To Love, Once Again

"I was told you were leaving at first light." Icaros stiffly asks Dorne, who continues to munch on his bread roll. He was dressed much simpler than in his usual noble regalia, with the ever-present sword at his waist. This outfit fit Dorne better, showing him as the ruffian mercenary he was.

Sera blinks in surprise at Icaros's statement. Hadn't Lucien said that Dorne was going to be bait? As the realization of what this meant comes to her, Sera breathes deeply in relief. Lucien letting him go meant that he'd found out who was behind Dorne. The castle would become a much safer place, especially for the maids that Dorne preyed upon.

Shrugging, the red-haired man grins between bites.

"My men need to eat."

"Your men?" Sera peers out over Icaros's shoulder, standing on her tip toes. When did Dorne have other men? He hadn't seemed the type to interact with people well.

"Tut-tut. So naive, you are. Think I would come to this lion's den on my own?"

Icaros tightens his grip on his sword as Dorne steps out the door, revealing more rough men behind him, carrying sacks like the one he had slung over their shoulders.

Escorting the Queen away from the door to allow the men to pass, Icaros mutters in a low voice.

"M'lady, we can visit the kitchens some other time, yes?"

Dorne laughs at the clear distrust on Icaros and Sera's faces. "Don't worry, I don't feel like biting."

As he steps out the kitchen door and past Sera, he whirls and bites the air in front of Sera and Icaros. Sera flinches at the sudden motion, doing her best to keep her expression impassive in the face of Dorne's cruel insanity.

"Woof! Woof!" He barks, laughing while the bulging sack sways over his shoulder, a train of men following him out.

"Good luck with that King. Why this country is so attached to him, I'll never know. He's just like me! HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!" Guffawing, he throws out the words with a devil-may-care attitude. Tears gathering at the corner of his eyes from the heavy laughter, Dorne limps forward, his legs unable to carry his weight in a steady stride like they'd used to.

"Don't listen to him, M'lady. He's only trying to get the final word-"

"Now here's a question: what WOULDN'T that King do to achieve his goals? Hmm?" Wagging his finger at her like a teacher would to a student, Dorne asks.

What wouldn't Lucien do? What was Dorne saying??

"Especially a man like him. No normal man could recover from my poisons so quickly."

As if he'd achieved something by telling Sera this, Dorne chuckles, triumphant. It made the fresh scratches under his eyes bleed red.

Sera clenches her fist, wanting to wipe that stupid look off his face. What did he know about her Lucien? No matter if they were related by blood, Lucien was nothing like this psycho Dorne.

"Lucien is nothing like you! He's a man of honor! He keeps his promises!" Sera yells out after him. Lucien was the kind of man who'd watched over the orphanage to fulfill her wish. There was no way he was similar to Dorne, even if they were half-brothers. It makes her angrier to see him laughing harder at her anger, holding his belly while he guffaws.

Wiping the tear out of his eye, Dorne smiles, finally sobering from his laughing fit. Turning around, he shuffles back towards Sera's direction.

In a dramatic whisper, he raises his brows and speaks.

"Here's a last gift to you, Mother of Leo." Goosebumps pebble on Sera's skin at the sudden kind gaze Dorne directs at her. His clear gaze seemed the most lucid she'd ever seen him. It wasn't the usual cycling between different expressions, like an actor would switch between masks in a theater. His eyes were green, Sera realized. A murky green-brown, like the silent waters of a pond deep in a forgotten forest.

"Since you were the closest thing to a mother I've ever seen..." His shoulders sag. Dorne looked..human again, losing all of his bravado while he utters in a small voice.

Sera didn't know. How Dorne had been abandoned by his prostitute mother. How his mother had foolishly thought that having a bastard child by the King would raise her from her poor station in life. How he'd grown up in the slums of a far-away nation, shipped off by the King to hide him, his mistake. How he'd watched parents abuse, abandon, and sell their children...How lucky he'd been that he'd matured into a stronger body..Dorne shakes his head, hard. Hard enough to make his brain rattle in his skull. There was no need to relive those memories.

It was better to think of the sight of this woman, arms tightly wrapped around her child in the Rose Garden. She didn't seem to notice her hair in disarray, clothes torn while deep cuts lashed into her arms from plunging into the thorn bushes. All she'd focused on was comforting the crying child she held to her bosom.

If only his own mother had done the same for him. If only his mother hadn't let the King's man come and take him away to the docks. If only he hadn't seen the dead look in her eyes as she watched him go, kicking and screaming, from her door.

Perhaps then, Dorne may have kept his honor.

Shaking his head, he stares at this Summoned One, the woman his half-brother chose. He stared hard enough that it makes Icaros uneasily push her to stand further back against the wall. Sadly for Icaros, she didn't comply, refusing to lose her ground and holding her head up high, staring right back at Dorne.

This former Queen must be the strangest of them all. To abandon her son, and then come back and do that?

Plunge through hedges of roses, and stand tall against himself, a man that had already harmed her once, to boot? She'd done this all for the son she'd abandoned.

It hadn't made sense to Dorne.

Swallowing the last hunk of bread, he cups his hands, as if holding something precious. "I had a clever bird once. A beautiful songbird that sung me lullabies to sleep. I'd captured it out in the wild, you see, luring it with treats until I finally caught it in a beautiful cage..."

Icaros nudges Sera's arm to escort her away, but she stays. Something about the look in Dorne's eyes as he gazed at some far away location, a gentle smile on his face..

"But the treats weren't enough. It wanted to be free. Too clever for it's own good, always unlocking the door and escaping. So you know what I did?"

"Did you break it's wings!?" It was a predictable response, Sera thought, for someone crazy like Dorne. What a cruel thing to do.

Back in teacher mode, Dorne waggles his finger at her, frowning dramatically at her response.

"Now, now. A songbird won't sing if it's wings are broken." He shakes his head as if this was the most obvious thing in the world.

"M'lady.." Icaros nudges her again, trying to get her to follow him away from Dorne.

"So what did you do?" Sera steps out from behind Icaros.

"I made a bigger, stronger cage, of course."

Dorne blinks at her as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. For a moment, Sera catches him glancing meaningfully at the wedding band on her finger.

"........"

"Why are you telling me this?"

Sera wasn't foolish enough to not understand what Dorne was saying. But she refused to believe it. Lucien, cage her?? He'd never tried to imprison her to keep her from leaving. Actually.. Sera unwillingly recalls the bitter memories. She'd returned before he had a chance to stop her.

"Speaking of cages," Dorne straightens his back, adjusting the hem of his simple dark-green tunic.

"I have a lovely wife waiting for me at the castle gates. Tell the King I'm pleased with the wedding gift!"

His injuries didn't seem to hamper his movements too badly. Waving a hand at her, Dorne leaves in a whirlwind of motion as swiftly as he'd appeared, down the hall in the direction his men had gone.