A/N: My apologies for the long delay after the last chapter. End-of-semester stuff keeping me busy. Thank you so much for still reading and reviewing :)

"Ships don't win war, ground battles do." That had been Robert's dismissive words to him, two wars in a row. Two wars he had fought for his brother, even if he heard the snickers at times that he did not fight during the rebellion at all, had merely stayed at Storm's End. Or that it was Paxter Redwyne and his forces who actually defeated the Greyjoy forces at sea, and allowed Robert, Ned and their men to cross to the Iron Islands and defeat Balon Greyjoy.

No matter. He had never fought for glory or to be valorized in songs and stories. Wars and battles and deaths were too grave a proposition for vainglorious yearnings of glory and delusions of immortality through songs and stories.

Yet was it too much to ask that his own brother at least recognized his effort? He had never expected gratitude or reward, merely a word of recognition said behind closed doors would have sufficed.

"My lord?" Davos' voice brought him back to the here and now. To the possible coming battle.

"Sail to Lannisport through the south. It's faster, but I also need you to stop at Dorne, to deliver a letter to Prince Doran Martell. Make sure you deliver it to his own hand, personally. Not to his brother, or his children, or anyone else."

Davos nodded.

"Remember, your fleet's task is not to attack, only to close off the harbor and stop the Lannister's fleet from leaving."

Davos looked like he had a question he wanted to ask, but he hesitated. "Speak, ser. You are in my service to counsel, not to hold your tongue," Stannis said.

"Why involve Dorne at all? Can they be trusted?" Davos asked.

"Two reasons. First, House Martell has more reasons than most to despise Tywin Lannister. For the death of Elia Martell and her children."

"Do they not blame your brother as much as Lord Tywin?" Davos made a reasonable query.

"I'm sure they do. But they have more quarrels with Tywin Lannister. Prince Doran has asked for Gregor Clegane to be brought to justice for years, but Tywin Lannister has always mocked and ignored the request. This will be their opportunity for justice."

"And vengeance," Davos pointed out. "Against Ser Gregor, yes, but also against the man who gave the order to murder Princess Elia and her children. Lord Tywin himself."

Stannis nodded.

"And what is the second reason, my lord?"

"Dorne will never align itself with Tywin Lannister, if war does break out. But if we do not bring them to our side now, there is a possibility they might see an opportunity, amidst all the instability, to bring back the Targaryens. We can't afford to fight two wars at once."

Davos did not hesitate this time. "And are you really willing to risk a war for this?"

Stannis bristled at the question. "This is about the law. And I will not sit still and do nothing while my brother is being made a fool of, and a boy who has no right to the throne acknowledged as his heir."

"I only want to be sure that you are aware of all the risks and consequences, my lord."

"I know them. But do you understand the risk and consequences? You did not ask me if this is sanctioned by my brother the king."

"I assume His Grace the king does not yet know about the truth, otherwise it would be the Royal Fleet being sent, not ships led by myself, my lord."

"And you do not question that?"

"I am your man, I follow your command."

Stannis stared at Davos for a long moment. It will be fine, he worked to convince himself. Once Robert knows the truth, he will send the Royal Fleet to assist the fleet led by Davos. If anyone was to be punished for sending a fleet to Lannisport without Robert's knowledge, it would be him, not Davos. Davos was merely following his command.

"Leave your eldest son at Dragonstone to guard the bastards and their mothers. I do not trust anyone else for the task. They must be kept safe. They are important to prove the case against Jaime and Cersei. Perhaps a war could even be avoided. Though I really doubt it. We could prove the incest and the real paternity of Joffrey, Myrcella and Tommen a thousand times over, but I doubt Tywin Lannister will accept it."

"It is better to be prepared for the worst, in any case," Davos replied.

At dinner that night, Selyse was talking about being invited to tea with Cersei and Myrcella. Stannis was only half-listening, until she spoke about Cersei saying that it was unfair for Robert to appoint Ned as Hand of the King, and not Stannis. Cersei claimed that she would have preferred Stannis, she had thought Stannis more deserving of the job.

Stannis looked at his wife and scoffed. "You don't actually believe her, do you? She has never liked me. Or thought highly of me at all."

Selyse looked unperturbed. "Of course not. I am not a fool, I know how condescendingly and with contempt she views us. But she has a point nonetheless, about your brother appointing Lord Stark and not you."

His wife had used the word "us" and not "you", when she spoke of Cersei's contempt. He felt almost … touched, for some strange reason.

"My brother does what he wants. He always has, and he always will." That was the only reply he could manage, however.

