WELL FLAYED [Game Of Thrones: The Boltons]

7. Sweet Scent

NISHA STOOD IN FRONT OF MYRANDA as she filled the tub with luke-warm water scented with lavender inside her chamber.

Nisha's black dress was soaked with water dirtied with mud, and blood and, well, with the seed of her husband she just fucked with the hilt of the dagger in the arse.

She was rough with him, and cruel, and savage. She thought he'd get him to suffer as he did to her. However, her awful flaws that she tried to show him only made him draw closer to her, like it did not matter, like his pain did not matter to him at all - as long as he was close to her. And something ridiculous happened. She heard those three words finally without his usual accompanying jeer. As he peered into her eyes when he topped her, all that she could see was the seriousness in them. No bullshit. No mock. No lies. At that time, it was just him, and the rawness of his words.

It was unbelievable.

It was ridiculous.

She couldn't understand it.

Myranda took off Nisha's heavy filthy garments, then guided her inside the tub, where she scrubbed all the dirt that latched on her skin, and washed her bare head freed from the escoffion she always wrapped it with.

She noticed how her lady was staring blankly at the ripples of the water, looking dazed, confused even. It made her stop scrubbing.

"What's the matter, mi'lady?"

Nisha suddenly blinked back, as if forcing herself to wake up from her thoughts. "Nothing." Then she sat up straight. "I just remembered, that I took some left-overs from the hunt. It's in that pouch. Could you get it and feed it to Silvy? She's in the basket over there."

"Of course, mi'lady."

Myranda stood up then grabbed the pouch from her vanity table. She opened it, and her lips curled up as she saw the heart of Tansy - chopped into pieces. She then went over to the basket beside Nisha's bed, then removed the lid, and it revealed a black snake in the size of two fingers stuck together, and the length of at least twelve inches.

Myranda was surprised. "I see that you've taken a... new pet that is not adorable?"

"Silvy's adorable. If you say otherwise, I'd feed your tongue to her."

Myranda chuckled. "Understood, mi'lady."

Silvy hissed in excitement when Myranda poured the remains of Tansy's heart inside the basket. The youngling snake immediately curled around it and took a piece in its mouth and slowly swallowed it whole. Myranda closed the basket, then returned to Nisha to scrub her back.

"Do you know why I called you here instead of Violet?" Nisha asked out of the blue.

"I'm not sure mi'lady. Perhaps you finally found in your heart to forgive me?"

"Not the slightest."

"Then what is it, mi'lady?"

"I want to know..." Nisha turned around to face her, water splashing beneath her with her sudden movement. "I want to know about your relationship with my husband, with Ramsay Snow."

"Mi'lady..." Myranda froze.

"I'm not angry, Myranda, I'm curious. Are you the one that he really loves? Am I the other woman in this?"

"My lady... you're the one that he married. You're not the other woman."

"Yes, but apparently it's all about duty and it's not about love. I know... I know full well that he does not love me. He's been fucking you from the beginning and did not even stop when we married. He continues to fuck you behind my back. If he really loves me, he would have stopped."