seadragon | oberyn martell

Six

Word had spread far at the news of the events of the Martell and Velaryon wedding. Monford had sent over a dozen ravens and not one had she taken the time to read.

Aurane had been banished from Dorne. Prince Doran said if he was ever caught on their lands again, no matter his kin to his good sister, he would die a traitors death in the sands by the hand of Prince Oberyn.

The wedding had abruptly ended as Oberyn had been rushed to the Maesters to sew his wound. Vaelerys had been rushed to her bed chambers by some guards and her ladies. Loiya stayed behind to monitor the situation for her. Samira had left her lady to spy on Prince Oberyn.

The bedding ceremony did not commence.

Prince Doran the day after had summoned her to his balcony overlooking the water gardens he loved so. He expressed his disappointment in Vaelerys but confessed he understood her actions and would have done the same.

He admitted to her he would show her brother mercy and not take his tongue, but he would never see her in Dorne again. Vaelerys respected Prince Doran as he gave her kind words as she expressed her fears of the union.

It had been a week since the wedding and Vaelerys had not heard of her husband.

Samira had returned and told her the prince was infuriated as the Maesters stitched his arm and cursed her name plenty. Samira refused to go into detail. He left after they finished not caring for their demands for him to stay to heal with ointments.

Her life was in full motion at Sunspear now yet Vaelerys rarely left her room. She dined there alone except for breakfast which she enjoyed every morning with Prince Doran, who was so very different from his brother.

"Are your ladies treating you well? Samira used to serve my wife. She was always a favorite of hers so i thought it would be good to gift her for you." He noted as he cut into some viper meat over potatoes and onion. It was a strange but common breakfast for the Dornish.

"Yes Samira is very loyal. She has only shown me kindness. She keeps eyes for me in the castle. She is also the only one of my ladies to be kind to Loiya, my maid whom i brought from Driftmark." She gave a small smile as she dug into her favorite breakfast, smoked saltwater salmon over mashed crab meat and grits. Prince Doran had made sure the new princess got the meal whenever she wished.

"Where is your wife, good brother?" She asked which made Doran let out a long sigh.

"Mellario is home in Narvos with my daughter Arianne. You will meet my daughter soon, she sails home next month. Her mother and I separated three years ago. Lust drove our unconventional union, not love. And that lust quickly turned to hate and resentment as we grew to know one another. All loves built upon the flesh will fall in time. Keep that in mind sister." He said knowingly as he patted her hand which laid on the table.

Vaelerys bit into her cheek at his words. She hadn't taken Doran as a lusty man like his brother. But perhaps him in his prime he was much like his brother who though, fourty and two, still appeared as sex driven as he was at twenty. Doran was fifty and four now, and his body was deteriorating.

"Tell me your story. I wish to know." She said politely as she placed down her fork.

Doran paused before drinking on a goblet of fruit juice.

"Mellario and I met when I was thirty, she twenty and seven. I was traveling the world with my younger and more adventurous ten and eight brother. Our mother, the Lady Arianna Martell ruled Sunspear and let us travel while she dealt with the politics of Kings Landing with our sister who was to be wed the Prince Rhaegar Targaryen."

"Norvos was the strangest of all the cities we crossed. Bastards existed not there, neither did marriages. Sexual acts were committed on streets for the world to see in glory and beauty. Children clung to their mothers naked breasts as they worked as sugar farmers. Their bodies were all revealed, covered only occasionally by colorful cloths around the genitals. The Norvosi are a free people, they live as the people did before the Gods."

Doran had a sparkle to his eye as he reminisced.

"Oberyn left me as he entered in his mortal heaven. Then I saw her commanding men to buy her jewels and new sandals in the market. She was the daughter of the Magister, my Mellario."

"Her hair laid down past her buttocks in thick black silky waves and her skin was the color of raw amber. She had a large ring that hung from one side of her nose and bangles that danced as she walked. How that sound mystified me. She wore a Qartheen dress of maroon which held in only one of her perky round breasts. I could not move."

Vaelerys giggled to herself. In Auranes word he had been cunt struck.

"I eventually did and i believed i had fallen in love. She was cruel yet soft when she desired me to enter her bed. She liked to toy with men my Mellario. I pleased her so that I convinced her to marry me and return to my country. My mother was furious, I was to inherit Sunspear and here i had gone marrying a foreign woman with strange customs with my sister to become Queen."

"Our passion flamed for years but sex was all it was. Hateful sex. As we learned more of one another as we grew in age we realized we were not one. As i began to foster out our children, she did not understand the Westerosi custom and fought me. She hated me more than she ever had when i took away her children. First I had sent Trystane, the Quentyn. Arianne my first born needed to serve, but Mellario was the most protective of our daughter. She left after I stuck a knife to her throat when she threatened to sleep with my brother."

Vaelerys watched as Doran furiously frowned, looking down to his hands.

"She adored Oberyn, but he had refused her advances. Thought my brother is shameless, he still has honor and loyalty in his heart for his family."

Vaelerys watched as he stood from his chair wincing.

"I believe I must meet with the Maester. Enjoy your day and get out of your room Princess Vaelerys. It would do you well."

Vaelerys was left alone with her thoughts.

Doran had told her this story for a reason and she knew it. Doran believed Ellaria and Oberyns union to be like his and Mellario, based only on lust. But Vaelerys disagreed.

Ellaria mothered four of his eight children. And Oberyn was known for his wandering eye yet devotedly only left his seed in her for the past twenty three years. Before he met her he had fathered four girls from fourteen to eighteen with four different women. The last four only came from her. He wanted no more bastards except the ones from her womb. He loved Ellaria Sand.

Vaelerys had started her day more joyous than usual but the story of Doran and Mellario left her in a state of melancholy.