The Lost Dragon | Game of Thrones

Chapter Forty-Six

The Winterfell dining hall was being warmed by a roaring fire, the crackling of large wooden logs could be heard echoing against the stone walls. The once drab feeling castle with the Boltons in power, was now the exciting center for all great houses in the north. The remaining leaders from the castles in the north had gathered, along with the Free Folk to feast in a celebration of the Starks reclaimant of their ancestral home. The celebrations had been going on for weeks, with houses traveling from all over to join them.

With Sansa the last surviving true born Stark in the north, she served as Lady of Winterfell, with Jon at her side for guidance. Sansa took to her new role with ease, and had been busying herself in preparation for the winter to come. She was seated in the center of the familial table, in the large chair her father once sat upon.

Jon was seated nearby, and was chatting quietly with the Maester about various problems that needed solving involving the Free Folk. The Free Folk weren't used to living in such close quarters, or walls to being with – which led to various fighting and thievery that wasn't normally tolerated.

And between them, sat Violet. She was happily nursing a full stomach and slowly sipping on the ale that she swished around in a goblet between her palms. She hadn't felt this at home in such a long time. And even though she was seated at the table as the Queen the north had now claimed to serve, she was still thrilled to once again be in the place she knew as home.

"You seem in better spirits." Sansa mumbled from her right. Violet looked over and grinned before taking another sip of her ale.

"I'm enjoying this." She told her, using her goblet to point at the exuberant and care-free natures of the men who filled up the dining hall. They were drunk, happy, and Violet loved to watch as they tossed meat at one another and spilled ale and wine onto the floor.

"Me too." Sansa agreed, slowly taking a sip with a smile on her face. Years ago she would have sneered at the loud and boisterous men who were living life to the fullest, she would have detested two bastards sitting at the head of her table. But now, she had been through so much and she looked at life with a brand new set of eyes. 

"So what's next?" Sansa asked Violet after several moments of comfortable silence. 

Violet placed her goblet down before shifting towards the eldest of the Stark daughters. "Dany and I have been in communication since we reclaimed Winterfell last month. She is sailing for Westeros and plans to settle at Dragonstone. My advisor Davos and commander will sail north to join us along with my army." 

"You won't be joining your sister in Dragonstone?" Sansa asked in surprise. She assumed Violet would have wanted to join her twin again as soon as possible. 

"Not much reason to." Violet responded with a shrug of her shoulders. "The army of the dead is in the north, and I will not abandon my people when they need me the most." 

Sansa shuddered at the thought of the monsters she had always thought were only in bedtime stories. But both Violet and Jon let her know just how truly terrifying the white walkers actually were. And very very real. 

Sansa had opened her mouth to reply, but a Maester rushing into the hall with a scroll in his hands silenced her.

"Your grace," he bowed to Violet before turning to Sansa and handing her the scroll. "The King and Queen are dead, my lady. Cersei Lannister has been crowned Queen after the death of her son, Tommen Baratheon and his wife, Margaery Tyrell." 

Sansa's bright green eyes wandered over the delicate writing on the scroll, before she tossed it onto the table and her eyes shifted to Violet. Violet's eyebrows creased in frustration and anger. Cersei Lannister was the one vile person that Violet did not want anywhere near the throne, and she knew in her heart of hearts that she had something to do with the deaths of the couple who ruled before her. 

"That's not all." Sansa mumbled, her eyes glaring at the parchment. "She wants me to go to Kings Landing and pledge house Stark and the north to her."

"I will burn the red keep to the ground before I let you step one more foot in that retched city." Violet growled, ripping the parchment from the tabletop and angrily heaving it across the hall. 

"Ignoring her request puts me in open rebellion against the crown." Sansa mumbled in a mocking tone. She found it humorous how she could never quite escape the clutches of Cersei Lannister. . 

"House Stark is pledged to House Targaryen, the rightful rulers of the seven kingdoms. That puts  Cersei Lannister in open rebellion, and I sure hope she follows through." Violet sneered, a cunning and vicious smirk crossing her beautiful features as she thought of the woman who had done so much harm to the people she called family. 

"House Stark is pledged to Violet Targaryen. You are the Queen we serve, not your sister." Sansa told her with raised eyebrows. "I know the people in Kings Landing, they will never love or respect your sister. They will view her as a foreigner, with no claims to Westeros. They will look at you and see a warrior who fought in a Westerosi army, reclaimed Winterfell from a tyrant, and put her people before everything else! You want to save Westeros, your sister wants to claim it, and House Stark will not serve anyone else except for the warrior Queen we know and love." 

Sansa had said her peace, and stood abruptly from the table before wandering off down a corridor and further into the castle. Violet sighed in both frustration and anger. Everyone had been telling her the same things since she found out who she truly was. That she would be an amazing Queen, the people will love and respect her. And all Violet wanted was to run around and fight whomever stood in her and her sisters way. 

But she was beginning to see that maybe if she really wanted to put the people first and do what was best for them, that she would need to put their wants before hers. Her sister had the man power to conquer Westeros when she arrived, but Violet had the trust and loyalty of many great houses. 

 With the looming threat of an undead army on the march, a new tyrannical Queen on the iron throne, and two sisters who would be vying for that same throne, Violet wasn't sure who would survive in the end...as a war nobody was expecting was just around the corner.