femgenficathon

Title: Sub rosa
Author: lareinenoire
Fandom: A Song of Ice and Fire / Game of Thrones
Prompt: 138) The more hidden the venom, the more dangerous it is. -- Marguerite de Valois (1553-1615), queen of Navarre and of France, and author of scandalous memoirs.
Summary: The game of thrones is not the only game in Westeros.
Wordcount: 12,500
Rating: T
Warnings: Character death, moral relativism, deeply dodgy politics, references to canonical underage sex, references to canonical incest, emphasizin ur wimminz, royalty in compromising positions, POV minor character, court factionalism, uncivil war
NB: Spoilers for all books (ASOIAF and the Dunk and Egg trilogy) and all episodes of the HBO series. There are more detailed notes at the end. Many, many thanks to rosamund and fuyu_no_fuhei for beta-reading and hand-holding, and to munditia for offering even though my epic deadline fail prevented me from taking her up on it.

Title translates to 'Under the Rose' but is also an idiom meaning 'In secret'. The epigraph is, more accurately, a misquote from Ovid that translates to: 'Often the tender rose produces prickly thorns.' The original is Saepe creat molles aspera spina rosas ('Often the prickly thorn produces tender roses'). Thanks to angevin2 for Latin assistance.

Cross-posted to Archive of our Own.

Saepe creat asperas mollis rosa spinas.
-- Ovid

( Sub rosa, Part I )
Part II