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A Royal Task

Ser Damon awoke the next morning to find Lady Taena gone from his bed. The Myrishwoman yet again impressed the young knight. Most often it was he who would stir awake before his lovers.

Gone back to the queen, most like. Off to tell her all the sordid details of her new sworn sword…

Of course, Damon didn't know for sure. But he had a suspicion that was the queen's plan all along. Queen Cersei wouldn't give herself to a lowly bastard knight over one relatively simple task. But she would reward such efficient service in the way only women could. She would send to him her close confidante, the Lady Merryweather, and hear from her just what kind of man the Bastard of Blackhaven was.

It was like something out of that erotic tome, A Caution for Young Girls. Ser Damon gave a low chuckle as he rose from the bed. King's Landing, as it so happened, was his kind of city.

With the morning light shining through the window, the sworn sword of Queen Cersei dressed himself. It took some minutes to become presentable for the royal court. First in trousers and his leather undercoat. Then boots and gloves. Then in the gleaming steel plate provided by the queen herself. Then finally a cloak of rich crimson.

He departed his bedchambers soon after, fully dressed and with his sword sheathed at his side, newly polished. Damon was certain he would be using it again.

The queen's sworn sword did not make it halfway to the throne room when a page came running up to him. A young man - a boy, truly - dressed in a red-and-gold striped doublet stood before him, his arms crossed behind his back.

"Ser Damon?" The page sought confirmation.

"Yes?" Damon answered, one brow raised.

"The queen had requested your presence in the small council chamber." The boy then gave a short bow and quickly left his company.

Ser Damon was left standing in the hall, watching the boy page as he went off. The Stormlander pressed his lips into a line, wondering to himself. He had a feeling that the queen would be wanting to see him. After the fun with Lady Taena, he hoped that the Lioness of Lannister would charge him with another dangerous task. Being rewarded with womanly company, Ser Damon had found, was much more enjoyable than being rewarded with gold.

It was a short walk to the small council chamber. There, Ser Damon found Queen Cersei. Unlike the day before, she was not alone. A queensguard stood sentinel by the door, silent and unmoving. Damon couldn't recognize the man under the white helm and otherwise paid him little mind. He approached the queen, bowing his head.

"Your grace." He said, standing before her. "You summoned me?"

At first, Queen Cersei said nothing. She stood at the head of the small council table, overlooking a rolled-out map of the Seven Kingdoms. In her hands, she held a wooden marker, carved into the shape of a roaring lion and painted red. She cast a glance towards Damon, her emerald eyes scrutinizing in a way that had the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end. The queen was as fierce as the beast that was her house's sigil, Damon knew, but every so often he needed a reminder.

Then the queen turned her eyes towards her lone queensguard. With a wave of her hand she dismissed the armored knight. The queensguard left the room without a word, closing the door shut behind him.

Ser Damon was alone with the lioness. That might have disquieted lesser men. But Damon? Damon instead felt a simmering thrill.

"Stannis Baratheon is a traitor." The queen finally spoke to him. Her voice was cool and measured, but there was a steely bite to her words as well. Damon could tell there was fury just beneath the red silk of her dress. A ferocity that was waiting to come out. She turned her green eyes back onto him. They burned like wildfire. "He and his army nearly sacked this city. He would have beheaded my son if he succeeded. And you can only imagine the horrors his men would have inflicted on the people. On me."

Ah.

Damon now understood. It was doubtless that Lady Taena had told her queen everything Ser Damon had done to her… As well as everything he had said. The bastard knight gave a half-grin. He should have expected a reaction like this the moment he woke up.

"Stannis failed. Your father broke him outside the city walls." He told her calmly, his voice firm yet respectful. From what he understood of the queen so far, she only favored men with a spine. If he was too yielding to her, she would simply find it insulting.

"But he still escaped." Queen Cersei snapped, tossing the lion marker in a fit of anger. It struck the table loudly, bouncing once, twice, before carrying over the edge and clattering to the stone floor. The queen stared at him from the other side of the table, breathing deeply. Her cheeks were flushed pink and her lips were set in a frown. Even in such an emotional state, she was a vision. But Damon kept his silence on that matter. The lioness spoke again, hissing. "The stubborn, old cunt fled back to Dragonstone and then on to the North. His seat is left undefended. Do you not see? Ripe for the taking. You say it would be unwise to do so. Why?"

Damon thought carefully about the next words to leave his lips. The queen might have abhorred weak men and lickspittles, but so too did she loathe those who belittled her - intentionally or otherwise. From all that Damon had heard of the daughter of Tywin Lannister, she was a woman who required a more cautious approach. A brave man might charge towards a lion, but a wise man could earn the beast's trust… And possibly tame it, as well.

