Chapter 229: You Can Try
Bolton Lands, Dreadfort Castle
POV of Domeric Bolton
The next day.
Domeric and Ygritte were going for lunch after waking up. They missed breakfast because they had slept late the previous night.
On their way, they ran across Lyra, who was once again gazing at him in a lecherous manner.
He let out a sigh and turned to look at Ygritte, who had a slight frown on her face. "You go ahead, my love. I'll catch up to you."
Ygritte gave him a nod and glared at Lyra before going ahead.
He had noticed that after sharing the truth with her, the bond of trust between him and Ygritte had grown to an even higher level than before.
And that bond was not something that he wanted to break. Not now, not ever.
He turned to Lyra and said, "Lyra. We need to talk."
Lyra frowned at his seriousness, but nodded, and she led him to a nearby empty guest room where they would be able to talk freely.
"Lyra." He said once he had cast the necessary spells. "I need you to stop trying to seduce me."
"Why, my lord?" She asked sensually as she put one of her hands on his chest. "Don't you like my gestures?"
His face remained stone cold as he removed her hand from his chest.
"You're making Ygritte uncomfortable with all your advances." And he understood Ygritte very well in this regard.
If someone were making advances on Ygritte, then he wouldn't only be uncomfortable, he would be fucking furious. And he knew that Ygritte felt the same, even though she never told him about it, as her thought process was still influenced by the tradition of the Free Folk, which said that a man could take what he could keep.
Meaning that a strong man could have a harem if he could protect his women.
But he knew that even if she thought about it that way, she didn't want to share him with other women.
"This game of cat and mouse has gone on for long enough, Lyra. It is time for you to move on and find a proper husband for yourself. Someone who, unlike me, will actually take care of you." Domeric said.
"But aren't you the one taking care of me? Weren't you the one who freed me from my master in Lys and allowed me to have a life of my own? Wasn't it you who gave me shelter and food when I had no one else to rely on? No… I know that you know that I want you for my own selfish reasons. But I also love you. And I won't go for another man. Even if it meant that you'll never accept me and that I'll remain unmarried for the rest of my life."
He frowned at her declaration. Did she really love him?
Domeric used a deeper legilimency probe to find whether she was lying or not.
And he learned from the legilimency probe that she wanted to be with him for the power and security it would bring her and her children.
But she was also in love with him. And this surprised Domeric.
Until now, he had seen Layra as someone who, like the other women pursuing him, was only interested in her own interests. But apparently that wasn't quite the truth.
Her love for him was just hidden deeper in her mind, as she didn't want to admit this truth to herself, because of what she had suffered as a slave in Lys. This was why he was never able to find it, as he no longer performed deep legilimency scans on those he trusted.
He held the urge to sigh. This made the situation even more complicated. If someone were doing this for personal gain, Domeric could have just told them to "fuck off" and dropped the subject if necessary.
However, the fact that Lyra was not only one of his trusted subordinates but also that she was acting in this manner because she was in love with him left Domeric unsure of how to approach the matter.
"Regardless, Lyra. You must accept that I'm with Ygritte now. So, you can't keep trying to seduce me. Not anymore. I still suggest that you give up on your love and find someone more worthy of your love." He said.
Lyra frowned at his words and shook her head, "You really don't understand a woman's heart, do you, my lord?"
He had no reply to that. If he had, then he wondered if he would have discovered Ginny's infidelity sooner.
"Can you at least give me a child? I want to keep a part of you within me. Please, my lord."
"No," Domeric replied. "If I ever have children, then I want to play the role of a father for them. I don't want my children to be without any of their parents. And your request… just wouldn't work."
Lyra let out a sigh, and her shoulders dropped. She looked down at the floor for a long moment, thinking, before her eyes suddenly widened, and she looked at him with a large smirk.
He didn't like that smirk one bit.
"So, your only problem with me is that I'm trying to seduce you, and it's making Ygritte uncomfortable. Is that right?"
"Yes. That's right."
"So… if I get Ygritte's permission to seduce you, you won't have a problem with that, will you?"
His brain halted at that.
"What?"
She chuckled at him, "If I persuade Ygritte and she says that it's okay for you to fuck me, then that won't be a problem with you. Right?"
He looked at the woman for a long moment before he chuckled.
"Well, you are free to try that if you want. But I don't think Ygritte would agree to share me, even though that's the way of the Free Folk."
"You never know, my lord." She said with a smile, "And it's better than outright rejection at least."
Then she smiled and bowed to him once again, showing her bountiful chest to him in full view.
"Lyra." He said, and she chuckled and straightened up.
"Apologies, my lord. Old habits, you see." She smiled and left the room with her hips swinging widely for his view.
He let out a tired sigh at that, wondering if he should have been firmer with her.
Well, as long as she bothers Ygritte and not him. After all, he had handed the reins of his love life over to Ygritte. If Ygritte's wish were to remain his only wife for the rest of her life, Domeric would do everything in his power to make that a reality.
And if any woman wanted to change that, they would first have to go through Ygritte, not Domeric.
Why hadn't he thought of this before? He should have left the women's games to the women.
He shook his head and left the room to join Ygritte at lunch.
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Next Chapters' Name:
Ch.230: A Potent Ink
Ch.231: Alchemy Fountain and Gardener's Pot
Ch.232: Training with Raksa