*I want to dedicate this chapter to @LadyArwenEvenStar, whose writing style inspired me so much!*

  When Rey woke up in the morning,  her eyes were red and swolled from the last night's crying. And when she looked around, Rose was no longer next to her. It had to be already late. And she had her work to attend to. She wasn't yet a knight, but that did not spare her to work. She was a squire and she was a mentor in her turn for the younger ones.

   But as she rolled over, she realized it  had been the knocks at her door that have woken her up.

   "Oh, shit!" she cursed as she swung her legs over the edge of her small bunk and ran for the door. But not before checking her look in the cracked piece of glass she had picked one day from the garbage.

   She had slept in the clothes she wore the day before and her hair was messy, her buns loose. What if there was someone from the palace and she had to look presentable?

   But she hurried back as the beats persisted. She opened the door shyly and looked around. There was no one. And she squinted once more before she heard the voice of a child.

   "Morning, Master Rey!" the five year old boy she had under mentorship greeted her.

   "Ah, it is you!" she laughed. "I know we should have already been training at this time, but I overslept a little." She chuckled.

   "Oh, I'm sorry then." he said innocently.

   "No, no, don't be, Robb!" she squatted down face to face with him and grabbed his shoulders."

   And as she looked into his eyes, she found him staring at her and a small frown crept between his brows as he cocked his head.

   " What happened? Did you cry? Why? " he reached out and placed his tiny hand on her cheek, gently caressing her soft skin.

   " No, I'm all right. " she smiled as she placed her hand over his and nuzzled it. The sight of him asking her how she was doing warmed her heart. And the thought that she would have to leave this child made her so sad. Will he feel like she did when her father had died?

   " Come in, let's have breakfast together. " Rey sat up.

   She put a hand on his shoulder and led him in. Her room was small, but she had there everything she could ever wish for.

    "Come sit here." she brought a chair for him and and a plate and placed them on the table. She wondered what she had got left in her small cupboard. And when she went over to open it, she only found a hard loaf of bread and a roll of cheese. None of them were fresh, but she hoped they would do.

    "I don't own very much." She told him as she tore the bread in half and placed one on his plate and cut some slices of cheese. "I'm sorry I don't have more. It's all I own at that moment."

    "The bread is great!" the child squealed in amazement. "I don't get to eat too much either."

    "I promise that one day, when I'll get the ingredients, I'll invite you over and make pancakes!"

    And he jumped from his seat and went to hug her legs, for his head hardly reached her waist. "You're like a parent for me. Did you know, Master Rey?"

    She seemed utterly surprised, as her hand hung in mid air, on its way to drive the bread to her mouth.

    "Thanks. But I'm no master at the moment."

    "You are, for me. You are the only master I want to have."

    And she rose him off his feet and hugged him to herself. It broke her heart to know she won't be near him for long. Yet she couldn't bring herself to tell him the truth. It would hurt him too much. And maybe he would think she just wanted to get rid of him, like she always did when someone that loved her left her.

    She wondered whether he felt in her arms as she had felt when her father had hugged her.

    "Sit here and eat til I go and get dressed, alright?" she put him back on the small wooden chair and he nodded in response.

    She entered her small bathroom in the back of her chamber. She threw away her dirty clothes and donned the fresh ones. As always, she was dressed in leather breeches, a white long sleeved shirt and a leather laced jerkin over it. And then came the belt, strapped across her waist. Then she washed her face and combed her hair, tying it back in her three buns.

    "I'm almost done!" she announced her apprentice as she walked to the table and gobbled down a piece of cheese with bread. "Prepare your sword."

    He hopped down and followed her out. Her small room gave way straight into one of the palace's interior gardens. A perfect place for her morning routine. She had put aside her wooden staff and drew the wooden sword.

    "Now show me your stance." She took a rather commanding tone.

    "Like that?" he stood side-faced, with the sword pointed toward her.

