✓ | TOUGH AS THE IRONWOOD (A.FORRESTER 2)

My Sister. Chapter Sixteen.

A/N: Hi guys, I'm really sorry I haven't updated much at all recently, I've been busy with course work etcetera etcetera, but I am on half term now so for the next week I will try and write loads and update as much as I can. Thank you for understanding and bearing with me :) Thinking of Snow and Animals In The North will also be updated in the next week or so too. 

"Tell me, Cynthia Glover, why is it I am only now hearing of your little escapades?" Mira taunted with the Forrester charm of sarcasm mixed with cheeky teasing, to which Cynthia simply laughed and smiled, appreciative of being back in Mira's company after so long of the pair being separated. After all, Mira had always been considered to be Cynthia's sister, by blood or not, the pair were as much sisters as she and Daenerys, and she was thrilled to have her sister back. "Perhaps if you hadn't spent so long coming home, you would've known sooner." Cynthia smirked back at her, bumping her hip into Mira's in their mocking way, only urging more girlish giggling to erupt throughout the otherwise silent Grove - which fell hollow with golden afternoon haze and blissfully sweet songs of colourful birds that billowed through the treetops out of sight. "Is writing so difficult for you nowadays?" Mira continued to jest, returning the gesture as she too nudged her company with a laugh; "Ravens are few and far between in Essos." Cynthia replied cooly. "Rodrik said you, and you alone, convinced Daenerys Targaryen to hand over her unsullied men to fight for us?" Mira recalled challengingly, as though she did not believe it herself, not that she doubted her sisters honesty, but hearing it back, Cynthia had to believe it did sound unlikely, even to her; and she'd been the one to do it. "Well what is family for if not to exploit and bargain with." She chuckled, happy to acknowledge the Khaleesi as family. "What?" Mira stopped dead in her tracks; her overcast coloured eyes glaring harshly now at the Glover girl with curiosity and inquisition. "Family?" She repeated in a sour tone, that made Cynthia cringe in realisation; that had been a flaw in her recollection of the events to Mira. 

"Uh...Yeah....About that..." Cynthia mumbled with an awkward smile growing devilishly on her face, and despite the horror of her sister she couldn't help but find it awfully amusing to watch the girl's reaction. "When I went to the Wall with Duncan I found out my father, my birth father, had an affair with Rhaella Targaryen; proof of which being...Well, me, I guess." She explained, already wincing at what Mira's reaction might be. She didn't doubt there would be a sense of disbelief and complete astonishment in her sister's response, as was to be expected from nearly everyone Cynthia knew, however she wondered if that would change anything - she knew it would more than likely have no baring on anything whatsoever, but part of her couldn't help but contemplate the possibility. "Seriously? Well then excuse me. Cynthia Targaryen..." Mira continued to mock, clearly still outstanded at the news, but like Cynthia had predicted, it changed nothing between them. "Thank you, that is my new title from now on." Cynthia pretended to sound as snobbish as she could, sticking her chin high into the air with an attitude that could only give off one message; 'bow down to me'. "That's going to make Asher's nicknaming slightly more difficult." Mira commented, the pair of girls going about their stroll with utmost amusement.

Mira had arrived back earlier that day, and so Cynthia had decided to make the most of her new company as soon as was possible. It had been almost 3 years since the girls had been together, and now with the chance to spend hour upon hour with one another, neither wished to pass up the opportunity. It would also appear there was a lot the pair needed to discuss in such a short time of being away from everyone else. Like Morgryn, for instance. 

"He'll call me Glover until the day I die." Cynthia laughed, though feeling an odd sickly feeling churn her stomach at the recollection of Asher's last words, in fact that had been his last word to her, Glover, and the thought of that made her feel physically ill. She didn't want to relive such a moment, or even remember it, because it surve such a horrific memory to her. "That's if he doesn't go and get himself killed first." Mira rolled her eyes, knowing her brother far too well to know he wouldn't let Cynthia die before him, not if he had anything to do with it. "Good point." Cynthia laughed, feeling slightly hollow at that lasting, lingering topic of conversation. 

