Elia was not able to move from the bed to greet her best friend when she walked into the room, and she hated it. She knew that she was not going to be able to be herself for a while, and even if she knew it was due to the complications during the birth that she felt like dying, it still pained her. Her little boy was sleeping peacefully on a cradle next to her bed, as she refused to let him out of her sigh so soon. Ashara sat on her bed with a smile.

"I'm sorry for leaving." Her lady-in-waiting said, taking her hand.

"I understand." Elia smiled at her, trying to sooth her, for she could see how worried she was.

Ashara smiled back before glazing toward the cradle and staring at Elia's child. He was a little thing, with tanned skin and silver hair on his little head.

"We named him Aegon." The princess informed her, smiling proudly, but remembering her husband's strange words the day before.

"Rhaenys and Aegon…" She didn't dare finish the sentence. They both new, had known for a long time, that Rhaegar wanted another one, a Visenya, and yet upon seeing the shadow that crossed Ashara's features, Elia decided not to tell her friend her husband's declaration when he had finally gone to see for her and their child the day before.

The Dragon has three heads, there must be one more.

The words had haunted her through the night, even if she did not know exactly what they meant. Elia knew what happened to queens who could not have children, she had heard of Maegor's wives, most of which had been killed and butchered for not being able to give him the heirs he so eagerly desired, even if it was say that it had been the King himself who was not able to have issue. She also knew about Aegon the Unworthy's mistresses, who have died, been casted aside or fallen far from grace due to their relationships with him even if many, if not all of them, had given him children. She knew what happened to women when their husbands got tired of them, but her husband was good and kind and the love he bore Rhaenys knew no equal, Elia had seen it, and she was sure he'd love Aegon just the same. No, she would not be casted aside, nor would her children, even if she could not give her husband another child.

Ashara misunderstood her silence, thinking that it meant she was not willing to keep talking of such issues, and pulled out the letter she had hidden between the hems of her left sleeve. She had wanted Lyanna to be the first to know, but she couldn't keep Elia in the dark for longer.

"I wrote to Ned." She told her, before handing her Eddard's reply to her letter.

Elia's face brightened when she read the letter. She would have never thought that soft-spoken, always righteous, Eddard Stark could be able of making such beautiful sentences, and yet there he was, writing paragraphs about how much he missed Ashara, about how happy he was that his lord father had agreed to their marriage, and about how he couldn't wait to see her beautiful violet eyes again. The princess smirked at her friend.

"Looks like you are going to be Ashara Stark soon enough. Does our she-wolf know?"

"Not yet. She was still on bed yesterday when I went to see her. Oberyn says she's almost as tired as you were."

"I wouldn't be here without them, or without your brother. Neither would my son. I owe all of them more than I can ever say."

Ashara shook her head, clasping her hands with her best friend's once more. Her raven hair fell down to cover her shoulders when she leaned closer to her, the fierceness inside her eyes surprising Elia.

"You owe them nothing, Elia. You do not owe any of us anything for our loyalty to you, you must know this, any of us would do anything for you and your children."

The princess took the lady's hands and brought them to her lips to kiss them, blinking when she felt tears forming in her eyes. No, definitely, no one was going to cast aside Elia Martell of Dorne, not when she had her family at her side. A knock on the door distracted her from her thoughts, and Ashara stood from the bed to open it, revealing a very tired looking Lyanna, who walked into the room with a smile and all but jumped into Elia's bed to hug her. Holding back a wince of pain, Elia hugged her back, kissing her cheeks when the Stark let go of her.

"I was so worried about you." Lyanna confessed and her sister-in-law smiled kindly at her.

"I'm alive and I will get better." Elia nodded. "And my son is beautiful and healthy."

Almost as if he had been summoned, the child started crying with all the strength of his little lungs. Ashara was quick to move to the cradle, knowing that Elia couldn't stand up, and picked the crying baby in her arms before sitting on the bed and, after Lyanna helped Elia to get sited against the bed's headboard, handed Aegon to her mother.

"Hush, my little sun." His mother soothed him. Ashara looked scared, as though she thought something was wrong with the child, but Elia smiled. "He's just hungry."

The smile she gave her son as the little boy moved his hands to reach her chin could have lightened up the whole world.

Lyanna had left to see Elia as soon as she had finished breaking her fast, which she had not wanted to eat eager as she had been to make sure her sister-in-law and her nephew were alright, and Oberyn had had to make her sit and eat to gain her strength back, and knowing that his sister was in good hands the prince of Dorne had taken his time to break his own fast. He had used the time to write some letters to his girls and to his sister-in-law, making sure to ask Mellario about Sarella, It was when he took them to the maester so he would send them to the Water Gardens that the old man gave him a letter sealed with the sun of House Martell.

