Hi again! Here is the next chapter... Hope you like it!

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She waited. That was all she could do, after all. She could feel time pass by, making her grow more and more agitated. Breathe, Lyara.

A sudden noise startled her and she turned around, expecting to see Brienne with her cousins, but all she saw was Brienne. She walked to her friend, immediately fearing for the worst.

"Brienne! What happened? Why aren't the girls with you?"

The knight looked down, ashamed. "I apologize, my lady. I could not retrieve Lady Sansa and Lady Arya without endangering them, there are too many guards out of their rooms"

Lyara sighed, realizing she had been too late. She should have realized that after all the skirmishes the Lannisters would make a grand move against the wolves, she should have known the lions were impatient just like she should have known the wolves were far too honourable for their own goods. She prided herself in her ability of always understanding people and their motives, she should have known. She should have acted faster. They all should have acted faster.

She sighed again. Who was they, anyway? She was part of a group of people who conspired for the good of the realm, but she didn't even know the identity of all the members. She didn't even know Lord Varys was a part of it, at first, Renly had never told her. She wondered why.

All she knew for sure was that while they all worked for the same goal, they all had their secret agendas, as well. She knew her father wanted revenge for her sister, for example. As for her, well, this was everything she had known since she was a child.

She shook herself from her thoughts, looking at her friend. "Brienne, I must ask you a favour. You will not like it, but you will have to do it anyway"

"What is it, my lady?"

"You have to leave. You have to find my father and tell him I won't be able to leave, I will spend some time in the Capital for… well, I'm a princess, I do not need reasons for wanting to spend my days in a pretty castle surrounded by handsome knights, right? No one will question it" she admitted with a light frown.

Brienne nodded. "I will be back soon right after, my lady"

The dark haired princess grimaced at the words and slowly shook her head. "No, Brienne. You must leave. Find Renly, tell him everything and stay with him. I need you there" she said, taking her friend's hands into hers "I truly need you to do this for me"

"But my lady, I'm supposed to keep you safe…"

"That is the only way you can keep me safe. I'm a Dornish Princess who's related to the Starks… you can be sure I'll be watched day and night, all my letters will be read by someone, each move I make will be spied, each word I say will be listened. How would it look if I kept writing to the Lord Renly after he has left the Keep? On the other hand, writing to my loyal friend the Lady Brienne would look perfectly normal. I need you to do this for me, Brienne"

The blonde knight did not seem fully convinced, but she bowed in front of her, accepting her duty nonetheless. For that, Lyara was deeply grateful. She just held her friend's hands in a silent goodbye and she watched her go, staring after her for a few minutes, trying to hold back the tears.

For the first time in her life, she realized, she was truly alone – no one to depend on but herself.

Suddenly, she felt small, not ready. What if she failed? She knew this game they were all playing was a dangerous one, her father had always told her. If you win, you win… but if you lose, Lyara, you die. If we lose, we will all die, that's what her father would tell her.

She took a deep breath, steeling herself. She could not afford to be weak, she had to be strong and protect her family. She quickly walked to what she knew were her cousins' rooms and she found the door guarded by five knights. She put on her best innocent expression and smiled at one of them. "Good evening, Ser"

"My lady" he replied, bowing his head.

"I wish to see my cousins" she simply said.

"I am sorry, my lady, but no one is allowed to see the Starks girls. No one except for the Royal Family"

"Well, the girl is a Princess" came a rough voice behind them.

She turned around and saw a tall man in armour. Long hair covered half of his face, but it could not hide the terrible burns that almost made her gasp in shock. Sandor Clegane, she thought, the Hound. Of course she had heard of him, but seeing him in front of her eyes was quite another matter. She studied him while he came to stand in front of her and spoke to the knight guarding the door. "The Princess here is Princess Lyara of House Martell, you fool. She's the only legitimate daughter of the Red Viper and she has been granted permission to visit her young cousins. We can go and ask the King if you want, but he would not be happy you questioned his orders"

The knight looked conflicted for a minute while Lyara remained silent, then he moved to let them pass. Once they were both safe inside the room, the princess turned to her saviour.

"Thank you for helping me, Ser"

"Spare me your stupid Sers, little princess, I am not a knight" he gruffly answered.

Lyara smiled despite of the situation. She liked this man. "Then what should I call you?"

"Everyone calls me Hound"

"I am not calling you that"

"Then call me Sandor or whatever you want"

"Well then, Sandor, may I ask you why you helped me?"

The man didn't reply, he just stared at something behind her, so she turned around and saw two girls, younger than her. So this must be my cousins, Sansa and Arya, she thought.

Lyara looked back and forth a few times and realized what the man was staring at. Oh, so Lord Clegane feels protective of my cousins, for some reason. That could be quite useful.

