Author's Note

I originally wanted to focus only on my Dance story, and I am redoing some work on my Stark fic, but this plot bunny has been on my mind, and I couldn't NOT set it up and plan what the story will entail.

So forwarned, the first several chapters will be HotD style as they will show moments I want to be shown while going from 280 to 298. Some scenes will cover a year, and some will be between weeks and months. I went ahead and formatted them to know which years/events are happening.

280ac

A young girl of four and ten stared at herself in the mirror.

Mother says she is the most beautiful woman in the world, though she believes she has a most comely appearance.

Her pale gold locks fell down in ringlets, and her lady companions helped her accentuate her lilac eyes. She twirled in her teal and silver gown, and she was to walk down to the front of the sept.

It was her wedding day, after all... She would look her best as she fixed her silver and gold seahorse pin that attached her house cloak to her shoulders.

"Alyssa, are you ready?"

Alyssa Velaryon, daughter to Lord Lucerys Velaryon of Driftmark, turned to her closest friend and kin, Jeyne Longwaters, with the biggest smile she could muster.

Father had made her match a few years ago, before Lord Steffon Baratheon had set out to find the Crown Prince a bride, kept in faith even after his Lorship and Lady Cassana died in Shipbreaker Bay.

The Master of Ships had tried to get her betrothed to Prince Rhaegar before settling for Lord Steffon's second son; however, the King was less inclined to agree even when his grace was initially searching for a match of Valyrian blood.

Blood that flowed in her house's veins just as any family in Volantis.

Alyssa liked the omens of today. Not since Princess Rhaenys the Queen Who Never Was and Corlys the Sea Snake has there been a marriage between Houses Velaryon and Baratheon; she felt honored to be the next.

"I hear Lord Stannis is a hard man, even at six and ten," Jeyne said alongside her other ladies.

That might be so, but she was told he was an honorable sort and a shy, less lustful than she heard his older brother was. "I care not for him being hard. In fact, I would hope he is." She blushed, saying such a vulgar thing; her companions giggled as they walked on.

"And, what in the Merling King's Hall are you lot giggling about?"

Next to the entrance of Storm's Ends sept was her brother, Corwyn.

Her older brother was a man of seven and ten, three years her senior, with pale fair hair and a bearded face. His sea-green cloak hung over his right shoulder.

"Where is Father?" She asked, as he was supposed to be here on the day of all days, her greatest moment.

It was only a shame their mother couldn't be here; she was the niece of Lord Ardrian Celtigar. "His Grace asked him to remain. Sorry, sweet sister." Alyssa fought the tears from falling lest they ruin her makeup.

"Even grandfather came, and his grace couldn't let him attend his own daughter's wedding?" She was angry and upset. Corwyn offered a gentle smile and held out his arm. "What are you doing?"

"Well, Alyssa, I am to be Lord of the Tides and of Driftmark one day, so I believe it is quite right for me to walk my sister down to her husband."

Alyssa smiled brightly and wrapped her slender arm around his muscled one. The doors opened, and she saw so many guests around the room. A few were from the Narrow Sea and Crownlands, and the majority were from around the Stormlands.

She took a breath, and then, with a step, she and Corwyn started down the aisle.

Stannis Baratheon was like a statue, straight with an arm behind his back and a Baratheon cloak in his other arm. Her brother let her go and took a few steps to stand beside their cousins and son, Monford, who was but six, and beside Corwyn's four-year-old bastard, Aurane Waters.

Her husband-to-be was handsome in a way. His eyes were like the storms that plagued the region, and he had a short head of hair. "May I?" he asked, and she nodded.

Slowly, Robert's brother removed her cloak and placed the one in his arm over her shoulder. Then, the Septon started the ceremony. "The love of the Seven is holy and eternal. The source of all life and love. We stand here tonight in thanks and praise to join two souls as one body, one heart, one soul. Look upon one another and make thine vows."