    "Just like that." She smiled proudly. He was very small indeed, but a quick learner too.

    "Now, left, low." She said slowly, for him to comprehend every word, as she stabbed in that direction. And he parried her sword.

    "That sword is too heavy!" he complained.

    "It is heavy enough to make you strong." She said as she continued to attack.

    But then she suddenly sensed someone standing behind and watching her close. As she turned her head, she saw it was Leia. She gasped and brusquely turned around on her heels to face her.

   " Good Morning, Your Grace." the girl courtesied.

   "Good morning Rey...and...Robb?"

   "Yes!" the little child said happily as he came to stand next to Rey. And she laid a hand on his head to ruffle his messy hair. She knew she needed not give in any hint of what she knew.

   Leia smiled at the sight of them. "I will have a personal talk with your master, if you don't mind." She bent down and told the little one.

   "Fine." he said as he walked away.

   "Repeat what I taught you." Rey glanced one more time at him.

   But as the queen had appeared, the same dark thoughts invaded her mind. And the same unwanted quiver was back in her voice.

   "How have you been, my child? You seem tired." Leia wanted to reach out to her face but stopped when she heard Rey's dire response.

   "I'm just fine." She said without looking at the queen.

   Leia sat down on the cold stone bench and gestured for Rey to come near her. "Something is bothering you. You can tell me."

   "It's nothing." Rey lied, her voice a bit too harsh than she had initially intended.

   And Leia sighed as she looked at the girl with affection in her eyes. "I have something important to tell you. I hope you'll forgive me if you won't like it at all, but it's for the greater good. And because you are different. Your heart is one in a million, Rey."

   But that was no surprise for Rey. For she already knew what she was about to be told. My heart is one in a million, yet you've betrayed! She wanted to talk back bitterly.

   "We have thought to wed you to our son. He needs someone like you, someone to show him the way. And you are to wed him in two days."

   And Rey tried to act as normal as she could. She was at the queen's will now, and she decided she would let things go.

   But Leia saw a shiver crossing her."Is it okay? I wish we could have told you earlier. And even asked you. But this needs to be done quickly. When the time comes, he will need a queen. And you would make a good one, you care about people."

   But suddenly a third voice came towards them. A thin, broken voice, a child's one. "Wait-what? You're taking my master Rey away?"

   Rey's heart broke when she heard Robb's tiny voice choked with tears.

   And as he came and hugged her, Rey rested her chin on top of his soft hair, letting her tears drip onto his head.

   "Please, don't cry. It's alright, we'll be able to see each other again every day, I promise." She whispered in his dark hair.

   "But you'll have other duties when you'll be a queen. And you'll forget about me."

   "No, I never will." She said and squeezed him even tighter against her.

   And then Leia put a motherly hand on his shoulder. "She will come to you every day. You have my word."

   Rey couldn't help but feel a great loss when she thought what life she had ahead. Maybe she did not have the greatest life now, maybe she was just a beggar trying to find her way in this life; but she had more than she could ever want. No noble life could compare to this. She did not want to be anyone's queen, she wanted to go somewhere to feel home. But there was no home left for her.

   But as Leia turned her head to her, a tear escaped her eyes. And she couldn't hold back the truth anymore. "I don't want to be his queen." Rey heard herself say in a small, thin voice. And then, all of a sudden, a rain of tears burst violently from her eyes. "Please, please, Your Grace! I just want to go home." the last word came out with a whimper and a hiccup.

   "But you'll be home. You'll be part of our family." Then, the queen let her eyes fall to the ground. "I'm sorry, Rey."

   And then she let go of her tears and turned to look at the child that was also crying in her lap.

   Leia reached out and laid a hand on her back. "I know how hard it is. But you'll get used to it. And Rey, I want you in my family. You're like a daughter to me."

     Then you wouldn't have done that! she wanted to reply but had the sense to remember her courtesies. So she just nodded.

