Chapter 2
The Gamble

Clarke dragged Lexa to the gardens after lunch. Lexa wanted to return to their chambers and stay there until dinner, but Clarke wanted to walk with Lexa for a bit, and there wasn't much Lexa could deny her wife, especially when she looked at her that way. So she took her arm, like the first time they'd walked together in the small garden at Clegane's Keep, and they started to wander aimlessly through rows upon rows of roses.

They stayed silent for a moment, just enjoyed each other's presence and their closeness. After passing under a wooden arch ready to collapse under the way of all the white roses growing on it, Clarke asked:

"So, how did it go with Anya?"

"It's hard to say."

Lexa marked a pause and they turned right to avoid a dead-end.

"Anya has always been a very detached person. She joined my mother's service because it was what the other Sand Snakes wanted, not because she wanted to see Daenerys Targaryen on the throne. Then she became my bodyguard, not because she wanted to protect me, she said so herself, I didn't need protection even back then, it was just an extra security. She just didn't want to go back to Dorne and have to deal with the other Houses."

They passed by a particular bush of golden roses, brought from Highgarden decades ago, and Lexa stopped. She plucked one without pricking herself and handed to Clarke with a smile. Clarke smiled back and took the flower in her empty hand. She still looked in front of them and behind them before placing a kiss on Lexa's cheek. They began walking again.

"She isn't really our spy in Dorne, but she is our first contact. She was supposed to keep us updated on the situation until a new Prince or Princess was chosen. But she didn't."

"You feel betrayed," Clarke noted.

"I suppose. But she seems to truly believe in that girl, which doesn't happen often with her. For the rest, we'll have to see for ourselves tonight."

They fell silent once again, climbing up a small path which would bring them closer to the sea before heading back to the Red Keep. The sun was shining over them, but a light sea breeze was keeping the air around them relatively cool. In the last moon, Clarke had started to greatly appreciate the smell of the sea always floating around the Keep.

Lexa suddenly stopped dead in her tracks, and pulled Clarke with her, until they were both hiding behind a thick bush of red roses. Clarke frowned.

"What is it?"

Lexa showed her to stay silent for now, and leaned slowly to the side, peaking into the counter alley. Clarke soon leaned as well, curious. There, walking slowly in the alley parallel to theirs, they saw Lincoln and Octavia, engaged in a bubbly conversation. They were standing close, their shoulders brushing every now and then. Octavia was solely focused on Lincoln, her back almost completely turned to them, but Clarke could hear the smile in her voice as she talked. Lincoln also had a smile on his face, and his eyes wouldn't leave Octavia's face.

Lexa hid back behind the bush, prompting Clarke to do the same. They were now standing front to front, very close to each other, but neither of them seemed to think too much about it.

"Octavia and Lincoln?" Lexa pondered.

"Lincoln? That's your friend from Meereen, right?"

Lexa nodded. Clarke dared one last peak but they'd already disappeared and gone their way.

"I'll need details on this one." Clarke declared.

"Yes, details sounds like a good idea." Lexa agreed.

Lexa was surprised to find both Anya and Raven already in the dining room when she arrived. Loreza was standing in a corner, like an Unsullied, keeping guard. Lexa was barely inside the room that the twins pushed past her and ran up to Anya. The older blonde hugged them both and listened as they animatedly talked about something. Lexa waited until the door was closed and Tyrion and Missandei had entered to clear her throat. Her siblings stopped talking all at once to look at her.

"You'll have time to catch up, but let's have dinner first."

They nodded and each went for their chairs, on the right of Clarke and Lexa. They were dragging their chairs away from the table, with the help of Missandei, when Raven limped forward to came to address Lexa and Clarke:

"I wanted to apologize for earlier, Your Grace. I know I don't make the best of first impressions, I can be a bit blunt but I'll try to control myself from now on."

Lexa nodded, but Clarke was the one who intervened, to her wife's surprised:

"No harm was done, don't worry. Plus, even if your first impression was terrible, at least it left an impression," she offered with a smile.

