A/N: Axel and his Queens talk~
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Daenerys Targaryen is very, very beautiful. And her handmaiden is quite the looker as well. Those are the first thoughts that run through Arianne Martell's mind when her husband the King finally steps into the front courtyard of the Red Keep with the two women in tow.
Everyone is there waiting for them of course. From her and Sansa along with Margaery and Tyene, to Axel's Hand and the rest of the Small Council. Most of the Kingsguard are out here as well, along with plenty of the Castle Staff. It's a very… crowded affair.
Axel doesn't quite miss a step as he enters the courtyard, nor does the triumphant and cocky smile on his handsome face drop either. Really, it would take someone who actually knew him to see the miniscule reaction to laying eyes on all of them for the first time in a week. Arianne happens to be one such 'someone' and so she sees the flicker in Axel's confident grin and the ever so slight stiffness in his walk all the same.
He especially has eyes for her and Sansa as he approaches and Arianne can already tell that he's more worried about how they'll react than anyone else. Even Stannis Baratheon, who could very well resign as Hand of the King if Axel can't give a good enough explanation for his actions to the man, barely gets more than a glance and a passing nod of acknowledgment for now.
Its Sansa and Arianne that Axel walks right up to, his hands reaching out for theirs. Arianne doesn't hesitate and she's glad to see her fellow Queen doesn't either, both of them reaching out in tandem to meet his fingers and intertwine them with their own. The smile on Axel's face becomes a bit more relaxed at that point, as well as just a little softer.
For a single moment, he just holds their hands. And then, before anyone else can muster the courage to interrupt, he turns to his Small Council and speaks.
"I imagine many of you have things to speak with me about. For now, I will need a moment alone with my Queens. Margaery, Tyene, please see Lady Daenerys and her handmaiden Missandei to their rooms. Everyone else… we will talk soon enough."
There's a note of finality in his voice and just a hint of steel in his tone at the end there. It's a small reminder of just who they're dealing with here. Axel Baratheon isn't just the King of Westeros. He's the man who survived the Strangler and a wildfire explosion, and fought a kraken besides. And now he's the man who won a Trial by Combat against a Targaryen Sorceress and her three dragons.
Never mind that the Targaryen Sorceress is standing among them in a shoulderless silver dress that makes her look far more innocent and maiden-like than she actually is. Never mind that all three dragons are still alive and back on Dragonstone along with a foreign fleet filled with an army of Unsullied.
When you could do the things that Axel Baratheon can do, you got away with a lot more than any other King ever could. Frankly, they're lucky that he's a far better man than his predecessors, because Arianne shudders to think what the state of Westeros would be if either Robert Baratheon or Aerys II Targaryen had the sort of power that Axel had.
In the end, he gets his way… because of course he does. Margaery and Tyene break off to escort Daenerys and her handmaiden into the Red Keep. The Small Council and everyone else can only watch on as Axel, still holding Sansa and Arianne by the hands, carefully and gently leads his very pregnant Queens into the Red Keep as well.
Being one of those pregnant women, Arianne allows herself to be led, sharing a glance with Sansa that results in a nod from the red head. When they finally arrive at their destination, their shared bedchambers with Axel, he helps them both over to the bed and has them sit down. Then, standing before them, he finally lets the mask drop, his smile dropping into a grimace.
"I'm sorry, I know you both must be quite upset with me…"
Arianne and Sansa respond by giving his hands sharp tugs. Now obviously, they don't have nearly the physical strength to pull him anywhere he doesn't want to go… but Axel is currently very predisposed to giving them whatever they want, even if it's asked for wordlessly. And so he lets them gently but firmly push him down to sit on the bed between them.
Then, before he can say another word, Arianne reaches up with her free hand, cups Axel's cheek, and turns him in her direction. She kisses her husband then and there, tenderly and lovingly. His surprise makes it so that his half of things is perhaps… less than engaged, but Arianne doesn't mind just this once.
