Cassana

We all take up residence in Storms End while preparing to meet with Stannis.

"You weren't kidding when you said it was a fortress," Robb comments now our army surrounds it. 

"It's never been successfully besieged," I tell him. "The wall is one hundred feet high. House Durrandon built many castles each were destroyed by storms, except for this one. They say magic was woven into its walls so the sea god couldn't destroy it."

He looks curious. "House Durrandon were some of the first men, how did the Baratheons end up as the Lords of the Stormlands?"

A history I'm proud to tell. "House Durrandon were known as the Storm Kings, similar to your Kings of Winter. The Andals tried to conquer the castle but they never could, eventually they made peace through marriages. Then Aegon the Conqueror came. Orys Baratheon, the founder of my house was believed to be his bastard brother and he slew the last Durrandon king. His daughter Argella named herself the Storm Queen. She refused to bend the knee and was willing to die defending Storms End against a dragon but her men betrayed her and handed her over to Orys. He took her as his bride, adopted the sigil and words of House Durrandon as his own and House Baratheon became the Lords of the Stormlands."

"The Storm Queen," he says to himself as thunder roars in the distance "Sounds like someone else I know."

"I hope not," I comment knowing what the equivalent would be, knowing her story. "She was fiercer and braver than all her men but still they betrayed her."

"Well if she was anything like you then those men would have been fools." He then looks at my uncle who walks ahead of us and whispers "Just like someone else we know."

I laugh quietly as I take his hand in my own, finally able to introduce him to my home in the daylight as we step into the courtyard, in the midst of it sits a massive round tower.

"This is where just about everything is," I tell him, it's size never seizing to stun me. "The Round Hall, our chambers, rookery, maester. Everything."

It's not like anything he's ever seen, Winterfell has its towers but Storms End is unique from any other castle ever built. With the storms that batter it I'm willing to believe it took magic to keep it standing.

We're about to enter the tower when Margaery approaches us.

"Cassana may we have a word alone?" she requests then clarifies to avoid suspicion. "Women's business."

"Of course," I hesitatingly agree and leave Robb standing there with Greywind.

As she leads me away I notice Renly approach him and lead him towards the kennels.

"I would like to apologise again for everything, and express my joy at how happy you are in your marriage," she tells me out of the blue. "I wish I could have a fraction of that with Renly."

"So the marriage still has not been consummated," I gather but that is hardly a secret.

"No," she admits and I'm confused as to why she is even sharing this with me now. "I have tried but he will not lie with me. How am I meant to be his wife if I cannot bear children for him, his men are beginning to whisper behind his back. I love Loras, and I knew what I had agreed to when I married Renly but-"

"You do not need to explain yourself Margaery," I say knowing that if I was not betrothed to Robb then I'd likely be married to bloody Loras by now. Her position is one I could very easily be in. "Renly isn't a fool, to protect his secret he will do what he must."

"Thank you Cassana," she says squeezing my hand but her vulnerability alarms me, I know she is not telling me all of this because she wants to. She wants me to be vulnerable with her. It is not a mistake I will ever make again, but I must pretend to be to find out what is truly going on.

"Sometimes I worry that I will not be able to fulfill my duties to Robb," I share, so she will reciprocate back. "I love him, I truly do but I fear that after the things I have done there is a distance between us."

"Surely not," she dismisses "He loves you, that is clear to everyone. The first thing he demanded when he saw Renly was to have you freed and married to him."

Well trained tears come to my eyes "Only because he sees me as the girl he fell in love with in Winterfell, not who I am now. I want to be the girl I was, the girl he loves. I do not want to leave the Stormlands, I like the game, I like the politics but he hates it. Despises it. I fear he will want me to give it up."

It isn't until the words leave my mouth I realise their truth. A deep fear within me that lingers. His words may say otherwise but what I feared in the beginning may yet still come back to haunt me. He is coming to accept the truth of being king. It will take time for him to open his mind to it fully but he will. I hope.

"I know you want to have a place in this war but is he prepared for the consequences? Can you imagine him in the capital after capturing Tywin Lannister's son?"

I look over to see him disappear with Renly and my voice begins to shake "All I want is for him to be safe, I don't want what happened to Ned to befall him."

She takes my hands in hers "Then do what you know is right, whatever that may be."

Her touch only makes that storm within rage, and I let go of her hand to return to my husband before my words can betray me. 

