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

𝟙𝟘 - 𝕎𝕠𝕝𝕗'𝕤 𝕡𝕖𝕝𝕥

𝕋𝕙𝕖 smell of pine resin and wet bark filled my nose as my feet crunched over the wet leaves. It was warm in the Kingswood, despite the morning sun being mostly blocked by the thick canopy except for a few light patches. But I was restless, something was wrong, I knew it. Something about this didn't feel right. I kept going, kept walking toward the edge of the woods, to where I could see the red castle walls emerge. The guards gave me a wary look before letting me pass. My head felt so fuzzy, I couldn't quite recall what I was doing. I knew I had to get to my room, that something was wrong there, that this was wrong- Servants moved out of my way as I made for the stairs quickly, taking several steps at a time as I bounded upstairs. Left or right? Left, that was where my room was. But why did the castle halls I knew so well feel so foreign, so unfamiliar? It felt like there were two images layered on top of each other, both wrong and adding up to my confusion. There was the door, dark wood embellished with golden swirls. But how to open it? I could not figure out how to get inside, why it wouldn't budge when I pushed against it. This is wrong this is wrong this is wrong. Suddenly, the eyeslit above me opened, a pair of green eyes looking down at me in surprise, and a moment later the sound of wood scraping on wood came from the other side of the door, which swung open. The feeling of wrongness was overwhelming in here, and I followed the golden-haired woman back to the bed she had been sitting by, and there I saw-

"Vallery!", I heard Cersei exclaim when my eyelids fluttered open, and was greeted by a passionate kiss pressed to my lips. "Thank the gods, you're awake." I sat up slowly in confusion, groaning when I felt my throbbing head. What had happened? I remembered sitting on the throne beside Cersei, falling asleep while her father entered... no, not falling asleep. Dying. I had drunk poison. How was I alive? The next thing I remembered after the throne room was crouching in the forest, over the savaged corpse of a deer. Bile rose in my throat at the memory of the dream, and I turned around just in time to vomit into my chamberpot. "How", I croaked. Cersei understood. "I had you brought to the maester immediately. He counteracted the Essence of Nightshade in time to save you. But you took your sweet time waking up. When I saw you pass out, I..." She shook her head as if to clear away the memory. "I'm glad you're back." I eased myself up a little further and took her hand. "I'm glad we didn't die. Does this mean... are we safe? Did we win?" Cersei nodded. "My father joined the battle and defeated Stannis' forces. Stannis himself escaped, but without an army, I doubt he'll trouble us again anytime soon." So I hadn't hallucinated it. My eyes fell on Rhaenys, sitting beside my bed. "Hey, girl", I said with a slight smile. "Still watching over me?" "She was acting really strange earlier", Cersei remarked. "She was supposed to be outside in the Kingswood, but then she suddenly came up here, pushing against the door and all, so I let her in, and she just sat and stared at you with empty eyes for about a minute until you woke up." The hairs on my neck stood up at her tale as an incredulous idea dawned on me. "Cersei... I think... I think I was Rhaenys while I was gone." "What?" Cersei laughed. "Vallery, do you realize how that sounds?" "I know", I sighed, "but I remember what you just told me. After Tywin came... I was in the woods, there was a dead animal in front of me. Gods, I was eating it. And then I felt like something was wrong, and that I had to get back to the castle, but something about that entire sequence felt so strange, like I wasn't myself... And I think I truly wasn't." "Are you sure you didn't just dream this?", Cersei said, but I heard the self-doubt in her voice. She, too, had grown up on the stories about the people of the North and their animals. "I went to the castle, and the guards gave me a weird look when they let me in - like they knew me, but were scared of me, and the servants inside the Keep all looked equally afraid. I was fast, so fast, and everything was a little higher than usual. And then I got to the door and I couldn't remember how it opened, until someone - you - looked at me and opened it for me, and then I saw myself and woke up." Cersei had paled. "All that I saw of the story happened exactly as you said", she said flatly. "If this is true... Vallery, I think you're a warg."