   "I have thought that maybe you want to meet him before the wedding."

   "I don't know... I' m alright if I meet him then."

   If truth be held, the later she knew him, the better. She wanted her last days to be ones of freedom, to forget about him as best as she could, not have him on her mind.

   She couldn't open up to anyone, not even to Leia. It was true that there was no one to be trusted. And she had learned it the hard way.
   Meeting him sooner, or later, it would just be the same. It wouldn't change any arrangements.

   "He doesn't know you either." Leia said. "And I have come to take you to your new chamber. You'll be granted to use it these two days until the wedding. And we need to take you to the seamstress to have your measures for your wedding dress."

   "Sure." She answered cooly, with what was left of her voice.

   "Let's get ready then." Leia stood up and so did Rey.

   But she gave her young apprentice one more hug as she kneeled on the stone floor to be at the same level with him.

   He reached up with his hands to wipe the tears away from Rey's face.
   She suppressed a last smile before she got up and left with the queen. "Go back to your friends." she told him, hoping it would cheer him up. But he still stood there and she had to watch him cry even more tears. But before leaving, she went to retrieve her staff, her only memory that tied her to her old life.

   And she finally turned her head, not bearing to look anymore. As she followed Leia up the stairs, she saw the king on top, waiting for them at the gates. Between him and Leia, Rey had always considered the latter a closest person. King Han had always been kind to her, but always a bit distant. She couldn't help but wonder if that was how he had been with his son, too, when he was little.

   Has Ben never been shown he was cared for enough? Was it a subsequence to his father's actions? Because, if truth be told, the king had the gift to instill some fear in Rey's heart.

   She felt as if she was about to throw up the little thins she had eaten in the morning as she climbed the stone steps. Rey felt like she was leaving a chapter of her life, and beginning a new one. She felt like she was leaving everything she ever loved behind. The chance to become a knight and a master at arms, the free hours spent with her friends or with her little apprentice.

   She glanced once more back at the City and at the gardens she used to stay in. Maybe now that she was the princess she would even be allowed to leave the gates to go and explore the forest that surrounded King's Landing. Or maybe she wouldn't. Maybe they'd keep her locked up as she supposed.

   As she came near the king, he held out his arm and she knew she had to take it.

   "Your Grace." She saluted stiffly, trying to mask her shaky voice. Her red, swollen eyes were lowered to the ground.

   But he only nodded in turn and turned his face away from her. Rey found that weird. As they escorted her up in one eastern tower to her new room, two soldiers pushed it open for them to enter. But the king drew her a few paces away, for more privacy and spun her roughly to look at him. And she shuddered at that. There was no going back now, and she was helpless.

   The way he loomed over her and looked at her menacingly frightened her. More than anything has in the past years, when she finally thought she had found stability. Her heart fluttered in her chest, ready to burst out.

   "I hope you know your duty." he hissed in her face, his mouth contorted in a snarl.

   And she nodded meekly as her eyes wet with tears. Where was all her courage, all her strength? Of course, it was the power they had over her. And who was she to say else?

   "I hope my wife did not make the wrong decision when choosing you. We are almost losing the allegiance with the Tyrells because of this marriage. Make my son happy or I swear it will go hard for you."

   And Rey felt like a little girl once again. Alone, and scared and exposed, surrounded by treacherous people who only wanted to harm her. And no hope. Was it how Daenerys had felt when her brother had sold her to the khal? She remember Daenerys being thirteen then and yet she was so strong.

  But to her relief, Leia came over, calling her to come in. But not before the King dug his fingers painfully in her arm and twisted.

   What on earth had she done to anger him so much? She feared she would have to live in fear the rest of her life. But would his son be the same as him? She hoped not.

   As Leia took her hand, the queen raised an eyebrow at her when she felt her trembling.

   "You have here all you need, all sorts of dresses and we'll give you whatever you ask for. Don't forget, you're part of the family now." Leia squeezed her hands.

