Elia had been his friend since they were children, but she was utterly mad, as mad as her father-in-law. Stress and blood loss, considering the marks marring her skin, and the burnt smell of spells that hit their target.
“This will never work!” he pointed out for the fifth time that night.
A bloodstained Elia looked at him, looking like a tired goddess with her work not quite complete. Rhaenys was clinging to her mother’s pajama bottoms, watching everything though large eyes. She’d managed to escape unscathed, unlike her mother and brother. “It will,” she said quietly. “I cannot allow Rhaegar’s folly to cost my son his life.”
“Aegon will live,” Arthur said pointedly. He didn’t comment on Rhaegar- the man still wasn’t here, when Jaime Lannister had cajoled a frightened Rhaenys from under her parents' bed, ducking accidental magic, and Ashara and Oberyn tended the wounded mother and son.
“What kind of life?” Elia asked, eyes narrowed and face set. “Why does the world need to know? I cannot hide, true, but he can! Any precautions we take can be excused as being for my own sake, and supplies we need…” She swept a hand, the short and sharp gesture meant to sweep away arguments.
Somehow, it worked. It always had.
“Well, we were always protective of you,” Ashara finished. “It will surprise no one if we overdo it here.” She smiled wanly at her friend, still holding a hiccuping Aegon. The orange paste meant to stop bleeding was covering up far too much of his little body.
“True,” Oberyn agreed with a slightly strained smile. “And I believe that werewolves are proven to have an easier time of it with companions. There was a project…”
“Swot,” Ashara laughed, helping break the tension. "Are you going to list every bit of information on that project, or just tell us to look it up like you did in school?" He shrugged before pulling a face at Rhaenys, who stuck out her tongue.
“So it’s agreed?” Elia asked. “No one is to know of Aegon’s lycanthropy?”
Jaime nodded. “Of course!” His trainee had been lurking in the background after nearly getting nailed with accidental magic by a little girl, putting himself on guard duty.
“Well, after he says it,” Oberyn muttered. He'd made his views on trusting Tywin Lannister's son clear- the man had disliked the Targaryens for ages, after all. “Anything for you, sister.”
“I’ll do it,” Arthur agreed, still not certain it would work.
“Secret?” Rhaenys asked curiously, the six year old looking too serious.
“Secret, dear,” Elia agreed.
“Very secret,” Ashara finished.
Then a half-crazed Rhaegar came crashing in. “Elia? Are you all right?”
Elia put her head in her hands and let out a strangled chuckle.