Disclaimer: I do not own A Song of Ice and Fire.

Another dragon, another wolf, another stag

Chapter 29: Elia

"Talking"

"Thinking"

(Location: King's Landing)

She felt the warmth of the sun on her skin as she woke up. The sun in the Crownlands was less warm then the Dornish heat she had grown up with but it still felt pleasant to her. She came awake slowly, like a cat that awoke while dozing on a sunlit perch. She found herself halfway between sleep and wakefulness. It was a place that she enjoyed being in.

She looked across the bed and saw a woman's back facing her. Brown curls covered the pale skin like a curtain. Despite not seeing her face, she knew who it was. Her heart swelled with love. It was Lyanna. She was here, with her. With a sleepy smile, she reached out her fingers to touch her. "Good morning," she said in a whisper.

But before her finger could touch her, before she could feel her and know that she was there, Queen Elia became fully awake. Her finger would touch nothing but air. She stared at the empty space where Lyanna had been only a second before. The first time this had happened, she had struck the pillows, cursing the Seven for giving her the dream only to snatch it away before she could feel her. That had been four and ten years ago. Now, she just laid in the bed, tears unshed in her eyes.

She had met Lyanna at Harrenhal, the same as Rhaegar. At first, she had been intrigued by the Northern girl, so unlike the ladies that surrounded her as the princess and queen-in-waiting. She was so frank, said what was on her mind, and was unapologetic about it. She didn't pay much attention to herself yet it seemed to make her all the more eye-catching. Perhaps that was what drew the eyes of the men to her when she passed, the effortless beauty.

But she had been intrigued only, thinking of the girl in passing. It wasn't until that night after the joust, when Lyanna had snuck into her room to give her the crown, her perception of the girl changed. She had lied to the Starks at Riverrun about the night. Lyanna did try to leave once her piece was said but Elia had stopped her before she could even get to the door.

She asked her to stay and talk with her. Lyanna had looked clearly confused but complied. They talked about their lives, their homes, and their futures until the sun came up. Lyanna had confessed to her that she wasn't sure of her impending marriage to Robert Baratheon, how bleak her future seemed to be. But as much as she wanted to stay away from him, she could not disobey her lord father, and she didn't want to disappoint her brother Ned.

When the dawn started to peek past the window, she tried again to leave, saying she had overstayed her welcome. Elia stood up with her but did not let her leave. The more they had talked, the more she had found the Northern girl interesting, until the point she had felt half in love already. When she had stood in the moonlight, her beauty almost became otherworldly and Elia became undone. So she walked around the table and kissed the girl full on the lips.

It was a move that caught Lyanna by surprise. At first her body struggled against hers but it quickly stopped resisting. She pulled the girl's hips closer to her and they responded willingly. She remembered them standing against the table, their bodies flushed against each other, their breathing heavy. All Elia could see was Lyanna, her hair wild and free, her scent of snow, wood, and clean air. Even though the years have passed, she could still remember the words that she said. "Say the word, Lyanna. Say the word and you will never marry Robert Baratheon. Please say it and love me instead." She had wanted her to say the word so desperately. She had lit a fire in her that she had only seen in Oberyn. She wanted the fire to keep burning, to keep Lyanna with her.

But Lyanna hadn't said the word. Instead she stepped away from the princess and begged her leave. Her grey eyes were alight with wonder and slight lust, but mostly fear. Before Elia could say anything to stop her, she turned and practically fled through the door. When Rhaegar had found her later that morning and explained why he had given Lyanna the crown, she accepted his reasoning. But she also knew just by the look in his eyes when he spoke of the Northern girl that he was in love with her too. She made him reveal the truth of it and when he did, she told him the same was true for her.

Before the Starks had left Harrenhal, Elia had found Lyanna again. She did not apologize for the kiss she gave the girl, only to ask her if she would be able to write to her. She agreed hesitantly and her family rode back North. Both Elia and Rhaegar wrote to her afterwards. Separately at first but soon they collaborated together in their words to the girl they both loved. It was those letters that made Lyanna love them just as much as they did her.

Elia was aware that Rhaegar had married Lyanna on the Isle of Face when she supposedly came south to marry Robert Baratheon. She also knew that Rhaegar would take her next to King's Landing. She had watched the ship carrying them both sail into King's Landing with nervous anticipation. As soon as she met them both inside the Red Keep, inside their chambers, she kissed them both passionately. That night, the three of them consummated Lyanna's marriage. The girl was a maiden but they loved her long and hard through the night, the bed they shared filled with the moans and groans of lust-filled pleasure. The shrieks and yells that should've come, they kept quiet so no one would hear them.

