They call it her duty.
It is her duty to advance the Tyrell household. If she were a man she would have been knighted and marry whom she chooses, but because she is a woman she will grit her teeth and marry the man her family chooses for her and produce heirs.
She never imagines that her family intends her to marry Joffrey Baratheon.
He is cruel, that much she is sure of.
Joffrey dies.
Robb Stark lives.
Margaery wonders if the rumors about him are true; that he cannot be killed; for he survives the Frey wedding and once again commands his Northern army.
This time he takes Kingslanding.
Crimson and gold are burned and Margaery scrambles to make an ally of the now King in the North. He takes her friendship in stride as he tries to make peace with Stannis.
'' Why do you not want the iron throne?'' She asks him one day.
His face is full of grief when he tells her, '' I have already bleed for one throne, I'm afraid that I will bleed again if I try to conquer another throne. Besides I want to go home.'' His voice is so full of longing that her heart can't help but ache, and it reminds her that Robb Stark is still half a boy. Grave is a good way to describe his mood most days, but there are moments when his face will light up and he will almost be a boy again. Those are her favorite moments.
Robb Stark is two months in Kingslanding when Margaery receives a letter sealed in green wax with only one line scratched into the parchment.
Robb Stark is in need of a queen.
Everyone knows that Robb Stark had dissolved his marriage to Jeyne Westerling after the Frey wedding and his mother….
She does not tell Loras of her plans as she walks into Robb's solar. He is handsome and he regards her as a somewhat friend, perhaps she could be happy with him in the north, no matter how cold it was.
He had not heard her enter, so consumed in his letter that he is writing. She saunters to the back of him and gently places a hand on his shoulder. She feels him tense and the quill in his hand nearly snaps in half with his grip. It is enough to make her step back and instantly regret her actions.
'' Lady Margaery.'' He does not look at her and the cold tone in his voice is enough to make her flinch.
Something in her stomach curls and she feels like her tongue is stuck until she finally manages one meager sentence. '' I was wondering if you would like to take a walk with me in the gardens?'' He shakes his head and it is enough of a dismissal for her.
She holds her head high and greets the Mormont sisters, who guard Robb's door, with a smile, but she does not meet their eyes. She cannot.
In the following weeks she does not meet Robb Stark's eyes, and does not stand in his presence for more than a few moments before making an excuse to leave the room; for every time he walks into the room she feels shame well up within her. Still she holds her head up and waits for the whispers to start; of the Rose of Highgarden trying to seduce the Young Wolf.
They never come.
The letters still do.
She begins to detest the sight of the green wax, giving the letters to Loras. When he starts to give them to her saying that they are for her, she starts to burn them. It is freeing, this act.
She feels like she is growing strong, and for once she is doing it on her own.
It is during one of these acts that Robb Stark visits her. The flames are only starting to lick at the wax seal when one of her cousins announces his entrance. He enters, her ladies whispering. He ushers them out.
'' People will talk.'' He does not smile.
'' People regard me as an honorable man.'' His father was regarded as an honorable man and he still had a bastard. She wants to say these words, but doesn't. She has wounded him enough. Instead she invites him to sit down.
'' I have come to ask a favor Lady Margaery.'' When she raises her eyes to look at him her stomach drops. There is forgiveness in his eyes.
'' What would you have of me your Grace?'' There is the slightest twitch of the lips at that, but then his face sobers.
'' My sister...What happened to her?'' Margaery remembers his sister. Collapsing in her brothers arms as soon as he entered the castle. She remembers Sansa being ushered away to Riverrunn; scarred, broken, but wiser Margaery thinks.
'' I do not think it's my place to say.'' Something flashes in his eyes and his next words are harsh.
'' No one else will tell me and in this I think you will be honest.'' She sighs and tells him everything that Sansa had told her. His face changes as she tells him the details of Sansa's torture. At first it is anger that crosses his face, but as she tells him the last bruising details it is anguish that covers his face.
When she is done silence permeates the room and she wishes she knew what to say beside the polite courtesy.
'' And they still expected you to marry him?'' She thinks about Joffrey choking as he took a sip from his goblet. She remembers the mirth in her grandmother's eyes.
She looks away to the fire where the newest letter is now only hot coals. '' It was my duty.''
'' Was that what it was? Just duty?'' They are not speaking of Joffrey anymore. He faces her now; shoulders back; iron crown glimmering in the firelight.
