Chapter 12 Chapter 12 The Daughter of the Sea Monster

The hall was noisy, full of drunken Harlow family members, and all relatives were present.Each chief hangs his own banner behind the benches where his men sit.Too little, thought Asha Greyjoy, looking down from the balcony, too little so far.The benches were three-quarters empty. When the Black Wind arrived, "Virgin" Cole commented in this way.He counted the longships moored under her uncle's castle, and his mouth tightened. "They didn't come," he said, "or not enough came." He was telling the truth, but Asha couldn't go along with it, because that might be heard by the crew.She didn't doubt their loyalty, but even an Iron Islander would hesitate in a cause that was sure to fail.

Do I really have so few friends?She saw the Botleys' silverfish banners, the Stonetrees' stone trees, the Womacks' black fish monsters, the Mirays' rope loops, and the rest were Harlows' scythes.Beaumond's sickle is placed on the light blue background, Hosel's sickle is in the circle, the "knight"'s sickle and the magnificent peacock coat of arms of his mother's family form a quarter grid, and "silver-haired" Siegfried is in a diagonal Two staggered sickles are placed on the sub-bottom.Only the leader of Harlaw placed the silver sickle directly on the dark background. This flag has been flying since the dawn of time: this is the flag of Rodrik, who is called "Scholar" by others, and is the lord of Ten Towers, the island of Harlow Chief, Harlow of Harlow Island... her dearest uncle.

At this moment, the high-backed chair of Chief Roderick was empty.Above the chair were two great silver scythes crossed, too big for a giant to wield, but Asha wasn't surprised that her uncle had long since left.After all, the party was over and there were only bones and greasy plates on the trestle table.Everyone was drinking, and her Uncle Rodrik was never in the company of rowdy drunks. She turned to Three Tooth, a very elderly woman who had been called Twelve Tooth when she first started working as a housekeeper. "My uncle soaked in the pile of books?" "Yeah, where else to go?" The woman was so old that the monk had said she must have nursed old women.At that time, the Iron Islands could still tolerate the belief of the Seven Gods, so the leader Rodrik raised monks in Ten Towers City, not for the purpose of saving souls, but to help him copy books. "He's in the books, and Botley is there."

Botley's banner hung in the hall, a school of whitebaits on a pale green ground, but Asha hadn't seen the Quickfin in the harbor. "Heard my uncle Crow's Eye drowned old Sandwin Botley." "This is Chief Tristephine Portley." Tris took the reins.Has something happened to Sandwin's eldest son, Harren?I'll find out soon enough, but the meeting must have been awkward anyway.She hadn't seen Tris Botley in years... no, don't think about it. "Where's my mother?" "Still in bed," said Three Tooth, "in the Widow's Tower."

Yeah, where else?The Widow's Tower was named after her aunt, where Lady Gwyneth mourned, and her beloved husband died fighting on Fair Isle during Balon Greyjoy's first rebellion. "When the sorrow is over, I will go away," she famously told her brother, "but the city of Ten Towers is mine by right, because I am seven years older than you." Many years have passed since then, and the widow But she still stays here sad, nagging from time to time that the castle should be hers.Now that Lord Rodrik had another half-mad widow sister under his roof, Asha thought, no wonder he sought solace in books.

To be honest, it was hard for everyone to believe that the frail and sick Lady Alanis lived longer than King Balon. Her father always seemed so firm and strong before and after.Asha went to sea to fight with a heavy heart, fearing that her mother would die before she returned, but it was her father who died instead.The Drowned God loves to play cruel jokes, but isn't man the cruelest thing?A sudden storm and a broken rope bridge claimed Balon.Greyjoy's life.At least that's what they announced. The last time Asha saw her mother was on her way north to attack Deepwood Motte, stopping to fill up water at Ten Towers.Alanis Harlow never had the beauty that singers favored, but her daughter loved her strong face and the smile in her eyes.On her previous visit, however, she had found Lady Alanis sitting in a chair by the window, wrapped in a pile of furs, gazing out at the sea.Is this my mother or her ghost?She remembered thinking that as she kissed her mother on the cheek.

