The heartthrob of the Seven Kingdoms, Rhaegar Targaryen

Ghost was frightened and embarrassed. This Mad King was a little neurotic, always springing things on her. Was he still suspicious of her origins?

As the old saying went, serving a king was like living with a tiger. The king seemed fairly normal now, but if his mood turned, he might burn her to death on the spot.

She had to be careful, more careful still, and keep learning.

Trying to fathom Aerys's thoughts, Ghost felt that the Mad King Aerys and the deranged Joffrey had something in common. So she chose her words carefully and answered in Valyrian:

"I have heard that the Wall in the North is a cold, bitter, terrible place where no one can survive. Traitors should remain alive to suffer punishment, repaying Your Grace's mercy with their pain. Besides, the Night's Watch are forbidden to marry or have children. They will suffer all their lives and grow old alone..."

Aerys stroked his beard in thought. Only after a long while did he nod. "You are right. Death would be far too easy on them."

Everyone who understood those words stirred inwardly, each with thoughts of their own.

Varys saw that Rhaenys had dissuaded the Mad King and even won his approval... The girl's value in his eyes rose a little further.

Rhaegar had not expected his father to ask Rhaenys's opinion, but it saved him from having to speak up again. He had never approved of King Aerys's indiscriminate slaughter of innocents and was often reprimanded by him for it... Sometimes he even wondered whether his father hated him.

The Wall in the North had lost men year after year. Fewer than nine hundred remained, enough to guard only three ice fortresses, whereas a few hundred years ago, the entire defensive line along the Wall had boasted a full complement of nearly thirty-five hundred men.

The Lord Commander of the Night's Watch pleaded poverty and begged for men every year. The North, King's Landing, and the other territories could provide money and supplies, but they could not conjure up more men... King Aerys always exterminated criminals to the last, leaving the Night's Watch increasingly short of recruits.

Most of the nobles could not understand Valyrian. They all looked bewildered, as though listening to some incomprehensible heavenly scripture.

The sight of these ignorant, unlearned people angered King Aerys. Switching to the Common Tongue of Westeros, he issued his command-all those who had helped House Darklyn during the Defiance of Duskendale, including half the commoners... were to be sent to the Wall in the North, to take the black and become men of the Night's Watch.

Tywin Lannister, then in the prime of his life, studied Ghost with a slightly probing look. He had not expected this stray princess to dissuade the bloodthirsty king.

The nobles and ministers seemed to think King Aerys was more amenable today. They began reporting matters one after another, only for King Aerys to interrupt them with an impatient wave:

"Take all this nonsense to Tywin and the Small Council. Leave, all of you. Rhaegar and Rhaenys, stay."

The king chatted with Rhaegar about his recent life, then set their wedding date-exactly one year later, on Prince Rhaegar's eighteenth birthday.

The king had wanted to arrange for Ghost to move next door to Rhaegar, but the prince politely declined. Ghost hurriedly shook her head as well, saying that her current quarters were quite good. Only then did the king drop the matter.

Strangely, the king also asked Rhaegar in a roundabout way whether he had met Elia Martell, the Prince of Dorne's eldest daughter. Upon receiving a negative answer, he told the prince to entertain the Dornish properly on his behalf, and preferably find a way to keep the Dornish princess there.

Prince Rhaegar's expression turned ugly at once. The king seemed not to notice and continued telling the prince and Ghost stories about their ancestor Aegon the Conqueror and his two sisters campaigning across Westeros.

Without realizing it, all three of them had switched entirely to Old Valyrian. By the time they left the throne room, Ghost was so shaken and exhausted that she nearly collapsed.

There had been some obscure Valyrian words in those legends and stories that she had not yet learned. Fortunately, the king had not asked her to respond.

Rhaegar looked strangely calm, but Ghost could sense that he was angry.

His fingers clenched tightly around his sword, repeatedly gripping and releasing it... He was clearly suppressing his anger.

It had been a long time since Rhaegar had spoken so peacefully with his father, yet today's King Aerys felt unfamiliar and repulsive to him.

Ghost had only vaguely sensed that the prince's anger had something to do with the Dornish. Prince Rhaegar, however, had seen through the king's filthy intentions at a glance...

Outside the throne room, Rhaegar took deep, forceful breaths to calm himself. Ghost could understand how he felt, and concern showed in her eyes.

Rhaegar soon composed himself and extended his right hand with considerable grace. "Rhaenys, would you like to walk in the gardens?" He needed to think carefully about how to deal with this matter.

Ghost was still speaking Old Valyrian. Quite naturally, she reached out and took Rhaegar's hand. "I would love to."

Rhaegar stared at the little hand holding his with an odd expression. Proper etiquette called for her to rest her hand lightly in the crook of his arm...

Was she unfamiliar with Westerosi etiquette? What noble family walked around holding hands like this? Rhaegar discreetly released her hand.

"...There is no need to be nervous. I am not my father. Just speak the Common Tongue."

The warm touch against her palm vanished in an instant. Ghost suddenly realized she had gotten something wrong. She hastily hid her hand behind her back, wishing she could dig a hole on the spot and crawl into it.

Fortunately, the prince did not seem to mind, so the two simply walked without touching.

It was nearly evening, and the warm setting sun shone through crimson-and-gold clouds onto them. Everyone who saw them could not help stopping-the prince and princess were so alike in hair color, features, and eyes that each seemed another version of the other.

What a perfect pair!

Strolling through the gardens with Rhaegar felt unreal to Ghost.

She kept stealing glances up at him, torn over whether to apologize. She wanted to explain that she had only held his hand because she was unfamiliar with Westerosi noble etiquette, not because she had deliberately meant to take advantage of him.

But would that seem too contrived...?

Rhaegar did not want to say anything. He did not want to think just then, and a quiet walk like this was pleasant enough. But the girl beside him kept staring at him as though she wanted to say something, making him uncomfortable.

As the crown prince, Rhaegar had seen far too many sickening looks full of calculation and malice, blatant seduction, or sexual insinuation... Rhaenys's gaze, filled with nothing but admiration and curiosity, did not bother him.

The girl was stealing another glance at him when Rhaegar suddenly turned to meet her eyes and asked seriously, "Am I handsome?"

The question startled Ghost. She answered timidly, "Yes... Very handsome."

Rhaegar chuckled softly. He reached out and slowly removed a leaf from the top of Ghost's head.

"There is no hurry. You may have a lifetime to look."

A sudden surge of sadness struck Ghost, and her eyes instantly reddened. A lifetime. What a beautiful word...

But Rhaegar, you are destined to live only to twenty-one. Then you will die quietly, lonely and sorrowful, on the banks of the Red Fork.

Your only companions will be your dead horse, your broken sword, your shattered armor. And that ruby smashed to pieces by a warhammer...

Your lifetime will be only twenty-one years...

Tears streamed silently down Ghost's face. Holding back her sorrow, she dared not look at that young, handsome face again for a while.

She could not imagine the man before her stripped of all life, his eyes tightly closed, lying silently at the bottom of the river.