“He did not! We ran away together, you make me sound like a damsel in distress, Brandon.” Lyanna said lowering her knife for the first time, “and this child is no bastard! Rhaegar and I are wed in the sight of The Seven, performed by a Maester of the Citadel, this child is proof of this union, a sign of a brighter future.” Pushing past her brother Lyanna searched for a piece of parchment and a quill and ink on Rhaegar’s desk, scribbling down a few words, she turned back to her brother.
“Let me send this raven to my husband, and then I will go with you since you took it upon yourself to murder my guards.”
Brandon was stunned by what his sister was telling him. She had wed Rhaegar…They loved one another and this child…His niece or nephew was royalty. There was a war going on and now there was extra urgency on everything. He couldn’t go to Robert with this news, and he was sure Ned would still side with Robert until he heard the words from Lyanna herself.
If they wanted to stop this war they’d have to kill Aerys and even than Brandon knew Robert would be an issue, despite being married to Rhaegar legally Robert would still see Lyanna as his bride to be and want to kill Rhaegar and he couldn’t let that happen, couldn’t let his sister be a widow and their child fatherless.
“If that future is able to be seen through the anger and bloodshed.” Brandon remarked as Lyanna went to the desk to write. “To be fair at the time I didn’t know they were your guards” He gave a half attempted laugh and the corners of his mouth gave a small twitch of a smile.
He doesn’t quite realize what he’s done, why she’s reacting like she is and he stalks closer to her still after he shook off the blow that she dealt him, still feeling the impact of her leg against his chest and his breathing hitched. His eyes were still burning with a lustful rage and a low rumble came fourth from his chest and laughter filled the air to her words.
“And I am not some servant whose content with the little he’s given. If you are not an object why are you being pawned off like one onto a man of not your own choosing by your father? Like cattle to be traded off to anyone.” Viserys growled his hands curled, nose twitched as he took a deep breath in and exhaled slowly. “Are you not mine as much as I am yours?” His head tilted and silver tresses hung over one half of his face messily as he crept forward and to one side of her.
How could she not have seen this outcome happen? She allowed him such freedom and he had been growing in need of more. To stretch his wings fully and fly.
“If you were some Dothraki woman or a woman I thought little of I would be–” The words hung in the air until he forced himself to say it. “I would be fucking you with little regard to anything or anyone because a dragon conquers. A dragon gets what he desires.” He was being honest with her and he wasn’t sure how she would take it but this was part of who he was, part of how he had grown and learned. If he didn’t take what was his than he’d have nothing.
“I think it’s quite interesting that we finally see her embracing her brother’s ambition. What does that say? You’re seeing the beginning of something. We’re not at the end yet and I think it’s very important at this moment that we start seeing who she is.” —Michelle Clapton to Uproxx
“[Cersei & Daenerys] are dressing now because they want to be taken seriously, they want power, so they are dressing powerfully […] Dany, she’s wearing a chain across her body as almost a chain of office. A chain of intent. We designed the pin first which is with three dragon heads and then its supposed to move to be the backbone of a dragon, and each piece of chain is supposed to be a separate part of the spine […] She’s always used jewellery, from the time she wore a slave collar to show her united front with the slaves and then as we advance […] it becomes less about Essos and more about her house and being a Targaryen. The more she connects with her family the more she adopts them into her costume. […] Finally we’re getting the [Targaryen] red. She was a confused woman, she was wandering … trying to seek something. And now she’s finally got her armor, she’s finally got everything, and she can finally echo the style of her brother with the extended shoulders and the red and the symbolism.” — Michelle Clapton to Insider
“You can’t come back from the dead. That’s not possible.” her face went white. Every child knew that. Death was one of the few certain in life. “Not even a heretic priest could manage that.”
She’d have given anything to have Ned back.
All these years alive with a Baratheon on the thrzne. “You wait until my husband was murdered by the Lannisters and Robert dead until yourself again.” Until the whole of the Seven Kindoms… six now was a warring mess. “You forget what your family cost the Starks,” Two sons and a daughter and Rickard himself. “my son’s bannermen won’t take kindly to an ex-Dragon prince in their camp.
Even the bannermen who sided with your father until the end have taken up arms for a Baratheon this time.” Dorne alone seemed to avoid this mess of a war.
“And yet here I stand” His arms spread up and his palms faced the sky for a moment before his arms fell to his side “I didn’t think anything of the red preists either, I didn’t think it to be true and yet it is.”
Her words stung and he couldn’t find any way for himself to justify the waiting he did, the wondering if any moment was ever going to be the right one. Had she forgotten what his father had cost his own family? “We’ve all lost family due to actions taken by our own or the others” He hissed, his eyes glaring at the Lady. “What was I supposed to do when I was revived? March against Robert who had won the war, taken the throne from my brother while still recovering? There may be Targagyren supporters but few will admit to it. I don’t have an army and I wouldn’t outright kill the King. If I was that person my father would have been dead a long time ago.”
“I loved Eddard’s sister and she I. We married even. I didn’t cause Brandon and his father’s death. That was my father. Not I. Yes my actions sent everything into motion but everyone reacted to actions.” Rhaegar fidgeted with his sword hilt as he spoke, his gaze never wavering from Catelyn. “Cersei’s children have no right to the throne. Robert had some and there had been peace, a kind of peace my father hadn’t allowed for some time. It’s clear with Joffery there has been an upset to that peace.”
Rhaegar sighed and he found himself taking a seat realizing just how tired he was after a long day of travel. “Lady Stark, if you allow me to help, to raise whatever support I can with my name if those will follow me…Robb will be King In The North, the Stark’s will be granted everything accordingly to a royal house. Your family will be compensated in any way you require, the deaths of all those involved in Eddards death and Roberts will be put to death. Sansa and Arya will be returned to you and perhaps my own family, what’s left of it can be returned to my side…” His thoughts drifted to Viserys and Daenerys. His little sister that he had never seen before, he hoped Viserys was okay.
Goldnwulf 