After the great council, the nobles returned to their respective holdings.
One month later, King's Landing.
In Elia Martell's chambers.
Using his Skinchanger gift, Viserys watched Rhaegar solemnly tell Elia about Lyanna and beg her to release him so he could wed her.
In the end, though grief lined her face, Elia yielded to Rhaegar and consented to a secret annulment—provided it never be made public, lest the honor of House Martell suffer.
Rhaegar, ashamed, agreed. He then penned a letter and had the maester dispatch a raven to Winterfell, inviting Lyanna to come south to King's Landing.
Meanwhile, a fresh horror unfolded in The Red Keep. The Mad King Aerys had the new hand of the king, Lord Chelsted, burned alive with wildfire simply for daring to question his decisions. The poor man had held the office less than a moon's turn before The Mad King's madness consumed him.
That same night The Mad King forced his way into Queen Rhaella's apartments. Though they had long lived apart—and Jaime Lannister and Ser Jon Darry stood guard outside in their white cloaks—none could stop him.
At dawn, a battered Queen Rhaella set out for Dragonstone under the escort of Ser Jon. Viserys suspects Daenerys was conceived that very night; the two had not shared a bed since his own birth, nor ever would again.
By the kingsroad, Winterfell to King's Landing can be ridden in a sennight. When the lovers reunited, Rhaegar discovered Lyanna was already with child, and they wed in secret before a septon the same hour.
Brandon Stark, riding to Riverrun for his wedding, heard that Rhaegar had "abducted" his sister and wheeled his horse toward King's Landing. Outside The Red Keep he shouted a challenge, demanding Rhaegar come forth and free Lyanna in single combat.
But Rhaegar was not in the city. The Mad King declared him a traitor, clapped him in irons, and summoned his father Lord Rickard to answer for the insult.
When Lord Rickard demanded trial by combat, Aerys named wildfire his "champion." The Warden of the North burned alive in green flame, while Brandon was forced to watch before his own head was struck off.
The king then commanded Lord Jon Arryn to send him Eddard Stark and Robert Baratheon. The old falcon refused, rose in open rebellion, proclaimed Eddard the new Lord of Winterfell, wed him to Catelyn Tully—once betrothed to Brandon—and dispatched Robert to Storm's End to raise his banners. Thus the alliance of stag, wolf, fish, and eagle took shape, and the realm stood on the brink of war.
Viserys seized the moment to beg Aerys for leave to join his mother on Dragonstone. Perhaps The Mad King still saw him as a child, for he suspected no ulterior motive.
He also asked permission to take certain treasures from the royal vaults as gifts to cheer the queen. Aerys agreed, even assigned Kingsguard Arthur Dayne to escort him—exactly as Viserys had hoped; Arthur yet lingered in the city, for the war had not formally begun.
Viserys led a party of twenty men toward the vaults—hirelings he had secretly won to his side, rootless bachelors perfect for the long crossing of The Narrow Sea. Their captain was Ser Alliser Thorne, a gaunt knight with a face like a hatchet.
Ser Alliser's loyalty was iron. A fervent supporter of House Targaryen, he would later be sent to the Wall for refusing to bend the knee to the Baratheon dynasty, and in the Night's Watch he clashed with Jon Snow because he believed the boy a Stark.
When the heavy doors of the treasury swung open, Viserys stepped inside. Chests of gold dragons and silver stags rose in heaps, mingled with a mountain of stranger wonders; a plan formed in his mind.
He would take a hundred thousand gold dragons and a few crates of jewels—more than that his men could not carry, and it would suffice until the dragons returned across the sea.
It was no paltry sum: a knight's full harness cost eight hundred silver stags—knightly plate, not common mail—and one gold dragon traded for two hundred and ten silver.
Little wonder Robert's four-dragon prize for the tourney champion had been mocked; the Starks' entire treasury likely matched that purse.
At his signal the soldiers began to load. The chosen wealth was borne in orderly fashion to wagons bound for the port on the Blackwater, where ships of the royal fleet waited to escort him to Dragonstone on the morrow.
He also had three complete dragon skeletons carried out, choosing the smaller wyrms for ease of transport. In Essos such bones were worth a fortune; if ever he reached true destitution, they could be sold for gold.
Yet one more task remained under cover of darkness: the legendary valyrian steel sword Blackfyre had to be spirited away.
He would steal it himself, hide it in a secret passage, then have beasts carry it to Dragonstone and conceal it within the volcanic mountain of the island fortress.
Once Aerys was dead he could "discover" the ancestral blade and reclaim it openly; for now he was weak, and caution served him best.
And then there was Rhaenys. He had promised to take her with him. This was the perfect chance: a visit to Grandmother. Once war began, Aerys might never let the child leave. He turned his steps toward Elia's chambers to persuade her.
When Viserys arrived he found Ashara Dayne already there, playing with Rhaenys. Since the tourney he had hovered about Ashara, keeping the pack of suitors at bay.
After the games she had returned to Starfall; now she was back, saving him a journey.
The little girl sat on a carpet, intent on a carved wooden horse he had once given her.
"Viserys!" Rhaenys cried, running to him with outstretched arms.
Elia reclined on a couch, pale but smiling at her daughter. "Viserys, you leave tomorrow?"
"I do." He knelt and lifted Rhaenys. "I came to ask that you let her accompany me to Dragonstone to visit Mother."
Elia's brow creased. "But she is so small…"
"I will care for her," he said softly. "Mother longs to see her."
Rhaenys tightened her arms about his neck. "I want to see Grandmama with Viserys!"
Ashara stood to one side, watching in silence.
"Miss Dayne," Viserys said, turning to her, "will you sail with us? Rhaenys adores you, and your presence would ease Elia's mind."
Ashara looked startled, exchanging a glance with Elia.
"Ashara has a gift with children," Elia murmured. "Yet it would be a burden upon you."
"I would be honored," Ashara said quietly, "to accompany Princess Rhaenys."
"Then it is settled." Elia kissed Rhaenys's brow. "Mind your uncle and Miss Dayne, little one."
"I will!" Rhaenys sang, delighted.
Ãdvåñçé çhàptêr àvàilàble óñ pàtreøn luffy1898