Shadows of the Realm: Rhaegar's Resolve (ASOIAF) (Completed)

283 AC

Maegor's Holdfast, Red Keep

King's Landing

Jaime Lannister

The moment Ser Gerold's proclamation rang out, Ser Richard arrived along with a few knights and guardsmen. For the first time in History perhaps, the King has been murdered by his son. But since the king was the Mad King Jaime doubted anybody would care about his death.

Almost immediately after arriving, Ser Richard and his soldiers knelt to Rhaegar.

How long has this plot been in the works, and did the Spider know about this, Jaime wondered as the Prince, no, the King Rhaegar gave out his commands, "Grab the Spider and kill him and pin the murder of the king on him. Get all the main alchemists and torture them until they tell you where all the wildfire caches have been stored, Rossart, Garrigus, and Belis will be the main instigators of this plot, get them first and make them squeal."

"Yes, Your Grace," Ser Richard bows deeply before rushing off.

Then the King turned to a knight with the heraldry of House Thorne and commanded "Have the bells rung and call the High Septon immediately and put the Royal quarters on lockdown. No one gets in or out without my orders, understood."

The knight bowed and obeyed without question "Yes, Your Grace" before rushing off to do his part in what seemed to be a rather well-premeditated coup.

Rhaegar then turned to him and the White Bull said "Come, we have a few loose ends to tie up"

Jaime and the White Bull nodded and followed Rhaegar out of the Holdfast. They walked briskly to the Grandmaester's quarters and the Grand Maester himself comes out asking "Your Grace, what is happening? is the king alright?"

Rhaegar doesn't bother to answer him as he hits Pycelle hard on the neck with the side of his palm. Pycelle cries out in pain, and before he can do anything the King pushes him down the serpentine steps of the Red Keep. Pycelle rolls down the steps and when he finally comes to a stop. Jaime could see that his head was bleeding, the Grandmaester was soon to die if he hadn't broken his neck in the fall.

After that Rhaegar enters Pycelle's chambers and takes a wineskin opens it and takes a swing of it and then offers him, Jaime declines as it won't do for him to be drunk on duty and Rhaegar just shrugs and then he pours the remaining wine down the steps and brings it to where Pycelle is lying dead.

He pours the wine on Pycelle's lifeless face and then dumps the wineskin on him and then tells Jaime, "How unfortunate that the Grandmaester slipped off the stairs whilst he was drunk and broke his neck," He looks expectantly.

Jaime nodded, "Yes, your grace, it is quite unfortunate"

From that day on Jaime Lannister saw the two faces of King Rhaegar, the charming and courteous face of the beloved king that was shown to everyone on the outside, and the coldhearted and merciless face of the ruthless king that was shown to all who defy him.

A while later, Ser Richard arrived with bad news "Your grace, the Spider has escaped"

Rhaegar looks unperturbed with a shake of his head, "Of course he has."

"What about the alchemists?" Rhaegar then asks Richard who replies "All of them have been captured and they are being tortured as we speak."

Jaime felt a feeling of satisfaction go through him, those pyromancers deserved everything that the torture chambers could inflict on them.

R

Soon enough they hear the bells ring, and then a messenger arrives saying that the High Septon has arrived.

The King and the High Septon meet in the Royal Sept in the Red Keep while Ser Gerold and I stand guard outside.

And just then Ser Barristan and Ser Jonothor Darry came running toward us. "What happened? We heard that the King is dead" Ser Barristan frantically asks,

Why was he so concerned over the Mad King's death?

"The King is dead, the new King is to be crowned and we have a war to win and that is the end of the story as far any of you are concerned" Ser Gerold cuts off Ser Barristan's rambling, and the two of them get the message almost immediately, and while Ser Barristan is not happy with it, he goes along because in his heart he is relieved that the Mad King is dead.

How bad of a king do you have to be that even your Kingsguard wants you dead? The Dragonknight died to protect his Unworthy brother, so the standard to be so bad a king that even the Lord Commander of your Kingsguard wants you dead must be quite high, the last person to be that bad was Maegor the Cruel.

