The Golden Stag

ARC 2: A king and a king and a king

STANNIS BARATHEON.
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"They are garrisoned at Highgarden, It's twice as far as we are from King's landing, we must ride  north at once, if we wait for every little lord that says he will not fight against Robert's blood, we will never ride at all." Ser Imry Florent, his good brother barked across the table. "And they will have those men in front of King's Landing in no time.

"He has no blood of Robert in him, that abomination!" He all but yelled. He eyed the table full of lords of Stormlands, they were meant to be his men but they were not, not truly. The only reason they had not run to Joffrey was because they knew he'd put them to sword if they tried.

Half of them wanted Renly on the throne, other half wanted nothing to do with the war at all.

"He hatched a dragon, he is bonded to the beast, stop denying it Lord Stannis, he may be a kid, but he had Targaryen blood in him, how do you suppose that is, are you going to claim that Aerys Targaryen was Cersei and Jamie Lannister's father now?" Cortany Penrose, the man Renly had made castellan of Storm's End laughed at him. "Joffrey let you go, he could have had your head on a spike and he let you go, and this is how you relay his kindness. By spitting on it." Cortany looked at Renly. "If we are to fight, it should be you we sit on the throne, Stannis was meant for the black, he has no claim, he has no army, he has that fleet of his no longer, neither."

Stannis felt his eyes twitch. Here he sat, being mocked by a castellan.
Joffrey's kindness, they said, he spat on it. That bastard had taken everything from him, his honor, his pride, his castle, his wife, and his daughter.

Stannis loathed that boy, if he could he'd drive a sword through his heart himself.

"Aye!" Another one barked across the table. "Joffrey may be promising but it is Renly we fight for, Robert gave him Storm's End, God rest his soul. He is the one Baratheon heir." They looked at him. "The only thing you had was the royal fleet, the boy saw to take it quickly and swiftly. The Valaryons laugh from Driftmark now, we don't know what Joffrey promised them but they will not join you either." He looked around the table. "You ran, Lord Stannis. Even Robert himself looked you in the eye and he didn't pardon you, you were meant for black, and you have given up your claims. Renly is Robert's heir."

Stannis narrowed his eyes.
He had fled to Bravos after Robert arranged his escape. Robert had looked at him and told him that he was done with Stannis. That he wished to strangle him himself but his son had given a word. Stannis hated the memory of that day, that day when the boy stood in front of the entirety of Westeros and dishonored him.

Stannis would pay him in kind, that brat. When he took King's Landing and he would, he would put a bastard in the belly of that green whore of his from Reach. How he mocked him that he had no heirs, that he was angry at Robert in regards to Edric. Stannis gritted his teeth.

"Where have your thoughts wandered off to, brother?" Renly asked him. "My lords, Stannis is Robert's rightful heir, Ned Stark himself told me of the queen's confession. That she bore Robert no children." He smiled. "A man as honorable as Ned Stark would not lie of such a thing. If Joffrey never was the heir, he had no right to give those commands, pass those judgments."

"Ned Stark is dead." Stannis flinched at the sound. There at the door of the chambers stood the Fox. The devil on the demon's shoulder. "He was assassinated by lord Petyr Baelish, the night before." He smiled. His blue eyes were exactly like Joffrey's.

"Ser Fox." Renly frowned. "You are alive, you sailed for Valyria." He stood and looked at the lords on the table. "What are you doing here?"

"Quite so." The man smiled with his narrow eyes. "And now I am back with its plunder. Though I hadn't expected to see you here lord Renly, your brother is a deserter, but for you to abandon your nephew at a time like this." He shook his head. "He should have been beheaded as soon as he sailed back, are we starting to give no thought to the laws of men now?"