Visenya & Maekar

Visenya called lazily for her visitor to be admitted from her position on the chaise. She had had visitors increasingly often of late, and barely glanced up from her reading when the door opened and closed. When she saw that it was Maekar, a grin broke across her face and she got quickly to her feet and ran across the room to greet him. The sheer silk of her violet bed gown trailed behind her like wings of gossamer. "Maekar, you've returned!" She cried excitedly. "Have you heard the news, then?"

"I am. I could do much worse, you know. I am fond of you, my lord," she added, standing on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. "Now, what has kept you away from court for so long? Come, have a glass of wine with me." She took his hand and made to lead him to her couch, where a half-drunk cup of wine already waited.

She giggled as he pulled her onto his knee, putting her arms around his neck. "I should like to see your Keep firsthand. Will we live there once we marry, or will we stay in the city? I'll be able to take Silverwing, won't I?" She spoke quickly, as soon as the words came into her head.

"Oh, did you want wine?" She giggled. "I might like where I am too much to pour."

She sat up again after filling his glass and cuddled closely against him, pleased that things were going so well with her future husband. "I will be glad to be out of this castle and to have a household of my own at last."

She didn't seem ruffled by the change in his voice. "I am glad. A husband and wife should keep no secrets from eachother."

Visenya went terribly still. "And who is it?" She asked in a tone suddenly grown cold. She freed herself from his embrace and stood. "Is it that peasant slut Vira?" She all but snarled at him, remembering Aegon, and how he has said almost the same words to her. Was she unworthy of love? Visenya bit back tears, certain that she must be, if this was so familiar a refrain. She turned her back on him and squeezed her eyes shut, squeezed her hands into fists, and pressed them against her eyes. She would not cry in front of him, no she could not.

"How dare you," she said in a whisper.

She turned back to him, eyes red with fury and despair. "No, men never do promise me a thing, do they? And yet i follow them so blindly." She laughed bitterly, wiping her face with the back of her hand.

"I can never accept someone else taking what is mine, Maekar, so cease telling me what I will and will not do."

"You mistake me, my lord," she said bitterly, emphasizing the 'my lord', "I had thought your affection mine, not necessarily your person. But thank you, so kindly, for reminding me that not even that was ever mine."

She turned her face away from him, the tears beginning at last to fall. Kindness was not what she wanted. She wanted anger to match her anger, harsh words to combat her own words. "At least there is that," she said, not pleased but still more accepting than she had been before.

She managed to meet his eyes again, tilting her face up toward him. Her face was streaked with black, her tears having caught the kohl around her eyes and on her lashes and made tracks down her cheeks. "Why, though?" she managed to say, not sure she wanted his answer. "Don't you think I'm beautiful?"