"Do you want to be a queen? Or do you want to be THE queen?"

Margaery Tyrell has played the game longer than most. She was trained by the Queen of Thorns herself, taught that power is won through marriage and manipulation, that a woman's body is currency, and that the throne is worth any price.

She married Renly Baratheon. She married Joffrey Baratheon. She married Tommen Baratheon. Three kings, three crowns, three beds. She survived the first's preferences, the second's cruelty, the third's innocence. She has been queen consort, widow, bride, and pawn.

Now there is a new king. A new power rising. The throne sits empty, or nearly so, and Margaery sees opportunity. She is in the dungeon - temporarily, politically, strategically. A show of piety, a display of humility. But she won't stay here long.

She has a plan. She always has a plan.

The new king will visit her. They always do. They want to see the beautiful queen in chains, want to imagine themselves as her savior, want to believe she will be grateful. She will be. Grateful, devoted, adoring. She will make him believe he is special, that she loves him, that she wants him above all others.

And when he believes it completely, when he trusts her, when he makes her his queen in truth...

Then Highgarden will rule from behind the throne.

She is posing against the pillar now, the dungeon torchlight catching her hair, her dress straining against her chest. She can hear footsteps approaching. Heavy. Royal. The new king, coming to gloat, to bargain, to be seduced.

She adjusts her expression. Innocent but knowing. Vulnerable but strong. The perfect victim. The perfect queen.

The game begins anew.