Cherazza 8

286AC

"Do your bruises still hurt Viserys?" She asked as she rubbed the oil into his skin with her own hands. She was no master masseuse, but after the festival, she would let no other soul lay their hands on the boy. He was hers now, had been for two days, rebranded with her own crest alongside her father's on his shoulders, and she had put a pair of golden torch around his neck, and other golden bands to cover the chained dragons on his shoulders, leaving only the harpies fully visible.

It had been more trouble to ask him to stop wearing his rags, they were disgusting and tattered, but he had said that they were the only things he owned in the world, so he would not part with them. She had then taken him out to the market, and asked him which clothes he liked the most.

Her heart had almost melted when he asked her to pick them for him, and she had given him a dozen outfits, telling them that they were his to wear as he pleased. He had chosen a simple red robe that hung loosely over his body. It had black embroidering about the edges, but no other ornamentation of note. She had thought about asking him to wear something else but decided that it was his choice, and he could wear it as he liked.

That was rather the point of the whole affair after all. To teach him how to choose for himself. A skill that had seemingly been broken out of him. A desirable thing for a slave, but not for the husband she foresaw him being.

"Not so much anymore Mistress. My leg feels better as well, I suspect it was only sprained."

"Good." She said, meeting his purple eyes for a moment before turning away blushing. "Good." His body held few mysteries for her now, and yet she still found his eyes the more entrancing of the two to gaze upon. She rubbed the ointment into the back of the boy's shoulder-blades, feeling how close they were to the surface.

"Is there anything you would like to do Viserys like to learn? I will find tutors for you, my father has given me gold plentifully." It was true, a colossal amount in truth, though it was not enough to pay for the suffering which Viserys underwent to acquire it. She could not bear to spend it on herself lest her meals turn to ash on her tongue. She had resolved herself that she would grant Viserys anything he asked for.

The boy seemed to stop for a moment, letting his head rest on the pillow below. "I want nothing other than to serve you, mistress."

She pursed her lips, she had expected the response.

"Can you ever remember wanting to do anything? Learn anything?" She asked, flipping him gently onto his chest. "Perhaps you wished to do something before the Red woman came."

That seemed to stump the boy for a moment, he lay completely still, as if he were thinking, digging back through memories that he had long since buried in his mind.

"I wanted revenge I remember, my throne back. I wanted to be a warrior like Rhaegar and defeat the usurper. It was a silly dream, I was a boy, and all of Westeros had turned against my father." She shivered as his concerned purple eyes met her own, like staring into an ocean of self-doubt to swallow all of Essos. "He was mad you know. Sometimes I think that the Red Woman is trying to drive his madness out of me, but mostly I believe she is simply cruel."

"She is just a monster Viserys, you are not mad, only suffering, and greatly." Cherazza wiped a newly formed tear from Viserys' eye. "But I cannot buy you Westeros, nor can I pursue your revenge, at least not yet." She knew too little of Viserys homeland for one, even the boy didn't, only knowing a city called King's Landing and a Valyrian Fortress called Dragonstone. She had seen nautical maps of course, and sometimes slaves… "If you would like to be a warrior though, there are many in Yunkai who could train you, and more beyond that if they prove insufficient. Perhaps a tutor from the Free Cities?"

"Do you want me to be a warrior Mistress?"

"What I want is for you to tell me what you want."

The boy seemed to be confused by that answer, as he pressed his hand to his chin, Viserys seemed to fight against his instincts for a moment before relenting. "I think I would like that Mistress."

"Then I will start looking to find one immediately."

Viserys smiled at that, and she felt a bit less guilty than a moment before.

As she finished rubbing the ointments in, she decided to see if her father owned any Westeros slaves.

She might not have the resources to seek vengeance for Viserys now, but there was no reason she couldn't begin learning about his homeland anyway.

After all, someday circumstances might change. Viserys might have his throne yet.

She liked the sound of queen Cherazza.