Margaery met with Phillipa Foley after much to-and fro-ing. Gods, how hard can it be to merely meet with a woman!

She knew the diva was in high demand and could be rather capricious by nature. Although she was a family friend, she wasn't as close to her as she was to Eve. But she had the knowledge and expertise that Margaery needed, and the diva's assistance and goodwill would be essential to success on her new chosen career path. If she could do it and in the midst of a war, then so can I!

She entered the lavishly appointed guest rooms the diva had commandeered during her stay in the capital. Pippa was sat cross legged on the floor surrounded by a chaos of lavish silk gowns, fans, shoes, jewellery and accessories and manuscript paper. She was wearing a pair of wire-rimmed lenses balanced on the end of her nose frowning at some manuscript paper. It made her look like a surprisingly pretty bluestocking.

Margaery gave a cough to indicate she was there. At the sound, Pippa whipped off her lenses and visibly donned her pleasant public mask.

Well, everyone's got to have their little vanities and while Pippa was still a remarkably beautiful woman she had to be quite a bit older than she admitted to in public.

"Maggie, darling!" She smiled."What brings you here so urgently? No one's meant to know I'm in the country yet!"

Margaery knew all too well. She'd had to borrow off Eve to persuade the diva's rapacious agent to cough up the information.

"I need your advice, Pippa." she said frankly, appealing to the older woman's good nature. "I was hoping to speak to you privately if I may?"

"So you're hoping to follow in my footsteps, are ye?" Pippa asked shrewdly after hearing Margaery out. "A bold move and a wee bit of a gamble, isn't it? D'ye know quite what you've let yourself in for?"

Margaery gave her a rueful little smile. "I don't have much of a choice, Pippa, to be honest with you. It's that or throw myself on the mercy of Damaris Page or Madam Cresswell, and I'd rather not just yet, thank you!"

Pippa chewed the end of her quill in thought, looking more of a bluestocking than ever. "Hmm, I can see your point, dear. You can do far better than that." The older woman gave her an appraising look. "Can I ask you a couple of personal questions? You can always say no, of course."

Margaery nodded to show she was not bothered. "Ask away, Pippa."

"What are you hoping to get out of this? Is it worth antagonizing your family over it? Because I might as well tell you now, your family won't like it."

Margaery nodded. She'd known it would be a risk, her father already showed signs of disapproval but what else was she meant to do? Options were limited for a woman of gentle birth in this society. If she was being forced to rely on her wits, then she would have to take the risk. "I don't have a choice, it's a matter of principle."

Pippa shook her hand and Margaery suspected that she wanted to tell her that in her position, she couldn't afford to have principles.

"It took years for Ormonde to bend his stiff neck and acknowledge me after I ran away to go on the stage. The sly auld bastard still can't look me in the eye properly even after all these years, aye, even now. He took it out on Evie as well and that wasn't right. Whatever sins Tom and I committed, the lass was innocent. Is that a price you're prepared to pay? You Tyrells are clannish, aren't ye? Could you walk away from them if you had to?"

"Walk away?"

"Aye. You have to be prepared to do this alone, if need be."

"I don't have much of a choice. It's this or bowing to my father's will and marrying Joffrey Baratheon, and I'm trying to delay that fate as long as possible."

Pippa started in surprise at her revelation. Margaery saw the look of what she could only describe as shock in her eyes, just a flash but it was enough. What does Pippa know about my betrothed?

"Your father is marrying you to HIM? Why? Does he owe him money?" she sounded horrified. "Margaery, no! You can't!"

Margaery did not like the sound of this. She already disliked and distrusted Joffrey and knew more than a bit about his debaucheries. This was different. Pippa sounded genuinely appalled by the prospect.

"Joffrey is not a good man. You would be miserable with him!"

"I already am miserable with him, Pippa, and I am not even wed to him yet." Margaery said with undisguised bitterness. "And yet everyone insist I marry him, for he is my last chance for respectability. He hopes to get Renly's title from Charles, now that he's been banished."

Pippa wrung her hands in agitation. "I am serious! You cannot, you must not marry that man! If you listen to no other part of the advice I've given you, then heed this. Don't do it!"

"You are deadly serious about this, aren't you Madame Foley?"

