Doran.
He read the letter, again and again, the offer it carried was intriguing and Doran would be a liar if he said he didn't find it so. Yet numbers were the key and so after asking for a quill, ink, and some parchment, he began to work them out. Each way he played this out in his head they just didn't have the numbers, but the offer of the marriage gave him far more than Jaehaerys did.
That the Darkstar had failed was annoying, that he'd been so overly dramatic in how he'd gone about things, Doran should have expected. Thankfully though everyone knew how he felt about Ser Gerold and so no one would look his way. Still, had the man just done the damn thing right then this would be so much easier. Putting the quill down he picked up the letter once more, reading it again as he tried to decide what to do.
Prince Doran,
I write to you with news that I hope will lift a weight that you've been carrying ever since the events in the Red Keep, during the rebellion. The truth of that day my prince is one that I've needed to keep secret for reasons you'll soon understand. Your sister Princess Elia was a brave and strong woman and she knew the dangers she faced, that her children faced.
She tried to save them both but Rhaenys was too well known to all in the Red Keep and Aegon being just a babe was far easier to switch. So with the help of Lord Varys a decision was made, if she couldn't get both her children out, then she'd ensure she got her son to safety. She'd ensure that one day he could rise and if need be avenge his mother and sister or if things played out differently, reunite with them.
Which is where I came in to play my part, Lord Varys sought my help and so I raised the boy in safety. Bringing in Jon Connington to act his protector and teacher. Always with the idea of bringing him back when the timing was right. Many times over the years I considered reaching out to you my prince, Aegon wished to see his family and I know seeing him would have brought you comfort. But even unknown as he was, the knives kept coming for your nephew and his protection was something I deemed to be more important than his wishes at that time. If you feel the need to blame someone for these lost years then I ask you to blame me and not Aegon, in this he had no choice.
Each year I planned and readied myself for the right time to bring Aegon home. I enlisted the Golden Company, ingratiated myself with the fat stag, and even went so far as to offer him up Viserys so I could be close enough to strike. The time has come my prince and I now have him where I wish. Aegon is ready to strike the final blow against the Stag and the Golden Company stands ready to strike down this pretender to his throne.
It is time to bring your family together my prince, for Aegon to reunite with his kin and for Dornish spears to rise to see the son of Princess Elia on the throne. I am ready to do whatever it is you wish of me to see it done, but Aegon's line must continue and to that end, I make you this offer. A crown for your daughter my prince, let Martell blood be united on the throne as it should be.
I await your answer in hopeful eagerness, I pray it's the right one and that it comes quickly for Aegon marches to battle with or without his kin. I'd prefer it was with them my prince, or I fear we march in vain.
Illyrio Mopatis,
Hand to his grace King Aegon Targaryen the Sixth of his Name.
He called for some wine and began to look down on the numbers once more. In the end, they were irrelevant and it would be the dragons that decided this war. His fingers began to drum against the paper, Areo standing watching silently as always. After the servant came he sipped the wine and found himself contemplating the way forward, what to do, what to do? He thought to himself as he looked at the numbers once more, the letter once again. Before he began writing frantically, the letters and the raven scroll carrying his orders to where they were needed.
He had serious doubts over the boy's legitimacy, Elia would never have sent only one of her children to safety, no matter what the letter may suggest. But he also felt a spark of hope in his chest, if it truly was his blood than shouldn't he support him, shouldn't Oberyn support his kin?. Would he though? He wasn't sure and that was why he'd taken measures just in case.
They had wished him to wave the army off, to send them off to fight for Jaehaerys with his blessing and he'd begged off. Let them think him ill or weak, or anything which would hide his true intentions. His reasons were far more political than they'd ever imagine. If he didn't send the army off personally then he could use that later if needed. Use it to explain why Oberyn was in the wrong, should his brother go against him. How he'd overstepped and how Doran had not wished them to fight for this false king. Now that he wished them to fight for Aegon it could be used when he recalled his army.
"Ask them to send Quentyn in to see me." he said to Areo and his giant guard did as he was bid.
It took a few moments for Quentyn to arrive, his son smirking when he entered the room, though it left his face when he saw his own expression.
"You wished to see me father?" Quentyn said.
"I did, it's time Quentyn," he said handing him the letters.
"Where do we march father?" Quentyn asked.
"You set sail tonight to the Stormlands, from there you march to join with the Golden Company, strike hard and fast Quentyn. Lord Yronwood is on your side?" he asked.
"He is father, the Golden Company?"
"Will contact you when you get there, go with great haste my son. Should Oberyn give you trouble." he said softly.
"I'll see my uncle is unharmed father." Quentyn said as he turned to walk to the door.
"Be careful my son, for Dorne will have need of its heir." he said and Quentyn nodded before smiling as he left.
