Chapter 8: Threshold

AN: If you guys are interested, my friend Maddie Rose is hosting the 'Game of Thrones Summer Awards'. You can find the link on my profile, if you would like to go and place nominations, pretty please do!

A knock sounded on Robb's door late in the night. He was surprised, he had assumed that most people would go straight to their beds. Tonight's feast had stretched quite far into the night, and Robb had probably stayed longer than he should have, considering he had to rise early tomorrow for his wedding.

"Who is it?" he asked, yanking his shirt over his head in preparation for sleep.

"Your mother."

This surprised Robb even more, a visit from his mother at this hour, he wondered what it could be about. He hoped she wasn't going to start fussing about tomorrow's event. Robb had heard so much about his wedding that all he wanted now was to get it over with so that people would stop talking about it to him.

He went over to open the door and receive his mother, he didn't bother putting his shirt back on again. His mother had seen him in various states of undress since he had been a babe. He doubted she would mind.

"Are you alone?" she inquired, as she hurried into the room.

"Of course," he snorted lightly while shutting the door. "Why wouldn't I be at this hour?"

"I just want to be sure." Catelyn Stark seemed nervous. She hadn't changed out of her feast dress yet, but her hair had already been taken down. Robb guessed that she had probably rushed over here in the midst of preparing for bed. As for why, he was still unsure.

"What are you doing here, mother?" he asked. "Is everything alright?"

She didn't reply at once. Instead, she came over to stand before him. Looking him up and down, putting on hand on his shoulder and smoothing his hair back with the other, something she had used to do when he had been small. She now had to reach up to do it, rather than down. She studied him with a sad smile on her face for a while, before her gaze turned deadly serious.

"Robb, are you sure you want this marriage?"

A hard bark of laughter was the only reply Robb could come up with to that question, which seemed to put his mother out of sorts.

"Robb, be serious, please," she scolded. "Are you sure about this?"

"Mother, I wed tomorrow, it's a bit late for this kind of talk. It's late for any kind of talk really," he pointed out.

She stepped back from him, and started pacing the room. Three strides one way, turn, three strides the other, turn.

"Why are you asking?" he said, confused at both her behaviour and the question.

"I just…" she trailed off. "Do you like her?"

Robb was unable to answer her without first taking some time to think. Did he? He had spent some more time with Princess Cassana over the past few days, did he like her yet? They had talked some, but never deep into topics. They had spent hours together, but he had always felt as if she were holding herself a little distant.

She didn't seem as eager as he was to get to know him, nor did she seem settled or happy. It made him worry, just a little. He wondered if he could make this marriage work, or if it would end up with him spending all his years with a woman who would always hold herself back a little. He truly hoped that that would not be the case.

It was puzzling to him. She was always polite, courteous, if a little cold. She was smart, he could tell that, she always got a proud look on her face whenever she got the chance to demonstrate her intelligence. She didn't like being made fun of, or interrupted, or being proved wrong. That pride, stubbornness, and oh so thinly veiled temper made for an interesting personality to spend time with.

But yet… just a couple of times, he had seen her laugh, or smile, and in those moments he had been so sure that there was more to her than what she was showing him. It just made him curious, he wanted to make her laugh more, he wanted to see that smile. He wasn't sure why, perhaps because she was normally so controlled, he didn't know. But he wanted to make her happy.

And of course, she was beautiful. So many women in the North were dark of hair and eye, and many were beautiful with those features. But Cassana… with her bright golden hair, those deep green eyes, he worried he might go blind if he saw her on a sunny day. Her features, so delicate to look at, so often held in a haughty expression, could soften into a dazzling smile.

"Robb?" his mother prompted, stopping his mind from wondering away from their conversation.

"I want to like her," he replied eventually.

Her lips compressed into a flat line. That had not been the answer she had hoped for.

"What is it, mother?" he asked.

"I'm not sure that I do," she admitted. "I know that it is not my place, but I just want you to know. I don't trust her, I don't know that she will be a good wife to you."

"She's just getting used to it here, I'm sure that she will become accustomed to our ways soon," he assured. "Just give her time."

"I'm not so sure that she will, some people don't change so easily," she said.

"Mother, I think that you are just worried because your eldest child is finally getting married, and another woman will be around the castle."

"No, Robb, it's not that," his mother protested. "It's her, the Princess, do you really think she will make you happy?"

Robb shrugged, "It's too soon to say. But I am engaged to her, promised to wed her tomorrow, and that is what I will do. Just as father was promised to marry you before either of you knew it would make you happy in the end."

Cat opened her mouth to protest again, but Robb put his hands on his mother's shoulders to silence her. He looked her in the eye, and saw that she really was nervous about this issue. He sighed, mother's worry, would he ever grow too old for it? He pulled her into a hug.

"Don't worry, mother," he said softly. "I will be fine."

"Be careful," was all she replied, while she hugged him tight, as if she was afraid to let him go.

/*0*/

"I'm scared."

Cassana hadn't admitted that feeling since the Kingsroad, and it worried her that it was upon her this strongly again. She guessed that every bride had pre-wedding nerves, but to be scared? She should be above that, she should be confidant, but she wasn't.

She'd made a positive disaster of her engagement feast. That had been the night after her father's embarrassing speech on their first night, and her wounded pride still hadn't recovered. She'd been on edge the whole night, and despite being seated next to Robb, she had made little effort to talk to him. She hadn't wanted to, but she knew that she should have done. How else was she supposed to try make the match work?

She knew that she shouldn't be acting like this. She should have spent the past few days charming and getting to know Robb Stark, as he was doing to her. But instead, she had kept her distance, and almost pushed him away at times. That was not the way to start a marriage if she wanted to give herself some power in it.

