𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐘-𝐒𝐈𝐗 | Arguments

{ Lyra }

✧✦✧

𝕷yra sighed, taking the crown off of her head as she began to massage her forehead, feeling particularly fed up with the day's meetings that had taken place.

"Are you alright?" Joffrey brushed against her side, reaching up to unplait her hair and run his hand through the curly locks. "I know that the meetings are tiring when your first go, but they do become slightly more bearable."

"I just can not believe that your grandfather is so set on killing Tyrion. His own son?" Lyra murmured, leaning into Joffrey's side as her eyes fluttered close. He tensed momentarily, before relaxing once more. "There has to be another way that does not involve death."

"It's my grandfather. There's no surprise there," Lyra hummed, as Joffrey stopped running his hand through her hair so that he could place their crowns onto one of the tables, and put all of the notes from the day's meetings away. "There's not much that we can do about that."

"What do you mean?" Lyra raised an eyebrow, turning back to look at the man. "Joff, it's our fault that he's being tried for attempted regicide in the first place, it should be our duty to get him out."

"And how will we explain that to Grandfather? 'We know he's not guilty because we were the ones who put the poison in the wine glass so that Sansa could escape'," Joffrey scoffed, leaning against a chair on the opposite side of the table as Lyra watched him with narrowed eyes.

"No, but we can manipulate this so that the trial goes in his favor," Lyra pointed out. "What use is having power if we can not use it to help others?"

"We can not do that, not with my grandfather," Joffrey replied, running a hand through his blond hair. "He'd be onto us instantaneously and then everything that we had worked for would be swept from underneath our feet."

"I think you give him too much credit,"

"I think you don't give him enough," Joffrey hissed in return, his grip on the chair tightening as Lyra shook her head. "He's a dangerous man; he's powerful and rich and..."

"...and he's not the king," Lyra replied, leaning forward to continue to argue with her husband. "He has no control over you or what goes on. If we can just..."

"Gods above, Lyra!" Joffrey snapped, slamming the chair into the table, his eyes wild with annoyance.

It seemed that everything stood still in that moment, as Lyra looked up at the man in front of her, who was running a hand through his hair as he tried to calm down. The pause continued, before Joffrey came to the realization of what he had just done and froze, looking at his hands and then back at Lyra.

"No, no..." He began to shake his head, and Lyra's eyes widened as she stood from the seat and made her way towards him.

"It's alright, Joffrey, it's alright," Elia sat up next to the door, her head tilted to one side as Lyra tried to approach her husband. "It just happens sometimes, I'm fine, we're fine."

"No," Joffrey was still shaking his head, his breathing getting more raggedy with every passing moment. "No, I...I snapped...I snapped and I...oh gods, I'm turning into my mother."

Lyra shook her head more vehemently, reaching for the man to try and calm him. The reaction was instantaneous.

Joffrey's eyes scrunched shut, tensing up completely as he seemed to await a hit that was never going to come.

"No, Joff," Lyra paused, before reaching out and grabbing his hand carefully. "I'm not...I'm not going to hit you. I would never do that."

He remained tense, as Lyra felt her heart break inside of her chest at the sight of the man. Reaching up, she pulled him down into a hug, running her hand through his hair and pressing a kiss to his cheek.

"It's alright,"

"No, it's not," He murmured, his voice hoarse as he finally wrapped his arms around her waist, sinking into her touch as she hushed him. "I snapped and I acted just like my mother. I'm turning into her."

"You're not," Lyra pulled away from him, holding his face in her hands as she watched him. "Joff, you're exhausted and Small Council meetings are getting on your nerves, that is all. We just need to have a relaxing afternoon and then you will feel much better."

"I'm sorry," He murmured, leaning forward so that he could rest his head against hers, closing his eyes as he finally acknowledged the wave of exhaustion that was falling over him. "I'm so incredibly sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you, or gotten angry."

"Joff, arguments are normal things," Lyra replied, reaching up to run her hands through his hair. "I can't quite count the amount of times that Robb and I started yelling at one and other for no reason at all. I think I chucked a plate at his head one time."

Joffrey huffed at her musing, pulling her closer once more as he tried to assure herself that she was alright and that he hadn't harmed her.

"What I am trying to say, before I got sidetracked, is that arguments are normal and if we didn't have any, I'd be worried," She replied, pressing a kiss to the side of his cheek. "Now, you need to rest and relax, we can talk about this all later. Alright?"

"Okay," Joffrey hummed, his voice quiet as Lyra pulled away and led him back towards their chambers so that the both of them could fight some of their exhaustion.

✧✦✧

Even as Lyra walked with Margaery and Olenna in the gardens, her thoughts remained on her husband, who was exhausted at running the country and dealing with his family. Margaery seemed to have noticed that the young queen's thoughts were elsewhere, and tried her best to keep the conversation away from her.

"The time has come, my Dears. There's nothing more tedious than a trial, except perhaps these gardens." Olenna told the pair, squeezing their hands gently.  "If I have to take one more leisurely stroll through these gardens, I'll fling myself from the cliffs." 

They reached one of the many pavilion's, sitting down, as Lyra finally brought her thoughts back to the conversation that they were having.

"But you're coming back soon after, are you not? I know that Joffrey asked you to be the new Master of Coin?"

"Of course, but I just won't be here for the trial. I have to check in on my other grandsons as well," Olenna reminded the pair of Margaery's elder brothers, who were both still at High Garden.

