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"She's a nuisance." Davos eyed his liege lord as he shifted through the unsealed letters given to him by Maester Cressen. Thankfully they were now in the solar, it had been so long since they were seated here, far from the Painted Table that showed Storm's End.
"Lady Cersei?" Stannis did not show any acknowledgement of the name, focusing on the letter that once had the seal of House Bar Emmon.
"She is selfish and weak." He spoke plainly, neatly folding the letter and placing it atop a pile.
"Anything interesting?" Stannis took another letter, this one bearing a familiar seal; A sword crossed with a falling star on silver. It was an unexpected one.
"Nothing in particular, I have a new bannerman." Stannis broke the curious seal, reading through its contents.
"I suppose you believe her inadequate of being a good wife?" Stannis for the first time since the conversation stared back at him.
"What I believe does not matter. This is our duty." Even Davos whom he believed knew him best needed to be reminded from time to time.
"A good wife breeds a good line. You have a duty to your lordship to sire good heirs." Stannis grinded his teeth at this reversal. He was right.
"I think Lady Cersei makes a good Lannister." That was truth, she was a wily ambitious braggart.
"But does she make a good Baratheon?" Stannis sighed deeply.
"It's been only a fortnight Ser Davos. May you allow me some time to know the lady first?" Davos raised his brow at that.
"I've heard from the guards that you've been speaking to her at night. Is that not time enough." Well it looked like stories of his nightly encounters with Lady Cersei were spreading.
"Mere distractions." Davos chuckled at those words.
"When have you ever afforded yourself the time for such things?" Could the man not just leave him be and give pause so he can read the damned letter?
"Cersei is a girl. Even if flowering with her moonblood she is like a babe." If honesty was what Davos wanted than he would give him honesty.
"You are a harsh man my lord Stannis. I would have expected you to be harsher on her for being so soft." Stannis thought back that particular night now. In another time he would have simply banished Cersei from the room and order her to return to her bedchambers. So why entertain her with his ramblings?
"She needed to know of her duty." Stannis realized now that there was something wrong. Why had he been conversing with the Lannister girl in the first place?
"Yet you seem to not know your own." He was stunned into silence. Once more the Onion Knight has proven himself to be his greatest source of counsel.
"Stannis you need to stop torturing yourself. You are the Lord of Dragonstone, though not a rich place you must administer it faithfully. Stop partaking in pointless exercises, stop staying late at night staring at the painted table thinking that sulking solves your ill fortunes. You must stop ignoring your duties." Stannis trembled.
"You are right Ser Davos. It seems I have been failing in my appointments." Stannis returned back to the letter. Thankful that Davos was now giving him the time to swallow its contents.
"Although that does not mean you should stop conversing with the Lady Lannister." Davos said just as he was finished reading.
"You tell me to do my duty yet accommodate Lady Cersei?" Davos nodded with a glib smile.
"Frankly you my lord need something to keep your mind off this dreary place. A mischievous Lannister minx is sure to do so." Stannis shifted in his seat and bent nearer to the Onion knight.
"You want me to court her?" Stannis stated disbelieving, as if Davos somehow forgot who he was conversing with.
"I mentioned nothing of the sort. A bored lion is a deadly lion." Stannis closed his eyes, rubbing his temples.
"Should I hold a tourney then? Or a fanciful court with mummers and minstrels?" Davos guffawed.
"We should get a dwarf! It is sure to remind her of home!" Stannis grimaced at his friend's lunacy.
"I'm being serious Ser Davos. How does one entertain a lion?" Davos simply shrugged his shoulders.
"I'm sure you will find a way." The man grinned.
"A stag does not entertain a lion. She's been quiet this past week. I cannot fathom what she's planning." Davos' grin disappeared, a strange look on his face.
"I hear she's been spending time discussing something with the Maester." The Maester? That was odd.
"Has Maester Cressen ever made mention of what their conversation entailed?" Davos shook his head.