Nor does she keep kissing him until he gets with the program. Instead, she lets go after a moment, pulling back so that Sansa can do the exact same thing on the other side. The Northern Woman's kissing is a lot more ferocious and a fair bit rougher, her current state having not dulled her fiery attitude and icy determination even remotely. Arianne just smiles until Sansa pulls back as well.
Dazed and confused, Axel looks between them both for a long moment before shaking his head with a smile and a huff.
"… I don't deserve the two of you."
That, Arianne can't help but scoff at.
"Don't be ridiculous. You're the only man in the entire world who deserves either of us, Axel Baratheon."
Sansa nods sharply.
"She's right. No one else could ever possibly measure up."
Axel just laughs in disbelief at their semi-serious egotistical comments. Seeing this, Arianne meets Sansa's eyes out of Axel's line of sight… and winks before proceeding with fanning the flames just a tad.
"Honestly though, you couldn't find a new concubine that was a little less pretty? I understand if Margaery and Tyene aren't enough to satisfy you while we're this fat and heavy, but I would have preferred you pick up a mistress that didn't put our beauty to shame even when we aren't pregnant."
That causes Axel to gape at her for a moment, only for Sansa to sniff haughtily from his other side.
"Speak for yourself. If it wasn't for this all this weight I've been forced to put on, I would certainly give this Targaryen wench a run for her money. I know my worth and I know my beauty… when I'm not heavy with child, of course."
Looking between the two of them, Axel begins to sputter.
"Y-You both don't really believe that do you?! Neither of you is ugly, no matter what! And you're pregnant, not fat! You both are still as gorgeous to me as the day we first met, and I won't have you putting yourselves down just because you're pregnant with my-!"
Axel cuts himself off, finally noticing the wide grins on both Arianne and Sansa's faces. At long last, he realizes… he's being had.
"The two of you are messing with me."
Huffing, Sansa reaches over and pokes him in his ribs, though she's careful not to do so too hard and risk hurting her finger on their husband's invulnerable body.
"Yes. It's no less than you deserve too."
Arianne nods sagely from his other side.
"My fellow Queen is right. You thought we'd be upset because you spared Daenerys Targaryen? Don't be ridiculous, I saw that coming a mile away."
Mouth agape again, the King of Westeros looks back and forth between them with wide eyes.
"Then… you're upset because…?"
Rolling her eyes, Sansa growls.
"Maybe because you left us a week ago for the Trial by Combat, leaving us fearing for your life as well as our lives and the lives of our unborn children if you were somehow felled by the Dragon Queen's sorceries! And then we had to find out by way of raven that you'd won and were on Dragonstone setting everything to rights!"
Nodding again, Arianne pouts, playing the sad, doe-eyed Queen to Sansa's fire and fury.
"We weren't even sure if the missive was from you at first, Axel. Some thought it might be a trap to lull us into a false sense of security. It was only when you sent further word and no dragons showed up to burn down King's Landing and claim the Iron Throne for their Targaryen Mistress that we started to believe."
Wincing, Axel hangs his head sheepishly.
"… Sorry. I can see how that might have been… frustrating."
Snorting derisively, Sansa gives their husband a dry look.
"Frustrating? When you know that your husband can literally fly the length of Blackwater Bay in less than an hour and instead of coming to tell you himself, he keeps sending messages by raven? Yes, that was a teensy bit frustrating, Axel Baratheon."
As Axel hangs his head even more at that, Arianne gives her fellow Queen a 'look' to tone it down. But Sansa just gazes right back at her, reminding Arianne that they were not the same person and definitely not always of one mind about these things.
Indeed, Sansa had actually been ready to command for a boat to be prepared to take her over to Dragonstone after that first letter, so caught up in her anger and fear that she'd been willing to risk everything to get to the bottom of what was going on.
Arianne had been the one to talk Sansa down from that rather poor idea, and she'd also been the one to help temper Sansa's anger over the rest of Axel's insanity once further word reached King's Landing in the days after.
