III

Oberyn visited you every night after this, purposefully crossing paths with you in the corridors during the day, stealing kisses from you in hidden spots when he found you alone in the castle, and even provided you with moon tea, making sure you'd taken it fully before ravishing you with his lips, making you peak so many times that night that you fear you would faint from so much pleasure.

The change in you wasn't a secret, apparently. Your father had noticed you had been happier than ever, Lady Lysa once passingly commented you were very smiley lately, and your Aunt Catelyn was completely smitten, seeming to be holding the key to an important secret.

Robb just seemed relieved that you hadn't told his parents about your incident at the day of his arrival.

The tournament, however, was coming to an end, and you knew Lord Stark and his family wouldn't stay around the Capital after that, which meant that whatever engagement announcement about you and Robb with be coming soon, and it was making you more worried.

"Tomorrow night I'm planning a special dinner," your father told you at the dinning table. "King Robert, Queen Margaery and her family will be present, the Starks too."

You raised your eyes at him, feeling Lady Lysa staring at you.

"Do you want my help, father?" you offered.

Your father smiled. He was an older man already, well into his sixties and still strong. It was hard to imagine him doing things without you, but he looked very capable now that you knew os his deal with Lord Stark.

Disappointed. That's what you were. Deeply disappointed.

"No, birdie," he told you, using the same old nicknamed he'd given you as a child. "I just want you to be wearing your best dress, please."

You nodded, trying not to sound deflated and defeated. This was it, then.

"Yes, father."

You continued to eat in silence, quietly resigned in your hurt. He still hadn't asked you any questions about your opinion about this engagement and was already scheduling a celebration and announcement with the king himself.

You were ready to leave when dinner was ever to lock yourself in your room and have your last night and a last goodbye with Oberyn when your father called for you as you two were left alone.

"Birdie," he stood from his place at the table. "Come to me in the morning before breakfast, I have something I was to talk to you about."

You swallowed down, taking in a deep breath.

"Did something bad happen, father?" you asked, trying to pretend you didn't know what it was about.

"No, birdie, no," he smiled. "It's something good."

You nodded, crossing your hands in front of you.

"May I go now, father?" you asked. "I'm tired."

He confirmed.

"Of course," he nodded. "Go, my love. Good night."

You walked out silently, and locked yourself in your room, just sitting down on your bed and sighing. If you didn't want to marry before, you were now adamant about it. You couldn't marry your step-cousin. You were in love with Oberyn.

Oh, dear gods… you were doomed, so doomed.

"My dear?" you heard, and tried to hide you sniffling and crying as Oberyn stepped close to you and sat by your side on the bed. "What is wrong?"

You sighed, frustrated. The last month of your life had honestly been the best one so far. With him, you never thought of your responsibilities or the day after tomorrow and what you needed to do. You were free to be yourself and to feel something for yourself, and that made you happy. And if this was not what being in love felt like, you weren't able to give it any other name.

The way he called you my dear alone would make you feel as if you were walking on clouds.

What was honour if you couldn't be happy? Honour made other people happy, it was all about what other people thought of you, and it meant nothing in the end. Nothing.

"Father will announce my engagement tomorrow," you covered your face with a hand. "He invited the King, the Queen and her family and the Starks for some special dinner, and told me to wear my best clothes."

He sat by your side, and you rested your hand on his shoulder, quickly being embraced by him, and you couldn't help but break down, crying into his chest, lost.

"What are you going to do?" he asked, rubbing a circle on your back.

You sighed, unable to own think of anything to say. What could you even do? You had nowhere to go, no one to appeal to. Who would even take you?

"What can I do?" you mumbled.

Oberyn made silence for a moment, and moved back at last, raising your chin so you could look into his eyes, looking more certain than you'd even seen him.

"Run away with me," he offered. "We can go to Dorne. It'll be your home."

You hesitated, taking in a deep breath.

"Oberyn..." you sighed.

"You are a bird," he interrupted you. "Birds are made for sunlight to fly and feel the heat of the sun! You were made to live, to be free."

You swallowed down, still unsure of what to say. Yes, you wanted to go with him, you wanted to be with him, of course you did! But you knew your father, and you knew he would never believe you ran away on your own, especially with a random man.

"Father will follow us as soon as he hears about it and force me back," you reminded him, already crying again.

"Then marry me," he declared, as if it was obvious. "Be my wife."

That made you freeze in surprise, staring at him.

You weren't a fool, you knew Oberyn was a free man. He had four daughters, each one with a different woman.

"You want to marry me?" you repeated his words back to him.

"I do, yes," he confirmed.

You continued to stare at him.

"Are you sure?" you insisted. "I know you..."