Stannis held her hand, and it was less than gentle. She sensed he was as nervous as she was, though he didn't show it. "Father, Mother, Warrior, Smith, Maiden, Crone, Stranger. I am yours, and you are mine, from this day to my last."

The Septon urged her to go next. She smiled and looked into Stannis's eyes. "Father, Mother, Warrior, Smith, Maiden, Crone, Stranger. I am yours, and you are mine, from this day to the end of my story."

Slowly, Stannis lowered to her face and placed a chaste but sweet kiss upon her lips.

The hall erupted in joyful laughter and applause, the loudest coming from her new brother, Lord Robert Baratheon. She would even say his cheers were louder than her brother's.

The feast was a long but exciting thing with music and dancing though her husband was reluctant to partake, only doing so on the urging of his brothers, Robert and little Renly Baratheon.

Jeyne was taken with one of the Connington boys, blushing like a newly made woman.

Alyssa twirled in her dress in the middle of the floor, her arms extended like a dragon in flight. But soon came time for the bedding ceremony, and she admitted she was a little afraid.

Thankfully, Stannis had made clear there wouldn't be any tearing of clothes; he simply approached her and extended his hand to her own, "My Lady."

It would seem he was a man of few words. "My Lord." She reciprocated and took his hand.

She had given some thought to her first time with a man; the bawdy stories spoken of had given her an image, but she didn't expect it to be so... Rough.

It stung for several moments before she finally started to feel anything; alas, before she could get used to the pleasure, her husband climaxed and spilled his seed into her.

Alyssa thought the feeling was strange; she hoped she would learn to like the feeling, but for the first time, it left a lot to be desired.

What surprised her most was that as Stannis slept beside her, she crawled closer and tried to hold him. To her welcomed surprise, he accepted her warmth and her body and breast pressing against his back.

281ac

Stannis paced about outside his wife's chamber, despite his strong and unflinching facade... He was afraid.

Married life didn't mean much to him, even less to whom he would be married to, but when he saw Alyssa Velaryon for the first time, he would say that he was caught blindly in lust.

She was beyond beautiful, her valyrian features imitating the looks that the Targaryens have boasted these last 280 years.

Robert japed and prodded him about how he was a little jealous of his bride. Stannis was wary of his brother the entire night so as to make sure he didn't try anything, for his brother was eight and ten, but he had boasted more bastard children than most.

A daughter in the Vale was fathered by an innkeeper during his fostering with Lord Arryn. He is sure there are others but he doesn't know of them.

His brother had left for a tourney at Harrenhal, and Stannis was sure that Robert would populate further during and after the celebration that Lord Whent was hosting.

Alyssa screamed again from inside the room, and he frowned; a part of him wondered if he should go and pray for her to labor this torment quickly and bring forth their first child.

Cressen said it is a boy, it didn't matter to him which.

"Alyssa dreamt of having thirteen children, she believes it is prophecy," he told the Maester after they discovered she was pregnant.

His wife was a bright beacon from his dimmed heart, given life after years of mourning his mother and father. She's also done well, keeping house while Robert gallivanted between here and the Vale.

One time, she chastised his brother about kicking up his feet at the dinner table, "This is my castle, Sister!" Robert shouted, and he expected Alyssa to shy away, but she had been five moons pregnant then and was furious with her response.

"Until you marry your Northern flower, I keep this household. This castle is mine, and you will treat it with respect." It was one of the rare times that Stannis allowed himself to smile, proud of his love's bravery.

... "My Lord?"

Stannis turned and saw Cressen exit the room and sweaty, his hands bloody and wiping his hands of it with a rag.

A pit in his stomach churned at the immediate thought, but he sighed in relief when the Maester smiled, "You have a healthy son, my boy." he didn't bother waiting and moved past the man and entered the chamber to a heavenly sight.

Alyssa was drenched in sweat and breathing heavily; her lilac eyes were elsewhere and on the babe suckling at her teat.

