The dinner arrived quicker than I had expected.
The only time my chamber door had been opened was when handmaidens came in to do my hair and to bring me the dress Joffrey had sent for.
It was a beautiful, elegant dress with unique, black embroideries at the upper body part. It was broadly decorated in the colours of house Tyrell and Lannister. The blue my family was often wearing covered the area above the waist while gold and red graced the lower part.
"My lady, it's time.", my handmaiden told me when the time on that day had arrived. I still didn't know her name even though she had been helping me every day since I had arrived. She was quite small and had straight dark blonde hair braided to a single section.
She wasn't ugly, quite the contrary, if she'd do something else with her hair and wear other dresses, she would have looked like a real lady.
"What's your name, girl?", I asked her friendly. She did so much for me here and I wanted her to trust me.
"Kenly", she said smiling back shyly putting up the last piece of my hair, completing my hairdo.
"That's a beautiful name for such a beautiful girl", I added, and she blushed. I guessed barely someone ever told her that or complemented her. What a shame, I thought. If you weren't born in a rich family, you barely had a chance as a girl out there to be respected...
Kenly showed me the way to the king's dining hall where all the Lannisters had already taken a seat on the long, heavy table. I felt insecure, knowing none of the attendants for longer than a few days, wearing an expensive dress for the first time and having to break the news about my marriage in no time.
Eventually the king himself was the one who stood up and guided me to my seat. "Have a seat", he smiled at me and whispered. "My queen."
The whole situation was more than unpleasant for me, but the feeling got even worse when the rest of my family had arrived.
"Lyra! We haven't seen you in two days! Darling, how are you?", Margaery scurried over to me, after she curtsied in front of everyone.
"I was fine, I needed some time to fully arrive here. Now I feel like I have.", I explained.
She knew something was wrong. I could tell by the way she looked back at me.
But instead of asking she just sat down and smiled at Cersei, the queen mother.
"Your dress is beautiful. It reminds me of the roses in Highgarden, the fabric has a lovely colour.", she complemented Joffrey's mother and smiled at her brightly.
", she complemented Joffrey's mother and smiled at her brightly.
Cersei had to force herself to smile at least a bit. "I could only tell you the same about yours. You look wonderful."
I looked at Joffrey, who was clearly bored by this conversation. He coughed and spoke up:
"So, dear guests of houses Tyrell and Lannister. I, the king, have something to announce. I'm aware of the fact that I took a holy vow when I agreed to marry Lady Margaery. But in the name of the gods, the king can please whatever he wants to. Lady Margaery, ...", he stopped for a second and smiled at her, her looking paler than usual, "I am sorry to tell you that, but I am not going to take you as my wife."
Loras jumped of his chair and threw his fists onto the table. "With all respect your grace, WE MADE A DEAL!"
"How dare you to speak to the king like that? Don't you learn how to approach people in higher echelons than yourself in Highgarden.", Cersei interrupted him with a weirdly calm voice.
Scared of what would follow next, I glazed at Margaery, whose smile had disappeared.
"Your...Your grace, did I do something wrong?", she asked curiously but visibly tense.
"No.", Joffrey replied while ignoring Loras, "I've just changed my mind. I guess it doesn't matter who is marrying who. And as you're not the only girl, House Tyrell begots...." He looked over at me. "Lady Lyra. Come here."
Everyone stared at me. I could feel it.
I walked over to Joffrey, feeling like I'd be breaking down every second.
And there we were, him standing next to me, in front of both our families, holding my hand.
"Ser Loras, our contract is still valid. I just chose between your sisters, as you didn't let me choose earlier. Your beautiful older sister will be married to my little brother Tommen, I simply replaced the names on the contract. No one loses." he proudly announced his plan.
When nobody responded he proceeded. "Westeros is lucky having a smart king like me."
He looked at me grinning, obviously expecting me to say something.
I swallowed before I talked.
"I am thankful for everything the king says and does for our family. I am loyal to my beloved Joffrey.", I said, and I actually didn't lie about it. I was going to be loyal and I wasn't exactly unhappy. I was only afraid of my family's reaction in the first place.
So, I hid my happiness.
"Well, I suppose the king has spoken.", I heard my grandma, lady Olenna talking first after the long silence. "Is there anything nice for pudding?"
After Joffrey kissed my hand again, I went back to my seat. We dined and I had to admit that I loved all the different kind of dishes there were. I enjoyed the food so much, I even forgot I was sitting next to my sister, who wasn't eating but staring onto the table.
After we had finished, grandmother Olenna and Lord Tywin Lannister, Joffrey's uncle, had a talk and it felt like ages until they had covered all possible political topics.
Before I was going to leave, Joffrey took me aside.
"Sleep well, my queen. This dress suits you incredibly well by the way.", Joffrey said unexpectedly soft to me and smiled.
"Thank you. I wish you pleasant dreams today, my king.", I replied and was brave enough to place a kiss onto his cheek.
First, he stared at me, as if he didn't know how to handle it, but then he smiled brighter than before.
And then, when everything seemed perfect, he ruined everything with one single sentence.
"Don't worry about Lady Margaery too much. I guess after all it doesn't matter which Lannister puts the baby into which Tyrell.", he started as if it was the most casual thing to bring up. "Your sister will give birth to a Lannister baby of the king's family, she should be grateful."
"She probably is, believe me. Overall, all of us are thankful for everything your grace does for our family."
"One last thing", he hissed.
"I know, all these formal things do sound nice, but I want you to call my by my name, your grace is too...distanced. Every peasant says that, I don't think married people should call themselves that. I can't stand it."
"I'll be thinking about appropriate notations tonight then."
"M'lady", he bowed I felt his gaze on my turned back until I disappeared around the corner.
Maybe my life wouldn't be as bad as I expected, Joffrey seemed nice, everyone had their temper sometimes, right?, I argued with myself in my head.
I saw Margaery and Loras standing downstairs carrying a candle to find their way back through the night and to their dorms. I overheard them arguing about something. About me.
"YOU.", my sister's normally lovely voice had turned into pure rage the second she noticed me.
"Who do you think you are? I was supposed to be the queen. We've been talking about this so many times. How dare you just get here and spoil everything? Why did you do that? It all made sense, youngest Tyrell marries youngest Lannister, and the older siblings of both houses marry as well. It was perfect. What have you done?", she blamed me.
"I didn't do anything, he suddenly called me to his chambers and -"
A stroke hit my face and left a burning spot on my cheek. "You went to my fiancé's chambers? Why would my own sister turn out to be a whore?"
My own sister had just hit me right in the face. And as the pain eased leaving a pounding on that sot, I made myself the promise that when I was the queen, things like that should never go unpunished.