Nella's mind raced as Ser Reglas led her from the Hall of the Hundred Hearths. Shaking, heart pounding in her chest, her eyes stung with tears and she could feel her cheeks burning. How dare he? How could that horrible man treat her so badly? How dare he humiliate her in front of everyone in the Hall? He was so smug, so dismissive, so quick to write her off as some stupid, helpless woman. She would show him that it was a mistake to underestimate her. He would be sorry for treating her so badly, for hurting her sister, for everything... Steering her ahead of him up the winding stairs, Ser Reglas led her through the long halls, holding her just above the elbow, gaunleted fingers tight around her arm, but not tight enough to hurt her. Stupid man, she thought. So blindly loyal to his Lord, so proud to have been knighted by that monster. "Let go of me, I can walk on my own." She spat over her shoulder at the big man, attempting to jerk her arm away from him. Reglas chuckle...
Gregor awoke after the sun had risen, which was unusual for him. He had always been an early riser, never one to need excessive amounts of sleep. He lay still for a moment, realizing his new bride was there, breat hing softly a gainst his c h es t, curled under his arm. She had come back to him, to sleep in his bed. This was something that had never happened before, that one of his wives would come to him of her own accord. He remembered little of his first two wives, however he had some memory of his wedding nights. Elinor was the first wife, he thought, or was it Aly s ? He often confused them. Whatever her name had been, she’d shaken so hard her teeth had chattered. Her crying was high pitched, and it had made his head had hurt something awful. He’d hit her until she quieted, flipped her onto her stomach, spit on her dry cunt and fucked her pitilessly. Afterward he’d tossed her still form over his shoulder and tossed her into her own bed. He’d thought she might be dead, but it...
They returned to the Hall of the Hundred Hearths, Gregor walking beside her, arm around her possessively, resting his big hand at the curve of her hip. He would protect her. She was still shaking, and what she would have liked, was to lean into him, to let him bear all of the weight of Arys Dayne's execution, yet she walked beside him, head held high, refusing to show her new husband how weak she really was. She must be weak, she knew. A brave girl would not have been sorry to see the Dornishman meet his demise, she thought, but Melicent felt sick, chilled... the image of Arys on the saltire, his entrails spilling from his gut, the sound of that sickening blow... his screams... repeated over and over in her mind. It wasn't that she wanted him to live, not really. But watching... seeing ... she'd never wanted that. Was there more to it than that? She didn't rightly know. Arys's death, the violence of it, scared her. Her Lord Husband's pleasure at the completion...