Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun.
Chapter One-Hundred and Six
The salt in the air was so heavy that she could almost taste it and the wind was cold and sharp as it blasted into her face, it caused her eyes to tear up. But she would not shed any of them, not a single one. She imagined that before this day was done she would be shedding more than a few tears and she refused to allow the wind to be what claimed the first lot.
So Elia raised a hand to her eyes and brushed the tears away before they could fall and once they were dry she began to walk down the gangplank which connected the ship to the dock, as she was making her way down she glanced towards the island and the castle. She had been here once before, long ago. The different life where she had been betrothed to Rhaegar, when she could have been his wife.
This would have been her castle, at least for a time. She would have been Lady of Dragonstone, a fine title. A title that meant that one day she would have been Queen of Westeros. The funniest thing about it was that now she was the Queen of Westeros and she had never been Lady of this castle at all. But one day, Torrhen would rule it as his own seat.
Her son, barely more than a babe, and he was the Prince of Dragonstone now. She wondered what Torrhen would think of his new seat, when he finally saw it at least. Elia did not intend to let him see if for awhile yet, she was going to keep him at her and Ned's side for as long as she could. It had been so long since she had seen him and his brother, she was not letting them go again.
Ned was waiting for her on the dock, he was dressed in boiled leather armour and a plain steel breast plate, a sword belt cinched around his waist. He did not look like most Kings would but he looked exactly what Ned would look like if he was a King. Standing next to him was Quellon Greyjoy, armoured with his own sword at his hip along with two of his sons, one his heir Balon and the other one of his younger sons, though he was larger than both his father and his older brother, Victarion.
He had Ser Barristan behind him, there still had not been time to find other members for his Kingsguard as of yet. But one knight could make all the difference in a fight, even more so when that one knight was Barristan the Bold.
"I am still of the belief that you should have remained at the capital, with the children." Ned spoke as Elia walked up to him and fell into a low curtsey, almost as soon as she had knelt he reached down to help her back up to her feet. He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed the back of it while looking deep into her eyes.
"Your Grace could have commanded me to stay, you did not."
Ned laughed and let go of her hand then, she hadn't noticed before but there were more lines around his eyes now and there were threads of silver in his hair. Not many, less than a dozen, but they were there all the same. "My love, let us be honest with one another. If I had commanded you to remain all you would have done is knocked out a ship boy, stolen his clothes and pretended to be him. At least this way I've saved any poor boy a bump on the back of the head and walking up behind a wine skin naked."
"Don't be silly my love, I would have paid him for his clothes." It was an easy banter to fall into and she could not help but smile when Ned laughed, it was not for long and it was quiet as were all of Ned's laughs but it made her happier than anything to see that she could indeed still make him laugh. For a time, she had been terrified that she would never be able to make him laugh again, that she would never hear it ever again.
When he had found out that she had been lying to him about his Father, well, she had been terrified. For a moment, when she had been staring into the flames that were burning away in the heath in their old room she thought that he might just kill her. She'd been wrong, of course. And she was glad of that, and she was glad that he showed her that he still loved her. He had forgiven her.
But it had taken a while before things had gotten back to this point, he had never been cruel to her. She wasn't certain if Ned knew how to be cruel, not unless there was a point, a good reason behind the cruelty. But she had lied to him, and she knew that he would never forget that. Not entirely, she knew her husband to well to hope that in time he would forget it.
She would simply have to hope that when he thought about her lying, that it would not be something that hate would grow out of, that it would be something for him would fade in time, that it would not be something that kept occurring to him every day. And each laugh and smile that he gave her sent a flicker of hope through her, that maybe they would be all right in the end.
"Is she?" Elia began to ask her husband, yet she found she couldn't find the right words to finish the question.
"She's in her bedchamber." Ned answered and for a moment his features softened, someone who didn't know her husband well would not be able to tell the difference at all but she saw it. "Elia, she has given birth. But it seems...it seems that it was a battle where the birthing bed has won, the Maester is seeing to her but he does not think that she has long left. If you wish to see her then it needs to be now."
Elia took another breath to steady herself, the tears threatened to come again and again she forced them away. She would weep later, when all of this was done. When there was time to weep. "And the babe? And Viserys? Where are they?"
"Gone, fled." It was Quellon who answered that for her. His voice was deeper than the last time she had heard it, older. They were probably all older than when this had started. "That's the gods for you, a massive storm gets sent to destroy the entire fleet so we don't have to fight. The entire fleet except for one ship, the fastest ship that could the reason we came here away."
