Chapter 26 (Patreon)

[Sansa Stark POV]

It has been almost a month and a half since Ronard left to Pentos. I missed him every day, but now I had a new friend to keep me busy.

Lady.

Father and my brothers had found some dire wolves while they left for an execution, Lady was the best, I always wanted a dog, but this is certainly better.

I wonder what Ronard is doing, he is going to miss the King and the royal family coming.

I miss him, a lot.

“Come on lady, we have to get ready,” I petted lady, who stretched a bit and proceeded to follow me.

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[Ronard Mormont POV]

Today like any other day I was walking through Illyrio’s garden, wondering how things will end up playing, It has been a month since Illryo told me that his contact aka the spider would arrive in a fortnight, and he still hadn’t and by now the novelty of being in Pentos had worn out.

The last Raven I sent to check the estimated arrival time told me that the sea was wild at this moment and it would take some time for the spider to arrive.

*The spider has arrived* A raven informed me slowly descending into my shoulder.

Finally, the master of whispers arrived, “Let’s go and get ready to meet him,” I smiled.

Things were calm for the moment, the King had yet to break my betrothal, that would in turn open a metaphorical box of pandora.

Taking a deep breath, I cleared my thought as I walked to my room, to get a bath and get ready, the spider was already in Pentos.

“How are the eggs by the way?” I asked the Raven on my shoulder.

*Caw! Nothing so far, we are increasing the amount of brooding,* The raven answered.

“Alright, keep me posted,” I chuckled.

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[Varys POV]

It took a bit more than I expected to arrive, the sea was particularly on my side this trip, but I managed to get to Pentos in one piece.

“Long time no see old friend,” Illyrio greeted me with a smile.

“It’s always a pleasure,” I smiled, “Where is the young lord?”

“Taking a bath, getting ready for something,” Illyrio answered.

Impressive, but hardly unexpected, the young lord knew I was coming, I wonder if he knows the Targaryen are here? He never stops to surprise me, “He knows I am here,”

“How could he know?,” Illyrio inquired with puzzlement.

“The young lord is full of surprises, one of them is how well informed he is, and how little informed we are about him, information just goes one way with him,” I admitted, he was the hardest person in the world to spy on, every house knew this for their spies would suddenly appear dead or worse.

“I see, if you said so, it’s hard not to believe it,” Illyrio sighed.

“Let him know we are waiting for him,” It was time to see if we could move the tides of the young bear to our favor, and ensure the safety of the realm.

“I will,” Illyrio nodded.

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[Back to Ronard POV]

I was ready to personally meet the spider, while I originally expected to meet him on kings landing, this was also acceptable.

The game pushed me out of the path I was walking, it sucked into this wretched world, I was still with one foot on my old path and one in the new one.

If they broke my betrothal, I would be officially and irrevocably in the game, but at this point my betrothal was just an excuse, I knew my breaking point was near whether they broke my engagement or not.

I knew I would join the game one way or another,  because I was tired of it.

Tywin just pushed me into this path earlier than it was supposed to happen on its own.

“My contact is here,” Illyrio entered my room with a smile, but something was different, he was looking at me differently, he knew I knew, neat.

“So the spider is here, well time to crawl into his web,” I chuckled, getting a mild look of surprise from Illyrio.

“Follow me,” Illyrio finally managed to say, walking out of my room, with me following him close behind.

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And there he was sitting in the shadows, the spider, waiting for me.

“To what do I owe the pleasure?” I inquired, sitting on a chair in front of him, Illyrio also sat down on the opposite end.

“Not many would consider meeting me a pleasure, but I suppose you are the exception for many things,” Varys said, serving himself and me a cup of wine.

I grabbed the cup and took a sip, and smiled, “So how in the realm?”

“Good, for now,” Varys sighed.

“Is my betrothal still active?” Being honest with the spider was possibly the best, he was already cryptic enough.

“You can consider it broken,” Varys took a deep breath, “Lord Tywin wants you, and with Sansa in the south and your alliance to the north he would get you even if you didn’t marry Myrcella,”

I chuckled, anger building within my very core.

“But the old lion while terrifying lacks something,” Varys said with a soft smile, “He lacks vision, he thinks himself above anyone, including the king, he thinks like the rest you will fall into line and do as he pleases, but you won’t, am I right?”

I stared at Varys with a excruciating look before bursting into laughs, “For not being able to spy on me, you sure know me,”

“I used to gather information before having spies, while certainly harder, I know some bits about you, not much but enough to get a general idea of who you are,” Varys admitted.

“Impressive nonetheless,” I nodded, as my tone grew colder and my eyes became darker, “you do realize, while I don’t love Sansa, I have to respond to this insult right?”

“I do, I just thought I could use this for the betterment of the realm,” Varys nodded.

“You want to use me to put the Targaryens on the throne, the same ones in this castle,” I chuckled darkly making Illyrio choke on his wine.

Varys looked impressed for a short amount of time before he sighed and nodded, “I do, you must know the next in line to the throne is even worse than our current king,”

“And as we have seen during the last few months that threshold is vast,” I chuckled.

“It is,” Varys chuckled.

“I suppose this is the part where you propose me a deal,” I said, cutting to the grain.

“I do,” Varys nodded, “You will be without betrothal soon, how about we make a new one?”

“You want me to marry princess Daenerys Targaryen,” I chuckled, already expecting this development.

“I do,” Varys nodded.

Daenerys wasn’t a bad match, but if the spider thought I would kneel to Viserys he had another thing coming.

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[Daenerys Targaryen POV]

Viserys has started talking with Magister Illyrio about my future possible betrothals, to ensure him an Army.

I didn’t want to marry anyone in Essos, I wanted to go home, but Viserys didn’t care, he said he would let a Dothraki horde fuck, including their horses if they gave him an army.

“Gods please help me,” 

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[Back to Ronard Mormont POV]

I told Varys I couldn’t just accept the betrothal while I still had one with Sansa, but if like, we thought the betrothal broke I would accept under certain conditions, he would have to ensure safe return for Sansa and Arya to the north, if he provided that I would join his crusade to put a Targaryen on the throne.

While I didn’t love Sansa, I came to care for her, she was but an innocent girl too young that was about to learn the harsh truth of reality, she didn’t deserve all the suffering coming her way, and if it was in my power I would stop it.

Though I never said what Targaryen I would put on the throne, I didn’t pretend to put Viserys on it, and besides if Daenerys was to marry me, she would be a queen, my queen.

It’s not my fault Varys left some many blanks on his deal, but perhaps, the spider knew about them, and didn’t care, he seemed crafty enough.

After our mutual agreement, where he would ensure the Stark sisters went back to the north when all the future shit of the game exploded, and in return would marry Daenerys and help him save the realm, he left, saying that his presence was needed in the realm, not without telling me I would meet the Targaryen siblings soon.

“Time to plan,” I sighed in my room, as I heard my ravens talking about how good they were brooding.