   "There is no need." she said weakly, not looking at the queen. She did not need anything from them.

   "Of course there is!" Leia turned to face her and whispered. "You are the future queen, I need you to be brave. My son needs you to be brave like you have always been!" she looked deep into her eyes. And Rey felt a kind of understanding pass between them.

   "We'll bring you two handmaids and I'll come with the seamstress after they have bathed you, all right?"

   "It's okay. Thank you for everything."

   And Leia made for the door. As she remained alone, Rey walked to the small table with the mirror that was pinned on the wall. She let her fingers trail across the smooth wooden surface. And she realized her hand was still trembling. The table was so smooth under her touch, so unlike the warped one she had had back in her improvised home. And she squinted at herself in the mirror. It was then she realized she had never looked herself in a proper mirror until now.

   But she didn't even get to the wardrobe, and her two handmaids burst in. They wore pink and orange silk gowns that bared their shoulders and fell to the floor.

   A bathtub was placed in the middle of the room and they filled it with hot water and scented it with too many kinds of fragrances, Rey lost count.

   She realized it was fascinating her, and she couldn't look away from her maids' work. For her, it seemed it was too much fuss. A simple bath would just do, especially for her.

   But she was taken by surprise when the two girls clad in soft silk robes came over to her. At first she stiffened and stood up from the edge of the bed and walked away, as if bracing for an upcoming fight.

   And she could tell the two girls were surprised by her reaction.

   "Shall we begin, my Lady?"

   "Umm, yes." She said awkwardly. No one had ever called her a lady. And the word rang so odd in her ears. But before she could stop them, they were already stripping her naked. "What are you doing?!" she tried to cover herself with her arms but they urged her toward her bath.

   "See if the water is good for you." the younger one said, ignoring her complaints. She couldn't be much older than her, Rey judged.

   Rey nodded. She let the sweet fragrance of roses flood her nose as she stepped in. The water was scalding hot, but she liked it that way. She closed her eyes, and, for the first time in a very long while she forgot about everything.

   After the two handmaids had scrubbed her raw so her skin glowed pink, they had donned her a thin silk violet gown and sat her at her table.

   Dresses were stranger things to Rey. She had never worn one, and had never wanted. The feel of the soft, comfortable fabric was divine, but she already missed her riding leathers. Yet she had no choice but get used to that.

   The older one had brushed her shoulder-length chestnut hair in front of the mirror until it shone and fell in waves on her back. So long has passed since she'd last combed it properly, she'd forgotten its shape and length. She would always go the easy way: cut it hastily with a knife as best as she could.

   When Leia came back with the seamstress to take her measures, she was beginning to get used to the ways of this life. Yet, she was still uncomfortable with someone doing everything in her place. That was a habit she would hardly get rid of.

   The seamstress measured her waist, her arms, her chest. And when she was done with it, Rey was not surprised when she heard the old comment everyone addressed her:

   "You're so scrawny... And skinny and frail ... I wonder what they might be seeing at you."

   But Rey didn't say anything. She didn't give a damn about the woman's opinion. Let her talk, it will all pass.

   When it was all over, and she remained alone in the room, Rey finally got the chance to throw herself on the soft feather bed and have her rest. She sank deep into the soft cushions, and almost let out a squeal like a child. But stopped when she remembered why she was there.

   That day had tired her more than any training would usually have. In fact, the trainings never tired her. It was a different kind of relaxation.

   She sighed with pleasure. She had never slept in something so soft and warm and comfortable her whole life. If truth be held, it didn't compare to her old straw bed.

   The long night gown still annoyed her. It kept entangling with her legs and make her feel trapped. But it had its good parts too, it was thin and airy, unlike the layers she used to put on her.

   She rolled and propped herself on one elbow and blew out the candles that lighted her chamber. She had no plans to go and eat with the royal family. And neither did she for tomorrow, and for the rest of the days.