The dragons bastard

Chapter 46: The lioness and the stepmother

The wind whispered endlessly around the high white towers of the Eyrie, a hollow, mournful sound that slipped through the narrow windows like a warning. Inside one of its chambers-temporary quarters granted to guests of high birth-Katerina Lannister stood rigid beside the bed she had scarcely touched since arriving.

The room still carried traces of another presence-maps left half-rolled, a goblet forgotten on the table. Jacaerys Velaryon had not returned yet. For that, at least, she was grateful.

"You will not waste this," came the sharp voice behind her.

Katerina didn't turn at first. She knew that voice too well. Regarna never needed to raise it to command a room-it cut clean enough as it was.

"You speak of it as though I am broodmare," Katerina said quietly, her gaze fixed on the mountains beyond the window. "As though my life begins and ends with what I can give you."

"To our house," Regarna corrected, stepping further into the chamber. Silk whispered with every movement. "Do not twist this into something small. You are a Lannister. Your duty is not yours alone to decide."

At that, Katerina turned.

There was something brittle in her expression now-not anger alone, but something older. Worn.

"Duty," she echoed. "You've hidden behind that word since the day you came into my father's halls."

Regarna's lips thinned. "Careful."

"No," Katerina said, sharper now. "You be careful. You speak of legacy, of blood-as though it is sacred. But you have never once asked what I wanted. Not when you arranged alliances, not when you decided I would be sent here-" her voice caught, just briefly, before she forced it steady again, "-and certainly not now."

The wind howled louder, rattling the shutters like distant applause.

Regarna stepped closer, her eyes cold, appraising. "What you want is irrelevant if it threatens everything that came before you."

"And what of what comes after?" Katerina shot back. "You think forcing me into this-into him-will secure anything? You think a child born of resentment will strengthen our name?"

A flicker of something crossed Regarna's face then-irritation, perhaps. Or something closer to truth.

"You speak as though you have a choice," she said.

Katerina let out a bitter laugh. "That is precisely the lie you have always told me."

Silence fell between them, thick and suffocating.

Then, quieter-more dangerous-Katerina added, "You never cared. Not truly. I was never a daughter to you. Only an opportunity."

Regarna's expression hardened fully now, whatever softness might have lingered vanishing like mist.

"I gave you position. Protection. A future."

"You gave me a cage," Katerina replied.

For a moment, neither woman moved. The tension in the room felt like a drawn blade-one breath away from breaking.

Then Regarna turned away first, smoothing her sleeves as though the conversation had bored her.

"You will do what is required," she said coolly. "You always have."

She moved toward the door, pausing only long enough to add, "And in time, you will understand why."

"I am not finished," she said.

Katerina didn't turn this time. "You said enough."

"I said what was necessary."

Katerina's hand tightened against the edge of the table. "Necessary for you."