Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun.
Book 2
Chapter One-Hundred and Thirty-Two
Lord Quellon Greyjoy was a dying man, Ned had known that for a long time. He had not been a young man when he had fought in the rebellion against Aerys and the years since he had been Ned's master of ships had only made him older and in the past few years he had been missing more council meetings than not, more often sending his second eldest grandson Maron in his place.
But for all of that he was standing tall in front of the Iron Throne now, with only a knobbly wooden stick to lean on, his grandson standing behind him to the left and Lord Rodrik Harlaw standing to his right and his eyes were as hard as flint.
"I warned your grace and my fellow lords of the council, that bitch cousin of Lord Tywin's ignored every message and summon to remind her that she was increasing the size of the Lannisport fleet beyond what they were allowed and now she has sailed on my home, destroyed or captured the ships around Pyke and has laid siege to my castle. This will be answered your grace, if not by you then by me!"
Ned felt his frown grow tighter, he always knew the fragile peace would shatter one day and now the day was finally here. "Is there anything to suggest that Lord Tywin is supporting his cousin in her treason?" He asked.
Lord Quellon coughed and glared before he spoke, "my daughter-by-law only writes that she saw red sails with golden lions when she fled with a few loyal men, she did not know Lord Tywin by sight alone even if she did see him so I can not be sure."
Ned sighed and glanced down at his council table from where he sat, considering his next words carefully. "Lady Nymeria, have you heard any whispers from the west that could tell us if Lady Lilianna has Lord Tywin's support?"
When Elia had suggest naming her baseborn niece to the council Ned had been surprised, he had not known that Nymeria had ambitions so high but Elia had simply smiled at him and told him that Nymeria wished to serve the realm as best as she could.
Ned had pointed out that some of his council might object to him naming a baseborn woman to the council but Elia had simply pointed out to him then that he had hardly been conventional up to that point, the lord commander of the City Watch was a bastard and allowed to sit on council and he had risen up a member of the smallfolk to sit on it as well.
And Elia had then pointed out to him that it was not without precedent, Maegor and Rhaenerya both had women acting as master of whispers on their councils and while Rhaenerya was dubious as a precedent to justify decisions, Maegor was still considered to be a king for all of his evil.
And so Ned had named Nymeria to the council as mistress of whispers, though in truth Ned knew that it was his wife who was the true mistress of spies and her niece was simply a placeholder for her.
Elia had always had her own spies, her own agents reporting to her instead of to Varys, and while her web of spies had grown strong within the walls of King's Landing it had been harder for it to grow outside of the city while Varys was still holding the official position.
But now that Nymeria held the position it was easy for people to come forward to offer their whispers, which made it easy for his wife to weave them into her web and make them hers.
It was growing slowly, but it was growing.
Sadly, Nymeria had a dark look on her face and she shook her head. "Forgive me your grace, the Rock had remained decidedly hard for me to crack open, Lord Tywin is very through when it comes to making certain that there are no spies among his household."
Ned could imagine the methods he used, and decided not to dwell upon it.
It was Sebaston Farman who spoke next, rising to his feet. "If I may point out to this council, Fair Isle has it's own ships and Lord Tywin is our liege lord, any assault on the Iron Isles would be stronger with my own ships and if Lord Tywin had called for them my sister would have written to me to let me know, and yet I have received no ravens to that effect. I believe Lady Lilianna is acting in her own interest."
"We only have your word on that greenlander," Quellon Greyjoy spat and Rodrik Harlaw came up behind him rested a hand on his shoulder but the lord of Pyke shrugged his hand of roughly. "It serves you and the old lion for you to lie."
Ned reached up to rub at his eyes, the old familiar headache already back in full force but before he could say anything to try and calm the tempers Lord Sebaston spoke. "When the invitation to sit on this council came to my castle, many of my bannermen told me to burn it. My lady mother told me to burn it, as so many of my fellow westermen had done, their anger still burning bright."
"And they have every right to their anger, none of have forgotten how Dornish spear and arrow murdered our smallfolk and burned supplies, nor have they forgotten how many suffered under Ironborn axe or were carried away to whatever horror awaited them." The Lord of Fair Isle's voice did not did not rise from when he had started, but he captured all's in the hall's attention.
And when Ned glanced down at his wife he saw a flash of shame and regret on her face, but as soon as it was there it was gone.
"I ignored them all, and in the years since I have been mocked and made my family pariahs anywhere beyond our island but I am still here, I still serve, and would you like to know why my lord? Because I believe in peace, I remember the horrors of war and that it did not just affect our lands but the lands beyond the hills as well, that the smallfolk suffered everywhere under lords of all sides."
