Chapter 15: Ashara Dayne I

[ Arthur ]

I stared at a woman dancing with Barristan Selmy. She was young, beautiful, tall, and a fair woman with haunting violet eyes. Her long dark hair tumbled around her shoulders. A beauty like no other, she probably broke many people's hearts today. Ashara Dayne.

Could I seduce and fuck her tonight? Probably a hundred guys had tried by now. Handsome, muscular, tall, strong, thin, short, ugly, all of these kinds of people she had probably met and already gotten bored of. Everyone most likely talked to her politely and tried to get into her good side by showing how honorable, cavernous, and nice they were. Of course, those were all acts, people, in reality, weren't like that and the nicest person had a dark side too.

As soon as Barristan Selmy finished dancing with her and got a refusal, I went in and smiled at her. "Care for a dance my lady?"

She put on a fake smile, no longer even bothering to hide just how tired of this she was. "Of course. Ser…" But she politely accepted.

"My name won't matter tonight," I grabbed her hand and we started dancing. I could feel the gazes at us. Was this how she felt constantly? No wonder she is tired and bored of these people.

"Oh, is that so?" she seemed surprised by my answer. "Then what's your plan for tonight my nameless knight?"

"Well," I smirked and said jokingly. "I am going to get you drunk as the seven hells and then have my way with you."

She frowned, but I noticed the small twitch of her lip. This was probably the only entertaining thing she had heard tonight. "That was very impolite and not knight-like of you."

"Oh~" I had a mock surprised look on my face. "Then should I lie like the others?" My eyes then wandered towards her dress. "I will also take your dress after having my way with you. It looks expensive, and since you wore it some perverted 'Noble' Lord with pay a hefty sum for it."

She looked at the ground to hide her face for me, but I noticed her voluptuous chest shaking. So she was trying to hold in her laughter.

After a couple of seconds later, she looked back up and stared into my eyes. "That was very unfunny of you Ser. Please be more of a respectful gentleman towards ladies. Saying such crude things is very untasteful."

Though she said that, I could see the amusement in her eyes that she couldn't hide. "So how long would you like to dance? I am sure some other 'chivalrous' knight would like to dance with you." I got closer to her and whispered. "By chivalrous I mean boring and probably very old."

As I pulled back, she only smiled at me politely. "I wouldn't mind a couple more dances with you, my mysterious knight."

She was trying so hard to seem lady-like that if it wasn't for her appearance she would be the dullest and most boring woman here. Thankfully, those good looks of hers are something special. "Well, you have to loosen up a bit my lady. Or I might just find you boring during our dances after your charm wears off. Also, I am very close to being bored so tell me something interesting about yourself."

Now I had to speedrun a date here and try to get her to tell me something real about herself. Because I wasn't willing to waste too much time and court her the usual way. Unlike most people here, I wasn't looking to marry her, just get a quick lay.

"How about my brother?" she asked. "He is Arthur Dayne, the greatest swordsman in the world."

Well, the world was a big place, so that was doubtful. Also was the most interesting thing about her being the sister of Arthur Dayne. Damn, she was lucky she had beauty because she was one very boring girl.

Also, the main reason I didn't tell her my name was her brother. Because it was the same as her brother's and that would immediately put me in the no-smashing zone. Having a lover with the same name as a family member just made the situation very weird.

"Arthur? Oh, I know of him," I smiled. "Wasn't he the guy who beat his sword instructor the first time he picked a sword?"

"No, that's the other Arthur," she frowned, seemingly offended. "You are annoying."

Well, annoyance is better than boredom because without having the latter it meant that I still had a shot. "So? Do you want me to lie and say that I and your brother are as tight as thieves and we swallow each other's swords?"

"What?!" she said, exasperated by my behavior. "No, it just makes me feel like you might be stupid for not knowing who Arthur Dayne is?"

"Well honestly, I didn't even know who you were till a couple of minutes before. You and your brother just weren't the center of my life, so why the hell would I know about him?" I had intentionally started a small argument and I could tell that she wanted to win it.

But she couldn't see that this was my intention. The more she wanted to argue the more her lady-like behavior would slip and she might start saying something real beyond her act.

She was very determined to win the argument, so she won't leave either. I loved headstrong people, the ones like Ashara Dayne were just too proud and easy to trick. By now, I knew she won't leave my side for the rest of the fear. I was more patient and calm-headed than her, so she won't be able to win an argument over me.