Mother's skin was as thin as parchment, her long hair had faded to gray, and though there was still some residual pride in the way she held her head up, her eyes were dark and hazy, and her mouth quivered when she asked about Theon. "Did you bring my little one back?" she asked.Theon was sent to Winterfell as a hostage when he was ten years old, and Mrs. Alanis seemed to believe that he stayed at ten years old. "Theon can't come," Asha could only tell her, "father sent him to plunder along the rocky coast." Mrs. Alanis was speechless, but nodded slowly, but it was obvious that her daughter's words hurt her how deep.

Now I will bring her the news of Theon's death, and drive another dagger into her heart.There were already two knives stuck there, one named Rodrik and the other named Mullen, and they had been cruelly stirring countless times in the night.I'll see her tomorrow, Asha swore to herself.The journey to Ten Towers had been long and tiring, and she could not face her mother now. "I have to talk to Chief Roderick," she told "Three Teeth," and "after my crew unloads the Black Wind, take care of them for me. By the way, the prisoners on board must also have warm beds and Hot meal."

"There's cold beef in the kitchen. There's mustard in a big stone jar, Old Town." Thinking of mustard, the old woman smiled, and a long brown tooth protruded from her mouth. "That won't work. It's hard work crossing the sea. I want them to stuff their stomachs with something warm." Asha hooked a thumb around the studded belt around her waist. "Get firewood and blankets for Mrs Glover and the children. Put them in the tower room, not the dungeon. The baby is sick." "Babies are often sick, and most of them will die. The adults will just be sad. I'll ask the master where to arrange these wolf cubs."

She squeezed the old woman's nose between her thumb and forefinger. "You do as I say. If the baby dies, I promise, you'll be sadder than anyone else." Three Tooth screamed in obedience, and Asha let her go and went to her uncle. It feels good to walk in the familiar halls again. For Asha, Ten Towers is like home, more intimate than Pyke Island.When she saw it for the first time, she thought, this is not a city, it is clearly ten castles crowded together.She remembered panting and running up and down, chasing along the city wall walkway and closed covered bridge, remembering fishing by the long stone pier, and remembering getting lost in her uncle's rich collection of books day and night.Uncle's grandfather's grandfather built this city, and it is the newest castle in the isles.When Lord Theomo Harlaw lost his three infant sons, he blamed the flooded cellars, the damp rocks, and the saltpeter that had invaded every corner of ancient Harlaw Hall.Ten Towers is airier, more comfortable, and in a better location... Unfortunately, Lord Theomer is fickle, as every wife of his will attest.He has six wives with different styles, just as the ten pagodas he built are all different.