The next morning, when Elia awoke, she didn't see Lyanna next to her. A panicked moment later and she saw the girl standing at the window, already dressed for the day. The pleasure that had engulfed her face was gone. She was worried about what they had done, what it would do to her family, to Robert, how they would react. Elia comforted her, telling her that everything would be alright. She took her back to the bed, stripped her out of the clothes gently, and just as gently laid her down as Rhaegar woke up. The night had savage and intense but that morning, they made love to Lyanna slow and gently. When she fell back asleep between them, in that moment they were content.

What came next wasn't supposed to happen. Rhaegar took Lyanna to Dorne to protect her. When Elia learned she was pregnant, she was elated. But then she learned of the tower burning with her and her daughter inside and she stained her pillows with her tears. Neither she nor Rhaegar were allowed to see the ashes. Eddard Stark sailed into King's Landing to resupply, leaving for the North as soon as he could.

Now they knew the truth. He had left because he was carrying Lyanna's child with him, a child she would've gladly raised as her own. He took that child from his true family and hid him away in the North, presenting him as his bastard. "If Daemon had never left Winterfell, we never would've known about him," she thought to herself. But he was here now, with his true family. As she rose from the bed and dressed for the day, she looked forward to meeting him at breakfast.

She and Rhaegar were the first to arrive at the breakfast table. It was in a room close to the Queen's Ballroom. It was big enough to hold the entire family yet small enough to retain privacy amongst them. Sunlight spilled from the glass, filling the room with its light. They had been eating in this room since Aegon could sit in his own chair. It was a way of getting some family time together before the trials of the day set upon them.

Dany and Rhaella came in together, sitting down at the table filled with food. It took Aegon and Rhaenys a little longer to come in and when they did, they were both too busy with their own thoughts. Elia knew why they were like that. They had been in that mood since they rode from Riverrun. They were still coming to terms with the fact they had a new brother.

"Good morning, you two," Rhaegar said to their children. He had a fatherly smile on his lips as he watched them take their seats.

Rhaenys didn't answer first as she normally did. It left Aegon to say, "Good morning, Father." He did not say the words with his usual warmth and did not look at either of them as he sat down. His sister mirrored his actions as she sat down beside him.

They all sat in silence, waiting for the king to reach for his utensils. Only then they dared to start to eat. But the silence dragged on and on. Elia knew why they waited. The family wasn't all there. One person needed to walk through that door. As time dragged on and no person came through, she started to worry. "Where's Daemon?" she asked herself.

She looked at Rhaegar and saw he had the same look of worry too. "Ser Gerold," he called out to the Kingsguard standing outside.

The White Bull stepped inside and knelt down to one knee. "Yes, your Grace?" he asked.

"We did ask for Prince Daemon to join us, did we not?"

"You did, your Grace."

"Well, where is he then?"

The knight bowed his head, almost in shame. "Your Grace, I'm afraid that we have not been entirely truthful."

Elia frowned. That did not bode well. "What do you mean by that, Ser Gerold?"

"Yesterday, Prince Daemon did not come down to greet you because he was tired. Ever since he has awoken, he has not left his chambers."

It was news that surprised and her husband. Rhaella looked surprised too. "What?" Rhaegar said.

"He has not left his chambers, to train in the yard, take lessons with the maester, or pray to the gods. We know he eats the food he's been given but it's only a few pieces."

"Why is he doing this?"

The Kingsguard did not lift his head from the floor. "He seems to believe that he is your prisoner, your Grace."

He thought himself a prisoner in his own home? That wasn't right. Daemon should think himself safe. "Why would he think such a thing?" Aegon asked. Her son's voice wasn't cloaked in disbelief but in curiosity.

"Aegon, you know why he would think such a thing," Rhaenys told him bitterly. "We had him kidnapped and brought here against his will."

The queen could see how it would look like that. But that wasn't the case. "Rhaenys, we brought him to safety," she told her daughter. "If we hadn't, he would've gone to Winterfell and we would have never seen him again."

Dany frowned. "But we hadn't seen him before Riverrun."

"We all thought he was dead, Daenerys," her mother told her quietly.

"We also all thought that he was supposed to be a girl named Visenya," Rhaenys said, still sounding so bitter.

Rhaegar spoke, "That is why we brought hm home. If he was allowed to leave with the Starks, he would've gone back to the life of a bastard. That is not who he is. He's not the bastard son of Eddard Stark."

"No, he's just your bastard son from Lyanna Stark."

"Rhaenys!" her father snapped instantly. "He is your brother." She fell silent but glared at him stubbornly.

