It's back at King's Landing, before Robert's death and back when Margery was still far away in Westeros. Renly washes Loras' minor wounds after a jousting match. "You know I worry about you when you're out on the field. Too much blood has been spilt on that grass," his lover says, running the moist cloth across his chest, teasing him with the lightest touches to his nipples. "You won't lose me Renly. I promise, I'll be there to see you take the iron throne." he always replies, only to be greeted by Renly's wicked smile. "I know what I'd like to take right now." The King's son palms Loras through his trousers, making his cock ache and his body come alive. He reaches out to stroke him in return, to feel the man's stubble against his lips, but finds that he cannot touch him, he can't even move. There is someone, or something behind Renly, some dark specter pulling him backward. Before the knight can scream for help, this terrifying phantom does the unthinkable. Loras sees the knife slice the tender flesh of Renly's throat, and the blood surge from it, but still he is frozen, unable to speak or rouse his body from stillness. The shadow disappears as fast as it entered, and Loras is left simply staring at the body, watching the blood pool around the man who should have been king.
This is always where the dream ends, when Loras wakes up in a cold sweat, having been plagued by this same hallucination that has visited him every night since Renly's mysterious death. These were the moments when Loras thought he would actually die from the pain. Waking up and remembering that he'd never hear Renly's smug laugh again, never catch the Baratheon's hungry eye during one of those endless royal feasts, never awaken to find himself sticky, sore and satisfied, still nestled in the warmth of his lord's arms. These thoughts, though almost too painful to bear, always made him come to the same conclusion; He'd live to see the day when Stannis Barathean's heart was ripped from his chest.