The Golden Stag

ARC 2: Dead man keeps no secret.

MARGAERY TYRELL.
.......
"What of it?" Her grandmother huffed. "You all act like we don't know what the boy wants, he wants our men why else would he push the marriage so far forward?" She smacked her lips. "That boy has all the cunning of that old lion, I tell you. Gold is thick in his blood, to see this coming so far ahead, he had us on his hook from the beginning."

She groaned. "Would you please stop?" She looked at her family. "It was me who went onto him." She bit her lip when her mother eyed her as if she was a ghost. "Don't look at me like that mother, every girl would want him."

"That we see." Her mother smiled. "He is quite a sight for eyes, and kingly, yes." She nodded. "Mace, do you think our grandchild will take after their father or their mother?"

"I do not know?" He asked back as he put another bite in his mouth.

"The child hasn't even begun to push on her belly, thank the gods for that. If the bulge was any more noticeable, think of what everyone would say." Olenna Tyrell was playing with her.

"When did you begin to care about what others say, Grandmother?" She asked. Her grandmother was a smart, cunning old woman and she cared not for what others said. She had taught that to Margaery too, to keep aware of gossip but to not waste too much thought on it.

"Since my grandchild left her wits about her and jumped on the bed of a child whose father is well known for having more bastards than he can count." She said with a huff. "Quite a tongue he got on him, Don't question my honor. I deny its existence entirely." She sighed. "Does he love you, child, does he care for you? Tell me about him now that you know him so well."

"Grandmother!" She hissed but a blush climbed on her face.
"He is kind to me, a bit stern but it's for my own good. He knows politics better than me, he has grown playing this game far longer than I thought to dip my toes in it." She told her. "He is loyal, he hates the idea of infidelity. I asked him once and he got angry, he rarely gets angry. He promised he would never betray me as long as I hold his trust."

"Men say whatever they can to get into a girl's cunt." Her grandmother shrugged. "Now he has what he wants. Our Margaery and our army. He wants them to march north, to Bitterbridge."

"It's not a bad idea, Stannis and Renly are still gathering their bannermen, rallying them to the cause, they have one eye on us, another on lord Tywin who could at any time turn his men around to ride south. They will not be paying attention to men at Highgarden who are so far behind. If we swiftly and quietly rush up the Roseroad, we will be ready to meet them when they come to lay siege." Margaery saw no fault in the plan.

"That is what the boy wants, Stannis to march up the walls so he can crush them against the walls and the army from the south but will the capital hold long enough for that?" Her grandmother shook her head. "There is something else, too much confidence but he is not full of hubris, no, that boy knows what he is doing and it galls me that I cannot make a sense of it." She pointed at her. "Figure it out, when you lie beside him whisper in his ears, make him tell you."

"What?" She looked at her grandmother in bafflement. "Now for this you want me to sleep with him, you are unbelievable."

"You have already done it, what's the problem with using it as a tool?"

"He hates it when I say anything other than his name when we make love." She looked at her food.

"Oh, gods." Her mother whispered with a bright blush on her face.

"I will talk to him after." She mumbled.
She looked at Willas. "I'll ask Joffrey if he is willing to take a look at your leg." She blushed. "He should be here."