Gendry thought Rhaegar and Lyanna were an odd pair too. One was betrothed, while the other was married with two children.
Betrothals and inheritance rights were difficult to strip away in Westeros, and even harder to dissolve. Apart from prophecy, perhaps true love had driven them mad.
Though Robert was lustful, at least he had been unmarried, and overall, his behavior had not seemed quite so outrageous. But the dragon and the rose had gone straight for something enormous.
The last time a Targaryen had broken a betrothal to a Baratheon, it had led to the Laughing Storm's rebellion. Rhaegar, meanwhile, had provoked Robert. After Harrenhal, Robert had been humiliated, and from that day onward, he had borne Rhaegar a bitter hatred.
Gendry nodded. "The shadow of Summerhall."
Gendry suspected Rhaegar had deduced something. Prophecies such as "the dragon has three heads," "the Prince That Was Promised," and "the Song of Ice and Fire" had circulated among the Targaryens, and Rhaegar himself had been obsessed with mysticism.
"Prophecies, dreams... he destroyed himself," Daenerys said with a sigh, a trace of bitterness in her words.
"Lyanna was only sixteen when she died, still a girl with a child's heart. And my brother... my brother was much older than that girl."
In terms of age, too, Rhaegar, who had held more sway, bore the main responsibility.
"The past is gone. Now, as before, he isn't your brother's son. He chose to be a son of House Stark." Gendry took Daenerys's hand.
Eddard Stark was extraordinarily tight-lipped. He could keep silent for decades.
As for Jon, although the boy had his schemes, Eddard had also trained him to respect honor and give his oaths tremendous weight.
"Mm..." Daenerys nestled into her lover's arms. "Let's get on with preparing the tournament. The knights will