3

Daenerys

The sky was clear and blue, the wind a gentle breeze, but a storm brewed within Daenerys. She worked her horse into a gallop and imagined herself to be the storm: her mare's hooves echoing through the plains like thunder, the snap of the reins cracking like lightning. The countryside became a blur of green and blue, the shouts of her companions drowned out by the wind rushing through her ears. For a brief, blissful moment the world outside her saddle ceased to exist. She was the wind: swift and fierce. The illusion broke when her mare began to lag. She pulled back on the reins to spare the poor beast.

Breathless, she looked back at King's Landing and felt a swell of disappointment. She had hoped the city would be farther away, nothing but a speck on the horizon. Instead it loomed as large as ever, casting its shadow on the surrounding countryside. Not that it mattered. Any distance she could put between herself and the city was only temporary. She would be dragged back to the Red Keep before long.

Robb rode in her wake, an easy smile on his face. He was humoring her, she knew he could have easily kept pace. Ser Richard Horpe followed behind Robb, riding a courser as white as the cloak he wore. The knight of the Kingsguard had dark hair and even darker eyes. He might have been handsome in a roguish sort of way if not for the scars and pockmarks which marred his face.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say you wanted to be rid of me," said Robb as he pulled alongside her.

"Luckily, you do know better." It was the Red Keep she spurned, and the people within it: Viserys who leered at her anytime they crossed paths, Rhaegar who ignored Viserys' uncouth behavior, Aegon who turned a deaf ear to her pleas for help, Jae and Rhaenys who were so wrapped up in each other they were ignorant of everyone else. In the past few weeks she had taken every opportunity to avoid spending time in the Red Keep, yet the castle still loomed.

"How far do you think we could get before our white shadow drags us back to the castle?" asked Robb under his breath. Ser Richard gave the young couple their space, riding far enough back that Robb's words did not reach him.

"Not far, I'd imagine," Dany answered with a small smile. If there was anyone who understood her desire to be free of the Red Keep it was Robb. He had been born in Riverrun, raised in King's Landing, but he belonged in the North. Every passing day brought him closer to his sixteenth nameday, closer to the day he would finally be allowed to go North and take his place as Lord of Winterfell. She saw the restlessness grow within him day by day.

"To Riverrun, at least," he argued playfully. "From there we could borrow a ship from my uncle and sail upstream. Once we're past the Neck, no one would be able to follow us."

"You've put some thought into this."

"More than a little." He winked.

"Not nearly enough. You've vastly underestimated Ser Richard if you believe he would allow us out of sight of the city walls."

Robb feigned offense. "It's me who's been underestimated, my lady. No man ahorse could ever hope to match me."

His bravado made her laugh. He always knew how to make her laugh. "It's a pretty dream."

"It will be more than a dream soon enough." He grabbed her hand. She met his earnest blue eyes. "I will be Lord of Winterfell and you will be my lady. We'll marry before a heart tree, just like my mother and father."

This was a fantasy they had played out before, the lines rehearsed. "And if I wish to marry in a sept?"

"Then I will have one built, the first in Winterfell's storied history, all for you."

It was a pretty dream, indeed, but Dany couldn't imagine reality being so sweet. Resentment for House Targaryen still ran high in the North thanks to the actions of her father and brother: Lords Rickard and Brandon murdered by her father, Lord Eddard sentenced to the Wall by her brother. Robb spoke glowingly of the day he would take his rightful place as Lord of Winterfell, but how willing would his bannermen be to accept a lord who didn't know his lands or people, a lord raised in the south who brought with him a Targaryen bride? She couldn't help but wonder if Robb, behind his bravado, felt the same.

"Do you ever fear we will not be accepted in the North?"

"Never." His tone held none of the bravado of the boy she loved and all of the self-assuredness of the man she would one day marry. "I may have my mother's look but the North is in my blood. I may not know my land or my people as well as my uncle Benjen, but I will come to know it. We will come to know it. From the Neck to the Wall, from the Stoney Shore to the Grey Hills, we will come to know every inch of land, every lord and lady, every one of the smallfolk. And as we come to know them, they will come to know us, and they will love us."

A smile grew on her face throughout his monologue. How did he manage to instill her with confidence when she felt only uncertainty, to make her laugh when she felt no joy? How had the gods saw fit to bless her so?

"I love you," she said, so quiet she wasn't sure he heard.

"I know," he said with a grin. The glare she leveled him with made it clear she was not amused. The grin melted off his face. His words came even quieter than her own, but still she heard them. "I love you too."

She might have kissed him if it weren't for the watchful eyes of Ser Richard.

Instead they rode on in amicable silence towards the kingswood, their destination for the day. Dany had prepared a lunch for them and Robb insisted he knew the perfect clearing in which to enjoy it. As they rode he regaled her with the story of how he had felled his first stag in these very woods. It was a story she had heard a dozen times before, every other word an embellishment.

"If you ever grow tired of being Lord of Winterfell, you have a future as a mummer," she said after he finished his tale. She knew he was acting a fool. What would that make her if she played along?

"You doubt me, my lady?"

"Jae told me the truth of your tale. He told me you missed your first shot and that, having missed, you chased after the stag with abandon. He said you were lucky you didn't fall and break your neck."

He shrugged. "I prefer my version of events."

