Margaery is back as a POV after a long absence. The chapter is told from her perspective, so there are things that she might be missing.


MARGAERY XIII

You could barely see ten feet ahead of you. The heavy rain formed an opaque wall the eye couldn't pierce. The road was all muddy, half submerged under water. There were moments Margaery wasn't sure they were following the right path. Large drops of water fell all around them, creating a cacophony that left her deaf. She had to listen very carefully to hear the hooves of her horse splashing into the deep water.

She had become accustomed to the roads of the Westerlands in the last years, and she had known what it was to ride under the rain on these occasions. The Westerlands were a mountainous land, a succession of hills and valleys. To facilitate the movements across the land, both the Goldroad and the River Road were built in the valleys, meandering between the mountains were the mining activities gave the lords their riches. There were tracks descending from the hills to the main roads, but travellers moved from town to town and from castle to castle following the main roads. They were the most used ways of transportation, the few rivers running among the Westerlands being insufficient to allow sea travel to take any major part in the economy of the region. In the Reach, rivers such as the Mander and the Honeywine were the main highways, as well as an important source of fishing. The Reach took its wealth from the resources of the soil and the trade its rivers made possible. It was the most populated of the kingdoms of Westeros. The Westerlands had a smaller population and were to rely on fewer and less fertile lands to farm, but they were nonetheless the richest of the kingdoms, all that thanks to the resources of the mountains. Thousands of mines extracted gold, silver, diamonds, rubies, and other precious gems and stones. These made the wealth of Casterly Rock, the Golden Tooth, Silverhill, and Castamere before Tywin Lannister destroyed them. Without these riches in the mountains, the Westerlands might be poorer than the Crownlands. Although the landforms of the region allowed its lords to be rich, they also created major problems when heavy rains surprised them like today.

The mountains and hills of the Westerlands let the water run along their cliffs to end in the valleys, creating large regions where everything was flooded. Entire villages could be lost during the floods of autumn if they were too deep into valleys, which explained why the people preferred to build their homes in heights. Tyrion even told her once about years where the rains were so powerful that they created new lakes out of nowhere. They hadn't reached autumn yet, and this rain wasn't about to create a new lake, but it didn't stop it from slowing them down. Sometimes, the water had climbed so high that they had to turn all around the Goldroad, taking a longer but surer path. Right now, the rain created puddles of about a dozen inches high.

Margaery's cloak had been soaked early in the day, and Margaery herself was soaked from head to toe soon afterwards. They hadn't brought a carriage with them where she could have taken refuge. The carriage would have slowed them down. The rain started three days ago, and there had been moments when Margaery wished they had brought a carriage with them, but she knew that with the rain, a carriage would only have slowed them further. They needed to reach King's Landing as quickly as possible, and this rain made the travelling much more difficult. They were losing time.

She released a sigh, that was immediately followed by a shiver. Margaery was used to ride, but she had done it mostly for pleasure in the past. When it was time to travel on long distance, she travelled in a carriage with her friends, and they sewed and chattered all the way until they reached their destination. After she became Lady of Casterly Rock, it had been mostly the same, though she mostly shared her carriage with Tyrion now. Her husband used the time on the road to work, and when he had time to spend, he was reading. Margaery sometimes did the same. This time, they travelled on horse all the way from the Rock to King's Landing. This was something Margaery never did, and at a quick pace even less.

The riders before them stopped, and Margaery had to rein her horse to prevent her from bouncing on the guard before her.

"What's going on?" she asked to no one in particular, trying to look farther ahead, but failing to see because of the limited visibility.

"I don't know," Tyrion replied next to her. They rode together in the middle of the column with more than enough men to protect them if they were surprised by an attack. Two thousand soldiers were escorting them to the capital.

Tyrion sent his squire Ty to take news of the head of the column. He came back a few minutes later.

"My lord, Captain Vylarr believes we should stop the march there."

"We are only around midday," Margaery observed.

"Yes, my lady, but the captain believes it would be wise to stop now. The men are tired, and some are about to get sick. He suggests we wait a little for the rain to calm down and for the men to rest."

"We need to arrive in King's Landing as quickly as possible. This rest is a delay we can't afford."

