𝔹𝕦𝕥 𝕔𝕦𝕓𝕤 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕥𝕖𝕖𝕥𝕙 𝕥𝕠𝕠 ; (ℂ𝕖𝕣𝕤𝕖𝕚 𝕩 𝕆ℂ🐺🦁)

𝟚 - 𝔸 𝕔𝕠𝕣𝕟𝕖𝕣𝕖𝕕 𝕨𝕠𝕝𝕗 𝕚𝕤 𝕜𝕟𝕠𝕨𝕟 𝕥𝕠 𝕓𝕚𝕥𝕖

𝕄𝕪 breath caught in my throat. Whoever it was, I could not let them see my distress. I was a direwolf, I was a strong daughter of the North. Taking control of my face and pushing away my thoughts, I said in as relaxed a voice as possible: "Come in." But all my composure was gone with the wind when the door opened and none other than Cersei Lannister entered. I curtseyed quickly and murmured: "Your Grace." The queen gave me a half-smile. "I wasn't sure if you would still be up. You said you were tired after all, but it seems like I didn't interrupt. I wanted to talk to you." I silently cursed myself. She had seen right through my excuse. Why hadn't I thought to get into bed before she came in? "Talk to me about what, Your Grace?" The queen sat down on the settee in front of my bed and motioned for me to sit with her. It made me angry that she would give me a command in my own room and act like it was hers, but I complied nonetheless. "Vallery... you will have heard by now that my husband has named your lord father Hand of the King. When he travels to King's Landing, you and your sisters shall come with him. Robert suggested you should marry my son, Joffrey, to join our houses." I felt my stomach turn. Joffrey was mad and cruel, perhaps even more so than his mother, everyone knew. "You don't look particularly delighted about the news. Lucky for you, I managed to talk my husband out of it. He is only 16, so your sister Sansa would be a better match for him. It is so uncommon for a boy to marry an older woman, don't you think?" Did she just call me old? "Sure, Your Grace. But, excuse my bluntness, if Sansa is marrying Joffrey, why do Arya and I need to come?" I didn't want to leave my home, even if my father and sister were going. My mother and brothers would still be here, and the halls I had known my whole life. "Well, Arya wouldn't have to, but she begged your father to let her go. Apparently she hopes to get dancing lessons in the capital? She didn't strike me as a dancer when I saw her, but who knows." I supressed a smile, I knew exactly what Arya meant by dancing. "As for you, it was your father's wish that you accompany him to court, to learn what it means to wage intellectual warfare and navigate this political minefield of a country." I could tell from her tone exactly what Cersei thought of me learning the ways of the highly positioned lords.

"If my father asks it of me, then I shall be happy to join him in King's Landing", I replied. The queen made no move to rise. "Is there anything else you came for?" Looking down at her hands hesitantly, the queen licked her lips. "Yes... although I am reluctant to bring it up. My husband... he isn't exactly perfect marriage material. He takes a different whore each night and seldom pays me any heed when he returns." I remembered how she had looked at him earlier, when he was busy with the other woman at the feast. "But the nights when he does are worse. He takes me like I'm his property, like I have no feelings, and when he's done he refuses to acknowledge it ever happened. But he hurts me, and I'm scared. I find it hard to admit, but seeing him so deep in his drink tonight, it scared me, because I knew what would happen later. I don't want to stay in our chambers tonight." I was starting to genuinely feel sorry for her. Cold-blooded and selfish or not, she didn't deserve to be abused like this. "I want to make sure he doesn't find me. Can I... can I stay with you for the night?" Whatever I might have expected, this wasn't it. "I- uh, Your Grace..." As sorry as I felt for her, I could not stand the thought of sleeping in one room, one bed with this vile manipulator. But did I have it in me to refuse the queen? "Your Grace", I said again, my voice more firm this time, "I am truly sorry this is happening to you, and I pray you find a way to get out of your situation, but this... I am not comfortable with it, I am sorry. Perhaps you can ask my father to give you a separate room." The queen rose, anger flaring in her eyes. "I don't need your prayers. Gods won't protect me from my husband, I'm asking you to. The queen is asking you to, how dare you speak back to me?" This woman is unpredictable, I thought. Maybe it had been a mistake to deny her. I stood up as well. "Your Grace, it is your good right to ask me for this, but I do not have to accept. 'Winterfell is yours', my father said, but that does not mean you can claim any bed you like when there are plenty of them - better ones than mine, even - free for you to use. I have offered you a room of your own, I see no need for you to occupy mine." I could not have said where this sudden courage had come from, but I knew I was navigating a tightrope: if I showed any flicker of weakness in my resistance, I was as good as dead.