Cassana

They had to knock me unconscious to drag me into these cells, although Ser Barristan tried to protect me he could not defy the kings orders. I do not know if it was he or the Lannister men who dragged me in here but judging from the careless scrapes on my legs and my bruised ribs I can assume it was the Lannister men.

 I do not know if Ned was as fortunate.

All I know is that I failed, I lost and now I am not the only one who must suffer.

Silent tears fall as fear begins to consume me, but it is not the darkness I fear, I fear for the lives of those I love.

If I had known Renly would abandon me, if I had known my mother had already bought the Gold Cloaks then I would have fled north, gods or even south. I would not have faced such a situation with no men standing behind me, not when the risk was so great.

I cannot regret my actions, regret won't change what has been done. The game had consumed me, I watched it happen. I watched the girl I had seen in the mirror for sixteen years fade away into something else, I feared losing myself. However in that fear I never realised that I was already lost.

The game captivated me, exhilarated me but it never brought me joy. Not truly. I should have known from watching my parents slowly deteriorate over the years that the throne cannot bring joy, there is no joy without love.

Despite the conflict, despite my own treasons, those months in Winterfell were the happiest time of my life. I was so close to happiness, it was just within my grasp, then I tore myself from it.
I allow myself to imagine my life if I had fought harder, if I did start a riot that day in Winterfell instead of bargaining. It likely would have made no difference but what if it did?

I may not have had the power I desired, nor the responsibility that kept my mind focused but I would have had love. Trading power for falling asleep and waking up beside the man I love everyday is a sacrifice I would make in a heartbeat now.

As the thirst grows my mind begins to fade away. I can see him in the darkness, handsome and tall. Those pale blue eyes look into my own with coldness.

"I should have listened," I breathe, my throat raw. "I should never have betrayed you."

There is no forgiveness in his eyes as he fades away and as my skin begins to shrivel from cold I see him, feel his black cloak around me. Jon. 

I open my mouth to speak his name but the thirst steals my voice from me.

"Drink," Varys says pressing a flask into my hand. "Do not let yourself go mad here, for if you do then you may never come back from it."

He leaves as quickly as he came and darkness again shrouds the world. My eyes remain fixed on the darkness, straining themselves to see him.

"Jon?" I ask but there is no answer. "Robb?"


~

Robb

Robb, I write to you with a heavy heart. Our good king Robert is dead, killed from wounds he took in a boar hunt. Father has been charged with treason alongside the Princess Cassana. They conspired with Robert's brothers against my beloved Joffrey and tried to steal his throne. The Lannisters are treating me very well and provide me with every comfort. I beg you, come to King's Landing, swear fealty to King Joffrey and prevent any strife between the great houses of Lannister and Stark.

"Treason?" I exclaim unable to believe the words in front of me. "Sansa wrote this?"

"It is your sister's hand, but the Queen's words," Maester Luwin says gravely. 

"Treason," I repeat still unable to wrap my mind around it but as I read over it again a few words tell me all I need to know.

'tried to steal his throne'

I always knew what she desired, that she wished she was the heir. I always thought of it as little more than a dream but there were those moments when I saw that Lannister ambition in her eyes, it didn't frighten enough then but it does now.

"She tried to take the throne from Joffrey."

"It seems so,"Maester Luwin agrees "But she doesn't have a stronger claim."

"Unless she does," I begin to realise.

She isn't a fool, she wouldn't do this unless she had a claim, a strong claim. A stronger claim than Joffrey and Tommen. My father wouldn't have supported her unless he believed she should be the one to sit on that throne.

It's been months since I've seen her. I knew that city would change her, that she would be getting in the thick of politics but it never truly frightened me. It should have. Sitting on the small council and handling day to day business was hardly anything to be concerned about, usurping the throne however...

"She's sixteen," I murmur. I met her a month after her name day and now she's not far from her seventeenth. She's so young, we both are. "And now she's in chains."

She is the princess and still young and for that she could be given leniency, but I know Joffrey, he sure won't be the one giving her any. Not while he is king. As much as I try to see her scheming to take the throne, all I see is the bright eyed girl running through the woods with Greywind, laughing with her yellow dress billowing behind her.

The girl I loved.

Until I saw who she really was. 

"She is a prisoner now." His voice is still grave. "And you are summoned to King's Landing to swear fealty to the new King."

She could simply be confined to her room or she could be in the Black Cells. With Joffrey on the throne I know which is more likely. She would be in the Black Cells alongside my father and I know that Joffrey won't show mercy. He may be just a boy but Cassana always tried to warn me about him for Sansa's sake. Now I will heed her warning.