The library tower is the most massive of the ten towers, octagonal in shape and made of large cut stone blocks.The stairs were built into the thick walls, and Asha hurried up the fifth floor to the room where her uncle was studying.In fact, he can read everywhere.Whether in the toilet, on the deck of the "Sea Song", or even when receiving an audience, Chief Rodrik never put down the book.Asha often saw him sitting on the high-backed chair under the silver scythe reading, listening to petitions, and announcing verdicts... Whenever the captain of the guard went to bring down a suitor, he could read a little longer. At this moment, he was crouching at a table by the window, surrounded by scrolls of parchment--these scrolls may have come from Valyria before the doomsday--and several leather-bound scrolls with brass and iron clasps lay around him. Heavy classics, and beeswax candles as thick and as long as a human arm are inserted in exquisite iron candlesticks and burn on both sides of the seat.Chief Roderick was neither fat nor thin, tall or short, handsome nor ugly.His hair was brown, as were his eyes, and his beard, which he liked to keep short and neat, had turned gray.All in all, he was an ordinary man, with no other features than his penchant for black and white, and yet to most ironborn, reading was a quirk, not a manly thing to do. "Uncle," she closed the door behind her, "what book is so important that you leave the guests alone?" "The Lost Book by Dr. Marwyn." He raised his eyes from the pages and looked at his niece carefully. "He Suo brought me a copy from Old Town. He wants me to marry his daughter." Chief Rodrik tapped the book with his long fingernails. "See? Marwyn claims to have found three fragments of The Omens and Omens, the various visions written by Enar Targaryen's virginal daughter before the doomsday fell on Valyria. Well, Lan Does Ni know you're here?" "I haven't seen her yet." Lanny was his nickname for her mother, and only "students" would call it that. "Let her rest more." Asha removed a stack of books from the stool and sat on it by herself. "'Three Tooth' lost two more teeth. Shouldn't you call her 'One Tooth' instead?" "I don't call her at all. That woman makes me shudder. What time is it?" Chief Rodrik glanced out the window at the moonlit sea. "It's dark, so fast? I haven't noticed yet. Well, you're late, we've been waiting for you for a few days." "The wind is against me, and I have captives to worry about—Robert Glover's wife and child, the youngest still suckling, and Mrs. Glover's milk drying up during the crossing. I have no choice but to Have the Black Wind dock on the Stony Coast, and send for a nurse. They found a goat. The little girl is not doing well. Is there a nurse in the village? Deepwood Motte is important in my plans." "Your plans must be changed. You are too late." "Yeah, it's too late, and I'm very hungry." She stretched her long legs under the table while flipping through a book in her hand, which was the "cruel" Maegor's battle against the "Poor People's Gathering" described by a certain monk . "Oh, thirsty too. Have a refreshing barley, Uncle." Chief Roderick pouted. "You know I'm not allowed to eat or drink in the library. It's for books—" "—is harmful." Asha laughed. Her uncle frowned. "You just like to provoke me." "Oh, don't be so wronged. You knew that I am like this to everyone. Well, don't talk about me, how are you doing recently?" He shrugged. "It's all right. The eyes are getting worse. I've sent for a pair of spectacles in Myr to help me read." "Where's my aunt?" Leader Rodrik sighed, "She is still seven years older than me, and she still believes that the city of Ten Towers belongs to her. Guness is forgetful about everything, but this is the only thing she can't forget. She is still mourning for her husband. It was exactly the same time, though she couldn't remember his name." "She probably didn't know his name from beginning to end." Asha closed the monk's book with a bang. "Was my dad murdered?" "Your mother believed so." Sometimes, she would rather kill him herself, she thought. "Then what does my uncle believe?" "The rope bridge broke, and Baron fell to his death. When the storm comes, the bridge in Pike City is not stable." Rodrik shrugged. "At least that's what we know. Your mother had a bird from Maester Windarmere." Asha drew her dagger and cleaned the dirt under her fingernails. "The Crow's Eye went away for three years, and just returned on the day my father died." "The next day, to be exact. Serenity was still at sea when Balon died, or so they claim. Even