[Chapter Size: 3700 Words.]
Third Person POV.
Winterfell.
...
...
Daenerys left the sacred grove hours later, when she found Lucis approaching her near the castle's training yard.
"I knew you were here. I was looking for you, Dany." Lucis said with her cheerful blue eyes.
"Lucis, since you are here... please, come with me," Daenerys asked her friend, feeling her arm intertwine with hers as they headed toward the castle.
"I heard that Daemon also took a castle on the same day he conquered Pyke..." Lucis said, surprised to hear the news circulating through the castle.
"Yes. He left Pyke shortly after killing Balon Greyjoy and seized Riverrun, the castle that serves as the seat of House Tully," Daenerys said.
"That family..." Lucis grimaced, remembering very well Dany's antipathy toward that family, since it was the family of the woman responsible for mistreating Daemon as a child.
"Yes, but there was only one member of that woman's family in the castle at the moment. Her uncle, Brynden Tully, he was a renowned knight in Westeros, but he didn't stand a chance against Daemon." Daenerys said while Lucis snorted.
"You don't even need to say that." Her faith in Daemon was unshakable.
"Currently, House Tully only has Brynden Tully and that woman's brother, Edmure Tully, alive, but the latter is still in Lannister hands as a prisoner. And, honestly, I doubt Daemon cares about him. But Lord Stark will try to persuade him, since he is the brother of his late wife... So I think Daemon might save Edmure Tully, but the gold he took... will never be returned to the Tully coffers, I know Daemon has no intention of giving it back." Daenerys said, as they continued moving toward the castle entrance.
Barristan Selmy and Ghost were following close behind. Daenerys could not help but look at a group of people arriving inside the main entrance courtyard of the castle, and she stopped for a moment.
"Who are they?" she asked, suspicious. There was no banner, but the coats they wore were from Essos, she recognized them.
A guard coming from the gate approached carefully.
"Your Grace, Lady Lucis and Ser..." he said, greeting Daenerys as queen, Lucis with far better treatment than even the noblewomen inside the castle, for being Daemon's spear-wife.
He also greeted Ser Barristan Selmy before continuing. "They are men from Essos who have just arrived. They seek an audience with you, Your Grace."
"Are they from the Iron Bank?" Daenerys asked. Certainly the Iron Bank would have priority in the negotiations Daemon had made, and they were already sending a response with the gold promised to the North, along with more food being sent to White Harbor.
"No, but they insist that it is important," the guard said.
Daenerys merely shook her head. "I don't know what they want. I don't care. Tell them to wait in line with the common folk, and when they have a chance for an audience, they will get it," Daenerys said at last.
The man simply nodded, turning on his heel to inform the delegation.
Daenerys certainly did not like that. In fact, she cast one last look at the men wearing heavy cloaks, unable to see their faces because of the cold, settling in the courtyard while the guards watched them. She had a bad feeling about them.
And Daenerys could not help but remember what Daemon had once told her: that if her instincts said something was wrong, she should listen to them.
She turned her face to Ser Barristan Selmy. "I would like you to keep an eye on those strangers. Something doesn't smell right here. Why would they be here?" she said.
The knight nodded carefully upon hearing that. "I will keep an eye on them, Your Grace."
Daenerys turned to Lucis. "And you, Lucis, keep your dagger close to you as well. Ser, order the guard reinforced. Bring men from outside the castle to strengthen the defenses even more inside the castle..."
She could not explain the reason, but the order was clear in the face of that feeling. Even Ghost did not fail to growl at the group of about twenty people in the courtyard, with wagons and cargo, while Stark men inspected the items.
"Are you sure about this, Your Grace."
"Yes. Do it." Daenerys said in a serious tone. Barristan was surprised, but nodded.
Daenerys hoped she was wrong, but even so, she had to protect this place... and they all headed inside the castle.
"Your Grace, Lady Lucis", some voices greeted as they passed.
Even Lady Cerwyn was there, still in conversation with her son, about to depart. When she approached, she curtsied.
"Your Grace, Lady Lucis", the woman greeted.
"Hello, Lady Cerwyn. Lord Cerwyn. So you will be leaving tomorrow?" Daenerys asked with a polite smile.
"Yes. Our house needs us now. There are matters to resolve. Your Majesty said he found a silver mine and a gold one in our lands, and intends to grant them to us as a reward for allying with him in the battle against the ironborn," she said.
"Well, that is excellent. I am sure House Cerwyn will prosper after this," Daenerys replied with a friendly smile.
