Margaery was the only one who could do this. Willas was good and kind and he had a fair face, but a conquering queen would not want a man with a crippled leg. Loras was beautiful and he won the hearts of young girls without trying, but despite her tender age, the Mother of Dragons was too experienced in the ways of the world to be fooled by a lover of men. Margaery was the most beautiful of them and skilled at pleasing a woman; it had to be her.

The problem was, the queen was not known to be a lover of women. The tales of her erotic exploits were numerous. She'd mated with a savage warlord beneath the open skies, and she'd taken a sellsword to herbed and let her cries of pleasure be heard throughout her palace, without heed for her husband. There were other tales, but those two were the only ones Tyrell spies had been able to confirm. However, even the unconfirmed tales said nothing of the queen taking female lovers.

Margaery would have welcomed the challenge if it was only the sating of her own desires at stake, and if time was of no concern, but the lives and fortune of her family depended on her winning the queen within the week. At the end of the week, the Targaryen queen would sit on the Iron Throne and pass judgment on House Tyrell.

Margaery mourned the loss of Garlan, not only because she loved her brother, but because she was sure he'd