"A pity, speaking of the Maester I have need for him. I need to pen a le- "At that moment the sound of a knock reverberating throughout the open air solar. Stannis gestured to Davos who opened the door, both men surprised by who was entering.
"Lady Cersei." She entered hands held together, a surprisingly subdued dress of a simple sheet of red covering her body. It was strangely modest thing for the Lannister maiden.
"My lord Stannis. My apologies for interrupting you but I have some news to inform you of." Following quickly behind her was Maester Cressen, a very apprehensive look on his wizened leathery face.
"What is it?" Stannis spoke to the point whilst waving towards a free seat on the table. The lady Cersei obliged him and gracefully sat down. A new haughty look on her face. One that was far subtler than usual.
She was starting to feel like a Lannister now.
"With the assistance of Maester Cressen I believe I can make a strong case towards King Robert concerning your plight." Stannis' gaze shifted towards the Maester who bowed his head in obvious embarrassment and worry.
"With your permission I would like to visit King's Landing and present to the King about your legal rights as lord of Storm's End." Davos gaped and Cressen shook his head. Stannis meanwhile just stared at her, trying to glance what her motives were from her face.
He stared at her golden lashes, her soft lips and smooth skin. Yet he did not see some young summer maid.
All he saw was a lioness on the hunt.
"What does the Maester think of this?" Cressen scrambled to his feet at his mention.
"M-My lord throughout this entire week Lady Cersei has been most curious about histories concerning legal disputes of titles and lordships. I-I didn't know that she was doing I- "Stannis raised his hand, his dark blue eyes never wavering from the light green eyes of the lioness.
"Does the Lady Cersei have a strong case?" Cressen bowed his head.
"On paper yes. The history of the Riverlands have in particular proven to be helpful considering how their centralized position means many claims between the Vale, the North, the Westerlands and the Reach have needed to be resolved to- "Stannis raised his hand again, Cressen silencing himself in obedience.
"Do you believe it will convince the King?" Cersei curtly shook her dainty head.
"No." She responded simply, mimicking the stag.
"Then why do you bother?" She tilted her head to the side.
"Do you not know a lady's weapon is courtesy my lord? Where courtesy fails, guile takes charge. My visit is not to change the King's mind. It is to remind him that he has a brother." Stannis jaws slightly clenched. He scanned her face more thoroughly. Trying to see if she was just saying empty promises.
He felt trepidation when he saw nothing.
He was starting to regret reminding Cersei that she was a Lannister.
"Robert knows I exist. Else he wouldn't have arranged this farce of a betrothal." Cersei smirked, a haughty and self-assured curling of the mouths edges that oozed out arrogance.
"He sees you a bannerman, not a brother." Stannis' heart was gripped by a momentary rage. His nostrils flaring up and his irises widening like plates. Davos moved in his seat uncomfortable as he saw the change in his lord's demeanor. Very few people could get such a rise out of Stannis Baratheon that he became on the verge of proving why their's was the fury.
He was now regretting reminding the Lannister bitch that she was a lion.
Inconceivable, a stag teaching a lioness how to hunt and kill. He might as well have been a doe instead.
"Why do you even waste your time in such frivolities?" Stannis spoke out bitterly.
"I am to be a lioness wedded to a stag. It is obvious that this marriage will be taking place. How can I take comfort in my pride when my children are born to rule a rock in the middle of the sea and not their birthright as the true lords of Storm's End?" Stannis grinded his teeth. She had so masterfully used his very words against him.
Cersei Lannister was a mimic, yet he wondered if she had any original thought on her own.
"You are not yet a stag's wife. Stop pretending you are the lady of this holding." Finally, Cersei's cool facade had dissolved as he said those words. Her face contorting into one of wounded pride, vain anger and … pain?
"I come here with good intentions and to offer aid and all you do is to insult me?" She asked in indignation.
