The tournament had started some time ago and some men had fought already. Currently, the Hound was fighting some random man as they were all watching. Lilia wanted to stop it since she knew that the Hound would kill the poor man. She wondered what was the thing with fighting in tournaments and what was the thing with the tournaments themselves. It was stupid, profoundly stupid. Joffrey had managed to touch her hand several times and she would always find an excuse to take it away.
When the Hound won and pushed the foolish man out of the castle wall, everybody clapped and she saw herself forced to clap softly as well. Joffrey was very excited about it, which disgusted Lilia very much. 'Sadistic bastard', she thought to herself.
"Well struck, dog!" he complimented the Hound, who didn't really seem to care that much. Lilia was currently distracted while playing some quiet game with Tommen, who had gotten bored. She was until Joffrey's attention was turned to his company. "Did you like that?"
"It was well struck, Your Grace," Sansa said very impatiently and disinterested. He didn't seem too pleased with her reply, so he quickly protested.
"I already said it was well struck" he pointed out. Sansa didn't know how to lie to Joffrey, she had never been good at lying. It was something that the Starks sucked at. Probably it was due to their honour, but she didn't really know how to explain it. Lilia watched her sister trying to run from the spotlight miserably. 'Poor Sansa', she thought.
"Yes, Your Grace" the little dove agreed, making Joffrey's attention flee to Lilia, who was as quiet as she could be, looking at nothing in specific, with her head held high.
"And what do you think, My Lady? Did you like that?" he asked with a kinder, yet still promiscuous tone. She took a deep breath and looked at him, who was waiting for her to reply.
"I would like it more if it were you," Lilia said with her fake smile. Joffrey was a little alert by the girl's sentence but her smile convinced him that even though her comment could be interpreted in two different ways, she meant well, so he didn't storm on her.
"Perhaps one day I will fight just for you," he said as he took a seat next to her and whispered with delight. She was the one who was not that delighted to be there and to have him treating her like some sort of... she didn't even know how to describe it. She felt Sansa's eyes on her and, tried to show her that she didn't mean to take her betrothed away and that she was as uncomfortable as she could be. On the other hand, she couldn't refuse the King, or else she would have her life very complicated. "I enjoy your presence very much, My Lady. Could we take a walk around the gardens or have supper together one day?"
"Yes, I suppose we could" Lilia agreed. The words seemed to leave her mouth with a bitter taste and she felt like her throat was in a knot. She just wanted to find some ulterior excuse to leave that place and never have to come back again. Joffrey was making her uncomfortable, more than she thought he would. Partially, it was due to his behaviour towards her.
The next candidates came into view... more or less, at least one of them did. Lilia wanted to laugh at Joffrey's impatience, but she contained herself. She didn't feel like facing his rage.
When the other one came into view, Lilia saw nothing but a fool who wanted to please his King, which in her eyes was nothing but stupid since she knew who would be defeated in that duel. He started to apologize endlessly while Tommen and Myrcella tried to hold their giggles. Sansa was the one who didn't look like she was too amused.
"Are you drunk?" Joffrey asked in a tone that left Lilia alert to what would happen next.
"No, Your Grace. I had two cups of wine" the man replied very clumsily. Lilia knew where that was going to lead them and she pitied the poor man, who was innocent and was going to die at the hands of the foolish, unpredictable boy who pretended to be a King.
"Two cups? It's not much at all" he commented innocently. It was a shame that he wasn't as innocent as he looked like. Lilia had to admit he was a beautiful, golden lion, just like his uncle... yet what he had of handsome he had of jerk, and therefore, she would forget about his looks all the time. "Please, have another cup!"
"Are you sure, Your Grace?" the man asked hesitantly. She didn't blame him, she would do the same. It was hard to believe that a sadistic King could be kind... those words were kind of weird together.
"Yes! To celebrate my name day! Have as much as you like!" he offered. The man was still pretty unconvinced and she had all the reason to be.
"I'll be honoured, Your Grace" the man accepted with a smile. Poor, little, fool...
"Ser Merryn, help Ser Dontos celebrate my name day" he ordered, and then, it all went down. The sadistic smile saw the light of the day and she knew that the man was going to die. "Make sure that he drinks his fill"
Joffrey took his seat on his chair while amusingly watch Ser Merryn drag Ser Dontos away. Then, two guards got them on his knees and put a funnel on his mouth, while dropping a whole pipe full of wine down his throat. They were drowning the man who struggled to breathe, which made Lilia angry. Her nails were cutting through the palms of her hands and, as she was about to say something, her sister beat her to it.
"You can't!" she said and he gave her a look of disinterest. He was getting furious by her boldness.
"What did you say?" he said ragefully in between his teeth. Sansa was terrified and Lilia was thinking about a way to approach him in order to stop his anger. "Did you just say that I can't?"
"What I meant to say is that it would be bad luck to kill a man on your name day," she said, trying to excuse her impulsive reaction. Joffrey thought it was stupid and kind of ridiculous to think something like that.
"What kind of stupid, peasant superstition!" he criticized. Lilia was afraid for her sister, so she did something irrational. Lilia held Joffrey's hand, making him shift a bit.
"The girl is right. When a man sows in his name day, he reaps all year" the Hound, who had been quietly standing next to Princess Myrcella, pronounced himself, catching everybody else's attention.
