"Elia" he called her again.

She did not stop. She did not answer.

She was angry with him.

A part of her wanted to kill him, the other part wanted to go back to King's Landing, take Rhaenys and run away to Dorne.

But she did not do it.

She was Elia Nymeros Martell, a princess of Dorne, and she will not give anyone the satisfaction of knowing they had made her run away like a coward.

She entered their chamber and Rhaegar followed her and closed the door.

"Do you have any idea of what you have just done to me?!" she screamed.

"It's not what you think, Elia" he whispered.

She had known a lot of men during her life.

Men who mistreated their women. Men who lied to their women. Men who cheated on their wives.

But she had never thought that Rhaegar was one of those men.

"You crowned her" she said "You knew that I wanted Oberyn to marry Lyanna and you crowned her!"

"Because she was The Knight of The Laughing Tree!" he interrupted her, desperately.

He had never thought about how his choice would affect Elia. He had wanted to tell her before the tourney but she had been busy with Ashara.

He had crowned Lyanna because he knew that she was the one who truly deserved to win the tourney.

"What?" Elia asked, lowering her voice tone.

"I found her in the woods" he explained, softly "She was the mystery knight. I gave the crown to her because she deserved to win"

Elia did not know what to say. She didn't expect that.

"And why the bloody hell didn't you tell me?" she said after a few minutes.

Rhaegar looked shocked. He had never heard her speak like that before.

"I didn't think about it" he said, truly "I'm sorry, Elia"

"Don't be" she whispered, tired.

"But the lords and the ladies" Rhaegar continued "they will think…"

"It doesn't matter what they think" Elia interrupted "What matters is that I know the truth"


Ned tried to stop Robert.

But nothing could stop his best friend's fury.

"What has she done?" he screamed.

"She is my sister, Robert" Ned reminded him "And you have no right to speak about her like that"

"She is my betrothed, and I'll speak about her the way I want"

Brandon entered the room like a storm.

He had obviously heard them.

His hands were curled into fists and he clenched his jaw.

"She is nothing to you, you bastard" he screamed "Do you still not understand it? Lyanna will never marry you. She will never be your wife"

Ned had to hold Robert's arm to stop him from hitting Brandon.

"You don't love her" Brandon continued "You think of my sister as a trophy, as an object, as something pretty to have and show to your friends so they think that you are better than them. But you will never stop being who you are, a bastard, a womanizer, and my sister doesn't deserve that. She deserves someone who doesn't lie to her, someone who protects her" he looked down to Robert as though he was an insect "Someone who is worth her"

This time Ned could not stop Robert.

His friend jump to Brandon and hit him in the face, but the oldest Stark was not going to let the Lord of Storm's end humiliate him.

By the time Ned manage to separate them, with Benjen's and Howland's help, Robert had a black eye and Brandon's lip was broken.

Ned pushed his friend out of the room.

"Enough!" Ned screamed and Robert, who was still burning in rage, almost jumped, surprised, because he had never seen his friend so angry "Go to your room, calm down. I'll see you later"

And he closed the door.


"How could he do that?!"

Oberyn entered the room and slamed the door with the fury of a blizzard.

Elia rose from her sit and turned to face him.

"He shamed you! You are his wife! That bastard! He should have crowned you! I don't care he is the future king, I'll cut him to peaces!"

"Oberyn…"

"And he crowned her!" he continued "He could have crowned any other lady! Why the hell did he crowned Lyanna?!"

Elia couldn't do anything but smile.

"Why are you so angry, brother? Because Rhaegar did not crown me, or because he crowned Lyanna?"

Oberyn held his breath.

Why was he angry?

"You do not wish to marry" Elia continued "but you don't wish any other man to have her"

"What do you want me to say, Elia? You want me to confess?"

She nodded even if she was not sure about what her brother had to confess.

"You are right, I want her. I want her smile, I want her eyes, I want her strength, I want her wilfulness, and I want her body. Yes, I confess, I want that girl"

She laughed.

"I thought you didn't want to marry"

"And I do not want to marry" he simply said "But I want her"

Elia told him to sit down and spend the next minutes explaining him why Rhaegar had crowned the Stark girl.

She had never seen her brother like this.

There was something about the way Oberyn spoke about Lyanna that made her smile.

She had never seen Oberyn speak so passionately about anyone.


Lyanna was in her room.

She had left the crown on the desk and hadn't looked at it twice.

She heard Brandon screaming to Robert and what Robert said about her, but she couldn't care less.

She knew why the prince had given her that crown and she didn't feel guilty about anything.

Brandon entered her room soon after that.

"I have to tell you something"

Lyanna was lying on the bed and Brandon sat on the floor next to her.

"So?" she smiled "What do you have to tell me?"

Brandon took a deep breath.

She was indeed going to rip him to pieces.

"I've been thinking about what you said. About getting powerful alliances" she frowned at his words "and you were right, but above all" he turned his head to face her and took her hand "I want you to be safe and happy"

"Brandon…"

"You are not going to marry Robert Baratheon" he said "I won't let that stupid have you. He doesn't deserve you. No one will ever truly deserve you, actually, but arrangements are to be made and I'm only thinking of the best for you"

She clenched her fists.

"If you are suggesting what I think you are suggesting…"

"You will marry Oberyn Martell" he said it quickly, trying to end the conversation as soon as possible "You'll be a princess of Dorne and he'll make sure you live happily and without any trouble"

Lyanna didn't say anything.

She moved on the bed, avoiding his gaze, and Brandon tried to make her look at him.

"Leave me alone" she said.

"Lya…"

"Leave me alone" she repeated.

He nodded and left.


That night, at the feast, Lyanna did not talk to Brandon.

She spent most of the time talking to Catelyn, Lysa and Howland, and danced a few times with Ned and Benjen, but avoided everyone else.

She was sitting on her chair drinking a glass of wine when he approached her.

"May I have this dance, my lady?"

She sighed.

"You may not"

Oberyn sat next to her and gave her a serious look.

"Do I need to beg you?"

Lyanna turned to face him.

He was wearing a yellow tunic embroidered with bright scarlet suns. When his viper eyes meet her grey ones, she shivered.

She opened her mouth to say something but closed it immediately.

Sorry, but I don't like the idea of being forced to marry and that's why I don't want to be near you, she thought.

"I'm sorry, my lord, but I'm not in the mood to speak to you right now" she said.

"Your brother told you" he guessed.

Lyanna did not answer.

She was concentrated on Ned, who was dancing with Ashara. He seemed happy and it made her smile.

"I do really believe we should talk"

Robert's gaze met Lyanna's and she looked away, disgusted.

"Come" she told Oberyn after a moment of silence.

She sat up and walked out of the room. He followed.