the prettiest of my marines, albeit not quite the best. Those were mostly in the Stepstones.
Ahead of me rode the greeting party that had come to meet me at the docks, my father and mother prominent among them.
I did not see them nearly enough these days. Storm's end was simply too far from any of my laboratories.
Besides me, of course, rode Arianne, as radiant as my nickname for her suggested. I knew she had spent at least as much effort preparing for this procession as I had, but she made it look far easier. I had wobbled at first, the remnants of mounting a horse after two weeks at sea, she was firm.
I caught a glimpse of a smile as she glanced over at me, and found one on my own face as well.
We both perhaps might waste a tad too much time smiling at each other, if given the opportunity, so I forced my gaze away. There would be time for that later. There was still a crowd to please, and we would have more than enough time with each other soon enough.
I smiled as the band changed tunes, a bastardized March half-remembered from a life that had already ended. It was cheerful and bright, just like the street fair around us, the colorful banners. The Flags of my color guard flapping behind.
I had to wonder how many in the crowd could guess at the significance of two of them. One of a variety entirely foreign to Westeros. One to show my loyalty to my uncle, and one that I would announce in full on the day of my wedding.
I already had the Cape prepared and everything.
There would be no greater indicator of my status as a marginally independent prince. The plain, unassuming bronze crown on my head wouldn't say as much.
The vipers would know though.
The shadow of the Red Keep over the city was a harsh reminder of their existence, that I was walking in a city of snakes and that one wrong step would put my foot in their nest.
'Good.'
Subtlety, intrigue, let them guess at my intentions, even as I spelled them out before their faces. Like my frigates in the harbor, I had no intention of hiding my power, indeed, I had agreed to have my marriage here, rather than on Storm-Sky, because of the opportunity that it presented.
Well, that and Arianne liked the idea.
Still, I would capitalize on the opportunity, I was here to Marry my wife, and in doing so, I would demonstrate my power. Whatever plots the serpents spawned would be knocked aside, forcibly, like gusts in the wind.
'Well, that might be a tad overdramatic.'
Thinking that way had become a habit of late, especially as my own power and understanding grew. Some quirk of my magic demanded it, probably. I might just be getting a big head.
It wasn't just me either, it was almost like I forced it on the world around me. Like my presence alone lead to grand pronouncements and ambitious grandstanding. Arianne and Asha seemed to have the same trend, if perhaps in different ways, and my lab assistants seemed prone as well.
I'd never forget the time I caught Gerald attempting to reanimate a dead dog, shouting some sort of Frankenstein monologue.
It hadn't worked, but damn if it didn't leave an impression.
I worried just how far it might stretch in time as we entered the courtyard of the Red Keep, I dismounted my Unicorn, Riggen, before helping my fiance off of her own, earning a cheeky smile from the woman, especially as I held up her bottom for a moment on the way down.
She was probably the only person looking forward to tomorrow more than I was, and it sometimes surprised me just how carnal the gazes she sent my direction were.
Westeros was much more open about sex than my own conceptions, and It was easy to forget that my sunshine had broken into my bedroom naked in an attempt to seduce me just a few years ago. I… well, at times I had a hard time reconciling it with how I thought about her, but then, I think she half put on the pure image she took in our relationship just because she knew I liked it. Her, well, her clothes were still revealing by my more prudish standards, but compared to what she had worn in Dorne they were positively conservative.
Still, they couldn't disguise the gazes she sent my way at times, or the biting of her lip in moments she thought I wasn't looking. Not that it mattered, for I loved that part about her too.
She just wasn't as sneaky as she thoughts she was.
I smiled as I took hold of her hand, heading towards my parents, and the rest of the party. I bowed slightly, deferentially to my Royal Uncle, who had lead the procession, and once again greeted my soon-to-be father-in-law, who was all smiles, for the moment at least.
"You had said, Uncle, that there was already a feast underway?"
The big man grinned (and indeed he was still the big man, for even though I now stood taller than my wife to be, he still had near a half-foot on me.) "Of course, of course. Good wine too, not any watered-down nonsense. This is a time for celebration after all."
My father looked like he wanted to say something, but after a moment just frowned slightly instead, letting Robert continue unabated.
"I'll have you in the Seat of honor beside me Arthur, along with Princess Arianne next to my lady wife of course." He smiled broadly. "All the better to heal old wounds."
You know, Prince Doran had a hell of a poker face, and it reasserted itself very quickly, but he'll if that wasn't the madden I had ever seen him for a second.
Oberyn wasn't even trying to hide it too much, though he still refrained from speaking, and Arianne had a rather tight death-grip on my hand.
"I'm sure the feast will be excellent, Uncle." I put on my best brand smile, trying to ignore the suddenly very thick atmosphere. "Let's get to it then shall we?"
"Of course!" Robert smiled, patting me on the back and gesturing towards the hallway, "Though we will have to walk up those damnable stairs."
I nodded, keeping my smile intact, repeating a mantra of bulls hit to myself to avoid addressing that particularly sticky situation.
If I ignored the blood feud long enough, maybe it would disappear.
Estado de energía semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Piedra de
Poder