Pippa looked at her in consternation. "My dear girl, did they tell you nothing about Joffrey? Why Ninon de L'Enclos won't let him over the threshold of her salon, and neither would I? In fact I doubt there's a brothel in Paris that would accept his custom?"

"Why, what did he do?" Margaery pleaded. "Tell me the truth, Pippa. No one else will."

Pippa sighed deeply, not wanting to be involved but feeling obliged to enlighten the girl in front of her.

"There were two girls... in Paris...he beat them so badly that they had to be 'retired'. Do you understand me, Margaery?"

Margaery felt a chill going down her spine. Joffrey did that? And her father wanted her to marry him?

"It so happened that Ninon was able to save them, and I helped. The authorities wouldn't do anything about it, for he's wealthy and of a good family. It seems the House of Lannister is good for something still, eh? But we all know the truth, us courtesans, and we will not forget."

"When you say they were 'retired', does that mean?..." she didn't know if she could bring herself to say it. Is Joffrey a murderer? Could she bear to live with him if he was?

"They still live - though no thanks to him." she said tersely.

"Can I...do you think I could speak to one of these girls?" Margaery asked.

"You are prepared to do this? You want the truth?"

"I must know the man my father has sold me to."

Pippa sighed. "I can arrange it. But I fear you won't like the results."

Margaery arose to leave, conscious that the diva had told her all she could. "Thank you for your time, Pippa- and for telling me the truth."

Pippa rose, and kissed her on the cheek. "Dear girl, I'm sorry for giving you such bad news. I hope everything works out. I'll write you a letter of recommendation for the King's company- you'll advance faster there, I think, and you're easily a better singer than that Beck Marshall. Get your foot in the door there, and you'll thrive."

Drury Lane

I have everything to prove. I have to get the position, I simply must-, Margaery told herself, as she met with the owner of the King's Company to persuade him to hire her.

Tom Killigrew was a middle-aged ish man with shrewd eyes and an expensive periwig. He took a line of snuff offering her some from a gilded box but she refused, disliking the habit.

"So you want a position in the company. This is not just some jape. A dare between some court ladies? You truly do want to work for me? To perform in my company alongside my actresses?"

"No, 'tis not. In truth I need the position." She decided honesty would be the best policy. A worldly man like Killigrew was bound to hear the gossip anyway. "I'm telling you this in confidence ser, you understand, but my father...well, he's cut me off, and I suspect I'll lose my position at Court soon. Hence the stage name."

Killigrew's brows raised in surprise.

"In short, I find myself in need of employment." she finished, giving him her most winning smile and hoping it worked.

"You are a attractive woman, I wonder why you didn't chance your luck with Madame Cresswell, or try and find a rich patron to pay your bills. I wouldn't imagine you'd have any trouble - a gorgeous little popsy like you?"

Margaery kept a serene confident mask on, and tried not to show how outraged she was by his leering suggestion she should sell her body to the highest bidder.

"I have no intention of starving or selling my body, thank ye. Why not use the talents that I have?" she replied pleasantly, with just a hit of steel behind her tone.

"Really? A lass of ambition as well as beauty?" he leaned forward in interest, getting a good look at her cleavage. Margaery gritted her teeth and tried not to show impatience with his inappropriate ogling. This is what I have to expect in my line of work now. To be eyed like a dish of fresh cooked bacon!

He scanned the letter of recommendation once more. "La Seraphina seems to think a great deal of your voice."

"She was kind enough to say so." Margaery said sweetly, not dropping his gaze demurely like a proper maiden. She'd better make it clear from the start she was not some wagtail to be trifled with.

"You audition in front of the company on Thursday. Prepare two songs and a speech and bring your own accompanist. Let's see what you're made of, Miss Flowers?"

The Tyrell town House

Margaery was at home and spending the day with her mother and grandmother engaged in fine needle-work and talking amongst themselves when the butler came the door and knocked respectfully.

"Whatever does he want?" Olenna frowned, dropping a stitch.

Alerie looked up from her stitching and set her embroidery hoop down. "Yes, Rowan, what is it?"

"There's a lady to see the young mistress. She is most insistent that she wants to see Lady Margaery in private." he intoned.

The three women looked curiously at each other at this rather unprecedented request.