Then came the depressing bit. Mira let out a long sigh, and held her eyes closed for a moment as though trying to keep something locked away that Cynthia couldn't see, but she knew by that point it could've only been one thing. "Rodrik told you, didn't he?" She said with a said, shaky breath that didn't quite leave in one breath like intended, but more in a fragmented attempt to exhale properly. "When did it happen?" Mira asked quietly, her own voice trembling in a similar manner. "Some months back now, about a week after the Red Wedding." Cynthia replied as loud as she could, but reviving a sensitive topic such as this was painful enough without having to be the one to explain it for the first time to Mira. "He didn't tell me what happened..." Mira sighed, as though still internally debating whether or not she wished to know. "It was Ramsay Snow." Cynthia mumbled through gritted teeth, hoping to see the bastard again soon to do to him as she had done to the Whitehills. "Why?" Mira gasped unintentionally, clearly sobbing silently to herself at only now hearing the news of her little brother's demise. "Does he need a reason? We all know what is father is like...And what he is like. They're vicious, cruel and barbaric - Ethan-" Cynthia stopped herself with a large gulp, hating how her brother's name tasted differently in her mouth now than before. Now it was vengefully, and full of remorse and regret. "Ethan pissed him off, I suppose. He probably took too many pages from my book after all." Cynthia tried to chuckled, as did the girl at her side, though neither could really muster the positivity to do so sincerely. Instead they both simply fell to a mournful mood, trying hard to remember the ball of light that was their little brother. "You always made an impression on the younger ones. Sometimes I wonder which of you was like it first; you or Asher."  Mira laughed this time, slightly more than before, always finding humour in her older brother. "Who knows? Does it matter? We don't help each other." Cynthia laughed along too, hoping to forget the topic of that day with Ethan and move onto something slightly more light hearted than that of the tragedy the family faced on account of that bastard Snow. 

"I can't believe you went to get him - I know you two are close but-" "What are best friends for?" Cynthia was quick to interupt, knowing that not even Mira knew of the real reason she went, which wasn't entirely on account of her sister, but that of a certain trouble making Forrester. "So, Daenerys? You pulled the sister card and she gave you some of her men?" Mira inquired with her usual chipper inquisition, forgetting the mood they'd previously fallen into. "She already knew she had a sister when I arrived, she put the pieces together as soon as I said my name," Cynthia explained with fond recollection, feeling an odd sense of nostalgia at missing her flesh and blood after finally kindling some sort of relationship with her. "I didn't know she was sending the men, when we got back they arrived and took out all the Whitehill forces. That was that." Cynthia shrugged, remembering the day with ease - it was the day she put a sword through Gryff Whitehill's throat. "And what about you, Mira? Who is this Morgryn man?" Cynthia taunted once more, nudging the girl with eager curiosity. 

Mira took in a long breath, looking up at the sky for a moment to bask in the familiar surroundings, before she looked solemnly at Cynthia. "He is an evil bastard." She said with fierce venom in her tone - anger that Cynthia had never seen in the nicest of the Forresters before, anger that mirrored Asher. "He is spiteful, and vindictive, and arrogant and wicked." She muttered with her jaw clenched sternly and narrowed eyes that almost scared Cynthia. "What? But you two are betrothed...Why would you marry someone like that?" She couldn't quite comprehend what would give Mira that impression, but she was desperate to find out if only to spare her a horrific fate of marrying such a man. "He blackmailed me into the arrangement. He thought Rodrik and Asher would be dead by now - and with the other two dead or missing he thought I would become the heir to Ironrath, he wanted to be the Lord and sell off all the Ironwood, things didn't quite work out that way - thanks to you - but I'm worried he'll do something to them now, to get his way-" "He won't. Mira, your brothers will not let anything happen. Not to you, not to them, not to anyone. They'll deal with him. Alright? You aren't marrying that man and he isn't getting a finger on our Ironwood." Cynthia engulfed her sister in a reassuring hug, though she too by this time felt the simmer of anger now boiling over in her stomach with the vengeful thought of all the things she could do to Morgryn to make him realise the Forresters don't hand over the Ironwood without a bloody good fight. All the things Asher would do.