Elia didn't know where this hostility suddenly came from. She had thought that her daughter had some affection for Daemon when he was just Jon Snow. Was it different now? But before she could take care of that question, there was something else that needed to be done about the wayward son. "Ser Gerold, has Prince Daemon been given breakfast yet?"

"No, your Grace, not yet," the knight said. "We knew that you wished to have him here to dine with you. We told him as much earlier this morning. But we heard no reaction from within."

"I see. Then I shall take a tray up to him."

"My queen, it should be I to take the tray," Rhaegar told her, standing from his chair.

She shook her head. "No, my king, it should be me. If Daemon sees you, it will only deepen his belief of being a prisoner. I believe that I can make it easier for him to come and join us." She signaled one of the servants to make a tray ready.

It wasn't heavy when she took it in hand, but she could still feel the weight of it. She had Ser Gerold led her to Daemon's chambers. The door before her looked like the rest of the doors inside the Red Keep, made of aged oak. But she had a feeling that beyond the door was something else, something that she was not ready for. She ignored it, thinking it nothing but a passing feeling.

She nodded to Ser Gerold and she walked in. "Daemon?" she called out as the door closed behind her. She saw Daemon standing at the balcony, looking out at the Blackwater. He didn't turn to face her when he heard her speak. "Daemon?" she said again. "It's Elia. I have breakfast."

He didn't turn around, keeping his face towards the open air. Even when a loud growling sound erupted in the room and she knew it wasn't from her, he did not move. She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Really, Daemon, this is not needed. I have brought breakfast for you. If you are hungry, eat." Still, he did not move from the balcony. "Daemon—"

"That's not my name," he finally spoke, his quiet voice cutting across hers.

It made her stop what she was saying. She was also puzzled by his words. Of course it was his name. It was the name that she, Lyanna, and Rhaegar had agreed to name the child she carried if he turned out to be a boy. But he would deny the name? "Ah, of course," she realized. "He grew up all this time thinking his name was Jon." Well, if it would get him to eat some food, she would indulge him. But he would have to acknowledge his true name sooner or later. "Very well, Jon, I do have some food for you. Although, we would much rather prefer it if you were to eat with us."

"Us?" he asked. He must've realized too late that he had spoken for he clamped down tight on his mouth.

But she had heard him all the same. She smiled and said, "Your family." He didn't say anything back nor did he move from his spot. "Jon, please, you're safe with us. We only want to get to know you. What do you expect from us?"

"To be thrown into the black cells any day," he answered with a tone of finality.

The tone angered her. "Stop that! You are not going to be sent into the black cells. We would never do that to you. You are a Targaryen. You are a part of this family."

He still didn't say anything. She stared angrily at his back. But she realized something. If she looked at the situation from his perspective, the only thing that changed was the castle. "He still thinks himself a bastard of the family," she thought to herself. "He thinks that I am just like Catelyn Stark." She burned with anger at that assumption. The Tully words might be Family, Duty, Honor, but they were just another house north of Dorne. They treated bastards like they weren't supposed to be there.

But Dorne wasn't like that. She wasn't like that. "Jon, do you think that I am like Catelyn Stark?" she asked him. "Do you think I would hate because you are not of my womb?"

His answer was a little surprising. "If what you say is true, then I would be a threat to your son's claim," he said shortly. "You would be well within your rights to hate me."

"That will never happen. I already told you that I promised your mother that whatever child she brought into this world, whether it was a boy or a girl, I would love it like it was one of my own. That is still true. I will love you just like I loved Lyanna. She would not want you to wallow here in these chambers. She would want you to come out and meet your family."

"You don't know what she would have wanted."

She almost sighed at his naivety. He had never met his mother but she had. Both she and Rhaegar had known and loved her so much that they were willing to leave a dragon's egg, one of the last in House Targaryen's grasp, with her in the Tower of Joy. When she heard how the tower burned, she knew that the egg had been destroyed, just like Lyanna. "I knew her. I talked to her, kissed her lips, and held her like someone I loved, the same as Rhaegar. We both knew her and we both loved her. She would have wanted us to share that love with her child, with you. That is what we want to do but you have to let us."

He was silent. She saw it as him considering her words. She pressed the advantage and stepped closer to him, placing her hand on his shoulder. "We want to love you, Daemon, and for you to have the same love for us. Please, join us for breakfast."

He finally turned to face her and she was struck by the iron-colored eyes looking at her. He didn't look like his mother but rather his uncle instead. "My name is Jon Snow. My father is Lord Eddard Stark. I don't know who my mother is."

