Chapter 74: The Mockingbird

[ Arianne POV ]

Having someone I am married to and love so much betray me. I was shocked, heartbroken and it felt like my heart would burst out of my chest. 

So many emotions ran through me as I saw a sweaty Oliver walk out of the Queen's room. I could still see Cersei laying on the bed, tired, with white liquid coming from between her legs.

It was infuriating. I wanted to kill Oliver for this betrayal. He looked at me shocked that I was here at first, but then he calmed down and sighed. "You shouldn't be here."

"Why?" I asked him, unable to keep the anger in my voice contained. "Because you wanted to go and fuck the Queen? What do you take me for? Some stupid girl!! Was this what you wanted all along?!"

I couldn't stop the tears from spilling out of my eyes. It was so painful, it felt like my heart would break into a hundred pieces if I kept looking at him. He didn't even seem sorry for any of this.

Closing the doors behind him, Oliver walked towards me and put a hand on my cheek lovingly. It was wet, and I wondered if it was sweat or something else. 

"Listen, I will explain these things later." He said, getting close and kissing me on the lips. Looking at the female guards who were under my command, he narrowed his eyes. "Let the Lannister men go, before I decide to slit your throats. They are still the Queen's men, and attacking someone in the Red Keep is still a big deal."

Immediately the female guards let them go, it wasn't surprising that they listened to him. But the looks of fear in their eyes took me off guard. What were they afraid of? 

While these women were my guards, they were also my friends. Because as we spent time together, we would inevitably develop a friendship and they even told me how Oliver had hired them from Essos. 

Still, though, the absolute terror they showed while looking at him made my skin crawl. For a split second, in my jealousy and anger, I had forgotten just how dangerous my husband was. 

He wasn't afraid of me, even though there were a dozen guards under my control with swords in their hands. Because Oliver knew they would obey him instead of me if the decision came down to it.

As we walked down the hallways of the Red Keep, Oliver put a hand over my shoulders and whispered. "Don't worry too much, this was a political move. Now I have the Queen's ear-"

"And her mouth too apparently," I couldn't help myself from interrupting him. Why was he acting like this? Why… did he break my heart? Couldn't he have done this somewhere else where I wouldn't know about it?

Suddenly, I felt a steel-like grip behind my neck. Looking at Oliver, I saw cold dark eyes staring at me. "Don't do that dear wife… or I will kill you."

After saying that he let off the grip and we continued walking like normal. "Anyway, Arianne, this was a political move. Cersei is a woman who thinks she can manipulate me, but it will be a turn-around."

I just zoned him out. I didn't want to hear his excuses, because, in the end, I would inevitably forgive him. This was the circle of life for me, he would betray and I would forgive. Of course, I wanted to betray him in irritation, even to just make him feel a part of the emotions I felt when he did so.

But sadly, that wasn't an option for me. Because if I cheated on him as revenge, Oliver would kill me without a doubt. What irritated me even more, was that I didn't know whether he would kill me because I betrayed him, or because me doing so would just hurt his reputation.

I knew quite a lot of what Oliver was doing behind the scenes. It was terrifying. If I had known this sooner, I wouldn't have run away from Dorne and taken my chances there. 

Love was blind… yeah right… as if! I could see what he was doing and I would leave him if it was an option. But sadly, my life will end with him as my husband.

Asking help from my father was an option too. But I knew the price of war, and if Dorne decided to go to war with Oliver, then they would have to fight King Robert too. I didn't want to be the reason tens of thousands of kids become orphaned.

...

[ Oliver POV ]

Since I had put a child in her, Arianne's worth had pretty much plummeted. She was no longer someone I would even bother with after she gave me a child. I should probably have her die 'accidentally' during childbirth.

Other marriages were out there and waiting for me. Wasting my time on her was useless now. Instead, I should be looking for more compatible wives out there. 

Daenerys Targaryen would be a good choice, but she didn't have her dragons yet. So she was useless too. 

Margery Tyrell, a good choice. But our families have a lot of bad blood between us, and the next thing I know she might decide to poison me and take over everything I have. 

Well, I will have to look into famous daughters of any Lords and see if I could marry them after Arianne dies. 

...

A couple more days passed, and I still spent some time with Cersei. She even brought one of her female cousins, she was blonde, had green eyes, and was pretty. Though she still was young and innocent, I and Cersei made sure she lost that innocence of hers.

Arianne spent most of the time in one of the rooms with her female guards around. She and I had some fun every now and then, but she didn't seem to be in the mood most of the time. Probably because she could guess what I was doing with Cersei.

Well, at least Cersei still had her uses. She had given me quite a lot of intel in the capital. Secret passages, certain black markets, places where you go when you want people killed or start small riots. 

She was quite open-mouthed about it, telling me many secrets of these walls. Even where one could enter the city through some secret caves. 

Did she think I was one of her servants who would help her when the time came? Nah, I would rather make sure she died if she used those caves to escape. She had been way more useful than I had expected.

By now I had a pretty good grasp on King's Landing and even had some more spies here now. As long as Cersei was in power, she would back me up. The woman thought that she was smarter than she actually was, but I don't mind that even one bit.

As I walked through the hallways of the Red Keep, a certain Master of Coin saw me and he nodded politely. "Lord Redhawk, it's good to see you."

I smiled back at the man. "Petyr Baelish, I have heard a lot of good things about you."

All good things I hope," he said with a small smirk adorning his face.

"Mostly," I admitted. "Though the rumors of you wanting to buy brothels in King's landing say a lot of dishonorable things about you. I don't see it as a bad thing. Unlike ships, whores don't sink."

"Ah yes, I try to tell that to many people, but they just don't listen. Unless you have as many ships as you do, then ships will eventually sink and fleets will fall." he skillfully paid me a compliment while agreeing.

What a sly man he was. If I didn't know any better I would think that he was my friend. Or at least close to being friends. But well, I didn't need friends here, though I could make a partnership with the man and work with him. There was no doubt that Petyr Baelish was someone competent.

...

 Don't forget to throw some power stones :)

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