She laughed and they rode on, arriving at the promised clearing before long. This, at least, wasn't one of her betrothed's fanciful boasts. The clearing was perfect for a picnic, a secluded island of verdant grass amongst the sea of trees. They dismounted; Robb grabbed the thick blanket they had brought with them and set it upon the grass, while Dany retrieved the basket containing their lunch and began laying out the items. As they ate, Ser Richard patrolled the clearing, hand casually resting on the hilt of his sword. Neither of them thought to offer him anything.

Once they had their fill of food and summer sun, they packed up their lunch and mounted their horses. As they were preparing to depart, their attention was drawn to the approach of another group of riders. With a sinking feeling in her stomach, Dany recognized the figure in the lead. With his pale silver hair and lanky frame it could only be her brother Viserys. He rode tall in the saddle, dressed in a fine black doublet embroidered with the crimson three headed dragon of House Targaryen. Trailing behind him were half a dozen Martell guardsmen, bedecked in the lively colors of their house: red and gold and orange.

The party rode into the clearing and came to a halt. Viserys' cruel lilac eyes lighted upon Dany and Robb, he wasted no time in advancing on them.

"What a pretty pair you make." He smirked, each word dripping with mockery. "The very image of young love."

Dany kept her head down to avoid Viserys' gaze, not rising to his ridicule. Robb, on the other hand, had long since grown past the age when he allowed anyone to mock him, especially Viserys. "I'm surprised you are able to recognize love when you see it, my prince, considering you've never experienced it yourself."

The smirk fell from Viserys' face. He shot Robb what he must have thought was a withering glare. "You'll watch your tongue around me, boy."

Robb grinned. "So long as you do the same."

Viserys' lips curled in an ugly sneer. He brought his horse close to Robb's until only inches separated them. They locked eyes, neither daring to look away from the other. After a long, tense moment, Viserys threw his head back and laughed, a high pitched, haughty sound.

"Oh, now I see the way of things." He turned back to his Martell guardsmen, who met him with uneasy smiles. "The boy puts on a bit of height, puffs out his chest and thinks himself a man." He whipped around to face Robb, a lunatic gleam in his eyes. "Shall I tell my men how you used to run, screaming and crying, to hide behind your mother's skirts? All because I dared tell you the truth about your traitorous kin?"

Robb's grin fell into a frown, his hands tightened on his horse's reins and red began to creep into his face. Viserys had been awful to all of them growing up, Robb in particular had been forced to bear taunts about his traitorous father and the violent deaths of his grandfather and uncle. Dany sought the words to placate her betrothed but found herself lacking.

"Shall I tell them your thoughts on their princess the night your marriage was announced?" Robb's voice was quiet, dangerous. "'A Dornish whore,' you called her, 'unfit for your seed.'"

Now it was Viserys' face which grew red. His voice came out in a hiss. "I will not abide slander from the likes of you!"

They weren't lies, Dany knew but didn't say. She couldn't find her voice.

Viserys' hand fell to his hip where his dagger sat. Dany recognized it as the valyrian steel blade Rhaegar had gifted him on his wedding day, the dragonbone hilt polished to a sheen. Robb's hand fell to his own dagger, he gripped it tight.

Dany's heart began to race. She looked to Ser Richard for help, he gripped the hilt of his sword. If he intervened, it would be on Viserys' behalf.

"Stop it, the both of you!" she shouted, realizing it fell to her to establish order.

Viserys' head snapped around to her, his eyes full of hate. "Now you deign to speak to me." He ignored Robb now, guiding his horse close to her's. "In the years since I left King's Landing every letter I've sent to you has gone wanting for a response, since my return to the castle you've spurned my presence."

Her insides squirmed under his hateful gaze. Unbidden, memories flooded into her mind of the night Rhaegar had announced Viserys' betrothal to Arianne Martell. He had come to her room that night, stinking of wine, and climbed into her bed, rambling about how she should be his bride and not 'some Dornish whore.' He groped at her, intent to take her then and there, to claim her for himself. She screamed so loud Ser Barristan came barreling into her room. She had never seen the kindly old knight so angry as when he dragged Viserys out of her bed.

Rhaegar had been furious, but he cared more about how Viserys' actions would reflect on the realm than their effects on Dany. He feared his Hand would learn he was marrying his daughter to a monster, that the realm would learn their father's madness still lived on in their brother. So, he swore Dany to secrecy and put Viserys on a ship to Dorne the next day.

She squeezed her eyes shut, hoping Robb hadn't seen how scared Viserys made her. There's nothing he can do to me here. I am not a little girl and I am not afraid. She turned her thoughts into a refrain and willed herself to speak.

"Perhaps you've forgotten the circumstances of our parting, brother?" Her voice trembled as she spoke. She wished she could forget, had spent the last five years trying to forget.

Viserys seemed taken aback, his anger forgotten. "After all these years you would still hold that against me?"

"I will always hold it against you, until my dying breath."

He seemed stung by her words, for which she was grateful. I wish you could feel that and more, she thought. So much more.

He pulled away from her, leading his horse back a few paces. He opened his mouth as if to say something and then just as quickly snapped it shut. Without another word, he kicked his horse into a gallop and fled from the clearing, leaving his Martell guardsmen to scramble after him.

Feeling relieved, Dany turned to Robb and found him sulking and red faced, his hands gripped tight around his horse's reins. He stared after Viserys' retreating form.

"You shouldn't have come between us," he said without looking at her.

"I didn't want it to come to violence."

He turned stiffly to face her. The look in his eyes scared her. "I did."