Robb and I will never be safe while Joffrey is on the throne nor while Tywin is in power. Renly will not be able to win this war through numbers alone with Stannis as his enemy. If they destroy each other Robb and I are dead as well. 

I am the rightful heir and if I fall pregnant before she does then the allegiance of the Stormlands will begin to change and knows it. Renly will soon know it as well.

I know he is cooking up a plot but soon he will slip up. Until then I must be vigilant, he is family but he is a threat.

Then again I've found that the two often go hand in hand.

~

Robb

Renly leads me towards where he says the kennels are and I can't help but notice how tense Greywind is. I'm learning to trust his instincts more than my own.

"I'll have my men butcher a stag for him," he says. "A huge beast isn't he?"

I don't like the way he says it and neither does Greywind.

"He's good in battle," I remark and Renly looks at Greywind warily then clears his throat.

"I'm sure Cassana will show you around the castle. I don't know if she's mentioned but we have a Godswood with a weirwood tree."

"We married there," I remark and he shakes his head.

"She is a hard woman to predict, reckless too," he comments. "It worries me. Making the biggest decision of her life on a whim."

"And you didn't?" I reply, having heard the story of him and his wife. 

"Well, not that Cassana would admit it but she was the one to suggest the match in the first place," he says, something I didn't know. "Then is furious when we go through with it. She's like her mother in that regard, filled with the premordial wrath only a woman can have."

Something I've seen in fleeting moments, she has the  same capacity for cruelty as she does for love. "Can you blame her considering who her family is?"

"I cannot," he admits. "But it is something to be wary of. She is her mothers daughter afterall, so treat her well or suffer as Robert did."

"Where are you going with this?" I ask shortly.

"She is a stubborn woman with a menchant for madness," he says plainly. "Which is why I fear she won't give up the throne."

Now I understand why he's pulled me aside with his wife to distract her. 

"Well she is Roberts only trueborn child," I say knowing that out of all of them she should be the one sitting on that bloody throne. I promised her that I would support her, stand by her side as her husband, and I meant it but I also declared her to be my queen, that I need her by my side as that as well as my wife.

"She is but that city destroyed her, even before the Black Cells she was miserable. She always was," he says and tells me "She told me herself the happiest she's ever been was in the North with you."

She was happy, from the moment I met her it was like seeing her come alive. Slowly, day by day her eyes filled with more and more life. There was no politics or any of that, it was pure happiness, peace.

Until it wasn't.  

"She was," I agree, yet remembering how it all fell apart so easily. "But what's your point?"

He lowers his voice "When this battle with Stannis is done we will take the capital. You can have Joffreys head and your sisters will be free, Cassana will be free." He dares to propose. "Take her North and keep her there."

"She won't like that," I remark, knowing if she heard him now she would likely cut his throat. "You know she won't."

"If you take her North and convince her to give up the throne I will make the North an independent kingdom. She can be your queen and hopefully that will be enough to appease her."

I finally realise what he means, what he is suggesting. He is trying to use this marriage as a transaction, to have me take her far away and never let her return. 

He is giving me an ultimatum.

"In exchange for my independence you want me to make my wife a prisoner?"

"Not a prisoner-"

"Well that's not how she'll see it," I say coldly. "She would never agree to it."
"I'm not bringing her this offer, I'm bringing it to you," he says and grits out. "Keep her away from the Iron Throne and the North will be independent."

"Is that a threat?" I ask and Greywind begins to growl.

"Not a threat," he says quietly. "An ultimatum."

He looks over my shoulder and I hear her voice. "What are you two plotting?"

"Our victory over Stannis," Renly answers with ease. "I was just telling this handsome husband of yours the history of our castle."

"My castle," she corrects and comes to my side, obviously suspicious. "Now, I believe there is business to atted to uncle."

"Yes, my niece," he replies and starts to head towards the tower.

She goes to lead me there but I clear my throat "Would you be able to take me to the Godswood?" I ask knowing I can't look her in the eye and pretend everything is fine. "I'd like a moment alone to pray."

She looks somewhat surprised but even so takes my hand in hers "Of course."

She takes me to the Godswood, while it is not the same as Winterfells it still reminds me of home. When I look into her eyes she knows it as well.

She kisses me softly "When you're ready I'll be with Greywind."

She leaves me and I walk through the Godswood until I find a solemn faced weirwood tree.

I kneel before it feeling torn between duty and love. I have a duty to my people, to the North. If I was any other type of king I would accept Renly's request without a second thought to make the North independent but I am not that type of king.

