Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken

Chapter Thirteen: Not Expected

Stepping into the room where the revel was taking place, Ellaria was rather surprised with how many people were in attendance; a part of her had hoped that the place would be nearly deserted. 

She hadn't thought that Amara was that popular and from what she had seen of the younger woman; she seemed to mostly keep to herself, she hadn't expected this at all when she had convinced Oberyn to attend. 

Once they had been the centre of attention at court, everyone knew that it was them that made court parties a place to be seen; however, things seemed to have changed rather quickly. 

Her eyes swept over the faces in attendance, people that she had once thought as her allies now seemed to have flocked to Amara as if sensing something that Ellaria couldn't. 

Holding her head high, Ellaria knew that there would be no ignoring her especially since she had arrived on Oberyn's arm; people were bound to notice the arrival of the Red Viper especially at an event like this. 

However, looking up at Oberyn, Ellaria realised that she might have another issue that she hadn't considered; she suddenly felt foolish especially since she had known the other woman would be there. 

There in the centre of the room dancing with another man was Amara, she looked beautiful in the dress that she was wearing and a carefree smile on her face. 

Even Ellaria couldn't ignore the glare that was on Oberyn's face as he watched his wife with another man; she tried to pull his attention back to her only to be shrugged off. 

She could only watch as Oberyn made his way across the room, his eyes firmly fixed on the one person that Ellaria would rather pretend didn't exist and she suddenly became painful aware of her situation. 

No matter how much she tried to tell herself otherwise, Ellaria knew that she was the other woman in this situation and she was declared officially as Oberyn's mistress now not as his paramour as she had been for years previously.

Oberyn stalked across the room, his eyes never leaving his wife as she continued to dance; annoyance filling him at the fact that she had not seemed to notice that he had arrived. 

Her dance partner also seemed to not have noticed that he was here and Oberyn found it hard to place the man's face; he had seen him around the palace that was certain but he could not think where. 

"May I cut in?" Oberyn announced making sure his voice was loud enough to be heard, he watched as the man quickly released his wife and bowed down to him. 

Amara turned to face Oberyn, she schooled her expression as she looked at him hiding away any emotions about him being here but indifference; she glanced behind him only to see an annoyed looking Ellaria. 

"My Lord Husband," Amara greeted, her eyes sweeping over him and she knew just what he had been doing before he had decided to interrupt her gathering. 

A part of her thrilled in the fact that she had managed to pull him away from his mistress; however, she wasn't going to fall into this trap that was clearly being set for her. 

"I am afraid that I have already promised the next several dances to others," Amara said, she looked him straight in the eye and didn't back down. 

His deep brown eyes filled with fury at her rejection of his offer and she offered him a carefree smile before she offered her hand to another man; she didn't look back as the man lead her into what was another dance. 

Oberyn was left on the side lines of the floor as people started to dance again; this was not what he had been expecting when he had come here.

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