Trials and Tribulations of the Oathkeeper

Chapter 37: The Red Viper of Dorne

―At King's Landing―

Red Keep ― Royal bedchamber...

Daveth had been sitting down in his room preparing for the wedding, dressed in the finest silks. His clothes were of black and gold, had crimson red sleeves with a crimson cape and his stag crown stood next to him. But in front of him stood Lord Yohn Royce, Lady Anya Waynwood and Ser Vance Corbray who arrived at Daveth's invitation.

"Thank you for coming to King's Landing as soon as you were able, my lords," he said before turning to Anya. "My lady. The royal wedding begins in two days, but I'm sure you have certain reasons for coming. Lord Varys has informed me that each of you have requested an audience of utmost importance with me. Well... here we are. Tell me. What has been troubling you all?"

Lord Royce was the first to speak up. "We apologize for not coming to your aid during the rebellion sooner, but that's not why we are here. No. Our business concerns lie with the arrangement you made with Lady Arryn, especially with that snake Baelish."

"And what it is about him that bothers you, Lord Royce?"

"I didn't need to hear about him. Moneylender, whoremonger. No offense meant, Your Grace, but Baelish's been licking your lord grandfather's boots so long, it's a wonder his tongue's not black."

Deciding not to beat around the bush already, I see. He is rather direct, that Bronze Yohn, I'll give him that.

"And when our late Lord Jon Arryn decided to name him Master of Coin, no one cared. Always been a grubby job. Why not let a grubby man do it? But when I heard that you arranged a betrothal between Baelish and the Lady Arryn..."

Daveth interrupted him. "We all know that it was neither secret nor a coincidence that Lord Baelish and Lady Arryn had a past history given their childhood at Riverrun, my lord. We all know how... 'close'... they were. I've seen quite a bit of that back when I was a boy so there's no need to remind me of such an odd fish."

Silence filled the room.

"You mean you didn't know? Of course, you didn't. Lysa never loved Jon Arryn, but did her duty as a Tully regardless... at least for 17 years, given her sanity. Then she was free to do as she pleased now that she's now married to Lord Baelish."

"No need to remind us of that," Yohn said somewhat rather disgusted. "You should have seen how she raised her boy. Feeding him from her own teats when he was 10 years old in front of us..."

"Lord Royce! Lady Arryn's predilections were her own affair," Anya chimed in. "The concern and well-being of the Vale is our affair as well."

"Of course."

"It is correct that everyone knows she is an odd fish, but it does strike us as... odd, that she be wedded to Lord Baelish so soon after keeping all of us back in the Vale isolated for so long. I don't see her doing something so reckless, not by choice, unless Lady Arryn was promised something in return."

"The Vale might have returned to the fold when Lady Arryn and her son Robin bent the knee, but that we are not yet still the Seven Kingdoms," the Young Stag replied. "Each of us had to make sacrifices of our own, Lady Waynwood, but I was getting rather increasingly irritated with Lady Arryn's stubborn persistence of not answering my summons until recently. Strange that after her wedding to Lord Baelish she suddenly decided to comply."

"And so you used her to achieve your own ends," Yohn said almost accusingly.

Daveth swore he felt a nerve twitch. "I had my reasons. And you'd do well to watch that tone of yours when you're in my home, Lord Royce."