Her voice quivers. '' Duty, among other things.'' He does not pry for more. She is glad for that; she does not think she is ready to give it. Instead he stands and bids her goodbye.
Just when she thinks it's over though, when he has her back turned to her he requests one more thing from her. '' Will you write to me?'' It is so quiet that she almost doesn't hear it, even in the silent room.
'' I shall.'' It is a simple enough answer but it causes Margaery to hold her breathe until he has left the room.
He leaves Kingslanding the next day.
She leaves for Highgarden the next week.
She is glad to go, but she is not sure about going back to Highgarden. While she has missed the gardens and Willas, she cannot say the same for her father and her grandmother. Still, the consequences of her actions must be faced, no matter how daunting they may be.
She arrives with Willas to greet her. He envelopes her in a hug, his cane digging into her hip, but she doesn't mind, she has missed him too much to care.
'' It seems you have brought a chill with you.'' She pulls her cloak tighter around her and gives him a small smile.
'' Seems I have.'' He leads her to her father's solar and as she nears her he stops her.
'' I am proud of you.'' It's no secret that Willas prefers Oberyn Martell to Loras. That if he weren't heir, or crippled, he would have ran to Oldtown and stayed there.
She kisses him on the cheek before entering the solar.
Inside a fire is roaring, trying to keep off the chill of autumn. Her father sits at his desk, her grandmother next to him. They had been expecting her.
'' Sit down Margaery.'' Her grandmother waves her wrinkled hand to a chair across from her father.
With as much steel as she can manage she says, '' I prefer to stand.'' This seems to ruffle them; her father frowns but her grandmother shows no emotion.
'' I- we have been concerned with your behavior lately. Refusing to answer our letters and from what Loras has told us you have been isolating yourself from the court. That does not look good on our family. As for Lord Stark-'' She stops her father there.
'' King Robb- he is King Robb now. I suggest you remember that, you would not want to put a blemish on this family.'' Her father begins to stand until Olenna smacks him with her cane.
'' Leave us.'' Her father starts to protest but Olenna shushes him and points her cane at the doorway. He leaves them both with a huff.
'' My son the oaf. At least you have not followed in his footsteps.'' Her grandmother looks at her; up and down, seeming to judge her.
'' You know better, but it seems the boy has worked some charm on you.'' Olenna chuckles, '' whatever charm the North might have.''
'' He is a friend.'' Olenna hums.
'' I told Mace that trying to seduce a man who has already been seduced by one woman and his kingdom almost crumbles for it- well he is not about to fall for another pretty face. But my son the fool-'' She clucks and stamps her cane once on the floor.
'' Then what you have me do?'' Her grandmother looks pointedly at her.
'' Lions may bleed on rose thorns, dragons may burn whatever they like, but in the end winter conquers all.''
Margaery is dismissed after that.
Her first letter from Robb comes three months later after she arrives to High garden. To the Lady Margaery,
I hope all is well with you. I have heard that you are now home in Highgarden and I it is my wish to know that you made it safely back home, for I know the roads are still perilous at this time.
It is merely an inquiry of her health but it is enough for her.
Her family stares at the grey wax seal and her father asks for it. Margaery outwardly refuses to and hides the letters under her mattress. The letters are not personal per say but she feels all the same that they should stay private.
In the months that follow letters are exchanged back and forth. She looks forward to the snowy white parchments and grey seal; feels a particular pride in herself when she seals her own letters with a white rose.
Still, she is surprised when her father barges into her room and tosses a letter in her lap. '' Robb Stark has written to me granting permission for you to travel north to be a companion to Sansa Stark.'' Margaery opened and closed her mouth several times trying to form words. Her father tapped his foot on the ground in impatience. '' Well what do you have to say for yourself?''
'' Oh stop Mace she had nothing to do with it.'' Her grandmother stepped out from behind her father. '' It was I who wrote the boy.''
It was her father's turn to be shocked. '' Why? She has already tried to seduce him once. Why should she try again?'' Her grandmother shakes her head and rubs her forehead.
'' There is more than one way to get into a kings good graces.'' Margaery carefully examined the letter. It was courteous and bore no resemblance to one of his letters to her. Her grandmother turns to her, '' you leave in a fortnight.'' With that Olenna drags her father from the room leaving Margaery to pack.
She finishes putting her last fur cloak in to her trunk when Willas comes to her door. He sits on the edge of her bed and pulls her down to sit beside him.