Their eyes locked, and at that moment he instantly knew that like him, she was no longer thinking about the position of Hand. They were both thinking of that night, that bed. Thinking of Robert and Delena.

Delena had married a knight in her father's household and had two sons with her husband by now. At least her life had not been completely ruined and destroyed by Robert's rapacious lust. Alester and Renly Norcross, those were her son's names, he recalled. Stannis had wondered why she had named her younger son after Renly.

"She was the pretty one in the family. Uncle Alester had high hopes of a better match for her. But after that night, and your brother …" Selyse's voice was neither angry nor accusatory, merely flat in tone. Stannis looked away. He did not want this conversation to go any further, for surely at some point it would move away from the subject of Robert and Delena, and touch on their own marriage. His wife was still staring at him, her expression unreadable.

"Did you enjoy the tea, Shireen?" He quickly turned to his daughter.

"I did, Father. Cousin Myrcella showed me her dolls. They're very pretty. And the smaller ones even have a house made for them."

"A house for dolls?" He could not hide his incredulity at the frivolity of this. But these are merely toys for children, he admonished himself. Thankfully, Shireen did not seem to notice his tone, as she started describing the dollhouse.

"Would you like a doll like Myrcella's?" Robert had them custom-made especially for Myrcella by a dollmaker in town, Stannis knew.

Shireen considered the question for a while, before shaking her head. "No. They're too beautiful. I will be afraid to play with them, in case I ruin them, or they get dirty."

"They're just toys, Shireen," Selyse spoke. "You can play with them however you want."

Shireen shrugged. "The dollhouse would be fun to play with," she said wistfully.

"Then you will have that," Selyse said, kissing her daughter's cheek.

"Can I, Father?" Shireen asked.

"Of course you can. But what will you do with an empty dollhouse, if you don't want the dolls?"

"But I told you, it's not empty, it has furniture and things in it," Shireen replied.

"But not people?" Stannis asked. He wondered what it meant, that his daughter wanted a dollhouse without the dolls. A sad, lonely girl, he had heard her described by others.

"The dolls are not people," Shireen giggled. "It's just play-acting, putting them to bed or sitting them down for dinner. We don't really need the dolls for play-acting. We can just imagine them. Or make our own."

He wondered who "we" referred to. Shireen and Arya, he supposed.

He was leaving for the Small Council meeting the next morning when Devan ran into his study breathlessly. He had told Devan to spend the night at the inn with his father, and had not expected him back until after Davos' ship had sailed for Dragonstone. One of the mothers had made a fuss about leaving, apparently, and there was danger that she was influencing the other mothers too.

Stannis hurried to the inn with Devan, and managed to convince the women to get on the ship with their children. "Threatened" was a more accurate word, if he was being completely honest with himself. That had taken so long, however, he ended up missing the Small Council meeting. He had never missed one before, but he thought this was an important enough task to do so.

He arrived back at his solar to find his daughter waiting for him, looking anxious.

"I thought you were going to Tower of the Hand to visit Arya."

"I was there, Father, but Lord Stark came back and told Arya and her sister to pack their things because they're leaving. For Winterfell. They were arguing and I thought it best to leave, so I asked Bryen to take me home."

Stannis was shocked. "Leaving? Did something happen at Winterfell? Is that why they have to leave?"

"I don't know. But Bryen said …" Shireen hesitated.

"You can tell me. Don't worry, I won't be angry with Bryen."

"Bryen said one of the servant boys told him that Lord Stark quarreled with Uncle Robert during the Small Council meeting, and Lord Stark is not the Hand anymore. Father, were you there at the meeting? Why did they quarrel? Is that why they have to leave? Because Uncle Robert sent them away?"

Her barrage of questioning was spinning his head. "One question at a time, Shireen. No, I was not at the meeting. I don't know why they quarreled." He touched her tiny shoulders. "I will find out."

She nodded. He released his grasp on her shoulders and hurried out. He was at the door when he heard her voice, uncertain instead of anxious this time. "Bryen said … Bryen said if Lord Stark is not here, maybe Uncle Robert will make you Hand of the King. Do you want to be Hand of the King, Father?"

He silently cursed his squire. "I certainly don't want to be Hand of the King only because your uncle quarreled with Lord Stark," he turned around to face her, and replied.

Why had his daughter asked that question? He wondered, on the way to Tower of the Hand. He set the thought aside, there was a more pressing matter to be dealt with. Ned could not leave now. Ned and Robert must not quarrel now. Not when they were so close to exposing the truth. He went straight to Ned's study, and found him there, writing a letter.

"What happened?" Stannis asked immediately.

"Why were you not at the Small Council meeting?" Ned replied with his own question.