"It would be unwise to take Dragonstone precisely because it's undefended." Damon said, slowly moving around to the queen's side of the table. Stannis took the bulk of his forces to the North. He can't threaten King's Landing all the way up there. And then men he left to man Dragonstone are like to stay there. Stannis only needs a few hundred men to hold that castle. You need thousands to take it. Laying siege to Dragonstone would be a waste of your time and your men, my queen."

Ser Damon had gotten close to her by then. It was a risk in itself, taking liberty by drawing near enough to touch her. But if Queen Cersei was insulted by his boldness, she didn't show it. Instead, she narrowed her eyes at him, considering his words.

"Lady Taena tells me the crown should focus its efforts on the Ironborn instead." Cersei turned to stare at the map.

Damon couldn't keep a grin off his face. His speculations on the Myrishwoman's relationship with the queen were proven correct. He watched as the blonde woman huffed through her nose, leaning forward to plant her hands on the table. Then she gave him an expectant look. She wanted his advice, he realized.

"I would." Ser Damon Storm answered, standing straighter. The queen hadn't immediately dismissed his opinion as the ramblings of a lowly bastard. That was a good sign, he knew. But it would still do him well to cultivate a more knightly appearance. Perhaps it would give his words an extra bit of legitimacy in the queen's eyes. "The raiders of the Iron Islands have been troubling the Northerners for months now. It won't be long before they turn their ships to the Southron coasts. They are building their strength as well, if the rumors I've heard during my travels are true. Surely, the Ironborn are more of a threat to your crown than Stannis Baratheon, your grace. If they aren't now, then they will be if you leave them unopposed."

The queen regarded Ser Damon in silence for a long moment. Pursing her full lips, her green eyes glittered like emeralds as she measured the worth of his words. Doubtlessly, she was wondering if she could trust a strange man - a bastard no less! Even if that man pledged his sword to her service. Especially if that man was willing to kill to enjoy a woman's intimate company. Ser Damon didn't blame the woman for being cautious. She wouldn't have survived in the royal court very long if she wasn't.

Cersei Lannister let loose a gentle exhale then. For a moment, Damon saw her hard eyes soften. But it was fleeting. An instant later, they were as sharp as they always were. Hungry like a lioness. She reached out to the table and plucked another carved lion marker from the map, cradling it in her slender fingers… Then she offered the piece to Ser Damon.

"And how would you oppose them? If you sat the Iron Throne?" She asked him. Her keen eyes locked with his, anticipating his answer.

For his part, Ser Damon did not back down. He remained level and calm, a cool smile spreading across his scruffy face. He took the offered marker, holding the carved lion firm in his grip. He regarded it with a sense of appreciation. He owed his position to the Lioness of Lannister, did he not? So he took the wooden piece for what it was: A symbol of the queen's trust… and his rising authority. He would not let the opportunity slip from his grasp.

"I would gather what ships I had at my command. I'd bolster my forces with as many extra men I could muster, sellswords and corsairs. And I would strike at the Iron Islands without warning and without mercy." Ser Damon spoke with iron conviction and hoped it bled through in his steely gaze. He stared into Queen Cersei's eyes, praying she would be partial to the ardor of his words. "Crush them now before they become a problem later. And make the Royal Fleet the sole naval power in the Seven Kingdoms."

Damon realized then that he was gripping the lion marker so hard that his knuckles had turned white. He let go a deep breath, offering the wooden piece back to the queen.

And she accepted it, smiling.

"You truly are a bold one." She said, setting the marker down gently. She placed it at Lannisport… the harbor for House Lannister's fleet. "I would have never experienced such ambition from a bastard knight."

Ser Damon returned her smile and found that her glimmering eyes stirred something inside him. Such was often with women who looked like her.

"I am full of surprises, my queen." His answer came low and deep, rumbling in his chest.

It seemed to please Cersei, his willful and daring spirit. She gave a soft hum, clasping her hands before her.

"In any case…" She began, turning her body to fully face her sworn sword. "I summoned you before me to charge you with another task."

"I am yours, your grace." Ser Damon spoke with surety that surprised even himself. And it seemed to please the queen even further.

"You have proven you can be discreet. You will need to be." The queen told him. The Lioness of Lannister held her head high, her next words coming cold and sharp as steel. "Ser Damon Storm, you will bring a swift end to the lord of Stokeworth. You will kill Ser Bronn of the Blackwater."