𝕄𝕪 breath caught in my throat. Whoever it was, I could not let them see my distress. I was a direwolf, I was a strong daughter of the North. Taking control of my face and pushing away my thoughts, I said in as relaxed a voice as possible: "Come in." But all my composure was gone with the wind when the door opened and none other than Cersei Lannister entered. I curtseyed quickly and murmured: "Your Grace." The queen gave me a half-smile. "I wasn't sure if you would still be up. You said you were tired after all, but it seems like I didn't interrupt. I wanted to talk to you." I silently cursed myself. She had seen right through my excuse. Why hadn't I thought to get into bed before she came in? "Talk to me about what, Your Grace?" The queen sat down on the settee in front of my bed and motioned for me to sit with her. It made me angry that she would give me a command in my own room and act like it was hers, but I complied nonetheless. "Vallery... you will have heard by now that my husband has named your lord father Hand of the King. When he travels to King's Landing, you and your sisters shall come with him. Robert suggested you should marry my son, Joffrey, to join our houses." I felt my stomach turn. Joffrey was mad and cruel, perhaps even more so than his mother, everyone knew. "You don't look particularly delighted about the news. Lucky for you, I managed to talk my husband out of it. He is only 16, so your sister Sansa would be a better match for him. It is so uncommon for a boy to marry an older woman, don't you think?" Did she just call me old? "Sure, Your Grace. But, excuse my bluntness, if Sansa is marrying Joffrey, why do Arya and I need to come?" I didn't want to leave my home, even if my father and sister were going. My mother and brothers would still be here, and the halls I had known my whole life. "Well, Arya wouldn't have to, but she begged your father to let her go. Apparently she hopes to get dancing lessons in the capital? She didn't strike me as a dancer when I saw her, but who knows." I supressed a smile, I knew exactly what Arya meant by dancing. "As for you, it was your father's wish that you accompany him to court, to learn what it means to wage intellectual warfare and navigate this political minefield of a country." I could tell from her tone exactly what Cersei thought of me learning the ways of the highly positioned lords.

"If my father asks it of me, then I shall be happy to join him in King's Landing", I replied. The queen made no move to rise. "Is there anything else you came for?" Looking down at her hands hesitantly, the queen licked her lips. "Yes... although I am reluctant to bring it up. My husband... he isn't exactly perfect marriage material. He takes a different whore each night and seldom pays me any heed when he returns." I remembered how she had looked at him earlier, when he was busy with the other woman at the feast. "But the nights when he does are worse. He takes me like I'm his property, like I have no feelings, and when he's done he refuses to acknowledge it ever happened. But he hurts me, and I'm scared. I find it hard to admit, but seeing him so deep in his drink tonight, it scared me, because I knew what would happen later. I don't want to stay in our chambers tonight." I was starting to genuinely feel sorry for her. Cold-blooded and selfish or not, she didn't deserve to be abused like this. "I want to make sure he doesn't find me. Can I... can I stay with you for the night?" Whatever I might have expected, this wasn't it. "I- uh, Your Grace..." As sorry as I felt for her, I could not stand the thought of sleeping in one room, one bed with this vile manipulator. But did I have it in me to refuse the queen? "Your Grace", I said again, my voice more firm this time, "I am truly sorry this is happening to you, and I pray you find a way to get out of your situation, but this... I am not comfortable with it, I am sorry. Perhaps you can ask my father to give you a separate room." The queen rose, anger flaring in her eyes. "I don't need your prayers. Gods won't protect me from my husband, I'm asking you to. The queen is asking you to, how dare you speak back to me?" This woman is unpredictable, I thought. Maybe it had been a mistake to deny her. I stood up as well. "Your Grace, it is your good right to ask me for this, but I do not have to accept. 'Winterfell is yours', my father said, but that does not mean you can claim any bed you like when there are plenty of them - better ones than mine, even - free for you to use. I have offered you a room of your own, I see no need for you to occupy mine." I could not have said where this sudden courage had come from, but I knew I was navigating a tightrope: if I showed any flicker of weakness in my resistance, I was as good as dead.

Cersei narrowed her eyes and stepped closer, speaking quietly. "I can lay claim to any bed I wish, and I severely mislike the way you are speaking to me right now. Perhaps you have forgotten your place, little cub. Need I remind you? You are a dog, a juvenile little lap dog meant to serve your superiors." I glared back at her and took another step toward her, looking directly into her sparkling green eyes. "I am a woman grown. I am a direwolf of the North. And you do not scare me, Cersei Lannister. What happens when a lion hunts down a wolf, pray tell me? The lion gets hurt, because a cornered wolf is known to bite more fiercely than a free one. If I have to make a choice between my honor and my loyalty, it will be honor. The pack survives. You'd do well to remember that, lone lioness." Judging from Cersei's mixed expression of shock and rage, no one had ever spoken to her that way before. I held her stare until she turned around and marched toward the door. "You will regret this sorely, Vallery", she said as she opened the door, looking back at me stone-faced, hate glimmering in her eyes. She flinched backwards when my direwolf Rhaenys, named after the Queen Who Never Was, entered through the crack of the door, growling at Cersei as she passed her. "We will see", I said as the queen left for good.

