After the tournament ended, the nobles returned to their respective lands.
A month later, in King's Landing.
Inside Elia Martell's chambers.
Through his skinchanger ability, Viserys saw Rhaegar earnestly discussing his relationship with Lyanna with Elia. Rhaegar desperately hoped Elia would let him and Lyanna be together.
In the end, though Elia looked heartbroken, she could not prevail against Rhaegar and agreed to a secret divorce. However, she insisted that it must never become public, as that would dishonor House Martell.
Out of guilt toward Elia, Rhaegar agreed to her request. He then wrote a letter and had a maester send it to Winterfell by raven. He wanted Lyanna to come south to King's Landing.
Meanwhile, another tragedy unfolded in the Red Keep. The Mad King Aerys ordered his newly appointed Hand of the King, Earl Chesed, burned to death with wildfire, simply because the minister had dared to question his decisions. The poor new Hand had held the office for less than a month before falling victim to the Mad King's madness.
That night, the Mad King also forced his way into Queen Rhaella's chambers. Though the two had long since lived apart, and two white-cloaked knights, Jaime Lannister and Jon Darry, stood guard outside her door, neither could stop him.
Early the next morning, Queen Rhaella, covered in injuries, departed for Dragonstone under Ser Jon's escort.
Viserys surmised that Daenerys must have been conceived then. After all, those two would likely have no further opportunity.
Traveling along the Kingsroad, the journey from Winterfell to King's Landing could be made in as little as a week. When they reunited, Rhaegar discovered that Lyanna was already pregnant, and the two immediately married in secret, with a septon as their witness.
Brandon Stark, who was on his way to Riverrun to fetch his bride, heard that Rhaegar had abducted his sister. He immediately turned his horse around and rode straight for King's Landing. Outside the Red Keep, he shouted a challenge, demanding that Rhaegar come out, duel him, and release his sister.
But Rhaegar was not in King's Landing at the time. In the end, the Mad King Aerys arrested Brandon for treason and summoned his father, Lord Rickard, to King's Landing.
When Lord Rickard demanded a trial by combat, Aerys named wildfire as his champion. The lord of the North was burned alive in green flames, while Brandon was beheaded on the king's orders.
The king then commanded Jon Arryn, Lord of the Vale, to hand over Eddard Stark and Robert Baratheon. The old lord flatly refused and declared his rebellion on the spot. He supported Eddard's succession as Lord of the North and had him marry Catelyn Tully, who had originally been betrothed to his elder brother Brandon. At the same time, he sent Robert back to Storm's End to muster his forces. An alliance of stag, wolf, trout, and falcon began to take shape, and war was on the verge of erupting.
Viserys seized the opportunity to ask Aerys for permission to go to Dragonstone and keep his mother company. Perhaps Aerys truly still regarded Viserys as a child, for he suspected no ulterior motive.
Viserys also asked to take a few treasures from the Royal Treasury as gifts for his mother, hoping to cheer her up. Aerys agreed to that as well and sent the Kingsguard knight Arthur Dayne to protect him, which suited Viserys perfectly. Arthur was still in King's Landing because the war had not officially begun.
Viserys headed toward the Royal Treasury with a squad of soldiers. These twenty men were trusted followers he had secretly bought over during this time. Every one of them was a bachelor with no ties, making them ideal companions for his eventual voyage across the Narrow Sea. Their leader was Ser Alliser Thorne, a stern-faced knight.
Ser Thorne's loyalty was beyond question. He was a staunch supporter of House Targaryen. The reason he was later sent to the Wall was precisely that he refused to bend the knee to House Baratheon. His constant hostility toward Jon in the Night's Watch likewise stemmed from his mistaken belief that Jon Snow belonged to House Stark.
Once the heavy treasury doors opened, Viserys went inside first and looked around. Besides chest after chest of gold dragons and silver stags, there were mountains of exotic treasures. By the time he finished looking, he had a plan.
He intended to take a hundred thousand gold dragons, along with several chests of treasures. Their group would struggle to carry any more than that. Besides, it would be more than enough for him to live comfortably across the Narrow Sea until the dragons hatched.
This was no small sum. A standard suit of full plate for a knight cost around eight hundred silver stags-full plate for a knight, not an ordinary soldier's armor-and one gold dragon could be exchanged for two hundred and ten silver stags.
That also showed just how absurd Robert's prize of forty thousand gold dragons for a tournament champion had been. House Stark's entire wealth at the time had probably amounted to about that much.
Viserys signaled for the soldiers to begin moving the loot. The selected treasures were methodically loaded onto wagons, ready to be taken to the harbor on the Blackwater Rush. Ships of the Royal Fleet lay there, waiting to escort him to Dragonstone the next day.
He also ordered them to take three complete dragon skeletons, choosing smaller dragons to make transport easier. These dragon bones were worth a fortune in Essos. If he ever found himself utterly destitute, he could sell them for gold dragons at any time.
Under cover of darkness, he had one more thing to do. The legendary Valyrian steel sword Blackfyre also had to be moved.
He planned to steal the sword himself first and leave it in the secret passage, then use animals to carry it to Dragonstone and hide it within Dragonmont.
Once Aerys died, he could pretend to discover this ancestral sword by chance in Dragonmont and reclaim it with full legitimacy. After all, he was still relatively weak. There was nothing wrong with being cautious.
Then there was Rhaenys. He had promised to stay with her. This was a perfect opportunity to take her away, under the pretext of visiting her grandmother. Once the war began, Aerys might no longer let anyone leave. So Viserys went to Elia's chambers to persuade her to let Rhaenys go with him.
When Viserys arrived at Elia's chambers, he found Ashara there too, playing with Rhaenys. Ever since the tournament began, he had stuck close to Ashara, leaving those lustful hounds who wanted to approach her no opening.
After the tournament ended, however, she had returned to Starfall. He had not expected her to come back now. As it happened, that saved him another trip.
The little girl sat on the carpet, absorbed in playing with a carved wooden horse, a gift he had given Rhaenys earlier.
"Viserys!" Rhaenys spread her little arms and ran toward him as soon as she saw him.
Elia reclined on a chaise, her face still pale, though tenderness filled her eyes as she looked at her daughter. "Viserys, you're leaving tomorrow?"
"Yes." Viserys crouched and picked Rhaenys up. "I came to ask your permission to take Rhaenys with me to Dragonstone to visit my mother."
Elia frowned slightly. "But Rhaenys is still so young..."
"I can look after her," Viserys gently interrupted. "Mother has missed Rhaenys very much, too."
Rhaenys wrapped her arms around his neck. "I want to go with Viserys to see Grandmother!"
Ashara stood to one side, quietly watching the scene.
"Miss Dayne," Viserys said, turning to her, "would you be willing to accompany us? Rhaenys has always been fond of you. With you looking after her, I believe Elia would feel more at ease as well."
Ashara looked slightly surprised and exchanged a glance with Elia.
"Ashara is indeed very good with children," Elia said softly. "But that would be asking too much of her."
"I would be happy to." Ashara spoke suddenly, her voice gentle but firm. "It would be my honor to accompany Princess Rhaenys."
"Very well, then. It's settled."
Elia finally nodded and gathered Rhaenys into her arms. "Rhaenys, remember to listen to Miss Dayne."
"All right, I'll be good," Rhaenys replied happily.
Before you continue