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Chapter Text

In the end Sansa Stark ends up marrying a Baratheon King, it was almost funny really, although Sansa doubted Stannis would agree. 

In the last few years many tears had come to her eyes because of thoughts about her marriage, and not tears of happiness, she thought about what she would have to suffer if her engagement to Joffrey had continued, what she had not had the chance to have with Willas Tyrell, the one she had with Tyrion Lannister. 

She did not really love him, and she did not hold out much hope that Stannis would feel anything different, but that seemed irrelevant now when the fate of her people was affected by her choices. 

She was loved by the North, but he already had her respect, he had fought for them to earn it. He was not full of smiles or beautiful words, but he was kind to her, serious and respectful. 

Jon had said that he was a good man, fair and honest like her father, like their father. 

During the wedding feast, someone suggested that the queen and king be carried to bed by the guests as was tradition. 

Sansa could not remember the name of the man who suggested it. It was one of Stannis's vassals, a young man with blond hair who seemed to be the type who smiled all the time, the type that in another time would have caught her attention, but that at that moment only caused her boredom and a slight irritation. 

The suggestion, however, did not go through. 

Only the cold look that Stannis gave the young man after hearing this was enough to make him shut up. 

This made Sansa smile to herself, but she thought that her husband probably had not noticed that small movement of her lips. Later, when they entered his room, the room where her parents usually slept, Sansa noticed once again that he was not handsome. 

Not in a traditional way at least, not like Loras Tyrell, when she imagined kings going to battle they wore shining armor and brought hope to their army, he looked like the men who actually went to war, as soon as he takes off his shirt she can't help but stare at his scarred chest and the muscles in his arms, he was a king but had the body of a soldier. 

She feels his hands are hard as he carefully unbuttons the dress he was wearing and his stubble lightly scratches her neck as he kisses her. 

Sansa also notices that his blue eyes no longer seem as cold as before. 

Later when she falls asleep after her wedding she doesn't cry, there's no reason to do so, this time it's not an imposition, she's no longer a pawn on the great cosmic chessboard, this time it's her choice.

 And it wasn't the choice of a girl who wanted a great love like in the songs, but rather the choice of the Queen of the North who found a man worthy of being her King.

Chapter Text

Shireen Baratheon arrived at Winterfell two weeks after the wedding, accompanied by some men from the Night's Watch. 

Sansa realized that she was more afraid of meeting the girl for the first time than she had been on the day of her wedding to her father. Selyse Baratheon had died very recently, so resentment was to be expected.

Sansa had never seen anyone with grayscale in person before, the gray part was really as ugly as people said, but the girl bowed as soon as she met her and smiled at her, and Sansa thought that was the sweetest smile she had seen in a long time.

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Not long after, in one afternoon between meetings with the commanders of their armies, Sansa noticed Stannis looking out of one of the windows, when she reached his side she saw that he was watching Shireen playing with a couple of boys in the courtyard.

"Who are they? The boys playing with Shireen I mean."

"One is Devan Seaworth, he is my Squire and Davos’ son. The other is Edric Storm, one of Robert's bastards, he was found in Lys and I ordered him brought here.”

“I met a sister of his not long ago in the Vale, Mya. A very interesting girl.”

And a good friend in a very troubled time, Sansa added mentally. 

“Robert had many bastards.” 

“Many men have children out of marriage. My father was the most noble man I’ve ever met and he had one…do you have any children beside Shireen?”

Stannis seemed to hesitate for a moment before saying: 

“No, I do not. You don’t have to worry about any child out of wedlock showing up.” 

He seemed sincere, but that second of hesitation intrigued her. Thinking it better to change the subject Sansa said: 

“Edric seems full of energy.”

“He is. Wants to be a knight apparently…according to Davos, my daughter loves him like a brother, and with some reason since he is the closest thing to that she had until now."

Sansa could feel a certain weight in those last words, she knew that Selyse had lost a few children. Sansa had always wanted to be a mother, but now it seemed like a duty, during her betrothal to Joffrey she had often feared what he would do to her if she failed to give him sons in the future. 

“I would like to give you sons, but what if I only give you daughters?" 

"Then Shireen will have sisters, I suppose she would like that." 

"What if I am unable to give you any sons or daughters?" 

Stannis looked at her seriously. 

"If you do not give me children, my daughter will continue to be the legitimate heir to the Iron Throne, and if I die in this war, I expect you to continue fighting to put her there as she should be."

"I will, my King."

It was only after that that Sansa realized she was telling the truth. 

Stannis did not smile, but he seemed more satisfied than he had a moment before. And she remained beside him, watching Shireen, Devan and Edric play in the courtyard. 

The silence in other circumstances would have bothered her, but it ended up being quite pleasant to just stand still for a minute and watch children running around Winterfell again.

Chapter Text

Sansa didn't cry at her wedding, there was a part of her that still found it a bit strange, she also found it strange that in the months that followed this kept happening, it was so peculiar after all in the years after leaving Winterfell as a girl tears seemed to have become practically a part of her routine. 

Sansa thought that this had happened due to her personal maturity, although it had occurred to her that it was also because despite the circumstances with the winter and the war she had not had any reason to cry in the last few months.

But when the tears came she was not so surprised, because they appeared again in her eyes when she saw her husband leaving with his army away from Winterfell to fight the Dragon Queen who landed in Westeros.

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Sansa let out a breath of relief when she found Shireen Baratheon. The princess had been missing for three hours, and she was already starting to panic when she remembered one of the closed towers that Arya and Bran used to go and play in during their childhood. 

Her instinct was to hug the girl as soon as she saw her, but instead she turned to the guard who was with her and told him to go down and inform everyone that the princess had been found. Sansa took a deep breath, it felt so strange to scold someone who was almost the same age as Arya, but Sansa felt that this was one of her duties now, as unpleasant as it was.

“Shireen, we were worried about you.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You should be, we were about to send soldiers to look for you outside the gates.”

“Sorry, I just wanted to be alone.”

“Okay, you have the right to privacy, but you have to tell someone where you’re going first, we live in a very dangerous world. Do you want me to leave anyway?”

“No.”

Sansa sat down next to the girl.

“I have good news, I received a message from your father this afternoon, he and the army arrived safely and have already set up camp.”

“He’s going to die, isn’t he?”

“Who told you that?”

“Edric, but he didn’t even need to, I’m not stupid, I know that the Targaryen girl has dragons, just like Aegon the Conqueror, I read the books, those who didn’t kneel to him were burned. And my father won’t surrender, he would never do that.”

“Yes Shireen, dragons are powerful, big and scary. But they can be killed like all other creatures, there are many stories about brave knights who saved villages and cities with their swords by defeating a dragon.”

“Do you believe that my father could be one of them?”

“I don’t know, but I want to believe so.”

Shireen gave a sad smile, again Sansa felt like hugging her and this time she did. The girl rested her head against her shoulder and Sansa kissed her forehead where the skin and the stone of her greyscale met.

“Do you want to leave?” she asked.

“Not yet,” Sansa said and hugged the girl a little tighter.