I don't want to be that type of king.

To accept his proposal I'd have to deprive her of her home, of her birthright. She would be my queen but not the queen she wishes to be, not the queen she was born to be. By doing this in her eyes I'd be making her little more than a wife and child rearer, I know that I'd never see her as that but she would never forgive me.

I wouldn't be able to look her in the eye without knowing I'd failed her, and indeed she would hate me forever. We still have to deal with Stannis but if Renly is the one who ends up on the throne I know he will hold to his promise of Northern independence if I keep Cassana in line, but I am not that type of husband. 

I need to tell her but I don't know if I can.We're still in such a fragile position I can't put any doubt in her mind. Not when there is so much on the line. 

We still have yet to face the consequences of our marriage, the Freys, my mother, all of it. 

Once the war is won all of this can be dealt with.

Cassana

Robb finds me with Greywind and although he smiles he cannot hide the weight on his shoulders from me. I've never known Robb to be a very religious man but I know he misses his home and the Godswood is the closest thing he has to Winterfell.

"Are you alright?" I ask softly and he gives me a weak smile.

"I am," he tries to assure me but I know him too well to believe him. "I just have some things on my mind."

Carefully I ask "What things?"

"King things," he answers, for the first time sounding weighed down by it all. "I'm trying to do what is right for my people. Uphold my duty to them as well as my oaths. I want to be a good king, and a good husband."

I look at him with pride "You are a good king Robb and a good husband. You truly are so, so good. You are an honourable and just man, it is difficult wearing a crown but you do it well. I know that you will be a brilliant king and the best husband I could have ever dreamed of. I am so proud of the man you've become."

He kisses me with unexpected raw emotion, his lips rough upon my own and his tongue desperate for mine as if he were taking me to bed, but when my eyes meet his there is so much conflict in them that it leaves me confused, a little fearful even.

"Are you sure you're alright?"

"I have everything I need," he answers. "I have my wife, my queen. I have you."

I do not pry any further, instead I rest my forehead against his "And you are my king and my husband. Now there is nothing anyone can do to tear us apart."

Except there is. Most of all ourselves, the skeletons in our closets that hang over us.

~

It is late when I go to the kitchens to get some more wine. After spending quite a while in bed with my husband I spent the rest of the afternoon showing Robb around Storms End and speaking with the people who live here, people I have not seen since I was a child.

"It is good to have you back Princess," Darla, one of the servants I've known since I was a babe says.

"It is glad to be back," I reply, no words have ever felt more true "I must be honest, I didn't expect to return."

"We are all thankful to the gods that you have," she tells me "Many of us here prayed day and night that you would escape those awful cells and come home."

In those dark moments I'd forgotten that somewhere my people still prayed for me. I take her hands in mine "Thank you, I am so very glad to be home and so grateful for everyone's prayers. I've missed my home and I have missed my people."

"And we have missed our princess," she says then whispers in my eye "Our queen."

She knows exactly what she is saying "I am Queen in the North thanks to my marriage, except as for the Stormlands my uncle still calls himself king." 

"Yes that is what he calls himself," she comments. "But you are our late kings only trueborn child, we always had a funny feeling about the others. We're loyal to our lord but we also know who arrived here the day we heard of your arrest, and hastily found himself a rich bride instead of marching to that city to free you."

They know he betrayed me. Those from the rest of the Stormlands may not but the people of Storms End would have put two and two together.

Perhaps I may have more supporters than I realised if those in Renly's own castle call me queen.

"Renly may call himself king but I do know my claim, and I suppose I am a queen now either way."shall be a queen come tomorrow either way."

She smiles warmly "A handsome boy isn't he, he seems to be a gentleman like his father. I served here long before your father was ever a king, Ned always made Robert behave a little better when he was around."

I can't help but laugh "Yes Robb is a gentleman indeed, a good man like his father. I'm very much taken with him.

"Oh I can tell," she says pinching my cheeks as she did when I was a girl "I can see it in your eyes."

I smile broadly and hug her "Oh it is good to be home."

Eventually I leave the kitchens and begin walking back to my chambers when I hear the voice I've been dreading.

"Some wine for the nerves?"

I turn to look at him "Ah Lord Baelish. Stalking now are you?"

"I was indeed surprised to hear you're a married woman," he says and I already know this won't end well "Your mother will be so devastated that she couldn't attend her own daughters wedding."