"My sister would not lie to me, Lord Tywin has not called on us." And with that statement the lord of Fair Isle sat back down and Lord Quellon grunted but he said nothing more to him.
"What of the other islands?" Ned asked. "How do they fare against this invasion?"
It was Lord Rodrik who spoke then, "Pyke is the only island which stands occupied so far your Grace, the Lannister fleet has made some attempts to land on Saltcliffe, Great Wyk and Harlaw but they have been thrown back while the vast majority of their strength remains around Pyke to protect it from any assault."
"And do we have any notion on how many ships they have?" Ned asked.
"More than she should," Lord Quellon grumbled but when Rodrik Harlaw shot him a glare he sighed and answered the question. "We don't have the exact numbers, our best guess is somewhere between two and three hundred."
Ned considered that for a moment, it was not an inconsiderable amount of force and they would need to match it as best they could. "Lord Redwyne, please step forward."
The lord of the Arbor did as he was bid, he had arrived in the city a week ago with his daughter to prepare for the wedding between herself and Torrhen, and once he was standing in front of the throne Ned spoke. "The Redwyne fleet is well known for being one of the most fearsome on the seas, we will need your fleet's aid if we are to liberate Pyke."
"I am your Grace's most noble servant, and I will gladly write to the Arbor and tell them to bring my fleet up to aid in crushing this vile rebellion, once my daughter has been wed to your son."
"Are you mad!?" Maron Greyjoy roared, looking like a boar set to charge. "My home is under attack, and you will do nothing until a wedding is done!?"
Lord Paxter made himself look an innocent as a lamb when he smiled, but he still showed all of his teeth. "The Iron Islands have their own ships, your uncle has just said that assaults on the other islands have been fought off and none can doubt your people are fierce warriors and castles do not fall in days, or even weeks, but no bird shall fly until my daughter is settled as Prince Torrhen's wife."
None of the three ironborn looked happy, to put it lightly, and Ned was not either. "My lord, I am your king and I am giving you a command. Your daughter will be wed to my son, Desmera will be queen one day you already have my word on that but I will not allow you to barter with me."
"With all due respect your Grace, my dear cousin Mace thought that his daughter would be your son's Queen and that did not wind up happening, I will not allow myself, my daughter or my house to be left out in the cold." For all the softness of his middle, Lord Paxter's eyes were hard. "I will not allow it, my daughter shall be wed before a one of my ships moves."
Ned bit his bottom lip so tightly he could taste blood and was about to consider if he could run to the man and throttle him before the other could turn to run, but before he had the chance his wife spoke. "The wedding preparations are nearly complete my lord, we should be able to have the ceremony in the morning and once the ceremony is complete you will send for your ships, we have your word on that?"
"Of course my Queen, I am the crown's humble servant in all things," Lord Paxter bent his head, which helped him avoid how furious everyone in the throne room was looking at him.
Ned huffed and waved his hand, "very well, Lord Quellon prepare the ships of the royal navy and send word to Prince Doran in Sunspear that we may soon have need of his fleet, and write to the lords of the Narrow Sea that we will need their ships as well, and lord Hoster you will write to Lord Tywin and inform him that if he does not present himself to answer for his cousin's crimes, he will be considered an enemy to the crown as she is. You may all withdraw now."
And so they all did until Ned was left alone with naught but his wife, his kingsguard and her queensguard. "If I was Aerys then I would have burned Redwyne alive for so brazenly defying me."
Elia laughed before taking his arm as they made their way out of the throne room, "you are not Aerys, and many and more are thankful for that. I, for example, am one of them. Redwyne's defiance is...troublesome, to be sure, but it is born of the fact that he knows we need him and we need his ships, the royal fleet is large but no so large, my brother's fleet is the smallest in the realm and our sailors are new and now the Ironborn are busy defending themselves, and we need more allies in the Reach."
Ned sighed and shook his head, "So, we are to have a wedding in the morning, what do you think of are soon-to-be gooddaughter?"
Elia shrugged her shoulders slightly. "She is beautiful, to be sure. She laughs easily, and has a talent for making others laugh as well, I think that she could make a good queen in truth, with time and some education."
The king had gained a sense for when his queen was not telling him something. "But?" he prompted.
"But, there is a fly in the ointment." Elia said, frowning heavily as they walked through the doors of the throne room. "And this fly is dressed all in red."
The red woman, a foolish part of Ned had hoped that when the announcement was made of the match that she would return to wherever she had come from but that had not been the case.
He supposed he should be glad that she had gone as far away as Dragonstone, it would be shameful for his son to scorn his wife for a mistress but at least he would not force his wife to bear the shame of having to share the castle with her. "She is still on Dragonstone, is she not?"