He asked Areo to send for the Maester and handed the man the raven's scroll, telling him to send it immediately. Once the man left Areo turned to look at him, his guard obviously having something to say.
"You wish to object?" he asked.
"It's not my place to object to you, my prince, you order I follow." Areo said and Doran smiled.
"Speak your mind old friend." he said.
"Arianne, Ellaria, should they hear of this?".
"Then they'll try and have me taken prisoner, I'm well aware of what my daughter may do. I've taken steps my friend, in case they are needed." he said and Areo looked to him and nodded.
Later that day as he sat looking at the children playing in the water and allowed the sight to calm him as it always did, he wondered would he need to take those steps. Should he move first or allow Arianne to show her hand, give her the chance to prove her loyalty was to him and to no one else. For now he felt she deserved that chance, besides it was much easier to counter her moves than to show his own hand too soon.
When Areo informed him that the raven had gone and that Quentyn had left, Doran felt himself relax even more. The army was ready at Vulture's Roost, House Manwoody, Allyrion, Toland, Vaith and Santagar, not quite as strong as the army that Oberyn led but he couldn't risk the larger houses absence lest Oberyn began to suspect. They'd soon march North and into the Reach itself, and then the Dragons would cease to be a problem.
This war would end with two moves and he'd made them both now, a snake at the back of Jaehaerys army and a knife to the throat of the woman he wished to name his queen. It could all have been so much easier had Ser Gerold done his job but Doran was nothing if not resolute and he so enjoyed these games. Especially when no one truly knew which game he was playing.
Atranta 298 AC.
Edmure.
He had heard the songs, the whispers, the japes at his expense. Edmure caught with his breeches down, as if there was something wrong with going to the damn privy of all things. He Hadn't been the only one to be caught, Marq, Hugo, Karyl, all of them were caught too. They had lost five hundred men and the same in horses and had thought about going back to Riverrun, only to fear being bogged down in a siege. Edmure listening to Marq when he said that the keep could withstand one but were they there if it came, then they'd be out of the war and no use to anyone.
Now his scouts had come back to tell him that the army that was encamped at Riverrun was huge, over 20,000 men and Edmure tried not to bristle at the fact that some of them were his bannermen. Now was not the time for that, instead, he needed to come up with a plan of attack and so he called a meeting in Lord Norbert's solar. The lord having some more information to share that Edmure was keen to hear.
Entering into the room he was pleased when Lord Norbert gave up his seat so that he could take pride of place, at least one of his Lords showing him the deference he was due. Norbert and his sons, Roland and Hugo along with Marq Karyl, and Lymond were all sitting around the table as Norbert looked to him.
"Lord Edmure with your permission?" Norbert said and Edmure nodded his assent "I've received further word that the force which besieges Riverrun is led by Gerion Lannister, it is as you've no doubt heard quite substantial."
"Aye, we've heard." Karyl Vance said.
"I've received a raven from the Stoney Sept telling me that another army marches our way. This one led by Jaime Lannister and with the king himself is a part of it, it marches east and should reach us soon." Norbert said and Edmure glared at him when he called the bastard a king.
"So we're fucked?" Hugo said.
"We're left with little options Aye, what of King Robert and Lord Jon?" Marq asked.
"King Robert marches I'd assume to meet the king's army while Lord Jon will pass the Crossroads soon enough." Norbert said.
"They're besieging my home, we need to attack them. We need to do to them what they did to us." Edmure said and Lymond looked at him and shook his head.
"No my lord, we don't have the men or the element of surprise. It would be foolhardy to do so, we have but three choices. We surrender." Lymond said.
"Never." Edmure said shaking his head, glad to see others doing so too even if they were less adamant than he was.
"We ride to join with the king" Lymond said and Edmure saw some of the men consider it "Or we ride and join with Lord Arryn.".
Edmure began to consider each of the options, part of him wished to march to Riverrun to see his home safe and make sure Cat was unharmed but Lymond was right, that would be foolhardy. Which left two options, join with the king and march to face the bastard or join with Jon Arryn and perhaps with his help take back Riverrun. In the end it really wasn't a choice at all, they weren't exactly certain where they'd meet up with the king. Where with Jon Arryn they had a much clearer idea.
"We march to join the Hand, my lords. To give our forces to his and to see the Riverlands in our hands once more." Edmure said and saw much firmer nods this time.
They rested up and ate well that night, Edmure feeling he'd made the right decision, truly the only decision he could make. As he drank more and more though he grew ever more annoyed, the idea of facing the bastard one he tried not to let prey on his mind. He woke the next morning, hungover, tired, and yet knew they couldn't dally here any longer.
