The Archon sat, perched on his velvet cushion, his excess resting on his fatty legs as he recline in a seat made specifically for his personal size and girth. His well manicured fingers curled, gripping the chiseled stone of his seat. Taerys stretched just slightly, using effort to push his shoulders of of the seat and release some tension from his back. As he rested his back against the hard chair once more, his smile was hidden by his beard as he looked down upon his prized guest of honor. There the lovely lady sat, emptier than she had entered the beautiful, center jewel of Tyrosh. She had entered the palace strong and rebellious, twice she'd passed through the grand doorway and landed in the pits where the beastly remains of men where held.
She'd left the first time as whole as she had entered, because the Archon had willed it, because he'd given her a blessing and a chance for forgiveness. Sadly, she had wasted the chance he'd given her, and the Archon was no man for second chances. He'd left her to the worst that could be found in the brightest place in the Tyroshi city. Such an ironic thought that the most luxurious and admirable place in his entire city also held the wickedest place of torment and torture. Taerys smiled, but not for the irony in his thoughts, for the look of malice the broken woman cast up at him with the one eye that remained to her.
The wolfish grin spread, unnaturally wide as his eyes grew upon hers, questioning her how many she'd seen die. It had made no matter to the Archon, those who weren't useful enough to be pressed into his service did all the better to crumble the Western bastard who thought she could defy him.
The bowl of peaches sat on his chair's arm still, cradled in the bend of his arm, fingers lightly brushing against the fur, as he took another. His arm raised from the soft fur in a gesture summoning a mousy servant close to him. The mousy little man nervously picked up the basket of peaches, and after a nod from the Archon, he handed to man one before taking the rest away. The peach itself was plump, and ripe, a deep red-orange. The Archon gave it a good squeeze, and gestured to the woman before him.
His grin left his face as his lips pursed and eyes took on a caring stance. "Darling, would you like a peach? I know you must have been dreadfully hungry. The guards tell me you didn't eat the special meal we'd set out and prepared for you." Before she could respond or even move her eyes from him to the peach, he threw it at Tycho, well expecting the bravo to catch it. Then he turned to the Swanns, smiling and speaking a word of greeting. "It is lovely to have Westerosi nobility under our roof, for the second time in the past few weeks. I'm so glad you choose to stay with us."
His glance turned hard for a moment before he turned his gaze back down to Gwyn, looking as if he wished to consume the woman below him whole, like some sort of beast of the sea, swallowing its prey.
"Now, before we speak of your job, there is a first matter we must attend to. Gwyn, Lord and Lady Swann, what is the most important thing to a thief?" He shrugged, massive shoulders and excess weight heaving up before coming back down into rolls. He looked to his advisors, and to Tycho before him. "I am very curious."