Ser Gerold then asks the two of them "Who is guarding the Royal family?"

Ser Jonothor answers "Prince Lewyn is guarding them and I believe that the King has put the Holdfast on lockdown" Ser Gerold nods at that.

Then Ser Richard arrives and asks "Where is the King?"

I answer "In the Sept, he is talking with the High Septon" He nods at that,

Then Ser Gerold asks him "Did they sing?"

Richard grins "Like birds, the second I removed one of Belis' fingernails he broke and told me everything, I have sent men to guard the places where the wildfire is placed but I don't know how to dispose of the wildfire itself because it's too volatile"

Ser Barristan and Ser Jonothor are bemused at what Richard was talking about as they don't know about the plot as they were outside the city rallying the remains of the Royal army after the Battle of the Bells and only returned the day before Prince Rhaegar returned.

Just then the King and the High Septon came out of the Sept and the High Septon gave his blessings to all of us and left,

Ser Gerold looked towards the King expectantly and Rhaegar said "The coronation will be tomorrow, nothing fancy and it will be a wartime coronation with all the Lords that we have here as we don't have any time to waste"

Ser Gerold nodded, and then the King turned to Richard and asked him for his report, when Richard came to the disposing wildfire part the king said to him "Use sand, it will nullify the wildfire and for every drop of wildfire use double the amount of sand, and they have plenty of sand at the guildhall, use it"

"Yes, your grace, and should we destroy all of the wildfires with sand, or should we spare a few barrels," Richard asks the King,

Why spare any barrel? That thing called wildfire ought to be wiped out for good.

The King thinks for a while before saying "Destroy all but a third of the barrels, I'll be needing them after a while"

"Yes, your grace" Ser Richard answers and turns to leave,

But before he could leave the King tells him "Oh, and one more thing, Richard"

He turns back and asks "Yes, your Grace"

"I want you to adopt all of Varys' little birds in the capital and soon expand from that, for I want you to become my new Master of Whisperers," The King tells him,

"Yes, your grace, I shall take them and I thank you for the honor, Once I am done with the alchemists, I shall come with you to meet the little birds" He nods at that.

Then he leaves and following him, the King leaves along with us heading for the torture chambers underneath the Red Keep to meet the alchemists.

The next day

Red Keep, the Throne room

Richard Monmouth

Ser Richard Lonmouth, the new Master of Whisperers looks on as the High Septon anointed and crowned Rhaegar as the new King.

This is not how he thought that Rhaegar's coronation would go. He, Myles, Jon, and Arthur dreamt that when Rhaegar would become King, it would be a glorious ceremony worthy of the songs with all the Great lords of Westeros and their vassals kneeling before Rhaegar, while they stood by his side.

But now, Myles is dead, Jon has been exiled, and Arthur is in the middle of nowhere with four of the Great Lords in open rebellion, while another two have declared neutrality and the remaining two are not present.

The ceremony is less festive and more warlike just like the crown that Rhaegar has chosen, the crown of Maekar Targaryen.

The Mad King was cremated early in the morning and in an ode of poetic justice, his body was doused in wildfire and set alight.

Rhaegar hasn't even met his family ever since coming to the city, and now within a day the Mad King is dead and Rhaegar has been crowned King in a rushed ceremony, they weren't fools, Richard could see that both Queen Rhaella and Queen Elia knew that something was afoot,

I think about how many of Varys' birds have been adopted by the King and me.

When Rhaegar told me of how Varys makes his spies after removing the tongue of all the children and then teaching them to read and write, I was shocked but at the same time freeing them from his control allowed me to be accepted by the little birds and they returned an absolute loyalty to towards both me and Rhaegar when Rhaegar told them in Valyrian that they won't be hurt and that the bald man had run they rejoiced and after that, it was just a matter of giving them proper food from the kitchens.

