Chapter 54

“Well, well, what have we here? My former husband, the Imp, perhaps?” Lady Sansa Stark, Lady of Winterfell and Wardenness of the North, greeted Lord Tyrion Lannister, Lord of Casterly Rock, Lord Paramount of the Westerlands, Warden of the West, and Hand of the King and Queen.

“And this, my dear former wife, the She-Wolf of the North, liberator of Winterfell. Tell me, sweet Sansa, are you interested in renewing our previous arrangement? Or has my watch ended?” the Imp teased his once and future bride.

“I can assure you that now that you aren’t coupling with my maid, your watch has ended,” Sansa dared to speak bluntly in favor of others in the hall of the keep.

The refreshing candor of a divorced couple speaking of their past marriage was intriguing, but also amusing to everyone present in Winterfell. Even Brienne of Tarth fought a chuckle at their dark mirth. Jon Snow and his Queen, Daenerys Targaryen, Lord and Lady of the Seven Kingdoms, Protectors of the Realm, even struggled not to snicker a bit. Missandei lost her own battle with the hilarity and absurdity of the situation of a former husband and wife battling wits in such a friendly fashion.

“In that case, perhaps time for the wedding, sooner rather than later. I, for one, am eager to see my sister properly wed, this time to a man who properly respects her and doesn’t disgrace himself in his conduct as husband and lord of Winterfell. Tyrion, are you ready to go to the godswood? The sooner this is done, the sooner we can prepare to march for Last Hearth. We have a war to fight, after all,” Jon Snow asserted.

“And when my Hand is properly wed himself, perhaps those silly rumors can be cast aside,” Dany declared, referring to claims that Tyrion was in fact her lover.

Where such nonsense got started was anyone’s guess, but Dany herself suspected that some septons and septas had something to do with it. The clergy of the Faith of the Seven were more than a little ambivalent, and sometimes, hostile to the powerful couple that now ruled Westeros, one a devotee of the Lord of Light, the other a follower of the Old Gods of the Forest. Neither was committed to the once dominant sect in the Seven Kingdoms and that was viewed with considerable resentment and even suspicion by the septons and septas after being in command for so many centuries.

“So, let’s at it,” Missandei proposed now, trying to remove the temptations of the Imp from her body and mind forever.

Now that she was with Grey Worm in an active sense, well, they were man and wife and she didn’t need the reminder that he had no cock or balls. She adored the Unsullied captain more than ever and he was quite the master of the tongue work, anyway. She especially enjoyed his oral favors on her bottom, though she didn’t know how much she loved that. If she knew the truth, she would have been very flattered at how much he delighted in the flavors of her arse.

He also revelled in how she grew as her pregnancy became more obvious. Her belly grew rounder and her whole body softened and plumped up in response. For Grey Worm, Missandei was a goddess, no matter how many men had taken her to bed. After all, what he could do in that sense? He was no less of a soldier and a warrior or even a husband or lord, but he was no man and he would not let pride in what he wasn’t distract him. He was a eunuch and he knew no life but that one. There was no disgrace in accepting his fate. He had made his peace with his condition and simply wanted his wife to be herself and happy in their marriage, whatever that meant.

If he was a eunuch, he could hardly be a cuckold. Cuckoldry was a disgrace for men. He wasn’t a man, ergo, he couldn’t be a cuckold at all. Grey Worm was free of such concerns and worries in any way, shape, or form. His life was short. He always knew that it would be. He was a soldier and a captain of other soldiers, fearless and first into the fray. He was a killer. Nothing could weaken or soften him. He would embrace what little joy life gave him before it was snuffed out forever. If that meant accepting his wife’s lovers and affairs, so be it. He had little interest in such things himself, except with Missandei of the isle of Naath.