Silence was something he had always welcomed, but the lengthy silence between him and Ned was beginning to trouble Stannis. Ned was not only avoiding conversation, he could not seem to look at Stannis either.

What do you know, Ned? Of your sister and the prince?

What did it matter? Lyanna had told him everything herself.

Had she?

She was back at the pavilion, sitting next to him before he realized it. Wondering why they were being so quiet, her brother and her husband.

"What is there to say?" Stannis replied. Ned was too busy trying to avoid his sister's gaze to reply. Another uncomfortable silence enveloped them, finally broken by the arrival of a Kingsguard. Barely older than a boy, this one was.

This must be the son of Lord Tywin Lannister, Stannis thought. The newest member of the Kingsguard.

His voice was not a boy's voice, however. "His Grace the king commands Lord Stannis Baratheon to present his new bride at the royal pavilion."

Hardly new, Stannis thought. He and Lyanna had been married for many moons.

Lyanna's face paled. She was looking at the royal pavilion. King Aerys, Queen Rhaella, the young prince Viserys, Princess Elia, and Prince Rhaegar were all sitting at the raised dais. Stannis stood up and started following the boy Kingsguard, before realizing that his wife was still sitting down. He turned back and held out his hand to her. Lyanna did not notice his gesture, she was still staring at the royal pavilion. Stannis followed her gaze.

Who was she watching?

Elia? Or Rhaegar?

It's not because of him. It's her. It's because of her. She had told him that, when she refused to come to King's Landing. Before she had changed her mind.

Ned was calling his sister's name insistently. "Lyanna." That broke through her reverie. She finally noticed Stannis' outstretched hand, grasped it with her own, and stood up. Stannis was about to release her hand after they started walking, but she tightened her own grasp. They made their way to the royal pavilion hand-in-hand.

"Your Grace, may I present my lady wife, Lady Lyanna of House Stark."

"You did not invite me to your wedding," the king was grumbling. "The son of my dear cousin was getting married, and I was not invited. If your father was still alive, he would have invited me. But his son did not even have the courtesy to invite his king. And his lord father's own cousin."

The look of the king was a great shock to Stannis. Robert had been the one spending time at court as Lord of Storm's End, even though he had spent very little time at Storm's End himself, preferring to be at the Vale, leaving Storm's End in the hands of the castellan and Stannis. And the king had not left King's Landing for years, except to go to the tourney at Harrenhal. And so Stannis had not seen him since he was a boy.

"Forgive me, Your Grace. I did write to you about the wedding. I did not know that you wished to attend. I thought perhaps the journey would have been too tiring – "

"Storm's End is not that far from King's Landing. And I am well. I am always well. Whose whispers and lies and poisonous words have you been listening to? My son?"

His son? Does he mean Prince Rhaegar? Stannis did not know what troubled water was there between father and son.

"The wedding was held at Winterfell, Your Grace, not Storm's End," Stannis replied.

"I can go to Winterfell. I am strong enough to travel to Winterfell. Or anywhere. They didn't want me to come to the tourney at Harrenhal. Oh, I know, I always know. They whisper and plot behind my back, but I know. I have my own little birds too."

Stannis wondered who "they" were.

The king turned his face to look at Lyanna, who had been looking down the whole time. "Hold up your face, child. Let me see you." Lyanna obeyed the command.

"I know you. Where have I seen your face before?"

Surely the king remembers, Stannis thought. He was present at the tourney at Harrenhal.

It was the queen who spoke up. "Lady Lyanna was betrothed to Robert, our cousin Steffon's older son, dear husband. Robert showed us a picture of his betrothed the last time he was at court, before his sad and untimely death."

The queen had not been present at Harrenhal.

"I know who Robert is!" The king was shouting. "Do you think I have lost all my senses that I do not know the son of my own cousin?" His hand, with the long, sharp and uncared for fingernails, was digging into her arm. The queen was biting her lips, pretending not to notice, pretending not to feel anything.

"Father," Prince Rhaegar spoke for the first time. The king looked at his son with an expression close to hatred. Aerys finally removed his hand from his wife's arm, and spoke to Stannis again.

"So you have married her in place of your poor brother. That is as it should be," he nodded vigorously. His hand was suddenly grabbing Stannis' arm, hard. "Tell me, Stannis, are your stormlords loyal to me?"

