The Dragon & The Wolf

To read early:

Chapter 16 : 'The Nastiest Viper'

Chapter 17 : ' A Game of Pain & Passion'

Chapter 18 : 'A Tale of Waters and Snow'

Chapter 19 : 'The Northern Fist'

Chapter 20: 'Double Dual'

Chapter 21: 'Dragon against Wolf'

Chapter 22: 'The Tournament of Pretenders'

Chapter 23: "The divided Pack"

Chapter 24: "Too far, too late"

Chapter 25: "The Ghosts of Guilt"

Chapter 26 : "How time and blood flow"

Chapter 27: "Those who rule over Winter"

Chapter 28: "Clinging to hope"

Chapter 29: "The Barn owl"

Chapter 30: "Legends"

Chapter 31: "The Starks of Winterfell"

Chapter 32: "Ice and Fire"

Chapter 33: "Rhaenyra and Arthur"

Support me on=

w w w . p a t r(e)on (slash) MonsieurLAH

Enjoy reading!

Chapter XV: The Shadow of Arthur Stark

Arthur Stark was suffering from a terrible migraine, and he had no one to blame but himself.

Being the Hand of the King had granted him privileges and opportunities he had never dared to dream of, in addition to an outrageously comfortable salary. Anxious to do well, to prove himself worthy of this position and to guarantee the future of the North, he had worked tirelessly. Today he was suffering the repercussions.

His day began with the usual meeting of the small council, then he locked himself in his office to work, then he went to lunch with the King to inform him of the Queen's state of health. Viserys had found himself embarrassed by the situation his Hand had exposed him to, and had promised to spare his Queen from another pregnancy. However, the King did not spend more time with his children, being regularly busy receiving new nobles and attending knights' training. This task therefore fell to Rhaenyra, and the Princess had shown herself to be very clumsy. Thanks to Arthur's encouragement, Alicent had invited her friend to spend an afternoon looking after the royal children. But the Valyrian girl had no idea how to interact with her half-siblings, and what should have been family time became a real test for the heir to the throne.

Between Aegon, who spent his time rolling around on the floor, and Helaena who had vomited on her big sister's satin dress, Rhaenyra had almost ran away from the Queen's room to throw herself into the nearest bath. She had only stayed out of friendship and admiration for Alicent, for Rhaenyra had been stunned by her patience, and disgusted by the ungrateful work of a mother. She became more embarrassed when she realized that her own mother had probably taken care of her in the same way when she was a child. And as Alicent tried to keep from laughing while instructing her on how to carry a child Helaena's age, Rhaenyra wondered if she would make a good mother, given how little patience she had, how she felt for this type of task and how repulsed she was by the behavior of her half-siblings. When she finally surrendered, she rushed into her bathtub to wash off the children's dirt, and went to join Arthur in his office to tell him all her misfortunes. The Stark had had all the trouble in the world to keep himself from laughing while the Princess complained. She ended up taking her mind off things by helping him in his task as Hand of the King, but quickly found herself running out of strength, and she had to excuse herself to go and rest. A luxury Arthur didn't have. Indeed, The Northerner had recently discovered a thorny problem, a problem for which he could not discover the solution.

Otto Hightower had been Hand of the King for fourteen years, fourteen years of peace and prosperity, during which there had been hundreds of tournaments across the Seven Kingdoms. And at the end of these, the hand of the King had rewarded many victorious knights with a piece of land, never large enough to attract attention. It was not forbidden to reward the most deserving knights with such gifts, it was even a common practice to honor noble warriors through ennoblement. What aroused Arthur's suspicions was the fact that almost all of the land offered over the past fourteen years had belonged to the Tyrells of Highgarden. And today, the Lords of the Reach had lost almost a third of their territory without anyone lifting a finger. The Hand of the King couldn't understand how no one had uncovered the Queen's father's plot in fourteen years. It was almost too big to go unnoticed, and yet... Since the rewarded knights were technically sworn to the Tyrells like all the other Lords of the Reach... No one had asked any questions.

