AUDREY FLAMESWORTH

“Your wine, my lady,” the brown-haired worker spoke as she poured the requested wine from a bronze ewer into two silver cups placed before the lady, Audrey, and her steward, Renly. “If you need my—”

“I shall request you if need be,” Audrey cut in, placing the pouch of coins onto the silver tray held by the worker as she gulped from the now-filled cup of wine.

“Then, if you will excuse me; my lady, my lord.” She bowed then walked away, relieving herself of her services.

Audrey poured a light chuckle as she looked into the redness of the wine filling her cup. “I should have brought Lucian,” she said, causing Renly to choke on the sweetness of the wine in his throat as little streams of red poured out from the corners of his mouth. He then slammed the cup in his hand onto the table while he wiped off, with his other hand, the traces of the spilled wine caressing his lips.

“What!” He gave way to a soft shriek. “Do not tell me you have been taking the young lord on your sneak out to brothels, my lady?!”

“Maybe, maybe not,” Audrey replied, her eyes flirting with the cup fiddling in her hand. 

“Please tell me you didn’t, my lady. He is only a boy of six.”

“You nag a lot, Renly. It makes you seem like an old man, even though you’re just a year older than I.”

Renly placed his hands on the table while he pushed himself up to his feet, leaning slightly forward at Audrey as he said, “Please tell me you didn’t take him.”

Audrey heaved a disgruntled sigh, replying as she put a stop to her fiddling with the cup of wine, “I did not. Now sit and shut up.”

Renly fell back to the cushion, breathing out a deep soothing exhale. “Thank the heavens you didn’t. Your sneak offs bring enough trouble as is, if the lord gets even a whiff of your brother being involved in your acts, he will have my head.” Renly shivered at the thought. 

“He will have no one’s head!” Audrey roared lightly, pouring down the last bits of wine filling her cup down her throat, and slamming the empty silver on the table, her face brightened by the fiery redness of her cheeks. 

“He will,” Renly insisted. “Already tipsy, my lady? Just a cup and you’ve gone a tad bit drunk.”

“He will not.” She said unwaveringly, letting out a boom of an hiccup as she pointed at Renly. “I’ve had enough of that man.”

“Your father, you mean,” Renly corrected.

“Yes, my father… apparently. The one who never listens to his daughter’s wishes.”

“He let you come to the city, did he not?”

“He let me come see my soon-to-be prison, perchance it all works out the way he wants it to.”

Renly sighed as he weakly shook his head. “He only wishes the best for you, my lady.”

Audrey’s eyebrows twitched in annoyance, her eyes, if were to be swords, would have pierced through Renly’s chest and made out behind him. “He only wishes the best for House Flamesworth. I have no interest in wedding the king, he’s forcing me to attend the queen’s choosing because it benefits him.”

“What benefits the house benefits you, my lady.”

“What benefits the house benefits its lord,” Audrey countered. “I care not for stuffy walls nor fake loyalties. Freedom is all I ask. Freedom to go where I want, eat what I want, and wed who I love, and who knows, the king might have the face of a pig. I do not want to wed such.” Her demeanour plunged into a scrunch of disgust as she tried to form an image in her mind.

Renly took a heavy gulp from his cup, and after he swallowed the wine, he bursted out into a laughter—the hardest he might have had in a while. “His pale silver eyes glow like gemstones, his hair brightly coloured like the sky, his face chiselled like a bard, behold he who wields the most beautiful face any man might have,” he hummed. “I have yet to see the new king, but in the time he was still a prince, a few singers have, and if his face is worthy of being sung, then he bears not the one of a pig I believe.”

Audrey tutted, seemingly not convinced by Renly’s deduction. “You choose to believe the songs of a singer, Bailiff? You can have the height of an imp, but give a singer a few copper coins and he’ll sing songs of you being the tallest man in the whole of Ravenwing.” She picked up her empty cup and tossed it at him. “I don’t want to hear anymore. Fill my cup.”

“Should you still be drinking?” Renly inquired. His gaze placed upon the redness of Audrey’s cheeks, filled with concern and caution. 

“Fill my cup,” Audrey commanded. 

Renly sighed exasperatedly as he picked up the ewer and began pouring wine into the empty cup. “As you wish, my lady,” he said. After he was done pouring, he picked up the cup, and gently placed it before Audrey, then quietly watched as she took little sips from it. He let out another exhale as he picked up his, but before he was able to drink from it, he felt the warm touch of a wave of fingers gently brush over his shoulders, caressing the texture of the oxblood leather coat he donned as it made its way softly and sensually to his tender neck, and up to his coiled brown hair. 

“Care for some company, m’lord,” a soft whisper breathed on his ear, sending a wave of prickling sensations galloping through his skin faster than a courser. 

Audrey lifted her eyes from her wine, leading it gently until it found the thin face of the working wench embracing Renly from behind, her long dark hair swaying gently on his shoulders with every slight move of her head around his ear. Audrey scoffed as she turned her eyes over to the rigid body of Renly, his cup-held hand shaking fervently in response to the advances of the worker.

“Leave. He has my company.” Audrey shot a glare at the worker, rousing an apology from her as she bowed her head and scurried away.

“Again?” She questioned, turning her eyes back to her steward, the corners of her lips slightly turned up into a smile as she watched him reply with a slow nod, his body remaining stiff, and his hand, the one free from grasping his cup, clutched his pants tightly. “Such a weak man,” she sniggered. “Go on, ask for a place to wash up.”

“Will you be fine, my lady?” Renly asked as he gently freed his hand from the burden of his cup. 

“I’m a little drunk, not a newborn. Now hurry up, I shall wait.”

Renly stumbled up to his feet, bowed and walked up to one of the workers who led him into a corner, vanishing from Audrey’s sight.

With Renly no longer in view, she gulped down the last of the wine in her cup and rose up to her feet, then walked gracefully and slowly towards the brothel’s door. 

The wooden door, as if expecting her, flung open upon her arrival, and before her stood two men cloaked in fine silk of black, the light of the sun from beyond bathing their bodies, and their faces hidden strongly beneath their hoods.

Audrey’s heartbeat quickened as she watched the men intensely, unable to take a step backward or forward—for some reason, she couldn’t. She questioned if it was the effects of the wine she had gulped in large amounts, or if these men were just that high in status, so much that their mere presence passed such a sense of caution to whoever came before them. She shook her head in disapproval of the latter, and chose to believe it was the wine.

The first man before her turned to the side slightly, allowing the second to follow suit, in return, presenting her enough room to escape the walls of the brothel. The man gestured with his hand, implying that the way was all hers. She breathed a deep exhale, then strode out of the brothel, turning her head slightly as she glanced beneath the hood of the first man. 

“Silver eyes,” she muttered as the presence of the men waned while she watched the door shut behind her. She turned her eyes away from the door and waltzed to the carriage, the guardsmen watching the horses, bowing in greeting as quickly as they saw her. Replying to their greetings, she hopped into the carriage and took her seat quietly in wait for Renly. 

…

“My lady!” Renly shouted as he pushed open the door of the carriage and jumped in, his hasty breathing relaxing immediately he caught sight of Audrey sitting daintily, her palms clutched softly together, and her eyes beautifully clasped shut. In contrast to her awake self, she was a gracious and beautiful wallflower when revelled in the serenity of her slumber. 

“Depart,” Renly told the guardsmen as he took his seat in the carriage, breathing out a deep calming exhale while he stared delicately at Audrey.