It had been a long time since Kingsgrave had been peaceful. Ever since Barlay Manwoody had decided to take in his bastard daughters, the castle had been full of the noisy laughter of his seemingly endless brood of mischievous children, but there was something especially noisy about it today. Servants were bustling about, preparing for the return of the Lord and his three eldest sons from their trip to celebrate the marriage of their crown prince. It was unusual for all four of the lords to leave at once, and there was quite the air of relief from the somewhat beleaguered servants, but the real buzz was coming from the elder children.
The four lords were welcomed home with an entire procession of servants, and a crush of children ranging from the ages 3 to 9. Barlay Manwoody’s face glowed softly with pure joy at the sight of his kids, and he jumped off his horse and picked up his youngest son in practically one motion. Crushing that son in a tight hug, he proceeded to shower his other sons with hugs and kisses, allowing the servants to take his horse away, but also beckoning a couple to take gifts he’d brought for the boys from King’s Landing. It had been a journey of some distance, so all four men were dusty and tired, but Barlay looked more energetic than when they’d headed out this morning. Sometimes Kyne understood how his father continued to be so successful with women. When he smiled like that, it was hard to tell that he was old enough to be the grandfather of those children… the great-grandfather if they had all gotten busy early in life.
He wasn’t given much time to dwell on it, though. He’d barely gotten off of his own horse before finding himself face to face with his two sisters. They were practically shaking with excitement, very intentionally positioned so that he would have to push them to get them out of the way. Sometimes he wondered who’d cursed the Manwoodys into having a double portion of these little terrors. He desperately looked around himself for some kind of distraction, but Axton had already stormed off, and Dallin’s wife had him distracted with her dutiful greetings.
“Kyne.” Sara’s voice was mockingly stern.
“What?” He asked gruffly, pulling on his horse’s reins, and trying to pressure his sisters into moving out of the way. Not that it was ever easy to pressure them into doing anything. They were undaunted.
“What?” Sara parroted indignantly. “What?! Don’t you think you have something to tell us, dear brother?”
“Like what?” He kept his eyes on the ground and tried scooting past them with little success.
“Did you really think we wouldn’t hear?” Cara asked, brows raised.
“Of course he knows we heard. The whole kingdom’s heard at this point.” Sara said, patting her sister on the back in a mockery of sympathy. “He’s just acting as if we didn’t know. The nerve.”
“Not that we care to hear about all of your love affairs, mind you.” Cara bobbed her head and rolled her eyes at the thought. “But when it’s with a proper noble lady-“
“Against one of your rules!” Sara piped in.
“and in front of the entire kingdom, we ought to be the first to know!” Cara finished her admonishment.
“Are you getting married?” Sara started the shot of questions, but she wasn’t the only one.
“And when?”
“Have you deflowered her yet?”
“How long have the two of you been lovers?”
“The soon-to-be Lady Paramount of the Trident, of all things!”
“I heard she’s quite the fighter-“
“Just your type, of course.”
“but you usually stay away from even the handsomest and exciting of noble women. Especially one as desperate to be married as she. It would be like falling right into father’s hands.”
“Imagine. You of all the noble scoundrels in Dorne. Reduced to a breeding horse! Trapped in a grand stable the rest of your life away from the mountains and deserts you were born to run and randy in. We never would’ve thought it!”
“And then to kiss her in public! Here, we’d thought you’d inherited some of father’s wit. But instead it seems you’ve inherited his folly!”
Both of them burst out laughing then, and Kyne gave a mighty groan, before giving them both a bop on the head with his fist, one right after the other. “That’s enough out of the two of you.” He growled, grateful for the laughter that was a reprieve from the barrage of questions and mild taunts, and using the moment to take his horse and head for the stables. He didn’t want to ruin their fun by telling them their father had basically backed him into a corner concerning marrying at that point, and at any rate that hadn’t been on his mind when he’d kissed Lady Mere. It had just been another layer of permission, he supposed, but even if it hadn’t been there he wasn’t sure he could’ve stopped himself. He admitted it. They were right about all of it. All his life, he’d played his part perfectly as the sort of man a proper maiden should stay away from, and avoided even the possibility of intentions from those who would throw themselves at him anyways. And now he’d gone and stolen the lips of a woman who was everything he shouldn’t want. A parentless virgin of one of the highest statuses in the Seven Kingdoms, in desperate need of marriage.
And yet how could he not want her? She was… magnificent. Fierce, strong, and yet loving to her bastard sister, sincere towards him when he hadn’t deserved it. At times, she had almost seemed fragile. She’d never once acted put off by his refusal to be anything but himself, but nor did she seem blindly attracted to any man that smelled of danger. That she had even allowed him to kiss her had been its own mystery.
Without realizing it himself, a smile touched his lips.
“Seven hells.” Cara said, catching his attention once again. She was watching his face carefully. “Here we’d thought it was a moment’s lust getting the better of you. But look at his face, Sara, it’s love!” They both started giggling madly, still staring at him.
His slightly weather-roughened cheeks gained a rosy hue, and with nothing else to say, he gruffly spluttered, “So what if it was?” And took his horse and fled.