But Oberyn just took your hands, squeezing them.

"I'm in love with you, and this might be a sudden decision, but I want to do that. If you want me..."

"I do," you jumped in, interrupting him.

He nodded and offered you a gentle smile, kissing your knuckles.

"Let's go."

Your eyes widened. He wanted to go now?

"The guards..." you tried to argue with him.

But Oberyn just waved a hand.

"Take a bag and your favourite dress in," he instructed you. "Everything else will be taken care of."

Finally, you nodded and stood up, kicking your shoes away and fishing for your dress in your chest, also taking two comfortable pair of shoes and something to keep your hair up. You had enough experiences travelling from the Eerie to King's Landing and back to know there were little things more important than comfort when you took the road way.

Oberyn reached for you, offering you his hand to take, and this time you didn't hesitate before taking it.

He guided you to the side of your room, besides a shell you never paid too much attention to, and pushing a door with the same colour as the wall and exposing a corridor to you.

Oh, so that was how he accessed your room.

"Come with me," he instructed, taking a torch hanging by the side after he closed the door, and you nodded, squeezing his hand as he guided you through it in deep silence, descending stairs so long that you lost track of how long you'd been walking down.

Soon, the light of the moon was shining over the two of you, and you had had to hold back from looking at it in your rush. He dragged you through a long corridor smelling like sea salt and sweat, and things you didn't want to know about, and, finally, the construction way ended in front of the ocean, and he guided you to where a black horse was tied, hidden by the darkness of the night.

"You trust to leave them here?" you frowned, looking over at him as he caressed the animal's head. "Someone could have stolen them."

Oberyn chuckled.

"You just allowed a prince to sneak you out in the middle of the night through a tiny set of stairs, with no protection of your own, and you ask me about trust?" he raised you an eyebrow, hanging the torch away. "He's a Dornish sand steeds. There is one waiting for you in the house that I rented, and they will get us far from the capital before anyone will notice."

Without asking, Oberyn came over to you and grabbed your waist, lifting you up and sitting you over the horse, and you straddled it correctly as he was climbing up.

You kept your eyes down as guided the horse through the most crowded areas, only relaxing just a big when you reached the house Oberyn had rented, quickly being welcomed by a squire who had his eyes wide when he seemed to realise who you were.

"I'll take need your horse and your cloak," Oberyn declared, not even letting him speak, and put a bag of gold in his hand. "Buy another in the morning."

"Yes, your grace," he nodded.

"We're leaving tonight," your lover declared. "Pack us wine, food and water, please. Palatable things for the lady."

"Yes, your grace."

In just minutes, you and Oberyn were already on the way again. This time, you were in your own horse - his squire's horse - and rode out of town quickly, and it was just when you were out of town and in the King's Road, and the sun started to show through the horizon, that the weight of your actions fell upon you.

You were running away. For real.

You were running away from home, with Oberyn.

For the god's sake, you didn't even know how far away Dorne was! The only three places you'd ever seen in your life were Riverrun, the Eerie and King's Landing. You didn't even know where in the seven hells Dorne was.

"We should probably take a ship," he told you. "I have some a friend that'll take us and the horses in, there's no need to worry."

You nodded slowly, still holding tightly onto your horse as you tried to keep yourself calm, and Oberyn turned to look at you with worried.

"What is it, my dear?"

You stared at him for a moment.

"Are you sure?" you asked.

Oberyn reached out with his hand, crossing the distance between your horses as they strode slowly side by side.

"If I weren't, we wouldn't be here, my love."

You breathed in deep, and nodded.

"Alright," you mumbled.

He kissed your hand, and you did the same before releasing his hand.

"Do you want to go back?" he asked. "We can..."

"No," you shook your head. "I don't."

It finally came to your mind all of the stories about ladies who were 'kidnapped' and disappeared out of thin air. How many of them had just been tired of their lives or didn't want to follow through with marriages imposed on them. You always heard about how Dorne was a land with strange laws and costumes that hurt the very fabric of society, but they were just... free. That was what you wanted, that was what you craved for so long but couldn't name.

Your whole life, you'd taken care of your father's business, of the Eerie, of his household and everything while he cared for King Robert's duties. You already knew what life like a Lord's wife was, and you didn't want it for yourself. You wanted to live and be happy under the sunlight of Dorne with Oberyn, even if he hadn't truly meant it when he wanted to marry you, even if that made you his whore.

A free whore was still free above anything else.

"I want to go," you said simply.

Oberyn's lips curled in a small smile.

"You said it can be our home, didn't you?" you asked him.

"Yes," he confirmed.

"Well then," you faced forward. "I said yes, didn't I?"