act i . chapter xxviii

COME BACK AND BE OUR KING

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"SO WHAT AM I TO DO WITH YOU THREE?" asked Lord Arron. "Am I hiding you in the Red Mountains or am I turning you into the king?"

The study was an open area of interest to Lyanna, Rhaegar could tell. The Lady of Winterfell sat upright on the plush covered wicker with her bare feet tucked safely underneath her. She remained silent while the old friends caught up, only speaking when spoken to. Rhaegar wished she would say more. She was so smart and he thought that she should be heard. Rhaegar wanted to see her thrive down here. He loved to hear her voice. He loved to see her smile. But now, she just sat silent, twiddling her fingers and thinking about what only she and the Gods knew. Now, it had come to serious matters.

"Ashara, these matters do not concern you. You may need to step out for a while," Arthur conveyed to his sister who was sitting next to Lyanna. Ashara got up as she was told and begun her way out the door.

"Ashara stay," Elia ordered. "You've got just as much to tell as Rhaegar does.

"And really, Arthur, it has nothing to do with you either. Just my wife, the woman I've run away with, and the Lord of the lands I plan to stay in for a while."

Arthur gave him a cheeky grin. "I already know. And I'm your protector."

"Only in name," Rhaegar mocked. Arthur scoffed, looking out to the open gardens.

Arron rolled his eyes, "I very well do not care who knows. This pertains to the Ladies too? Or should we just ask all the women to leave."

Rhaegar stood up from his chair and walked over, holding hand out for Lyanna to take it and stand. Her stormy gray eyes flickered up and landed on his. He could tell that she was confused and a bit frustrated. But she wasn't afraid. Lyanna stood to adhere to his request. Gingerly, the Prince moved his hand from her hand and held her elbow. He dipped his head to where he lips were near his Lady's ear.

"I have to tell Arron something about ourselves to you may or may not want to hear. You may want to hear it alone," Rhaegar whispered to her. He stood up straight and waited for a response.

"I'll hear it," she said in her cold Northern accent. "I'll hear it here so you don't have to tell it twice."

Rhaegar nodded his head. He then looked to Ashara. "Shara you may want to leave. I don't know if Lyanna and Elia would like you knowing such things. If they don't mind, they can tell you themselves."

Ashara's inky ringlets swayed as she turned to address the room. "How about I just tell you all my dire secret first," Ashara compromised, "and then you can decide if you want to tell me yours. If not, I can be on my way."

"Why does this have to be so difficult?" Elia laughed painfully, clutching her pregnant belly.

"Let's hear yours then, Ashara," Arron called out to her. "Come join us and sit." Ashara's olive face lost its color as she realized that she really had to reveal of the information that had been plaguing her so. When she walked back to sit, it was as if she were walking over hot coals when in reality, it was only warm, pale, sand tile. She looked to to her older brother who was sitting next to Rhaegar with frightened eyes. "Arthur," she begged, her tone full of fear and grief. "You must not get mad, dear brother. After all this, your displeasure is something I cannot bear to see."

Arthur squinted at her. "We'll see," he said, the mood now serious. Rhaegar looked at Lyanna who was watching Ashara intently who moved her eyes away for her kingsguard brother and looked to the one with power.

"I am promised to Eddard Stark," she confessed. Arron's brows came to get her in confusion. "By whose authority?"

"Father's," she told him. "And Lord Rickard Stark's."

Arron stood up. "But not Doran Martell. Do you not have the blessing of our Liege Lord?" he asked, dumbfounded. "Ashara, this is an two-kingdom ordeal. He's a paramount in the North. This takes the King's blessing too," he finished, pointing at Rhaegar. "Tell me it's only a plot. You didn't say the words did you?"

Ashara looked at her feet. "We said the words. Our fathers made us."

"But you would have said them anyway," Arthur pointed out. Ashara blushed red and dropped her eyes to her feet.

"Why did they make you say the words?" Arron asked. "It's not like father to break any rules. We are very close to Doran. We could have gotten Rhaegar to deal with this in the King's court. Why was it such a rush for you to say the words."

Ashara took a deep, shaky breath and looked at Arthur again with pleading eyes. "Arthur, don't get angry."

She then looked back at Arron. "We didn't know at the time, but our fathers were afraid this would happen." It was at the moment where everyone knew what she was hinting at. "We stopped when the realization came upon us. I never though it would actually come to this."

Arthur stood up and took a step closer to his sister. "Come to what?"

Ashara then began to weep. "I'm with child. I'm carrying a Northern babe. I swear to all the gods it was an accident. But we weren't going to marry until Lyanna married Robert and now that's never going to happen. Ned is in the Vale and he can't come down here and I can't go up there. The king will have our heads if he knew that Starks are marrying one of their sons to a Dornishwoman. He-"

"He's already angry about Catelyn Stark and Robert Baratheon," Lyanna put out.

