In which Annalys Baratheon is arranged to marry Robb Stark and when her 'father' dies, she is forced to side with the North in the Five War of the Kings to save herself from being killed by her psychotic younger brother. What she didn't know was tha...
LION AMONG WOLVES — 30. Manipulation at its Finest
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
A few days later, Annalys was in her room as she assisted herself in getting dressed. Her mother insisted on allowing handmaidens to help her, but Annalys refused. She had gotten so used to getting dressed on her own, even though it happened to be a challenge at times.
As she attempted to tie the strings in the back of her corset, she stopped when she heard a knock on her chamber door. She let out a sigh, turning to face the door, "Come in," She spoke up and only a few moments later, the door was opened by Ser Loras, earning a bit of an eye roll from Annalys.
Ser Loras' eyes widened when he saw Annalys only half-dressed. Respectively, he quickly shut his eyes and turned away from her, "My apologies, Princess. I didn't know--" He began to say, only to be cut off by an annoyed Annalys.
"No need to apologize, just get over here and help me," She snapped at Ser Loras, who seemed to a bit taken aback by her blunt and slightly rude behavior.
Ser Loras tried his best to smile as he opened his eyes, walking over to Annalys. Annalys stood in front of her mirror and Ser Loras stood behind her, assisting her in tying the strings for the undergarments she wore under her dress, "It's odd, you know," She spoke truthfully to Ser Loras.
"What is?" He asked Annalys curiously, trying his best tie the strings of her undergarments, which he found to be hard to do.
"I grew up wearing dresses, but the second I joined the war, I began to wear tight pants and a top that was almost like a leather dress. Most of all, I wore armor. Now, I've gone back to wearing silk dresses and I find myself missing the armor. It was easier to put on, believe it or not." She explained and Loras couldn't help but quietly laugh.
"I forget you actually fought in the war," He commented with honesty, "You don't seem like the type. From what I've heard, you're great at it, though."
Annalys laughed, nodding her head, "I am," She responded, a proud smile on her face, "I'm sorry for your loss."
"What loss exactly?" Ser Loras asked, clearly trying to play dumb.
When he finished tying her strings, Annalys turned around to face Ser Loras. It gave full display to her cleavage since she was only wearing undergarments and a corset, but Annalys didn't care in the slightest. For more reasons than one, of course.
"Renly. The man you loved," She suddenly said, causing the man to tense up.
Annalys immediately noticed the way Ser Loras got ready to turn and leave after hearing her comment, but before he could, she roughly grabbed him by the arm. Loras turned to Annalys, shocked at the tight grip on his arm. It was sure to form bruises on his pale skin, "I'm not judging. Trust me. As a man once told me, we can't help who we love," She paused, a smile forming on her lips when she realized Jaime was the one who had told her that, "I lost Robb and you lost Renly. We both lost the one we loved and we're left alone in the world. I saw the way you reacted at Joffrey's wedding when you saw the dwarfs. We are the same in that manner. We're being forced to marry people we don't want to. People who we will never love in the ways our families want us to. All for the sake of our families, all to make them feel better about themselves after we supposedly 'Disgraced' them by loving someone they didn't approve of. I am your betrothed now, Ser Loras. You can sleep with any man you want, I don't care, but when people are around, we need to act as though we're happy with each other and in love. I can't have them knowing that I'm planning something," She paused, beginning to give Ser Loras a threatening look, "Lastly, if you ever find out I'm planning something that I shouldn't be doing and you try to tell someone, I'll kill you myself, understand?"
