This chapter is a bit of a change of pace as it gives us a wider look around Westeros at some of the major players so far in the fic and their reactions to Luke appearing out of nowhere. For context, we're around 2x07 – A Man Without Honour.

I own nothing but Lucerys Targaryen. Everyone and Everything else belongs to HBO or George R R Martin.

Life on Dragonstone was calming. The island was completely occupied by Lucerys' men, and the Golden Company were seeing to any ship repairs needed and resupplying with help from the Rogare's in Lys. Luke meanwhile was planning the main stages of his invasion with Jon and the Dragonstone Maester, a young man named Pylos, in the Chamber of the Painted Table.

They had decided on a two-pronged attack of King's Landing, taking castles on Crackclaw Point and down the coast from the North, as well as invading the Stormlands from the South with the Dornish forces. Luke kept looking at Storm's End, pondering on what to do with it once his conquest was over.

"The Dornish have taken Blackhaven." Jon told Luke, holding a raven message. "Lord Wyl led his force over the walls and took the castle. Lord Dondarrion hasn't been back since before the Usurper died, so it was easily surrendered."

Luke grinned. "Excellent, we have our way into the Stormlands." He looked down at Storm's End. "I think I'll offer Storm's End to Stannis Baratheon if he bends the knee."

Jon looked at him like he was insane. "Stannis Baratheon is as rigid as they come, he will never bend the knee to us."

"Nor do I want him to, but it's only right." Luke shrugged. "In any case, we've killed his wife and have his heir in custody. He will only have Storm's End until he dies, and then it will go to Shireen's husband."

Jon looked at Luke questioningly. "You already have an idea on who that will be, don't you?"

Luke smirked. "I do. Storm's End needs to go to a loyal man, a Stormlander that I can trust, and there is no man I trust more than you."

Jon was shocked. "No, I… I can't marry her."

"Why not? She has bled, has she not?" The second question was directed at the Maester, who nodded. "Then I don't see a problem."

"She is a child." Connington said sharply. "I'm old enough to be her Father."

"She is a maiden with Durrandon blood." Luke countered unapologetically. "What better way to ensure the end of the Baratheon line than through you, my most trusted friend."

"Luke…" Jon pleaded. "Please."

But the Targaryen shook his head. "I know you'd rather just take back Griffin's Roost and retire there until you died alone, Jon. But I need this from you. Take Storm's End, put a son in Shireen Baratheon and have House Connington grow more powerful than ever before."

Jon lowered his head, not looking at the younger man. "I can't dissuade you from this?" He asked.

"No." Luke admitted. "It has to be you. Bed her until she is with child and then never see her again for all I care, but she is the key to Storm's End, and I would use that to break Stannis Baratheon even more."

Jon sighed, moving over to the open balcony and staring out towards the docked ships. Luke could see that he wanted to argue more, to squirm his way out of it, but eventually the red-head sighed. "Alright. I'll marry her." He said reluctantly.

Luke grinned, moving over to stand beside Jon and clapping on the back. "Thank you, my friend."

"Reluctantly." Jon added, a small grin on his face at Luke's happiness.

Luke laughed. "That makes two of us then." He smirked, before reaching into a pocket and pulling out a raven message. "Pylos, have this bird sent to Storm's End. Let us make sure that Stannis Baratheon knows what has happened here and dare him to face us."

"Of course, Your Grace." Pylos bowed.

"And send birds to every other castle in Westeros." Luke ordered. "Let them know that their rightful King has returned."

King's Landing was one of the closest settlements to Dragonstone, and so a raven reached the Red Keep within the day. Tyrion was settling down for his supper when Cersei called a meeting of the Small Council, and he was quite grouchy when he entered the room.

There were only four of them left. Cersei hadn't bothered to appoint a new Master of Laws or a new Master of Ships, and Littlefinger still hadn't returned from Renly Baratheon's old camp after having gone to meet with Catelyn Stark to arrange a prisoner trade, so Varys and Pycelle were the only non-Lannister members sat in the Small Council chambers. Tyrion took his seat and grumbled. "Why was I interrupted when I was tucking into a rather delicious duck leg?"

Cersei looked towards Pycelle angrily. "We have had a raven from Dragonstone."

Rolling his eyes, Tyrion asked. "Is Stannis surrendering? That would be wonderful."

"Not quite." Pycelle told them, handing Tyrion the raven message.

Tyrion unfurled it, noticing the red dragon seal. He mumbled the words, until he came to the last part. "I, Lucerys of House Targaryen do hereby claim the Iron Throne of my ancestors." He quoted. "Another King?"

