Chapter 298: Time Changes Everything
Littlefinger's Brothel, King's Landing
POV of Petyr Baelish
"Coming down here was a mistake," Catelyn Stark said with a huff, even as she made herself comfortable on the bed where two women had been pleasuring themselves just an hour ago.
"I didn't know you hated me this much," Petyr said with a smirk.
Catelyn rolled her eyes and huffed, "Oh, Petyr. You know what I meant." She smiled, "In fact, I'm glad that you're here. Everyone else seemed to be an enemy of the Starks."
He took a sip of wine from the glass, wondering why he didn't feel anything when she smiled at him like she used to do when they were young.
Was he not in love with her any longer? Was it because she had grown old? Because she had forgotten him for a whole decade and a half and never even tried to contact him? Was it because she had given her heart to some other man when she knew that he loved her? Was it that he had just matured out of a childish crush?
He didn't have the answers for himself. He just knew he didn't feel the way he did for his Cat when they were young. Not anymore. And that thought was depressing in itself because it was his love for her that made him what he was today.
To know that he no longer loved her affected him in some way; he just didn't know how.
"So, the stories and rumors about the prince and the princess are true?" he asked.
Catelyn grimaced but nodded, "It seems that Sansa has still not grown out of her crush for the Bolton boy." The venom with which she said the 'Bolton boy' made him realize that something had gone wrong between Catelyn and Domeric Bolton.
It was a pity that he had few spies in Winterfell and none at all in Lundenhold, Dreadfort, and Regalis.
"The prince must not have liked being betrothed to a girl who loves someone else." He said. No, the sadistic prince would definitely not like that.
"Yes. And now she's betrothed to a prince who despises her." Catelyn said and sipped from her own glass, "I don't know what my husband was thinking. But now I wonder if he shouldn't have given in to King Robert's demands to bind our houses in a betrothal."
"The King does as he wants." He said, watching as Catelyn's cheeks flushed and her eyes became half lidded once the drug inside her glass started to work its magic. "That is the nature of Kings." He said and crossed the desk to sit in the bed beside her.
He could feel her warmth just by sitting beside her and wondered if the effects of the aphrodisiac had already kicked in.
Judging by her slightly heaving breast and how she was rubbing her thighs against one another, it had started its work.
"King's Landing is a dangerous place, Cat." He said and put an arm around her shoulder. Under normal conditions, she would have pushed his hands away, but now, she just leaned into his chest.
"And what Lord Bolton did in Winterfell made the Queen your enemy. It was not wise of the Starks to support him."
"That's… that's what I told Ned. He… wouldn't listen." She said as her hands rubbed his thighs.
He wondered if she was even aware of what she was doing.
His hands slid down and reached her waist.
He expected her to react to that. But she didn't. She leaned into him even more.
He smirked, "Do you remember the time when we were children, Cat. Things were so simple back then."
Cat looked up at him, her breath heavy and her cheeks flushed with arousal. She smiled, "You were so small back then. Look at you now."
"Do you remember the game we used to play in the garden. When we hid from the world, under the trees." His hands caressed her lips.
Lord Stark made a huge mistake by sending her here all alone. And he would take advantage of that mistake.
But he didn't feel anything when he was so close to the woman that he had wanted and desired for so long.
"I…" Cat spoke, but he cut her off as he leaned in and kissed her lips.
Her lips were soft and warm as they were back then. So why couldn't he feel anything?
Has he been chasing after a mirage this whole time? Chasing after the memory of a woman who only existed in his dreams.
For the first time in his life, he realized that despite his disdain for the King, he might not be all that different from that man.
Oh, the irony.
He chuckled, and Cat looked at him in shock. "Petyr. We can't do this."
She moved to get away from him, but he pulled her to himself and threw her back on the bed.
He looked at her heaving breasts, her supple lips, her tender neck, and wondered if there was even a reason behind why he was doing what he was doing.
This was so unlike him. But Cat always did tend to bring out the worst in him.
He removed his coat and let her gaze at him for a moment.
Then he pointed at the large and ugly scar that went from his chest to the bottom of his belly.
The scar that opened his eyes to the truth of the world and changed his life.
"Do you remember this, Cat?" he asked.
When she didn't reply, he continued, "What am I asking? How could you forget? This was the 'mercy' that your betrothed Brandon Stark gave me when I dueled him for your hand."
He leaned down on top of her so that she could touch his scar herself.
"Oh, Petyr…"
He almost scoffed at that. Oh Petyr. The exact words had driven him mad with love when he was a young boy.
So much has changed since then.
Looking closely, he could see the wrinkles around Cat's eyes. She was no longer the young woman she had been. She was… old, used, married. And not to him.
What a cruel joke this turned out to be.
The woman of his dreams was within his reach. And he didn't love her anymore.
"Go to sleep, Catelyn." He whispered in her ears and kissed her lips once more before he left her in bed.
Once he was out of the room, he touched his lips and frowned.
He felt nothing.
He kissed the woman who had made him the monster that he was, and he felt nothing. That thought hurt him for some reason, even when it should have freed him.
Life was always crueler than dreams.
He wanted to leave the woman he had once loved and didn't look back, but he couldn't bear to see what he had desired and pursued for so long disappear so suddenly.
He might not find the love he was chasing anymore in Cat, but at least he could satisfy his desire before completely abandoning what he was chasing.
So, Petyr turned and went back into his office.
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Next Chapters' Name:
Ch.299: Wolf Becomes Sheep - I (+18)
Ch.300: Wolf Becomes Sheep - II (+18)
Ch.301: Catelyn and Petyr - I