Cherazza 5

"You summoned me, father?" She said, stepping gently into the study near the top of the pyramid. Her father sat inside amidst his various records scrolls and ledgers, keeping track of all who owed him favors or money, and of all to whom he owed debts.

"Indeed I did, Cherazza, please, sit, I have something to discuss with you."

She did so, sitting down on one of the many velvet pillows that decorated the area, before turning to face her father. "What is it?"

"It is about the Dragon boy. Agazmon has told me that you have taken a liking to him."

She paused for a moment, did she like Viserys? He was certainly far more interesting than any of the other slaves in the pyramid, and she had been spending a great deal of time with him…

She shrugged her shoulders. "That is accurate."

"As I had thought. Agazmon had also said that you had been making him speak by playing your flute for him. Making him break from his emotionless front."

"That also is true." She pursed her lips, as she realized where this was probably going.

"Have you taken him into your bed?" Her father asked, and she felt a slight blush across her cheeks.

"No father."

"Ah, but I see your look, you would like to, even if you do not yet realize it. It is understandable, your mother was a slave as well after all, and she charmed me for much the same reasons." Her father nodded as she reeled from the accusation. Did she want Viserys in her bed? How would she even know if she did? "Still, this has left me in a poor spot." Her father said, shaking his head. "I am in danger of losing our position as a wise master and falling into the lesser nobility if I do not recover my prestige soon, and the dragon-boy is an easy ticket to that, however, I do not wish to rob you of the boy if you desire him."

She was still blushing, but she nodded sharply, bowing to the floor on her hands. "Thank you for being considerate of me, Father." She knew that most would care little for such feelings. Truly her father was kind to her.

"You are my daughter, I can do no less, which is why I wanted to propose to you a compromise." She nodded, awaiting his judgment, for though he called it a compromise, she would not be able to argue against it. "At the festival of the Harpy in a month-and-a-half, there will be a great feast of the masters, many will be in attendance throughout the week from all over the cities of the Ghiscari. Perhaps even Nobles from as far as Qarth. It will be a great chance to improve my prestige." She nodded, she could see his point, but she would hear it from her father's mouth anyway. "During the festival, the boy will be loaned as a bed slave to those I want favors from. Know this in advance so that it does not shock you. His worth in this capacity as the last of the Targaryens cannot be understated, many will want him, and that desire will only make his value to others grow."

"I understand father." She said, nodding her head. She had hoped against it, but ultimately the status of her family came before whatever attachment she had to the boy.

"Good." He said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "If I can use his worth as a springboard to stabilize our status, then I will leave him to you to do with as you please until the Red Witch comes to claim him once again."

She nodded, sighing. "He has told me of her, and her magic."

"Really?" Her father raised his eyebrows, seemingly surprised for the first time in the conversation. "I would have thought that she would hide that well. Has he opened up to you so much?"

"There is a song I play, he will not tell me what it means, but each time he plays it he allows me to ask a question about anything else."

Her father stared at her for a moment, before nodding his head. "Mhm. He shows emotion?"

She nodded, and her father smiled.

"See if you can ask him to focus that emotion when he is loaned away. It might not be precisely the passion that makes for the best of Bed-slaves, but it would enhance his value even above where it already stands. Better than sleeping with a walking corpse."

She gaped at her father, up until now he had been so reasonable, rational, but this request it just seemed so invasive so wrong.

It was one thing to accept that Viserys would sleep with others. He already was doing so during his training, she knew, but to ask him to feel, to show what literal vulnerability he had to the cruel hands of the other Masters and nobles? Many would enjoy torturing him even more.

She pushed herself to answer though the words felt like ash on her tongue. "I will try, father," she said, even as she resolved herself not too.

The boy had been through so much already, forcing him to open his shell to the predations of those her father wished to court would be far too cruel.