"Your help is not appreciated; you think things too simple. Do you not know the extent of Robert's fury? If you were to saunter in into King's Landing, into the Red Keep. Imagine then that you stand before the court of King Robert, in front of his beloved Stark wife. You say what you say, mentioning how some trifle between House Bracken and Blackwood or House Frey and every other Riverlands house somewhat compels him the duty of giving me, his hated brother, the seat of Storm's End. Now what do you think will happen? What would Robert do? Even the weight of the Lannister name will not protect you fully." Every word further and further deflated Cersei Lannister and by the end of it she seemed no different than that summer maiden who cried in tantrum within the chamber of the painted table.
"Forgive me my lord." She spoke softly, defeated.
"You do not need my forgiveness. What you need is foresight. Even if you had a sounder plan of gaining my birthright I would forbid you still." Cersei looked at him, a confused expression.
"Why not? Are you so stubborn as to refuse help?"
"I refuse to have others suffer for my petty desires." Cersei was dumbfounded.
"Storm's End is not petty!" She stood up, less haughty and more shock.
"It is your birthright! It is your home!" She spoke animated, with a passion he did not expect.
"You deserve it!" He deserved it. What made her say such a thing?
"You suffered the power of the Reach! You drove out the Targaryen's from this very castle! You suffered in your duty and all you receive is this desolate place!" Why was she getting so heated up? This did not concern her at all.
"Where is your pride?! Where is your damned pride! As a woman I cannot inherit Casterly Rock through normal means, but you are second in line to the throne and true Lord of the Stormlands! IF I WAS YOU I WOULD DO EVERYTHING FOR STORM'S END!" Stannis wanted to chastise her, remind her once more why duty did not permit such a thing.
She was ragged, her voice breaking. She was flustered, angry at him. She was like a child angered at the unfairness of the world.
He didn't have the heart to chastise her.
"I am not a lion." He spoke softly. Cersei was only more enraged.
"You are a stag! Yours' is the fury! I see no fury in you!" What did she know of his fury? If he was not so-
Then he realized, looking at her. Looking at how wretched she look, her eyes looking at him with confusion and sympathy.
He now understood why she was so angry.
She saw in Stannis only herself.
Someone denied their proper dues, someone who felt no one respected.
It was such a selfish petty thing. This Cersei was a selfish girl.
But he couldn't deny. Her words however wrong somehow resonated within him.
He was a stag, and all he did was suppress his fury.
It amused him that it took a lioness repeating his own words to realize this.
No more.
Ours was the fury.
They would now know.
Stannis stood, staring straight at the Lannister girl.
"It seems I was wrong." At that all eyes widened. Davos especially.
Did Stannis Baratheon just admit he was wrong?
"Wrong about what?" Cersei's fury was replaced by limp confusion.
"I had earlier said your help was not appreciated. I would like to recant that statement." Cersei stared at him as if he had grown a set of stag horns.
"What do you mean?" She asked slowly, testing the waters.
"You were right in calling me a stag. A stag does not sit by his lonesome. He darts through the forest and strikes back against those who wrong him. Your words make me realize that. Thank you." Cersei was rendered mute, face reddening like beetroot.
"I-It is a mere trifle my lord." She averted her gaze, it confused him. Had his words angered her still?
"S-Seeing as how much of your time I have wasted would you a-allow me to take my leave?" Stannis did not understand why her eyes found it so difficult to meet his own. Why did lions have to be so difficult?
"No, in fact I expect you to be a constant presence within this council." All jaws dropped at this. Davos' eyes darted back and forth between lioness and stag. His expressions torn between amusement and aghast confusion.
"My lord I do not- "Stannis titled his head slightly lower. Glaring at her.
"You dare insult my generosity?" Cersei took one final look at the door before finally relenting.
House Dayne. It was an ancient and noble line that was born in the dawn of days, founded on the Torentine wherein the first Dayn tracked down a fallen star. They were among the most respected of houses from Dorne, a very rare thing considering how different the Dornish were from most of Westeros. The Dayne's were Stony Dornishman who possessed the conventional looks of the Andal and First Man blood common in the other Seven Kingdoms and rare within the Rhonyish Salt Dornishmen.