so, I also think Euron's return is too... timely, so to speak..." "I wouldn't say that." Asha thrust the point of the dagger into the table. "Where are my ships, Uncle? I counted them. There are only forty longships moored below the city. Not enough to drive the Crow's Eye from his father's throne." "I call out, in your name, for my love for you and your mother. The Harlows are here, plus the Stonetrees and the Womacks, and part of the Miri family..." "All from Harlow . . . one of the Seven Isles. In the hall, only one of the flags of Portley is from Pyke. Where is Salt Cliff? Where is Oak? Where are the two Wakes? Where are the ships? ?” "Baelor Blacktyce came from Kuroshio Island to talk to me, and then sailed away immediately." Leader Rodrik closed the "Lost Book". "He's at Old Wake now." "Old Wake?" Asha had been worried that they would all go to Pyke and surrender to the Crow's Eye. "why?" "I thought you had heard. Aeron Damphair called for a kingsmoot." Asha threw her head back and laughed. "The Drowned God must have stuffed the stickleback up Uncle Aeron's ass. The Kingsmoot? Is he kidding or is he serious?" "Damphair hasn't joked since he was flooded. The monks have heeded his call, including Belon Blacktyth the Blind, Thaler the 'Three Drowned'...even the Old Gray Gull has left the reef where it lives , preaching the kingsmoot all over Harlow. The captains are gathering for Old Wyk as we speak." Asha was very surprised, "The Crow's Eye agreed to participate in this holy farce in an attempt to consolidate his position through elections?" "I don't know what the Crow's Eye is planning. He told me to go to Pyke Island to pledge my allegiance, and nothing happened after that." Kingsmoot.This is something new...or rather, very old. "Where is Uncle Victarion? What does he think of wet hair?" "They brought Victarion news of your father's death, and news of the Kingsmoot. I know nothing else." Choosing a king is better than going to war. "I think I should kiss his wet-haired stinky feet and help him lick the seaweed between his toes." Asha pulled out the dagger and retracted it into its sheath. "Damn it, what an exciting king election!" "A Kingsmoot on Old Wyk," Rodrik confirmed, "but I pray it won't be too exciting. I checked Herrig's "History of the Iron Islands." When they met, the Urenite axemen of Oak Island slew, and Nagga's ribs were red with blood. After that dark day, House Greyarn ruled unelected for a thousand years, until Andal People are coming." "Lend me Herrig's book, Uncle." She had to learn as much as she could about the Kingsmoot before arriving at Old Wyk. "You just read it here, this book is too old and fragile." He frowned and looked at her, "Dr. Rodney once wrote that time is like a wheel. Human nature does not change. What happened in the past will inevitably Happen again. Seeing the Crow's Eye, I can't help thinking of these words. To my old ears, Euron Greyjoy is too much like Uren Greyairn. I won't go to the old Wy Ke Island. Don't go either." Asha smiled slightly, "Missing the king election...how long is this the first time, Uncle?" "Four thousand years, if Herrige is to be believed, according to Maester Denestan's statement in "Questions", this time has to be halved. In any case, there is no point in going to Old Wake Island. The dream of being king is our blood madness. I told your father when he first rose up, and I tell you now. We need the land, not the crown. Stannis Baratheon and Tywin Lannister are fighting The Iron Throne, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to expand. Choose one side and use the fleet to help it win, and we will be granted a large territory." "I might think about it when I sit on my father's seastone seat," Asha said. Her uncle sighed. "You don't like my words, Asha, but I must confess that you are not elected. No woman has ever ruled the Ironborn. You see, Gwenice is indeed seven years older than me, but after our father died, ten Tower City is my inheritance. So are you. You are Baron's daughter, not his son. Besides, you have three uncles." "And uncle." "Uncle of three sea monster families. I'm not included." "It's different for me. Ten Towers is in charge of my dear uncle, and I own Harlow Island." Harlow Island is not the largest island in the Iron Islands, but it is the richest and most densely populated, and Luo The strength of Chief Delik cannot be underestimated.Harlow Island is ruled by the Harlow family. Although the Womack family and the Stonetree family own a lot of land on the island, and have raised many famous captains and warriors under their