The sound of waves crashing were well audible to Lord Robert Baratheon, Lord of Storm's End and the former Lord Paramount of the Stormlands. Robert took to spend his evenings in the Drum Tower on the top of Storm's End. The Drum Tower was the tallest tower in Storm's End and Robert could see to the vast portion of the raging Shipbreaker Bay. Even now Robert could remember the day he saw his parents' ship getting wrecked in a storm as he stood here in the same place with his brother Stannis watching them die and he'd never forgot nor forgave Aerys Targaryen for that. He'd thought to kill the bastard himself but his own dragonspawn Rhaegar stole him of that just like he'd stolen his Lyanna.
The dragons only took everything from him. First the Mad King Aerys took his parents from him in a young age, then his son Rhaegar took Lyanna from him. He couldn't even believe the fact that Lyanna could do that no more than Ned did but still she did it and there was no more to say about it. They even took his title as the Lord Paramounts of the Stormlands and gave it to House Connington. And lastly both Rhaegar and Lyanna took his friend who was like a brother, away from him.
Robert could see his grim, stern face and the tight smile even now. Gods knew he missed Ned. He missed their wonderful life and adventures in the Eyrie with Jon. In another life they could've been brothers bound by blood but Rhaegar and Lyanna completely destroyed it and he never forgave them for it. He wanted nothing more than to take his warhammer and cave their chests in when he heard about Ned's family but Jon tied up his hands from doing so. 'This is not the time,' he'd said and when will the time come, Robert hadn't knew that.
Robert wanted to get rid of the dragons from Westeros and sent them to the ruin from where they'd come ever since he heard of what the Mad King did to Rickard, Brandon and Catelyn Stark. They said that when Lord Rickard asked for a trial by combat, the Mad King chose fire as his champion. And his son Brandon's neck was connected to a myrish strangling device and a longsword was kept just out of his reach. The myrish strangler device connected in Brandon's neck was tied to a rope and the rope was put through a pulley and at the end of the rope was a noose around the neck of his wife, Lady Catelyn Tully. Aerys gave him a choice to either save his father or his wife. When Lord Rickard was set ablaze by the pyromancer, Brandon had tried to reach for the sword to save his father and wife alike. The harder he tried the harder the rope attached to the device around his neck and the noose around the neck of his wife strangled his wife and her weight in turn strangled him. But it was said that Brandon had tried to reach the sword so bad and with a huge force, which had had Lady Catelyn suspended in the air for about two feet. By the time the fires were done, the melted armor and the ashes and charred bones were the only remains of Lord Rickard. And Brandon had died trying to save his father and wife by ending up strangling himself and his wife to death.
That was when Robert knew what the dragons were made of and were capable of doing. He was done with it and wanted Westeros to get rid off them. Rhaegar and Lyanna came soon enough but only after Aerys killed the dragonspawn's wife and children. They came and acted as though nothing were their wrong while their actions alone caused all those deaths.
Robert had wanted to kill them then and there and end up the Targaryen line for good. But both Ned and Jon advised him to remain calm. But Robert knew that was for good because they were vulnerable at that time. He had his brothers to continue his line but both Jon and Ned were the last ones of their line with Jon having only Elbert as his heir while Ned had none with Benjen joining the Night's Watch for no reason.
So they had decided to wait for the right time to bring justice for all the troubles the dragons have caused. Jon advised him to marry Cersei while he married Lysa Tully and brought both the Westerlands and the Riverlands to their cause and strengthened their ties. They had agreed to betroth their children and bound their houses together once and for all to take down the dragons.
And soon enough their family grew big with the births of his son Gendry and then Ned's son Andrew months after and Jon's son Robert after him. With male heirs to stabilise their legacy their positions became safe. And when his daughter Argella born the next year it was decided that Argella would marry Ned's son bounding both their houses by blood and when Jon's daughter Alyssa born it was decided that she would become Gendry's wife, again tying all their houses together for one more generation.
