Chapter 2
The Red Keep, King's Landing
282 AC One year after the rebellion
It had been a year since the Rebellion ended, and there had been joy for the realm after so much death and misery the past year with war. Queen Ceseri had fallen with child a moon or so after she had Robert married.
The realm welcomed a Prince and Princess. Prince Steffon Baratheon was born with black hair and the green eyes of his mother, and little Princess Mrycella Baratheon was born with her mother's golden hair and her father's blue eyes.
There was much joy as the new Prince and Princess were born eleven moons after the rebellion ended. Sadly, Prince Steffon died in his crib just shy of fourteen days after he was born.
Princess Myrcella was the apple of her father's eye. Robert loved the girl dearly, perhaps more so than Cersei did. The young princess was almost a moon old now.
Jon thought fondly as he finished up his duties as Lord Hand for another night.
"Papa" Two little hands reached up to his desk. Jaspar was a one-name-day-old now; he'd walked at eight moons old.
"And pray tell, are you doing up, Master Arryn? You're supposed to be in bed." At just one name day old, Jaspar/Aemon was forever getting into mischief.
"Papa" The boy merely smiled at his adoptive father.
"Come on little one let's get you to bed. Your mother and Wylla will both be worried sick if they don't know where you are" Jon bent down picking up his adoptive son.
Jon made his way from his study and headed to the Jaspar/Aemon's room in the Hand's tower. Jaspar/Aemon rested his head on Jon's shoulder. The boy may not be his by blood, but he loved the boy all the same.
"Lord Arryn we can't find Lord Jaspar." Wyalla began to fret clearly upset that Jaspar had disappeared.
"He's right here Wylla. He was with me in my study. I'll put him back to bed. Does Lady Lysa know he disappeared?"
"Yes, she, Ser Arthur, Ser Barristan, and some of the household guards are searching the castle for him. She was most distroute that he'd disappeared." Wylla said.
"He's safe now. I'll stay here with him till he falls asleep. It's late Wylla why don't you retire for the night? If you see Lady Arryn, tell her that Jaspar has been found and is back in his room"
"Oh course my Lord" Wylla bowed her head leaving the room and heading for her own room.
"Well, a story may put you to sleep till morning little one what did you want to hear" Jon tucked Jaspar/Aemon into bed.
"Wolf"
"The wolf maiden, then." Jon began to tell Jaspar/Aemon a story to get him to sleep.
Jaspar/Aemon fell asleep partway through the story. Jon pulled the blankets up over Jaspar/Aemon, kissing the top of his adoptive son's head.
The door to Jaspar's chambers creaked open as Lysa stepped inside.
"Where was he? We were all worried something had happened to him," Lysa asked, still distressed.
"In my study, Lysa, He's fine now, my love." Jon wrapped an arm around his young wife, kissing the top of her head. "Come, my love, it's late."
Just as Jon and Lysa were leaving Jaspar/Aemon's room, Ser Arthur Dayne and Ser Barristan Salmy made their way down the corridor.
"Lord Arryn, has your son been found?" Ser Barristan asked.
"Yes, Ser Barrsitan, he has been found. He found his way to my study. He's inside asleep, Ser Arthur. I bid you both goodnight," Jon said to both knights, leaving and heading for their own rooms.
Arthur stood stoically outside his king's room. Ser Barristan stood beside him. "Have you noticed that Jon Arryn's lad's got a hint of purple in his eyes at the right light? He has the stark grey/brown eyes."
"Ashara had purple eyes. It stands to reason that Lord Jaspar would have some of his mother in him," Arthur said, hoping Ser Barristan believed the lie.
"I suppose, but there's something about the boy I can't just shake. It's probably nothing."
Arthur kept quiet; the fewer people knew who King Aemon really was, the better until the boy was grown enough to take back the throne should he wish to do so. Oswell had gotten word to him with news that had shocked Arthur. Princess Rhaenys lived, and somehow, against all odds, the Princess had escaped with her life the day of the sacking of King's Landing.
Oswell remained in Dorne, protecting the princess. She was being raised by Prince Oberyn, disguised as one of the many bastard daughters he had with various women. Arthur burned the letter after reading it.
Young Aemon had so much of his late father Rheagar in him, though you couldn't tell unless you really looked; he took mostly after his mother's side, the Starks, then the Targaryen side. That was a blessing. How would they have hidden him if the lad had been born with silver hair and purple eyes?
It would have been impossible to hide the lad from Robert Baratheon, Tywin Lannister, and the Spider Varys.
Lord Arryn kept no secrets from his wife; he told her the truth about who Lord Jaspar really was only a few days after Lord Stark had left for Gulltown. Arthur had been present when Lady Arryn had been told,
The boy had two new cousins born in the last four or five moons. Benjen Stark married Dacey Mormont in Winterfell a moon after Lord Stark returned to Winterfell. The wedding had been rushed because of what Arthur had overheard.
Lady Mormont was with child. The wedding had been rushed forward, so Dacey Mormont was not showing when they wed. The new Lord and Lady of Sea Dragon Point had been blessed with twin sons, Cregan and William. Four or five moons passed, and Arthur wasn't quite sure of the date.
Winterfell, the North
282 AC, one year after the rebellion.
Lord Benjen Stark of Seadragon Point made his way to his brother's solar. A raven had arrived from Jon Arryn. Jon Arryn sent monthly ravens to Ned about Jaspar/Aemon, their nephew. The lad gods were already one-name day old.
