Chapter 63-Songs of Swans!

Chapter 63

OLENNA TYRELL

As the capital celebrated the nuptials of its new King and Queen with feasts, tournies, and balls, a war was being fought in the shadows away from the prying eyes as lords and ladies from all over the realm tried to curry favor with their new monarchs.

Allies they may be, the Starks and the Lannisters were like oil and water and each house was trying to gather as much strength as it could, and though the Lannisters were the richest and most powerful House in the realm, most of the lords had little desire to deal with the Old Lion because of his reputation.

So, most of them had set their eyes on the Wolves of the North, as they should have given that it was the Stark boy who would sit on the Iron Throne. Despite the fact that it was the Girl who held the claim on the throne through her blood, the men of the realm would rather die than let a woman rule over them.

With the Lannisters busy with war, the Starks had already begun consolidating power. So, she was not surprised when their new King summoned her to his solar, and though she shrank at the disrespect. She had little choice but to obey when summoned by the King himself, who now sat in front of her.

"Is it really necessary that we play this game in this dour room? We could have easily done it all in the shade and in the garden," she asked, and she had requested that the King may come and meet her in the gardens, where she had met his father but her request had been quickly denied. 

And as the boy held her family hostage, she did not dare push him too far to put their lives in danger.

It was often said that a lord's solar reflected his nature, and the world that came to her mind as she examined the stacks upon stacks of paper, and tomes resting on the table was 'dutiful'.

"Yes, I believe it is quite necessary indeed," the boy King answered, smiling, and his little power play was not lost to her. The boy was too young to play this game, and she was going to show it to him.

"Well, you truly are quite cruel, making an old woman like me climb all those stairs," and the boy chuckled, completely unbashed and unbothered by her words, and she wondered if it was the first time she had witnessed a Stark laugh.

"I doubt you climbed them yourself. Your servants must have carried you up, and will carry you down just as easily," and so the rumors were true, she had met with his father and had confirmed that, as dutiful as he was, Eddard Stark lacked the acumen to play these games.

No, it was evident that there was someone else pulling the strings from behind him, and she was now quite sure that the person pulling the strings was the boy in front of her.

"So, my father showed me your set of demands, and I must say House Tyrell is being quite ambitious for someone who has just lost a war," and she raised a brow, at the King's obvious jibe.

"I could say the same thing about you," her words struck a chord as those grey eyes narrowed, and Olenna shrugged.

"You have done quite well for yourself, as a second son who was set to inherit nothing. Yet look at you now, you are married to a Queen and now sit the Iron Throne in her name," she taunted, and the boy was decades too young to face her. His jaw tightened as their war of words began, and now that he had made the mistake of underestimating her, Olenna would eat him alive.

"I just imagine a world where the girl could have married one of my sons. Garlan, perhaps," she continued and what a great match it would have been. The girl had inherited her mother's beauty, and was quite comely.

She also had a good enough head on her shoulders, unlike her own mother. But alas! It would remain a pipe dream, but her words were enough to unsettle the young lad in front of him.

"Then it would have been him sitting there in your place, while perhaps your father would sit where I sit now," and the boy took a second before he gave her a small mocking laugh.

"You have quite a wild imagination, though I wonder if it was Garlan who slew Stannis, or was it me?" he asked, and the boy had pride. Good. Pride made men stupid. And she liked her opponents to be stupid.

"And wasn't it your House that lay siege to Riverrun just so you may capture and kill the Queen, and this King's family?" and the boy had a tongue on him, and perhaps she had underestimated him.

"Well, those were different times. We all made mistakes, just as the one you would be making if you do not agree to our demands," she said, sipping the tea he had offered her as she let her words hang in the silence.

"You sit the throne only because of a girl's blood. That doesn't make it yours," and there were rumors about that she did not voice out, and oftentimes, as she looked at the girl, she wondered if there was some truth to them.