So after readying his men he set off, there were now only a little over 5,000 of them a pitiful force but allied to the Vale they'd soon swell those numbers. They set off and soon arrived at House Lychester, adding another three hundred to their forces. Spirits were high on the march and Edmure began to feel ever more confident as each day went on.
The closer they got to the Ruby Ford the more Edmure began to fume though. The bastard was actually forcing him to ride away from his home, the so-called dragon had stolen his men from him. When he saw it in the distance he saw the opportunity for revenge, for justice for the wrongs done to him, yet he couldn't convince his lords to do what he wished.
"Darry, Lord Raymun rides with the bastard's supporters, I say we take his keep." Edmure said stopping the march.
"We cannot besiege a keep my lord, we don't have the equipment." Marq said looking at him.
"We have the men Marq, we can take it with our men." he said.
"No my lord we cannot, we must ride to Lord Jon, otherwise we are wasting our time out here." Karyl said.
"We take the keep." he said loudly.
"You do this then I take my men and ride back to my own home, my lord. I'll not be a part of this folly." Lymond said.
"Aye, Lymond has the right of it my lord. I'll not besiege a keep, so you do this then you do so without House Vance." Karyl said.
"House Piper too my lord." Marq said and it was like an arrow to his heart to hear his friends, men he'd drank and whored with, men he'd known his whole life basically suggest they'd abandon him.
"Perhaps Lord Jon has siege equipment, my lord." Hugo said.
"Aye, perhaps, forgive me, good Sers. I fear having my home under siege weighs heavily on my mind." he said accepting the chance to save face.
"Understandable my lord, come we'll stay in the inn tonight and on the morrow ride to Lord Jon. Soon we'll put the Lions and the Dragon in their place." Marq said.
"Aye, come I could do with a drink." Ronald said and Edmure chuckled.
"Some things never change." he said to laughs.
Yet as they crossed the Ruby Ford and made their way to the Crossroads Inn, Edmure couldn't stop himself from looking backwards. If he got the chance he'd see that lords like Raymun would pay this time, he'd not be his father and allow them to get away with not answering the call. The Riverlands would run red with their blood if he had anything to say about it.
Highgarden 298 AC.
Margaery.
Each day ravens arrived and Margaery waited anxiously for news. Though in the end, it was always going to be easier to speak to Jae through the Glass Candle, than to expect a raven to tell her something had or hadn't happened. It had made the days until she was able to use the candle seem to just stretch on and on. Margaery doing her best to pass the time by keeping herself busy.
She and Sansa would talk, she'd watch Ghost and Fang as they played or listen to Mira and Elinor as they spoke of their crushes on this knight or the other. Sometimes she'd speak to Garlan about military matters, have him explain to her the numbers on Jae's side, and the numbers they faced. Allow him to reassure her that they had more than enough.
Willas would speak of things to come, of the future and she'd take great comfort in that. While her mother would speak of her wedding and of what it would be like to be married in the Great Sept. They had begun to have her dress made and that had made her smile, her grandmother was overseeing it so it was just right. She had spoken to them both of the reasons why they would seek to wait. Though she was glad that Jae had spoken to her grandmother about the wedding also, just as he had promised her he would.
" My grandmother will wish us to wed Jon, as quickly as possible." Margaery said as they lay on her bed, her head resting on his chest.
" I know, I do too Marge, truly. But we must do it differently, I see that now. A true wedding not just for us or for our families, but for the realm also." Jon said "Besides I want to see you have the wedding you deserve, to see the realm see what I see when I look at you.".
" What is it you see?" she asked leaning closer .
" I see my queen, my love, my reason." he said and she felt a little tightness in her throat.
" You've gotten better at that." she said a moment later after composing herself.
" At what?" he asked curiously.
" At telling me how you truly feel, I..I've known you loved me for some time and you've never not told me but, lately, it's, it feels different." she said feeling him nod.
" It is different, soon we'll be together properly Marge. No sneaking off for moments or worrying about someone seeing us, no concerns for propriety. Soon it'll only be what we care about and I find myself ever more eager for that day to be this one." he said as she moved up to kiss him.
The knock on the door woke her from the dream and she blushed as she remembered how long they'd kissed for, how both of them had longed to go further and yet had held back. Getting up from her bed she sighed when she looked down at the book on the floor, she'd only come in to read and yet once again had found herself dreaming of the days he'd spent with her. She smiled when Ghost licked her hand, the wolf usually alternated between sleeping in her bed and on her floor, though mainly it was the bed which won out.
"Margaery, are you in there?" she heard her grandmother's voice.
"Aye, coming grandmother." she said placing the book back on the table by her bed and walking to the door.
She opened it to find her grandmother staring at her curiously, though whatever it was she was looking for it seemed she didn't find.
"Were you sleeping, sweetling?" her grandmother asked.