She looked at Tyrion who seemed thoughtful for a moment, his head half-hidden by the hood of his cloak. "We won't be of any help in the capital if we arrive sick and half-dead. The men have been travelling in this rain at forced march for days." He sighed, a resigned look on his face. "Tell Vylarr to find the best place to set up a camp, Ty."

"Yes, my lord." The young squire left immediately.

"This will delay us," Margaery observed, her already dark mood getting worse.

"I know, but we have no other choice. Gold can buy many things, but sunny days are among those it can't."

Tyrion's voice was as morose as hers. He wasn't as talkative as he used to be. Ever since the day they learned of Ned Stark's arrest, his traits had grown darker. He wasn't as cordial or lively as he was before. His behaviour toward her changed as well. Margaery knew her husband very well, and she knew that something was bothering him, something else than the problems in the capital. He looked more concerned for her than before, but at the same time, it almost looked as if he was trying to put some distance between them. It was as if he was blaming himself for something, and she couldn't guess what it was.

Later, when their tent was raised, Margaery got rid of her cloak and began to dry herself with a towel. Tyrion did the same on his side. Their clothes were all wet, so they changed them for warmer ones. When it was done, she started to dry her hair.

"Wait." She turned to look at her husband. "Can I do it?" he asked. There was a strange expression of his face, as if he was ashamed to ask this question, but there was also hope in his eyes.

"Of course."

She noticed a quick and timid smile that appeared on his lips, as well as an expression of regret in his eyes, as she knelt, her back turned on him, her knees on the furs lining the ground. Seizing another dry towel, he resumed the process she already began, rubbing her hair with the tissue. Sometimes, it would be his free hand, without the towel, that would seize a lock of hair and press the water out of it. Then he would pass the towel on the small surface of bare skin below her neck, and his thumb would caress it on the way. She inhaled deeply. He seldom did this recently. They still spent their nights together on the road, but this was no good time for intimacy, and although they continued to hold each other in their bed, Tyrion stopped to rub her skin in the tender way he used to ever since they were married. If Margaery didn't position herself closely into his arms or his lap, they would spend the night with their backs turned on each other. Tyrion didn't make any move to reject her, but he did nothing to reach her either.

She allowed herself to drift away, being carried by the softness of the moment. After some time, she heard the towel being dropped aside, but Tyrion's hands continued to wander on her bare skin, massaging her neck and her shoulders after he removed the clothes covering them. She kept inhaling and exhaling slowly, every breath making her feel better. From time to time, she shuddered under his touch.

"Are you cold?" he asked her, stopping his movements.

"No." She didn't want him to worry about her. She wanted him to resume his movements, but he didn't.

"Are you sure? You're shivering."

"Perhaps because you're touching me," she offered as an explanation, a smile on her lips. His hands were still on her shoulders, immobile, when another wave of shivers stroke her. He removed his hands from her skin, to her great displeasure.

"We should have stopped earlier."

She turned around to face him and took the towel on the furs. "I think it's your turn now."

She proceeded to dry his face and his hair, their eyes looking into each other the whole time. She didn't give much concern to how dried his hair was, being more focused on the things his eyes displayed. There was a sadness into them, as he looked at her. Soon, she was only absently rubbing the towel behind his neck, and it wasn't long after that for the towel to fall on the ground again. His expression didn't change. She didn't like to see him like that. He had the expression he had when he regretted something, when he felt he had done her something wrong. She didn't understand why he thought so, or seemed to think so. Margery could read her husband like an open book as much as he could read her, and she didn't like what she saw. She got closer to him and placed a soft kiss on his lips.

He almost didn't return the kiss. He only brushed her cheek a little, as if he was afraid to touch her. He didn't back, however. She drew back and looked at him again. He still had the same sorrowful expression.

"What is with you, Tyrion? What's wrong?"

He looked aside, avoiding her gaze. He seemed to struggle to speak. When he spoke, his voice was hoarse. "I should have listened to you. We should have dealt with Cersei long before. We wouldn't be in all this mess now if I did as you told me. I was blinded by the vain hope that Cersei could one day be a real sister to me. I placed that foolish hope before you." He looked at her, an expression of utter defeat in his eyes. "I'm sorry. You deserve a better husband than me."

How could he say something like that? "Tyrion, it's not your fault if Cersei is a cunt." He looked at her in surprise, and she made a mildly amused face. "We're going to deal with her now, and we'll stop her from making things worse than they already are."