But for his part, the plot was obvious to Arthur. These knights would not forget to whom they owe their fortune, and they paid their taxes directly to the Crown, without going through Highgarden. The Hand of the King had no solution, he was not popular and had no way of forcing the dozens of houses that had been founded over the last fourteen years to pay their taxes to their Lord Paramount. The Hightowers would protect them, and the Tyrells were too weak and uninfluential to support him. Otto had played his hand very well, the Reach and all its resources were in the hands of Oldtown.

He sighed deeply and let his head fall back. Governing the Seven Kingdoms while striving to preserve the North and improve Rhaenyra's position was already very difficult. If on top of that, one of the kingdoms was already entirely lost to the Princess' cause, the risks of a war breaking out would increase every year, and the North would suffer, given that a war would empty their granaries faster than a thousand feasts. The Glass garden needed to be functional as soon as possible, and the Stark needed to find a way to increase the amount of food that could be stored in the northern granaries. Otherwise, the fate of too many of his people would fall into the hands of foreigners, from whom they'd have to buy food, and this, Arthur would never allow. For it would bankrupt the North and put an end to the era of prosperity he had dreamed for his homeland.

Conceding defeat for today, and realizing that the Sun had almost settled, the Northerner rose from his desk and left his solar with Shadow behind him. He spent the evening exercising and eating dinner while thinking about everything he had done since he had arrived in King's Landing. Arthur was no fool, he knew each of his actions would have consequences… He just hoped they would not be as bad as he feared.

(-)(-)(-)

Bednar Fyllonnis had cursed, and cursed again the members of the Conclave of Myr when they accepted the deal that had been presented to them by Arthur Stark. They had all laughed at that barbarian, calling him a fool for asking for a mere garden in exchange for a tax discharge. And they all mocked Bednar for his failure in negotiations that had never been negotiations. They had the audacity to blame a so-called lack of diplomacy to justify the lack of tax discharge for he and his family. They even called it an 'adequate punishment' for his failure! The glass was easy to make, the price pitiful, but the message that had been sent to the other members of the Triarchy would be devastating. Tyrosh and Lys were already demanding that a new fleet be built to regain control of the Stepstones, which the Conclave of Myr had refused. The Myrish wanted to take their time rebuilding their forces, and take advantage of the fact that their so-called allies had to pay taxes to navigate and trade in order to establish their dominance over the Triarchy. A strategy that Arthur Stark had planned, and which was slowly bearing fruit despite Bednar's warnings. The Fyllonnis man had been so outraged, so shamed, that he had toyed with the idea of hiring a faceless man to get rid of the barbarian that had humiliated him. But he had given up, thinking that the repercussions on Myr would be terrible. Young Princess Rhaenyra being infatuated with this madman. So he had shown patience and looked for allies who, like him, wanted the death of the northerner. And unsurprisingly, he had found some. Bednar and a representative of a certain westerosi family had met in secret within his own manor in Myr, and they had agreed on a plan of revenge. Bednar only had to provide a place for one man in a Myrish ship that would bring one of the samples of glass to the North, and his allies would take care of the rest. Arthur Stark would pay for his barbaric acts, of this Bednar Fyllonnis vowed.

(-)(-)(-)

Rhaenys Targaryen loved her husband, she had loved him before their marriage and all the years that followed it. But that did not mean she was blind to his flaws, the first being the Sea Snake's oversized ego.

