The King of Winters

The Silver Dragon

The sun was high up in the sky and the King of the Seven Kingdoms was unaffected to it. Normal men would have drenched with sweat by now with the layers of clothes the King was wearing. But he was a dragon and dragons were immune to fire and heat. He'd chose to look his best since he was receiving an envoy from the Iron Bank of Braavos to make a new friendship with them in form of business. With the black jerkin sewn from the most delicate of silks and the red threads intertwining, the jerkin could shame even the wealthiest merchants of Essos. The red three headed dragon sewn into the chest seemed very alive, as much as the real dragons his sister had brought alive years before with a help of a strange priestess. 

In the last eleven years the King had been meeting with the important members of the Free Cities and the Great Masters to strengthen the ties of Westeros with them. Ocassionaly the relationship between Westeros and the Free Cities had grown to a certain extent that they could expect each others help in a battle. Rhaegar Targaryen was the first King of Westeros to become such an important ally to the Free Cities and he took such pride in it. Truly the plan had been Lord Tywin's. The old lion had hatched the plan when he was his father's hand. He even took some steps to workout the plan but his father destroyed it. And when Rhaegar took the Iron Throne he immediately brought the buried plans alive and now his Kingdom had stronger ties with almost all of the Free Cities. Even the Iron Bank of Braavos were ready to lend a fortune to him and the meeting today was only because of that. 

But still the plan was not only for foreign friendships. It provided him with a strange kind of protection and provided him an army if the need arises which he thought it would. He was not a fool. Ever since he ran off with Lyanna, the Seven Kingdoms was unrest. The people who used to love him hated him for such a disgusting act and accused him of Elia and her children's murders, though it was fully father work. Some even said that he was the one who killed Elia and their children so that he could marry his wolf bitch, as they liked to call Lyanna. But the truth was far away from that fact and he had no part in the murders of Elia and his children. But no one knew the real reason for why he'd done all that. The Dragon needs three heads and he had his three heads now, with living dragons. 

He knew that most of his own lords were against him like his own cousin Lord Robert Baratheon, Robert's foster father Jon Arryn and Lord Hoster Tully. Both Robert and Jon were against him in the thing with Lords Rickard and Brandon's murders even when it was too the deed of his father. But the massacre of the Starks was the one which truly turned them against him. And Hoster Tully had hated the Targaryens ever since his daughter Catelyn was killed with her husband Brandon by his father. Even the Westerlands were with Robert as well for the sake of his wife Cersei Lannister. Dorne was about to turn against him after the deaths of Elia and their children but Rhaegar wisely calmed them by betrothing his son and heir Aegon to Prince Doran's daughter Arianne Martell, binding the Martells again to him by blood. He'd also promised his sister to Willas Tyrell, Lord Mace's firstborn son as a token of his gratitude for their help in dethroning his father. But that too bound the Tyrells to him. The North were his as the current Lord of Winterfell and the Warden of the North was his second son, Jaeherys Targaryen. That was why he had destroyed House Stark, to give Winterfell to his son as he had a claim for he was the son of Lyanna and there were no other Starks left with Benjen in the Night's Watch. That and also because without House Stark there wouldn't be a rebellion anytime soon. Now the North answered his son even if they didn't liked it. But he knew that soon enough most of his lords would rise up against him with Houses Baratheon, Arryn, Lannister and Tully and so Rhaegar made these strong ties to protect his reign. 

Moreover he had the upperhand against them with the help of the Free Cities and the dragons made them invincible. And with the Starks done and buried they would lose a valuable ally. That's why Rhaegar himself orchestrated the plan after plotting it for months with Lyanna. They both knew of Eddard's constant visits with Jon Arryn and Robert which made sure that they were planning to rid them for good. Lyanna was the one who made the plan and the Starks fell in the trap with the Daynes. They only attended the feast because Lord Aaron was the one who held the feast at Starfall without knowing their true intentions. And Rhaegar personally saw to the deaths of Eddard Stark and his friend Arthur Dayne after the Sword of the Morning chose to fight for his good-brother over his king. He stabbed Arthur through the back and cut down Eddard when he was brought to him bounded. His beautiful wife managed to get away with their only son. But Viserys had caught her in the woods but her son was not with her. And the Lady Ashara Dayne took the location of her son to her grave. Rhaegar had known that boy, a little boy who used to cling to his mother always. Andrew was his name, Andrew Stark. Thinking about the boy was of no use since there is no way a five year old could manage all by himself and no matter what his mother did, the boy would've ended up dead within days.