"You man are a whore, you shall never touch my body."
"We will see."
House Velaryon survived the murder of Targaryen blood lines during Roberts Rebellion. The Velaryon name had long lost its luster with little to no wealth left to it. Monford Velary...
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The tourney was much larger an endeavor than Vaelerys had expected. Every lord and lady across Dorne had sent a child of their lineage to fight in the tourney.
It was not organized by the Martell's but rather a group of the wealthiest traders in Sunspear. Even faces from across the Step Stones had appeared to gain favor in the eyes of the men with fat bellies and heavy pockets. Vaelerys had no doubt at least one Martell was expected to attend to please the merchants egos.
Arianne sat silent beside the Valyrian in their box front and center. Many men dared gaze at the married Lady of Sunspear and the unwed Princess. Arianne encouraged the flirtations while her married companion shied away from wandering eyes.
The first fight of the hour was provided by a mercenary of Myr and the Lady Valena Toland of Ghost Hill. Vaelerys remembered Valena well from her travels. A high spirited strong girl of only twenty, and heir to the burned castle of Ghost Hill. Destroyed by Queen Visenya during the conquest. A girl with a Dornish heart that burned for victory and liberation.
"I do hope Lady Valena triumphs over her Myrish opponent." She had decided to break the silence between the two women.
Arianne's eyes cut to her like knives, a critical look.
"And what do you know of the Lady Valena?"
"When your uncle and I visited her and her mother she struck me very deeply. She is heir to a shell of a castle yet hopes one day to restore it to a glory never seen before. The work of Queen Visenya was deep. The castle for 300 years has been patched together by wood and mud, yet she wishes to see its highest tower be built to touch the clouds."
Vaelerys fingered the emerald green gown which draped upon her knee. Her circlet of gold and pearls laid lazily on her brow.
The trumpet bellowed and Lady Valena and the Myrish mercanary charged at each other upon their stead's of autumn brown and wheat gold. Lady Valena took a blow to her leg but remained upon her horse.
"Another victim of the Targaryen tyranny. For five thousands years our people were enslaved by your kind. We are not made to live along side each other, Valyrians were cursed by the old Gods for their crimes long ago. And to those who remain, death only follows."
Arianne did not speak in neither hatred nor venom. But with a deep fear hidden within her prideful boast of Rhoynish victory over the Valyrians.
She could not blame her for her hesitancy. The marriage of Prince Rhaegar and Princess Elia brought a plague of destruction upon the world of Westeros. The Stranger visited many a night for both Martell's and the Targaryens. But Vaelerys was no Targaryen. She wished for nothing more than a peaceful existence.
Vaelerys did not advert her eyes as the two fighters turned to one another again.
"I am not a Targaryen, Princess. I am of salt and sea. Not fire and blood. My people left the freehold and never once held Rhoynish slaves to their name. We forged our path not with the fiery rage of dragons but with the wrath of the sea and its storms. Though mine blood has been muddled with theirs, I am a Velaryon. The Old, The True, The Brave. Yet now I am a Martell by law and must live by your words; Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken."
