“So My Lady, what was your reason for the sudden visit today?” Peregrine asked, diplomatic as always. Vanessa, grinned a mad grin but spoke in sister to Caemryn. ”I came here because I thought we would be going on a trip together. I was even beginning to warm up to the thought of your dear obscure husband being present. However since Khalidor is out, what do we do in its place? We’ve been cooped up in the kingdom for too long. Please tell me you’ve something planned, because frankly I don’t see how you stay around this castle that, by the hour, smells like burning flesh.”
"A Trip?" Caemryn couldn't believe the words. "You've seen my husband, if I don't keep him in that damnable "laboratory" I won't have any people to rule...I can't leave him and I certainly can't take him anywhere..." She snapped, her breathing quick, but she sat back against her chair, drinking from her wine glass. "I never did tell you what happened the day we were engaged, did I?" She said, thrusting out her arm. "More Wine." she said without looking at the wine bearer.
"I was young, as you remember when father brought me to meet the King of Valyria...I was excited, I just knew I would be Queen." She began, taking a swing of wine. "What I hadn't known was there were many girls, awaiting to become Queen. So when I arrived, I put it into my head that I would do anything to make him choose me." She said, the wine doing it's job finally.
"We were all presented to the King, all at once. That's when I noticed something was off about him. He was handsome enough but he would warp his face, twitch every so often. It was odd, but I left it alone, twisted it into my head so that it seemed charming." She said, her lip twitched in disgust. "The whole day, we all danced and sang and laughed for no real reason, all to please him.Realizing that the usual tricks wouldn't work, I decided to learn him, find out what interested him and I did...You see, You were never meant to be Queen of anything, you weren't raised that way, but me, Our parents, our mother, she made sure I would be Queen, it was expected of me."She said, looking at her sister.
"So, when all was said in done, and we retired for the evening, I snuck my way into his chambers. I found him there, in bed, he wasn't sleeping, just laying there, face twitching. I moved to him, graceful and soft. I told him, how lovely I thought his eyes were, and how bright his teeth were, but that didn't seem to interest him, it wasn't until he noticed that my dress was red and told me that was his favorite, I asked him why and he told me...It reminded him a fire, but not fire itself, but what it did to the skin. That's when I knew, this man, or boy then, was insane....I didn't let it deter me though, because, I would be Queen, so I asked him to show me." She said, with a measured smile, "I let him hold my candle to my arm, and burn my skin. He held it there in just enough time for my skin to turn red. I didn't move, I just let it happen." She said and took another drink. "He likes to tell me, that was the day he fell in love with me..." She said disdainfully. "Anyway, I told him after that, how fascinating that was, but I feared he would not be able to show me any more things like that because I would have to leave, that he would have to marry one of the other girls, and she wouldn't like that but if we marry, I would become his, and his forever, and he could show me all the things he wanted to. " She said and her gaze drifted. "With that, I gave him a kiss, on the forehead, and went to bed, and I knew I won him over....What I hadn't known, was what he would do next and what he did shocked me..." She said and looked at her sister. " You remember mother, her teachings, her lessons in blood magic, do I look easily shocked?"
She asked rhetorically. "What he did, shocked me." She said, her gaze drifting "I can still see them....All the girls, all of my competition, burning, screaming...and him, standing there, arms out wide, presenting me with my engagement gift and promising more to come when we marry....he has not gone back on the promise." She said, looked to her sister.
"You want to socialize....with him about...that man, who, if given the chance, would burn the world to the ground if only to please me?" She said, "or worse, have me leave him, here, for more girls, to suffer his experiments...For what? Because you're bored and sick of the smell...?" She said and drank the rest of her wine.
"The point of that tale is this, that man, needs handled, carefully, by me and only me, I can not waste time, going anywhere, with or without him."