Lion's Game

CH 10

( Late 278 A.C.)

"I do wish you wouldn't worry so much. It is simply a wedding, a Lannister wedding is a grand affair."

"It isn't the wedding I'm worried about," Rhaegar responds as he kisses Amara's cheek. Since the difficult labor which had gifted them their son, her husband had become much more protective.

"I'm well aware of what you worry about." She turns away from her dressing table. "But we can hold off your father a little while longer. Besides Viserys's nameday is coming soon, he'll no doubt be preoccupied." She watches in the mirror as her husband rolls his eyes. Every day he received new reports of his father's growing madness, they were troubling, to say the least.

"If he hears we will leave for a wedding and not present our son at court... I shudder to think of what he might do." The two release a heavy sigh. It was true, he wouldn't like it but Rhaegar had already accepted the invitation. Her brother was getting married to one of her dearest friends, she would be in attendance.

"Rhaegar I want to attend my brother's wedding. We will present our son at court when we are ready to." We would be expected to present our son at court within the year. I intended to wait as long as possible before bringing my son into such a dangerous nest of people. My sister's marriage to Robert Baratheon had been met with mixed reactions. The first of Lord Tywin Lannister's daughters was married to the crown prince. Now the second daughter had been wed to one of the greatest lords in the kingdom. The powerful connections at her father's disposal were making the king nervous. He wanted our son to be presented at court, the meeting had a double meaning. He no doubts wanted to see if his son would be plotting against him now that he had an heir of his own.

Rhaegal Targaryen, Rhaegar didn't want the boy named after him but Amara still wished to honor him in their son's name. Their son was gifted with the silver-gold hair of his Targaryen family and his father's indigo eyes. Rhaegar had assured her that he would take after her in some way as he grew older. But Amara knew they would have more children, perhaps one of them would take after her in appearance. Her son was her pride and joy, her days would be spent holding her son, telling him stories of his ancestors, and walks along the beach. But the more she looked at her son the more she found herself praying his looks were all he was gifted from his father's family. With each report of the king's troubling behavior, she found her thoughts wandering to what might become of her son.

But it wasn't King Aerys that wished her to be in attendance at her brother's wedding. Showing that the couple had the favor of the crown prince and princess would work wonders in damage control. The king was sowing scars into the realm almost as fast as Rhaegar and Amara could treat them.

"Then we will be there." Rhaegar offers his wife a smile. He knew it had been months since his wife had seen any of her family. Rhaegar did not have the heart to tell her that his father had forbidden any of them from stepping foot on Dragonstone for fear they might harm the child she was carrying.

"Thank you." Amara kisses her husband's cheek before examining her appearance in the mirror. She had ordered the servants to start packing their things days before, she wished to leave the dreary castle as soon as possible. She had done the best she could to make her castle her home since arriving, but a sense of doom clung to the place.

"You look beautiful Amara. Go check in the nursery, I believe our son requires your attention," Amara laughs. He wanted her with their son so that he might sneak off into the library to get another look at his books before they left.

"We leave in a matter of hours, try not to spend the entire time with your nose in those books."

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