"I was, I've to speak to Jae tonight and I didn't wish to be tired." she said though that was half a lie which her grandmother let pass for now.
"I'm sorry for waking you, your mother has received the dress Marge, she wishes you to come try it on.".
"And she sent you?" she said her eyebrow raised and a smirk on her face.
"I was coming anyway, don't be so cheeky." her grandmother said with a chuckle.
They walked from her room, Margaery, her grandmother, Left, and Right, and Margaery's own guards along with Ghost. Her family made sure she was heavily protected ever since the attack in King's Landing. Two guards while she was indoors, four when she went out into the gardens and a veritable army when she visited the town. Yet as she brushed her hand over Ghost's fur, she knew it was to the white wolf she sought and felt most protection from.
Her mother and Sansa awaited her, along with Leonette, Mira, Elinor and Megga, all of them looking at her excitedly as she walked into the room. The seamstress asking her to step into the other room to dress and looking nervously at Ghost as he walked with her. Even after countless fittings the woman still hadn't gotten used to the wolf's presence.
"Oh my love, my love, you look incredible." her mother said when Margaery walked back into the room wearing the dress.
"Truly, Margaery you look like a dream." Sansa said her smile beaming as she looked at her.
Her cousins and Mira thought so too but it was to her grandmother she looked and then to Ghost, glad to see the wolf's eyes and not Jae's. She'd come to recognize the little differences when Jae was checking in on her through Ghost's eyes. The way the wolf would look at her was so much like how Jae would, that it was easy to see once you knew what to look for.
"Grandmother?" she asked.
"You look like a queen, my love, a queen the realm will love just as much as we all do." her grandmother said and Margaery could see the small twinkles in her eye from where the tears threatened to fall.
They had dinner that night and it was, as usual, a large one, her father insisting his knights and commanders ate with him each night. Garlan who actually seemed more in command in her view, managed to move amongst them, giving each of them equal time while her father concentrated on the higher lords and knights. After finishing her dessert she felt Ghost brush against her hand and knew it was time to go and speak to her husband.
Making her excuses she hurried from the room and once inside her own, she took the Glass Candle from the chest, smiling when it came on almost immediately.
"Jae?".
"Marge, gods it's good to hear your voice." Jae said.
"Yours too, Jae, you are unhurt, everyone is unhurt?" she asked.
"We are, I need to speak to Garlan, Marge, and your grandmother. Can you get them for me and we'll talk once I've spoken to them?".
"I'll call them right away, is there something wrong?" she asked worriedly.
"No, I just need to tell them some things and this is quicker than a raven." he said and she told him she'd be back in a moment.
She arrived back with her grandmother and Garlan and listened in as Jae told them that Robert had the Golden Company and that he marched to meet them. He told them about the Iron Born but Garlan let him know that they'd gotten a raven from Tyrion. So Jae asked Garlan to be ready just in case. Once they left she was alone with him once more, his voice soon grew softer and not for the first time she noticed how now it seems he had two.
"Sorry?" he asked.
"You speak with two voices now Jae, your king's voice and the other one." she said giggling.
"The other one?" he asked.
"Just Jon's." she said and heard him laugh.
"Well I do remember a certain lady from the Reach telling me that's who I was, so perhaps it'll please my lady wife if I tell her that Just Jon only speaks that way to her." Jae said and she felt her smile perk up and knew if she looked at herself in the looking glass it would be as lopsided as ever.
"The Golden Company Jae, you didn't expect them?" she asked.
"No, but I expected an army Marge. I had thought it would be the Stormlords but no matter who it is we have the men. Lord Tarly marches to join with us and Lord Jaime has a considerable force, we outnumber them and Rhaenix will play her part.".
"I thought you didn't wish to use her?"
"I knew I'd always have to, it's just how to use her, but enough talk of war. I will be safe and high in the sky my love and I'd prefer to speak to my wife on other things. Things far more pleasant." he said.
"Such as?" she asked.
"Is your dress ready?" he asked.
"It is, you haven't seen it have you?" she asked slightly worried.
"No, I've only been in Ghost once when you met the seamstress, I left right way."
"Thank you Jae, I wish it to be a surprise." she said happily.
"It will, I promise. I miss you Marge, each day I miss you, yet each day I know I'm closer to being with you and that fills me with so much hope, so much resolve. That and the favor I wear." he said.
"You still wear it?" she asked though she knew the answer.
"My lady's favor has brought me good fortune and to see it reminds me of her, aye, I wear it daily." he said.
"I miss you too Jae, I love you."
"I love you too, we'll be together soon my love. Until then, know that I carry a piece of you with me and you carry my heart always." he said and as she went to answer she saw the light go out.
Ghost jumped up on the bed to allow her to hold him tightly, though it took her some time to sleep when she finally lay down.