❝ There was a feeling of inevitability when I met you. And our lives were fated to converge like some cosmic dance. And I think I had to break your heart and you had to break mine. ❞
As Cressida Black's lungs ceased to draw breath, Aurelia Martell's...
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The Red Keep, King's Landing
Usually, Aurelia loves to soak in until the water cools down and her skin gets so wrinkled it resembles a raisin. Today, however, she can't afford the pleasure of a long, relaxing bath. Instead, she washes quickly, careful to not get her hair wet. She hates rushing through her routine and is already in a bad mood when her maids dry her and massage scented oils into her skin.
"What do you want to do with your hair, Princess?" Madalyn asks Aurelia when she finishes brushing the knots in her ebony hair.
Dressed in her robe, Aurelia sits at her vanity table, staring at her reflection in the looking glass. On the one hand, she doesn't want to do anything too extravagant — she wants to be comfortable and doesn't want others to think she's making a statement of support for the Hightowers if she dresses too lavishly. But, she knows the Hightowers and their supporters will make sure to look their best, in anticipation of Aegon being named heir. She has to look better than them.
She sweeps her eyes over the surface of the vanity table, where Emilee and Liane have prepared a selection of jewelry. Gold necklaces and rings encrusted with diamonds and rubies stare back at her. Her gaze falls to a thin gold chain with the Martell coat of arms engraved in a pendant.
"Something simple," she says, with eyes fixed on the necklace. "I want to wear this."
Once her hair is done, falling in waves across her back and pulled away from her face, Marianne clasps the necklace around her neck before stepping away and she hurries to get dressed.
As she steps from behind the screen, Madelyn and the other maids gasp at the sight of her. Aurelia gives a little twirl, loving the way the fabric of the skirt moves and the colors blend together.
"You will outshine everyone today, Princess."
KNOCK!
KNOCK!
KNOCK!
"Aurelia? Leah?" called out a voice from the grave. "Leah? Are you in there?"
Aurelia's heart skipped a beat. It couldn't be...
She sprinted over and flung open the door, her breath hitching as she stared into the familiar blue eyes. Nineteen-year-old Johanna Swann stood before her, flesh and bone. Dressed in a gown made of luxurious silks and trimmed with white lace, Johanna was exactly as Aurelia remembered. Only a couple of inches taller than Aurelia was, her ivory-colored skin was flawless, contrasting perfectly with the wave of ebony hair that cascaded down her back
"Johanna..." Aurelia breathed.
Here she was, in the flesh, alive. Images of the fate Johanna met in her dreams flashed through her eyes, captured by pirates on Shipbreaker Bay, forced to prostitute herself on Essos. After the second of her dreams, after recognizing it for what it was — a vision, a premonition, a warning of what was to come — she'd hastily scribbled a note to Stonehelm, inviting her cousin to court to become her lady. As time passed and Johanna failed to arrive, she'd feared she'd been too late, that she'd already been taken.