"Yes, Your Grace. Listen to my sister and your dog, they both mean well they speak nothing but the truth" his eyes met hers and he looked at her with interest in his eyes. "Lord Bolton did that and now he's stuck with a bastard son since his legitimate one was taken away by the Gods. Would you like to pass your throne down to a bastard?"
"No, of course not!" he reconsidered and Lilia silently prayed for the man's own good. "Take him away! I'll have him killed tomorrow, the fool..."
The man fell as he spilt all of the wine that he had not been able to swallow, which seemed to be a lot. Lilia pitied the man, and so, in a chance to plead for his life, she tried to manipulate the boy.
"Your Grace, I apologize for my boldness but maybe you should spare the foolish man" he gave her an incredulous look and she swallowed dryly. "As you said, he's a fool and I guess you taught him a lesson, and if he did not learn... then perhaps you should teach him again. Death is too permanent, don't you think? He would die a fool and learn nothing and then, where would the fun be?"
"You think well, My Lady," he said with a smile. "But I never asked you your opinion, so you shall speak when I say so, is that clear?"
"Yes, Your Grace" Lilia replied. She could understand how Sansa felt when speaking to him. He intimidated her and the fact that she despised his existence didn't help.
"Beloved nephew!" someone was heard coming up to them. Lilia's attention was now on Tyrion Lannister, who was making his way to meet them. He was being escorted by many men, which was something Lilia felt like it was too exaggerated and completely unnecessary. "We looked for you on the battlefield, you were nowhere to be found!"
"I've been here... ruling the Kingdoms" he justified while the imp took some food for himself without even asking. Lilia hadn't spoken to Lord Tyrion many times, only once, from what she remembered. However, just by his approach, she knew he was as against Joffrey as she was and that made her feel better about herself. He was just so bad that even his own uncle wanted him gone!
"And what a fine job you've done!" he sarcastically remarked, which took Lilia's words out of her mouth. She wouldn't say anything more clever than what the little Lord had come up with.
"At spreading chaos, you mean" she whispered to herself but Lord Tyrion seemed to have noticed her words since he smirked approvingly. His eyes were focused on Myrcella, who was smiling brightly at her uncle's sight.
"Oh, look at you! More beautiful than ever!" He kissed her cheek and then looked over at Tommen, who was just sitting on his chair, looking at his uncle with a huge smile. "And you... you're going to be bigger than the Hound, but much better looking! This one doesn't like me..."
"Can't imagine why" one of the men who had escorted him commented. They seemed to have been friends and Lilia could only give him a weak smile.
"We heard you were dead" Joffrey pointed out as Tyrion grabbed a goblet full of wine.
"I'm glad you are not dead" Myrcella sweetly said, which once again made Lilia think how it was possible for her to be related to someone like the sadistic boy who was sitting at her left.
"Me too, dear. Death is so boring, especially now that there is so much excitement in the world" he pronounced. 'Show me the way to the excitement, please. It's not really reaching me...' she thought to herself. "My Lady, I'm sorry about your loss... you too, Lady Stark"
It was quite odd for her to be called Lady Stark, she had yet to get used to it because the truth was that she was, indeed, the Lady Stark and so she would be until she didn't get married. It was the first time someone had given her their condolences and it felt good for her to know that someone out there actually cared.
"Their loss?! Their father was a confessed traitor!" Joffrey protested while Tyrion kept his serious facial expression.
"But still their father" the imp argued and Lilia looked down, trying to gather the strength to answer back. "Sure having recently lost your own father, you can sympathize"
"Thank you, Lord Tyrion" she simply thanked him and people's eyes were driven to her. "Your words mean a lot to me"
Joffrey turned to face Sansa, who had kept herself quiet during all the conversation. Then, all eyes were driven to her, who was way too scared to say anything at all.
"My father was a traitor, my brother and my mother are traitors too. I'm loyal to my beloved Joffrey" it felt like a song for her, it felt like the words came out of her mouth way too easily, or at least, that's what Lilia thought. She admired her sister for being able to sing whatever song she was supposed to and she wished that she could do it too.
"Of course you are" in Tyrion's voice there was nothing but admiration, like the one Lilia felt for her sister. It made her realize that she hadn't done anything to help her, it made her realize that locking herself up had been selfish and that her sister needed her more than ever.
"What about you?" Joffrey turned to face Lilia. "Who are you loyal to?"
"I'm loyal to my King, of course" she replied straight away. The truth was that the only King she would ever truly bend her knee to would be Robb. He was her King, the King in the North, and no one would ever be able to change that.
"I bet you are" Tyrion was the only one able to realize what she meant and he didn't seem to judge her. Joffrey was clueless to not know what she actually said. "Well, enjoy your name day, Your Grace. Wish I could stay and celebrate BUT there is work to be done!"
"What work?" Joffrey asked as the imp left. Then, he looked at Lilia and her dress, analysing it. "Why are you wearing black? I made it clear that I like you in blue!"
"I'm sorry, Your Grace, but I believe that I should honour your father's death, the late King Robert, may the Gods have him in peace" she explained. It was a lie that only Sansa was able to comprehend. "I liked him very much, he was like an uncle to me"
"But he was not" he pointed out. Eventually, the tournament was carried on, much to Lilia's relief. Then, just like that, he approached her and whispered in her ear. "I wish to see you later in blue. Are we clear?"
"Yes, Your Grace" she agreed and once again she reminded herself of what she should say. She had to be as strong as her Lady Mother.