"Joffrey puts my father in chains and now he wants his ass kissed?"

"This is a royal command My Lord. If you should refuse to obey-"

"I won't refuse," I decide. My father will rot until we can put an end to this. They need me, and I will free them. "His Grace summons me to King's Landing, I'll go to King's Landing. But not alone, call the banners."

"All of them, My Lord?"

I cannot go to Kings Landing alone. If they want me to negotiate to get my father back then they'll be negotiating with an army of Northerners sworn to defend their lord.

"They've all sworn to defend my father, have they not?"

"They have."

"Now we see what their words are worth."

He leaves to send the ravens and I sit beside Theon. By doing this I am declaring war, Tywins army is in the Riverlands, I'll have to come to blows with him most likely to get to the capital.

"Are you afraid?" Theon asks and I hold out my hand with trembles no matter how much I will it not to.

"I must be."

"Good."

"Why is that good?"

"It means you're not stupid."

And I wonder if her hand trembled when she went to sieze the throne, surely it must have, rebellion may well be in her blood but she is only a girl, just as I'm only a young man.

She could have been my wife by now, in the months that have passed I've been able to see her more clearly. Not as a heartless Lannister. But as a frightened girl. That's all she was. 

Frightened of war. Frightened for her family, of her family. Frightened and foolish and reckless.

She dug her grave, but she cannot take my father with her.

~

Cassana

By the time Varys comes to see me again all I know is darkness and thirst with nothing but my own thoughts to keep my company. 

"The Black Cells," he comments holding the torch close to my face "Definitely not a place for a lady, let alone a princess."

"I certainly don't feel like a princess," I croak, the first words I've spoken in gods know how long.

"Do you remember when I came to give you water?" he asks worriedly. "You were quite delirious."

"Vaguely," I answer, those moments where I was delirious were the only pleasant ones I've had here, but I have greater concerns than myself. "Ned?"

"He was arrested alongside you for treason, the queen commanded it," he answers and I flinch at the word. Treason. Not conspiracy. Treason. "He didn't publicly incriminate himself so he has a chance but he is still is grave danger, as are you."

"Bree?" I ask fearfully, she was in the throne room with me but I was the only one who escaped before the doors were closed.

"Alive and unharmed," he assures me and tears of relief fall, she's okay. "I have placed her in Sansa's service, who is still engaged to Joffrey and pleading for her fathers life."

Half the reason Ned did this was for his daughters, so I could dissolve the engagement, so they would be safe. Now they're trapped in the lions den.

"I never wanted this to happen," I choke, the guilt that haunts me relentlessly again creeping out from the darkness. "This is my fault."

"It's not," he argues to my surprise and for a moment I wonder if my ears are deceiving me. "It seems Lord Stark told the queen he knew the truth about her and what truly befell his son. His mercy was what killed the king and what sealed his own fate. His honour betrayed him just as Renly and Lord Baelish betrayed you."

Just as I suspected.

"Did you know?" I ask meeting his eye "That the Gold Cloaks we're already bought."

"Unfortunately I didn't, it seems Lord Baelish and Ned brokered that in secret. In your effort to keep Lord Stark out of harms way he put himself there instead."

His words do not make the guilt any less.

"Robb?" I dare to ask. I promised him I would look after his sisters and now their father is in jail and they would certainly be kept under guard. I failed him as well.

"Sansa has written to inform him that you and Ned were arrested for treason for attempting to usurp the throne but no specific details. They were the queens words after all, not the poor girls."

I have found myself wondering what's come of my mother, the last I saw her she stood beside Joffrey with her eyes pleading with me to bend the knee. "My mother?"

"Confined to her chambers, she pleaded with Joffrey to let you out but he threatened to put her here with you."

At least she tried to help me, but she could have avoided this entire mess.

"On my fathers deathbed I asked him to name me his heir but he wanted me to go north and marry Robb, to be happy. I made my mother the same offer weeks ago. I asked her about changing the line of succession to put the firstborn as heir regardless of gender but she wouldn't even consider it."

"Because you are the only one who would hold Tywin to account and gods know what else," he says and finally I understand. It was never about Joffrey. "You are far more dangerous than your brother could ever be. You would have shaken this keep to its core, not only this keep, you would have sent a storm raging across Westeros. You would have broken the wheel."