Eventually, she noticed him and smiled, "A son, one of many, Stannis." He wasn't so sure; it was hell worrying if she would pull through after laboring for a night and a day.

Stannis inched closer to her side and sat down on the bed, uncaring to the birthing fluid, blood, and urine that no doubt stained the sheets. "A son?" he muttered, looking closely.

The babe had a tuft of silver hair, and when the child was done feeding, he saw the boy's eyes and smiled, seeing stormy blue hues looking up at him.

"Have you named him?" he asked, and she shook her head.

"I have a name, but unless you wish to be the first... " It was his turn then to shake his head no; Alyssa looked down at their boy. "There is an ancestor in my family, a dragonrider of Seasmoke. They called him Addam the Loyal."

Addam Baratheon. "It is a worthy name, my love." He doesn't say it much, perhaps that is his fault, but she deserves to be called what she is, "I love you, Alyssa."

She smirked and looked back to their son, "I would like to try again, when I am rested. I want to give you a hundred sons and daughters." Stannis didn't respond, only sweetly kissing his wife tenderly.

He would never do that to her, never.

Six Moons Later/282ac

Alyssa was up, twirling in a dance with her son in her arms. The babe was awake from sunup to sundown with little respite or naps in between.

But now was the time to sleep, "Come now, my little sailor." she said with a sweetened tone as she laid her boy in his cradle, rocking it back and forth while singing him a song.

It was a favorite of hers, when she was a younger girl. "High in the halls of the King's who are gone... "

The song told of Jenny, the common-born wife of Prince Duncan the Small.

Duncan Targaryen had defied his father to marry her, forsaking his claim to the title of Prince of Dragonstone, which ended up in the hands of King Jaehaerys II Targaryen.

The Prince had been betrothed to Lord Lyonel Baratheon's daughter when Duncan wed Jenny, even seceded from the Iron Throne, and declared himself the first Storm King in almost three hundred years.

It was short-lived, Ser Duncan the Tall defeated the Laughing Storm in single combat and later on, Lyonel's son would marry Princess Rhaelle Targaryen.

"Love makes fools of us all," Father said when she spoke of her admiration of Prince Duncan's desire for his Lady Jenny.

She would rather be a fool than live a loveless life; not all the crowns in the world could make her give up her son and husband, though soon she will gladly name another to that score.

Alyssa brought a hand to her freshly swollen belly, and Cressen said it would be a girl. She hoped he was right, as she had always wanted a baby girl.

Her lilac eyes found her baby boy sleeping, finally.

Getting up, she excited the nursery and left for the hall, where she heard Stannis speaking to Maester Cressen and his uncle and cousin from House Estermont.

"Is something the matter, husband?" she asked, feeling as if something was wrong. Stannis nodded for everyone to leave him as she approached the table and took a seat next to the acting Lord of Storm's End.

She didn't like it when he was this quiet; it was hard to gauge what he was thinking.

Eventually, Stannis started confiding in her: "Robert wrote to me from the Vale, saying that something terrible had happened."

"What?" She questioned, her curiosity being peaked.

Her husband paused, perhaps wondering if he should say anything. "The King arrested Brandon Stark, heir to the North among other heirs and second-born sons."

"Why?" She couldn't fathom what would make his grace do such a thing, mostly due to the man being not all there.

Since Duskendale, King Aerys II was bordering on madness.

Her father wrote that his grace was looking wilder, and the court was far from the colorful place she remembered when she tended to the Queen as a little girl.

"Word he is hearing is that the Crown Prince has abducted Lyanna Stark, the girl he was betrothed to."

It couldn't be; there was no way that the Prince would do that. "I knew Prince Rhaegar; he is an honorable and noble man; he wouldn't do that." Stannis scoffed. What does Robert intend to do?" she asked with some concern.

"I don't know, Alyssa. I would urge you to have your father and brother look out for one another." Of course, her brother and father currently reside on the King's Small Council.

She hoped it wouldn't be war, her family would surely be caught in the madness of it.