"It's an ill omen, the Storm God has worked against us." Victarion said in a growl, his eyes were narrowed. "We should have followed the ship as soon as we learned of it, it will bring devastation back on to us if we don't stop it."
"It's already gone Victarion." Balon said in answer to his brother who he looked no more happier than. "We have no idea where it went and we do not have enough ships to cover every inch of the sea."
He was right, and all of them that stood on that dock knew it. Viserys and the child that Rhaella had born that turned out to be her end were gone, carried off by the wind and they had no way of knowing where they were going. They would just have to wait for any news to reach them about where they ended up and then...
And then...
And then what?
They would have to be killed, she supposed. There was really no other option, was there? Because if they didn't then they would always be a threat to them, because word of this would spread and there would be no chance of stopping it. So long as those two breathed then all the Targaryen loyalists who swore fealty to their faces would always be waiting and plotting and they would have the perfect figureheads to rally around, the lost prince and princess come home at last.
She could not allow that, she would not allow that.
So, more blood on her hands then. Just a little more, because blood was the prince of peace. Her mother had said that once, when she was young. There had been an attempt to overthrow Princess Loreza from the Old Palace. It had not been an altogether dangerous one, only a few minor members of minor houses with minor grievances that had gotten above themselves, it more than likely would have failed anyways but one of the plotters had second thoughts at the last moment and confessed all to the Princess of Dorne.
They had been meeting and working out of a wineskin in the Shadow City, the gall of it had almost amused her Mother from what she could recall now. Their leader had been the Lord of a House from the mountains whose name had been forgotten in Dorne now, stricken from all records by her Lady Mother's decree, he had been one of her suiters when both of them had been young. The maids of the Old Palace had whispered that he loved her dearly.
Elia had seen him plain as day, the man had been nothing like her Father. Her father was dark and short with a gentle smile and the man she had seen that day had been tall and blond and tan, but only from the sun and not from any Rhoynar in him. The houses of the Mountains had married largely with the houses of the Reach and the Stormlands but even they still retained some Rhoynar blood, in dark curly hair or olive tinted skin.
The only Rhoynar that man had in him was the fact that his skin had not burned under the full glare of the sun, Elia could not have imagined him being her Father. She could not imagine her Mother loving any man who was not her Father.
The plotters were taken by the Captain of the Sunspear guard and held in the dungeons until all was ready, her Mother had sent riders out first to certain houses, houses that the plotters had belonged to so they would arrive in the city first and when all of them were confined to rooms with guards on the doors, she sent the ravens out to all the other houses in Dorne.
The banners were not called lightly in Dorne, of course they were not called anywhere lightly but Dorne was a large kingdom and it was thinly peopled besides, the desserts were vast and took a great deal of time to cross and a great deal of water to survive. In Dorne, when the Princess summoned you answered and you did not dare to refuse her, she would not call for you without good reason.
Doran was called back from Salt Shore as well, he arrived with Lord Gargalen's house and as soon as he arrived he was invited to attend their Mother and Elia did not see him until the day of the event came.
All the houses of Dorne were there, a wooden platform had been set up in the largest square of the Shadow City and around it all of Dorne conversed and laughed and feasted, Mother had been a generous host as always. They were blessed in that in Dorne, they never truly suffered the full wrath of Winter in their land. Food was always hard to grow, but they had never had to fully store.
Elia was certain that was the first time she had ever been allowed wine, now that she thought of it. It was not the first time she had ever had any, Ashara had snuck a flagon of wine from the cellars a year or two before that. The end result of which being they were both sick as dogs and neither had been able to leave their beds and of course all had known the reason why for that and yet it seemed that all agreed the results of their wickedness had been punishment enough.
But that had been the first time she had been allowed wine, she had remembered thinking how important that felt. How so much like a woman grown it seemed to make her. She had thought that it was to be a party of some sort, a feast or a tourney that her Mother had thought to throw in the moment for how she had so quickly dealt with such wickedness.
The plotters had been brought out then. All of them had been made pale by the lack of light from the sun, the leader looked almost like he could be seen through and all were gaunt from the lack of food. They already looked like they were dead, they were really. What happened next was just making sure that the rest of the world knew it as well.
Their families were dealt with first, the plotters sons and brothers and nephews and fathers and uncles were chained next to them. Their mothers and daughters and sisters and nieces and aunts were stripped of the titles and fineries, dressed in simple brown gowns and sent to Motherhouses across Westeros, none were to remain in Dorne. She would not suffer it.
The men were killed, all of them, one by one from the oldest to the youngest. It was quick and clean, and that was all the mercy her Mother had in her. A single stroke with a sharp blade, an end was made. And all of the gathered Lords and Ladies and common folk watched in silence as the Princess of Dorne dealt out her justice, her family watched as well. None of them looked away, none of them dared.
