♛ I Will Not Die ♛

Chapter 25- A Monster with a Crown

"Lady Sansa, Princess Aella. It is my honor to present my grandmother the Lady Olenna of House Tyrell."

Aella my dear. I've heard good things of you." I take her hand and put a soft kiss on the ring on her finger. "Oh lady Sansa. Kiss me child." She says and puts her hand out for the Stark girl who does as she is told. "It's so good of you two to visit me and my foolish flock of hens." I look around at the whispering ladies. They all share Margaery's features but none quite as beautiful. "We're very sorry for your losses."

"And I was sorry when I heard of Lord Renly's death, Lady Margaery." She says with a delicate voice. Margaery looks to me with a smile. "He was very gallant."

"Gallant, yes. And charming and very clean.
He knew how to dress and smile and somehow this gave him the notion he was fit to be king." She says with little care for the words she speaks. I hold in a laugh at her words. She was my kind of lady.

"Renly was brave and gentle, Grandmother. Father liked him and so did Loras." Lady Margaery says with a soft voice. Every time she spoke my legs felt a little weaker. She would be an amazing queen. The voice of an angel.

"Loras is young and very good at knocking men off horses with a stick. That does not make him wise.
As to your fathead father..." Olenna Tyrell had a mouth for such a sweet old lady it seemed. Every other word gave me more joy to see where Margaery learned her wit.

"Grandmother! What will these ladies think of us?" She says with a small laugh and looks up at me.

"She might think we have some wits about us. One of us, at any rate." She sits back in her chair that squeaks slightly. "It was treason. I warned them. Robert has two sons and Renly has an older brother. How could he possibly have any claim to that ugly iron chair?" Ugly is the best way to describe it it seems. "We should have stayed well out of all this if you ask me. But once the cow's been milked, there's no squirting the cream back up her udders." She lets out a small breath after this rant. "So here we are to see things through. What do you say to that, Sansa? Shall we have some lemon cakes?"

"Lemon cake's my favorite." Sansa says, for once her eyes lit up. Her feelings have been known.

"So we've been told." She looks to one of the men who tend to Olenna's hens. "Are you going to bring the food or do you mean to starve us to death?" She stands with much agility for a women of her age. "Here, children, come sit with me. I'm much less boring than these others." She says as she leads us to a small table at the back of the venue. Margaery tucks her arm in mine and leads me to the seat next to her. "Do you know my son? The Lord of Highgarden?" Olenna asks, looking directly to Sansa.

"I haven't had the pleasure." Sansa says politely

"No great pleasure, believe me. A ponderous oaf. His father was an oaf as well." Margaery and Sansa exchange glances and Sansa twiddles her thumbs awkwardly at the older women's harsh words. "My husband, the late Lord Luthor. He managed to ride off a cliff whilst hawking. They say he was looking up at the sky and paying no mind to where his horse was taking him. And now my son is doing the same, only this time he's riding a lion instead of a horse.
Now I want you to tell me the truth about this royal boy, this Joffrey." I wonder why she hasn't asked me. Margaery senses my discomfort at the conversation and puts a hand on my shaking hands.

"I... I..." She stumbles over her words, looking to me for help that I cannot provide.

"You, you. Who else besides his sister would know better? We've heard some troubling tales."

"Is there any truth to them? Has this boy mistreated you?" She asks persistently. Margaery tilts her head a little at the frightened girl. Olenna loses her patience and shakes her head. "Has he ripped out your tongue?"