"He died." Cersei said stubbornly. "This… Lucerys… is nothing but a pretender. The babe died as a child."

"Kicked by a horse." Pycelle remembered. "I remember the Mad King was quite irate at Queen Rhaella that night."

Varys nodded. "A dark time indeed."

Tyrion noticed something odd in Varys' eyes, but didn't have a chance to question it before Cersei clapped her hands together. "It's settled then, this is nothing more than an imposter."

"It's not so simple." Tyrion countered. "No matter who this boy is, he is still at the head of the Golden Company. 17,000 men within striking distance of King's Landing."

"And Prince Oberyn Martell has been seen liaising with him." Varys added. "Both in Volon Therys, the city of the Company, and now on Dragonstone."

"He claims to have both the sword and the crown of the Conqueror." Tyrion said, gesturing to the message. "That is more dangerous than the men. They are symbols."

Cersei looked worried. "We need to bring Father back." She whispered.

Tyrion, for once, agreed with her. "With Stannis in the South and Lucerys to the east, yes." He turned to Pycelle. "Write to Harrenhal and sign it from myself and the Queen Regent. We need the men here more than the Riverlands." Pycelle bowed his head and departed, closely followed by Cersei, who wanted to visit with her children. Varys got up to leave but Tyrion stopped him. "I suppose this means that my alliance with Dorne is dead in the water?"

Varys nodded grimly. "Prince Oberyn believes Lucerys' heritage and has convinced Prince Doran."

"And what of Stannis?" Tyrion asked. "What is he doing?"

"I'm not sure." Varys admitted. "Although, his wife is dead at the Golden Company's hands and his daughter is imprisoned on Dragonstone."

Tyrion breathed a sigh of relief. "With any luck the two will fight one another before turning their eyes to us. We need the defences strengthening." Varys nodded, and Tyrion had one last question. "Could it be true? Is it really Prince Lucerys?"

Varys stared into Tyrion's eyes, unflinching. "Jon Connington believes, and he was shut away in a room with Rhaegar for hours before he departed for his exile, and the next day the young Prince was dead. I thought nothing of it at the time, but yes I believe it is truly Prince Lucerys."

That wasn't the answer Tyrion had wanted to hear. He dismissed Varys, contemplating his future actions in silence with this new threat looming heavy over him.

Olenna Tyrell was struggling. The elderly woman was sat in her chambers at a desk staring at two letters, one having come by raven from Dragonstone, and the other from Harrenhal via Littlefinger. It seems that with everyone fining out about Renly's death her Granddaughter was being sought after. Two ravens. Two Kings, two options of marriage for her granddaughter.

There was a knock on the door, and Olenna raised her head to see said granddaughter in the doorway. "Grandmother." Margaery smiled kindly.

"Come, child." Olenna gestured. "Help an old woman out." Margaery shut the door and came to sit beside Olenna.

"Are these the letters?" Margaery asked. Olenna smirked, of course Margaery knew about them.

"Yes." She nodded. "One from Joffrey, of the supposed House Baratheon. And the other from Lucerys, the long dead Prince of House Targaryen."

Margaery picked up Lord Tywin's letter first, reading it thoroughly before picking up Luke's raven message, asking for Margaery's hand and explaining that an envoy was on the way. "So who am I to marry?" She asked after reading them both.

Olenna smirked again. "I haven't decided yet." She leant back in her chair. "Both are good matches. By allying ourselves with House Lannister we will have the two most powerful houses joined in marriage, you shall be wed to the ruler of the Seven Kingdom's and we can beat back any of our enemies. But by allying ourselves with House Targaryen we will become the most powerful house in Westeros and will repay Aegon the Conqueror's faith in us all those years ago. And we will be completing a pact made long ago."

"A pact?" Margaery asked.

Olenna nodded, pulling her necklace off with a key dangling. "That drawer in my cabinet." She gestured. Margaery went and unlocked the drawer, pulling out an old piece of parchment. "Read it."

Margaery did as she was told, and the surprise was on her face instantly. "When was this arranged?" She asked.

"Oh, about three years after the rebellion." Olenna shrugged.

"And why wasn't I told until now?" Margaery asked. "Why wasn't Father, why did I have to go through with marrying Renly if I was already betrothed?"

"Because you weren't, not that I wanted you to marry that sword swallower." Olenna grumbled. "I told Mace that it was a bad idea, that we needed to wait but did he listen? Of course not. Well now the cow has been milked and we cannot squirt the cream back up her udders, so we have to make a choice."