command, the bravest of them must be under the banner of the scythe Bow down.The Kenning and Miri families had been Harlow's formidable enemies, but they had been subdued long ago and became vassals. "My relatives are loyal to me. Once the war starts, I can use their troops and ships. But at the king selection meeting..." Chief Rodrik shook his head, "Under the bones of Naga, every captain is Equal. I do not doubt that someone will call your name, but not too loudly. And when Victarion or the Crow's Eye calls, some who drink in my hall now will Will join. I repeat, don't sail into this storm. Your fight is hopeless." "How do you know there is no hope if you don't give it a try? After all, I'm the first in line, so I should be Baron's heir." "You are still a wayward child. Think of your poor mother, you are the only one left for Lanny. If necessary, I will burn the Black Wind and keep you." "What, you want me to swim to Old Wake?" "Swim across the vast and cold sea, for a crown you cannot keep. Son, your father had more courage than reason, and the old ways were true for the Iron Islands, when we were one of many little kingdoms. Pity Aegon's Why did Balon turn a blind eye when conquest brought an end to separatism? The ancient roads have perished with Harron the Black and his sons." "I understand that." Asha loved her father, but she would not deceive herself.Baron was blind and reckless in some ways.He is brave, but not a good leader. "You mean, we have to be servants of the Iron Throne forever? Listen, if there's a rock on the starboard side and a storm on the port side, the wise captain will turn to the third way." "Tell me, where is the third way?" "I'll tell you...at my queen's meeting. Uncle, how could you have the idea of ​​not going? This will become history, living history..." "I prefer dead histories. Dead histories are written in ink, living histories in blood." "Do you want to cowardly die of old age on the hospital bed?" "What else can I do? As long as I have finished reading first." Leader Rodrik walked to the window. "You didn't ask your lord mother." I am afraid. "how is she?" "She's on the mend, and will probably outlive us--that's the obvious result, if you insist on this folly. Oh, and she eats more than when she first came, and often sleeps through the night Night." "Very well." Mrs. Alanis not only suffered from insomnia in the last few years on Pike Island, but also wandered through the halls at night, looking for her sons with candles. "Mullon?" she would scream, "Rodrik, where are you? Theon, my darling, come to mother." Many a morning Asha watched the maester pull the splinter from his mother's heel , as she walked barefoot across the rickety wooden plank bridge to the Sea Tower. "I'll see her tomorrow morning." "She'll ask about Theon." Prince of Winterfell. "How did you tell her?" "Very little. Not much to say." He hesitated. "Are you sure he's dead?" "I'm not sure of anything." "Did you find the body?" "We found many fragments of corpses. The wolves came first...the four-legged ones, and they didn't seem to respect the two-legged brethren. The bones of the victims were scattered all over the floor, and they were bitten open and licked the marrow. I Admittedly, it's hard to figure out what's going on. Seems like Northerners are fighting among themselves." "The crows snatch the carrion, and kill each other for the eyes of the dead." Chief Rodrik looked out to sea, watching the moonlight glimmering in the waves. "We had one king, then five. Now there are only ravens, noisily fighting over this dead body called Westeros." He closed the window. "Don't go to old Wake, Asha, stay with mother. I'm afraid she won't have many days." Asha moved in the chair, "My mother raised me and taught me to be brave. If I don't go, I will spend my whole life thinking about what it would be like if I went." "If you go, you may not have any 'lifetime' at all, and you won't even have the chance to think about it." "That's better than the rest of my life complaining about the Seastone's position. According to the rules, the right belongs to me. I'm not Guannisi." This made him startled. "Asha, my two tall sons fed crabs on Fairy Island. It is unlikely that I will remarry. If you stay, I will designate you as the heir of Ten Tower City. Be satisfied." "City of Ten Towers?" Really? "Your relatives won't like it. 