Meereen: Day 2
"I thought I was going to wed Ser Loras, you know, the Knight of Flowers. Once more I was kidding myself. The Tyrells were manipulating me, but Tywin Lannister figured it out and came earlier than the Tyrell's ploy. And Tyrion came to my chambers to give me the news before anyone else did it. I was deluding myself with a nice wedding to a handsome knight in Highgarden, and suddenly I had to marry Tyrion Lannister. I felt more stupid and unhappy than ever before." She kept quiet for some moments. She drank a sip from the cup of wine she had been served. "The day of the wedding came and I felt miserable. Tyrion tried to comfort me before the ceremony and made me smile," she remembered sweetly. "But the ceremony was a bad jape; Joffrey took away the stool where Tyrion was going to step up to put the Lannister cape on my shoulders, and almost everyone was laughing at us. I wanted to die of shame. He pleaded with me to kneel and I though that it would not make any difference, and that there could not happen anything more humiliating than that." Daenerys listened very attentive. After all, she was scarcely a few years older than her, and... What girl did not like gossip? She was about to smile. "But I was wrong. The reception was even worse. Tyrion got drunk, Tywin reprehended him, Joffrey threatened to rape me and, when he announced that it was time for the bedding ritual, Tyrion stabbed his dagger on the table and blurted out that there would not be carried on any bedding and that if Joffrey dared to put his hands on me to force me into the ritual, Tyrion would chop his manhood." Daenerys almost laughed. She restrained herself, but Sansa noted that she was making an effort to remain serious. "Tywin succeeded in calming down Joffrey, and Tyrion performed a great role pretending to be more drunk than he was to make everyone believe that he did not control what he was saying. He took me away in a rush and, once in our chambers, he assured that he would not share my bed until I wanted him to. And he fulfilled it." She drank another sip of wine. "He treated me kindly. He worried about my well-being. He never got angry or lost his patience even though I refused nearly all his attempts to get closer. The worst was when I heard about my mother's and my brother Robb's murders." Sansa drank one more sip to swallow the knot in her throat. "I did not want to see anyone, or talk to anyone. Soon after that, the day of Joffrey's wedding came, and it was another embarrassing and humiliating day. Joffrey treated Tyrion worse than rubbish. We had to bear an awful day. I felt pity for my husband; I realized that he was a prisoner there like me, in a different way, but his family despised him for no reason and no one seemed to see his qualities. I admit that I hardly had appreciated him either. He saved the city from Stannis's attack until Tywin arrived with the Tyrell's army." She drank again. "And at last, when Joffrey fell dead on the ground after eating pidgeon pie and drinking the wine he forced Tyrion to serve him, my husband searched for me among the people and we went away at full speed. And we headed for you."
"It was then when you fell in love with him? When he saught you to save your life?"
"Yes. In that precise moment I saw him as he really was," admitted Sansa. "And I reproached myself for not having payed attention to it before. I think he felt something for me since some time ago, but he kept it for himself. It was not until I showed him my own feelings that he opened too and gave himself fully. I believe that if I had not taken that step, he would have went on protecting and taking care of me all the same, respecting my distances with him, until we arrived at Meereen. He is a man who fulfills his oaths and responsibilities to the end. He would have kept me equally safe. But we would have been much more unhappy. One night I awoke from a nightmare and he was beside me in the bed, in the cabin of the ship that carried us to Myr. We had started to sleep together because he never left my side in order to watch over me. And then... I felt that... I wanted him to touch me. To kiss me."
"And he did it?," asked Daenerys. In that moment she looked like a curious girl instead of a queen, and that amused Sansa.
"No. I did it. I pounced on him and kissed him."
"And just then you both began to be a real married couple."
"Yes. Just then we began."
"You are a lucky woman. Once I was so in love as you," confessed the queen. "And my marriage started in a similar way than yours in some aspects. I was forced to the wedding, I was terrified and did not want anything to do with my husband. But things improved between us. We fell in love and Drogo, the fiercest khal among khals, loved me tenderly, and I loved him. He changed and I changed too. We were sure that the world would be ours. But all ended and I lost him. I lost my son. I lost all the children I could not have." Like Sansa some minutes before, the queen looked in the verge of tears. "Fight for what you have. Don't let it go. The gods already are too cruel without our help." She drank a sip from her cup too. "I am glad that you have come to me. I know we will be good friends. Settle in comfortably and on the fly we will solve any issue. For anything you need, don't doubt to consult me. Think carefully about the tasks with which you could be useful to me and I will arrange it."
Sansa had it very clear, but she would let Tyrion expose it. Her modesty prevented her from bringing out her own qualities in front of other people, especially those who she had just met for the first time, and Tyrion would be delighted to talk about them to the queen.
"See you soon then, Lady Sansa. Missandei will escort you and will notify your husband to come here."
"See you soon, Your Grace." Sansa made a bow and left with Missandei. She felt very content regarding her conversation with the queen. And Daenerys had not seemed to her as intimidating as the first day. Perhaps she was that way only with whom really deserved it.