A Dragon In Wolf's Clothing ~A Game of Thrones fan fiction~

Chapter Twenty One: Joffrey's Return

"Dragon bitch!" the large man roared. Ayrella Targaryen knew that this was the Mountain and feared for her life, as well as that of her child. He'd kill them both without blinking. All she could do was prey to every god that her little girl wouldn't be found or hurt.

"Please!" She begged. "I'm worth a lot more than just a corpse! My brother, or even my father, they'd pay you a lot if I was returned to them safely!" She knew her pleas were futile, but she had to try.

"Your father and brother are dead, and you'll join them!" he shouted at her, before lunging at her.

His large arms engulfed into a tight embrace before throwing her down onto the bed next to her. She screamed for help as his fist collided into her face. Hearing a crack, blood began to flow from her nostrils. Ayrella sobbed in pain, begging him to stop now whilst he still could.

It made her feel pathetic, begging for her life. Well, what was left of it. Her father was dead. Rhaegar was dead, Viserys too, most likely. Her pregnant mother had probably been murdered too, along with the sister she never had. Even little Aegon and Rhaella had been taken from her too. And Brandon... poor, poor Brandon Stark. Her lovely Brandon. She had grown to love that northern man, even if they had only been together once at the Tourney at Harrenhal. She had managed to see him before he was killed, to tell him she was pregnant. He had laughed, cried, and then cursed himself to the gods. Even as he died, he glanced over to her, almost as if to see she was safe, and to see that her child, his child, was still safe.

She wasn't safe though. Ayrella knew the Mountain would kill her, and he would find her daughter and then she'd be dead too. The only product of her's and Brandon's love, gone, no proof left of what they had with each other. 

All she could do as she died was think about her daughter, and the person she would hopefully one day grow into. A girl like Brandon, with the wolf-like wildness with fire in her veins. Perhaps it was a futile thought.

Lyanna woke up to crying. Shooting out of bed and practically sprinting Brandon's cradle, she took him into her arms, holding him tightly against her chest.

She'd been having a nightmare about her mother. It had been her mother dying and it was awful. She felt sick, but instead she knew it was just from the fear she had been paralysed into. The dream had been like she could see into her mother's thoughts. Her mother had feared for her life more than her own. She died in agony but the only thing which seemed to hurt her was the pain of thinking her daughter was going to die. Lyanna wished she could go back and tell her mother that she wouldn't be killed, that her Uncle Eddard would find her and raise her. Except she couldn't. She couldn't even tell Ayrella that she loved her.

"I had a bad dream too," she whispered to Brandon, rocking him. "This world is full of nightmares my sweet boy. I couldn't protect you before, but Winter did. I promise though, that I will never let anyone hurt you, or even come close to hurting you, I promise. I'm not the best person, I know, I never thought that I'd have a son, or daughter, or husband, but I love you. I swear to the old gods that I'll get you to Winterfell, and I'll keep you safe,"

As she went to sit on the edge of her bed, the baby in her arms slowly drifting back to sleep, she heard the door slam open. Brandon began crying again. Lyanna was just about to throw her dagger at the person in her room, until she realised it was Joffrey.

"Shit, Joff!" she hissed at him as he came closer. He looked down at the baby in her arms in shock. "You woke him up!"

"I-I'm sorry!" he stammered, still overcoming the shock. "When did you birth?"

"A few days ago," she shrugged, trying to make sure he could see the bruise he'd given her in the poor lighting of the room.

"Why aren't you in our room?" he demanded suddenly, looking up from Brandon, who'd stopped crying.

"Our room was attacked, we were almost killed," Lyanna said sharply, glancing at the wolf sleeping in a ray of sunlight in the corner of the room. "If it wasn't for Winter, I'd be dead. You know, your priorities are messed up. I thought you'd be more concerned that we have a son and I have a purple bruise on my face, thanks to you!"

Her sudden small explosion at him took Joffrey aback slightly. His eyes glanced over her cheek, and then down at the boy in her arms.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly, his hand stroking her tender cheek. She pulled away, the area still sore. "What have you called him?" He held his arms out and Lyanna laid Brandon in his arms gently, trying not to wake him again.

"His name is Brandon," she said, looking down at the child with love.

"After your cripple brother?" Joffrey said, looking up from his son for a moment to see Lyanna's angry - no, furious - expression.

"Don't call Bran a cripple!" She hissed to him with fury. "And no, Brandon after my uncle. Brandon Jon Baratheon,"

"Brandon Baratheon sounds stupid," Joffrey muttered.

"Well, you should have been here when he was born! Maybe then you could have named him!" She hissed again, taking Brandon off him, laying him back down in his crib. Winter got up, walked around the wooden cradle and laid back down at its side, her red eyes following Joffrey.

"I'm sorry," he said again. "I didn't kill anything. The Hart was already dead, so my father sent me back here," When Lyanna didn't answer him, he grabbed hold of her arm, and pulled her closer to him. His hand grazed over her bruise again. "I'm sorry I hurt you,"

"No you're not," she said quietly, not looking at him.

"Yes, I am," he said harshly, his tone making her look at him in the eye. "You're my wife, Lyanna, and I do love you, its just you do really stupid things sometimes. I promise though, I'll never hurt you again. I promise to the seven that I'll protect you and Brandon with my life. You're my lady, and he's my son, I love you both dearly,"

Joffrey broke off, pulling away from her slightly to look her up and down. He looked at her almost hungrily and she glared at him in response. "I hate it when you look at me like that," she scowled.

"I know, I can't help it, you're just so beautiful," Joffrey's hand stroked her messy hair before trailing down her neck, lingering where the Stark sidgil pendant hung. "You'll be my Queen one day,"

Lyanna wanted to hit Joffrey. She wanted to stab him like she had done to that sell sword. She wanted to hit him around the face until his smug little smile was no more. But she couldn't. She needed to keep up the act. The act that she had maintained since her arrival in King's Landing. This man had beat her, hurt her, insulted her home and her family and yet she was expected to love him with all of her heart?

Now she was no longer lying to herself, making herself an object for Joffrey, but she was lying to Brandon too. Could she raise her son with a continuous façade, where Brandon never saw how she truly felt? It was wrong. Lyanna shouldn't have to do this. 

However, in this city, in this world, it was lie and survive or tell the truth and be killed. Lyanna decided in that moment that she would rather lie to herself, to everyone around her, and live.

"And you'll be my King," she whispered, kissing him on the lips.

Lyanna had never hated herself more.

___________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________

Hey guys.

I'm so sorry for not updating last week but, if you read my author's note, I'm sure you know why. Its been a weird week and I've been doing a lot of thinking about my family and the future and existence (cue existential crisis). It's still a bit rough for me thinking about the matter at hand, but I'm a lot better, even with exam stress.

Anyway, thanks to you guys who got me over 2K on this! I'm very pleased with that!
What did you guys think to this chapter? I worked really hard on it, especially with going into Ayrella's part. Would you like to see more stuff like that? Please, let me know!

Keep reading!

~Olivia.