Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun.
Book 2
Chapter One-Hundred and Nine
Sansa knew it wasn't right to hate her sisters, most days she didn't. But every now and then she hated them so much. She hated Rohanne for being so much better than her at almost everything, Sansa's stiches were neat and tidy but Rohanne's were almost invisible, her playing on the wood harp was sweet but Rohanne's was perfect, Sansa was terrible at numbers and book keeping but Rohanne made it seem effortless.
Sansa hated Meria for being so beautiful, she hated that everyone loved her even though Sansa followed all of the rules and Meria could dress like a man and go on hunts and ride her horse down the streets of the city and flirted with men and diced and none seemed to ever care. Sansa was dutiful, and yet it never mattered compared to how brightly Meria showed.
She hated Lyarra to, though she felt bad about that the most. Lyarra was always the nicest to her, always a kind word and a gentle smile and she was a Septa as well, sworn to the Seven. It made her feel awful to hate her but that didn't seem to be enough to stop her. Lyarra was a Septa, she should have faded away but people still seemed to love her.
Arya was the hardest to bear, she was younger than Sansa and most of the time she barely looked like a girl, never mind a princess. Her hair was a rat's nest and all her lovely dresses got torn and she was happier being friends with kennel and cook boys than the daughters and sons of lords but she seemed to get both groups in trouble all the time and Sansa hated how she managed to make them love her so much.
Sansa never could seem to make anyone love her, no matter how hard she tried. And she did try, if she could not be as outstanding as Rohanne or as brave as Meria or as pious as Lyarra or as...whatever it was that Arya was then she would be the dutiful girl, the good girl. The one who never did anything wrong, never gave her Father or Mother any reason to worry.
But it never worked that way, at times it seemed that her Mother and Father barely seemed to notice that she existed and she was certain that she hated the both of them for that at times as well.
But someone had noticed her, the letter in her hands was proof enough of that.
It was from Lady Margaery Tyrell, the daughter of Lord Mace, inviting her to come and take tea with her Lady Mother and her Lady Grandmother and Sansa could not believe it. It was always Rohanne or Meria who received invitations like this, not her, never her. And to have it be the eldest daughter of a liege lord, the Lord Paramount of the Reach, it made Sansa feel happier than anything else in the world.
Maybe the reason Margaery had chosen to invite her was because she knew that her sisters did not like her, at all.
"She's a smug little bitch." Meria had said over the rim of her cup of wine, as the second eldest she was allowed to have a single cup but the pitcher had already been taken away, as she lounged back on the pillows pilled up on the floor in the ballroom of the Maidenvault where their eldest sister held court for all her ladies.
It was often a joke that there were two queens in the Red Keep, and Rohanne was the second. She had all but claimed the Maidenvault for her own, even taking chambers inside of it instead of Maegor's Holdfast, and neither Mother or Father seemed to mind. It seemed to Sansa that her Mother seemed to approve of it.
"Meria, please." Rohanne had said, disapproval had been written on her face as she glared disapprovingly at their sister. She was perfect, even when she was stern. Her cat, Alysanne, resting in her lap and she was stroking her back almost without thinking about it. "That is not the way to speak of another lady, certainly not the daughter of a lord of Mace Tyrell's status."
"Oh, spare me Annie, you hate her as well." Meria said with a roll of her eyes as she brought her cup up to her lips and drank deep from it, completely ignoring Rohanne as she glared at her for using the hated childhood nickname that she had always tried to shake off. "You know she's as wicked as I do, that sweet as honey act is just that. An act."
"She seems very nice to me." Sansa had said then from where she had been sitting, cross-legged around the low table with a half-eaten lemon cake in her hands. Meria had scoffed at her and turned her attention back fully on to her wine and Rohanne looked at her like she was something to be pitied, a stupid child who didn't know anything at all.
"You're right Sansa." Lyarra had spoken then, her voice like a song as she placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled down at her with her soft grey eyes. "She does seem very nice indeed, and none of should be judging her from assumptions as we barely know her." The last part seemed to be aimed more at Meria, but as always she barely seemed to care when anyone scolded her and she just rolled her eyes.
"It's time for you to be off to bed anyway little one, a long few weeks ahead after all. Ser Jaime." Rohanne had called for the Queensguard knight who had the honour of protecting them that night and asked him to escort Sansa back to her bedchambers for the evening, Sansa hadn't wanted to complain at the time but she knew that it would not have done any good.
To her sisters, she would always just be a stupid little girl that they could send to bed.
Well, not for much longer. She thought with a smile as she traced the letters on the folded paper in her hands.
The Tyrells had come to the city as part of the celebrations and while they had arrived in grand style, they were just one of the many families who were coming to the event. A celebration of three hundred years since the Seven Kingdoms had become one under the Iron Throne, Father had seemed uncomfortable with it but Mother had insisted. But then, Father didn't seem to like parties or tourneys very much at all.
The door to her bedchamber opened then and one of her companions walked in and Sansa had to fight off a frown when she saw that it was Daisy, the eldest daughter of one of the keeper of the King's keys dressed in a dress that barely looked presentable for a companion of a princess. It just seemed another unfairness to her.
