The Emancipation of Rhaegar

Chapter 10

Ten

Arthur had to admit; his job was one of the poorest and finest in the seven kingdoms. If he were lucky enough, he would be stationed with Elia and Rhaegar, following the two as they falsified their affections for each other. Elia had told him that the two were friends, but the love or infatuation that was once there seemed to have fizzled out after Aegon was not yet even born,

He looked to his sister and his love as they laughed and whispered to each other, Rhaegar would turn to them now and then to try and listen to what they were saying, little did he know those two were as quiet as mice when they spoke in public. Arthur turned his head to watch as Brandon unhorsed the second Whent brother, he held in a laugh as Lord Whent let out an angry cry and Brandon's siblings were back on their feet clapping.

Arthur remembered how much he missed his parents, mostly his mother, how she would hold him in her arms and sing sweet songs to him until he fell asleep. He laughed at Ashara whenever she would get angry at Rhaella for killing her mother. If only she knew. Ashara was a girl of three when their mother had died; he had no idea how a child could've even had the hate she held when they heard their mother had died. She threw her tiny body to the wet nurse, though he was sure she didn't understand exactly what was going on, after a year with no trace of their mother, Ashara stopped peeping through the door where Serene would slide notes to Arthur. He could not fathom how quickly things happened. Once second he clutched the note that had scribbled on it:

I am well, I have just taken ill.

And the next moment they were shoved into their rooms and their mother was wailing and screaming. He stuck his ear to the door to get a better hear of the things that were said, and he would never forget the way Ashara sat on the floor. Her hands to her ears, her body rocking back and forth. There were silent footsteps that ran past their room door, and then he heard cries of men outside.

"Make it stop!" She squealed, a girl of three. Arthur wished he could make the screaming stop, but he couldn't. He looked under his door, the small line between door and floor seemed to be sealed with a piece of cloth. He sighed pressing his ear back again.

"One more my lady!" he heard Lilia cry, Serene let out another groan and then a child's squeals were heard. Almost like a strangled pig. He heard Lilia cry out and scream. "She will wake. Maester there has to be something-" But her voice was muffled, the doors must have been closed. He heard mumbling and the door squeak open. Small pitter patters of footsteps ran down the hall and vanished with each step the person took down the staircase.

He began to cry as he saw the dead bodies on the floor, opened the door to his room and was met with a sight he could never forget, nor compare anything to. It was worse than anything he had and would ever see. He could not even describe it, but he knew he would remember that exact moment for the rest of his life. Her dark hair was sprawled around her, her face sweaty and red. Her chest so still and her eyes wide open. Blood pooled around her legs, it was on the bed, on her hands and dripping down to the floor. A Maester stood in front of her, whispering quiet words with eyes shut as handmaidens worked to pick up the bed sheets and wipe the sweat from her face. Arthur remembered being angry at them; they would not even allow her the last moments of her life to be easy, tugging, pulling and patting her body. And how could he forget, the scream that his father let out, it almost made Arthur go deaf. He remembered how his father came, almost out of nowhere, pushed the handmaidens aside and held her body so close that the blood began to rub on his night clothes. His father said something to the Maester; the Maester pointed to the hallway, where Arthur stood. They seemed to look right past him. His father gently put Serene's body on the bed and ran to the window, Arthur ran to his own to see what his father was looking at. He heard his father scream something to the men below, they looked up to their Lord and drew their swords.