The Stag and The Wolf

Chapter 7

Skylea's POV

The beginning of our ride to the Red Keep was done in a somewhat sullen silence but improved as the day went on. I rode my dark grey stallion, Winter with Lyanna lapping at my heals and Arthur and his horse were not far behind. I'd soon find out that this would be a privilege from Queen Cersei since she didn't find it appropriate for the King's Hand's eldest daughter and betrothed of Prince Arthur to be riding around on a horse and messing up my appearance. My punishment for my unladylike behavior would be to ride in a carriage with Sansa and Arya for the rest of the week, which at first wasn't so terrible but eventually got worse as the week went on. Their constant bickering was annoying, to say the very least and the carriage was so cramped my legs would ache with pain from the lack of movement. It was only after a week of travel did we get to take a day off and I was relieved of the torture of carriage riding. I would not get the day off completely though as I was supposed to sup with the King's family as Arthur's betrothed. I found this extremely odd considering Sansa had not been invited also and she was Joffery's betrothed but knew better to bring it up.

To prepare for the event I had Sansa help me pin my hair up in a tight bun and slip two winter roses in my hairdo. She also helped me into my midnight blue dress and frost colored cloak. As far as I knew the dinner would be personal but I could not risk looking bad in front of the royal family.

"Thank you Sansa!" I said to her cheerfully as I slipped out of the carriage I had been changing in and out to meet Arthur. From what I could hear from inside Arya had been questioning the Prince extensively, asking him about this or that and making sure he had the right idea about how to treat her big sister. In response Sansa smiled and pushed me out the door and into the arms of Prince Arthur Baratheon.

"Nice catch!" Said Arya with a giggle as the prince set me down lightly on my feet and offered me his arm. My cheeks burned a bright red at her comment but the prince gave me a reassuring smile as I took his arm.

"Thank you for catching me." I mumbled to him as we walked toward his family's tent on the other side of camp.

"No problem." He responded with a warm smile. His usually messy black hair seemed to have grown even wilder as we made our way towards King's Landing and currently was sticking up in the front despite his obvious efforts to make it sit down. "How have you been my lady? Feeling better?" He asked curiously.

"I wasn't aware I had been feeling bad." I said, suprised by his statement.

"My mother told me that you had come down with a cold and were confined to your carriage this week." He said, confusion filling his voice.

"Your mother was the one who confined me to the carriage. She seemed to think my riding was inappropriate for a lady of my status." I told him, a certain bitterness filling my tone.

"I'll take care of that." He responded shortly with a tone that was colder than a winter wind. I nodded my assent and we made our way into the tent. I was seated between Arthur and Joffery and was surprised to see the King's place vacant. As far as I knew there wasn't a reason the King would not be here.

"Where's Father?" Implored Tommen to Cersei as he sat himself in between Cersei and Myrcella. His golden curls were a bit askew but the little boy did his best to fix them.

"He'll be here later my sweet. He's busy right now but he'll be here soon." The queen told her son, smoothing down his curls. The boy nodded his understanding but didn't do well hiding his disappointment. As we sat there waiting upon our food to come the children filled the space with their chatter, Tommen talking about the squirrel he saw in the woods and Myrcella telling of her needlework and how she thought she might make her mother something later if she kept getting better. Their chit chat reminded me of Arya and Bran and their behavior at our family dinner's. Eventually the children's daily reports came to an end and Arthur filled the silence instead, talking about how he worked on his swordplay and how he was glad I could make it to the dinner.