And from now on they follow us and serve us with fanatical devotion.

Then finally the High Septon says the words that we have all been waiting for,

"In light of the Seven, I now proclaim Rhaegar of the House of Targaryen, First of his name, King of the Andals, the First Men and the Rhoynar, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm"

"LONG MAY HE REIGN"

Everyone picks up on that and the entire courtroom is filled with the chants of "LONG MAY HE REIGN" Following that, I am now officially appointed as the Master of Whisperers and Lord Tarly is appointed as Master of War, Jon has been recalled from exile while Princess Elia is now Queen Elia while Queen Rhaella is now the Queen Dowager and Prince Aegon has been declared as Prince of Dragonstone thereby removing any doubts about the succession.

Then the King speaks in a loud voice

"MY LORDS AND LADIES, I THANK YOU ALL FOR COMING ON SUCH SHORT NOTICE, NORMALLY A KING'S CORONATION IS HELD WILL POMP AND REVELRY AND CHEER BUT ALAS THE CIRCUMSTANCES ARE OTHERWISE FOR AS WE SPEAK WE NOW FACE A WAR OF THE LIKE NOT SEEN SINCE THE FIRST BLACKFYRE REBELLION BUT I ASSURE ALL OF YOU OF THIS, FOR LIKE THE BLACKFYRES THESE REBELS TOO SHALL BE CRUSHED"

There is a loud cheer for that but Rhaegar isn't done yet with his speech,

"TO ALL OF THE REBELS, I SAY THIS TO YOU, YOUR QUARREL IS WITH MY SIRE AND MY SIRE IS DEAD, HE WAS MURDERED BY HIS SPYMASTER THE SPIDER, THE VERY MAN TO WHOSE TUNE HE DANCED TO, THE VERY MAN WHO MADE HIS PARANOIA INCREASE AND NOW THE GODS HAVE DELIVERED THEIR JUDGEMENT UPON HIM AND THE SPIDER SHALL FOREVER RUN UNTIL JUSTICE CATCHES UP TO HIM"

"TO ALL THE REBELS, I GIVE YOU A HAND OF PEACE AND OFFER CLEMENCY TO ALL WHO HAVE REBELLED AND ALL THEY HAVE TO DO IS DISBAND THEIR ARMIES AND HEAD HOME AFTER COMING TO THE CAPITAL TO KNEEL BEFORE ME AND THERE WILL BE NO NEED OF HOSTAGES, NO NEED OF RANSOMS AND NO NEED OF EXECUTIONS"

A magnanimous offer that will be rejected by the Rebels,

"I APOLOGIZE ON BEHALF OF HOUSE TARGARYEN FOR THE ACTIONS OF MY SIRE FOR HE WAS INDEED MAD BEYOND DOUBT, I WILL ALSO GIVE BLOOD MONEY FOR ALL THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN UNJUSTLY MURDERED BY MY FATHER"

"BUT AT THE SAME TIME I WOULD WISH TO POINT OUT THE HYPOCRISY DONE BY THE REBELS, FOR THEY CLAIM TO FIGHT FOR JUSTICE, AND YET THEY HAVE SHOWN THEMSELVES TO BE AS GREEDY AND COVETOUS AS THE BLACKFYRES, THEY CLAIM JUSTICE, AND YET INSTEAD OF JUST DEMANDING THAT MY SIRE BE REMOVED FROM THE THRONE, AND EVEN MYSELF BE REMOVED FROM THE SUCCESSION THEY DEMAND THAT THE ENTIRE HOUSE BE DESTROYED, FOR WHAT CRIME HAS MY SON AEGON COMMITTED THAT HE DESERVES TO DIE FOR HE IS NAUGHT BUT A BABE AT THE BREAST"

And just like that, the onus is on the Rebels, they are now responsible for the future continuation of the war, besides the very notion that they intend on killing baby Aegon has made many a woman faint. And after even allowing himself to be removed from the succession Rhaegar is now a reasonable person.