"Did they say who they were?" Margaery asked.

"She left a card, m'lady." He intoned, handing over a small vellum note.

"Who is it? Lady Alerie asked. "This is all rather cloak and dagger, Margaery dear?"

"What have you been up to now, dear?" Olenna said, peering over at the card.

"It's Mary Villiers Stuart, Duchess of Richmond. But what could she want with me?" Margaery said. She knew the woman socially in a vague sense enough to greet her at a Court function, but they didn't move in the same social milieu. Leonette knew her better due to her service with the Queen and her entourage.

Why would she want to meet with me?

"What do you suggest I do, Grand-mere? Mother?" she asked.

There was a cunning glint in Grand-mere Olenna's eye that Margaery knew all too well. It was a sure signal that she was up to no good. Grand-mere never met a plot she didn't like. What was she up to now? thought Margaery.

"I think we should stay behind the arras and see what the Duchess of Richmond has to say to our Margaery, don't you?"

Alerie looked less convinced. "D'ye think that's wise?"

"We want to know what she wants with Margaery and she won't speak freely if we're here, will she? Are you up to this, Maggie?"

Margaery lifted her chin defiantly. She wasn't about to let the likes of Mary Villiers intimidate her on her own territory. "I suppose I'm going to have to be. Show her in, Rowan."

"Very good, my lady."

Mary Villiers Stuart, Duchess of Richmond was still a handsome looking woman, confident in her beauty as befitted a woman brought up at court in the very heart of the royal family, her famously fiery curls darkened with age. Margaery didn't quite know how to take her, or how to second-guess what she might want. For rest assured, the duchess had an ulterior motive. There was no way that she did not.

"So you're the girl…" there was a speculative gleam in her eyes as she looked Margaery up and down. Margaery felt as if she were being weighed in the balance. This is not a social call.

"My Lady Richmond?" Margaery said politely, attempting to keep her serene lady-like mask on. She wasn't about to allow a Villiers to get the better of her. For one moment she wondered whether George had sent his sister round to needle her after that meeting at Chatelin's. She would not put it past either of them.

"-the girl who managed to captivate a Prince."

Margaery felt herself blush and chided herself at that momentary weakness.

I have no need to feel guilty. I haven't done anything wrong. What business is it of hers what we do?

"I'm afraid I have no idea what you're referring to, Lady Richmond." she said lightly.

Mary's laugh was light and musical, utterly in contrast with her intent dark blue gaze. She shook her head, letting her dark auburn curls skim her pale bare shoulders.

"That dizzy little ingenue act really doesn't suit you, Margaery dear. Try again."

Margaery bristled with annoyance. Lady Richmond had a damned cheek , coming here insisting on seeing her and then implying all sorts. What business what was it of hers? "I don't know what right you have to come here and say these things. I bet you he doesn't even know you're here, does he?"

She felt a stab of triumph as she saw the truth of it. "He doesn't, does he?"

"If you're looking for a wealthy older man in Rupert who's ready to pay your bills, then move on. But if you really care about the man behind the title- the maddening, brilliant, arrogant man, then maybe you might be the woman worthy of him."

"You sound as if you're half in love with him yourself!" Margaery said rather accusingly

Mary didn't reply at first, just smiled a small private smile to herself that struck Margaery to the heart. She does love him a little still, doesn't she?

"He's a very good friend to me, even now. He'll be a good friend to you too as long as you don't abuse his trust. He doesn't need another Frances in his life." She rose gracefully and donned her cloak. "I've overstepped my mark a little but I had the sincerest of motives at heart. Think about what I said, will ye?"

Margaery knew that when her mother and Grand-mere Olenna emerged from the arras they would have much to say. They'll probably reprimand me for flirting with another man whilst I am engaged to Joffrey.

But surprisingly they both seemed to be quite positive. Alerie had never liked Joffrey and his bad manners, and Grand-mere had a low opinion of 'those Lannisters' as she called them.

So you and Prince Rupert, dear? You evidently made quite an impression!" her mother said.

"Sounds like he's been talking about you, Maggie. The man must be smitten." Grand-mere said, making her blush.

"It's not a love affair," Margaery said blushing like a maiden and feeling embarrassed at how vulnerable she felt at the subject, "Prince Rupert was kind to me that day on the barge, that's all."