The woman nodded, satisfied. "Now my son and I need to get organized. There are still things to prepare. Thank you for the hospitality. I will seek out Your Grace tomorrow so that we may say our proper farewells," she said.
The little boy lowered his head in respect before walking ahead of his mother. Daenerys moved on alongside Lucis toward the kitchen, but she looked at her friend.
"You seem bothered," Daenerys could not help but notice, looking at Lucis as the queen allowed herself a small smile.
"Well… now they keep calling me Lady Lucis all the time. I'm not used to it, not yet..." she murmured.
Daenerys laughed softly. "They've been calling you that for weeks now, even before Daemon left! Well, I remember you and even Daemon telling me how you met. After he slaughtered your entire group and left only you alive. Who would have thought that, after all that, you would come to a castle south of the Wall and be called Lady? Had you imagined that on the day you met him? It almost sounds quite romantic," Daenerys said, with a sweet smile.
Lucis shuddered slightly, remembering the time Daemon had threatened her: either she would lead him to Mance's camp, or she would be dead. He truly had been ruthless. He had massacred everyone, and according to him, that had already been the second group he encountered; he spared her only because he became interested in Mance after seeing the dead.
Daemon had been cruel. But in the end, she had led him there. After that, they had faced a group of the Night's Watch, and Lucis had once again seen Daemon slaughter them all without mercy. Even so, she had felt protected by him, going along with a lie so that he would not be killed in the camp as soon as he arrived — at least at that time, she believed he would die if she told the truth, something he later ruined by telling her aunt Karsi that he had killed all of them.
Now, she could not imagine what would have happened if, suddenly, everyone in the camp had started with Daemon as an enemy. Just thinking about the chaos that would have become made her shudder. At that time, no one had any idea of what Daemon was capable of.
In any case, there she was now, being called Lady inside a southern castle.
"Cousin Lucis!" A collective childish shout made Lucis look back along with Daenerys, as three girls ran toward them, not failing to attack Ghost with their small hands as they passed by the wolf, while Lucis knelt to meet them. They were Lucis's cousins, daughters of Aunt Karsi.
"You are here... Shouldn't you be studying?" Lucis murmured; she had left them studying to go find Daenerys.
"We're already finished! The maester had something else to do!" one of them said.
"Can we go outside to play?" another asked.
"As long as you don't get into trouble or disturb the adults," Lucis said, while they nodded.
"And you..." she said to the oldest. "Take care of your sister, she's only five namedays." She asked the oldest, who was eight.
"Yes!" After that, they ran outside.
"They're energetic..." Daenerys murmured.
"Yes... it makes me think of my brother in the south with Daemon, I hope he's well," Lucis murmured.
The two moved on and soon came upon another woman and a child beside guards bearing the Baratheon sigil on their chests. They stopped as soon as they saw Daenerys.
Daenerys stared at the woman, who managed to place herself in front of her before she entered the kitchen. The two regarded each other for a moment, until the woman finally seemed to thaw and lowered her head.
"Your Grace..." It was Lady Selyse Florent, and Daenerys knew that took a great effort, since that woman did not accept well the fact that Daenerys was queen now, the only queen. After all, Lady Selyse used to stand beside Stannis when he fought for the Throne. But now he had bent the knee to Daemon and had been named Lord of Storm's End.
It was possible to see the disgust in the unpleasant way she pronounced the words, as if she felt pain when calling Daenerys "Your Grace." She did not even acknowledge Lucis; she seemed to hold a certain disdain for her origin, which she considered savage.
The little girl beside her mother, Shireen, did the same gesture, but with far more calm than her mother.
Daenerys also noticed the way the girl looked at her. Half of her face was marked by gray scales, and yet she looked at Daenerys with admiration, seeming to want to be her, to dream of being her, and Daenerys was moved by the girl, whom she had spoken with a little over the past weeks, when her mother was not nearby.
When they arrived at Winterfell more than a week ago, they were housed there with a letter from Daemon, stating that they would remain in the castle with some of their guards during the war.
They were given bread and salt. And the first thing the girl had done was ask whether Daenerys believed that Daemon could truly cure her, even though he had only given his guarantee at Horn Hill. She was anxious, fearful, and hopeful at the idea of finally having a decent face.
The girl had been even happier when she heard that Daemon had cured Bran, seeing with her own eyes the boy, once paralyzed, begin to walk through the corridors with the help of crutches in the first weeks after the surgery. That had given her hope that she too could be cured.
Daenerys also read to her sometimes in the library when she found her there alone. The girl was a sweetheart, and Daenerys had not initially held a very favorable opinion of the Baratheons, but she could not deny that the child bore no fault for the actions of her uncle and her father.