As far as Westerosi nobles go there are only two things considered prized, martial prowess and your oratory skills which come with politicking and intrigue, it is considered ideal to have both but having either one is acceptable enough. If you don't have either then you are considered useless.

"THEY TRICKED THE STARKS INTO THEIR DEATHS, FOR IT IS HOSTER TULLY WHO FALSELY SENT WORD TO BRANDON STARK THAT SAID THAT I KIDNAPPED HIS SISTER, KNOWING FULL WELL THAT THE HOT-HEADED YOUTH WOULD DO SOMETHING RASH AND FOOLISH, FOR IT IS JON ARRYN WHO TRICKED LORD STARK INTO COMING TO THE RED KEEP EVEN THOUGH HE KNEW THAT THE MAD KING WOULD KILL HIM"

Just like that, this will sow discord in the rebel ranks, maybe not in the upper strata of the rebel leadership but definitely amongst the lower end which will be turned into dissent.

"AND NOW THEY ATTEMPT TO PUT A DRUNKEN WHOREMONGER ON THE THRONE, BY ALL ACCOUNTS IT IS SAID THAT DURING THE BATTLE AT THE STONEY SEPT HE CAME OUT TO FIGHT OUT OF THE WHOREHOUSE"

There are a lot of gasps and chuckles at that,

"THE REBELS WANT TO PLACE AEGON THE UNWORTHY ON THRONE, DO ANY OF YOU WANT THE UNWORTHY ON THE THRONE," Rhaegar asks the crowd

There is a resounding sound of No and other jeers toward the rebels,

"NO"

"NOT THE UNWORTHY"

"NEVER"

"DEATH TO THE REBELS"

"WE HAVE NO NEED OF THE UNWORTHY"

"AWAY WITH THEM"

Then Rhaegar raises his hands to quiet the crowd and then begins to speak in the third person

"BEHOLD, THESE ARE THE WORDS OF RHAEGAR OF THE HOUSE OF TARGARYEN, FIRST OF HIS NAME, KING OF THE ANDALS, THE FIRST MEN, AND THE RHOYNAR, LORD OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS AND PROTECTOR OF THE REALM, THE DESCENDANT OF AEGON THE CONQUEROR,

I WILL NAME NO MAN AN ENEMY WHO DOES NOT SO DECLARE HIMSELF, TO ANY MAN THAT HAS TAKEN UP ARMS AGAINST ME AND THE CROWN AND NOW REGRETS IT TO THEM I GLADLY OFFER TOTAL AMNESTY, HOWEVER, TO THOSE WHO CONTINUE TO USE VIOLENCE TO OPPOSE ME AND THE CROWN, THEY SHALL RECEIVE THAT WHICH THEY SEEK TO GIVE

THESE ARE THE WORDS OF RHAEGAR OF THE HOUSE OF TARGARYEN, FIRST OF HIS NAME"

After the coronation ceremony

War Room

Randyll Tarly

Randyll Tarly, the first-ever Master of War looked around the table to see who all was important enough to be invited to the War Council.

First of course there is the King and along with him all of the Kingsguard present in the city, and then there was Ser Richard Lonmouth, the new Master of Whisperers, Ser Baelor Hightower, Lord Axel Darry, and Lord Ronald Connington, and then himself.

The King began "Alright first and foremost we must acknowledge our biggest weakness compared to the rebels"

Then Darry interrupts saying "But your grace, how are we weaker than the rebels, surely we outnumber them,"

"Insolent fool, let the king speak," Randyll snarled at him,

The King just stares at the idiot the same way he did with Mace and soon enough the fool mumbles an apology cowed in his place, and the King continues speaking,

"Our biggest disadvantage is quality, most of our men are raw recruits and green boys whereas most of the rebels are now battle-hardened with the Battle of the Stoney Sept not to forget the Valemen have sharpened their skills with the Mountain clans while the Northerners have honed their skills against the wildlings and as such wherever we meet them, our numbers must come into play, not the quality of our soldiers"

Randyll couldn't agree more, most of the Royalists soldiers were green except for his, who faced Robert Baratheon at Ashford and the lucky survivors of the Stoney Sept.

