chapter 3

298 AC Kingslanding

Queen Cersei walks up to Eddard Stark, the hand of the king" you are in pain, "she says to him

Eddard stands and limps towards her," I've been through worse my lady" he says

"Perhaps it is time to go home, the south doesn't seem to agree with you," she says

"I know the truth Jon Arryn died for," Eddard suddenly says

"Do you lord Stark? Is that why you called me here, to pose riddles?" she says

Eddard looks at her and he says," has he done this before." Indicating at the bruise on her face

"Jaime would have killed him, my brother is worth a thousand of your friend," she replied

"Your brother or your lover?" Eddard asks

"Targaryens wed brothers and sisters for three hundred years to keep bloodlines pure, Jaime and I are more than brother and sister, we shared a womb came to this world together and we belong together!" Cersei answers with a firm voice.

"My son saw you with him," Eddard says and there is a short silence then Cersei asks, " do you love your children?"

"With all my heart." he answers

"No more than I love mine," she replies

"And they are all Jaime's!" Eddard says in disgust

Cersei scoffs," thank the gods…in the rare event Robert leaves his whores for long enough and stumbles drunk in my bed I finish him off in other ways, in the morning he doesn't remember."

"You've always hated him," he says

"Hated him? I worshipped him…every girl in the seven kingdoms dreamed of him but he was mine by oath and when I finally saw him on our wedding day in the sept of Baelor, lean, fierce and black bearded it was the happiest moment in my life and that night he came on top of me stinking wine and did what little he could do and whispered I my ear Lyanna. Your sister was a corpse and I a living girl and yet he loved her more than me," she says

"When the king returns from his hunt I'll tell him the truth, you must be gone by then…I will not have the blood of children in my hands go as far away as you can, with as many men as you can because wherever you go Roberts wrath will follow you," Eddard warns

"And what of my wrath lord Stark? You should have taken the realm for yourself, Jaime told me about the day Kingslanding fell, he was sitting in the Iron Throne and you made him give it up. All you needed to do was climb the steps yourself, such a sad mistake," Cersei says

"I've made many mistakes in my life but that wasn't one of them," Eddard replies

"Oh but it was… when you play the game of thrones, you win or you die, there's no middle ground," Cersei says menacingly and proceeds to walk away as Eddard stark stares at her back.

Later as Eddard stark was walking in the halls of the castle Renly, King Robert's younger brother, came running to him, "Ned its Robert. We were hunting ….a boar…" he says panicky as he turns around and leaves just as quickly as he came and Eddard follows after him. When they arrive at his chambers Eddard finds a wounded Robert on his bed with prince Joffrey at his side, the queen and grand maester Pycelle were also there. Robert orders everyone to leave and be left alone with Eddard to which Cersei tries to intervene but Robert insisted to which she leaves but her face was full of worry, worry not for her husband on his deathbed but what Eddard stark could tell him.

"You damned fool says," Eddard as he proceeds to sit down on a chair beside his bed

"There's ink and paper on the table," says Robert. Ned takes the ink and paper and waits for Roberts decree.

"In the name of Robert of house Baratheon...first of… argh you know how it goes fill in the damned titles… hereby commands Eddard of house Stark ..titles, titles…to serve as Lord regent and protector of the realm upon my death, to rule in my stead until my son Joffrey comes of age," Eddard writes but changes that last part to ' the rightful heir ' and gives the paper to Robert to sign.

"Give it to the small council after my death, at least I can say I did this right, this one thing….you rule now…you hated it more than I did but you'll do well…..the girl, Daenerys…you were right Varys, Littlefinger, my little brother worthless…no one to tell me no but you…only you...let her live, stop it before it's too late," Robert says.

"I will, " Eddard answers

"My son…help him Ned…make him better than me," Robert asks

"I'll do my best to honor your memory," Ned replies to which Robert laughs" memory…..king Robert Baratheon murdered by a pig.... Give me something for the pain and let me die!"

Ned walks out and tells grand maester Pycelle to give him the milk of poppy .Ser Barristan Selmy recounts on how he failed his king. "I wonder Ser Barristan, who gave the king this wine," Varys asks

"His squire ...from the kings own skin," Ser Barristan answers

"His squire …the Lannister boy?" Eddard asks as Ser Barristan nods

"Such a dutiful boy to make sure his grace did not lack refreshment…I do hope he doesn't blame himself," Varys comments. Realization came to Lord Stark's face as the king might have been murdered by the Lannisters, the Queen specifically no doubt. He then proceeds to inform lord Varys that the king had a change of heart concerning Daenerys Targaryen and to undo the arrangements made for her death. "I'm afraid the birds have already flown, the girl might be dead already" Varys replies. A sad look befalls Eddard as he had tried his best to stop it and limps away.

Meanwhile in Essos, a man lies in bed, his body no longer shriveled and seems to be better than ever except for burned skin on his head which was slowly healing but soon will disappear like nothing ever happened. The man seems disturbed in his sleep as he kept saying incomprehensible words and it was like he was experiencing a nightmare. He was all sweaty and from time to time his brow would crease indicating worry and anger. It was the next morning the old woman who took care of him after her grandson found him came in to check up on him as a couple of days had passed with the man showing no sign of waking, but despite his condition, was recovering at an abnormal rate. As she entered the room she was surprised by the beautiful purple eyes looking at her, the burn scars on his head were gone. He scrutinized her and after a moment of silence he said," thank you."