The Winter Queen

Chapter 40

Rickon

Reading the King’s letter made him laugh. Only the King could manage to be so blind for so long and get away with it. Yes, it would be very funny to see the very man who had conspired against his family be brought before him, his son and daughter by law, his Lords, the Prince, Lady Jeyne and her nobles and stand trial for his ill deeds. The man would either lose his head, be sent beyond the Wall without any protection, or be sentenced to death by one type of dragon or another. It was such a wonderful sight to see.

Despite all of the good news in the letter, Rickon truly felt bad for the victimized small folk whom had been forced to spy by Otto and were paying a price that should never have been theirs to carry. Rickon only could hope that in the next world, that their sufferings would cause them to receive extra blessings.

The spying upon people in general though, did fill Rickon with rage. It would be one thing if the King himself had ordered it but for a mere second son to feel so entitled that he could send spies to follow ROYALTY and others of higher rank and status, and then avoid all punishment for who knows how long, was just unacceptable. If anyone deserved to be spied upon, it would be opportunistic worms like Otto Hightower.

Rickon also wondered how the King was truly going to react to seeing his daughter after these years? She was no longer the bashful child bride of his son but rather a mature young woman who was deeply loved by her children and the people of the North. The Princess had truly become a Stark.

This led Rickon to think about how the King had renamed Wintertown as Queen’s Hearth. His precious daughter had gained the monikers of the Queen of Winter and Winter’s Queen especially after she brought back the ice dragons. Rickon wondered if the King knew about the powers his house and especially the Princess had acquired and how the Prince would react to it.

As for the idea of having centers for worship for at least three different Faiths, well, the newly renamed Queen’s Hearth already had a Godswood, Valyrian Temple, Temple to Mother Rhyone and a Red Temple so they were set and he did not have to allow the vile Faith of the Andals on his Lands.

Cregan

It had been four years since he had taken the young princess as his second wife, three years since she had given him four healthy new babies and now he did not know how he had ever managed to live without her. She was his very heart and soul. While he had intended to avoid bedding her again until she had reached her 20th year, she had managed to convince him to finally take her again for the first time since the early days of their marriage on their fourth anniversary. Just seeing her, entirely lost in passion and knowing that he was the only man she’d ever known and that she desired him, really stroked his male ego, even more than having seen her so very heavy with his children. Oh, he knew it would not be long before she inevitably began to swell up once more, a clear sign of his virility and her fertility, especially since she was already three moons gone into her second pregnancy.

Knowing that his good father would soon be coming North, and by then, his beautiful young wife, might be presenting a small bump indicating their next child’s growth within her lovely frame, made him grin as he knew the King would likely be rather envious of his growing family of human children. As Cregan had never met his beloved wife’s uncle, he did not know what to expect from the man. However,  his wife did speak very highly of the man and Cregan knew he could trust her judgement.

Cregan also could not help but wonder how the King and Prince were going to react to the knowledge that they, the Starks, now had powers beyond that of even the Targaryens and were, in many ways, “more like gods” than even them. Yes, this did come about through his marriage to the Princess, but it would still be interesting to see their reaction.

As for Cregan, the funniest part was knowing that the King’s own second wife had been ousted as a whore and now would spend the rest of her days doing just that, whoring. She managed to ensnare the King so that would surely allow her for some status among the Night’s Watch as it wasn’t super common that any man was able to bed a woman with whom the King himself had laid his seed inside. Honestly, it would be a wonderful reward for the service those men offered for the Realm. Unfortunately, the woman would not likely see it as an honor to serve the men who served the Realm and provided it from protection. It was quite likely that she would have her tongue removed within the year of arriving at Castle Black so that she could no longer complain or scream about her “mistreatment”.

Cregan also had to ponder about what the King was not saying in the letter he had penned. Surely there was more there than the King openly admitted, especially with Wintertown’s official renaming to Queen’s Hearth.

Rhaenyra

So much had changed in her life since she had last seen her beloved Kepa. When she last saw him, she was a grieving young maiden whose only true companion was her golden dragon Syrax and was far from even considering marriage. Now, a mere five years later, she had her two dragons, Syrax and Skadi, her direwolf Khione, ten ladies in waiting, two amazing step children whom she could honestly say were among her closest friends, a wonderful father-by-law who treated her like his own child, four precious little children, their hatchlings, her soulmate in her amazing husband Cregan and a new child in her belly. She was truly blessed and beyond happy. Her marriage was truly the best thing that had ever happened to her. 

It was rather comical to her that her father had decided that the North was the most suitable place in which to have Otto Hightower’s official trial. She just hoped that he knew his dear friend would find no mercy in the North and was not likely to be long for the world. As for Otto’s daughter’s fate, well, Rhaenyra figured it was justified. A whore should not be rewarded with a crown but to have to whore for her child’s welfare.

Rhaenyra also approved of her father having made Cousin Rhaenys the Princess Paramount of the Crownlands and for granting her dearest Uncle full dominion as Prince Paramount of the Stepstones. Both of her relatives deserved the honors granted to them especially after all the Hell her father had put them through.