"I only hope it's not too late." He slowly brought his hand to her cheek and caressed it. "I love you."

"I love you too."

This time, he was the one to kiss her. Another strong shiver ran along her body, and she didn't think it was because of Tyrion's kiss. He seemed to have realized it as well since he broke their embrace.

"You stay near the fire, get yourself warm. I'll go outside and see how our men are settling."

"Damn, you could have told me! I wouldn't have tried to dry the water out of your face."

He left with an almost amused look, one that she returned as she went to sit by the fire in their tent, warming her hands over it. She felt cold indeed, shudders taking a hold on her. She wrapped herself tightly in more cloaks and waited. The rain outside was as cold as the water in the caverns of Casterly Rock. Margaery had discovered them when Tyrion made her visit the Rock in the first month of their marriage. They were difficult to find even for people who lived in the Rock all their life. They were lit by torches on the walls, and the stone down there reflected the light and made it easy to see as soon as fire was placed inside a single torch. A few months after she arrived in the Westerlands, she went down to visit them again and found a deep pool with a plateau from where you could jump in it. She knew that there was no one else with her at the time, or so she thought. She got rid of her clothes and jumped into the cold water. It had felt very good, reminding her of her time swimming in the Mander back at Highgarden. It wasn't long before she and Tyrion left to make a tour of the Westerlands. A few days later, as she took some rest in the new gardens she had organized, he joined her, and that was when Margaery said aloud for the first time that she loved him.

When they came back from the touring of the Westerlands and the signature of the Trade Agreement of Old Oak, Margaery had planned something. She invited Tyrion to see her in the watery caves, and she made sure that when he arrived, he found her swimming into the pool. She had needed some convincing, but he accepted to join her after some time. Tyrion had never learned to swim, so she taught him. And they did much more that day. Except for being a little offended when Tyrion confessed he watched her swim naked before the tour, when she thought no one was with her in the caves, the day had been perfect.

The water had been as cold as the rain was now. She and Tyrion were both shivering when they went out of the water. It was useless to remind herself what they did to warm themselves up. They could be at Casterly Rock right now if it wasn't for Cersei. Margaery cursed her every day, more often since this heavy rain started. All that was her fault. She would make sure that her sister-in-law couldn't lift a finger in the future when they arrived in King's Landing, with or without Tyrion's help.

Margaery didn't understand why Tyrion was hesitant to act against her sister. However, what bewildered her the most was the utter loyalty he showed towards his brother. Ser Jaime Lannister hired a whore for his brother. He made Tyrion believe that the girl loved him. He lied to him. And when he told him the truth, he let their father have the girl raped right in front of his brother's eyes. Even though the girl was a whore, Tyrion married her. She was Jaime's sister-in-law according to all the laws of the Seven Kingdoms, and he abandoned the wife of his brother, along with his brother as well. She could still remember Tyrion's broken face when he confessed raping his first wife. That was his brother's doing as much as his father. Jaime Lannister did nothing to protect his little brother. He betrayed him. And yet, Tyrion continued to defend him. For Margaery, there was nothing to understand in this. Perhaps it was because Tyrion was alone for most of his life. His father hated him the moment he was born. His sister despised him and tried to have him killed. As for his mother, he never got the chance to know her. His cousins were courteous but not very friendly with him either. Tyrion craved for the love of the others. Margaery loved this aspect of his personality. He was caring towards her for this reason, but it also made him ready to hope, no matter what happened, that his siblings could somehow love him, and because of that he was almost ready to overlook or forgive them everything. And since his brother was the sibling who was the closest to him, he clung to their friendship.

For now, Tyrion seemed ready to put an end to Cersei's plots, but if he was to relent at some point, Margaery would take matters into her hands. The time had come for Cersei to understand who was the true queen in Westeros.

That night, she was resting next to her husband in their bed. She was wrapped into furs to protect herself from the cold. They both put on nightclothes to keep themselves warm. She could feel from his breathing that her husband wasn't sleeping. His back was turned on her. They both didn't seem able to sleep.

"What do you think Cersei is doing right now?" she asked him.

"Probably enjoying herself in the fact that she got what she always wanted. Or she may be looking for plots against her everywhere. She sees enemies in every corner, whether there are or not."