'Knight,' old Siegfried, 'Humpbacked' Hosso..." "They have their own land and their own city." That's right.The dank and decaying Harlow Hall was given to old Siegfried Harlow the Silver-haired; and Hosso Harlow the Hunchback lived in the Shining Tower, on the cliffs on the west bank. Ser Haras Harlaw the Knight sat at Greygarden; Beaumond the Blue ruled from Hellidan Ridge. "Beaumond has three sons, 'Siegfried' has many grandchildren, and Hosso has ambitions," said Asha. "They all want to inherit you, even Siegfried himself. That guy is full of Hope to live a long life.” "The Knight will succeed me as Lord of Harlow," my uncle declared, "on condition that he command from Graygarden. You will serve him in the name of the City of Ten Towers, and Ser Horace will protect you." "I defend myself. Uncle, I am the sea monster, Asha of House Greyjoy." She stood up. "I want my father's throne, not yours. Ha, those scythes of yours look dangerous. Maybe one of them will fall and cut off my head. No, I want Seastone." "You're just another crow, screaming for carrion." Rodrik sat back behind the table. "Go away. I shall continue my reading of Dr. Marwyn's writings." "If you have any new discoveries, remember to tell me." An uncle is an uncle and will never change.No matter what he said, he was going to Old Wake. Her crew had dined in the hall.Asha must join them in explaining the nature and significance of the old Wake Island meeting.There is no doubt that her people will follow her firmly, but she still has to win over other people: the relatives of the Harlow family, the Womack family and the Stonetree family... The first step is to win over all the resources that can be used .Her victory at Deepwood Motte was her best example, and her men would boast about it—the crew of the Black Wind had always taken a strange pride in the deeds of the female captain.Half of them loved her like a daughter, and the other half wanted to spread her legs, but both were willing to die for her.I would die for them, too, she thought, pushing open the door at the bottom of the stairs and stepping into the moonlit courtyard. "Asha?" A dark figure came out from behind the well. Immediately her hand reached for the dagger... until the moonlight transformed the shadow into a man in a sealskin cloak.Another ghost. "Tris. I didn't see you in the lobby." "I'd like to see you." "Which part of me are you looking at, hee hee?" she grinned. "Okay, here I am, I've grown up. Please take a look." "You're a woman," he leaned forward, "and you're beautiful." Compared with the last time we met, Tristefan Portley was much larger, but he still had the messy hair and big seal eyes that he remembered.A pair of gentle eyes, really.But that was poor Tristephon's misfortune, for he was too gentle for the Ironborn.But now his face looks beautiful, she thought.Tris suffered from acne as a child, as did Asha; perhaps that brought them together. "I'm sorry about your father," she told him. "I grieve for your father too." Why?Asha almost asked.It was Balon who had sent him out of Pyke as a boy to be adopted by Baelor Blacktyce. "Are you really Botley chief?" "Normally, at least. Harren died in Moat Cailin, shot by the Marsh Devil with poisoned arrows. However, I have nothing now as a chief. My father refused to claim the Crow's Eye's throne, and the Crow's Eye drowned him, and Forced my uncles to swear an oath of allegiance. After that, he gave half of my father's land to Iron Forest City, because Chief Wenqi was the first to bow the knee to him and honor him as king." The Winches are powerful on Pyke, but Asha doesn't want to show her frustration. "Winch doesn't have your father's courage." "Your uncle bought him," Tris said. "When the Serenity came back, the hold was full of treasure: gilded plates, pearls, emeralds, rubies, and sapphires the size of eggs, bags no one could lift." Coins... the Crow's Eye bribes and buys at every opportunity. My uncle Guimond now calls himself Lord Botley, and rules Kingsport under your uncle's patronage." "Don't worry, according to the rights, you are the leader of Botley," she assured him, "I will return your father's land immediately after I sit on the Seastone Seat." "As long as you like it. It doesn't really mean much to me. Oh, you're so cute in the moonlight, Asha. Now you're an adult, but I remember you as a scrawny, acne-faced little girl. " Why do you keep bringing up acne? "I remember that too." But not as much as you like it.After Eddard Stark took her mother's only surviving son as a hostage, her mother couldn't wait to adopt five boys and live together in Pike City.Tris is the closest to Asha in age.He wasn't the first boy she'd kissed, but he was the first to unlace her blouse and touch her budding breasts with his sweaty hands. If he was brave enough