"So I have four fugitives. In my castle," Arron said grimly. "Elia, you may as well make it five. Why are you here."

"I'll let Rhaegar explain all that," Elia said hoarsely as she held out her hands for Ashara. The Fallen Star let the the Dornish princess pull her back on to the wicker duvet and sat wrapped in her arms. Fuming, but not saying a single word, Arthur stormed out of room.

"Rhaegar," Arron prompted, motioning for the prince to start talking. Rhaegar sighed.

"Do you remember when your mother-Elayna-was carrying Allyria?" Rhaegar asked Arron in a quiet voice full grim reminiscence. The color in Arron's face drained away the death of Elayna was a dark time. They were all old enough to ember every bleak detail. Arron nodded.

"You rode all the way to Starfall well before she was actually due. You said that she was going to go riding and get thrown from her horse. That it would push her into bringing forth early. That she was going to die."

"You were frantic. Trying to warn us about something you could never possibly be sure about," Ashara added.

"But she had already gotten on the horse and was well on her way," Arron said sadly. "Then everything that you said come true, one detail at a time."

"I was scared of you for weeks," Ashara said quietly.

Rhaegar nodded, running his hand over his face. "I feared myself for even longer."

"So what does that have to do with Lyanna Stark?" Arron asked. Rhaegar sighed and folding his arms over his chest.

"I've seen something else. And it's bigger than Stark or Targaryen or Tyrell or Martell or Lannister. It's bigger than Lords and Ladies and Kings and Queen. Soon enough, none of it will matter. Do you remember the Long Night. The winter with no end?"

"Children's stories," Arron said shortly. Rhaegar shook his head. When Rhaegar made a fist, his palms were damp with sweat. He want to look at Lyanna for strength, but he was afraid the she was angry.

"It's real. And it's coming. Soon, it will be the living against the dead and we'll have to forget all about small squabbles."

"How soon?" asked Arron.

"My son," Rhaegar said, finally forcing himself to look over at Lyanna who was now sat up in her seat, "brought forth by Lyanna Stark. Will be the one to lead the fight. He will ride a dragon as his ancestors did before him. He will triumph for the living over the dead and end the Long Night."

"You saw this in your dream? How do you know it wasn't just a regular dream?" Ashara asked.

"Dreams aren't so clear, so focused. I never too the long night as truth. I had never seen Lyanna before in my entire life before the tourney, yet I still saw her face in the dream. I didn't know who she was until the tourney. I saw that I would crown her Queen of Love and Beauty. I saw that I would fall in love with her. It's all happened. Just like the death of your mother. The Other's are coming. And our son is the only one that can save us all."

Arron, Lyanna, and Ashara stared at him in fear and curiosity. Elia just continued to stroke Ashara's hair, doing her best to give the young woman strength.

"I would say the common phrase 'the Others take us' but I suppose that's not appropriate," Arron said standing up to face the prince who was nearly a foot taller than him. He held out his hand and shook it. "There's a newly built holdfast further into the Red Mountains. I do believe you were the one to deem it the Tower of Joy. You take Lyanna and Arthur up there. Let it live up to its name. And when it's time, come back and be our King."

"Will do, Arron," Rhaegar said, pulling his friend into a hug. Yet all that was going through his mind was the image that he saw in is vision of his own blood from his veins and the face and the rubies from his breastplate spilled and flowing through clear river.

Rhaegar turned to Lyanna whose face was unreadable. "Was that something you wanted to hear? Should I have told you?" he asked quietly, afraid that she may forsake this entire situation. Lyanna stood up and wrapped her arms around his chest.

"I feel better about now than I did before," she assured. Rhaegar let out a breath that he didn't know he was holding as his buried his face in he crook of her neck. "Thank you, Lyanna Stark."

And as he was surrounded by her love, he forgot the river of blood and rubies.

Now, he could think of nothing but the bed of blood and roses.

A/N: You guys! I think I did it. This was the perfect length! What did you think? Wait. Never mind. That doesn't matter. What matter is... wth do you people think of this book? Should I even keep going? Are you gonna give me ANY feedbacks. I know that they are at least 30 of you that are continuing this read. Comment!! Vote!!!

Anyway, next chapter is Elia. It's pretty important. Ashara will start getting POV chapters again. Ned will get a shitload of PoV chapters too. Robert Baratheon's first is coming up. And soon, we'll be back to Jaime. He is out connection to King's Landing and if you are familiar with asoiaf or got lore then you know he'll be HUGE in the endgame. War is about to break tf out y'all. Not the next chapter with Elia, but with, Jaime on the chapter after Elia. So be ready.

Also, a lot of people are skipping out on reading Brandon's chapter. If you have read it... seriously. Go back. Jaime's will be even more important so no skipping him!!

Bye!! Here's a couple of memes. (Outdated lol. I attached it 4/21 LOL)

(I'm sorry I forget to update yesterday)