Chapter 58
Chapter 58
Years Earlier…
Prince Rhaegar, regardless of what many thought, didn’t believe in magic.
Oh, he believed in prophesy. But magic? Not so much…
Had he not seen the dragon skulls of the Red Keep, he would have renounced the existence of the ancestral creatures of House Targaryen, too. Because such monsters couldn’t, no, shouldn’t exist. But the Crown Prince of Westeros was obviously wrong in that case. Perhaps he was even wrong in his thoughts of magic? Who knows?
But even if magic did exist, how come it failed to protect his family? When it was meant to be most concentrated in dragon blood? Why do dragons of House Targaryen still burn? How is it that Rhaegar, who was meant to be the beacon of hope, the sane successor to his insane father was whispered to be the Cursed Prince? That the Prince of Dragonstone more often than not recalled as the Prince of Summerhall? After the birth of Viserys, such a moniker brought even more offence. The Crown Prince referred to by the title of the ‘spare’! The daring!
For all his paranoia, King Aerys had no say in Rhaegar’s upbringing. That was his grandparents’ area of expertise. Luckily. Sadly, not for long.
So when King Aerys, Second of his name, turned his attention onto his heir, said heir was no boy that could be molded into a man but almost a man grown. And so like any father of high birth, King Aerys sought his son a wife. And not an ordinary court lady either. Not even a daughter of a Lord Paramount would do, as his father rudely explained to his once-upon-a-time best friend. No. A bride worthy of the dragonlords must be of pure Valyrian blood. Or mixed, if nothing better is on offer.
Sadly, nothing was.
Their personal vassal house, House Velaryon, failed in their bride-providing duty in Rhaegar’s generation. And their cousin House? House Baratheon? Another failure, with their numerous male offspring and not a single girl. And the expedition to Essos for the sake of obtaining a ‘pure’ bride? Another failure.
It was as if the gods, or more likely the Lords, formed a conspiracy. But no other House benefitted from the failures of House Targaryen than House Martell. The disgusting Dornish. Their so-called relatives…
If there was one thing that Rhaegar and Aerys agreed on, it was that Elia Martell was no dragon. And her womb was only good enough to birth fake dragons. Rhaegar checked himself. And so what if his ‘wife’ was scared to make a sound in his presence from that moment on? He checked! And she burned!
And birthed Rhaenys!
Yes, he understood that naming the girl after the wife of Aegon the Conqueror, the woman cowardly murdered by the treacherous Dornish, was almost an unveiled insult to his wife and her maiden House. But the thing was, he didn’t care. And if the girl couldn’t be more Dornish in looks for all that she belonged to the House of the Dragons? While looks couldbe deceiving, hers were unfortunately not. Because she burned just like everybody else.
And he needed a proper dragon for an heir.
Maybe that was the moment when he seriously turned to prophesy? The Prince that Was Promised. The epitome of what a true Dragon should be! And a proper Conqueror, the Second coming of Aegon, must have his two wives, his Rhaenys and Visenya. Rhaenys already exists. He just needs his Aegon and Visenya now. That’s it!
When he turned his attentions onto Lyanna Stark, he couldn’t say. Well… he could. When his wife only whelped with a single child in all the years they were married and even then, said child had little evidence of their Dragon blood, he started looking elsewhere.
True, his first choice was Cersei Lannister. A proper candidate to birth the next Aegon. Especially with her father’s wealth and Tywin Lannister’s potential support should his own grandson be the one to sit upon the Iron Throne. But for all of Cersei’s benefits, she was still a lady of court. The same as everyone else.
But Lyanna Stark?
That one was something different. Something else. Something with much potential. After all, it requires a warrior to birth the next Visenya. And Lyanna Stark was the only woman who met the description among the women of marrying age and suitable birth that he had met so far.
In the end, when Elia actually managed to birth his Aegon and thus change his opinion of her useless Dornish self, Lyanna Stark was the obvious next choice for a second wife. Especially when his once again useless first wife was declared more likely than not, barren.
At first, everything seemed to go well. He was even surprised by how easy it was to convince the She-Wolf of his ‘love’. But then again, she was no court-butterfly that would see through his plots and plans straight away but still go along with them for the sake of a higher social and material standing.
And everything was well.
Until it wasn’t.
Who exactly spread the rumors of the supposed ‘kidnapping’, he couldn’t say. But would like to get his hands around their neck, regardless. And it was with those rumors and the actions of some of the Lords, specifically the She-Wolf’s maiden house, that changed his plans completely.
Because why would he need of a wife that is a daughter of a rebellious House that would more likely than not offer no support to the House of the Dragons? Other than her womb and future daughter, what benefits would such a union bring? Especially at the expense of the loss of Dornish support that while he may despise, are still a formidable force to be reckoned with.
And so the so-called wedding was a well-played farce. After all, a daughter could be named legitimate easily. It wasn’t as if she would be a threat to her legitimate brother-husband. The girl’s only duty would be to birth more dragons. Dragons, the legitimacy and right to rule of which no one would dare question. Not with her marrying her very-much legitimate brother.
So when he left the Tower of Joy for the last time, he left behind paperwork. Important paperwork. Paperwork legitimizing Visenya Targaryen. But Aegon Targaryen? Not so much. After all, why would he need a second ‘Promised Prince’?
And Lyanna?
Well…
She really should have read the fine print.
After all, some poisons, well normal poisons, don’t work on those of concentrated dragon blood like they would on everybody else. Her child would be born perfectly healthy. But Lyanna?
It truly is ironic that the thing to take the She-Wolf’s life would be wolfsbane of all things.
But one thing Rhaegar didn’t know, couldn’t possibly know, was that soon, all his plans would come crashing down. Plans that would have brought victory and prosperity to the Dragon House, had instead brought it to ruin.