'' So you are going to the north.'' It is not a question and Margaery lays her head on his shoulder in exhaustion.
'' I will do what I am told to do.'' Willas wraps her arms around her; his head now lying on her shoulder.
'' You do not want to go north?''
'' I do. It's just-''
Willas chuckles and it tickles the hairs on her neck. '' You wanted to do it by your own terms. Believe me Margaery I know more than anymore what it's like to suffocate in a tangle of vines.'' Margaery nudges her head up so she can look at him.
'' Then why don't you go- to Oldtown or the Free cities? Why don't you leave?''
Willas laughs outright. '' With my leg? Besides, I would never leave Highgarden to Garlan. Gallant he may be, but cunning he is not, and Loras gods be good-'' Margaery laughs. She loves Loras, beautiful Loras, who was only ever meant to be a rose.
'' I will miss you.'' Willas holds her tighter and kisses her on the forehead.
'' I'll miss you too.''
Margaery pulls her cloak tighter around her and looks at the newly constructed gates of Winterfell. Willas had told her stories of Winterfell; of the dragon that lay beneath its foundations keeping the castle warm, of the Godswood and the haunted Wolfswood. It all seemed surreal now that she was here.
Workers are still rebuilding walls and she could not help but wrinkle her nose at the charred remains of one of the walls. She looked ahead of her to see Robb and Sansa awaiting her arrival.
'' My lady.'' They greeted her.
'' Your Grace, you highness.'' She curtsies and immediately regrets it as her cloak was swept away from her body. She began to shiver and Sansa ushered her to her room. Margaery could not help but look back and see Robb with snowflakes in his hair and a curious look in his eyes.
Margaery keeps Sansa company; tries to make the now serious girl laugh. This time she is not bound by the duty to her family to make small talk, but merely a sense of friendship.
One night as they stitch Sansa brings up a topic that has been weighing heavily on the household for months.
'' Do you think Aegon Targaeryn will try to start another war?'' It is a simple enough question, but one so weighed in fear.
'' I don't know.''
'' If he does then Robb will have to go to war again.'' Margaery pokes herself with her needle and looks up at Sansa.
'' Yes he would.'' Sansa arches her brow and Margaery can't help but be reminded her of her mother; who had to the same look on her face when she had caught Margaery in a lie.
In two moon turns Lyra Mormont joins them at Winterfell. Margaery is glad for the company even if Lyra isn't what a 'proper lady' should be. It is thanks to Lyra and her that Sansa starts to smile again.
Margaery notices that this makes Robb smile again, even more so when Sansa starts to request lemon cakes even though winter is almost upon them.
She quietly takes him aside and tells him that she shall request provisions from her family. Even though he tries to protest, a matter of pride she thinks, he has never looked more grateful.
When they are not embroidering or reading, or watching Lyra shoot an arrow they sneak away early in the morning when no one is looking and go to the Godswood and build snow castles together.
On one of those early mornings in the bitter chill when Sansa and Lyra are too tired to get out of bed, Robb comes to her.
'' Lady Margaery.'' Margaery jumps as the soft voice echoes in the Godswood, and she turns to see Tully blue eyes looking down at her.
'' Your Grace.'' She goes to stand but he waves her away and kneels next to her. She doesn't know quite what to do with herself.
This has become a theme in her life when it comes to Robb Stark.
So she clenches her hands and wipes the snow away from her dress with careful hands and waits for him to speak
When he doesn't she takes it upon herself to.
'' Is there something you need?'' It's a bit harsher than she intended it to be but it makes him wake up from his state.
A flush comes to his cheeks and he bites his lip, seeming to try to come up with the right words. '' Before my mother died, when I was expected to marry a Frey, she told me how she and my father-'' he pauses and takes a deep breath as if he is trying to expel a great weight from his chest, '' how they built their marriage from the ground up, she said that in time she was happy; she said that in time I would be happy. My lady-'' he carefully takes her cold hands in his own warm ones, '' I know there is no great love between us but I do respect you and I would only try to make you happy….would you please except my offer of marriage?'' She squeezes his hands and nods, his shoulders relax and she can't help but let out a light hearted laugh.
'' Is something funny my lady?'' Margaery shakes her and with as much courage as she can muster, kisses him chastely on the lips.
'' I hope you may grow to love me one day your Grace.''