Then Ser Baelor asks "In that case, what would you believe should be our next step, your grace"

"We need to force a major confrontation with the rebels in a place where we have an advantage, and of course, they will need to cross the Trident at some point so most likely in a place with an easy crossing of a Ford or a major bridge" The King figures.

Then Ser Gerold says "In case of crossing, the only major crossing would be this Ford" He points to a place on the map near the Crossroads Inn "The only other crossing other than this is the Twins"

That means that Ford will be the place where the rebels will cross.

"But won't crossing the Ford negate our advantage in numbers" Se Barristan wisely points out and the King nods,

"Yes, it will remove our advantage, so we shall not enter the ford but rather stand on the banks right on the edge of the river and we shall let the rebels wade through the ford and the second the rebels leave the ford we shall engage them."

So in other words, bait them into doing the crossing and then make them fight on the water while we fight on land.

The King continues "And while they are crossing, we shall bring hell on them with our longbowmen" He looks at me

I nod "Yes, your grace, I have done as you have commanded, the longbowmen are ready, I have managed to rustle up from the Royalist host somewhere about a thousand or so longbowmen"

But then an idiot named Ronald Connington butted in "So little, just a thousand"

I grit my teeth before replying "Longbowmen are not exactly easily trained, it takes a lifetime of training from boyhood to make longbowmen, they are not crossbowmen or composite bowmen that nobles have, which can be trained on-demand, besides we would have had more longbowmen if so many Lords hadn't forbade their peasants from having bows and hunting in their woods" He looks flushed at that.

But the King reassures me "Don't worry, a thousand is more than enough I am surprised that we have a thousand, so now we move on to the next part of the plan now that we have decided the field"

Sir Richard then asks "What might that be? your grace"

The King takes a sip of wine before replying "We have to encircle them from behind and destroy them otherwise a few might be able to escape and continue to holdout, and Gods forbid if any of the Valemen or the Northmen escape to the Bloody Gate or Moat Cailin because if they do then it will be impossible to break them"

Randyll nodded, Both the Moat and the Gate are impregnable fortresses and there are no dragons to help this time the rebels might be able to hold out forever and once winter comes, it will be the end of any army in either the Mountains or in the Swamps of the Neck and the last one depends on whether any army will survive the swamps until winter comes in the Neck.

"So how do we encircle them, your grace," Ser Baelor asks, the King ponders over the map for a few minutes and then tells Ser Baelor,

"I want you to take five thousand men with you on a different route and capture Lord Harroway's Town and then cross the Trident from there and swing around and attack the rebels in the rear and in the process destroy their camp as well"

Not a bad idea but it depends on Hightower being able to capture Lord Harroway's Town quickly and being able to reach the Ford on time.

"Which means that speed will be of the essence," Ser Gerold tells his nephew who nods.

"And to make your trip behind the enemy lines easier I have sent the Freys who still haven't joined the rebel forces an offer that if they join us, not only will they have vengeance on the Tully for all the times they have been insulted by Riverrun but along with that I will also take one of their spawn as a squire and also give them a title called the Warden of the Green Fork which will elevate him above the rest of the River lords"

The Freys aren't good for much but they will be good as fodder for the desperate rebels when they will be encircled. Baelor nods at that.

The King goes on to tell us the main battle formations "The first line composed of the ten thousand men from Dorne lead by Prince Lewyn, considering that they are all spearmen, you will be able to easily hold the line against the rebels" He looks at Prince Lewyn, who nods.