"Yes," Elia said with a heavy frown and Ned could see the concern in her eyes. "But Torrhen will not send her further away than that and I have heard that some petty lords have paid court to her, there are night fires burning every night now and the crowds around them are growing larger every night. How long until many start to consider her Torrhen's true queen?"
"Would you have me ordered her sent away, exile her?" Ned asked.
"I would," Elia admitted before she sighed. "But I am fairly certain I know what would happen next, we do not need another Prince Duncan and Jenny of Oldstones. No, perhaps we had simply best hope that time and distance will cool the flames of passion, and that our son will have a happy enough marriage that he will want to send her away on his own."
"Hopefully," Ned said with a sigh of his own, none of his hopes ever seemed to be able to come true. "If not it might make a good song, the two red queens in the red keep."
Elia laughed, and even after all of these years it was still one of the most wonderful sounds he had ever heard. "You may have missed your true calling my love, I bet you would make an excellent singer."
Ned let out a small chuckle of his own before they fell into silence, making their way over to the maidenvault. Rohanne had asked that they attend her in a private supper that she had prepared so she could speak to them both, it had to be put off for later in the evening when the news of what had befallen the Iron Islands had come down on them.
They were just about to enter the small keep when a page ran up to them. "I beg your pardons your Grace, the Grand Maester says that there has been a raven from Sunspear and to inform you both at once."
Elia frowned and let go of Ned's arm, her brows furrowing. "That's odd, it much later than normal for a bird form Sunspear to arrive." Elia turned to him then. "I will go and see what it says, you tend to Rohanne and I will join you both in a moment."
Ned nodded and watched as his wife left, her Uncle Lewyn her shadow in black and orange, before he walked into the maidenvault and made her way to the small hall where his eldest daughter would be waiting for him.
Rohanne was dressed in green and silver when he saw her, with emeralds in her dark hair and black diamonds around her throat. "Father," she said with her voice as sweet as a melody as she came up to press a kiss to his cheek. "I am so thankful to you for agreeing to attend this supper with me, where is mother?"
"A bird has arrived from Sunspear, your mother has gone to attend to it." Ned spoke before sitting down at the table and gesturing for his daughter to sit as well before the food was brought out to them.
The first dish that was brought out to them was crab soup with black bread and butter, with glasses of lemonsweet to wash it down and Ned hummed at the taste of pepper in the soup, he had never grown a fondness for spicy food that his wife and most of his children had but he would admit a fondness for pepper. "What is it that you wished to discuss with us?"
His daughter took another spoonful of soup before placing the spoon down on the table, lacing her fingers together and placing her hands on the table. "Torrhen is to wed soon, I would like to discuss who I am to wed as I have what I think would be a suitable match, if it please you father."
"Who did you have in mind?" Ned asked, reaching to take a sip of his lemonsweet.
"Samwell Tarly."
Ned did not spit out his drink, but it did go down the wrong way so he needed to cough and as he did he waved off the concern that he saw on his daughter's face. "Samwell Tarly?" Ned asked and when his daughter nodded, Ned spoke. "Well, he is not whom I would have thought as a match."
"Sam is good and gentle father, he makes me smile and I know that he loves me even though he is too scared to say it." A fond smile spread across his daughter's face and Ned would do anything to keep it there.
But alas, he had to do what was best for her and what that was and what would make her happy might not be the best thing, he was about to tell her when a frantic hammering sounded at the door.
Ned frowned and rose and walked over to the door, opening it and frowning at the same page who had informed them of the raven who was staring up at him with wide eyes and a pale face. "Your Grace, the grand maester says, you must come! The Queen is distraught!"
Ned said nothing, he ran out of the room and out of the maidenvault and across the yard and towards the rookery tower, taking the steps two at a time when he heard the sobbing of his wife from far above, more like screaming than anything else and Ned had never heard anything more terrible in that moment.
He throw open the door of the grand maester's chamber to see his wife kneeling on the floor, her face buried in the chest of her uncle as her body shook with the force of her sobs and Ser Lewyn was stroking her hair with tears of his own in his eyes.
Grand Maester Ryam was off to the side and was as pale as milk but Ned paid no mind to him as he walked over to his wife and knelt beside her. "My love, what is wrong?"
Elia did not raise her head to look at him, she simply kept sobbing in her uncle's arms and it was Grand Maester Ryam who spoke. "Your Grace, I think that this will explain." His voice was small as he handed over, fragments of wax clinging to it.
Ned rose and took the letter, and started to read.
And in that moment, his world was gone.
End of Chapter One-Hundred and Thirty-Two