Tyrion and Margaery arrive in King's Landing.


MARGAERY XIV

Margaery smelled King's Landing before she saw it. She didn't have a particularly sensible nose, but she wasn't used to the stench of the capital of the Seven Kingdoms. At Casterly Rock, even though the evacuation systems were made so the inhabitants wouldn't smell the odor from the mines under their feet, the winds sometimes caused a few surprises to the people of the castle. But the scent they received back at the Rock was nothing when compared to the one that surrounded the capital of the Seven Kingdoms. It seemed the Targaryens didn't know how to organize a city like the Lannisters or the Hightowers did.

It took them a month and a half to arrive, despite their light luggage and their forced march. Finally, they made it. Margaery saw the walls of the capital when they turned to their left and that the Kingswood allowed her to look at the city. Its appearance was all normal. From where she was, nothing seemed to have changed since her last visit.

"I suppose we shouldn't expect a warm welcome from Cersei," Margaery said to her husband who rode next to her, like always.

"You suppose well. She will be furious. And she will be furious to see us arrive with two thousand men. She's going to believe that we came to rule the Seven Kingdoms instead of her."

"She's not entirely wrong."

"Cersei is not always wrong. I would say that she is mistaking from half to two-third of the time."

They shared a light chuckle. "Well, it's time for her to make mistakes somewhere it won't cause problems to everybody in this world."

"Yes, it's high time. My sister should never have been queen. It should have been you."

She was somewhat surprised by his words. They also unsettled them, since only a few years ago, all she wanted was to be the queen. "And I thought that I was already the queen." Another small muffled laugh. "But I don't regret the fact that I wasn't the one to marry Robert. I leave him to Cersei. She deserved an uncaring husband."

"Robert Baratheon might agree with you, but I think that if he was alive, he would regret marrying her more than ever. And from what Jaime told me, he regretted it from the very day of their wedding." He remained silent for a moment before he resumed. "I liked Robert in some way. He wasn't a horrible man deep inside."

"You're right. He wasn't horrible. Just irresponsible."

"As are many people I know."

"Like who?"

He hesitated. "My brother." Tyrion looked at her. "And myself."

She hated it when Tyrion talked poorly of himself, even more recently. Before, he did it while laughing and joking, which made his comments somehow enjoyable to a certain point, even if they were only half-jokes. Now he spoke seriously. She didn't like this side of the man she married.

Margaery hoped they weren't too late. Cersei was capable of everything. They needed over a month to reach the capital, despite their forced march. They might have arrived one week or two sooner if it weren't for the rains. She was never superstitious, nor much god-fearing although she believed in the gods, but the rain slowed them down so much that she wondered a few times if this was Tywin Lannister's revenge against her for banishing the Rains of Castamere from the Rock. She told so to Tyrion one night, as the rain fell so hard that she feared their tent would open from the top, and she managed to make him laugh with this.

They didn't have much cause for joy or laughter on their way to the capital. They both were in sour mood, and their meeting with Ser Kevan on their way didn't make things better. He informed them of all the events that took place in the capital when his path crossed theirs on the Goldroad. She and Tyrion received all the information he could provide as they dined together one evening.

"So, Kevan, tell us what happened," Tyrion asked.

"If it doesn't bother you, we could discuss about it later. I'm afraid this journey exhausted me," his uncle said.

"The situation is dire, Kevan. We need the latest news. Ned Stark's message wasn't very reassuring."

The knight was about to bring his cup to his lips, but he stopped in his movement. "Ned Stark's message?"

That was when Margaery talked for the first time. "He sent me a letter by rider. He claimed that Cersei's children were all born of incest with Ser Jaime."

He looked at Tyrion. "That's what the message said," her husband confirmed.

Ser Kevan looked back at her, then he sighed. "I visited him in his cell after he was arrested. He told me the same thing."

"Do you have an idea of who could have made Ned Stark believe something like that? Why did he believe that Joffrey was a bastard?" she asked.