"I don't follow." Margaery said, holding up the parchment. "I was betrothed."

"To a married man." Olenna explained. "The lovesick fool married his Lyseni bed slave or something. That and the Dornish girl died so the pact seemed obsolete."

"But he isn't married now?" Margaery asked.

Olenna shook her head. "Oh no, the Pentoshi saw to that. He has a daughter I believe, but no wife."

"Then surely we should be creating an alliance with the Lannisters." Margaery said with a frown. "If this Lucerys already has a child…"

"A girl." Olenna reminded her. "Any boy comes before a girl, especially for the Iron Throne. And I am sure you would give him numerous boys if you had the chance."

Margaery agreed there. "Plus there are… rumours… about Joffrey. Not kind ones."

Olenna agreed there. "So, weighing up everything and considering it is your future that is being bartered over, what would you do?"

Margaery thought, looking between the two letters. "The North want Joffrey dead, the Riverlands want Joffrey dead, the Stormlands want Joffrey deposed. If we ally with him it's us and the Lannisters against the rest of Westeros. At least with the Targaryen we'll have more of a chance of peace down the road."

Olenna smiled. "Good girl."

"But now we have to convince Father… and what do we do about Littlefinger?"

Olenna leant back in her chair. "Leave your Father to me. As for Baelish, I don't feel arresting one of King Joffrey's key advisors to be too out of the question."

Arya Stark was clearing up plates after yet another war council meeting at Harrenhal when a letter with a broken red seal caught her eye. Looking closer and pushing the two halves of the seal together, she almost gasped as the three headed dragon of House Targaryen became visible.

"Your nosiness is growing tiresome, girl." The commanding voice of Lord Tywin Lannister came from the doorway. Arya snapped to attention and hurried about clearing the cutlery. "But that letter has gone everywhere so you'll hear about it soon enough. What do you think?"

"I… I only saw the seal my Lord." Arya staggered.

"And what do you think?" Tywin repeated.

Arya thought for a moment. "I thought House Targaryen was dead." She admitted.

Tywin was slightly impressed. "You recognise the seal?"

Arya nodded. "My father… he fought in the Rebellion for Lord Dustin. He told me about the red dragon."

Tywin accepted that and sat down, rereading the letter. "The day that Rhaegar was killed by King Robert."

"He didn't talk about it a lot." Arya told the Lannister Lord. "Only about the sigil. He said as soon as he saw it he was scared." A lie, but Arya had learnt a lot about the history of House Targaryen from Maester Luwin, and most of it was dark.

"The Targaryen's were nothing to be scared off once the last dragon died." Tywin mused. "As soon as that happened, they were just men they could be overthrown, as Robert Baratheon proved."

"Didn't you serve the Mad King?" Arya asked, before kicking herself. "Apologies, I shouldn't ask questions."

"No, you shouldn't" Tywin told her. "But yes, I was Hand of the King for the majority of his reign. I knew him, I knew Rhaegar, and I was there for Prince Lucerys' birth. He was a quiet child, but inquisitive even as a babe."

"Do you think it's really him?" Arya asked.

"I don't know." Tywin admitted honestly. "But it doesn't matter what I think. It matters what the Tyrell's think, what the Dornish think and what the Vale thinks. If even one region decides that Prince Lucerys didn't get his head caved in by a horse then we are in more danger than we are now."

Tywin scribbled a note out and handed it to Arya. "Give this to Ser Kevan. Don't read it." He said pointedly. Arya took the message and bowed, leaving the room. On the way she unfurled the message anyway and read the words, seeing that Tywin had ordered the castle to prepare to march. Fearing for her brother's life, Arya knew she had to speak to Jaqen H'ghar again.

A rider from Ashemark had come to Robb's secondary camp of barely 6,000 men not far from the Crag bearing the news of Luke's return to Westeros. Robb gathered the few heirs and men of noble houses that he had into his tent and told them all the news.

"A Targaryen?" Smalljon Umber replied.

"Aye." Robb responded. "Asking us all to bend the knee to him and aid him in retaking the Iron Throne."

The Blackfish looked at Robb grimly. "He will want something. We all fought against the Targaryen's at the trident." He looked over at the Frey in the room, Black Walder. "Well, most of us."

"He wishes to fight the Lannisters, no?" Ser Wendel Manderly added. "Our interests align."