"You should know him, it's basic knowledge in Westeros," she whispered harshly, her eyes no longer holding a trace of amusement and she was righteously furious.

"So? What if I am not from Westeros? Your view of the world is narrow, little lady. And honestly, kinda boring." I shrugged, my eyes wandering toward the other ladies in the room.

"Little lady?! Boring?" Ashara's whispers were loud enough to be heard by those around us, but she no longer seemed to care. "You damn creetin! You know nothing about me!"

"Creetin? Is that even a word? I might be from Essos so I don't know that word." I said nonchalantly, this enraged her even more. Which was good, since angry people always would say more things than they intended.

She huffed. "Ughh, you are so irritating."

I chuckled at her behavior and suddenly realization dawned on her. "Wait… don't tell me you were just messing around?!"

"Hahaha," I smiled softly, leaning my head on her shoulder as we danced, trying to keep in my laughter. It wasn't that entertaining, but I was playing a character here that I had to keep up. "That was so funny, getting angry over nothing. You looked like a kitten whose tail was stepped on."

She stepped on my foot in anger, making it seem accidental but the vengeful smile on her said otherwise. "Oh~ is that so entertaining to you?"

I chuckled. "Yes very," and then winced as she kept stepping on my foot. Well, it didn't hurt as I had steel coverings on my shoes. But he didn't need to know that. Ashara needed to win sometimes too, or she might become too angry and leave for real. "Hey, now. That's not very lady-like of you."

She smirked mischievously. "I will show you lady-like!"

By now the whole room had noticed that there was something between me and Ashara. Though she was so entwined in her world that she didn't even seem to care about any of that. The only thing she was worried about now was getting back at me.

...

[ Ned Stark ]

While I had been nervous at the beginning of the dance with Ashara Dayne. My hands were shaking even after the dance. I think the dance went well, I didn't step on her toes or anything like that and she even smiled while I told her about my life. If I had embarrassed myself I would have buried my head on the ground.

I felt like we connected by talking about our strong older siblings and the mischiefs of the younger ones. I was drinking some wine and thinking about the dance when my older brother sat next to me with his cup of wine in his hands. "How did it go, Ned? Did my little brother get charmed by a lady? The lady that I had to ask to dance with you."

I look at my brother Brandon, he has a knowing smirk on his face.

"Y -Yeah..." I tried to say it casually but still stuttered.

Brandon was about to say something when he suddenly frowned and pointed with his head towards the dancing floor. "Though it seems like you have some competition."

I saw Ashara now dancing with someone else. Now I wouldn't mind that, after all, every man here was enamored by her and had asked for a dance. But I felt my heart shatter into a million pieces once I looked at her face.

When we were dancing her smiles were pretty and polite, and just now I realized that they were fake. She was doing what was expected of her and being polite. Because now Ashara was genuinely laughing and putting her head on her current dance partner's shoulder just to hide her laughter. I felt like an outsider just looking at them.

"Her current dancing partner is Arthur Fray, also known as the 'Undefeated Knight'. They say that he was never defeated ever since he picked up a sword. I heard that even the first time he picked up a sword he beat his Master-at-Arms in just four blows..." Brandon informed me, though I knew all of that already.

"Then again, you probably know this better than me, Ned."

Arthur then whispered something in Ashara's ear and she nodded towards him enthusiastically. I can't stop a frown from appearing on my face when I saw her kiss his neck secretly. By now neither of them were bothered that others had noticed their showing of affection. For Ashara, an unwed maiden, this was scandalous.

"I know him... he is my frien-... he is an acquaintance of mine," I said, knowing that Brandon understood that I and Arthur were friends. Our talk in the Stark Tent had shown that he knew a lot about me and we seemed like friends.

My brother sighed as he looked at my face, I must have shown a pathetic look because he seemed to try and cheer me up. "Here, get some wine in your belly and you will feel better. I also have fallen in love a hundred times, and by the next day, after fucking them… well, you know how the story goes."

"This is different!" I yelled at my brother without even meaning to. It's just that my heart feels clouded and confused. I didn't know what to do.

"Big words for a small puppy, the prissy southern lords sure taught you some fancy words." Brandon wasn't having any of it either and put a bottle of wine in my hand. "Get a little drunk first, then we will talk again later."

Then immediately I had to stop myself from getting up in anger. That was when I saw Arthur and Ashara sneak out of the party, holding each other's hands with smiles on their faces.