Game of Thrones: Fanfic: Silence is golden

[m_findlow]

Title: Silence is golden
Fandom: Game of Thrones
Characters: Sansa, Joffrey, Margaery
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 519 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for m_findlow's prompt "Any, any, the silent treatment" at fic_promptly
Summary: Sansa counts her blessings, however few they might be

Sansa watched them both from across the courtyard, smiling and giggling like a pair of star-crossed lovers. Perhaps that's what they were. Margaery was all sweetness and light, ravishing her attentions on Joffrey, delighting in his company, and playing her part to perfection. Sansa wondered if that's what she was doing - playing a part - or whether she truly had no idea what a monster Joffrey really was. Perhaps he hadn't shown her the black heart that sat beneath his crimson and gold doublet, hadn't spoken ill to her, nor raised a hand against her. Not yet anyway, but in time, she was sure.

It couldn't simply be that he despised her. She'd done nothing wrong and yet everything she did, every action, even word spoken, or not spoken, was some egregious injustice against him, which had to be punished. She was good girl, she was sure of it. The failings were not her own, yet as she spied Margaery throw her head back and chortle at some comment made by her King, Sansa felt another wave of despair. She'd once been just like Margaery, fooled by Joffrey's looks and his charm. She remembered the thrill of the Hand's Tourney, sitting amongst the royalty of the realm, wondering if Joffrey was jealous when Ser Loras handed her his bloom.

Then like a rabid dog he'd turned on her, showing her his cruelty and his malice. Mutterings about the Red Keep told tales of women sent to him from Lord Baelish who never returned. She overheard two maids whispering that one had seen large sacks hauled from the Keep down to Fleabottom. Bodies, she heard the other whisper back. Even her dreams were filled with images of Joffrey standing over her, the Hound tearing at her clothes and beating her bloody until she was unable to even find voice enough for screaming.

Her only saving grace had been been her brother's rebellion against the Lannisters. His defiance had ended her betrothal, sparing her from a lifetime of torture and pain at Joffrey's hands. The Queen's sympathetic smile in her direction had been more joyous than it had been comforting. After her father's betrayal, and her brother's, it was a wonder they kept her alive at all. She couldn't know that it was Jamie Lannister whose life was keeping her alive.

She prayed that Robb would cut his way across all of Westeros, riding into King's Landing, and forcing the Lannisters to throw down their swords and surrender their false king to the King in the North. It would be only fitting for Robb to take Joff's head, they way he'd taken her father's.

For now though, trapped as she was in King's Landing, Joffrey's silent treatment was reward enough. She much preferred that he ignore her completely. She didn't dislike Margaery, but better some other poor girl have to marry the King than her. Margaery had already been Renly's Queen, so perhaps she knew more of how to handle kings. If the Targaryens could bring dragons to heel, surely a queen could do the same for a king.