That seemed a perfect plan with a strong alliance and they were stronger than they ever were. Until the Dragonspawn was clever enough to find it and murdered Ned's family. Their plan crumbled at once with the deaths of Ned, Ashara and Andrew and once again the dragon managed to outsmart them. Cersei tried for her part asking her father to stop their support to the Crown but Rhaegar was not as stupid as they'd thought him to be.
In time he himself formed his alliance with the other kingdoms and managed to earn the favors of the free cities as well. And moreover his slut of a sister managed to bring back the dragons alive. And they had lost the help of the North as well with the deaths of Ned and his son which resulted in Rhaegar and Lyanna's son becoming the Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North.
But Robert was not ready to give up. One way or another he would get the justice for Ned and his family's murders. Even if it meant his life he would take Rhaegar's life along with him.
A rumble of a thunder brought him back from his thoughts. The rain started to pour accompanied with raging thunderstorms. The conditions were a common one here in Storm's End where rainstorms and thunderstorms were frequent. But no matter how strong the storms are and how raging the waves are they always scatter against the huge curtain wall of Storm's End. And like the storms and the waves the Targaryens would scatter against them as well.
Robert was looking at the raging sea through the slit when he heard the door creaking open behind him. He turned to see his brothers Stannis and Renly entering through the door. He remembered that he'd called them for the meeting and asked them to take their seats in the table.
After Rhaegar made the Conningtons as the Lords Paramount, Robert couldn't give Stannis and Renly their own castles so they just stayed with him in Storm's End. Which is for good in fact. Stannis made a great knight master and became his right hand in governing the castle and Renly made a good knight with skills in jousting and sword fighting. And they both had been a constant presence in all of the decisions he make.
Master Cressen entered next and the maester had been a constant presence in their life after the deaths of their parents. After the deaths of their parents maester Cressen had raised him and his brothers all by himself. When Robert left for the Eyrie, Maester Cressen put it upon his shoulders to raise both Stannis and Renly. And so Maester Cressen became like a family to them and was one of his most trusted and loyal advisors.
Cersei came at last, dressed all in the fine grandeur clothes of hers. She was a beautiful woman and the harsh conditions of Storm's End did nothing to dim her beauty. She can be cold and be a pain in the arse, but the way she managed and run the castle and the way she loved their children made up for that. Even sometimes Robert chose to ask her opinions in the important plans and decisions. Cersei liked to run the castle and rule it. She was not the kind of woman to be a broodmare who was just needed to give him heirs. And Robert welcomed it. She was everything he'd seen Lyanna to be. Cersei can be adamant, Cersei can be willful and Cersei can dominate. She is as fierce as the lioness she is when it comes to their children that she would never allow anything to be done in their life without her consent. And moreover she's been shunned by the dragons twice, just like Lyanna had shunned him. Robert knew the feeling and he did not wanted to inflict anymore pain upon her. So he just let her have her way and soon enough Cersei ruled Storm's End as much as he did, with her going as far as to make the decisions in their alliances as well.
When they were all seated Maester Cressen took a rolled parchment and gave it to him. Robert got it from the Maester and unrolled it to see the contents of it. When he was done he gave the paper to Cersei next to him and gave some time for her to read it.
"Rhaegar has made a contract with the Iron Bank of Braavos," Robert announced for everyone in the room to hear.
"So he need not depend upon my father anymore," Cersei said placing the parchment on the table with a thud. "He could make his own gold hereafter."
"A relationship with the Iron Bank is a strong one, given the reputation of the bank," Stannis said adding to Cersei's fact. "And he could very well raise his own army of sellswords as well."
Renly nodded approving. Robert knew how all of them were right. A contract with the Iron Bank would provide Rhaegar with all the necessary things he needs to stabilise the Kingdom as well as to raise his own army. The dragon was not as foolish as his father, Robert thought. Even after making the necessary alliances within Westeros, Rhaegar never stayed idle and instead went out of it to make even more friendships to make sure that he was safe and well even if the whole Kingdom rises up against him.
"And that is not all my lord," Maester Cressen said taking another sealed letter. "There's been a letter from Lord Arryn." Maester Cressen gave the letter of his foster father in his hand.