"They are loyal to their king and their liege lord, Your Grace," Stannis replied.

"And you? What about you? Can I count on the loyalty of the Lord of Storm's End?"

"Yes, Your Grace."

The king scoffed, his grip on Stannis' arm tightening. "They all say that, all these high and mighty lords. And then they plot and plan behind my back. And not just them, my own blood too." The king motioned for Stannis to come closer, and whispered in his ears. "Remember, you and I share some of the same blood. You have Targaryen blood flowing inside you too, from your grandmother. You must stay loyal to me! You must! Even against my own blood."

"I am loyal to my king, Your Grace. That is my duty."

"Good, good." The king released Stannis' arm, and turned his attention to Lyanna again. "When will you do your duty and give your husband an heir?'

Lyanna's face turned red. Stannis was the one who answered. "My wife is with child, Your Grace."

"You are very lucky in your choice of wife. My own only gave me sons, with no sisters to wed them. The bloodline, it must be pure. It must! But now a half-Dornish boy will inherit the Targaryen throne one day."

How could he say these things in front of his wife? And his Dornish daughter-in-law? Stannis wondered. Unlike her husband, Elia Martell did not flinch listening to the king's words, Stannis noticed. The queen looked like she was not there, staring straight ahead, her eyes seeing nothing. Perhaps she had not heard her husband's words. But as Stannis and Lyanna were leaving after being dismissed by the king, she turned towards them and smiled. "Take good care of your wife, Lord Stannis. The early stages of a pregnancy can be very challenging."

He and Lyanna did not speak on the way back to their pavilion. Lyanna's father was back at the pavilion, talking to Ned, his expression grave and serious. Benjen waylaid them at the entrance. "Let's get something to drink," he said. Stannis declined. He did not want a drink.

"Father is talking to Ned about marriage and a good match and his duty," Benjen whispered. "Do you really want to be there for that?"

They ended up walking instead of drinking. They walked so far, they ended up outside the tourney ground, Lyanna and Benjen talking the whole way. "Who?" Stannis heard Lyanna asking. "Does Father already have a woman in mind?"

"He's still undecided," Benjen replied. "But it is definitely to be the daughter of one of his bannermen."

They reached a lake with a grassy shore. "Let's stop here," Lyanna said. Stannis surveyed the area. It was secluded, it did not seem safe to him. Tourneys were famous for attracting all sorts of people.

"Perhaps we should find a more ... open and public place," Stannis replied.

Benjen laughed. "You are with your own wife, Stannis. Are you worried people might say this is an improper assignation?"

The youngest Stark brother mystified Stannis. Benjen was usually the voice of reason when Brandon was around. Ned usually stayed silent, deferring to his older brother, Benjen was the one who would respond to Brandon. But when Brandon was not around, he turned out to be the one acting foolish and saying foolish things.

Benjen and Lyanna were already laying down their cloaks on the ground. They sat down, but Stannis remained standing. Lyanna motioned for him to sit next to her. Stannis shook his head. Lyanna and Benjen continued their conversation.

"You would think Father could wait until they're back at Winterfell to speak of Ned's marriage." There was a bitterness in her voice now that he had not detected when she was speaking to her father before.

"He hasn't had a chance to speak to Ned before. Ned came here straight from the Vale," Benjen replied.

"Father could command his children to marry whomever he wants, but he could not command Ned to come home to Winterfell? Ned would never disobey Father, in that, or anything else."

"Pride. He wants Ned to want to be at Winterfell, not come home because he commanded it."

"But not when it comes to marriage?"

Benjen sighed. "There seems to be a great haste for that now. There are certain … rumors going around. Ned has been spending a lot of time visiting a child. At the Vale. Perhaps that is why he prefers to stay there rather than at Winterfell."

Lyanna was laughing. "And Father is worried that this is Ned's child? His bastard? Is Father confusing his two oldest sons from each other? This is Ned we're talking about, not Brandon."

"Yes, but it would be just like Ned to want to care for his bastard, if he does have one," Benjen said.

"It is not Ned's bastard. The child at the Vale. It's Robert's. Perhaps with Robert dead, Ned feels he has some sort of responsibility."

So Lyanna had known after all. Stannis turned his attention to the lake, staring straight ahead, pretending not to hear what his wife had said. She was not fooled, however. As they were making their way back to the tourney ground, she whispered to him, "You know about it too, don't you?" He nodded.