Stannis was impatient with Ned changing the subject. "Tell me what happened first," he insisted.

"Daenerys Targaryen is with child," Ned replied.

Not surprising, Stannis thought. She had married the Dothraki horselord many moons ago. He still remembered Robert yelling and wailing about it. "If only you had not let them escape from Dragonstone!"

"And?" Stannis prodded Ned to continue.

"Robert wants to kill her, and her unborn child."

"Her brother Viserys is the Targaryen heir," Stannis pointed out. "Not her, or her child."

"The concern is, while the Dothraki horselord might not be interested in crossing an ocean and fighting a war to put his brother-in-law on the Iron Throne, he could be convinced to do so for his own son. His own blood."

Stannis had not thought of that angle. He had been worried about Viserys Targaryen making a play for the throne, but he had envisioned his support coming from within the Seven Kingdoms, from Dorne especially.

"Robert would not heed my counsel. Or Ser Barristan's. I will not be a party to this, Stannis. I will not watch while another innocent mother, another innocent child is butchered and slaughtered. I will not! I have resigned as Hand, and Robert has accepted. I will go back to Winterfell."

"If she is planning a war for the throne, she is hardly an innocent."

"We don't know that!" Ned shouted. "We don't know that she is planning anything at all, it is all mere speculation at this point. What she might do. What her husband might do. Should we consign two lives to death based on unfounded speculation?"

Perhaps not so unfounded, Stannis thought, it makes sense. But now was not the time to argue about that. "You can't leave King's Landing, or resign as Hand. What about Cersei and Jaime? What about justice for Jon Arryn? Justice for your son Bran?"

Ned sighed. "Robert already accepted my resignation, there is nothing to be done. And I refuse to stay as his Hand, unless he rescinds the order to kill Daenerys Targaryen."

"You can't leave without the truth first coming out. We still need to firm out the evidence. I need you here for that."

"I have the final piece of the puzzle, the conclusive proof." Ned stood up and handed Stannis a book. The Lineages and Histories of the Great Houses of the Seven Kingdoms, With Descriptions of Many High Lords and Noble Ladies and Their Children, Stannis read the title.

"Is this-"

"Yes, this is the book Jon borrowed from Pycelle."

"How did you get hold of it? How do you know it's even the right book? Pycelle could be lying to you."

"I did not get hold of it, it was Arya. She must have overheard us talking, picked up on our conversation. She said Pycelle did not suspect anything, she asked for a book to show that siblings don't have to look alike. To show that just because she doesn't look as pretty as Sansa, or look like her brothers, it doesn't mean that she's a bastard." Ned paused, his expression sad and his voice at a breaking point saying the word "bastard."

Ned continued. "Pycelle took pity on her, Arya said, and showed her the book, to prove that some siblings look nothing like each other. And Pycelle was the one who mentioned that Jon Arryn borrowed the book just before his death, Arya never mentioned his name at all."

Bless that girl, Stannis thought. But he cursed her too, for nosing around in matters that did not concern her, probably putting herself in danger in the process.

"How does this prove that Joffrey, Myrcella and Tommen are not Robert's children?"

Ned took the book from Stannis, set it on the table and opened it to a marked page. "I have gone through all the pages of the book. All the recorded Baratheon unions with the members of any House, have resulted in black-haired children. But this is the most important proof of all, the record of the last mating between a Lannister and a Baratheon, ninety years ago. When Tya Lannister wed Gowen Baratheon, the third son of the reigning Baratheon lord. They had a black-haired son who died in infancy."

Ned flipped the pages to another marked page. "Thirty years before that, a male Lannister took a Baratheon maid to wife. They had three daughters and one son, all black-haired. These two records are the conclusive proof. The Lannisters cannot argue that it is a matter of the Lannister blood being stronger than others, when other Baratheon-Lannister unions in the past have also resulted in black-haired children."

"Have you shown this to Robert?"

"No," Ned replied.

"We should see him now. This is the proof and confirmation we have been waiting for." Yet he saw that Ned was hesitating. "What is it? Ned?"

"You know what he wants to do to the Targaryen girl and her unborn child. What will he do to those children? Joffrey, Myrcella and Tommen? He will kill them too."

"No, he won't," Stannis replied. "Cersei and Jaime, yes. They must be tried for treason, adultery and incest of course. But not the children. He loves them."

Images of Robert and the children passed through Stannis' mind. Robert personally ordering the dolls for Myrcella, even dictating the color and the style of the dresses. "It must be pretty, but not too fancy. My daughter doesn't like that." Robert playing with Tommen and his beloved cats. Robert, despite his many, many shortcomings and flaws, being a better father to those children than Stannis ever was to his daughter.