Rohanne and Meria had the daughters, granddaughters and younger sisters of high lords as their companions but Sansa had to make do with the daughters of officials and landed knights and worst of all rich merchants who had no right to any sort of companionship with her and yet Sansa was forced to put up with them despite the fact that they were beneath her.
"Princess, we need to go." Daisy said with a smile as she walked into the room and made her way over to the trunk where Sansa kept some of her day dresses, the sort that would be perfectly fine to go about normal business in the Red Keep but not the sort you would wear to a tea with ladies of such stature. "You know Septa Alicent will be wroth if we are late to another lesson."
"I'm not feeling well." The lie slipped out without even thinking about it, knowing that she had made her decision already. Daisy turned to look at her, a look of concern on her face that did make Sansa feel a little bad but not enough to stop her. She brought a hand up to rest on her belly and made herself sway on her feet, reaching out for the table by her bed side to steady herself. "I do not feel well at all."
"Oh no!" Daisy said as she hurried over to her and helped her into the bed, resting her hand against her forehead. "You don't feel warm."
"I think I had something bad to eat last night." She tried to think what she could say that Daisy was likely to believe before it came to her, Daisy had grown up in King's Landing and she had a tender stomach so anything that was heavily spiced that would burn her mouth and turn her tummy she avoided. "I had a bowl of snake stew, and I think it was hotter than normal."
"Oh, I tried a bowl of that once and I couldn't get off of my chamber pot." Daisy said with a laugh and it took all that Sansa had not to frown at her, it was certainly not an image that she wished to have in her head that morning.
"I think I shall be fine, if I can just rest. Would you leave me now?" Sansa asked as she pushed the covers further down her bed and made a show of pulling them up to her chin. Daisy agreed then and wished that she would feel better soon and left the room, leaving her alone.
Sansa waited until she was sure that she was gone and she crawled out of her bed and made her way to the trunk which contained her much finer dresses, she opened it and pulled out a dozen dresses and laid them on the bed to decide which to wear. The Reach was a rich kingdom and obvious Lady Margaery would be beautifully attired, Sansa was a princess and needed to try her best to match them.
In the end she choose a grey dress, they might not be the prettiest colours in the world but they were the royal colours and a reminder of the fact that she was a part of that family, that she was royal, would help her surely. It was difficult to put it on without any of her maids or companions to help her but she couldn't have anyone telling her mother that she lied about being ill.
Eventually, she managed to get the dress on and left her chambers. The Tyrells had taken rooms in Maegor's Holdfast and the tea was to take place in her older sister's gardens, that Rohanne tended to in her spare time when she wasn't speaking to all of her companions or attending meetings or helping with her charities or playing patron to the arts or having her nose buried deep in a book with Lord Tarly's fat son.
The skies were filled with fat grey clouds with only a few tears here and there to let golden sunlight through and a light rain was falling but when she came to where the tea was to be held a silk awning had already been put up to cover them while they eat. There were at least a dozen ladies there, alongside Lady Tyrell, Lady Redwyne and Lady Margaery.
Lady Margaery caught sight of her as soon as she came close to her and she gave her a smile that Sansa was certain could outshine the sun, no one had ever smiled at her like that. "Princess! I am so glad that you could make it, I'm certain that you have a thousand and one invitations that you could attend to so it fills my heart with gladness you would choose to attend us."
It wasn't true of course, the only time Sansa had options to attend multiple teas or lunches or breaking fasts was if her older sisters had received the same invitations and they had all been invited together. Sansa never had any of her own but if Margaery thought that she got so many then Sansa was not about to change her mind when it came to that. "I was glad to attend you, Lady Margaery."
"Please, do come and sit down." Margaery said with her perfect smile, her teeth white and clean as she lead her over to a table where her Mother and Grandmother were waiting for them. Lady Alerie had a smile on her face, she was a tall woman and Sansa could tell that even when she was sitting down. She looked everything that a lady should be.
Her Mother-by-law looked almost like a child in her seat next to her and she looked up at Sansa with narrowed eyes, and Sansa suddenly felt like she was nothing more than a little child. "You look a great deal like your Mother, don't you little one?" Lady Olenna hummed before she reached out to pick up a grape from one of the bowls in the middle of the table.
"Many people say so, my Lady." It had been another thing to curse, neither of her parents had ever been considered beautiful and yet they had managed to produce handsome sons and beautiful daughters and yet Sansa had never been considered anything truly more than plain, pretty enough at a push but never anything more than that.
"It's hard for me to truly believe it's you, you know?" Lady Alerie spoke with another gentle smile on her face. "The last time I saw you was when I was last in King's Landing and then you were small enough to sit in your Father's lap, but you're all but a woman now. Tell me, my dear, is there anyone you have your eye on? Any plans for betrothals yet, I imagine there have been many offers for your hand."
"No, my Lady. Not yet." Sansa blushed, and placed her hands in her lap to look down at them. "But I am certain that it will not be long now."
