Last Chapter:

After everyone was seated Ned began his toast. She wasn't listening but pretended she was paying attention while she thought of how she would manage to impress the people sitting on both sides of her. She had a long night ahead of her.

Her father sat down and she snapped out of her thoughts. She looked at Cersei from the corner of her eyes. She had a tired smile on her face that somehow managed to look like a scowl. Her thoughts went to her lessons with Septa Mordane on how to properly introduce yourself. First you must curtsy. That wasn't possible while they were sitting. On to the next step, begin with addressing them with lord or lady. But was she to be called my Queen, Your Honour, or possibly just Lady Cersei? She settled on my Queen but she wasn't sure that was the proper name. What had she gotten herself into?

"Excuse me, My Queen. I would like to introduce myself. I am Sonara Stark"

She turned to Sonara and the false pretence of a smile dropped from her face leaving only a scowl. It made her want to turn away but she held her composure.

"Do not interrupt me while I am eating again girl" she said and went back to eating her food.

Her cheeks grew red with embarrassment. One discreet look around the table and she decided nobody had seen what happened. Even Joffrey hadn't noticed because he was saying something to Sansa. She couldn't decide if she was relieved by it or not.

She took a deep breath and cleared herself of embarrassment. After a while her cheeks didn't feel as hot and she felt calmer. A giggle from where Sansa was sitting snapped her out of her daze. She plastered the smile back on her face and turned to Joffrey.

"What is it that is so amusing?" she asked.

Joffrey turned to her and explained his story. "I was hunting with father and we had been tracking a huge boar all morning. Suddenly it came bursting out of the bushes and ran right into father's squire. It bowled him over and he was on his back. He looked ridiculous" he paused for a moment expecting her to laugh. She did laugh although she didn't think it was all that funny. "Our hunting party went straight ahead and in the chase I managed to find the boar trapped in a tangle of grasses and I plunged my knife right into his neck with all my strength. In one blow the boar stopped squealing and was dead."

"That is very impressive my prince. You must be very strong to slay that beast so." she said.

She didn't believe that the story was true but she went along with it.

"It was a beast!" he exclaimed in agreement. "It was as tall as this table and as wide as the length of both my arms." He said grinning.

"I imagine that you must slay many animals. You have the build of a true hunter."

He leaned in slightly closer to her and spoke in a quieter voice. "I particularly enjoy capturing smaller animals and prolonging their death privately. My father doesn't like when I do it."

She knew "prolonging their death" meant he tortured them. She was disgusted by this but she disguised her feelings and nodded, still smiling. It seemed that the prince was no daydream. She couldn't manage to say anything in response that wouldn't anger him so she faced forward and looked at the spread before her. The feast comprised of the best food that they had to offer. On the left side of her was chicken basted with apricots and herbs, her favorite dish. She put some on her plate but she found that she had no appetite. Her stomach was still turning from the thought of a small animal being tortured by the prince beside her. Her thoughts turned to Cersei again. Then back to Joffrey, then Cersei, then Joffrey. Suddenly she was finding it hard to breathe. She needed to get away from the hall.

"Would you please excuse me. I need to relieve myself" she asked her father.

He nodded and she stood and walked away from the table, restraining herself from running as fast as she could. When she reached the open doors she took a deep breath of the cool night air. The iciness entered her lungs and relieved her. She walked towards the stables to find Dusk. Her relief didn't last long when she started to think of what happened in the halls. Tears began to sting her eyes as she started to realise that the path to her goal wasn't straightforward and clear. There were bushes that's roses were beautiful until you approached them and cut yourself upon it's thorns and potholes that you didn't know were there until you happened upon one and tripped. She knew it would be difficult but this was supposed to be the easy part. The hard part was supposed to be ruling a kingdom. A horrible thought came to her then. What if this was the easy part? Did she really want to be Queen if it was this difficult? It was no wonder that Cersei is so bitter. She dried up her tears and told herself that she was supposed to take this time to calm herself not to make herself more panicked.

She looked to her left and saw the faint figure of Jon. She thought she saw a boy making a scene and running out of the hall earlier but she only now realised that it was Jon. She changed her direction to the courtyard. She decided that she should invite him to come with her. If Jon was upset then she was sure that he would find comfort in Ghost as well. As she got closer she realised there was another figure in front of him. A very small figure. The small man noticed her before Jon.

"You must be one of the stark children" He said.

"Yes, I am Sonara Stark" she said cautiously wondering who the man was. A moment later she realised. "my Lord Lannister" she added quickly.

"Did my sister scare you away?" he asked.

"Certainly not. It was a pleasure meeting the Queen." She said.

"You can drop the act. I imagine that smile is starting to hurt. There's nobody you need to impress here. Only a bastard and a dwarf." he said.

She did loosen her smile slightly.

"If you would excuse us, I would like to have a word with my brother" she said.

The dwarf nodded and turned away. He was a funny little man and she decided that she liked him. She turned to her brother when he was a fair distance away.

"I don't have much time now but would you like to come to the stables with me after the feast and visit Ghost and Dusk?"

He motioned to his side and she saw that Ghost was there the whole time. He had just been camouflaged in the snow. Disappointment filled her. If she was being honest to herself she only wanted to invite Jon so that he would comfort her.

"Oh" she said.

"I will come to the stables tonight if you really want me to" he said detecting her disappointment.

"Okay, I will see you tonight" she said.

She made her way back to the hall. Every part of her wanted to go back to Jon and let him comfort her but she forced herself forward.