"Ned Stark is not the kind of person to lie, Kevan. We believe someone fooled him into thinking it. Do you have an idea of who it could be?" Tyrion asked. His uncle shook the head.

"I don't know."

Margaery pressed her uncle-in-law. "But there must be something that made him believe something like that. An accusation of incest against the queen is not something we do lightly." They had to know why Eddard Stark tried to take action against Cersei.

Ser Kevan seemed to hesitate. "He claimed that he found a book, a book about the families of Westeros. For the few marriages between Baratheons and Lannisters he found in it, all children had black hair. And the king, the prince and the princess all have shining blond hair. That's what he told me when I talked to him."

"A book?" Margaery was quite surprised. "He accused Cersei because he read something in a book?"

"Yes."

"He can't have done that only for this. To come to that conclusion with a book, there must be something else that draw him to think that Cersei was unfaithful to Robert, especially for him to believe that she slept with Jaime," Tyrion thought aloud. "Kevan, did you notice something unusual with Ned Stark in the days before he was arrested? Did he act strange? Did he do something he wouldn't do in normal circumstances? Did he talk with someone in particular?"

"Well, there is one thing, maybe. I know he spent a lot of time with Baelish."

"Littlefinger? The Master of Coin?" Margaery asked.

"Yes. It's normal that the Hand spends time with the Master of Coin, especially with the dire situation of the Crown's finances, but I have a few spies in the city, and they actually saw them discussing more than I expected from Ned Stark. A few even reported that they saw Ned Stark visiting his brothel."

"It seems that even the honorable Ned Stark cannot resist the girls of the capital," Tyrion commented, to Margaery's great displeasure. She made him understand her feelings about this with a gaze, and his smug expression was replaced by one of shame.

"That's not it. He went to this brothel with Littlefinger, and they were accompanied by his guards. That didn't make sense. People who go to these brothels try to remain unseen to a certain extent."

"Except me. But since Eddard Stark is not the Imp and that he tried to hide Jon Snow at Winterfell, I admit that I'm surprised with his behaviour me too."

"I spent a lot of time with Ned Stark. He despises brothelkeepers, and Baelish still bears a scar from his brother. It's not normal that both were together so often, including outside the Red Keep, and when Baelish had no ledgers near him to work on the finances."

"For myself, I certainly find unusual that Lord Eddard Stark got along so well with the brothelkeeper who spread a rumor that Catelyn Stark surrendered her maidenhead to him when she lived at Riverrun." Margaery and Kevan both looked at Tyrion with utter astonishment. "A rumor that is running in the brothels of King's Landing. It's not recent," he explained.

Margaery ignored the matter. She didn't wish to speak of Tyrion's past experiences, not right now. "Perhaps Baelish was trying to get some advantages by getting close to the Hand of the King?" Margaery suggested.

"Maybe, but Ned Stark's behaviour is much more difficult to explain. He told me himself that he didn't trust Baelish, and I believe he was sincere," the knight said.

"Or else he's very good at lying," Tyrion said.

"The Starks don't know how to lie," Margaery stated. Whenever they tried to hide something from them, they failed.

"You should keep an eye on Littlefinger in the capital. I don't trust him," his uncle warned them.

"Is there an idiot in any village who trusts Littlefinger?" Tyrion asked. He gave her a knowing look. She knew very well what he was talking about. It was obvious for everybody who met the Master of Coin that he wasn't a man to trust. His attempts to make her doubt about her marriage with Tyrion proved it to her a year ago.

"We should also keep an eye on Varys," she added. "I know he gave us information, but I don't trust him all the same. And Pycelle either."

"For now, they all stand behind Cersei," Kevan informed them.

"How did she manage to take all the power? I thought you were supposed to stop her from doing anything foolish, ser."

"I tried. Eddard Stark met her and revealed his suspicions about her children. He told her to leave for Casterly Rock before Robert came back from his hunt. Cersei and Jaime reacted by killing his guards and arresting him."