"Well she could have but instead let my brother try to kill me twice," I remind him. "Rest assured I am quite happy having married my husband in a priate ceremony."

"I suspect your grandfather won't be happy that you're marrying a traitor," he says and I could almost laugh.

"Oh but I'm a far more dangerous traitor than Robb could ever be," I point out. "Which is why my grandfather is afraid, but I have no concern for his happiness."

I begin to walk away from him and he comments "Your grandfather won't be the only lord who will be unhappy."

Rolling my eyes I turn back to look at him "Do tell, who else am I pissing off?"

He smiles and I know that smile far too well "Walder Frey."

I only look at him in confusion "Why would that old man be unhappy?"

"Because of Robbs oath to his daughter of course," he replies and I go utterly cold.

"What oath?"

"Oh he didn't tell you," he says feigning shock while I'm left with a sickness in my stomach. "To get Walder Frey on his side he swore to marry his daughter once the war was done, they say she is very beautiful, a meek little thing. She'd make an obedient wife I'm sure. I've heard that Robb was quite taken with her when-"

I slap him hard across the cheek shaking from fury, unable to even comprehend this "Do not dare try come between me and my husband. If you dare try to again I will cut your dead heart out and throw your body from the walls of this castle."

He only looks pleased with himself. "Oh being a hypocrite does not become you your grace."

"Pardon?"

"Jon Snow," he says and reveals "Catelyn told me about your affair with the bastard, no wonder you married Robb before she could have a word with him."

I laugh darkly, pain pricking in my heart. "Robb knows everything. Unlike you there is nothing left to be held over me."

He seems intrigued. "And what is that exactly?"

"The dagger," I say and that pleased look disappears from his eyes, as does that cruel smile. "The one you lied to Ned about."

He still tries to deny it. "The one I lost to Tyrion you mean?"
I shake my head slowly. "I'm not a fool. You never lost that dagger to Tyrion because he would never have bet against Jaime. I don't know if you sent the assassin yourself but I know that you lied. That at the very least you took advantage of or had something to do with the attempt on Brans-"

He grasps my wrist tightly, the look in his eye as sharp as Valyrian steel as he warns "Careful, you wouldn't want to cause any trouble now."

"Actually I do," I decide looking him unwaiveringly in the eye. "You see my husband loves his little brother very much, Ned may not have put it together but he will. Even if Robb can stop himself from killing you I can't promise his wolf won't."

Yet he raises an eyebrow and says one word "Sansa."

Sansa.

The only reason we haven't killed him yet.

I tear my hand from his grasp and order "Be gone by dawn or I will have you executed."

His voice remains calm in a false sense of security "Your uncle won't allow that, not when I could be the one ensuring he meets open gates when he goes to take the city instead of a siege."

Of course he had something to offer Renly, but unlike him I'm not desperate enough to believe it.

"Like how you promised Ned and I the Gold Cloaks?" I ask and he knows there is no getting me to trust him. "I am king, not Renly. And I will not give you the chance to betray me twice."

He almost looks proud "Oh if only you were this wise when you tried to take the throne, poor Ned Stark may still be-"

His words disappear as I strike him again but this time with a closed fist. Unfortunately I don't have a blade on me. I may not kill him tonight but I will kill him. That much is for certain.

I compose myself while he clutches his cheek "Now, stay far away from my husband and I unless you want your head on a spike."

As I storm to my chambers he calls out "You should be telling that to the Frey girl."

I do not stop to argue but tears burn in my eyes as I remember the heaviness of Robbs words when he returned from the Godswood.

'I'm trying to do what is right for my people. Uphold my duty to them as well as my oaths.'

Oaths.

An oath to Walder Freys daughter.

If Littlefinger wanted to lie he would have used Margaery or someone I actually know to get to me, a Frey is far too random to be a lie.

Yet he knows any anger would brand me the worst sort of hypocrite.

So when I enter Robb and I's bedroom I am silent, where I wish I could rage and set the wine on the table unable to face him.

"Cass?"

"I've been honest with you about my worst sins," I begin, knowing I do not have the right to attack him. "I slept with your brother and yet you could not tell me you were sworn to marry Walder Freys daughter." He's silent. "Why?"

He comes up behind me. "Because that oath has been the furthest thing from my mind, and I only said I would do it if I could not marry you."

I close my eyes, his response noble, as he always is. "So, I'm the terrible one then."