"I sit here because I fought a fucking war and won, and you sit there because your House supported a traitor, and lost that very war, " and the games were over, so she decided to be blunt.

"We could offer the same terms to the Lannisters, and I can assure you the Old Lion would agree to them in a heartbeat. I can offer him Margary's hand for his heir," and she would never let her little flower marry that little dwarf, but the boy did not need to know that.

"Together our two Houses would boast an alliance that would cripple your ability to rule," she said, and despite her threat, the boy was smiling. She felt a shudder run through her body as she realized she might have walked into a trap.

"And then you wonder why I asked to see you in my solar, and why you sit where you do?" he taunted, and then she saw him reach for the bell, and he would dare not attack her.

TING. TING. TING.

He rang the bell as a servant entered the room.

"Bring in the guest," and she frowned at that.

"Guest?" she asked curiously, and the new King nodded.

"Yes, since you are being rather blunt. I believe I should do the same," and for the first time, he moved as he leaned back on the chair and gave her a wolfish grin, the grin of a predator as it eyed its meal.

"Your House is quite unique, you know. The Reach's alliance is as fickle as a rose's petals, and as prickly as a rose's thorns. You first supported the Prince Rhaegar, and yet your son did nothing but feast outside the walls of Storm's End while the Crown lost battle after battle," and that may be true.

"If we had done something different, as you say, you might have been an orphan today," she countered, but the boy did not pay any heed to her words.

"And then you supported Renly Baratheon, and even wed your daughter to him, though now you claim that the wedding was never consummated. Still traitor that he was Renly Baratheon was the Queen's uncle, and somehow just as he was about to fight his first battle, one which would have put members of your House and family in danger the King winds up dead," and a cold chill ran down her spine, for how could he know that.

How? It had to be a bluff. A bluff. She had left no trace. Nothing.

"Renly Baratheon was a craven man, he may have had Robert's looks, but he lacked his brother's rage and courage," she explained, even as her heart was rife with nervous fears.

"Maybe," and it felt like a predator's prowl in that room, like a wolf was circling her, prepring to hunt.

"Or someone realised that Renly Baratheon would never be King and that a battle would only put their blood at risk, and thought to eliminate him the night before the battle," and that was it.

The boy knew her secret.

Olenna had realised that Renly would lose the war as soon as Tywin's forces had landed behind him while he lay siege to Riverrun. The fate of their campaign had been sealed by then, and she knew that any further battle would only put the lives of her children and grandchildren in danger.

So, she did what she thought best. A letter exchanged hands, and a message was passed onto one of Margary's serving girls, who slipped a few drops of poison into the King's wine. It was a mercy, really.

Renly was no warrior, and his fate was already sealed. She was sparing him the humiliation, but she had never thought that her idiot grandson would enter his tent that night, even though she had asked Margary to keep an eye on that boy.

But her words had failed, and though she was able to save her son and granddaughter, it had come at a cost.

And the door to the King's solar slid open, and she saw the guards carry in a dishevelled girl, and they shoved her onto the ground.

She did not react, but she did not need to. The girl's eyes answered enough that her secret was out.

"Do you want to hear her little song?" the King asked, and for the first time in a long time, Olenna Tyrell found herself at a loss. She had underestimated their new King, and now she had to pay the price of her mistake.

"No," she answered, her shoulders sagging as the boy motioned for the guards to carry away the girl and added with in a chilling tone that left her completely at his mercy.

"Now… shall we revisit your terms—and do some revisions?"

0000

DAENERYS TARGARYEN

Daenerys sat on the throne as the Khalsar all gathered around the throne to witness the fight between Drogo and Morro, and as Morro strode forward, into the arena, he held two curved blades in his hands, and Drogo glanced at her before he rose from his throne and roared, and all the drums went silent and he reached into the offered tray and doused his fingers with mud and rubbed it under his eyes and on his chest as he descended down the throne and stood face to face with Morro.

Daenerys had seen him fight against khals before, but she had never been so nervous for some reason as the eunuch's words continued to ring in her head.