Corlys had brought strength and prosperity to his House like it had never known before. His nine voyages were already legendary during his lifetime, and would become even more so after his death. He had married a princess of Targaryen blood, and both of his children were Dragon Riders. His success was almost complete, only his failure at the great council of 101 tainted his legend. Never had Corlys experienced such failure, for Rhaenys, it had been a huge disappointment, but she had resigned herself to never sitting on the Iron Throne years ago. Corlys had never given up, the crown was the only thing that had eluded him, it was the last piece of the puzzle to make his victory complete. He had attempted to repair what he had considered an affront by marrying Laena to Viserys. A decision to which Rhaenys had been firmly opposed, her cousin being much older than her daughter who had only been twelve name days old at the time. But her husband had been intransigent. This new failure had taken a sigh of relief from the queen who never was, however, Corlys' anger and humiliation had grown even more. And things hadn't improved since then, the loss of the Stepstones to the Crown after years of war had sent the Sea Snake into a rage. So much so that he had pushed to hasten Laena's betrothal to the son of the Sealord of Braavos in order to consolidate his power. Alas, the letter Rhaenys had received this morning had revealed what a blunder this new decision could be. The Queen Who Never Was loved her only daughter with all her heart, and although she knew full well what sacrifices women had to make to survive in this world of men, she would not let her husband ruin her daughter's life by rushing a stupid decision out of vanity.

She found Corlys with his castellan, walking along the beach, discussing the latest deliveries of Ironwood in order to repair the ships that had been damaged in the war and replace those that had been sank. Rhaenys knew that he was wroth and had been for a few weeks by now. Buying Ironwood had reminded him how Arthur Stark and the Northerners had taken control of the Stepstones and the spoils of his war.

His eyes turned towards her as she arrived

"My lady," he spoke simply, acknowledging her presence.

"Husband," she replied, "may we speak privately?"

Corlys nodded towards the castellan, who swiftly left. "What is it?" he asked her.

"Laena's engagement," She said, making him roll his eyes. "It must not happen."

"We have spoken about this countless times already; she should have been wed years ago."

"Wedding her to the Sealord's son is a mistake; he will not inherit his father's position, he is a drunk, he is a fool, and our only daughter deserves far better, no matter how old she is."

Whatever answer Corlys had prepared, he swallowed it in a second and frowned.

"How did you get this information?" he questioned sharply. "The Sealord will only be at High-Tide in two weeks. His son is not a public figure and I doubt you have spies. Besides, the Sealord is pushing for his son to succeed him and his popularity is immense among the magisters."

Rhaenys had never let her husband walk all over her, no matter his emotional state. Today would be no exception.

"The next Sealord will only be chosen when he dies, the popularity of the dead has never convinced the living. Either he is lying to you or he is a fool. In both cases, his son is not the kind of husband our daughter deserves, regardless of his father."

Corlys knew that when his wife avoided answering one of his questions, it was because she was hiding something, which is why he always asked a lot of them when they argued.

"How did you get this information?" He repeated.

"I received a letter from Rhaenyra, warning us about Belo and his... proclivities for drinking and whores."

Corlys rolled her eyes.

"Rhaenyra? The Princess who stole your throne and who stupidly fell in love with a Northerner until she drank his every word like the best Dornish wine? The one who would have every reason to prevent the union of our family with that of the Sealord for fear of seeing our power increase?"

This time, it was Rhaenys who rolled her eyes.

"Rhaenyra is first and foremost Laena's cousin and close friend, if she bothers to warn us, we should at least make sure that we are not marrying off our daughter to a drunk. Assign spies to Belo during her stay at High Tide, and make sure that he and his father stay for as long as possible, they must not leave with a betrothal before we've made sure of his son's value."

Rhaenys knew that her words were wise, and that they had convinced her husband, but when he turned towards the sea to observe the different ships coming and going from Driftmark, she felt that his sailor's pride persisted in fighting.

"This alliance is meant to strengthen our family." He growled. "If I end the negotiations by humiliating his son, the Sealord will make me pay, our interests in Braavos are numerous."

"You have thousands of interests and only one daughter." Rhaenys replied. "What is most valuable to you?"

Corlys glared at her.

"Don't insult me. I would die for Laena a hundred times over if she could live another day. I'm just wondering if this is all a ploy, a plot masterfully carried out by Arthur Stark."