"You couldn't stop that? The red cloaks are supposed to obey you before Cersei?"

"I only learned of their plans when they were executed. I was caught between the two sides. I tried to take back the situation under control, and the red cloaks followed me for a time, but then Cersei convinced Janos Slynt to side with her."

"What did she offer him?" her husband asked.

"A lot of gold. Ten thousand golden dragons to the commander, five thousand to each of his lieutenants, and a hundred for the rest of the cloaks. She also gave Slynt a lordship, along with the seat of Harrenhal."

"Harrenhal?" Margaery couldn't believe it. "She's going to turn all the Riverlands against us."

Harrenhal changed of hands several times since the Conquest that made Margaery's ancestors the lords of Highgarden. Half a dozen families ruled the castle and its territories, but each faded after three generations at best. The castle was reputed to be cursed. Still, it actually belonged to House Whent. The Whents were bannermen of the Tullys, and Lord Tully's wife was a Whent. Catelyn Stark and Lysa Tully, respectfully Lady of Winterfell and Lady of the Vale, were her daughters. Taking Harrenhal away from the Whents and giving it to a butcher's son would make the three northern kingdoms angrier at them, and make a peaceful solution harder to achieve.

"Joffrey granted the castle to Slynt by royal decree," Ser Kevan explained. "I don't see what we can do about it. Unless Joffrey revokes his own decree, but doing so early in his reign would be dangerous and give the image of a king who cannot take decisions."

"There are two thousand men in the City Watch if I recall," Tyrion said.

"Yes, though Slynt had begun to recruit more men when I left. I think that with the new recruits, there were about three thousand gold cloaks, maybe more. Cersei removed me from the small council and had Slynt to replace me."

"Cersei doesn't have enough money to pay over two hundred thousand golden dragons. I made sure she had enough to maintain a rich life, but not enough for that kind of things."

"I believe Baelish is behind this. As Master of Laws, Janos Slynt depended of me, but he and his men are paid by the Master of Coin. Littlefinger is the only one who could provide Cersei with such an amount of gold. He controls the royal treasury. All the officials in charge of it are in his pocket, and he has a lot of gold himself. I know he met Cersei in secret more than once."

"So he's the one who allowed Cersei to seize the power. What did he get from this? What did Cersei give him?"

"Nothing that I know of."

Margaery promised herself to look into it. She didn't trust Petyr Baelish since their discussion during Joffrey's tourney, and his actions looked suspicious to her. If Ser Kevan was to be believed, Baelish first advised Ned Stark, and now it was Cersei that he advised. And it was odd that he helped her without getting anything in return. She didn't like this man. He unsettled her.

"What other foolish decisions did our queen take?" Tyrion asked to his uncle.

"She summoned almost all the lords of Westeros to King's Landing. The decree she had Joffrey make said that if they didn't present themselves before their new king, they would be branded traitors. It included all the lord paramounts, Renly, Stannis and his family, and even you both. If she executes the decree, almost all Westeros could turn against us," Kevan said.

"Did she give a date to answer the summon, or to come to the capital?"

"The decree was… very open to interpretation."

"She's doing it so she can strip anyone she wants from their lands and titles, whenever she has the envy. That includes me."

"The decree was specific on one thing." The knight looked at her. "She called you Lady Margaery Tyrell, and you were named next to your father and your brother. Your name was separated from Tyrion's. I think she is planning something against you, my lady."

Margaery looked at Tyrion. They thought exactly the same thing, and she voiced it. "Cersei must be removed. We must send her away, far from King's Landing, far from Joffrey. Perhaps force her to marry again. We must deprive her of all the power and the influence that she has. She's too dangerous."

Ser Kevan nodded. "It will for the better," he said on a resigned tone. "I questioned her before the court before I left, and I tried to make Joffrey understand that he shouldn't follow her advice. She was humiliated when her son told her to shut up."