Perhaps I hoped he had been involved with the girl, if only to lessen my own guilt.

He does not take to my self pity well. "How are we meant to move forward if you still think about him."

I can still smell Jon's cloak, even now replaced by Robbs as I pour myself a glass of wine and drink from it. "Littlefinger cornered me, trying to threaten me and told me that Catelyn told him about Jon and I. How would he know?"

"I told her," Robb reveals to me as I realise it is not just Robb's forgiveness I will need to seek. "When we realised you knew about Bran."

I nod, knowing I must face the consequences of my actions. "How is he, Bran?"

"Well aside from the fact he'll never walk again," he says. "I haven't seen him in months."

I nod again and ask "Your mother?"

"Will likely kill us both when she sees us."

I turn to look at him and ask "Are you having regrets yet?"

"Are you?"

We did rush into it, we never stopped for a moment to think twice. 

But do I regret it? No. Do I regret everything that's passed between us before it? Yes.

Or perhaps I wish I did.

"The only regrets I have are the things I cannot change," I confess to him and just shake my head. "You know my regrets well, nothing good can come from rehashing them."

"Agreed," he says quietly and releases a long drawn out breath "Since we're being honest there is one more thing I have to tell you."

Of course there is. 

Calmly I ask "What is it?"

He hesitates "I wasn't going to tell you but I don't know who else to go to."

I see the same conflict in his eyes I did when he asked me to take him to the Godswood.

"You can tell me anything Robb," I say realising that if he had to go to the Godswood to deal with it then it must be serious.

"When Margaery pulled you away earlier Renly spoke to me. He gave me an ultimatum."

He stops and I feel my body go stiff under his touch, there is only one ultimatum Renly could give Robb. "What does he want in exchange for giving you independence?"

He looks me in the eye "He will make the North independent but only if I convince you to give up the throne and keep you in the North."

I let out of a humourless laugh "Of course he did."

He doesn't have the heart to kill so he'll get Robb to take me away instead. He is using my marriage as blackmail and a transaction. The fucking bastard. Betraying me once wasn't enough.

But then I realise, if he is begging my husband and threatening him he knows his own position is weak. He wants me gone, he sees me as a threat.

"Renly is desperate," I realise. "The people who serve him here know he betrayed me in Kings Landing. He knows that he is at risk of his people turning against him, he's trying to get me as far away from here as possible so I can't gain support. Out of sight, out of mind."

I'm not even that angry, this isn't personal, it's strategic. If I was in his position I'd likely do the same. However he is desperate, his only hope of getting rid of me is counting on Robb to somehow convince me to give up my birthright. He's desperate and desperate men make mistakes, he'll be wanting to believe that his plans working.

"What are you thinking?" Robb asks, seeming a little disturbed by my lack of anger.

"Have you given him an answer yet?" I ask eagerly knowing just how to twist this to my advantage.

"I don't want to make my wife my prisoner so no, not yet," he answers seeming even more disturbed.

"Good," I grin almost wickedly. "I need you to tell him that you will."

He again is rendered speechless before spluttering "You'd actually agree to it?"

"Of course not," I dismiss, I am not going to be his pawn and neither is Robb "But we can trick him into believing it for long enough. He is afraid, he is desperate. He wants to believe that he is clever, that all his schemes are going as planned and that he is a powerful king who is in control. We will convince him that he is. Tell him that you will try to convince me, that you put duty before love, and I will cry to Margaery about how I feel as though I'm failing at my wifely duties and want to be everything that Frey girl would have been. They report back to each other and convince themselves that their plan is working. This is the second time he has tried to betray me, this time he will not succeed. He and Stannis are at each others throats, once we take the capital it will be brother against brother. When whoever is left standing is weak we will take power, I just need to stay in power long enough to be in a position to do so. They think my love for you is my weak spot but it's not, it's where I'm strongest. They are trying to turn us against each other but they will not. We will use it against them."

For a moment he stares at me speechless before laughing in awe "You are brilliant." He clutches my face and kisses me "You are fucking brilliant."

He pulls away and that wonder fades from his eyes to be replaced by fear.

"What's wrong?"

He looks at me uncertainly "And the North?"

"The North is ours my love," I answer, even if I have no desire to ever set foot in it again. I'd never be able to stand in his Godswood without remembering how I kissed Jon and begged him not to leave. 

And I wonder what he will think once the news reaches him I've married Robb.