"I would have," I say unapologetically. "She knew if I was queen I wouldn't allow these power games. It was the slaughter of the Riverlands that made me turn my back on the Lannisters, I decided that I wouldn't allow Tywin to be untouchable."

"No one is untouchable Princess, now drink."
He holds out a flask for me which I gladly take. "You should savour it, you may be the princess but you are a traitor as far as your brother and the guards in here are concerned. They know it was you who murdered one of their own."

"They were going to get a fucking battering ram to bash my door in, Bree was in there. I could have run but I wasn't going to leave her there alone at the guards mercy."

His eyes soften "You have a good heart but not a gentle one. If you did then you wouldn't be in this mess."

The question I've had in my mind since my arrest lingers on my tongue, finally I force myself to ask it.

"How much danger am I in Varys?"

"I'm afraid you might lose your head," he confesses and the air is torn from my lungs, I can't breathe. My hand reaches up to touch my neck as the world spins around me "Your mother can not control Joffrey, the council however is trying to. When Lord Tywin returns he will set him straight but-"

"He's in the Riverlands," I answer numbly. "And Joffrey is king."

"Yes."
It's then I realise that I am in far greater danger than I ever anticipated. If Tywin returns he will give me a thrashing but he would not take my head, he's not foolish enough to. Joffrey however is a fool, a cruel fool.

"I need a favour."

"What favour?"

Can you pass on one final message to Robb, please?" my voice trembles as I face reality "I would like to say goodbye to him."

His face is sympathetic "Of course Princess, I'll return in a few days with paper and water, make it last until then."

And he leaves while I must face the cost for those who venture near the throne.

~

Time passes as I contemplate my fate. The more I consider every possible situation the less hope I have of escaping this alive.

While the guards think I'm asleep I listen to their conversation.

"She's a pretty thing isn't she?" one comments however his voice is not kind "Do you think the king would mind?"

"Not yet," the other snaps while I'm left colder and more fearful than I ever have been. "Wait until he decides if she's losing her head or not."

"She's losing it," the other says with such certainty that I know my time is almost up. "You've heard what the say, she'll be lucky if they don't bind her to a stake and watch her burn."

Fire. That's one way I hadn't considered. I can't imagine anything worse than being burned alive. I'd much rather everything be over with the stroke of a sword but that is not in my control.

All I can do now is say my goodbyes.

~

Varys eventually comes with writing materials and water as he had promised.

"I hear what the guards say," I tell him numbly. "Is Joffrey planning my execution?"

"I'm afraid so," he confesses "You still have a chance to plead for mercy, we are doing all we can to prevent it until Tywin returns."

It's ironic that my last hope is that he returns in time. But I do not have hope. I've never believed in hope. I know what will befall me, I know my death is near.

The speech I had written in my mind disappears as the ink blots the paper and instead I write straight from my heart, my hand shaking.

Robb. 

You must know by now of mine and Ned's arrest, you would also know what I have done. Joffrey and the others are bastards born of incest between my mother and Jaime. Bran discovered the truth, it is Jaime who threw him to protect themselves. It is because of this dangerous knowledge Ned is here, not because of treason. His only treason was having the courage to confront my mother. Now we both sit in the Black Cells, as far as I know your sisters are safe but I cannot forgive myself for allowing your fathers to be put in chains while I had taken it upon myself to protect them. I knew back in Winterfell, even if I could not admit it I knew, and I could not marry you, I could hardly look you in the eye. I knew war was coming, and I betrayed you before it ever began. You were right, about everything, I wish I had listened. However I am not writing this to defend my actions and my deceits, but to say goodbye. I will lose my head. I knew the price of venturing close to the throne and this is it. I wish I had it in my heart to have loved you how you deserved, and I swear to you that I will fight until they take my head to protect your family from mine.

Cassana

I give the letter to Varys who asks "Is this the only letter you wish for me to pass on?"

I nod weakly, realising how alone I truly am. No allies, and no friends. 

I am alone now, and death waits for me.

~

Robb

I return from the feast with my bannermen to find a letter on my bed. Cautiously I pick it up and inspect the seal, there's no sigil. However as soon as I open it I recognise her writing.
And so I read the tearstained letter, written with a shaking hand. Every last painful word of it. 

Joffrey is a bastard. Jaime Lannister's son. The queen and her brother... We always thought it was a Lannister who threw him. Now we know why, father knows why. It's enough to make anyone sick, however my fear that shrouds any disgust I have.

She's ready to die, to surrender to her fate. And my father- it's his honour that put him in those cells, the truth about what happened to Bran.