Raven laughed, though more controlled than before, and Lexa smiled. She really didn't deserve such a smart and kind woman by her side.

After everyone had taken their seats, dinner was brought. They'd used most of the roasts left from the feasts to make a pie, which Lexa eyed slightly suspiciously before she finally decided to eat. She'd heard the tale of what Arya Stark had done to Walder Frey, and she became very careful around pies and the Lady Stark. When both were at the same place at the same time, her suspicion doubled.

Lexa wished for a mostly silent meal and wanted to wait for after dessert to ask Raven some questions, but it seemed Tyrion didn't have her patience on this one:

"Anya said you were a commoner. From where, if I may?"

"Oh, hum, from Kingsgrave, my Lord. My mother worked in the kitchen there."

"And your father?"

Raven shrugged before sending a look toward Anya as if she didn't know what to answer.

"She's not a Sand if that's what you're asking," Anya declared simply.

Tyrion smiled awkwardly like he always did when curiosity was eating at him but he had to stop himself. Lexa placed her cup back on the table but stopped a nearby servant from refilling it.

"So, I must ask, how does a commoner with no apparent ties to a noble house of Dorne became the Princess of Dorne?" she finally asked. "Anya wouldn't tell me, she said you should be the one telling me this very interesting tale."

Raven smiled, finishing her own cup before she declared:

"It is a very interesting tale, actually."

She crossed her arms, leaning against her chair. Her yellow jacket from earlier had been replaced by an elegant red one for tonight. One of her hands began to play nervously with the aim of her sleeve.

"So, it started about a year ago, I think? I was just coming home after going to Old Town for a year or so."

Lexa frowned.

"Old Town? What business did you have there?"

"Well, I wanted to use the library. Of course, these old maesters shut me out, claiming a woman could not step foot in the citadel, all that crap. It didn't take long for me to find an informant who would sneak books out of the library for me."

Raven must have felt her Queen's slightly accusatory look before she added:

"I returned them all! I just wanted to learn more about the things I do best."

"So you had a job before all this?"

"I'd like to think I still do, I've just been kept away from it by more urgent things. But yes, I was a smith. I tinker, too, on occasion."

Anya shook her head lightly in exasperation at Raven's bragging.

"Anyway, yeah, I'm a smith, been working as one since I was seven. That's how I got the leg, by the way. I know you wanted to ask, so here you go. Was playing with some pretty freaking dangerous stuff, almost blew my leg off, doesn't matter."

Lexa glanced at the twins. They'd stopped eating completely, enraptured by every word the Princess of Dorne was saying.

"So, I'm coming home after a year of absence, come by my old master's shop and see the guy's been busy. Engaged two other apprentices, and he's pretty damn glad to see me. Lord Manwoody just ordered a bunch of swords to arm his army, which he's planning to use to take over Dorne. Me, I know the guy, I've been living under his roof for a long time. The guy's an asshole. He'll bleed the country if he ever comes close to that chair. But there really isn't much I can do, right? Instead of staying, I ride east. I go straight to Sunspear to warn the people there."

She paused, sipping from her once again full cup before she continued:

"One night, I'm sleeping under the stars, thinking. It's obvious the people in Sunspear don't want to be ruling, else we wouldn't be in this situation. But if I go there, and they tell me they don't care Manwooly's an asshole, it's over. So I come up with this plan. It's really risky, but I have to try."

Lexa leaned back in her chair, listening intensely. Anya was right, Raven's story really was interesting and complicated.

"Two days later I'm in Sunspear. Go to the castle, ask for an audience with the Lady there, they point me to this one," she said, pointing to Anya with her thumb.

"So I go see her, and then I say: 'If I can build you whatever you want, you'll support my claim to the throne of Dorne.'"

Lexa's eyes grew wide in surprise, and apparently, so did Clarke, Tyrion, and Missandei. The twins were so enraptured by the story that they didn't have any reaction.