She should have been in control of this situation, but now it was controlling her. Ruling her emotions, her actions, keeping her from logical thought. She hated it. She always did when something tampered with her intelligence. She prided herself on being adept at remaining on top of situations, yet here she was being crushed by the impending marriage. She needed to get a grip or herself.

"It's alright, my love," her mother assured while she ran a brush through Cassana's long hair, "It will be alright."

Cersei had dismissed Cassana's ladies and maids for the night, and she had attended her daughter herself. First helping Cassana out of her feast gown and into her thick night-shift, then taking down her daughter's hair, and now brushing it so that it made smooth golden waves down Cassana's back.

"How can you know that?" Cassana questioned. "These are the Starks, the family you warned me about since I was a little girl. The betrothed that you always fought against, which made me believe he was to be a bad match. How-"

"I shouldn't have shared all of my opinions with you," her mother interrupted. "I can see now that it was wrong of me, I tainted your viewpoint, I've made this difficult for you."

"No! Mother!" Cassana protested, "I didn't mean it like that! I just meant that after all of the warning you gave me, how can you say it will be alright?"

"Because it could always have been worse," Cersei whispered, keeping her eyes focused on running the brush through Cassana's hair.

"I don't like the Starks," she continued, "Our families have never gotten along, but… I am grateful that I know you will have a husband who will treat you well. Because of that Stark honour, I don't think that Robb will ever be the kind of husband to become drunk, stupid, lecherous, or have any other vices along those lines. I'm comforted that you will not have a man like your father tied to you for the rest of your life."

"I know," Cassana admitted. "I know that I am lucky in the character of my husband. Logically, I should be fine with my marriage. I have a man who is likely to remain good, I will be able to be comfortable, and likely be able to manipulate my husband as all smart wives do. Why am I so scared?"

Cersei smiled sadly at her daughter in the mirror, "Because they are different. Marrying your father wasn't all that drastic a change for me. Of course, I became Queen and assumed all of that responsibility and power, but my environment and the people around me were all the same. The same families, the same plotting tactics, I knew what to expect."

"But you, my darling daughter, you are being taken far from your home. Not only that, but you are being married into a family with ideals different to those you are used to being surrounded by. It is unsettling, I would be scared in your position."

"You're not scared of anything," Cassana said.

"A mother is always scared when it comes to her children. We want to hold you close, keep you safe, not let anyone ever take you away." Cersei gently stroked the side of Cassana's face.

"Do you feel like that about all of us?" Cassana asked.

"Of course!" Cersei put down the brush and made Cassana turn to face her. "You are my daughter, one of my four beautiful children, and I love you will all of my heart."

"Do you love us the same?"

"Yes, of course, I love all of you equally." Cersei pulled Cassana into a close hug. "And each of you has brought something new into my life to make me so happy and proud."

"I… I've just always felt that I have to compete with Joffrey for your affection," Cassana admitted, holding tightly to her mother.

"Oh, Cassana," Cersei stroked her hair gently, "You never love anything quite the way you love your firstborn. You'll know that feeling one day, it will be the greatest joy your marriage will bring you. Your children will be the one thing your husband can never take away, no matter what."

They stood embraced for several moments, before Cersei pulled away from her daughter. There were tears in the corners of her eyes, which she swiftly wiped away. Holding Cassana by the sides of her arms, she appraised her daughter with a smile.

"You are my daughter. Mine." Cersei said firmly. "You are smart, and brave, and so beautiful. I know that you can make this marriage work for you."

"I know…" she muttered, "But it's not really the people that make me unhappy about it all. As I said, logically I know it all makes sense. But it's just the North… it's so cold here, so grey, so far away from everything. It's one thing to be around different people, but this new place? It's abysmal. They don't have the same life as we do in the South."

"Learn to pretend. A woman's lies are the most convincing of all, especially to men. Make yourself as happy and comfortable as you can. I don't trust the Starks with you, they don't work the same way as us, and I fear that they may try to turn you against us."

"Mother!" Cassana protested. "I would never-"

Cersei cut her off with a finger to the lips. "But I do trust you with the Starks. You will know what to do."

"I can lie, but how can I hide how I feel so much? To turn my entire life into a lie? I don't know if I can," Cassana admitted.

"My daughter, most of the time you are surprisingly hard to understand, but you do wear your emotions in such a vibrant way, which lets whole world know what you're thinking. Be careful with that open honesty," Cersei warned." You're a Princess, you know how to balance lies and honesty with words, you just need to get better at doing it with yourself."

"Yes, but I won't be a Princess after tomorrow, I'll just be a simple Lady," she said sadly. "Even Myrcella will outrank me after the ceremony."

Cassana turned back to the mirror to study her reflection in the silvery surface. Her mother was right, her face showed her worry openly, and when Cassana tried to school her expression to neutrality, her Court-Face appeared. She would have to learn to get better at that.

She thought about Sansa Stark, and how the younger girl was always so polite in conversation and manner, but also showed her feelings free on her face. Would Sansa have to learn to school herself when her own marriage came around? Would she have to pretend to be happy?

"Mother," Cassana turned to glance at Cersei, "Do you think that Joffrey will make a good husband to Sansa?" she inquired.

"Joff is a wonderful boy, Sansa is lucky to be engaged to him, it is a wonderful opportunity for her," Cersei replied.

Cassana turned back to her reflection, her mother had avoided the question, which was all the answer she needed. She imagined what kind of a husband Joffrey might make, and had to stop herself from reaching up behind to touch the scar on her back.

As her mother had said, no matter how she might be nervous of her marriage, or unhappy in this place, it could always be worse. Yes, this would be her comforting thought. She would try to hold on to that, but she didn't know how well she would succeed.