In some ways, Lyra wondered about her own siblings. She hadn't heard from Robb nor Jon, due to the letters being tightly monitored after the attempted assassination. She was under particular scrutiny due to Sansa having left as well.

"Have you been to see Tommen yet?" Olenna asked, turning back towards her granddaughter, with a raised eyebrow.

"No. Have they even agreed to the match? No one tells me anything," Margaery complained as Lyra shot her a grin.

"Hopefully, I do want you as my sister-in-law," Lyra replied, smiling at the older Tyrell. "But, I shall aim to find out."

"I wasn't originally meant to marry your grandfather Luthor, you know? He was engaged to my sister. Your great-aunt Viola. I was to be given to some Targaryen or other," Olenna began, as Lyra leant back in her chair to listen. "Marrying a Targaryen was all the rage back then. But the moment I saw my intended, a pretty little ferret face and ludicrous silver hair, I knew he wouldn't do."

Margaery chortled, as Lyra bit back a smile.

"So, the evening before Luthor was to propose to my sister, I got lost on the way back from my embroidery lesson and happened upon his chamber. How absentminded of me," Olenna smirked, and Lyra could see the mischief in her eyes. "The following morning, Luthor never made it down the stairs to propose to my sister cause the boy couldn't bloody walk and once he could, the only thing he wanted was what I'd given him the night before. I was good, I was very, very good. You are even better, but you need to act quickly. Cersei may be viscous, but she's not stupid. She'll turn the boy against you as soon as she can. By the time you're married, it will be too late."

Lyra nodded at the statement and Margaery glanced over at the young queen, sensing that there was a story behind that nod. It was practically written on the young queen's face. Margaery arched an eyebrow and Lyra sighed before speaking.

"She planted fake letters from me to Robb and, whilst she didn't manage to stop the marriage, she is the reason that my father was killed," Lyra huffed, still feeling the annoyance coursing through despite the incident being over three years ago. "But Tommen, whilst clever, wasn't trained to be a king and discern lies as Joffrey was. He'll fall right into his mother's trap."

"Luckily for you," Olenna continued, squeezing the pairs hands. "The Queen Mother is rather distracted at the moment, too focused on trying to work out who tried to kill her precious Joffrey, accusing Tyrion of something he didn't commit."

Lyra sighed once more. Joffrey's reaction earlier this afternoon had brought a lot of thoughts to mind, and confirmed a lot of her suspicions that she had about Joffrey's upbringing and parents, none of which were pleasant.

"Well, he could've done," Margaery reminded the two. She felt like they were keeping something from her.

"Well he could've done, but he didn't," Olenna commented, patting Margaery's hand to try and reassure her.

"You don't know that, Grandmother." 

"But I do know. You don't think that we'd keep doves in these sorts of places?" Olenna replied cryptically, the true meaning of those words only being known by Lyra. 

Margaery looked between the two women, confused as to what they were insinuating.

"I don't understand...who?" Margaery said, continuing to glance between the two as Lyra hushed her quickly. Anyone could be around and listening to these conversations.

"Don't you worry yourself about all that. You just do what needs to be done," Olenna told Margaery, who nodded skeptically as Olenna turned her gaze on the young queen. "Same goes to you, Lyra."

"I will."

✧✦✧

"Did you sleep well?" Lyra asked, perching on the side of the bed. Joffrey was blinking his eyes blearily, before he reached a hand out for his wife. The woman obliged, slipping out of her shoes and under the covers. 

Immediately, Joffrey's arms sought her out, as he pulled her flush against his chest, curling tightly around her.

"I'm sorry," He murmured, as Lyra began to shake her head. "I know that I am not always great with my words, or expressing myself adequately, but I wanted to try. Yet, I can not find the words that best describe how utterly in love I am with you and how sorry that I am that I don't tell you, or show you that enough."

Lyra leant up as he was talking, pressing her lips against Joffrey's. It took him a moment to work out what was happening, but once he did, he responded in full force, his arm tightening around Lyra's waist. She pulled away first, smiling at the man next to her.

"You may not think that you show it, Joff, but you do," She replied, rubbing her thumb over Joffrey's cheekbone. "You did when you risked your life to save Sansa, or when you offered me the chance to leave, or when you braided my hair and talked to me after the riots. You have always shown how much you care, and true, it might not be through the conventional methods, but I see it."

He ducked his head, refusing to meet her eyes, but Lyra pressed another kiss to his lips as she continued to talk.

"Joff, you are one of the most loving people I know, even if you feel you are not," He glanced at her through his eyelashes. "You want to know how I am so sure that you won't turn out like your mother? You care for others around you. She does not."

"I love you," He murmured, pulling her even closer as she finished speaking. "and you are too perfect to have ever been shackled to someone like me."

"I wouldn't call it shackled, per se," Lyra smiled at him. "I walked down that aisle willingly because I love the man that stood at the end of it. I love you."

She sealed that statement with a kiss, running her finger across the scar on his cheek.

Hiya,

I'm pretty sure the next chapter is the trial scene, so that should be fun, and yes, we got more of Joffrey's backstory (ish) and there was just a lot of angsty/cute scenes in that one. Joff did not deserve the childhood that he got.

Also, just thought I'd say this, I do always reply to comments because I love chatting to others and reading what you guys have got to say (it's super fun to see what you guys think of certain scenes that I enjoyed writing and reading), so please come and chat to me, even if it's to guess about what might happen in the future, or just an emoji cause you thought something was cute. If you do need someone to talk to, my PMs are always open.

Thanks

Love Li xx