Crowned Stag (rhaenyra targaryen x male oc)

An Order from the King

Mace sits by himself, drowning in cups of Lannister wine. Tears stream down his face as he stares at the fire. He felt so warm and it felt like a hug.

Elenda spots her husband and goes to sit next to him. He subtly moves away from her, still angry from earlier.

"I am sorry about earlier," Elenda begins to say and Mace scoffs, laughing and taking another sip of the wine.

"I really am, Mason," Elenda tells him and Mace throws the cup into the fire. He stands up, dusting himself off and looking down at her.

"Sure you are," Mace mutters as he tries to walk away and Elenda grabs his hand.

"Don't walk away from me," Elenda demands and Mace swiftly looks down at her.

"I am not," Mace tells her, pointing a finger at her, "I already walked away from someone today and it wasn't you."

"You only walked away from the Princess out of guilt, Mason ," Elenda argues and Mace leans in closer, anger crossing his face and shaking out of frustration.

"For you, Elenda!" Mace argues, "I walked away to try and devote myself better to you because you don't deserve to have your husband loving another woman..So why the fuck are you  still complaining!?"

Elenda recoils at Mace's outburst, stunned by the intensity of his words. She takes a moment to compose herself before responding, her voice trembling with emotion.

"I'm complaining because I don't want a husband who feels obligated to stay with me out of guilt," she says, her eyes welling up with tears. "I want you to be with me because you love me, not because you think you owe me something."

"You already know how I feel about you. For gods sakes, we have two beautiful girls together and we are great parents..... I don't know why you are still whining about it, Elenda," Mace said, leaving it at that. He walks away to the tent where a wet nurse was carrying Maris and rocking her.

"I can take her, my lady," Mace said as the wet nurse nodded. She carefully hands her to him and he adjusts her in his arms.

"My pretty girl," Mace tells her as he watches her begin to fall asleep.

"Where is Cassandra?" Mace asked and the wet nurse pointed to the other side of the tent.

"She is being changed, my lord," She said, "She had a bit of an accident—"Mace raises his brows concerned and makes his way to the other side of the tent, only to find a giggling Cassandra with a wet nurse.

"A pee accident," The wet nurse finished, and Mace sighed in relief.

"You could have led with that, my lady," Mace says as he laughs at the bubbly Cassandra. The wet nurse chuckles as she changes the little Baratheon.

He spent the rest of the hour, talking to his girls. He never expected an answer from either of them but he loved to talk and talk.

•

"How far?" Viserys asks as his hunters explain that there has been a possible sighting of a white hart.

"Her droppings were found half a league to the east," The hunter says.

"Oh," Viserys gasps as the hunter sniffs the poop.

"Still fresh." He says as Otto smiles widely.

"Between two and three hours, Your Grace. My best scouts spied him. The beast is upward of 35 stone. And we now have his trail," He informs them as Otto nods.

"Aye," He mutters and the hunter continues.

"Before the dragons ruled over Westeros, the white hart was a symbol of royalty in these lands." He says and Otto raises his chin.