Soon enough only the leader of the plotters was left and he was not given mercy, in truth, Elia did not know what happened to him. He was lead out of sight for his punishment and there had been whispers ever since. Some said he had been taken to Ghaston Grey to spend the rest of his life there, others said that he had been smothered with honey and been staked out in the sand to be eaten by ants, others said he had been sold into slavery.
There had been a thousand tales told, and none knew the truth of it.
All that mattered in the end was that it was done, and nine houses had been doomed to extinction. Their names had been stricken from all records in Dorne, their names would not be mentioned and no songs would be sung about them. This was the Princess's decree and none dared to defy her, how could they? When they just saw what she had done? Of course, that was at least partly the point.
Her mother had explained it to her later, she had come into her room in the middle of the night, sat on her bed and stroked her hair as she spoke. "When I was a girl Elia, not much older than you are now, My Father, your Grandfather, took me with him on a progress through Dorne. Of course, at the time I did not see the need for it. Father was still young and healthy as an ox and I could never imagine him not being Prince of Dorne."
"I begged him not take me, I could think of nothing more boring. I never wanted to rule, believe it or not. I begged him to take Lewyn instead, but Father would not hear of it and he was right about that. He was right about most things." Her mother had laughed then, even though it seemed to her as though her eyes had been wet with tears that she would not shed.
"We were to visit every house in Dorne, it was the most boring three months out of my life. But one holdfast we visited held an important lesson for me, this holdfast held an orchid. It grew oranges and lemons and figs and grapes, all the fruits I love and they grew in such bounty. But, a few days after we had arrived a blight had taken hold. The entire orchid needed to be burned to ashes, I was certain that nothing would grow their again."
"A few years later I came back to that holdfast, I was not Princess of Dorne in truth but by this point your Grandfather had grown ill and so I had taken on his duties that required him to be away from Sunspear, and when I arrived I found that the orchid had been regrown. Entirely, and they were as bountiful as they had ever been, if not more so."
"The fruit had just turned ripe and for my arrival, I was offered the first grapes on their vine. I had never tasted sweeter grapes than those, I am certain that I have never tasted sweeter since." Her mother had looked at her intently then and for a moment if was as if she had not been able to breath at all. "Do you understand why I am telling you this Elia? Do you understand the point of the story?"
She had not been able to do anything at the time other than shake her head, that had simply made Princess Loreza laugh. "That's all right, your brother did not understand either." She cupped her chin so she could look straight into her eyes. "The point, is that sometimes Elia, a culling is needed. It should never be done without good reason, of course. But sometimes, it's needed. And it can yield sweeter fruit, do you understand now?"
She hadn't, but she hadn't wanted her Mother to know that and so she nodded. She understood perfectly well now, of course. To keep the peace, to keep loyalty. Blood needed to be spilled, and sometimes the blood that needed to be spilled was the blood of those that had done nothing to wrong you. Even the blood of babes, if it was in the best interests for that to happen.
She had already killed Renly, and the thought of that was enough to send a shiver through her spine. It was a guilt that would never leave her but it had to be done, and this needed to be done even more now. There was no choice in this, she had saved Cersei and Rhaegar's children, she could steer them to a safe path. The boy to the Maesters or the Night's Watch, the girl to the Silent Sisters.
Viserys and the younger babe were out of her reach, she could not steer them to anything. She had no other option but to end their lives. She had to.
Elia took another breath to steady herself as she looked up at her husband. "I need to see her."
Ned nodded and lead her down the pier, across the island, up through the small village and then up to the gates of the castle. Any other day it would not seem that long a journey at all, today it seemed like it took hours to make and each step seemed a heavy burden, like great weights had been tied to her ankles and she could not cut them loose or ask anyone for aid.
Jon Arryn was waiting for them in the courtyard, for a newly wedded man he did not look pleased. Hoster Tully had insisted that Jon Arryn marry Catelyn before he left for Dragonstone, all know that one more perceived slight might be the one that pushed Tully off of the edge and make him firmly an enemy and they were very nearly done with one war, they did not want another to start.
Their position was already not as strong as they would like it to be, after all.
So Jon Arryn and Catelyn Tully had been wed in the royal sept of the Red Keep, Lord Hoster had insisted that they wed in the Sept of Baelor so that all could see his eldest daughter was still worth the same as any king or queen and they had been willing to grant that, for Catelyn's sake if not for his, but apparently Catelyn had insisted that she wanted to be wed in the Red Keep's sept. She wanted it to be a small affair and Jon had readily agree.
