𝔹𝕦𝕥 𝕔𝕦𝕓𝕤 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕥𝕖𝕖𝕥𝕙 𝕥𝕠𝕠 ; (ℂ𝕖𝕣𝕤𝕖𝕚 𝕩 𝕆ℂ🐺🦁)

𝟙 - 𝔻𝕚𝕟𝕟𝕖𝕣 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕥𝕙𝕖 ℚ𝕦𝕖𝕖𝕟

"𝕎𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖'𝕤 Arya?", I asked, nervously tugging at my dress. "She should be here by now. The king is about to arrive." My sister Sansa shrugged. "I haven't seen her. She's probably off somewhere hiding from Father so he doesn't put her in a dress." "Oh, that fight is long lost", I laughed, "he had her put it on hours ago so exactly that wouldn't happen." At that moment, I heard a young girl yelling: "The king! The king's here!" "It's 'the king is here', Arya. Now go line up", our mother scolded. 

Not a moment later, the clapping of hooves was drowned out by trumpets announcing the king's arrival. He had brought an enormous retinue from what I could see, and I wondered how they were possibly all to fit into the Great Hall for the feast held in His Grace's honor later. We all knelt, keeping our eyes to the ground, as Robert rode up before us and dismounted with the help of a step stool. He walked up to my father and motioned for him to stand. "Your Grace", Father said. Robert regarded his waiting face. "You've got fat", he finally said. My father only looked him up and down suggestively, raising an eyebrow, and the two men started laughing and hugged each other. King Robert greeted my mother and baby brother Rickon and turned back to Ned. "Nine years... Why haven't I seen you, where the hell have you been?" "Guarding the North for you, Your Grace", he smiled.

I turned my attention to the large wheelhouse, the door of which was opening. Out stepped the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. Hair like spun gold, eyes like emeralds, skin like ivory - she was like a carving from a tale, an ethereal statue that would make any who beheld her weep at her sheer grace and beauty. The queen wore a pink and cream dress and a thick pelt to protect her from the cold. Her gaze was discontent as she observed her surroundings and walked over to her husband. "Winterfell is yours, Your Grace", my father was saying while I was enthralled by this woman I had never seen before. But Robert went to greet us children, and as the eldest, it was my turn first. "And who have we here? You must be Vallery", he said. "You look just like your father, brown hair and grey eyes. A true wolf cub." I smiled at him, but my eyes immediately flicked back to the queen as she walked over to us. I subconsciously held my breath. She was even prettier up close! My father kissed her hand. "My queen." Mother curtseyed, said the same and I thought the queen was about to move on to us, but the king spoke again. "Take me to your crypt. I want to pay my respects." Cersei looked annoyed. "We've been riding for months, my love", she said, "surely the dead can wait." There was an edge to her voice, and I remembered what I had a heard about the queen - none of it positive, apart from her striking beauty that was affirmed by all sources. A mean, cold-hearted, manipulative bitch, people said, calculating and lying with her every word. I found it hard to imagine that such an angelic-looking woman should be so cruel, but then again, this was Westeros. Winter snows were beautiful, too, but winter killed people nonetheless, and it was coming. Yes, Cersei was like the first snow of the winter: luring you in with her innocent, delicate beauty, and when you were too far in, she would reveal her ugly heart and eat you up until the carrion crows would find nothing left for them. Never trust Lannisters.

Robert and Father left, and after a moment that contained a lingering look on me, so did the queen.

🐺🦁🐺🦁🐺🦁🐺🦁🐺🦁🐺🦁

The queen was sitting by my mother's side while her husband was off dancing with some whore. I wondered if it bothered her, seeing him with other women, or whether she did not care about him either, emotionless as she was said to be. But as if she had felt my gaze, she suddenly turned her head to look at me, and - to my surprise - smiled. The smile felt genuine, which was somehow more unnerving than if it had been obviously fake. She looked at me invitingly, and I left my seat to go to her. "Hello, little dove", she said and tilted her head. "You are a beauty. How old are you?" "Eighteen, Your Grace." "You're tall. Still growing?" "I think so, Your Grace. Just a little more." "And have you bled yet?" "Of course, Your Grace. I'd worry I was barren had I not." Cersei laughed, a polite, kind laugh. "Beautiful and funny, that's a feat few accomplish. Your dress, did you make it?" I nodded. Septa Mordane had helped me with the sizing, but I had done most of the sewing myself. "Such talent. You must make something for me", the queen added. I nodded, forced a smile, curtseyed and turned to leave. But then I stopped. "Mother, may I have leave to go to my room? I'm tired." My mother nodded. "Good night, darling." "Good night, mother. Good night, Your Grace." I hinted at a bow and hurried from the room. 

Talking to the queen had been too much for me. Try as I might, I could not unite the images of her as a cold-blooded schemer and her in all her charming beauty in my head. Whenever I looked at her, the warnings flooded from my head, replaced by admiration and... something else, something unfamiliar to me. It came over me in waves every time I looked at her anew. It was appreciation, respect, the need to please her, to see her smile again, the want for... for... wanting. There was no other way for me to describe it, I just wanted, I did not know what, but deep inside me there was a longing I did not understand, or was even consciously aware of until the moment was over. I was still lost in my thoughts, pondering and trying to push aside these strange new feelings, when a knock sounded on my door.