The Queen Who Never Was rose an eyebrow.

"I did not expect such a compliment from you to this boy, I thought you hated him."

"I respect him." Corlys corrected. "He arrived in King's Landing barely nine moons ago, and he got rid of Otto Hightower to become Hand of the King. I am not blind to his talent, but his actions make him one of our enemies."

"But it was not him who wrote this letter. It was Rhaenyra who did so out of friendship for Laena. If you are afraid to embarrass the Sealord, then break the news to him discreetly. If he is as reasonable as you believe him to be, he will blame his son for his antics, and not us for protecting our daughter."

Corlys Velaryon gritted his teeth, exhaled a sigh, and shook his head.

"How long has the Stark boy been in your mind?" She asked

"Far too long." He spat. "That boy is a menace, he took advantage of mine and Daemon's mistakes in a blink to seize the Stepstones, and he got rid of Hightower right after being charged of rape. With Rhaenyra wrapped around his finger, he could do a lot more damage than any of our he came out of nowhere… Without wealth or lands… This takes more than talent, only Tyanna of the Tower rose as fast as that Northerner with so little wealth."

"I doubt Arthur Stark is a sorcerer."

"If he is, he must die… if he is not… then I fear what will happen when Rhaenyra will beg her father to allow him to marry her."

Rhaenys grimaced at the thought.

"She will lose the Throne if she does that, the lords have not accepted that a woman is to rule over them, if said woman were to marry a poor Northerner, then rebellions will rise all over the Realm the moment Viserys dies."

"And would we support?" Corlys snorted. "I am no oathbreaker, but I will not lead my dynasty to ruin. Hightower is hardly a better choice than Stark, but those children are of Targaryen blood."

"Rhaenyra is not married yet, and we have always known that her succession would be challenged. We have underestimated Arthur Stark once, best not underestimate him again. For now, let us focus on our children, and wait until things change. But Rhaenyra would be wise to control her urges."

Corlys lost himself in the horizon, the sea had always been his first love, the one he would drown himself for.

"A storm is coming." He said. "We must prepare for it."

His wife nodded solemnly.

" Did you receive news of Daemon?" She asked.

"My spies in Dragonstone says that he got himself drunk, declared that he truly despises Arthur Stark and swore to feed him to Caraxes. Unless that boy performs another miracle, he will die long before any of his enemies. The Dornish are up to something as well, they do not forget nor forgive the death of their Prince. He brought too much attention on him, rattled too many cages, and does not have any true ally besides the Princess and the King."

Rhaenys did not answer, she simply hoped that Rhaenyra would not mourn too openly when her Northerner dies.

"And if he survives all that, and manages to marry Rhaenyra, what do we do?"

Corlys did not look away from the sea.

"If he actually performs so many miracles, then we either kill him or ally ourselves to him. If Daemon and the Dornish cannot get rid of him, then Hightower certainly will not."

To read early:

Chapter 16 : 'The Nastiest Viper'

Chapter 17 : ' A Game of Pain & Passion'

Chapter 18 : 'A Tale of Waters and Snow'

Chapter 19 : 'The Northern Fist'

Chapter 20: 'Double Dual'

Chapter 21: 'Dragon against Wolf'

Chapter 22: 'The Tournament of Pretenders'

Chapter 23: "The divided Pack"

Chapter 24: "Too far, too late"

Chapter 25: "The Ghosts of Guilt"

Chapter 26 : "How time and blood flow"

Chapter 27: "Those who rule over Winter"

Chapter 28: "Clinging to hope"

Chapter 29: "The Barn owl"

Chapter 30: "Legends"

Chapter 31: "The Starks of Winterfell"

Chapter 32: "Ice and Fire"

Chapter 33: "Rhaenyra and Arthur"

Support me on=

w w w . p a t r(e)on (slash) MonsieurLAH