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Chapter nine𓃦 The death of a King
Lord Bennard Stark was the first to know. The raven arrived in the early morning when he reached his chambers, a letter tight to his foot when it landed on the window shelf. His lady wife – the lady Margaret of House Karstark – opened her eyes slowly when the babe in her womb kicked and when her husband ripped the paper open, revealing the inside. She groaned out, tired of another sleepless night, "what is it?"
His jaw was clenched, "the King is dead."
"Daenys' father?" Margaret whispers out like it was some sort of a secret though the great Houses already heard the news. She pulls herself in a sitting position, a hand resting on her growing belly – her second child rests inside, "what? How?"
Whenever Bennard hears the name of the Targaryen girl that bewitched his nephew, he wishes to strangle the person who spoke it. Thankfully for Margaret, he needs his heirs. He throws the paper on the table and shooshes the raven off the window, closing it shut, "we must act now. War is coming."
"War?" she asks when she watched Bennard move to the dresser to grab his doublet, "did the king not name his heir? Does he not have children?"
"He named his daughter his heir years ago," her husband replied, pulling on his fur covered doublet, "but from what my nephew tells me, the Queen will put her son on the Iron Throne. We pledged alliance to Rhaenyra when she was named heir. We do not forget our oaths."
Margaret nods slowly but then the realization hits, "but Daenys is . . . she is the queen's daughter, is she not? The sister of the one they will wish to put on the throne."
Bennard sighs when Margaret only slowly realizes what he's saying. He turns to look at her where she sits on the bed, "yes, yes, she is the sister of Aegon. But she is also Rhaenyra's blood. It doesn't matter who she wishes to stand with, the Starks remain loyal to Rhaenyra."
Before he leaves, Margaret speaks, making him stop in tracks, "Cregan has the word in it."
He turns and if he could, he'd kill her, smutter her with the pillow he slept on, "he will do as I say. He wants to be like his father and his father pledged alliance to Rhaenyra."