"He also wishes to fight House Baratheon." Robb told them. "He took Dragonstone first, the seat of Stannis Baratheon. That's not a coincidence. His house was ousted out of Westeros by Robert Baratheon's alliance and now he's come back for blood."

"Send an envoy." Dacey Mormont suggested. "See what this dragon wants."

"We don't even know if he is legitimate." Black Walder told them all.

"He has the crown." The new Lord of Wayfarer's Rest, Lord Karyl Vance, told the tent. "He has the sword. Those are powerful symbols."

"He says he has them." The Smalljon corrected.

Robb let them all discuss it amongst themselves, not knowing what to do about it. Finally, he stopped them. "None of this matters now. We are on the other side of the continent and he hasn't threatened us specifically so far. Lord Karyl, ride to Riverrun and speak with Lord Edmure. I want scouts keeping us up to date with Lord Tywin's movements. If he rides for home, then you are to tell Lord Edmure to allow him to pass into the Golden Tooth and we shall crush him in a pincer. If he rides for King's Landing then he has given up on us, so we shall ride North and deal with the Greyjoy's."

"What about the land we've taken here?" Ser Wendel asked.

Robb shook his head. "We will never keep this land. We raid the Crag and then move South to take Sarsfield, emptying them all of gold and valuables. Then we'll stay at Sarsfield until we hear about Tywin's movements."

Murmurs of agreement were heard. "Prepare your men." The Blackfish told them all. "We'll attack at sundown."

The letter for Storm's End was a lot more personal than the ones that had gone to the other castles in Westeros, as it had been written by Luke himself. The last son of House Baratheon, Stannis, was usually an unemotional man, but Ser Davos Seaworth was seeing the man rage in his solar, throwing objects and flipping tables in a frenzy worthy of King Robert.

"HE KILLS MY WIFE! HE MARRIES MY DAUGHTER OFF TO A BLASTED TRAITOR!" Stannis roared. "I will have his head, Ser Davos. I will take it myself!"

"As is your right, Your Grace." Davos said diplomatically.

"He dares offer me Storm's End after what he has done." Stannis glared out of the window towards Shipbreaker Bay. "My Lords would hang me if I took his peace after what he has done. I would hang myself."

"Then don't." Melisandre said from the shadows. "You are the Lord's chosen, Azor Ahai himself. Take back Dragonstone and give this pretender to my fires and your victories shall be assured."

For once Davos agreed with the woman, though more out of fear for the safety of the sweet young girl Shireen. "We have the Stormlords and House Florent behind us now. We can assault Dragonstone and free Shireen."

"I can't let this go unpunished." Stannis growled. He handed the letter to Davos. "Take this and show every single Storm Lord within the castle. Let them know what this supposed Targaryen boy has done to my heir and my wife. Rile them up, get them as angry as I am now."

Davos bowed his head. "What will you do now?"

Stannis moved over to stare out the window once more, his arms folded. A loud rumble of thunder filled the air. "The fleet needs readying. I shall show this Targaryen that the words of my house still mean something. I will bring him the fury."

Lots of reactions here then, who's was your favourite?

Stannis is angry and on the move. With the God statues being rebuilt on Dragonstone can he make it in time to stop the wedding? Of course Stannis doesn't know that it hasn't happened yet…

Tywin is also moving for King's Landing, giving Robb the chance to just move Northwards and use his winnings to repel the Ironborn and see to his defences, that's if he can get past Moat Cailin, however.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Next time we shall have the Dornish marching on Griffin's Roost, as well as a traitorous House revealing themselves…

Reviews:

NeedingOfLifeGoalDude: Wow lots of potential spoilers there but I think I can answer them all. Stannis would never join forces with Tywin, they're both fighting for different things. Tywin wants to keep Joffrey on the Iron Throne and Stannis wants to put himself on it. Robb would never agree to that as he only has an issue with the Lannisters, so forgetting the Ironborn for now, they're the only ones he's willing to fight at the moment. The Baratheons don't have enough Targaryen blood for a dragon, so Stannis won't get one.

10868letsgo: I hope you liked their reactions.

TheOnlyKing: She is too important to just outright kill, but I think death would be preferable in Stannis' eyes.

AZW330: I hope you'll like it!

Dunk an Egg: I will dedicate full chapters to battles when needed, but this was a rout, not a battle. I doubt I will, but if I do I'll use the same excuses as I did in my story United in Fury and have them be cousins from Mace's fictional younger brother 'Harlan'. Littlefinger likely won't see the outside of a cell for some time…