AMARANTHINE - [OBERYN MARTELL]

Deceit

She awaited for his answer, anxiously expecting a positive one. She wanted to be set free, to feel no longer like a spurned wife. How good it would be for her to escape the pressure to get pregnant, her husband's infidelity, her mother's unsolicited advice about motherhood (which was ironic, since she was never a mother to her own daughter)... How amazing it would feel to wake up and don't feel humiliated by her inability to seduce the Red Viper. To live far away in a different culture, surrounded by a foreign language and exciting new people.

Oberyn took a good look at her, taking in the hope in her eyes and how she looked more a woman now than she ever did.

"And that is what you really want?" He asked. She nodded, eagerly, making him smile. "I can only set you free for some months."

"That is already more than I expected." She said honestly, her wide smile making the lilac eyes glint with happiness. "If you only knew how happy you just made me!"

"Oh, but there is something else, Alyssa. I am going with you." She stopped smiling, looking at him with her lips once again pursed.

"You are? Why?" Her exclamation made him smile.

"Surely. What husband would I be if I were to let my dear little wife traveling alone?"

"Go to hell, Oberyn!" She snapped, pushing him forcefully. "I want to be free of you and all the things that befell from our marriage!"

"Then you don't want to travel, dear, you only wish to escape from me."

"Don't you wish to escape from me? Am I not a terrible and spoiled child just ranting around? Not enough of a woman to have your attention?" She used his own words against the Viper. "Of course I want to escape this marriage! Of course I want to leave for a few months!"

"Go." He told her, making her stop at once. "Go away and don't come back if you so wish, but not with my consent."

She never did answer him. Alyssa, for the first time, used her silence to guilt him into looking away. He never kept his promises to her, she shouldn't have expected much. Oberyn realized, with some consternation, that he was troubled by the thought of Alyssa running away from him. He wouldn't stop her, if so she wished, but he wouldn't help her to get away from him. As sick and twisted as that felt, he didn't want the Velaryon girl to leave his side, even with her antics and shrill screams about an heir.

She turned on her heels, slamming the door shut when she left. And, in the next morning, Oberyn would state, with relief, that she didn't leave in the middle of the night, running away in an impulsive and sudden need to get away from him.

Oberyn learned, in the next morning, that his wife woke up early, as usual, and had been talking to his niece until Ariane had to leave and Alyssa found some other thing to do. Both girls had been spending time together since Alyssa arrived at Sunspear, creating an unlikely friendship between them. From afar, he observed Alyssa for a short time, taking in the discrepancy between the image he had of her and her true wishes. Oberyn couldn't help but wonder if she had ever given her heart away to someone. She wasn't in love with him, which was both a blessing and a curse, and he didn't think she could ever come to love him. He knew that he couldn't possibly fall in love for a child. It was too much even for him.

He walked her way, taking a look at the young girl, who was pretending she could not see him standing right beside her. He didn't deserve to be acknowledged, she thought. Her hand was holding the coal with much too force, almost making it shatter between her fingers. When she realized what she was doing, Alyssa quietly relaxed her grip. 

"Can we talk?" He whispered to her, but it was her turn to coldly regard him with a dismissive look.

"What can we talk about, my lord husband?" Her words were solemn, but her tone was icy and distant.