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CHAPTER TWO. ━━━━━━━━━ I have known happiness, but I won't ever find it again. ━━━━━━━━━
IT IS WHEN THEY SIT togetherin Elia's chambers later, after Astoria has settled in, that she finally starts to tell her friend about the betrayal.
How her husband had been seated on a massive black stallion with red ribbons woven into it's mane, his armour dark and scaled like a dragon's, looking as glorious as a prince should. First it had been Lord Brandon Stark who fell, defeated. After him had come two of the kingsguard; Ser Arthur Dayne, the Sword of the Morning, and Ser Barristan Selmy. They too had been bested by the dragon prince.
The cheers had been deafening as Rhaegar removed his helmet and his silver hair had come free. Lord Whent had declared him the champion and his daughter, the previous Queen of Love and Beauty, had presented him with a crown of winter roses for him to name the next.
Elia swallows before she silenty continues. "He did not even spare me a glance as he rode past me. That's when all the smiles died." Her fingers clutch her dress harshly, knuckles whitening. "He passed me over for a girl of ten-and-four. What have I done to deserve this shame?" She asks her friend and once more tears fill her dark eyes. She had not cried in front of her husband after the tourney, not wanting to give him the satisfaction, but now she can be free.
Astoria keeps quiet, paitently waiting for Elia to carry on talking.
"The feast following the joust is torture. I pretended not to hear the whispers, the snickers, pretended I haven't just been humiliated in front of half the realm," she smiles bitterly, "I had to sit on the dais beside Rhaegar like a sweet little wife, a meek mouse who accepts it all without complaint."
Astoria imagines the scene and it makes her want to scream, to cry, to hurt the man who had dishonered Elia.
"The girl is pretty enough for a child, I suppose. But not a girl to lose a kingdom for!" Elia declares and the next moment she cries out in shame. "He has made me like this. Rhaegar has made me this hateful. How can I blame a maid that young for my husband's lustrous affairs? I have been just as naive as her once."
It is then that Astoria takes her hands softly. "You are angry and you should be. You have every right to hate him the way I do," she whispers. "It is him who the lords think mad now, him who will suffer the consequences."
She smiles gratefully at the woman in front of her. "I want to curse this marriage but I cannot. It has given me my children and for them I shall live through any pain my lord husband presents me with." Her tears are dried now. "Let us not fret anymore. At this time of the day the gardens are lovely."