Those words were astounding as they were anger-inducing. "You are not Jon Snow," she told him. "You are Prince Daemon Targaryen."

"My name is Jon Snow. My father is Lord Eddard Stark. I don't know who my mother is."

"He is not your father. Your father is Rhaegar Targaryen."

"My name is Jon Snow. My father is Lord Eddard Stark. I don't know who my mother is."

"You do know," she said, heat coloring her voice. It was arguing and pleading mixed into one. She wanted him to see the truth, to know it. "You do know who your mother was. She's Lyanna. You are her son. You are my son. You are Daemon." He started to turn from her. She held him by the shoulders and made him look at her. "You know who you are. Don't deny us this."

He stared at her. His face was stern and cold, his eyes two unforgiving steel orbs. "My name is Jon Snow. My father is Lord Eddard Stark. I don't know who my mother is."

Her anger boiled at those words. How she wanted to make him understand that he was family. She wanted to shake him until any notion of him being a bastard wolf was gone from his head. She shared that kind of anger with Oberyn. But she also had Doran's temperance and she knew that if she tried to force it, he would only burrow deeper into his delusion.

She let go of him and stepped away. "The tray is on the table," she told him. "But we would rather have you join us for breakfast." He didn't answer, turning back to face the open world. If he could look north, he would probably do so. "If you wish to leave these chambers, you may. The Red Keep is open to you. You are not a prisoner here."

"Then let me go home," he said shortly.

"You are home, Daemon," she told him gently. "You're with your family."

"No, I'm not."

She stared at his back, wanting him to turn around so he could see her. She wanted to give him a hug and enfold him in the love he deserved. But he would not give her any of it. "Oh Lyanna, look at your son," she bemoaned in silence. "He's back with his family but he does not believe it. He would reject the love we give for a lie your brother fed him. Would you weep at this sight? Or would you make him leave the room to join us?" How she wished that she was here to talk to her son. But if she had been here, Daemon would have grown up believing this lie. She turned and walked for the door. As she reached the door, she saw something in the corner of her eye. It almost looked like a cloaked person was looking at Daemon from the shadows. But when she turned her head, there was no one there.


Throughout the day, she had servants keep an eye on Lyanna's son. She wanted to know if he would eventually leave his chambers. But every report she got said the same thing: he was still inside.

But there was another thing she learned throughout the day: her daughter's foul temper at breakfast had not stopped servants gave her tales of how Rhaenys would snap at anyone who dared rouse her temper. Her handmaidens were afraid to go near her and the servants would leave as soon as they were able.

As the afternoon slowly turned into evening, Elia went to find her daughter. She knew where she would be, in her chambers. She entered and found Rhaenys sitting before the fire, watching it burn. Balerion, the cat she had since she was a little girl, lounged in her lap while she stroked his fur. That cat had been a terror when it was a kitten, only liking Rhaenys. Now it was an old grump who still only liked Rhaenys.

It lifted its head and stared at Elia with a suspicious look. Rhaenys turned her head too. "Mother," she said in greeting.

"Rhaenys is there something that needs to be said?" she asked her daughter.

"No." She looked back to the fire, stroking her cat.

"I've been hearing of how you've acted today. You've scared off everyone else that dares to come close to you. And we both know that is not who you are. Now, are you willing to answer me truthfully this time?"

Her daughter didn't answer her, choosing to continue to stare into the fire. She waited in silence, folding her arms. The only thing that made a sound in the room was the crackling of the fireplace. She watched her daughter with an eye that bored into her. It was something that she learned from her own mother. It was quite effective whenever she wanted Oberyn to confess to whatever mischief he got into.

It wasn't her daughter who broke first but rather Balerion. The old cat decided that it had enough petting, jumped down gingerly to the floor, padded over to where the sunlight warmed a patch of floor. It fell down inside the light and within seconds was sleeping. Rhaenys looked at it and then at her. "What do you want me to say?" she asked curtly.

"I want to know why you've been acting like this," Elia told her. "This is not the Rhaenys I know and raised. That Rhaenys is a girl who does not lose her temper at the slightest word or smallest comment. So why is it that they all see that girl?"

She looked back at the fire but could not keep her gaze there long. "I'm sorry, Mother," she said with a sigh. As she sighed, she all but sagged into her chair. "It's just…" She tried to say the words but they could not leave her mouth.

But Elia knew all the same. "Is it about Daemon?"

She winced at the name. "Don't call him that."

"It's his name, dear."

She looked conflicted as she spoke. "It's not the name I know he had. I thought his name was Jon Snow."