She leaned towards the man with a smile. "I know you want to protect them, I do too. Will you help me keep them safe, Sandor?" she asked, gently.

He could only stare back at her, but she understood. His answer was written all over his face.

She walked to her cousins, then. She moved slowly, she didn't want to scare them, the poor girls had been scared enough already.

"That's a nice sword" she said, looking at her younger girl, who nodded looking guarded.

The older one, Sansa, moved to stand in front of her sister. "Who are you? What do you want from us?"

"My name is Lyara Martell. I am the daughter of Prince Oberyn Martell of Dorne. My mother was a Stark of Winterfell. I am your cousin" she explained, calmly.

"Why are you here?"

"I am here to help you. We want to help you" she stated, slightly nodding to Sandor behind her.

"You can't trust Joffrey's hound! We don't even know if we can trust you!" screamed Arya.

Lyara moved closer to her cousins. "I know we don't know each other, but right now I am your only hope. You have to trust me"

"You can help us escape?" asked Sansa.

She wished she could say yes, but she could not lie to her cousins if she wanted their trust. She chose the truth. "Not yet. There are too many eyes watching us. I hoped I could make you escape tonight, but I should have expected the Lannisters would watch you very carefully. We wouldn't make it out of the Keep. I cannot help you run away yet, but I can watch over you. I can keep you safe from harm while you're here. May the Gods help me, that is what I intend to do"

- A week later –

My lady,

I hope you are well. Our common friend has been a good host and we spend good days training for the coming tourney. I've heard rumors that the tourney will be held in Storm's End and that more than 100.000 people will gather for the event. Our friend though wants me to remind you not to trust all the rumors you hear, the most unbelievable ones are often just lies made up to turn people against their friends. He sends you his regards.

She finished reading the letter, sighing. So Renly did call his banners and now had 100.000 swords at his command as she heard, but he didn't want to be the next king to sit on the Iron Throne.

After her Uncle had been executed for treason, any good news was more than welcome.

The situation at the Red Keep had been getting worse and worse each day. She was a Princess, she was quite capable of faking smiles, but her cousins were not. Sansa in particular was quite often harassed by the King and the Queen Regent and Lyara more often than not found herself stepping in to protect her cousin.

Lyara did her best to please King Joffrey by keeping him entertained during the feasts, coming up with new games all the time to keep him away from her cousins. Sandor Clegane did his best to silently watch over them while she could not.

If only she could find a way to flee to Storm's End with her cousins… but that seemed almost impossible at the moment. Unless… she jumped up from her chair, startled by her sudden realization. Thinking about it, a plan began to form in her mind. Yes, it could be arranged. She would need help, but it could be arranged.

Yes, she had to do it.

- Two days later –

The royal Party was walking to the Sept of Baelor. Princess Lyara was at the front, chatting animatedly with the King.

"I know I have said this many times, Your Grace, but this city is flourishing under your strong guide"

"Thank you, my lady. Your presence makes King's Landing shine with beauty. Once the war has ended, I think we should have a tourney. I hope you will stay here to assist"

"I will if you ask me to, Your Grace. You are the King"

"I am" he smirked, pleased with her words.

She smiled, thinking pleasing this foolish monster was far too easy. He was too in love with himself to notice her words were not sincere. "You are and that means you can have whatever you wish for. You can have my company if you wish for it"

"My mother says I am to marry your cousin. I don't want to marry her" he explained, frowning.

"Then don't, Your Grace. I don't think marrying the daughter of a traitor would be wise, in any case. Oh, I beg your pardon" she quickly added, pretending to be embarassed. "It is not my place to question your mother's choices, but I can't seem to control myself when it comes to you, my King"

Joffrey seemed even more pleased with her blushing cheeks, but there was no time to reply. Lots of people had started to attack them, lowborn people screaming against the Crown and asking for food.

It all happened in a moment. She found herself separated from the Royal Party, no longer surrounded by the Knights who had escorted them, but she could still hear the frightened voice of Joffrey screaming for his mother. That made her smile.

As soon as she was out of the Royal Party's eyes, the people around her stopped pushing and shoving her. She found herself in a small alley, bruised but not injured. She was not alone with her captors. She smiled satisfied, looking at the scared but unharmed faces of her cousins, along with Sandor Clegane and Lord Varys.

She walked towards the Spider. "You have made it, Lord Varys. It worked"

"It was a well thought plan, my lady. Horses and a few trusted knights are awaiting for you at the gates of the City" he explained quietly.

"What is happening? Where are we going?" asked Arya, her eyes blazing with anger.

Lyara could not help but smile more and moved to hug her cousins. She could finally give them some good news, after all the horrors they had witnessed. "Lord Varys and I created a diversion to escape without anyone noticing us. They will all think we have gotten killed and when they realize we are not dead, it will be too late. I am taking you home"

The smiles on their faces reflected her own. They were going home.