The Crowned-Stag Hall

[Marie]

"You," she snapped, pointing a finger at him. "What in the Seven Hells did you say to Marianne?"

[Sam]

"I told her that she would marry Lord Wylde. She's got the gall to shit all over the honor of her House, and you're mad at me?" he asked. "I've put a bounty on that whoreson Wylde, and when we return to Storm's End I'll be sending Rodrick east to go and bring her back, so rest assured that the situation is being handled."

[Marie]

"handled badly," Joanna spat. "I thought Marianne told you that Lord Wylde had no more wish to marry her than she did him?"

[Sam]

"She did," Steffon shot back. "She also once told me that the sky was red and Storm's End was built by Queen Nymeria. That does not make her statements any more true. Lord Wylde's lady mother assured me that Oscar would marry Marianne, and I considered it settled until she dissapeared. Besides, it is not for her to choose her husband anyway, and she knows it well."

[Marie]

"You chose badly," she told him. "Had you chosen well, Marianne would have wed your choice and gladly. As it is, well, she contemplated sacrificing herself to a difficult marriage. It broke my heart to see her thus, but it seems she changed her mind. Gods, Steffon, do you want your little sister to be miserable?"

[Sam]

"Of course not but as the Lord of the Stormlands I have slightly greater concerns than the happiness of one woman, even if she is mine own sister," Steffon said.

"There are many who begrudge me our mother's Targaryen heritage and I must work constantly to secure stability and the alliance that I was attempting to broker with Blackhaven was intended to serve that purpose. I would have much preferred to marry Sarah Erenford," he said, referring to a girl he'd fallen in love with as a squire, "but it was my duty to marry for the betterment of the Stormlands and I did so."

[Marie]

Joanna frowned. She understood his position but Marianne's predicament worried her more. After all, she had five brothers but only the one sister.

"I am sorry for you, truly, but sacrificing yourself is different from putting another in the same position. Look at Daeron. He was promised to a daughter of Lord Dawnrose long before Lord Dawnrose even had a daughter. Uncle Talyn's reasons for that match were political and logical but it has not made Daeron happy. Or Calla, from what Daeron tells me. What harm does it do if Marianne is with Lord Wylde's brother rather than Lord Wylde himself? They are of the same house."

[Sam]

"The point is that the future Lord Wylde would be kin to my own son and that relationship would likely secure the loyalty of Blackhaven in the future, just as my marriage has secured the loyalty of Nightsong," he replied, his irritation beginning to show.

"As it stands, she ran off to marry a landless hedge knight, albeit one with a noble name, a man who is not worthy of marriage to a sister to the King. My father is likely be rolling over in his grave," he added with a dour frown.

[Marie]

"i doubt your father would care that much," Joanna said with a laugh. "As to Ser Tybolt, he i no hedge knight, or at least he wasn't before your disapproval drove him and Marianne away. Besides, if Lord Oscar has no heir of his own, does that not make Ser Tybolt and his heirs the next lords of Blackhaven?" Joanna countered. "TThat would achieve your aim, I believe."

[Sam]

"For the time-being perhaps, but when Oscar Wylde marries and begets his wife with a son, my efforts would be for naught. Did you have a purpose coming here, or did you just intend to rant at me?" Steffon asked. "Tybolt Wylde will be brought back here in chains, so I may send him to the Wall, or else his head will be brought back which is just as good. Marianne may do as she pleases, now that she has cast aside her family for a peasant's life."

[Marie]

She glared at him.

"Steffon, if you do this thing I will never forgive you. Did no-one tell you why Lord Wylde did not wish to marry our sister?"

[Sam]

Steffon shrugged. "He must be a fool, to turn down such a bridal offer, or else he has a secret lover somewhere that he did not wish to put aside."

[Marie]

"Then blame him, not Marianne and Ser Tybolt."

She wondered whether she should tell him the truth.

[Sam]

"I have Lord Oscar to blame for his brother running off with my sister? I think not, Joanna," Steffon said. "Your counsel is usually good, but you have a tendancy to absolve a woman of guilt in any situation, regardless of the circumstances."

When Joanna opened her mouth to protest, he held up a hand, and continued speaking. "Marianne never once indicated that she would prefer to marry Ser Tybolt over his brother, she only refused to marry the Lord, as she has refused to marry every other man I have suggested to her in the past.

"The fact of the matter is that I would have allowed her to wed Ser Tybolt in Oscar's place if the pair had come and asked my leave to do so, as custom and law dictates. Instead they chose to flee in the night like a pair of criminals, and thus became such. I will not suffer such insults on the honor of House Baratheon," he said, looking his elder sister square in the eye. "I am well within my rights to act as I have."

[Marie]

"I understand that but you do not know the full truth," Joanna sinsited. "Marianne did not believe you or Lady Wylde would accept her marriage to Ser Tybolt. That much I know for a fact. She was afraid of your wrath if she chose the younger brother over the elder. That must be why she fled. As to why she did not confide in you, your certainty in matters of law and 'right' do not make you an easy confidant. Lord Oscar...well...there is something that you ought to know that you do not."