The King continues "The second line of another ten thousand men from the regions of the Stormlands and the Riverlands lead by Ser Barristan Selmy"

The person in question nods as the King goes on "The third line will be of fifteen thousand men from the Crownlands lead by me along with Ser Richard and then the left flank made mostly of the cavalry from the Crownlands, Riverlands, and Stormlands lead by Ser Gerold and then the right flank made up of mostly Reachmen lead by Lord Tarly"

Randyll dutifully nodded,

"Any questions," The King asked us, and then I spoke up "Your grace, where will the longbowmen be placed?"

The King replied "Behind the second and third line, ideally in a place where all their arrows will land on the ford where the rebels will be congregated" I nod at that, which seems reasonable enough.

"Anything else," The King asked again and then Darry finally spoke up "What about the five hundred horsemen that you have kept as reserve, your grace?"

"They will be under my command and I will use them to exploit any attempts at a breakthrough" The King explains,

"In the meantime, SerJonothor is to stay with the Royal Family "The man doesn't look happy at that.

"My family will be heading for Dragonstone tomorrow while the Lord Commander of the City Watch will be given command of the city, and if the battle goes the wrong way then Ser Jonothor you are to take the fleet and head for Sunspear and after that, the Free Cities, scuttle the fleet if you wish,

I believe that my goodbrother Oberyn already has his own mercenary company in Essos so you have your base to begin making a Golden Company of your own, Sers Arthur and Oswell will join you."

It's when the king finally brings up the Golden Company that everyone in the room realizes what's at stake.

"If that is all my Lords then we shall adjourn"

After the War meeting

The King's Solar

Rhaella Targaryen

Rhaella did not know what to expect when she meets her son after nearly a year of absence, she didn't get to meet him after he arrived and the next thing she knew was that Aerys was dead and Rhaegar was crowned almost immediately after that. Both she and Elia didn't know what happened but she has a feeling that Rhaegar might have killed Aerys and not the Spider as they are claiming.

Right now she and Elia are waiting outside his solar for his permission to enter. Her son is now a king and she does not know how to feel,

Rhaella is relieved that Aerys is finally dead whereas, on the other hand, her son might have just become a Kingslayer and a kinslayer and this is not to include the fact that Rhaegar ran off with the Stark girl, and during his speech, he didn't exactly mention what happened with the girl and she knows that that is the one topic on Elia's mind right now.

Then they are permitted to enter his solar and the solar that once used to be filled with gaudy things along with golden decorations and finery now look just functional. Nothing at all fancy like how it was under Aerys.

My son is sitting on the King's table going over some papers when he notices us enter and gives out a rueful smile and says "Come sit" Offering the chairs in front of him.

After we sit, He pours wine for the three of us and speaks "You must be having a lot of questions so get them out" He just says that with a flair of nonchalance, is he not serious about anything that is going on right now?

"Well for starters you could tell us what happened with the King," Elia said, she is wearing an expressionless mask, something that she has honed over the years of living in King's Landing and navigating the political nightmare that is the Red Keep.

"Well the King died of old age," He says with a completely straight face but you can see his eyes shining with mirth, Is this a joke to him

"Rhaegar, your father was nine and thirty and you told everyone that Varys killed him" Elia deadpans at him while I am just looking straight at him because I have never seen Rhaegar joke about anything.

"I had no idea, I would have thought that he was three and ninety judging by the length of his beard, and just three after listening to his whims," He dryly responds.

"Rhaegar is this a joke to you" I snap at him unable to take his apparent lazy attitude.

"Well because I am in this wretched world in the first place, so yes I do think that this is a joke," He says with a touch of bitterness in his tone but I don't quite understand what he means by what he has said about being in this world.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Elia asks and this time with a hint of emotion.

"What I mean is that I have no intention whatsoever of living in this world and yet here I am, and I have to clean the mess that my sick excuse of a son of a bitch that is my father left me"

Since when did Rhaegar start cursing? "Rhaegar you need to stop cursing it's unbecoming of a king and that's my mother that you are insulting," I tell him as sternly as I can but it does not affect him he looks more amused than anything.

"Right and mind if I ask what is becoming of a king since it looks like my highly illustrious father has left quite a legacy in that regard" That hit too close to her heart.