"Big surprise there, she laughed. But, luckily, she decided to indulge me. Told me if I could build three snakes made of metal and spitting venom, she'll do it. So I did."

"I'm sorry," Tyrion interrupted. "Metal snakes?"

"Yep. Took me a better part of a fortnight, and I was really scared Manwooly would start his attack in the meantime, but I made them. Metal snakes with clockwork inside. They can slide on the ground for three rotations before half of their body stands up, and they spit venom. With a bit of refinement, they could make an awesome trapped package."

Raven finished her cup, unaware of how the rest of the room looked at her. Like a mad genius, like a potential threat, too. She placed her cup back on the table and continued:

"So, Anya finally indulged me, for real. I told her about Manwooly, she said anyone who's willing to do something so crazy for her country deserved to be Princess, so she supported my claim."

Lexa glanced at Anya, who was reclined in her chair as well, staring at her empty plate. She wondered why the blonde would do something so crazy, give her country to someone with no experience in leadership, someone who just showed up and kept her promise. A tinkerer, a builder.

"And that's it?" Aegon asked, disappointed. He obviously wanted to hear more.

Raven chuckled, amused by the little Prince's curiosity.

"As if. Anya left Sunspear to Elia, told her to assemble our troops, just in case, and together we went around the country, stopping to visit every Lord. Every time, we came to see them, and I'll say the same thing: 'If I can build whatever you ask of me, you'll support my claim to the throne of Dorne.'"

"It worked?" Clarke asked, as stunned by the tale as everyone else.

"Every time. Dornish lords may be many things, but true to their words they are. And with the threat of death by a thousand arrows, if they didn't keep their vow, I think it motivated them a bit."

"What did you build for them?" Lexa asked, worried. If Anya had asked for venomous snakes and she knew her friend had no intentions to ever use them, then she couldn't imagine what the other lords had asked for.

"Depends. Lord Dalt wanted a way to light his lemon trees even when the sun was hidden behind the castle. Took me a bit of thinking but with a lot of mirrors and some ropes, I made an astrolabe for his lemons. Lord Dayne likes the stars, so I installed a big sextant at the top of the Palestone Sword, to watch the stars at night. Lord Qorgyle heard about the metal snakes, so he asked for a giant scorpion that could do the same. Easy fix, really. It was easy, you know? All those Lords don't have imagination."

Raven was about to drink another cup when Anya shook her head. She placed the full cup back on the table and cleared her throat.

"Anyway, this leads us all the way to Manwooly. By the time we made it to Kingsgrave, he'd heard about our little journey. His army was basically ready to march, but he wanted to take care of me first, I think. Now that I had the support of the other Lords, he couldn't really march on Sunspear anymore."

Raven uncrossed her arms, leaning against the table this time.

"He asked me to make him a sword. Said I'd been a smith here before and I'll always be a smith there, so he asked for a sword. A sword that could cut through even the toughest of woods, and would light up on fire when he wanted to. The man thought he was Azor Ahai or something. Anyway, I made his sword, took me some time to get the blade right, kept breaking when I would test it on wood. Then, I did what he asked, made it light on fire by a simple switch of a button. Only, I didn't tell him the hilt would catch fire too. He burned his hands the first time he tried it, his stupid sword."

"You made a sword that can cut through wood?" Tyrion asked.

Raven shrugged.

"It's a broadsword, not very balanced for combat. Nothing more than a glorified axe, you know? But anyway, of course, the man was pissed. Tried to strike me with the sword. Anya protected me, reminded him that if he didn't keep his vow his son would, and we haven't heard from him since."

"That was quite the tale," Tyrion declared.

"Indeed," Lexa agreed. "And now here you are, with the support of the lords and ladies of Dorne, but still no House of your own."

"It's a problem." Raven conceded. "But it doesn't have to be."

Lexa crossed her fingers and thought longly.