Margaery pictured Cersei being ordered to shut her mouth by her own son. How ironic it would be, considering she hoped to hold the power through her son. "I don't remember being prouder of you than now, Kevan," her husband declared.

The knight sighed. "I hate all of this. Cersei is my niece, and despite everything she did, she is the mother of our king."

"We cannot allow her to remain in the capital, Ser Kevan," Margaery opposed. She was beginning to be fed up by the Lannisters' will to spare Cersei. "She's been ruling for a few weeks, and the Seven Kingdoms are on the brink of war."

"I know." He drank some wine. "Well, if we can find her a husband, it might be for the best. She can still have children, and it would be cruel to force her into widowhood for the rest of her life at this age."

Margaery laughed in her mind. She doubted that Cersei had any wish to marry again. Unlike Ser Kevan believed, most women would avoid second weddings if they could. So had been the case with her grandmother. She never wanted to marry again after her grandfather died. Truth be told, she never actually wanted to marry him. She married him because she didn't want to marry the Targaryen she was promised to.

She thought about Tyrion. He was twenty-six, seven years older than her, and although they both still had many years ahead of them, she couldn't deny the fact that Tyrion was likely to die before her. She didn't know what would be worse. To live without him, or to die knowing that he would live without her. Would she marry again if he was to die? She didn't think she could. After three years with him, she couldn't imagine going into another arranged marriage, not after experiencing what love was when it was shared with the man you spent your life with. She couldn't picture herself married to someone else. She would probably spend the rest of her life as a widow, just like her grandmother. She was well loved in Casterly Rock. The people there would certainly accept her as a dowager, and she could convince her parents to not arrange her another marriage.

But what of Tyrion? Would he marry again, if she was to die tomorrow? She knew her husband loved her, but as Lord of Casterly Rock, he had duties towards his family as well. Margaery was no heir. At best, her marriage was binding her family to another one, creating alliances, but she didn't have to provide an heir to Highgarden like Loras had to. However, Tyrion needed an heir to succeed him. So far, they failed to have a son. If she died without children, Tyrion was expected to marry again to further the Lannister line.

Margaery wouldn't tolerate it if Tyrion was seeing other women than her, and she didn't like the thought that he could take another wife if she ever left. Imagining another woman sitting by his side in the Great Hall of Casterly Rock, walking with him in the gardens she planned, dining with him in the evenings, or sharing their bed… There were few things Margaery couldn't suffer, but these thoughts were among them. She couldn't support the idea that Tyrion might turn to another woman, replace her. She didn't feel like she could be replaced, but on the other side, she knew that Tyrion craved after one thing, and that thing was love. He loved her almost from the very moment they met. If she was gone, would he run to the first woman who would look like she loved him in return? She thought about the tales surrounding Tytos Lannister and his mistress. Would Tyrion bring a whore into their bed to take her place, or would it be a wheelwright's daughter, or another highborn lady?

She chased these ideas from her head. This wasn't about to happen. Both of them were still young, and despite the fact that their union didn't prove fruitful up to now, Margaery was still hopeful. Her mother needed three years before she had her, and another two years before Loras followed. If she was anything like her lady mother, she wasn't far from getting pregnant.

"Kevan, tell me, how did Robert Baratheon die? And not the version Cersei is giving. I want to hear the truth."

The knight remained silent for a long time after his nephew asked him about this. His eyes switched from Margaery to Tyrion a few times. Then he spoke.

"We know that Robert was killed by a boar during a hunting trip. Several witnesses who hunted with him attested it, Ser Barristan Selmy and my son Lancel included. They reported that the king drank a lot. He was drunk when the boar killed him, but that's not all. Ser Barristan confirmed me that Lancel kept offering wine to Robert. I know that Robert asked for wine very often and was very displeased every time Lancel couldn't fill his cup. Robert was angrier than usual because Ned Stark had resigned, so Lancel may only have been trying to keep the king in a good mood. However, I know that Lancel was knighted by Joffrey the day after his father died."

