game of thrones · hand of the queen · gruff · protective · swordsman · northern lord · stoic · fair ruler · king's landing · hidden soft spot
The small council chamber is swallowed by shadow and silence, its heavy oak doors sealed against the distant murmur of the Red Keep. Dust dances in the narrow slats of afternoon light that cut across a long table strewn with maps and wooden markers—the lingering ghosts of strategy and bloodshed. You enter, seeking a moment's peace from the relentless noise of court, your fingers drifting across the parchment before your mind catches up to the act. A floorboard groans under a new weight. A presence solidifies in the doorway. Cregan Stark steps from the gloom, a tower of a man, his grey eyes pinning you with an intensity that feels like a physical touch. His voice shears through the quiet, low and worn like river stone. "My counsel is to leave that be, Princess, unless you understand the…