"Your story is indeed very interesting, almost unbelievable. But you have Anya on your side, and if she believes in you and supports your claim then there must be a reason for it."

Raven once again reclined in her chair, the wood creaking under her weight, and crossed her arms.

"Anya told me you're a very good fighter. You like competition, you like to win, too. You do whatever you want, too. If I were to make an assumption, I'd say you're a gambler."

"What are you getting at?"

"If I can build whatever you ask of me, you'll support my claim as the new Princess of Dorne, and give me my own House."

Lexa smirked. She should have seen this one coming. She looked over at Tyrion. He looked rather intrigued by the Dornish girl, and when he looked at Lexa he nodded. She then looked at Clarke. She was focused, thinking about the situation probably. Lexa had already taken her decision, but she thought no harm in indulging the girl a bit.

"Aegon, Lyanna?"

The twins perked up, looking at their sister with a glint in their eyes. They already guessed what she was going to ask.

"What would you like Raven to build for you?"

"A dragon!" Aegon replied quickly.

Lyanna nodded.

"Yes, a dragon!"

Raven let out a strangled laughed, as if she'd chocked on her own spit.

"Does the size matter?"

Lyanna shook her head.

"I want my dragon to be small so I can keep it in my pocket."

"Yeah, mine too!" Aegon declared.

Lexa looked at Raven with a smirk.

"Here you go. Build two small dragons for my siblings, and you'll have your House, Reyes."

Clarke had to drag Lexa out of bed the next morning. Lexa would have stayed in bed all day if she could have, in compensation from the previous day which had been robbed from her. But as usual, Clarke found the words to get her up and about.

After her breakfast, Lexa went to find Anya. The older woman was standing on a balcony, above the small courtyard where Lexa had had smithing equipment brought during the night. Raven was already hard at work, visibly sweaty but not looking tired at all, her breakfast left untouched on a table nearby. Lexa came to stand beside Anya and looked down at the brunette as well.

"How long has she been at it?"

"Since they brought all the equipment."

They watched as Raven beat a small piece of metal on the edge of her anvil, before cooling it. Smoke rose from the bucket filled with liquid, possibly water though Lexa wasn't sure.

"She's hardworking, at least I can give her that."

"She wanted to go see Drogon last night, just to get the proportion and bone structure right."

Lexa frowned.

"Drogon let her?"

"No, I stopped her before she could even go. Thankfully she tends to listen to me when I advise her."

Lexa smirked.

"Yes, I'm sure you know how to be persuasive with her."

Anya didn't reply, didn't even glare at her for the joke.

"I need to make sure she doesn't starve herself. Even back in Sunspear the first time, when I came to check on her, she suddenly realized she hadn't eaten in three days. The worst part is it didn't even bother her. She just shrugged and said 'I've gone longer without food before'."

Anya continued to look at Raven. The brunette cleaned her face with a rag before picking another small piece from the furnace and bringing it to the anvil. Lexa, however, kept her eyes on her friend. The way she looked at Raven was different, but she'd seen it before, or rather, she'd felt it before.

"You love her."

Anya didn't try to deny it.

"This is very dangerous. You want to put this girl at the head of Dorne but if she doesn't have an heir its right back to the start."

"You think I don't know that."

Anya kept her cool, as usual, but she never looked at Lexa directly.

"I'll stay by her side as long as she'll have me. Even after she's married if she wants to."

Lexa hated to hear Anya say that.

"That's what you want? To be her paramour?"

"It's all I'll get."

A/N: Hi guys! I'm glad to see that all of you have liked yesterday's chapter! I hope you liked this one, and I also hope you didn't find it too ridiculous. I got stuck for a while when I was thinking about this story, trying to imagine how Raven could become Princess without starting a war. I just decided to let her be herself, and win over Dorne by doing what she does best, building and tinkering and all around trying to not blow things up!

Anyway, once again, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, you can leave a comment if you feel like it, you know, to tell me if you thought I really jumped the shark this time, and I'll see you guys tomorrow!