"That is probably what Lord Stark wanted everyone to believe his name was, Rhaenys," Elia told her. "He took away your brother's name and gave him a false one instead." In that moment, she wanted nothing more than to have Eddard Stark before her. She would throttle him, have him torture for denying them Daemon.

But her words didn't seem to comfort Rhaenys. She got up from her chair and stepped closer to the fire. "Still, the name sounds wrong," she said, not to her mother but more to herself. "It's just…wrong."

She suddenly struck the mantle hard enough to make it rattle. Elia was surprised by the move but even more so when she saw tears coming down her cheeks. "Rhaenys, why are you crying?" She rarely cried and not to anyone.

"I'm," Rhaenys said with a tear-choked voice, "I'm a monster."

When she heard those words, her mother's temper flared again. She wanted to find who dared call her child a monster and make them take those words back. But she saw regret and shame in Rhaenys's eyes. She realized that it was her daughter calling herself that. "You are not a monster," she said, taking a step towards her.

"I am."

"You are not."

"But I am. Who else but a monster would dare to fall in love with their own brother? I'm nothing better than a beast because of it!"

She grabbed hold of her daughter and made her look her in the eyes. "You are not a monster, Rhaenys. You are not a beast."

"Yes, I am," she said back, tears shining in her eyes. "If he is really my brother, I am a monster for loving Jon. I wanted him at Riverrun, Mother. I saw him under the moonlight and I wanted him. I wanted to take him away from what caused him misery. I wanted to take him to a place where it was only us. I wanted to take him to a bed and show him nothing and my love for me. I wanted to have him, again and again. Gods save me, I still do!" she all but screamed out those last words.

The queen did not know if this was because she fell in love for a bastard and still thought of him as such or because she was a Targaryen. Even so, she could see how her daughter was conflicted. She fell in love with someone she thought was a bastard. And now he was her brother instead. The gods looked down at such feelings. But they were Targaryens. Who they loved was no concern of the gods. "Is it so wrong to love Daemon?" she asked Rhaenys.

Through her tears, she made a face. "I don't love him like a brother, Mother. I love him like a woman should love a man. When I offered it to him at Riverrun, he refused me. He said that I needed someone who would treat me with what I deserved, not a bastard who had nothing. I suggested that we run away and he refused, saying that we would not last. He asked me to end the love we might've had right there. But I couldn't." The tears started to leak out slowly. "I love him, Mother. I don't care if he's a bastard or supposedly my brother. I love him. I want him but I know that I can't."

"And that's why you are so short-tempered today," Elia said, realizing it as she spoke.

"Yes. I'm sorry, Mother."

She hugged her daughter and she held to her like she would leave and never come back. "It's alright, Rhaenys," she assured her. "It's alright."

"How?" she asked, sounding like she was still trying not to cry. "How will it be alright?"

"I will speak to your father. I have an idea that will make you happy."

"What idea?"

She smiled. "You forget what House Targaryen is known for, Rhaenys." Her daughter pulled back from her. Her dark eyes were wide with realization. Elia nodded. "Yes. If your father agrees, you will have Daemon, just like you wanted."

"What about him?" Rhaenys asked, still unsure. "What would he think about it?"

"Did he love you?"

"He didn't say as much, but I thought I could see it in his eyes."

"Then he will find no objections to it, once he accepts that he is home." She wiped away the tears. "So there's no need to cry and be rude to all, Rhaenys. Everything will work out in the end." Her daughter was still unsure but she agreed all the same. Elia left the room, knowing that Rhaegar would accept the idea. He wasn't keen on the custom of his house, but even he could see that this would be an ideal way to bring Daemon into the fold and have him accept what the truth was.

"He's home, Lyanna," she said silently to her lover's spirit. "Our son is home and soon, he will be a part of the family again." And he would love them, and Rhaenys, for how they will bring him back.

End

Author's note: Thank you for all the reviews you've sent me.

And now you know just how Rhaegar wasn't the only one who loved Lyanna. Elia loved her so much that she's seeing her ghost every time she wakes up in the morning.

Of course, just because Jon (or Daemon, depending on whose side you're on) is in King's Landing doesn't mean it's going to be easy going from there. They'll see it in time.

I'm probably stretching the fact that Balerion is still alive, given the average lifespan. But I'm banking on the idea that cat is one stubborn feline. Plus, I believe he is the same cat that Arya was chasing around the Red Keep, so there is some evidence he lived that long.

You all have probably already guessed what custom Elia was talking about. You guys have been rather divided on the whole idea. I wonder how it's going to turn out as I progress.

I'll see you all next chapter!