Still, even if Sansa is angrier at their husband than Arianne is for the very, very dumb things he decides to do sometimes, they are still unified in the end. So after a moment, Sansa softens her face and lets out a sigh, running her free hand through Axel's hair.
"Tell us what happened."
The King leaps on that like a lifeline, straightening back up and beginning to tell them the whole sordid tale. Some of what had occurred had made it to King's Landing by way of letter over the past week, but obviously Axel had left a lot of details out. He does not do so now, happily telling them all about the fight from start to finish along with what had happened afterwards.
Arianne admittedly shares a bit in Sansa's renewed anger when Axel admits that he didn't finish the duel as fast as he could have or even try to kill any of Daenerys' dragons once he realized that the her and the three of them were no match for him.
Admittedly, him pushing the fight all the way back to Dragonstone to make sure King's Landing was safe WAS good of him… but at the same time, it apparently allowed Daenerys to pull off a maneuver that nearly cost Axel his life!
When he confesses that Daenerys managed to not just draw blood from him but give him a head wound so serious he almost passed out over Blackwater Bay, Arianne and Sansa both can't help but interrupt the story to check him over.
By now though, he's already fully healed. The only sign of his injuries at this point is that a bit of the hair on the side of his head was scraped off along with the flesh and hasn't had the chance to regrow yet in the same way his skin has.
Of course, Daenerys Targaryen apparently being strong enough to actually harm him isn't even the craziest part of the story. When they get to the part where she accepted his offer of surrender only for the Red God from Essos to try and kill her and her dragons, Arianne's mouth drops open in shock and it only gets progressively more open as Axel describes everything that happened after that.
Arianne hadn't really doubted the Seven's existence for a while now, if ever. She'd always believed in them of course, she just hadn't… been the most devout follower of their teachings. But given all that Axel was capable of and the strangeness surrounding him burning in the Great Sept for seven days and seven nights, Arianne was willing to acknowledge that the Seven were definitely around and maybe even more active than she thought.
But this was… more than she'd expected. The way Axel told it, the Seven Who Are One had stepped in and stopped the Lord of Light from killing Daenerys Targaryen and her dragons. They'd saved her… at Axel's request.
"… I know I should have quickly flown back to King's Landing to tell you both that everything was okay. I let myself get caught up in everything going on over on Dragonstone. I'm sorry."
Sharing another look with Arianne, they both lean in at the same time and kiss him on both of his cheeks in unison.
"Apology accepted!"
Axel smiles at her after Arianne chirps that out, though he winces again when Sansa speaks up with a dry tone once more from his other side.
"Did you REALLY have to ask the Targaryen to 'be your woman' though? Honestly Axel…"
As Axel laughs sheepishly, Arianne just giggles.
"Of course he did, Sansa. That's just the sort of man our husband is. He's insatiable, a bottomless pit of lust that wants to ravish each and every beauty who dares to catch his attention. Mm, and she is quite the beauty, isn't she? That handmaiden of hers too…"
Here, Axel outright grimaces, looking surprisingly guilty.
"Yes… about that… I'm actually starting to regret being so forward about things."
Arianne raises an eyebrow.
"Oh?"
"… From what I can tell, Daenerys and her handmaiden were already in a relationship before all of this. I feel like such a monster for getting in the way of their love…"
Ah. Arianne considers that briefly. She's only laid eyes on the two women once so far to be fair. Hm…
"Leave that to us!"
Both Axel and Sansa give Arianne curious looks at that, prompting her to giggle and wink.
"Sansa and I will get to the bottom of things and find out just what's going on. You can count on us~"
Before Axel can protest, Sansa is already nodding.
"Agreed. We'll see what there is to learn about the Targaryen and her… friend. Don't try to protest, husband. After all, you're going to be busy enough keeping your entire Small Council from resigning with the headaches you've given them."
Axel pouts but doesn't try to argue the point. Meaning that he knows full well just how rough things are going to be with the members of his Small Council when he finally starts meeting with them on the morrow…
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A/N: Chapter 100! Crazy to think we've gotten this far. Definitely deep in the back third of the story at this point…
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