"Genna once told me that she looked a lot like your mother. Is it true?"

Her husband took some time to answer. He seldom spoke about his lady mother. "Yes, as far as I know. There's a picture of her somewhere in the depths of the Rock. There are many physical similarities between her and Cersei."

"What about the psychological resemblances?"

He sighed. "I don't know. Gerion used to tell me that she was kind, and that my father was never the same after she died, but I barely know anything about her, truth be told. I never got the chance to know her."

She remained silent. It wasn't fair that Tyrion knew so little of the woman who brought him into the world. At least, his family should have told him more about her, but it was said that Tywin Lannister didn't want to hear people talk about his wife after her death. Margaery wondered who this woman had been, to make Tywin Lannister a better man according to his siblings. Would things have been different if she survived Tyrion's birth? Would Tyrion have grown less lonely? Or would she have despised him for being a dwarf?

"Do you think she would have liked me?" she asked.

"Certainly." He turned on his side to look at her. "Who wouldn't love you?"

She smiled sadly. "Cersei." They shared a humorless laugh. "I know that I'm saying that over and over again, Tyrion, but we need to neutralize Cersei, one way or another, once we arrive in King's Landing."

"I know."

"She can't remain queen. She's already been queen for far too long."

Tyrion looked at her with more intensity than before. "No matter what happens, and what Cersei does, or is, you'll always be the only queen I have."

It touched her more than he thought. She pulled him into an embrace, and they remained in each other's arms until exhaustion got the better of them and sleep claimed them.

It felt as if Margaery only slept two minutes when someone shook her by the shoulder. She turned away from Tyrion to look at the intruder, and found Mira standing before her.

"My lady, forgive me, but there's a man outside who says he needs to see you."

"Who?" she asked.

"He didn't want to give his name, but… From his accent and his clothes, I would say that he is from the North."

Margaery frowned. "A Northerner wants to see me?"

"Yes, my lady. He says he rode for weeks to reach you. He says it's very important."

"Very well. Tell him to come in."

Margaery turned to her husband, only to discover he already awoke. "A Northerner to see you?" he asked.

"It seems so. I don't believe Mira could be confused about it."

"Well, I wonder what a Northerner wants with you."

"We'll find out soon enough."

They had enough time to dress themselves into a more presentable manner when the man came inside, escorted by Mira. He wore leather, and Margaery could recognize the northern style in his way of dressing, very similar to the one of Eddard Stark at Winterfell.

"Lady Lannister." He bowed to her.

"You asked to see me?"

"Yes, my lady." He eyed Tyrion. "I was given to task to deliver a message to you. Only to you."

He looked again at Tyrion. Margaery looked at him, a question on his face. He shrugged, meaning he had no idea what this was about. "You can give this message to both of us."

"My lady, I received a clear order to give this message to you, and only to you."

"Then give it to me now."

She made her voice so that it was clear there was to be no discussion about it. Reluctantly, the man produced a scroll in a suit of leather. The corners were eaten by water. He gave it to Margaery, keeping staring suspiciously at Tyrion.

"Thank you. Mira, find some accommodations for this man. See that he gets everything he needs."

"Yes, my lady."

Her handmaiden left with the Northerner. Margaery looked at the scroll she received, and saw that the wax was grey with a direwolf on it.

"What is it?" Tyrion asked.

"It bears the sigil of the Lord of Winterfell. Why would Ned Stark send a message to me by rider?" He could have used a raven. Margaery also found it strange that the rider was given the order to give it only to her.

"Normally, when you send a rider, it's because you don't trust a raven with this message."

Margaery nodded. "Let's see what this is about."

She opened the letter and started to read.

To Lady Margaery Lannister,

I'm afraid the matter of this message will not please you, my lady, but my wife trusts you and I feel you need to know about it. I already sent a message to Stannis Baratheon about it, and to prevent the Realm from falling into chaos, I need your help.

I recently discovered that the children of Cersei Lannister, Joffrey, Tommen and Myrcella, are not the king's children. They are bastards. The queen committed incest with her twin brother, Ser Jaime Lannister. He is the father of all her children. Jon Arryn discovered the truth not long before he died. He was poisoned by the Lannisters because of this. I believe my son Bran fell from the tower at Winterfell because he saw the queen and her brother together, and they pushed him. They later sent an assassin after him.