After she was gone, I sank down onto the bed and buried my face in my hands. Gods, what had I done? Cersei would never forget this. She would make my time in the capital hell. Worse, she might do the same for my family. I had spoken to her of the dangers of wolves, that included my father and sisters. What if she decided they were as rebellious as me and hurt them? I never meant for this to happen. She had just made me so angry, deciding about our lives like no man's business and revelling in her narcissism without any regard for reality. She really thought the whole world was hers, and that everyone was happy to give it to her. But why me? Why demand my room of all? There was nothing special about it in my eyes, an average chamber, undoubtedly less luxurious than what my father could have arranged for her had she just asked him in the first place. Can I stay with you for the night, she had asked. With you, not in your room. Could she really have meant to spend the night with me specifically? I doubted the queen had ever liked me so much as to ask for that, and she certainly didn't now. I was overthinking this, was all. She had simply been self-entitled as always and could not handle rejection. 

But whatever her intention had been, I had to find a way out of this predicament before someone got hurt because of my stubbornness. Apologizing to Cersei would be the first step, though far from easy. I doubted she would want to see me right now, but I had to try. Enter her territory, play by her rules, make myself vulnerable. It was the only way I saw to appease her. Why did I have to seize the last word? I could have let it go at her warning and this would be easier by far. I took off my fur coat - no need to look more wolfish - and went to her chambers, which I could only assume she had returned to. I actually did feel a little bad for not offering her protection when I thought about King Robert down in the hall, but then again I had told her that other rooms were available to her. It wasn't my fault, not really, I told myself. I arrived at her chamber door, it stood slightly ajar. Peeking inside, I could see her from the back, wearing a long, thick nightgown, perhaps hoping it would make it harder for Robert to get to her. I opened the door a little farther and slipped through. "Vallery", the queen stated without turning to look at me. "Are you here to bite or to apologize?" She pronounced it mocking, her voice pure arrogance. It made me want to turn and leave immediately and never speak to her again, but I couldn't, so I swallowed hard and began my amends. "To apologize, Your Grace. What I said... I was angry, but it still wasn't justified. You only asked for a place to stay, because you were scared, and I overreacted. I never meant to deny you the protection you asked for, please know that. I do not want him to hurt you. I forgot myself when you insulted me, but I realize now it was only because you had to get away from your husband." It wasn't all a lie, I did want her to be safe from her husband's mistreatings, and part of her rage may indeed have come from that, I realized just as I said the words. "Sit", the queen said after a moment. I did as she asked and she turned to stand before me. "I appreciate your trying to understand my outburst, although you are far from the truth of it." Maybe I hadn't been right about her fear after all. "I also admire your courage - not just anyone would stand up to the queen like that, without any relentment either." Damn right, I'm not just anyone, I thought. "But there is a fine line between courage and foolishness, and I am not sure yet what your little show was. I suppose only time will tell."

I let go of the breath I had been holding. This sounded good. If time would tell, that meant she intended to keep me alive and free in a way that would allow me to prove myself. "But", Cersei began, her voice more sharp. What did father use to say? Everything before the word 'but' is horseshit. "You have threatened the queen. I cannot let that go entirely unpunished." I braced myself for what she had to say next. "That beast of yours will not come with you to King's Landing. It growled at me the moment it laid eyes on me, the gods only know what it might do when you're not around to control it - if you even can." Yup, this was the Cersei I had been told about, cynical and arrogant with every part of her being. "Furthermore, I will be keeping a very close eye on you both on the journey to and in the capital. If I have reason to believe you mean me or my family harm, it will have dire consequences for you." Was that all? I had expected worse. "Thank you, Your Grace", I said, keeping my eyes to the floor. "You are very kind." "Yes", she said, lifting my chin with her hand to make me look her in the eyes. The hairs on my neck stood up at her touch. "And I sincerely hope you do not take that kindness for granted. I meant what I said at the feast: I like you, else I would not have been so generous. So do try and remember that the next time you try to butter me up, and do it better or not at all." I blushed, dropping my gaze again, but she held my chin harder. "Look at me, Vallery", she said. Something about the way she said my name made me feel calm despite my situation. "I know that you know how to show your teeth and bite", she said, looking deep into my eyes with her wildfire irises. "But you don't know who to bite. You don't know who your true enemies are. You and I, we may be very different people, and we may aggravate each other oh so easily, but I am not your enemy. I don't care whether you believe me or not, but I don't wish to see you hurt. So for both our sakes, please don't cause any more trouble for yourself. I'd hate to scrape up your remains from the floor of the Red Keep."