She noticed a quirk of her grandmother's narrow lips that told her she was not remotely fooled by Margaery's words.

Hmm, is that why Lady Richmond felt the need to come round and read you the riot act?" she remarked. "You can't pull one over on me, not at my age!"

She couldn't really argue with that. "I don't really see how it was any business of hers to interrogate me in my own home. I bet he didn't even know she had come round." Margaery said crossly. "Interfering busybody Villiers!"

"It's not quite as simple as that, dear girl." her mother sighed, taking up her stitching.

Why not?" She frowned.

Her mother and Grand-mere Olenna exchanged glances, as if working out what to tell her. It was very strange to think of them keeping information from her."What? Don't keep me in suspense?"

"I'm afraid she would think it was her business unfortunately, darling. You see those two have history." Alerie squeezed her hand gently.

"History?" She found herself faltering. Oh Gods, had Lady Richmond come round because she was jealous?

"It was during the War. She was married to one of his best friends, James Stuart Duke of Richmond, a man he loved almost like a brother. But then he met her and they fell desperately, passionately in love with one another."

Margaery did not like the sound of this at all. Mary had to be jealous. If she were completely honest, the thought of Rupert in love: heart-stopping, passionate, star-crossed love was a terrible wrench, even if it was years ago.

"No one knows the full truth of what happened, but it was the talk of the court and a great scandal once the Parliamentary broadsheets got hold of it. Charles I and Henrietta-Maria certainly did not approve!" Olenna remarked.

"And did he? Did they?..." Margaery asked. Does he care for her, still?

"As I said, no one knows the truth of it, but I am convinced it didn't end well at all. Rupert is a man of honour and would not willingly betray his best friend over a woman, but Mary and he were madly in love."

"Why did he never marry her, after the duke of Richmond died? If he was so in love with her?" She had to ask Margaery told herself. She needed to know. Already this man is far too important to you!

"How could he have married her? After the war, he had nothing. He was sailing the seas, harassing the Navy and engaged in piracy. He could hardly have married a duchess then, could he? Besides everyone gossiped about them and speculated whether he was her lover. He couldn't have had her then."

"If he's been talking to her about you, them he must be a lot more interested in you than you thought. They're still very close, despite everything. Some say he trusts her completely."

"She said something about he didn't need another Frances. Did she mean his mistress?"

Olenna sniffed scornfully. "Hs ex-mistress. Frances Bard. Pretty fair-haired lass, very amiable but no idea of how to handle him. She went round a couple of years ago claiming he married her secretly. He denied it of course. Caused a bit of a wedge. You should as him about it. Get the truth from the source."

Alerie nodded. "She got pregnant hoping that she could keep him, but the damage was done. He gave her a settlement, provided for the boy and paid her off."

Margaery wondered whether she should follow her Grand-mere Olenna's advice.

Would it not seem rather presumptuous to tackle Rupert about his relationship with Lady Richmond? And how did she feel about Frances and his son? He left the mother of his son! How could he do that? What if it happened to me?

I mean, Rupert hasn't said anything to me yet. I know he wants me, but he's holding back what if he just wants to be friends? What if I'm making a fool of myself?

St James's Palace

"What a fascinating girl the Tyrell maid is, don't you think?" Charles mused after supper which had been rather a success.

James and Rupert looked at each other, knowing the signs of the start of one of Charles's infatuations with a gorgeous woman.

Rupert tried to hide his annoyance. Trust Charles to pull that kind of stunt especially when he could see how well they were getting on the barge. Normally he would dismiss it and focus his attention on his work at the Admiralty or one of his latest inventions and experiments but the lass had got under his skin. Those eyes of dark honey, that lovely kissable mouth, that lovely trim figure. Gods, what he wouldn't give to paint those tawny curls... So if the king was interested in her, why was he so keen to reconcile us on that barge? What is Charles up to?

"So pretty and talented, plucky too. Considering the mess between her and Baratheon. The girl has a knack for turning disaster into triumph." James observed. "She's a clever lass, smart as a whip. She'll do well for herself, no doubt, despite Baratheon's banishment."

Rupert was interested in Lady Tyrell, though he would have hesitated to admit it just yet. He had heard the rumours; hard not to when they were flying round the city and Whitehall, but he didn't know the truth of the matter.