"Robert will not kill them," Stannis insisted, as much to convince himself as to convince Ned.

"You were not there when Tywin Lannister presented the bodies of Princess Elia's children to Robert. Tywin had them wrapped in Lannister red, to hide the bloodstains, but you could still see the blood dripping to the floor. And Robert did not flinch, not once. Those dead children, and he did not even flinch."

"They were Targaryens, not the children he has always believed are his own."

"He does not seem to have much affection for Joffrey. He told me he doesn't understand how he could have made a child like that. He told me if it wasn't for the thought of Joffrey sitting on the throne, he would have given up the throne a long time ago and sail to the Free Cities. He would have no compulsion about killing Joffrey once he knows Joffrey is not his son and heir."

"But not Myrcella and Tommen. You've seen him with them."

"So you're fine with one child being killed, as long as it's not three?" Ned's tone was challenging. And tinged with disappointment.

"And you're fine with someone who should not be on the throne being on the throne? And Jon Arryn's murderers not being brought to justice? And the people who tried to kill your son?" Stannis answered with his own challenge.

Ned looked away, his voice so soft Stannis had to strain to hear him. "No. I just want to give them some time."

"Time for what?"

Ned was still refusing to meet his gaze. "I don't want the blood of any more children on my hand."

Understanding came to Stannis. "You can't tell them. You can't warn them before Robert knows the truth."

"At least the children should have a chance to get away, before we tell Robert."

"And if Robert is truly determined to have their blood, as you say, you think he will not find them?"

"Not if they have the chance to run far, far away. To the Free Cities, perhaps."

"Cersei and Jaime will take the children to Casterly Rock, and Tywin Lannister will declare war. If you think the Lannisters will run, then you are deluded."

"And if you think that Robert will spare those children, then you are the one who is deluded. Or do their lives not matter to you at all? Your own niece and nephews."

"They are not my niece and nephews, that's the point. They are not Robert's children.'

"Is blood the only thing that matters to you? All those years of believing that they are your niece and nephews, they mean nothing?"

"We are not discussing family relationship. This is about the law, and who is the rightful heir, and about the fate of the realm."

The back and forth arguing was getting them nowhere. It was time for action. "We should go to Robert now, we have the conclusive proof." Stannis hold out his hand to reach for the book, but Ned grabbed the book away before he could.

"Not yet. There wouldn't have been enough time," Ned said.

"Enough time for what?"

Ned was silent.

"Enough time for what, Ned? What did you do?"

The silence was maddening.

"What have you done? Enough time for what?"

"Enough time for them to get away," Ned replied, looking at Stannis unflinchingly.

Stannis could not believe it. "You told them! Jaime and Cersei."

"Only Cersei. She did not deny it."

Incredulity turned to anger. "And you take that as proof that she will just quietly slip away with the children?" Anger turned to despair. "Ned, how naive are you?"

Ned answered defensively. "What else could she do? She won't risk the lives of those children. She loves them. Whatever else she is, she is still a mother who loves her children."

"We must stop her and the children from leaving. If we have them here, at least we are in a stronger position over Tywin Lannister."

Ned countered. "Or he will definitely attack King's Landing to rescue his daughter, son and grandchildren. If they run, away from Westeros, perhaps-"

Stannis interrupted. "Tywin Lannister will never run. Even if Cersei considers running away for the sake of her children, her father will find her and drag her back here and claim the throne in Joffrey's name. Don't you understand anything about Tywin Lannister? His pride in his House and the Lannister name?"

It was Ned's turn to be stunned. "So you have always expected that there will be a war."

"Of course there will be! I have made plans and arrangements to deal with the eventuality. If we have Jaime, Cersei and the children in our hands, it might stay Tywin's hand, perhaps something can be negotiated to avoid a prolonged war. But if they escape, we have no leverage over him."

"You did not tell me any of this."

Because I needed to protect your position as the only person Robert will listen to, Stannis thought. But even that had backfired completely. Regrets and second thoughts were pointless now.

"Would you have done things differently, if I had?" Stannis asked.

Ned considered the question, before replying. "No. Not after seeing Robert's bloodlust for Daenerys Targaryen this morning. He will kill them all, Stannis. Regardless of your counsel about leverage and keeping them alive as a threat to Tywin Lannister."

"When did you speak to Cersei?"

"This morning. I sent a message to see her in the godswood, right after the council meeting."

"It's not to late then, we can still stop them from leaving. We must see Robert now. Unless-" A horrifying thought occurred to Stannis. "Unless running away, either back to Casterly Rock or to the Free Cities is never her plan."

"What do you mean?"

"We must hurry! We must find Robert."