Chapter Text
“Why should I not think of you as a man whose best years are behind him, a sad old man clinging to his past glory and his oh-so-exalted voyages across the sea like a drowning man desperately clinging to a sinking ship?”
“There are still countless treacherous and dangerous waters for me to sail. My days of braving the sea is not yet over. And a man of eight-and-thirty is hardly old, Princess.”
“My lord Corlys, you are older than my father.”
“But more comely, surely? More … daring, shall we say? Bolder, and with more of a come-hither look in the eyes?”
“More full of yourself, certainly. My father is not a man accustomed to praising himself in front of others.”
“Oh? Does he praise himself only when he is alone? Or does he wait for others to do it for him?”
“You're impossible!”
“I speak in jest. I have only the greatest of respect for Prince Aemon.”
“The sentiment is not reciprocated. My father thinks you are vulgar, full of naked and undisguised ambition.”
“Would disguised ambition be better?”
“Not to me. But to my father, well, it's a different story.”
“And yet he has approved of our betrothal, and successfully convinced your grandsire the king to give his blessing.”
“My mother thinks you could be useful to my cause.”
“And what do you think?”
“I think we could make use of one another. It is to both our benefits, for me to claim my rightful place on the Iron Throne. To that end, your wealth and your influence might come handy someday. I have uncles, you see. And uncles have been known to -”
“- usurp the claim of their nieces? With me by your side, Princess, that fate will not be yours.”
“You have such great faith in yourself.”
“No more than you do.”
“You underestimate me at your own peril, my lord Corlys, if you presume that you will be able to prevail upon me and rule the Seven Kingdoms in my name, while I sit meekly and quietly in the shadow. When I am queen, I will suffer no king to reign above me, or even beside me.”
“I would never presume that you would ever sit meekly and quietly, in or out of the shadow. We are not shy or timid people, either one of us.”
“No, we are not.”