Why had she requested an amicable annulment from Renly Baratheon just a couple of weeks before Charles had sent him from his court in disgrace? Renly was a charming boy, nothing like his famed elder brother Robert, but he must be a arrant fool to let a woman like Margaery go.

The most gorgeous girl…

Don't be a fool, Rupert. She's far too young and lovely to be interested in a grumpy old man like me. he told himself sternly.

He had no doubt that the wits; those witty disrespectful boys she seemed to favour for her salon, Buckhurst and Sedley and Wilmot were all mocking him silently for his weakness towards her.

If he had any sense he would forget about her entirely, but he found he just couldn't. He found himself making excuses to cross her path at court and greet her, no matter how flimsy the pretext. Hoping and waiting just to see her smile.

Gods, I'm like a love-struck boy!

"Rupert!" the king and the duke were looking at him rather impatiently.

"Sorry, what?" He was faintly embarrassed to be caught out mooning about a girl young enough to be his daughter. I must get a grip!

"We've been trying to get your attention for the last three minutes!" Charles told him with amused exasperation at his cousin. "What on earth were you day-dreaming about?"

Charles would just gloat if he knew, it was best to keep it to himself for now. "Nothing Sire, just wool-gathering." Rupert said, and firmly changed the subject.

St James's Park

Just that afternoon, the court were milling in Hyde Park waiting for the king and the Duke of York to take their daily promenade with the usual pack of spaniels when he saw her with the elder Stark girl and that meddling busybody Betty Felton. Rochester and Buckhurst were hovering round them, trying to flirt with them, no doubt. He felt a remarkable urge to rescue her from that company.

"Excuse me, just one moment-" he murmured to his cousin James who was walking besides him.

"Where are you going, Rupe? Oh..." James's voice tailed away as he spotted the very pretty reason for Rupert's sudden detour. Rupert saw his amused smirk, and glared at him.

" Not a bloody word, Jamie!" he mouthed at him.

James subsided, amused at Rupert's annoyance and the obvious favour he was showing towards the pretty girl. Evidently Charles's matchmaking had been most effective.

"Lady Margaery, do you have a moment?" the prince said with a courtly bow.

Her face lit up at the sound of his voice. She turned to him, eyes shining and sinking into a graceful curtsey.

"Your Grace, what a pleasure!" she took his proffered arm and glided away with him to talk privately. "You will excuse us, won't you boys?

"What's going on there?" Charles Sackville, Lord Buckhurst said frowning at this development in proceedings.

Lady Margaery was leaning close to the prince, her face radiant and happy as she looked up at him.

"He smiled at her! Gods, I didn't think he knew how any more." Buckhurst muttered, still watching them talk. He couldn't tear his eyes away from them, watching her every move hungrily.

"Any minute his face is going to crack!" he sulked. "What does he want with a pretty girl like our Maggie anyway?"

John grinned, pleased to be needling his friend. "Bucky, I hate to say this, but you're starting to sound a bit jealous!"

Gods, he knew that would get Lady Betty's attention. The slightest whiff of gossip and she was there, long nose quivering like a greyhound before a race.

"Well, he did purposely seek her out, perhaps there's something in it?" mused the little maid-of-honour, the possibilities of more gossip dawning on her. "She's practically glowing as she speaks to him- and is that her hand on his coat?". Sure enough, Margaery's hand was absently stroking the dark mulberry velvet of the prince's coat. "Well, she did go on the royal barge that day with Lady Sansa, did she not? Maybe something happened there?"

"No, they just talked." Sansa joined in innocently.

" Is there something you'd like to tell us all, Buckster?" Rochester smirked, enjoying himself at his friend's expense.

Bucky scowled. "Go to hell, Rochester!"

When Margaery got back, Buckhurst had already gone.

"Where's Bucky?" she frowned. "I thought we were going to see Tyrion Lannister, and he went off without a word."

"Stomped off in a huff, forget him." Rochester said lightly.

Lady Betty was not so easily deflected from a prime source of gossip. She familiarly linked her arm through hers.

"When did you manage to become such close friends with the Prince Palatinate? He usually takes little notice of us, but he sought you out, didn't he? What was that all about?"