Robert took the letter and skimmed it briefly before breaking the silver colored moon and the falcon seal of House Arryn. His foster father's letters were as neat as they had been before, when he'd seen them in the Eyrie. Robert placed the letter of his foster father on the table and everyone in the room were eagerly waiting to learn what was in the letter.
"Jon thinks the marriage of Rhaegar's son and heir would happen soon," Robert told them. "So he says that we should hurry on the marriages of our children as well to show our strength and ties."
Cersei took the letter at once and her eyes began to run over Jon's lines. When she was done she looked at him with wide emerald eyes. "It is true. His son is of age and so is Arianne Martell. And he will definitely rush it up to show his power and threaten us."
"If Rhaegar does that," Renly voiced his words for the first time. "Then we should do it as well to protect ourselves. We need to be together in order to protect ourselves and these marriages are necessary."
Robert could see the truth of their words. Rhaegar has all he needs and he is in the perfect position possible. There is no need for him to rush the marriages as though he is afraid of losing them if he was late. This is just about the show of his strength against them. And his threat of showing that his power is greater than that of them and that if they chose to rebel against him they would soon end up like the Starks. This would also show that he still has support in Westeros despite what he'd done in the past.
"Well, Gendry and Alyssa are of the age," Robert said "and it has been already decided that they would marry which would bind both the Arryns and the Tullys with us."
"When shall they marry?" Cersei asked. "And where? If the word of the marriage was known to Rhaegar, he would definitely see it as a threat and name us as traitors to take on us unawares."
"Yes and we're well away from our allies," Stannis added. "If Rhaegar needs so he could cut us off from our support. And Connington has some of the Lords at his side as well. So we'd likely have a opposition from within our lands as well."
"My lord, Lord Stannis is true," Maester Cressen said. "We could very well come across a civil war if we let the Conningtons unchecked. And a civil war with an open war upon us would be fatal."
Robert knew that the Conningtons would be a threat as well. But no matter the title most of the Stormlords were loyal to him and not to the Conningtons. But if he left the Conningtons behind him there is a good chance of him getting in between two armies. And that would be fatal even if they were engaged by a small army in both sides. So taking the Conningtons from the action is the first step. And as Cersei said, if he continued with the marriage of his son with the Conningtons to look at there is a good chance of Rhaegar knowing about it at once.
Going to the Eyrie with his family will attract unwanted attention as well. Suddenly he got an idea to make it as simple and secure as possible.
"We will agree upon a date and meet with the Arryns in Riverrun," Robert told them. "The Arryns can get there without making a lot of doubts and Riverrun is well within the domains of our strength." He looked at all of them and continued. "If Rhaegar moved for Storm's End, then our combined forces of the Stormlands, the Vale, the Riverlands and the Westerlands would throw them back while Renly or Stannis would eliminate the Conningtons. This way it would not be on our heads that we were the ones to disrupt the peace and we could say that we were only protecting ourselves."
Everyone seemed to approve the plan. And Robert believed that it would work. All he needed to do is to lure Rhaegar into the bait so that he could trap him from all sides. Once it is done, no matter whatever alliances he'd made, everything would be just as useless as nipples in a breastplate without a leader.
"What about Argella?" Renly blurted out suddenly.
Robert looked to Cersei and she looked back at him. Argella was promised to Andrew Stark and Robert had known that his daughter would be well and good with Ned's son. But with Andrew Stark gone he was completely confused about the future of his daughter.
He might give her to Jon's son but that would only double up the already made fact. And it would do no good to any of them. Now all he could think about his daughter is to know what is in her mind and then making a decision that would do good to all of them.
"We don't want to rush with Argella now," Cersei said before he could voice his words. "Lets get done Gendry's marriage first and then we could think about Argella."
Everyone nodded at that. Robert could feel the motherly concern in Cersei's voice and was glad that she came up with a good answer.
The plans were made and there was no going back. But Robert was never the one to step back. All he could do now was to believe that their plan would work and then soon enough they could bring justice for all the troubles the dragons have caused.