He said nothing more, and he didn't need to say more. Anyone could see the link between all of this. It wasn't difficult to guess how Cersei got rid of her husband. Ser Kevan was looking into an empty space on the ground. Margaery could understand how he felt. His own son probably played a major role in the king's death.

"If Eddard Stark didn't threaten to tell Robert that his children were bastards born of incest, none of that would have happened," Tyrion said gravely.

"Things are not entirely hopeless, however," the knight said. "When I last spoke with Ned Stark, I proposed him to acknowledge Joffrey as king and deny all his previous accusations, for the assurance to be allowed to take the black and to order his son Robb to bend the knee. He seemed… tempted to accept. We have his children after all. Cersei and Jaime approved my plan when I suggested it."

"I suppose that if something can make the Lord of Winterfell forsake his honour, then it must be his family," Margaery observed.

"Family, Duty, Honor," Tyrion repeated.

"You have his bastard son, and Ned Stark seems very fond of him, or else he wouldn't have taken care of him," Kevan Lannister said.

"We don't have him. Not anymore."

"What?"

"He rode north the day we received the news of his father's arrest. I let him go."

Ser Kevan was looking at his nephew, bewildered. "Why did you do that, Tyrion? He was a valuable hostage."

"He was a guest at Casterly Rock. Honor means a lot for the Starks. Sending him back home was a gesture of good will. And I didn't send him back empty-handed. He brought a message to Robb Stark, telling him to stay at Moat Cailin the time I could solve the situation with Cersei. I convinced Jon Snow to talk to his brother for this. It will prevent a war with the Starks as long as we manage to send them back their father. Anyway, we already have Ned Stark and his two daughters. It's more than enough for hostages."

"We only have one of his daughters."

"One?"

"Arya Stark disappeared. She is nowhere to be found."

"Disappeared? What, in a puff of smoke?"

"She escaped when Jaime and Cersei had Ned Stark arrested. The red cloaks and the City Watch were unable to find her."

"Do you have any idea where she is?" Margaery asked.

"No."

Margaery shook her head. "We had four Starks that we could use to trade. Now we only have two. And if we want the Starks to bend the knee, it will be much more difficult if their youngest daughter is found dead in some back alley." She wondered how was Sansa. If her sister was nowhere to be found and her father a prisoner, she had to be in great distress. Margaery would have to see her as soon as she arrived in the city.

"I hope that Ned Stark accepts the deal you offered, Kevan," Tyrion said. "And that Cersei makes no other mistake before we arrive. She already made more than enough to haunt us for a generation."

This discussion took place a few days ago. Now they were about to get through the Lion's Gate and enter the capital. This time, they were coming to King's Landing with a small army. They had two thousand men, and they could count on the red cloaks inside the Red Keep. When Ser Kevan left, Cersei also removed the leader of the red cloaks and replaced him by one of Janos Slynt's lieutenant. However, the other officers among the red cloaks were still loyal to Casterly Rock and would side with Tyrion as soon as they entered the Red Keep. Kevan ordered them to remain discreet and to obey Cersei until Tyrion arrived. Cersei had the gold cloaks of Janos Slynt, but they were only a police force, not an army, and most of them would be patrolling in the streets. They could take control of the castle without problem. It would be difficult for the guards at the gates to refuse entrance to the Lord and the Lady of Casterly Rock, especially with two thousand men behind them.

Tyrion joined the head of the column to talk with the captain who was responsible of the gate, and after a short exchange where her husband proved again how sharp his tongue was, they were allowed to proceed inside the city. Tyrion stayed in front while Margaery lingered behind among the Lannister men with her own guards from the Reach. Tyrion had to ride at the front with his men, to show that they were following him. This entrance in King's Landing was in part meant to display the power of the Lord of Casterly Rock, and for that the said lord had to ride at the front with his men.