"Pah, I doubt that." Lady Olenna scoffed into her tea cup and her daughter and grand-daughter tried to shush her but the old woman would not be quiet. "It's true, do you know Princess that my little Margaery was promised into a betrothal to your eldest brother, to be Queen one day, but when the time came to make it an official betrothal your Father stopped it from happening. And now your brother is laying with that fire priestess from the east."
Sansa didn't know what to say to that, thankfully she did not need to as a voice cut through the air. "My, my what a flurry of ladies." Her mother had walked into the clearing, with Rohanne at one side of her and Sansa's Father's bastard son on the other. There was a rumble as the ladies all stood at the presence of the Queen, all except Lady Olenna who remained sitting where she was.
"Your Grace, such an unexpected honour. Would you care to sit down?" Lady Margaery said with a smile as she gestured at the table. Queen Elia was silent, her Mother was a tiny woman but somehow as she stood there, with more silver than black in her hair now and holding on to a walking stick she still managed to be so intimidating.
"Thank you Lady Margaery, I think I shall and I think that Princess Rohanne shall join me as well." The Queen said with a smile before she turned her head to her husband's bastard. "Rickard, would you be so kind as to take Princess Sansa to my solar and make sure that she stays there, I will be there in awhile Sansa and we can speak."
Rickard nodded and stepped forward and Sansa wanted to refuse to go with him, to say that it wasn't fair and that the invitation had been for her and that her Mother could not take this from her but she knew that such a thing would not end well for her and so she followed Rickard out of the clearing, out of the gardens and into Maegor's Holdfast and towards her Mother's solar.
"Are you alright?" Rickard asked once they were inside the solar and he had shut the door behind them and Sansa had sat down in the chair she always sat in whenever she was due for a scolding, her head was bent and her face was buried in her hands and her eyes were stinging in the way that meant that tears were coming. "It will be all right, the Queen just...she wants you to be safe, that's all."
Sansa didn't answer him. Sansa didn't look at him. She just kept her face buried in her hands. Rickard sighed and turned and left the room, shutting the door as he left. Sansa knew that he would be waiting outside of course, her Mother had told him to make sure she didn't leave and the kindness the Queen had shown her bastard brother as a child meant that he was utterly loyal to her.
It had to be close to two hours later when her Mother finally turned up, her belly had been starting to rumble as at the tea she had only a cup of tea and some fruit and her bottom was starting to ache from staying sat so long, and when the Queen saw her she sighed. "Have you eaten?" When Sansa shook her head the Queen sighed again and popped her head out to ask Rickard to go and get some bread and cheese and a pitcher of milk and honey from the kitchens.
The Queen then sat behind her desk and stared at Sansa for a long moment and it took all that she had not to squirm under her gaze. "When I was a little girl, I was often so unwell that I could not find the strength to get out of bed. There was more than once where your Grandmother and Grandfather thought that I would die. The septon had been called more than once to attend my, imagine how it felt to be a little girl and having to try and come to terms with the fact that you might die when you had barely lived at all."
"And then, imagine how it feels to find out that your own daughter lies so easily about being ill when she is as healthy as a field horse?" Sansa tried to say something then but she found that she could not find the words and her Mother carried on. "Perhaps we shall summon your Father and see what he has to say on the matter? Hm? Honesty means more to him than anything, after all."
"Do you think your lessons are optional? Do you think it is up to you to attend them or not as you choose? No, it is up to me to decide. I want to know why you would do." Sansa felt the tears coming then and she could not stop them. "If you feel the need to cry, then you may cry Sansa. I will not stop you from doing so but I will expect an answer once you are done. I have nothing else that demands my attention tonight."
"It was an invitation," Sansa began as she used the sleeve of her dress to wipe at her eyes. "I never get invitations like that, when it is just me. I am always an afterthought, it is always Rohanne or Meria they want but it was an invitation for me and I just thought that I would never get one like it again and so I liked and did not attend my lessons and I am sorry Mother."
Queen Elia stared at then for another long few moments but then she let out another sigh. "I know...that it is hard for you, Sansa. To live in their shadow, I wish I could say that I understand what it is like but I cannot. I never had any true sisters of my own so many of your problems I can not empathise with, but I do have sympathy."
"But they did not want you Sansa, Lady Margaery and her Grandmother..." The Queen sighed again then and shook her head. "It does not matter, I suppose. Do you promise me that you will not do anything like this ever again? Do you promise that you shall never tell lies about your health ever again?"
"I promise Mother."
"Very well, you are forgiven. And when your sisters take their ladies out on a picnic in the kingswood and you remain with me to make dresses for the wretched girls in the orphanage then it shall be atoned for as well." Sansa nodded and then there was a knock at the door and it was Rickard with their food.
But even as Sansa ate, she would not let this go. She would not allow herself to be left in her sisters shadows.
One day, it would be her turn.
End of Chapter One-Hundred and Nine
Another chapter done and dusted.
Yes, in another bubble of time Rickard Snow would have been known as Jon Snow and he will be playing a much bigger role in the story going forward but the next chapter, or two, will see us going away from the North. Also, I know we haven't seen Ned yet and he's really only been mentioned for the most part but I promise we are getting to him.
With a lot of love,
DiscordantSymphony