They don't know I'm coming, but they will. 

~

Cassana

Varys visits again and the light of the torch properly burns my eyes. I've been in the darkness for far too long.

"Tell me, are you breaking me out or is it finally time?"

"I'm afraid neither."

"Any news from Dorne?" I ask, remembering my letters.

"Nothing from Oberyn, although that is not surprising. While Prince Doran commended you he stated he desires to remain neutral in this war as Dorne has seen enough violence." I nod in understanding, not expecting anything different but he continues. "However there is news from the North, Robb Stark is marching an army south."

Proud tears come to my eyes. He's marching south with an army. He is leading an army. I can hardly imagine the young man I knew in love with in Winterfell at the head of an army.

"He is a greater man than I ever gave him credit for," I realise, having convinced myself he was another spoilt son of a lord like Joffrey or Loras. Yet here he is. "A true Northerner." As much as I want to have hope, I can't. He may be able to defeat an army but he can't defeat time. "Where is he?"

"North of the Twins."

"He'll never make it in time," I realise sadly. "Not for me nor his father."

But who am I to even imagine he could want to save me after all I've done?

From the look in Varys' eyes he knows this is the truth. "He won't but there is still hope Tywin will. Joffrey is currently convinced that leaving you to rot and fear your uncertain fate is the best punishment, but when he hears that your former fiance has risen an army and is marching against him I suspect that will change."

"It's a months ride from Winterfell to here and he has to bring an army with him as well as face my grandfather in the field."

He'll have to face Tywin. While he marches south my grandfather will only continue to march north through the Riverlands. Robb will take far longer than a month to reach the capital and Joffrey is even more impatient than I am.

"He may fall in battle," he warns me and I cringe, knowing he is telling me the harsh truth. "It is unknown exactly how many men Robb has, twenty thousand is the current estimate, but Tywin already has tens of thousands of men mobilised with your uncle Jaime leading half. Robb will likely be trapped between two armies that will also likely both be twice the size of his. He has no experience in the field. I'm sorry princess but Robb Stark will be a dead man if he cannot settle for peace."

Varys is a clever man, he knows the probabilities but he does not know Robb. He does not know what love can drive a person to do.
"That is true, the odds are against him, very, very against him," I acknowledge, finally seeing what I never could before. "But you don't know him like I do. Robb is fighting for his fathers life, my life, the Northerners are fighting for the love they bear their lord. The Lannister men are fighting for gold and out of fear of Tywin Lannister. A soldier who fights for a purpose will always outrank the soldier who fights for gold."

The Northerners love their lord, Robb would die for his family. His sisters are here, his father is here. With twenty thousand battle hardened Northerners at his back they may just stand a chance. 

"That is true," he also acknowledges "The Northerners are far more fierce than the men of the Westerlands but Lord Tywin is quite the mastermind and Ser Jaime is an experienced soldier. Robb has no experience in the field."

"No, not in the field," I say and a newfound confidence fills me, finally I find faith. Not in any gods but in Robb. "But I've seen Robb fight, I've seen him train. He fights better while sparring with his brother than most knights do in a tournament. He is more than capable of fighting in battle-"

"It takes more than being able to fight to win a battle," he patronises but I simply give him a knowing smile.

"I'm a soldiers daughter, I was raised on war stories Lord Varys. I know how battles are won," I remind him. "Strong leadership, unity, a cause. The Northeners have all of that. Robb may be inexperienced but since he was born he was raised to be a Lord, to lead hard men and to do it well. He is Ned Starks son, he is an intelligent man, young but he is determined. You should know Lord Varys what young men can do for love. After all, rebellions have been built on it alone, my fathers was and he became king. I don't have faith that he will reach me in time but I have faith that he will win if it comes to battle. That he will serve justice."

He looks surprised "The amount of faith you have in a man you ran away from is astonishing."

"I ran not because I didn't want to marry him, but because I did," I confess, and no longer try to rationalise my heart. "I loved Jon, I did, but only after I knew I could not stay in Winterfell. I was falling in love with Robb, and in the fallout I fell for his bastard brother because I knew I could never marry him."

"But you knew that you would have married Robb," he finishes and I nod. "And so when you heard the first whisper of the betrothal being stalled you ran with it and away from him. A man who is now marching south for you and his father."

"Yes."

He does not need to tell me how much of a disaster I've made of everything, I already know it well. I just pray Robb can save his sisters, save his father.

Because I know he will not save me.

~

 Robb

We wait anxiously for my mother to return from The Twins. We need to secure the crossing.