They didn't have to pass by Flea Bottom on their way to the Red Keep. They might have to if they arrived through the Iron Gate or the Dragon Gate, but since they came from the west, they could avoid the poorer districts of King's Landing. Despite this, Margaery had not made a few strides through the gate that someone shouted her name.

"Lady Margaery!"

In other situations, Margaery would have climbed down her horse and walk among the people, but she couldn't afford that for now. She and Tyrion were both needed at Maegor's Holdfast. Tyrion couldn't face Cersei and Joffrey alone. They had to be together. They worked as a duo, completing each other, and they would need each other while they were here in the capital. Margaery limited her contact with the people by waving her hand to thank them, and she also had her handmaidens and her men throw copper coin regularly. This kept the smallfolk away from them, but only to a certain extent. The people kept chasing after her. They were trying to get past her guards who did their best to keep them away. At one occasion, she had to stop everyone because a mother with a baby in her arms was desperately trying to reach her and her guards' horses threatened to crush them. She got on her feet, hugged the woman and took her child in her arms for a minute.

For a short moment, as she held the baby in her arms, Margaery wondered what it would be to hold her own child. Would she ever have that chance? Sera reminded her that they were supposed to move forward. She gave back the baby to his mother, but it proved to be very difficult to get back on her horse. Giving time to one person brought hundreds more to beg for her attention. For once, Margaery regretted that she was so popular with the smallfolk. Still, she believed her popularity could be useful in the future. The common people didn't hold much power, but they had power, whether they believed it or not.

They were soon approaching the red castle on Aegon's Hill. Margaery never found the Red Keep quite attractive, or beautiful. It could be the residence of the king, but it was quite ordinary compared to the splendor of Highgarden or Casterly Rock, or the Hightower. Even Winterfell was more pleasant, and larger. The Targaryens, despite their dragons, couldn't equal the work of the kings they submitted. When Margaery looked at the Red Keep, it didn't look like a worthy residence for a king. The Rock, Highgarden and Winterfell, and even Riverrun, looked more like castles made for kings and queens.

My dear, there are crowns without a queen. And there are queens without a crown. Despite the situation, Margaery smiled at the thought of the words that her grandmother told her four years ago. Olenna Tyrell had been right, and Margaery would soon prove to Cersei which one of them was a true queen. Cersei only had to visit the low districts of King's Landing to see who the people saw as their real queen. The thought of Cersei soiling her robes in the alleys of Flea Bottom were quite pleasant to Margaery. She may order a tapestry depicting it once she would be back at Casterly Rock. She would look at it when she felt that she needed to laugh. She was sure that Tyrion would find it funny as well.

It was at this moment that her husband came riding to her. Before she could talk, she noticed the dark expression on his face.

"Margaery, we have a problem. Come, quickly."

They rode outside of the column, and she followed her husband until they arrived near the portcullis, that was still closed. But it wasn't the portcullis that attracted her attention. It was the spikes over it that caught her gaze. Most of the heads were unrecognizable. They obviously had been there for quite some time, and crows and fleas made sure to feast on them. Margaery still recognized something that looked like a septa's veil on one of the heads.

There was only one head that was recognizable, and there was no mistake of who it belonged to.

"We're too late," she whispered, at a loss of words.

"Yes, and we're fucked up," her husband added next to her.

Margaery knew what Tyrion was thinking about now, because she thought exactly the same thing. This head meant that a war couldn't be avoided. The head of Eddard Stark, Lord of Winterfell, meant that for the first time in seventeen years, all the Seven Kingdoms would be at war. Peace was lost.


I apologize to everyone who hoped that Ned Stark would have a different fate, but considering that Kevan was no longer in the capital and that Cersei and Joffrey were the ones ruling, this isn't such a big surprise. It was unlikely that Cersei would wait patiently for Tyrion and Margaery to arrive and decide what to do with Ned in her stead.

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