Drogo was bigger, taller, and larger than Morro, and yet despite that, she could not help but imagine her fate if Drogo lost. She had seen firsthand how the Dothraki treated the families of the khals who would lose, and she wondered if one day she would suffer the same fate.

The Mother of Dragons, the last vestige of Valyria, was reduced to nothing. Was she ready to accept her fate?

"They are about to begin." Varys' words broke her out of her trance, and she looked up as the music started once more, as Drogo and Morro began to circle one another, and she noticed how Drogo hadn't even taken out his blades.

Morro was the first to attack, as the young man jumped towards Drogo and brought down his blade, Drogo moved back, and tried to kick Morro, but the young man jumped away, as Drogo laughed and beat his chest.

"Come at me!" he taunted the young Morro, and the boy jumped back and began to swing his blade, but Drogo was faster than a man his size had any right to be, and just as the boy pushed forward too much Drogo hit him with his head as the young boy was sent reeling back.

And Drogo began his attack, and as he jumped towards Morro, the boy swung wildly, and Drogo refused to use his swords. She gasped as the blade cut across his chest, but by then Drogo was near him. Then Drogo grabbed his arms, stopping Morro's attack before he twisted them as Morro's scream tore through the music, before Drogo hit him on the head once more, and then tore into his neck with his mouth as a fountain of blood rose into the skies and drenched him in red.

Relief filled her heart as the young warrior's body turned lifeless as Drogo tore apart his neck and arms, before he raised his hands in triumph.

"Is there anyone who dares to challenge me!" and the khalasaar all backed away, as Moro's body fell to the ground, as she turned towards the bald man.

"He won," she repeated as if trying to reassure herself, and the eunuch nodded.

"Yes, but he won today, who is to say he would win again tomorrow and the day after and after that," and again, those words only watered the seeds of doubt in her heart.

"He will win. He will win tomorrow, and the day after that, and after that as well," she declared as Drogo walked towards her, and then carried her back into the tents, and as soon as the curtains fell back, he wasted no time in crashing her lips onto her own. She could still taste the blood on them, as Varys stood there watching the body of the young warrior.

.

.

.

"Oh, Princess, but he won't..."

0000

EDDARD STARK

Eddard sat beside the new King and Queen in the Royal booth, as the knights rode against one another in the tourney celebrating the Royal Wedding. It was to be the last day of jousting, and from tomorrow the melee would begin, though his focus had long since shifted from the jousts down below.

"Sansa?" he gasped, as he sat beside Cregan, his son and King, and it had not even been a full moon since his coronation, yet Cregan looked more and more comfortable in this new role with every passing day.

"Yes, Sansa and Willas," and that was quite a match, but this was just one of the few changes he had made in their formal agreement with the Reach, and the previous terms had been rather generous but this time Cregan seemed to have wrung the fertile Kingdom dry, as he had them take over half of the Crown's debts to the Iron Back while agreeing to provide lumber and grain to the Royal family for more than a decade, and so forth.

Simply put, the terms of the agreement were harsher than they had been before. It was extortion, and yet somehow the Lady Olenna had agreed to them all. While before she had asked for Robb's hand in marriage, something that he was not comfortable with, the new terms proposed a different match, one that was far more favorable for their house than the match between Robb and Margary Tyrell.

"Well, it is a proposition still, but from what I have heard, Willas Tyrell is kind and honorable. He will be arriving in the capital in a few weeks, and we will see how it goes," and he could not imagine how he had forced the Tyrells to agree to these egregious demands.

"Who did you even get the Tyrells to agree with all this?" he asked, and his son shrugged.

"I offered them the Flower mercy, and it offered me thorns. So, I returned the favor—with interest."

0000

As always, you can read ahead and support me on Patre 0n. Your support and patronage makes all this possible. So, drop a sub if you can. It would mean a lot to me. 😊

www.Patre 0n.com/Drkest

Have a nice day!