I need your help, my lady. I cannot hide something like that to the king. I am bound to tell him about this as soon as possible. I'm going to offer Cersei Lannister to leave the capital with as many men as she can and with her children and her brother. I don't know if your lord husband is aware of this situation. I will do my best to convince the king to let them escape and live in exile in the Free Cities, and I ask for your help to arrange everything with Lord Tyrion to organize their departure as quickly as possible. I will make sure that nothing happens to the queen, her children ad her brother if they accept to leave Westeros for good. I could also arrange for Ser Jaime to join the Night's Watch and for the queen to become a septa or a Silent Sister, and the same for her children, if you prefer, but I can't do anything better.

In the memory of your friendship with my lady wife, Lady Margaery, I ask for your help.

Eddard Stark, Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North

Margaery remained still for a long time after she was done reading the message. She stared at the piece of parchment, trying to understand what was written.

"From the look on your face, I would say this isn't good news."

She kept staring at the piece of paper, then she looked at her husband, who seemed worried about her. I don't know if your lord husband is aware of this situation.

"Tyrion…" She looked back at the letter, then again to him. "I think you should read this."

He took the paper. The frown on his forehead deepened as he read it. "Well, indeed, this is not good news."

"Tyrion… Is that… Is it true?"

He looked at her, then to the parchment. He shook his head. "Cersei and Jaime have always been close, but… Incest?" From the tone of his voice, he found it quite unbelieving. "No. No, that's not possible."

"Are you sure?"

"I know Jaime and Cersei better than anyone. I know they wouldn't fall into bed with each other. Cersei would never do that. She has always wanted to be queen, and she always wanted her children to be kings and queens. She would never take such a risk. As for Brandon Stark, Jaime is capable of killing children, but he would have killed him himself if it was true. Hiring assassins is more in Cersei's style."

"This is a grave accusation. Ned Stark wouldn't have accused Cersei and Jaime without proof."

"No, you're right. Eddard Stark is an honorable fool. A fool, admittedly, but an honorable one. He would never lie about something like that."

"Then… it means it's the case?" Margaery saw Joffrey, arrogant, insulting, with blond hair like the sun and green eyes. Tommen and Myrcella, just the same. It was true they looked much more like Cersei than Robert, but… Could they really be born of incest? Strangely, she had no difficulty to imagine that Joffrey could be a bastard, but Tommen and Myrcella?

"There are two possibilities," Tyrion said, passing a hand on his forehead. "The first one is that Eddard Stark is telling the truth, and that would mean that Cersei and Jaime slept together for years and that I never noticed it." He shook his head again. "I spent years in King's Landing to avoid my father. I would have seen something. So, it can't be that. Or, there's another possibility. Eddard Stark is saying what he believes to be the truth, but it's not the truth."

"Someone made him believe that Cersei and Jaime had an incestuous relationship," Margaery slowly said. Everyone lied in the capital. Eddard was probably one of the very few to not lie. "Who could have done this?"

"I don't know."

"You're really sure that there is no truth in what Eddard Stark wrote?"

"I know this is not true," he replied, exasperated. "I may be a fool to hope that Cersei could change one day and consider me as her brother, and forgive Jaime more than I could forgive anyone else, but I'm not blind. I know who my brother and my sister are. I know what they are capable of, and what they can't do. And I know they would never fuck each other." He made a grimace. "The mere thought of them together makes me sick."

Truth be told, to imagine Cersei and the Kingslayer together made her sick as well. It was true that Tyrion knew Cersei well enough. He warned her about his sister when they visited King's Landing for the first time, and since she didn't listen to him at the time, she received a threat of being strangled in her sleep from her sister-in-law. "I'm sorry, Tyrion. It's just… By the Gods, what's going on? We didn't have enough of Robert's death and Ned Stark's arrest. Now we have this." She put her hand over her forehead, imitating her husband.

"I know. I don't know what's going on in King's Landing, but it's not good."

"All right." Margaery tried to gather her thoughts. "Let's suppose that Eddard Stark was fooled into thinking all this. How did he come to believe that?"