"Alright but still can you tell us why you killed him now of all times, instead of any other time," Elia asks him, and then Rhaegar sighs, and after taking a long gulp of wine he begins to tell us about the wildfire plot.

I am horrified upon hearing Aerys' plan and just when I thought that Aerys wouldn't sink any lower, I am thankful that Rhaegar killed his father.

There is a stunned silence in the room after hearing about the plot and then Elia asks "What about the Stark girl? Why did you run off with her?" Now that is a question that she has been wanting to ask for a long time now.

Rhaegar didn't answer for a while and then he finally spoke, "She was the Knight of the Laughing Tree", I don't know what that means but Elia does, she looks shocked at what Rhaegar told her,

So I ask "Who is this Knight of the Laughing Tree?" Then Elia tells me about the Mystery Knight during the Tourney at Harrenhal.

Then Elia asks Rhaegar "When did you find out?" He eyes the wine goblet for a while before saying

"After my 'father' told me to find the knight, I found her in the woods desperately trying to remove her armor, so to protect her I took the shield and managed to get him to call off the hunt, at least for a while"

"Is that why you crowned her as the Queen of love and beauty?" Elia asks him and he nods.

After a while, I ask him "That still doesn't explain why you ran off with her"

In a quiet voice, he tells us "He found out that she was the Knight of the Laughing Tree and so he sent a bunch of sellswords to attack her retinue in the Riverlands and kill her so I set off with Ser Arthur and Ser Oswell to save her and maybe stop a war from happening, fat good that did"

For now, none of us know what to say until Elia asks "What then?"

All Rhaegar did was raise an eyebrow and tell "What do you think happened between us?"

Oh, Gods, Rhaegar fell in love with that girl, then I ask what Elia is now dreading to ask

"Is she pregnant?", he doesn't reply but his silence is telling.

"Where is she?" Elia asks after a few minutes of understanding what his silence means and Rhaegar looks towards her and says "Starfall"

Again silence descends upon us as none of us know what to say now, Elia drinks down the entire goblet of wine trying to go through her emotions while I just sit in my chair shocked at everything that has just occurred.

Then Rhaegar breaks the silence "I will soon be leaving for the Riverlands and by the time I arrive back to King's Landing, Viserys better know who his father is because you have blinded yourself to his madness and prevented Viserys from seeing the truth as well"

I can't deny that I have prevented Viserys from seeing his father's madness but I had to protect him from all that, so I try to defend myself "You expect me to allow Viserys to see his father's cruelty and madness"

He looks impassive and coldly says "Yes, I do for it is better for him that he knows that his father is a mad and cruel man rather than him living in ignorance of it"

I am shocked at Rhaegar's callous disregard for his brother's innocence and before I can say anything Elia asks "Did you kill Pycelle?" but Rhaegar doesn't bother answering us other than raising his eyebrow,

He then speaks "The two of you along with the kids will be heading for Dragonstone tomorrow morning, no questions asked" No questions were needed.

After that, he dismisses us, "If you don't mind, can we talk about our problems later because I have a war to win"

Both Elia and I leave after that and as I enter my chamber I begin to wonder how I tell my son about who his father was.

Next-day, Before Dawn

Harbor of King's Landing

Jaime Lannister

It's the Hour of the Owl when the Royal family leaves for Dragonstone, Jaime stands guard while the King says his farewells to the family, and the entire city is still sleeping while the Royal family leaves aboard the ship Prince Aemon, which is one of the oldest ships in the Royal Fleet and it will be escorted by ten other ships of the Royal Fleet.

Princess Rhaenys is the most inconsolable as she doesn't want to leave her father whom she has just met after a long absence but the King manages to calm her down in the end and she finally gets on the ship with her mother.

The King stays on the docks watching their ship slowly fade away, it is only after the ship and its escorts finally disappear under the horizon does the King finally leave the docks and that's when Jaime hears the King say to himself

"Let the games begin"