He'd be a fully grown man before they all knew it. Both he and Ned are fathers now. He and Dacey had welcomed their sons Cregan and William just four and a half moons ago. They were a mix of both him and Dacey.
Cregan was all Stark, right down to his grey/brown eyes, and William was a mix, taking mostly after his mother with her brown hair and blue eyes.
Benjen knocked on his brother's solar door.
"It's open; come in," Ned called from the other side of the door.
Benjen came in, and Ned looked up from the ledgers he was looking over. "Ben, what is it?" Ned noticed the scroll in his hand.
"Raven from Jon Arryn. Your month update on Aemon," Benjen said his nephew's name in a whisper.
Ned ripped open the seal, unrolling the letter to read his monthly update from Jon Arryn on Aemon.
Dear Ned.
Your boy is growing like a weed. He is only a name day old, but he gets up to as much mischief, if not more, than a boy his age. He's speaking a few more words now. Robert seems quite taken with the boy.
As you may have heard, Prince Steffon passed away in his crib just shy of two weeks old. Robert, as you can imagine, was distraught at the sudden death of his son. The Queen is taking it in stride; they still have Princess Myrcella.
Lysa has made it clear that she wishes us to spend half the year in the capital and half in the valley. I can understand her reasoning for Jaspar. He needs a steady home life; here in the Red Keep, he wouldn't get that.
There may come a time for him to be fostered in the Vale, in Winterfell with you, or perhaps Benjen, once his castle is built. Give my love to him and Dacey, and congratulations on the birth of their sons.
Your foster father, Lord Jon Arryn, Lord of the Eyrie, Lord Paramount of the Vale, and Hand of King Robert I Baratheon
"Good news from Jon Arryn about your boy," Benjen said in case anyone was listening. The only ones besides himself and Ned who knew the real identity of Lord Arryn's adoptive son here in Winterfell was Dacey.
Benjen never kept any secrets from her. He'd tried to get Ned to tell Catelyn about Aemon. Ned said the time wasn't right yet to tell her. Benjen just left that particular subject alone.
Ned and Benjen were unaware. Catelyn had heard the last part. She disappeared down the hall before Benjen left Ned's solar.
Ned had a bastard son, Lysa, and Jon Arryn's adoptive son, Jaspar, was her husband's bastard son. She supposed she should be grateful he hadn't brought the boy back with him to Winterfell when he had returned.
Later that night,
Ned wasn't sure what he had done to upset his lady wife so much; she was ice cold to him. She barely said one word to him at supper. She moved away when he tried to kiss her on the cheek.
Even tonight, she slept in her chambers. She hadn't slept in her chambers since he returned to Winterfell a year ago.
He found her in the nursery with Robb. Their son was just over one name day old. He was mostly a Tully with his red curls and blue eyes. It was to say he was a Stark save for his nose and ears, which were Ned's.
She wouldn't speak to him at all, and she ignored him like he wasn't even there.
"Catelyn will just stop for a minute and tell me what it is I have done to upset you," Ned asked.
"If you do not know my Lord, then that is your problem now. Please step aside. I wish to retire for the night."
"No, not till you tell me what is going on." Ned didn't budge.
"Very well, then I heard you today. You and Benjen are talking in your solar. Jon and Lysa's son is your bastard son. Where you ever going to tell me?"
"Come with me. I'll explain" Ned grabbed her hand. Walking fast towards the crypts, Benjen was right; he should have told Catelyn the truth long before now.
Ned led them down into the crypts. "Ned, why are we done here?" Catelyn finally asked.
"There's something I have to tell you—a secret I've kept for the past year." Ned stopped in front of Lyanna's statue.
"What secret."
"Jon and Lysa's adoptive son is not my bastard son. He's my nephew," Ned began to explain.
"Is he Brandon's?" Catelyn knew that her former intended had a wandering eye and possibly had bastards scattered throughout the North and possibly the Riverlands as well.
"No, he is not Brandon's, nor is he Benjen's. Jon and Lysa's adoptive son. Is my sister Lyanna's son Aemon Targaryen with Rhaegar Targaryen? They and Elia Martell were married before the Old and New Gods on the Isle of Faces.
My sister did not die of a fever; she died of childbirth due to a loss of blood. Jon Arryn figured out who Aemon was. That he was my nephew, not my bastard son. It was his idea to adopt Aemon as his and Lysa's son. To protect him.
If Robert ever finds out who Aemon really is, he will kill him like he did Aemon's stepmother and half-siblings." Ned finished.
"Who else knows about Aemon?"
"Benjen, the men who were with me in Dorne, Dace, Jon Arryn, and Lysa," Ned answered.
"And if Jon hadn't offered to adopt Aemon, you would have brought him here disguised as your bastard. Would you have told me the truth then?"
"Yes, I would have brought him here; I promised Lyanna on her deathbed to protect him. I would have raised him as if he were my own son. I don't know if I would have told you," Ned answered honestly.
"And I would have grown to hate him if you hadn't told me. I understand why you didn't tell me when you first returned to Winterfell that we were still newly married. You could have told me in the moons since you returned to Winterfell." Catelyn was being honest as well.
"I know. I hate keeping secrets, but the fewer people who know who Aemon truly is, the better. I will have to tell him the truth one day about who he really is, or Jon will tell him."
Beyond the Wall
The Three-Eyed Raven Brynden Rivers
282 AC.
The Dragonwolf pup grows strong. He will need to be strong for the wars and trials to come. For he is the Prince that is Promised, who will bring the Dawn against the Long Night and Never-Ending Winter.