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Queen Cersei made her way through the hallways of the Red Keep, household guards lining the walls of the Royal Family's private chambers.
She had been Queen of the Seven Kingdoms for almost 17 years now, years marked by rebuilding the realm since Robert's Rebellion had ended the Mad King's reign and toppled the Targaryen dynasty in favour of another Great House.
It should have been Robert Baratheon who sat on the throne, but he had succumbed to his injuries from the Battle of the Trident, as the Blackfyre sword had cut him deep enough to be lethal.
Instead, the other main general during the war had claimed the throne.
Eddard Stark, the second son of the man who'd been burned alive by the Mad King, had been crowned upon his return from Dorne. With him, he'd brought the missing Kingsguard who had all opted to stay in service, the body of his beloved sister, and the son his sister had died giving birth to.
He had taken the burden of his crown with dignity. He ruled with justice, he ruled fair, and the people of the realm loved him for it. He was no boisterous man; he did not throw himself into the pleasures of life that gold and status brought.
Despite now being the King of the South, Eddard Stark remained true to his Quiet Wolf nature.
Courtiers called him boring.
Perhaps he was, but the woman from the Westerlands saw the upside to a boring husband.
Eddard Stark was not often drunk, nor was he abusive. He was a gentle husband who actually cared about his wife's comfort and pleasures. He indulged her wishes in their marriage bed, having only a few of his own.
He did not stray from her bed, not wishing to dishonour her so.
And the golden blonde had found it so endearing that she had actually fallen in love with her husband over the years. She had not planned on it, but she held his devotion to her dear.
In those years since her marriage, the Lannister woman had given birth to 6 children.
Their eldest was Crown Prince Robb, named for his father's dearly departed friend. He was a boy of 16, born 9 months after his parents' marriage, with his mother's emerald eyes but dark hair like all Starks. He was a gentle boy, but his frame was just as broad as his father's, and he was a military genius in the making.
That last little detail had Tywin Lannister boasting about his oldest grandson, which the entire realm could hear all the way from the Wall to which he'd been exiled.
Next came Princess Rosslyn, now 14. She looked a lot like her mother; her wavy hair was a very light brown, though not gold like her mother's, but she had her father's stormcloud grey eyes. She was her father's little girl, as she had him wrapped around her finger the day she was born.
Cersei loved spending time with her oldest daughter, braiding her hair and whispering secrets no one else would ever know.
Then there was Princess Arya. She was tiny and just 13, but her Northern wolfblood ran hot. She was a tomboy, refusing to wear dresses and always running off. She was the spitting image of her deceased aunt Lyanna and thus bore the classic Stark features.
If there was any child who brought the King the greatest joys in his life as well as the biggest worries, it was Arya. But he indulged her and had hired the First Sword of Braavos to teach his 2nd daughter Waterdancing.
After Arya came Prince Brandon, now 12, named for his uncle ruling the North as its Warden. His eyes were grey-green, and his hair hazelnut brown. He was an adventurous child, asking a lot from the Kingsguard in the capacity of their eyes.
Bran wanted to be a Knight one day, hence he spent so much time around his Kingsguard uncles, Jaime and Benjen.
However, the peace could not last.
After Bran's birth, the Greyjoy Rebellion began.
The daughter of Tywin Lannister had never felt more afraid as she watched the husband she'd come to love ride off to another war while she remained behind with their children.
Luckily for her, the conflict did not take too long once the Battle of the Mander was over.
When her King came home, they began sharing chambers permanently.
Which soon enough resulted in the birth of their 3rd daughter, Princess Myrcella.
Myrcella, 10 years of age, was more Lannister than Stark, even inheriting her mother's golden waves, but her face was longer, and her eyes were stone grey. She was a timid and sweet girl, like her older sister Rosslyn.
Their last child was a little boy, born 5 years after Myrcella. Prince Rickon was a little terror with bright emerald eyes and chestnut brown curls. He could not sit still and just wanted to run and climb and give everyone a headache. He was the bane of his guard's existence.
But the 33-year-old loved the boy nonetheless.
The last member of their household was the King's nephew Jon Snow, the boy his sister died giving birth to.
That boy was now 17, a grown man in the eyes of the North. He was a Stark through and through, exhibiting few other features. He was a quiet one, just like the uncle who'd raised him.
Cersei had seen her husband taking care of the boy like the child was his own.
It wasn't a mountain of evidence, but enough to plant the thought in her mind that deep sibling love to the point of sexual relations was perhaps far more normal among the Great Houses of Westeros than previously believed.
As she walked into the family dining room, she saw most of their family assembled.
Ned was seated at the head of the table with little Rickon in his lap, Robb and Jon were bickering about training, Rosslyn and Myrcella sat neatly while waiting for their mother to join, Bran was playing with a dagger, and Arya was poking the food in front of her.