When Daemon said that he intended to recruit Stannis, Daenerys had seemed hurt by him as soon as they arrived at Winterfell. She had asked whether Daemon was sure, since Stannis had also helped destroy her family.
There was an evident resentment, for it had been Robert's own brother who had hunted her and her mother, pursuing them while her mother gave birth in the middle of the sea and a storm. The girl had been born as her mother died in childbirth, and after that, she and her brother had fled to Braavos, fleeing from the fleet Stannis commanded to hunt them.
Daemon said that this was the best option for them to begin a kingdom without so much bloodshed or trouble, that one should see greater advantage than personal hurt. Stannis had not taken part in the deaths of the children, and what he did in pursuing Rhaella was what anyone might have done in his place if Robert had not done it.
In any case, after Lady Selyse Florent and Lady Shireen let Daenerys pass, they went their separate ways. Daenerys entered the kitchen with Lucis, cheerful, heading straight for where the serving women were working.
"Your Grace!" Immediately, the women responsible for the kitchen curtsied, stopping everything they were doing when they saw the queen there.
"Hello, everyone," Daenerys smiled. "Well… I smell cake. Tell me you're making strawberry cake!" she said, expectantly.
The women exchanged looks and could not help but smile. The queen always appeared in the kitchen in search of sweets. Daemon had asked for moderation, but Daenerys could not ignore the strong cravings that came with pregnancy.
"We are, Your Grace. We imagined you would like it," said the woman in charge of the kitchen, a rather chubby middle-aged woman, still smiling. There was no disrespect in her tone, only amusement and familiarity with the queen's mischief.
Daenerys had been quite shy at first, but once she took the castle for herself, with Daemon's departure, she began to adapt to her word being law there. Everyone expected that of her, everyone watched everything she did, the pressure was somewhat heavy, but the Dragon Queen adapted quickly.
"I'll be waiting this afternoon. And are those grapes?" Daenerys asked, already looking at the small bowl of fresh fruit, wasting no time in approaching it.
"Come, eat with me," she said to Lucis.
Lucis merely sighed. "You are always attacking the kitchen," murmured the dark-haired, blue-eyed woman, ignoring the gossip and the small laughs of the women around them.
Daenerys ate with gusto, with plenty of charm, while Lucis remained there, pretending not to see the queen indulging in food beside her. Then Daenerys called Ghost, who approached. She even offered fruit to the white wolf, who sniffed it, but soon refused.
"He doesn't like it much," she murmured. "Is there a piece of meat for my husband's wolf?" Daenerys asked aloud to everyone in the kitchen.
The women went to a corner of the kitchen and fetched some cuts that were meant to be prepared for lunch and dinner.
"You can throw it on the floor, he'll take it," Daenerys said, noticing that the young girl seemed hesitant to approach the wolf.
The girl simply tossed it onto the ground, and Ghost approached, eating quickly.
After that, Daenerys went to the library, finding Shireen reading a book with Rickon, while the maester spoke with them. The girl's mother did not like her going out into the castle grounds very much, which was why they did not meet in the godswood.
Even so, inside the castle, it was common to see Shireen beside Rickon and even Arya, with the maester giving them some lesson.
"Your Grace," he said upon seeing them, while the children looked at Daenerys with curiosity.
Even Della was there, with the baby in her arms, Lucis greeting her, while Mance's spear-wife greeted her friend and queen with southern etiquette.
"Hello, everyone. Don't mind me. I'm just going to pick something to read with Lucis," she said, choosing a book from the table, one that told some stories of the South — the same one she had been reading with Lucis over the past few days.
"Where is Arya?" Daenerys asked suddenly, lifting her gaze to Rickon, who at that moment had attacked Ghost, grabbing him and pulling him to stay beside Shaggydog. The difference between the two wolves was grotesque. Even though they were brothers, Ghost was at least fifty percent larger.
"She's outside. Aunt Lyanna said she was going to teach her how to ride," Rickon replied, before realizing his mistake and clamping his mouth shut, with Shireen looking oddly at him and even the maester who was teaching them to better understand their words.
"Who is Aunt Lyanna?" Shireen asked, curious.
"She's a woman who takes care of the stables. A very good rider, actually," Daenerys replied, trying to shift the focus of the situation, while Shireen nodded, though still finding her friend's behavior strange. The maester said nothing.
That morning, Daenerys had canceled all audiences and left everything for the afternoon. After that, she went to have lunch, sitting at the high table along with the Stark family and other nobles still present in the castle.
