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Stannis had gone through most of high school resolutely ignoring girls like Cersei, only to be confronted with her as an in-law when she married his brother, Robert. Since their divorce, Stannis had enjoyed a comparatively Lannister-free life, but now she was approaching him, practically dragging her escort with her.
“There you are,” she admonished.
He was confused by the inference. He was standing in the middle of the room. Cersei made it sound as if he had been hiding.
“I don’t recognize half of these people,” she continued.
Stannis wasn’t surprised. His few recollections of her during their school years were limited to seeing her with her twin brother or with a group of young women that his daughter would have termed “mean girls.” He doubted that she had paid attention to more than a handful of their classmates.
“This is Davos Seaworth. Davos, this is my ex-brother-in-law, Stannis Baratheon.”
Stannis shook her date’s hand and was startled by the shock that ran up his arm. It felt like . . . like coming home. He relaxed his grip with reluctance. “How do you . . .”
“Call me Davos.”
“Davos.” It was a solid name. “Thank you. I would . . .I would like that.” Why was his throat so dry?
“Where’s Selyse?”
“I have no idea.”
“Who’s Selyse?” Davos wanted to know.
Cersei didn’t stop scanning the room as she answered, “His wife.”
“Ex-wife actually. We’re divorced.” Was that relief in the eyes of Cersei’s escort? No, it couldn’t be. This was an aberration. No one felt like this seconds after meeting someone else.
“When did that happen?” Cersei asked absently, still scanning the room.
He started to explain when Cersei suddenly grabbed Davos’ hand and dragged him off in the direction of a group of women with blonde hair in shades his mother would have called anything ranging from bottled to drugstore. He watched as Cersei greeted them. There was a great deal of air kissing and exclaiming. Cersei thrust Davos forward in the manner of a child showing off a new, coveted toy.
His staring was cut off by the approach of one of the few classmates he had liked.
As the evening wore on, he found himself continuing to keep an eye on Cersei and her escort. Over and over again, she repeated the same performance.
Stannis thought Davos seemed uncomfortable. Once or twice, he would make eye contact with Stannis, give a sardonic smile, and take a few steps toward him before Cersei yanked him back.
With a superhuman effort, Stannis wrested his gaze from Cersei’s date and tried to focus on what his former classmates were saying to him. It all seemed so pointless, though. Why was he even here? He had never been a popular student. Not even when he was young had he possessed much in the way of school spirit. That had all been Robert. It was irritating to him that even now, over twenty-five years later, all anyone wanted to discuss was Robert. Oh, there would be a perfunctory inquiry or two about himself, but mostly they were interested in his brother. Where was he? What had he been up to? Did he remember the time when Robert had scored the touchdown that had won them the state championships? He didn’t know why they weren’t bombarding Cersei with these questions.
After he could stand it no longer, he excused himself and went to find a washroom.
“Psst.”
Stannis looked around.
“Over here.”
He caught a devilish grin on the face of Davos before he disappeared up the staircase. Stannis swallowed before following. Davos was quick.
“We shouldn’t be up here,” Stannis said when they reached the top.
“Leads to the roof?” Davos asked, nodding his head at the steel door.
“Yes, but it was always locked and besides—” He rapped the sign that expressed in uncertain terms a prohibition against opening it.
Davos shrugged. “We’re a bit old to get detention.” And then seemingly out of nowhere, he produced a beaten brown leather wallet, which he opened. Inside there were oddly shaped bits of metal, one of which he slid through the lock.
“Are those—” No, they couldn’t be lock picks. Cersei Lannister was dating this man, and she was hardly the sort to be in the company of a thief.
But Davos was already through the door. He took a deep breath of the crisp cold air. “I was beginning to forget how this felt.” He pocketed the leather wallet and produced a pack of smokes. He proffered them to Stannis.
“Don’t . . . I don’t . . . no, thank you.”
“Do you mind if I do?”
Stannis shook his head. He was grateful there was no moon and that the only illumination came from the street lights below. If Davos was relaxing as he went through the ritual of selecting a cigarette, lighting it, and then inhaling, Stannis felt tenser by the second. How would it feel to . . . no, he wasn’t going to think those thoughts. Besides, this man was dating his former sister-in-law. Cersei. He would focus on Cersei. “How long have you been dating her?”
“Dating who?”
“Cersei.”
Davos chuckled. He flipped his wrist and consulted his watch. “Four hours and twenty-five minutes.”
“But . . . but she . . .”
“Her car had an electrical problem,” Davos explained after another long drag. “Battery on her phone died. I saw her by the side of the road and stopped to see if she needed help. I let her use mine to arrange a tow and then suddenly—” He leaned forward to Stannis with a bemused expression. “—She asked if I had plans for the evening. Before I knew it, she had me driving to a department store and kitted me out in this.” He gestured to his suit.
Stannis was trying and failing to follow the story.
“Do I look like the sort to wear Myrish cuffs?” Davos snorted. “She had some fight with the man who was supposed to take her here and I gather her brother had a date for something else and she was furious about that.”
“Why would—”
Davos yanked at the knot on his tie. “Seven hells, I hate these things. I don’t know. It was a bit like being drunk; I don’t remember half of it. She said . . . hold on.” He pulled and the knot came undone. He neatly rolled the tie with one hand, stuffed it in his jacket pocket, and then he undid the first two buttons of his shirt.
It should be cool up here on the roof. Instead Stannis felt flushed and hot.
“She said she had to go to this miserable reunion and that she would be damned if she was going to have these fools saying Cersei Lannister couldn’t get a date.” Davos laughed. “Rum sort of a boy toy I make.”
“But why did you let her—?”
“Let her? There was no stopping her. Last time I felt this way my boat got caught in some rapids when I was trying to avoid—”
Stannis tried to absorb the story, but he kept imagining what Davos’ mouth would feel like on his.
Davos took another drag on his cigarette before dropping it to the ground and stubbing it out with his shoe. “Never mind about that.”
They were done, Stannis thought wildly. Now Davos would feel obligated to go back downstairs or he would leave and this would end.
“Did you come with anyone?”
Stannis shook his head.
“Mind giving me a lift home?
“No.”
Davos knitted his brow. “I’ll get a cab then. Shouldn’t be too hard—”
“No, I don’t mind,” Stannis clarified. “To say yes would be telling you no.”
Davos seemed thoroughly confused.
“I will gladly drive you home.”
He was rewarded with another chuckle. “Or we could stop somewhere,” Davos suggested. “I wouldn’t mind having a proper drink.”
It meant nothing. Davos was being friendly. Sooner or later this would end. It was nothing to Davos.
Davos was shrugging out of the jacket.
“I wouldn’t mind that either,” Stannis managed, trying not to stare too obviously. He was just a ride to this man. He was a convenience—an escape from Cersei. The offer of a drink was a reward for providing the getaway. That was all it was and nothing else.
Davos turned back, cocked his head, and with his tongue in his cheek, as if to dispel any possible doubt as to his intentions, leered.
Stannis had never been so happy to be wrong before.
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