Somehow she holds herself taller still, and his eyes narrow when he must regard her thus. Her glare bears the steel of a warrior, and this might have made him laugh if she did not stand before him in such bare and brazen defiance. 'King' she names that unworthy lout who had seen them wed, a man who was no doubt already half turned toward the beckoning Stranger. She names that man king again, and again, and her avowed husband she demeans a guest, as if these dull hills and plains are not already his, and when his hand flies out in a fury, it does not hesitate before it cracks across her face.
Delectable is the justice in the strike, a flicker of retribution for all he has so far been made to suffer. There will be no further mockeries. She will know, before the night is through, who is her king. He steps forward, refusing to be cowed by her incisive gray eyes or her boorish nobility, and when he speaks again, his voice is lower, made smooth with the pleasure of having, he thinks, impressed upon her a valuable lesson.
"I will have no dying men touting themselves as heroes in my realm. They will be put out to die with the other corpses, and there they may hold court with the crows." That is the only place such feeble men belong. She will learn this, when she sits by his side; there will be no question of whose generosity grants the people their lives. There will be no crowding of simple heathens into homely halls, and there will be one king, and one king only. He is a guest in no man's crumbling keep; all doors will open for the privilege of his company. What dragon, having razed the sky, would ever tolerate the imposition of limits? There is no hall anywhere which is not already his. His reign will begin in King's Landing, perhaps, but its reach will not be halted. Rohan's own armies will see to to that.
"Do I shame you, wife? Better that you concern yourself with what shames me, for I could have done with it all. I am tempted to burn your straw hall, and to remove your doddering uncle from my sight for good. They displease me. I will be true to my word, and reduce this hovel to ashes so that something proud might rise where once it stood. Are you so anxious to see it done?"
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sforzinda
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Date: 2022-01-28 04:57 am (UTC)Delectable is the justice in the strike, a flicker of retribution for all he has so far been made to suffer. There will be no further mockeries. She will know, before the night is through, who is her king. He steps forward, refusing to be cowed by her incisive gray eyes or her boorish nobility, and when he speaks again, his voice is lower, made smooth with the pleasure of having, he thinks, impressed upon her a valuable lesson.
"I will have no dying men touting themselves as heroes in my realm. They will be put out to die with the other corpses, and there they may hold court with the crows." That is the only place such feeble men belong. She will learn this, when she sits by his side; there will be no question of whose generosity grants the people their lives. There will be no crowding of simple heathens into homely halls, and there will be one king, and one king only. He is a guest in no man's crumbling keep; all doors will open for the privilege of his company. What dragon, having razed the sky, would ever tolerate the imposition of limits? There is no hall anywhere which is not already his. His reign will begin in King's Landing, perhaps, but its reach will not be halted. Rohan's own armies will see to to that.
"Do I shame you, wife? Better that you concern yourself with what shames me, for I could have done with it all. I am tempted to burn your straw hall, and to remove your doddering uncle from my sight for good. They displease me. I will be true to my word, and reduce this hovel to ashes so that something proud might rise where once it stood. Are you so anxious to see it done?"