"There are people who hate the Lannisters in the capital. My father sacked the city during the war. Many people resent him for that. I suppose some people would like to see Cersei lose her head. And there are also people who still view Robert as an usurper. Daenerys Targaryen was recently married to a Dothraki warlord in Essos. Perhaps they saw it as a good time to cause division in King's Landing."

"The Targaryens would be behind this?"

"Maybe. We can't know for sure. That's only a supposition. But Robert didn't do much cleaning after he won. There are still people in the Red Keep who were already there in the time of Aerys. I'm quite sure that there are some who wouldn't mind if the dragons replaced the stags and the lions. On the other side… This letter might explain why Cersei arrested Eddard Stark. It was certainly written before she placed him into a cell. He must have gone to her, told her about his suspicions… and Cersei decided to neutralize him."

"She could have denied it," Margaery scoffed. "Now we might be at war soon because of her actions."

"Yes, though… If Ned Stark had gone to his friend Robert, telling him that, I'm not sure he would have given more credit to my sister's word than to the Hand's word." Margaery realized it was true. She saw in the capital how Robert cared little for Cersei, and Tyrion said himself that there was no love between them. Cersei hated her husband. "The moment Ned Stark would say to Robert about his suspicions, the children would have been in danger. You can tell what you want against Cersei, but she loves her children. She would burn cities to the ground to protect them."

"Gods." Margaery couldn't believe how the situation got out of control only because Eddard Stark thought that Cersei's children were born from incest. Then she remembered something strange in the letter. "Wait, Tyrion. Eddard Stark said that he was going to tell Robert. That means the king was still alive when he wrote this."

"Or he believed that he was still alive." Tyrion's voice was grave, as if he realized something too. They looked at each other.

"Cersei killed Robert." That wasn't a question that Margaery asked. She made a statement. "You said it yourself. Your sister craves for power. She always wanted it. She did everything she could to overthrow you. She tried to murder you. Do you think she wouldn't be able to kill her own husband?"

There was a moment of silence before Tyrion answered. "No, she's capable of that. In fact, she's probably wanted it for a very long time. As much as she would be… capable of sending an assassin to murder a child."

Margaery sighed while looking at the roof of their tent. "That's all her doing. She's responsible of everything that happened."

"I don't see anyone else who could be behind this."

"Tyrion, that's unacceptable! She murdered her own husband, the king! That's not something we can allow."

"I agree. As soon as we arrive in King's Landing, we will take care of Cersei. She's whispering in Joffrey's ear as we speak. However, we're going to have a bigger problem than Cersei, I'm afraid."

"What bigger problem could we have?"

"Stannis Baratheon. Eddard Stark wrote to him as well if we are to believe this message." He waved it in the air.

Margaery knew what it meant. "He will go to war against Joffrey."

"And you can be sure that he will tell everyone what Eddard Stark told him. Soon, the whole Seven Kingdoms will hear that Joffrey is born of incest and is no son of Robert. Stannis will claim the Iron Throne for himself, and his brother will most likely follow him. As for the Starks, the Tullys and the Arryns, they will side with Stannis as well. Maybe the Martells will join them."

"We're going to end up at war with all the other kingdoms."

"It seems so." Tyrion's voice was full of gravity. He looked at her. "We will need your father's armies, I'm afraid."

She took a great inspiration. "I will write to him at Deep Den."

Tyrion sighed. "I really should have listened to you. I should have taken care of Cersei before she did all this."

"You're not to blame, Tyrion. Only Cersei is to blame. We might still have a chance. If we arrive in King's Landing before she makes things even worse."

"There's something we'll have to find out once we are in the capital." She looked at him. "Somehow, Eddard Stark was convinced that Cersei's children were born of incest. Someone set this up. We have to discover who did this."

Margaery nodded. "I agree. We must neutralize Cersei and the people who spread these rumors about her and your brother." There was an opening in the flap of their tent. It was dark outside. You couldn't see anything. The drops of water were still falling heavily on the roof of their tent.

They could face a war against all Westeros. Margaery knew that together the Lannisters and the Tyrells had as many men if not more than all the other great houses combined, but that didn't mean they were sure to win. Their best hope was to make peace with the Starks by trading Eddard Stark and his daughters. Then they could deal with Stannis and Renly. Hearing the rain over her head, Margaery prayed they would reach King's Landing before it was too late.


Please review

Next chapter : Catelyn