Catelyn because she still mourned Elbert, Jon because he did not feel right to take as a wife the woman who had been going to marry his own heir and to be seen as glorying in it. So, a solemn and subdued affair it had been. No more than thirty guests had been in attendance for it, Lysa had not been one of them as she had already been sent North to marry Benjen, at her own insistence as well.
Jon kissed her hand and wished her well and told her where to find the Queen, apparently she had chosen to stay in the chambers that Rhaegar had always kept for her instead of claiming the lord's bedchambers for her own. Ned walked with her the rest of the way to the door and while he had offered to come in with her, she needed to do this on her own.
When she walked into the bedchamber she nearly chocked, the lavender was heavy in the air and it was clearly trying to cover up the scent of blood but it did not work, the copper underneath it was stronger than anything and she was certain she was going to be sick. Her eyes were watering so badly that it was hard to make out any features of the Maester who stood at the end of the bed who then looked up at her.
He explained much, all of it she had been expecting and then she dismissed him when it was clear there was nothing else she could do. Elia walked over to take a seat by the bed and reached out to take of a too pale, too cold hand. She brushed a thumb over the back of it and spoke, not wanting to speak to loudly though why she was not entirely certain, maybe she thought it would break up some spell that was keeping her here. "Your Grace?"
The Queen turned her head to look at her, so simple a movement should not look so exhausting but it was. She tried to open her eyes but could not manage it but even so Elia could see just a quick flash of purple under the lids, just for a moment. Her thin, cracked lips twitched just for a moment. "I think, that most would say that I should be calling you that now, your Grace."
Now the tears were falling, and she could not stop them. "You're still a Queen, Aerys is still a king and you were married to him and if he deserved to keep his title in death then you deserve to keep it in life." She could not help herself, she reached out to cup one of the Queen's pale cheeks but she could not say as to why she did it, she was still just as cold there as she was in her hands. Maybe a part of her hoped that she could give her some of her own warmth.
Of course she couldn't, but the touch seemed to give the Queen some comfort as she leaned into it. "Hmm, Guncer came back to Dragonstone after it was all decided. He was a good man, loyal. Faithful, he believes in the gods more than anything. He could never stand with Aerys after that, but he was loyal to Targaryen as well. It's why he stood with Rhaegar, why he came back when all that was left was a pregnant widow and a little boy with a crown, kept the rest from abandoning us. Is he dead? They will not tell me."
"I don't know your Grace, I'm sorry. I could find out, if you wish." The truth of it was that the after effects of the storm were still being sorted through, there was so much wood and so many bodies in the water and many had been floating in it for days at a time, it was possible that Sunglass was alive and being held in rooms or the dungeon or he could be a bloated corpse in the water.
"No, no time. You're here." Rhaella hummed again. "I have a daughter, at last. A living daughter, one that was not born dead or washed away in blood. She's so fierce as well, oh, the way she cried. She was louder than the storm, I swear it so." The queen shuddered then, and Elia knew it was from pain but she couldn't tell if it was from the fact she was dying or the fact of what she was speaking of.
"Oh, my daughter. Joanna, Loreza and I. We would talk the nights away about our daughters, about how they would be as close as sisters. How they would love one another, protect one another. But look what's happened. All of you on opposite sides, all of you going to kill the other. I couldn't stop it." She was sobbing now and each one was shaking her form. "Oh...Lorie, Jo, I tried to stop it, I tried. I couldn't."
"I am protecting them." The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them, what a fool she was. "Cersei, and her children, your grandchildren. They are in King's Landing now. Tywin...he would kill Cersei if she went back to Casterly Rock, I know that he would so I invited her to be one of my ladies. And I will keep her safe, your grandchildren as well, I'll keep them all safe."
"And Dany?" Rhaella's voice was quieter now and Elia knew that they were coming to the end now, she was almost done. "Will you keep her safe? And Viserys, will you bring him back and keep them safe? Promise me."
Elia breathed, took the hand of a dying woman, a dying queen and squeezed it firmly enough that she would feel it but not enough to hurt.
And she lied.
"Yes, I'll bring them back and keep them safe. I promise."
And then, she was gone.
End of Chapter One-Hundred and Six
Welp.
Yeah, I think that says it all really.
Anyway, next chapter will be the end of Book 1 of this story, no hints. Just read it.
(Oh, little side note. I made an A03 account earlier today and I was in the middle of moving my stories, including this one, on to there but I changed my mind and deleted it. I don't know, I just felt more comfortable here.)
Anywho, leave a review, follow and a favourite if you enjoyed.
With a ton of love,
DiscordantSymphony