We've heard nothing more from the capital. Nothing of my father, or my sisters or Cassana.

Nothing.

My mother won't speak her name, she hasn't since I told her the truth about her and Jon. I felt the same for so long, I still do. But if anything I pity her, pity her heart.

I want to believe at one point she loved me, even after all this time it is a question I still ask myself. Perhaps I may yet live to ask her myself.

Finally Mother returns and I anxiously ask "Well, what did he say?"
"Lord Walder has granted your crossing," she says but it's what she says next that confuses me. "His men are yours, as well."

"Huh?" He's not a Northerner, he wouldn't give me men unless he saw some benefit in it for himself.

"Less the four hundred he will keep here to hold the crossing against any who would pursue you."

"What does he want in return?" I hesitantly ask knowing the price will be steep.
"You will be taking on his son Olyvar as your personal squire. He expects a knighthood in good time."

"Fine, fine. And?"

"And Arya will marry his son Waldron when they both come of age."

"She won't be happy about that," I comment knowing she'll likely throw a riot but then I see the look on her face and swallow "And?"

"And when the fighting is done you will marry one of his daughters. Whichever you prefer. He has a number-"

I hold my hand up to silence her while I try to find my words "I- I'm already engaged."

Her face turns absolutely stony. "Robb, don't you dare tell me you still want to marry that foolish whore."

"Mother-"

"She betrayed you with her own brother," she grinds out. "You best be just using her as an excuse."

"Maybe I am," I admit, and confess to her. "Maybe a part of me still loves her despite it all. She swore to me she would fight for our family-"

"And you believe her?"

"I do," I say, remembering the promises she made of me. "She warned me about her family, about Bran, and told us the true reason why Father is down in those cells."

"Yes, because she decided to overthrow her brother!"

"Because father confronted the woman who is the reason Bran fell from that tower," I say, having pieced the pieces together. "I believe they just used her rebellion as an excuse to put him there. She is far from innocent, but I believe her when she says she will fight for something."

 She is still livid but says "I will tell Lord Walder your betrothal to that girl still stands, but considering she will be losing her head I doubt he'll mind."

"Thank you mother," I say but she can still barely meet my eye. She hates her, she truly does and blames her for everything that has befallen us, and at one point perhaps I did as well. But there's no place for all that now, all that matters is our family. "We will get her back," I swear. "We will get them all back."

~

Cassana

Light again fills my cell, I don't know how long I've been in here. Weeks? More likely closer to months.

"Is it time yet?"

"Tomorrow," Varys answers and strangely enough it comes as a relief. "Robb has passed the Twins, he will be fighting Tywin in the field any day now and Joffrey has gone into a rage that a Stark would have the audacity to march an army against him. Tomorrow you will be taken before the city and given two options, plead guilty, bend the knee and pray for mercy or defend your claim and lose your head for it. I recommend you bend the knee."

"And what? Live my life in exile?" I scoff knowing what my choice is. 

"There is a chance you may be able to return north with Robb if peace is brokered," he says and I wish I could believe him. "A place where you will be out of sight."

"If I married Robb I'd be a queen with an army, Joffrey would never allow it," I dismiss, amongst all the other complications. "Tywin would never allow it. If I was allowed to marry Robb I would raise men from the Stormlands and take the throne. It is the only way either of us would be safe and my grandfather will realise this."

"I was afraid you'd say that," he sighs. "If I could put you on that throne I would but-"

"Tywin would never allow it," I finish. "Putting me on the throne would be admitting that the rumours are true."

"Exactly", he says then pleads. "Please, give up your claim, plead with Robb to lay down his weapons.

"What about Ned?" I ask defensively. "I'm not the only one on trial."

"I've pleaded with him to bend the knee and ask to be sent to the wall. Either way he will not escape this without consequence and neither will you."

"The only crime either of us have committing is knowing the truth."

He knows it.

"This will be my last visit," he says and gives me my ultimatum. "You must make a choice. Tomorrow you will either lose your head or you can survive. It is time to decide."

I have already accepted my fate and request "Tomorrow before I'm taken before the city can you send Bree to me please. Ask her to bring my yellow dress with the Baratheon embroidery. I'd very much like to wear something that isn't covered in blood when I'm standing before the city."

He nods sadly and then he is gone while I am left to ponder my fate.

I call out to the guard "Bring me a scaffold!"

He seems disturbed by the request but agrees.

And so I lie my head down upon it, facing my fate alone before the city.

I will die, and I will be ready to face it.