As he walked back to his solar, knowing for certain that the letter was his brother's, the red viper sighed. The fact that he had written to him and not Elia meant whatever he wanted was just business. And he wasn't wrong. He cursed his brother's name in silence as soon as he broke the seal and started reading. Putting the letter down, the prince of Dorne rubbed at his temples. If it had been any other person asking him, he would have send them to the Seven Hell's, because he was not willing to let Elia so soon, but this was his prince and his brother, and not even the red viper could refuse Dorne. He was still debating what to answer Doran when Lyanna came back.

"We were expecting you." She frowned at him.

"How is my sister?"

"Tired. She fell asleep but Ashara is still with her." Lyanna smiled. "Aegon is such a sweet child, and Lewyn brought Rhaenys to see her mother some minutes ago. When I left she was cuddling against her."

Oberyn smiled brightly at that but she couldn't stop noticing the letter resting on the table. He didn't stop her when she moved to grab it and read it in silence. Once she was done, his wife handed the letter back to him with a sigh.

"So, when do we leave?"

There was a bitterness in her voice and he shook his head.

"My brother needs me, Lyanna, not you. You don't have to come with me just because we are married. Stay here with Elia and Ash if you wish and come join me back in Dorne once you are ready."

He loathed King's Landing, that much was true, and they both knew it, but he had already resigned himself to Elia having to live there and he knew that she had good men protecting her, so he would not take the chance to be with her and with Ashara from Lyanna, most especially now that the dornish lady was carrying Eddard Stark's child. His wife seemed to think about it for a moment, but then nodded at him.

"When are you leaving?" She asked, but smiled, glad that he would let her make her own choices.

"As soon as I can. It worries me that Doran would ask me to go back to Sunspear without saying why he needs me back."

"You think something is wrong." She guessed and he nodded before Lyanna continued. "Well, he just says something happened in Essos."

Oberyn laughed.

"Which surely means that he is having trouble with Volantis."

"The Elephants again?" The Stark asked. She had learnt of the trades Dorne made with the Elephants of Volantis when she was helping Doran with the accounts and with the distribution of his wealth. She had also learnt that some of those he traded with had started to ask him more money in exchange of their merchandise because of the dangers, such as pirates, that they faced when crossing the Narrow Sea.

Oberyn nodded, making a face.

"I just hope there is no need for me to go all the way to Volantis."

"And yet you are the only one who can help Doran because you are the only one in Dorne who is friends with a powerful Tiger that lives inside the Black Walls" Lyanna smirked.

The surprise that danced on his face when she finished the sentence filled her with no little amount of joy.

"I never told you that, she-wolf." He smirked.

Lyanna nodded.

"No, you didn't, but Nym is highborn and all those of the blood of old Valyria live inside the Black Wall."

"That doesn't me she couldn't be an elephant." He replied.

"You would get tired of an elephant." She shook her shoulders and he roared of laughter, his black eyes staring straight into her grey ones.

He leaned to kiss her, deep and slow, before standing. Lyanna let out a little laugh, happy to be right.

"I need to talk to Elia and then I'll tell the servants to start packing my things."

"Alright."

He bent again to kiss her hair before leaving the room.

Oberyn left three days later but Lyanna didn't watch him leave. She had spent the previous night with Elia, for the princess couldn't move properly and needed help to take care of her baby boy, and was still resting when he walked down to the port to get on a ship that would take him to Sunspear. Knowing that he was gone but he was fine, she decided to have a long bath right after waking up and then asked to be left alone as she had breakfast. Once she was done with the food, she got dressed quickly, intending to go check on Ashara Dayne, but when she tried to open the door, she couldn't. Lyanna pulled the doorknob several times, thinking that maybe something was wrong and the door had gotten stuck before banging on it.

"My lady." A voice she didn't know reached from the other side.

"Who are you?" She replied, still hitting the door.

"Ser Gerold Hightower." The man replied.

Lyanna frowned. Kingsguard, a voice whispered in the back of her mind. But it was impossible. There was no reason for a member of the Kingsguard to be at her door.

"Let me out!" The Stark demanded.

"I can't, my lady." The white knight replied. "Prince's orders"

"What the bloody hell does that mean?!" Lyanna cursed but she got no answer. She kept on screaming and hitting the door until her voice broke and her hands were red and sore.