"Good morrow, darling." His Grace said to her.
"Mommy!" the smallest of the brood yelled out.
The mother of 6 smiled at the little boy. "Well, hello young man. Aren't you a handsome one?" she lifted the child from his father's lap as she went to sit down on the chair to her husband's left.
"He's been asking for you all morning." Eddard said, slightly smirking.
"Oh dear, did you miss me that bad?" the golden blonde asked her youngest.
Tyrion was already sipping wine. "He loves attention, dear sister. And you readily give that to him while his father's busy." he turned to his King. "We will need to speak about those letters."
The Northman rolled his eyes. "Not my favourite topic..."
The 33-year-old had been made aware of several marriage proposals that they'd received from all over the realm. She knew it was to be expected, considering their oldest son was now of an appropriate age to be betrothed, as was Rosslyn.
Ned was hesitant to make hasty decisions, but he knew there were things he could not postpone.
"It is a decision you must make soon." the Master of Coin warned. "It is on today's council schedule, so we can properly discuss all the options we have."
The oldest child of Tywin Lannister did not participate in the Small Council meetings, though her husband did not bar her from attending them if she wished to be present.
But she was well-acquainted with its members.
Jon Arryn was Hand of the King. He was His Grace's former foster father and a trusted advisor. However, because of his age, Lord Renly Baratheon stood on stand-by to take over should the older man die or decide to resign.
Lord Wendel Manderly from White Harbour served as Master of Ships. He came from a House loyal to the Starks and was knowledgeable enough to manage the Royal Fleet well.
Lord Cregan Karstark was the Master of Laws. He was a distant cousin of the King and thus entrusted with that role to ensure justice was served where it needed to be served.
The positions of Grand Maester and Master of Whisperers had shifted over the years.
The original Grand Maester, Pycelle, had been caught bedding a whore 5 years into Eddard's reign. He had been beheaded for it, and a new Grand Maester had been appointed since then.
Varys, who had served as Master of Whisperers since the Defiance of Duskendale, had served the Wolf King quite well in the beginning. However, his loyalties had been dubious from the start. And he'd been caught writing a letter to Illyo Mopatis and the exiled Jon Connington by Lord Roose Bolton, a letter that was supposed to set in motion a new Blackfyre rebellion.
Varys had been executed, and the new Master of Whisperers was Prince Oberyn Martell of Dorne.
Dorne had been well appeased by the King, as the rapist and murderer of their Princess Elia had been delivered to Sunspear on a Northern ship, and the other men involved in the brutal Sack of King's Landing had been exiled to The Wall. They were eager to serve a just man.
"Still, it feels uncomfortable." the grey-eyed man said. "Let us eat breakfast first. We will have enough time to talk business afterwards." he eyed his second daughter. "Arya, love, do not play with your food."
The woman from the Westerlands was the first to admit she secretly loved to have a rebellious daughter, as the girl reminded her of herself, as she too had once wanted to learn how to fight.
The difference was how the fathers behaved.
Tywin Lannister had disapproved of her masculine passions. Eddard Stark, on the other hand, encouraged his daughters to at least take lessons in self-defense while leaving the rest up to them.
It was refreshing in this dusty Andal environment
"If we're going to talk about those letters, I would prefer to be at the table when the decision is made." Lannister whispered to her husband.
The father of six, potentially seven, nodded. "But of course, my dear." he took a swig of Northern ale. "I am still uncomfortable at the notion of selling my children off for the peace of the realm. I may understand necessity, but everything else..."
The Pearl of Casterly Rock knew her Quiet Wolf was not a man who jumped at the chance of marrying his daughters to sons of important men just because he could.
And it just made her love him more.
She remembered the beginning of their marriage quite well. It had been a marriage of pure duty, as a King needed heirs and most politically important noblewomen were spoken for.
So once Brandon Stark was married to his long-term betrothed Lady Catelyn Tully and had taken his place in Winterfell, the second son of Rickard Stark sought a wife to be his Queen.
Cersei was the only option among the Great Houses, despite her father's many war crimes.
That had been a rift between them, but Eddard Stark was a dutiful man. He still came to her bed and treated her with decent respect.
Yet as she grew heavy with his first child and took care of his nephew, he warmed to her.
The 33-year-old had fallen in love not much later, unplanned and unprepared.
And since then, things had only gotten better between the pair of them.
The mother of 6 knew she could have married men who were far worse than the man she had ended up marrying. Her current husband did not ask for much, only that she remained true and loyal to him and their children.
She knew that he did love her, in his own way.
She may not be the woman he had loved with all his heart, but she was the mother of his children.