When the audiences began in the afternoon, she sat in her chair at the center of the hall. Bran accompanied her, along with the maester and the guards. Lady Selyse Florent and Della usually appeared and listened as Daenerys conducted the audiences.
People began to enter, kneeling before Daenerys as queen and explaining the reason they were there.
The common folk came first, followed by some minor nobles. Some of them were quite brazen, complaining that Daemon had harmed their small strongholds with his army of "savages," which drew several growls around the audience hall from the free folk men who stood guard there.
Daenerys reminded the man that they were not savages, but the free folk, and that his stronghold had been lost to the ironborn while he himself had fled. Daemon had recovered it, massacred the enemies, and even given supplies to those who had taken part, being under no obligation to return anything that had been lost. The man was put in his proper place and left with his head lowered in anger.
At last, the group of strangers appeared, removing their hoods as they entered the hall. Daenerys narrowed her eyes as she saw them approach carefully. They very much resembled mercenaries from Essos.
"Queen Daenerys, your beauty does not do justice to the rumors told about you," one of them began, with a certain hesitation as he knelt.
Daenerys narrowed her eyes and looked to Barristan Selmy, who stepped forward.
"Say who you are and what you want!" he spoke in a threatening tone.
The men did not seem trustworthy, and even the free folk and the northerners eyed them with distrust. They did not like strangers.
"Your Grace, we are merely a trading group with some maritime routes from Essos to here... My name is Arhehul, captain of a ship. We are here on behalf of Myr, to offer gifts. The lords of Myr wish to stand in good favor with the new royal family," the man said, asking his companions to bring forward chests.
They began to enter through the doors, placing the objects in front before opening them. Inside, there were jewels and gold.
People looked on in surprise. The free folk observed with disdain; gold was not what moved them. Still, it helped buy drink and food.
Daenerys narrowed her eyes. "Why are you offering this so suddenly...? My husband has no ties to you. Why would you be helping us?" she asked. It could even make sense to maintain good relations and preserve established trade routes, but something about it all troubled her.
"We have had some trade with Westeros for a few years now, Your Grace. We only wish to congratulate your husband on his successful conquest in the South. I have heard he is taking castles one after another and will soon have the Iron Throne in his possession. And it pleases me to see that you married him… and are pregnant with his heir!" the man said, making a point of emphasizing that detail, and Daenerys did not like his tone.
Daenerys stared at him for a moment, and even Ghost stepped forward, beginning to growl at the man. Daenerys ignored the wolf for a moment as she stared at the stranger, trying to remember where she knew that face from. He was not unfamiliar to her. Perhaps she had seen him in Braavos… or even at Illyrio's manse. If they were from Myr, Pentos was closer, and it was likely that Daenerys had seen them at Illyrio's estate.
"Calm yourself, Ghost," Daenerys said, finally noticing the men grow startled and take a step back. She touched the wolf, running her hand through his white fur, and he calmed down.
The men remained cautious. Daenerys then spoke, her voice firm: "Well, I thank you for this. Since you insist on the gifts, I will speak to my husband about them. And we will not forget the good graces of Myr."
They seemed somewhat disappointed when Barristan Selmy asked them to withdraw, though they also showed a certain reluctance before obeying.
The afternoon continued with more audiences from the common folk, until Daenerys was finally able to retire.
"Are you all right?" Bran asked, noticing her thoughtful silence.
"I am," Daenerys replied. "But you noticed it too, didn't you? Those men… there is something about them that troubles me."
"There is something about them that troubles me as well," Bran said firmly.
"Can you spy on them, Bran? I did not want to ask this, but something is not right," Daenerys said.
Bran nodded. He had been training with the Children of the Forest in the godswood; the Children now lived deeper within the forest inside the sacred grove. They did not appear when the Starks were gathered, like earlier that day, only when they were requested, so as not to disturb the family.
Even so, they were training the children — especially Bran and Arya — as Daemon had requested, for it could be useful to learn how to manipulate warg magic as he did.
Bran already mastered half a dozen birds with ease in just a few weeks of training, after fully awakening his abilities with the liquid the Children had given him.
"I'll go to the godswood and plan to follow them. I'll see what they're planning. I'll ask Meera to come with me," he said.
Daenerys was grateful. Whatever those men were doing there, she would find out. The feeling she had was like a knife in the dark. It seemed they were there to hurt her. From the way the man had spoken about her being pregnant and married to Daemon, it was clear that he did not like it at all, as if he saw her as a threat.
Even Ghost had noticed it.
The question was, a threat to whom? If Daenerys's senses were not lying.
Lannister?
Tyrells?
Martell?
Or another enemy?
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