Margaery was starting to get irritated with just how nosy everyone at court was. Lady Betty really just could not let things be, Lady Richmond felt entitled to show up at her house making vague threats and sticking her nose into an ex-lover's business, and now Bucky was sulking like a schoolboy who'd lost his last sweetmeat just because she wanted to spend time with the prince. She liked Rupert! Why should she pretend she did not?

"Rupert and I are just friends, I really don't see what the problem is!" she said sharply.

Lady Betty looked at if Yuletide had just come twice in one year. Margaery could have kicked herself for giving her inner thoughts so easily.

"Rupert? Very familiar about the Prince, aren't ye?" she said, her blue eyes glinting with excitement. "So I take it there's some truth in the whisper you had a visit from Lady Richmond about him, then? How long has it been going on? Does Frances know? She will be vexed he's moving on-"

How the hell did she find that out! thought Margaery. Lady Betty was out of control, she had to be stopped, before this went through the whole of St James's Palace.

"Now you just wait a-" she started to say, before Rochester caught her by the arm and guided her firmly away from the rest of the group.

"Why did you do that, Johnny, I was about to give her a piece of my mind!" she grouched.

He grinned her at her cheekily, trying to chivvy her out of her bad mood. "Which is why I dragged you away before you lost your temper, love. Betty Felton is harmless compared to the rest of them, just bored and garrulous. There's no need to shout at her."

"That woman is a menace. She is so blasted nosy about everything, and of course she can't keep her mouth closed. This is going to be all over the palace by sundown! As if those crows don't caw enough about me already!"

Rochester let her rant for a moment, before he added quietly, "Bucky took off because he's got it into his head you're flirting with the prince, and the daft bugger won't admit he's sore about it. You did seem quite close-"

"Bucky?" Margaery sounded genuinely surprised. She shook her head. "There's nothing between us, it was always just a bit of fun between friends. He stormed off because of that?"

Rochester nodded.

"Ugh!" she muttered. "Men!"

"We're not all bad, Maggie." he protested, before stopping and giving her a searching knowing look. "He's not being completely daft though, is he? You are interested in the Prince and he is in you. Is that true?"

She didn't meet his eye for a moment.

"Come Maggie, no secrets-" he coaxed.

"Would it be so bad if...if I was?" she said in a small voice, looking at him pleadingly.

He knew it then, of course she was, even Betty had seen it. Her pale hand stroking the fine velvet of Rupert's coat, as if she badly wanted to touch him and could not stop herself. The way she lit up at the sound of his voice. Her smile as she looked up at him towering over her. The older man was in no way immune to her either, though the mind boggled at the thought of the stern warrior turned to thoughts of love and courting. John would've almost mocked it, although he wasn't quite sure if he'd dare just yet, frankly.

"You daft minx, you're head over heels aren't ye? How the hell did this happen?"

Rochester's voice sounded almost sympathetic. Margaery's lip turned up sadly as if she didn't want his pity, not about this. "I can handle this, I'm sure of it. It'll probably come to nothing anyway. Rupert was just being kind, that's all. It's just a little silly infatuation, over in a week. He probably would never even think of me like that."

"I have no doubt of it, Maggie darling. Just remember to be careful-" his light jesting voice turned serious as he watched the prince's departing back. "He's got baggage."

Margaery was still watching the Prince and the Duke of York with a wistful air. He couldn't help but wonder just how serious it was between them. "So have I, Johnny."

Rochester could see there was going to be trouble in the offing very soon.

Joffrey Baratheon was still on the scene. That horrendous little punk was engaged to her, despite his wenching and whoring. His own friend Bucky was not exactly indifferent to the girl, even though both would swear it was nothing serious, just a little sweet dalliance -mere friends with benefits, perhaps- and now Prince Rupert was showing definite interest and Margaery was not exactly fending him off either.

He hadn't seen her so attentive and adoring over another man since she was being courted by Renly.

They'd seemed such a sickeningly loving couple, perfect for each other. She still swore blind that Renly was her very best friend in the world and she would not hear a word against him, even though Margaery had insisted there was no way she could stay married to him.

He wondered what had happened between them, although John knew there was no way she would ever tell.

Mark my words, there will be nothing but trouble!