Now they were planning to send one of their own to this place.
"Squiring? A boy from House Dayne? Was a reason given?" This was Davos who spoke, his mind ever mindful of the myriad ways men deceived each other.
"The letter did not go into specifics. It only spoke of how the boy has proven to be 'difficult' page and how he's in need of a heavy handed-knight to squire with." Stannis answered.
"No doubt the boy might prove to be more than difficult. Yet to have a Dayne squire would prove a knight's true skill." Cressen added in his thoughts.
"He is only of the cadet branch however. This might be simply a way of disposing a spare." This was the newest addition to this inner circle voicing her thoughts. Cersei has proven to be quite adaptable, if fragile at times.
"The letter makes mention that this Gerold Dayne is the current lord of High Hermitage in the aftermath of his father's death. The main branch of the family sent this letter in his stead." Stannis clarified.
"So why not squire with the main house or other Dornish houses?" Davos asked the question on their minds.
"It says he served as a page for House Yronwood, it does not mention exactly what they thought of him." Cersei raised her eyes at that.
"Then that would simply mean none of the Dornish houses are willing to squire him." She said bemused.
"Then that means he would have needed to squire with houses from other kingdoms." Davos' understanding of this deepened. Many of Dorne's neighbors would not have been thrilled in handling a Dornish problem child.
"The question is why Lord Stannis? There are many knights from who to squire from. Why him exactly?" Cersei looked at him for a moment, then quickly averted her gaze when he was starting to look back at her.
"Mayhaps it's because he's become a pariah of sorts. Dragonstone is a remote place, so few would bother with stories from it. Yet Stannis still remains the heir-apparent, squiring and getting knighted by him would not diminish one's prestige. A perfect place for a wild Dornish child to squire in without stories spreading." Davos noted.
"I think accepting this would prove beneficial. My lord" Cersei offered her counsel.
"For what reason?" Stannis asked, he was testing her now.
"The Dornishmen have no love for your brother or mine own house. This boy mayhaps can be a powerful connection within Dorne in the coming seasons. Even so, having a Dayne squire that could potentially become the next Sword of the Morning would do wonders for you." This was surprisingly sound advice.
"Ser Davos? Maester?" Both men looked back at Cersei, both finding no fault on her words.
"We agree." Both men said in unison.
Good. It seems Cersei Lannister does indeed possess some cunning.
It's been so long since he's slept at this hour. For the past months he would have instead spent time staying up, brooding over the painted table. That was foolish now he realized.
He tried to sleep. Yet strangely he found his thoughts drifting towards the Lannister girl.
She was an unimpressive personality. Exactly like the lampreys that congregate within the courts. She had that Lannister vanity but few of that Lannister cunning. Yet she was actually striving to rectify that.
He couldn't make heads or tails of her. In recent days she's been acting oddly. Oft times she would act stoic and distance around him, in others she would degenerate into the emotionally charged girl he talked to at their late nightly visits.
She was an irritatingly confusing Westerlands tart.
A westerlands tart who didn't belong here.
Cersei Lannister was made for the courts, even with all of her over unwarranted views of her courtly prowess, she still thrived in them. Cersei was meant to live the life of a lady, a queen even. She had the beauty and the disarming charm at those times when she wasn't being hysterical. She had that low cunning and that stubborn pride
Cersei Lannister hated this place and hated him.
She didn't belong here.
She belonged in King's Landing or Highgarden, not a desolate crumbling ruin of a castle. Where she would be surrounded by her sycophants and dashing virtuous knights.
The gods were cruel for letting this betrothal take place.
She didn't belong here.
Not this place nor with him.
She would not survive. She would wither away bearing children here, living as lady of Dragonstone.
And for reasons unknown Stannis Baratheon didn't want to see such a sight happen before him.