back then, I would let him touch more.Her menarche came during the war, awakening desire, and even before that, Asha was already curious about sex.He's in the right place at the right time, he's my age, and he's willing to try, that's all... plus the kick of the menstrual blood.At the time, she called it love, until Trisce started talking about her having his babies; at least a dozen sons, and oh, some daughters. "I don't want to beat my son," she informs him in horror, "I'm going on an adventure." The Maester Queron found them together a short time later, and young Tristeven Portley was sent to Kuroshio Island. "I wrote to you," he said, "but Maester Yossalan would not send it. I once gave a silver stag to an oarsman on a merchant ship bound for King's Harbor, and he promised to send My letter is in your hands." "Your oarsman played tricks on you, he threw your letter into the sea." "That's what I feared. They never gave me your letter either." I haven't written a single one.In fact, Tris was sent away, and she was relieved.His groping already bored her.It wasn't what he liked to hear, however. "Aeron Damphair calls for a kingsmoot. Will you come to support me?" "Whatever you do, I'll support you, but... Chief Blacktyce said the king-choice would be a dangerous game. He thought your uncle would attack everyone and kill them all, like Uren." He's not that crazy. "He doesn't have that strength." "You don't understand, he's gathering men on Pyke. The Oakwoods of Oak Isle brought him twenty longships, Jon Miree the Longface twelve, Lucas the Left Hand Cawdor backed him, too. And Half-Blood Hall' Herron, and the Red Oarsman, and Kemet Pike, the Bastard, and Rodrik the Freeman, and Torwald the Browntooth..." "They are all insignificant people." Asha knew each of them. "Born of salt concubines, descendants of slave labor. Huh, the Cawdor family...do you know their motto?" "Scorn," Tris read, "but if they catch you, you'll be as miserable as if you'd fallen into the hands of the Dragon King. And worse, the Crow's Eye has brought back monsters from the East... oh, and wizards .” "Uncle likes queer things," said Asha, "and my father quarreled with him many times over it. To hell with his wizard, don't you forget? We have Damphair and the Drowned God. Enough, Can I get your support at my Queen's meeting, Tris?" "I will support you with all my might. I am yours, forever and ever. I will marry you, Asha. Your mother has given her consent." She suppressed a groan.You should have asked me first... even though my answer would not have pleased you one bit. "I'm not the second son," he went on, "I'm the rightful head of Botley, as you said. And you—" "My identity will be determined on Old Wake. Tris, we are not children who are groping for each other. You think you want to marry me, but you don't." "I do, I do, you're all my dreams. Asha, I swear on Naga's bones, I haven't touched any other woman." "Then go for it, one...two, ten, it doesn't matter to me. Tell you, the number of men I have touched is countless. Some use lips, some use axes." She said in At the age of sixteen, he gave his virginity to a handsome fair-haired sailor on the Lyce merchant ship.The man knew only six words in Common, and "dry" was one of them—it was the word she wanted to hear.Later, Asha learned to go to the forest witch and make moon tea so that her stomach would not bulge. Botley blinked, as if not understanding what she was saying. "You... I thought you would wait. Why..." He rubbed his mouth. "Asha, are you forced?" "Well, I made him rip his shirt off. You don't want to marry me, trust me. You're a sweet boy, always have been, but I'm not a cute girl. If we get married, you'll soon hate I." "No, never. My heart aches for you, Asha." She has heard enough.A sick mother, a murdered father, and a bunch of tyrannical uncles are enough to make any woman overwhelmed; she doesn't need another lovesick puppy. "Get a whore, Tris. She'll heal your heartache." "I'll never be able to..." Tristeph shook his head. "You and I were meant to be together, Asha. I always thought you were going to be my wife and the mother of my son." He took her arm. In the blink of an eye, her dagger was on his throat. "Let go of me, or you won't live to have a son. Quick." When he let go, she lowered the knife. "You want women, fine. I'll throw one on your bed tonight. Pretend she's me, if that pleases you. But don't touch me again. I'm your queen, not your wife Remember." Asha sheathed the dagger, leaving Tris standing still, a large drop of blood trickling down his neck, black in the pale moonlight.