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CHAPTER NINE. ━━━━━━━━━ A wolf will never be a pet.
K. TOLNOE ━━━━━━━━━
THE DRAGON KING WANTS GOOD NEWS. If not for other reasons, then simply for a change of pace.
The scrolls all around him have brought little of that.
There is one from Lord Connington, about strange movement among the remaining Baratheons. It makes Rhaegar worry that perhaps he had chosen wrong. That mercy was not the answer. He had tried not to be so harsh, on Robert's brothers and the people of the Stormlands, because he had wanted to inspire trust. Because he had wished that, had the situation gone differently, mercy would be shown to his own family.
It seems he will, after all, have to remind people of the words of House Targaryen.
Then there is the one that makes Rhaegar's heart nearly stop. Lord Commander Mormont starts by warning that Benjen Stark has gone missing, and that in itself is already hurtful enough. Lyanna's younger brother is her favourite, and Rhaegar feels he has to keep Benjen safe for her. Not take more from House Stark than he already has.
Somehow it becomes even worse. The Night's Watch attacked by a living dead man. Living dead. Mormont's word choice stick with the king as he reads the message over and over.
During the almost twenty years of his reign, although the situation was never truly easy, it felt more and more under control as time went on. As if Rhaegar had understood the fundamental manner in which he should play his role, the way one learns to read or to fight. The threat beyond the Wall, that he and Maester Aemon have believed in for so long, has been looming in the back of his mind over those years, and he has tried to prepare for it as well as possible.
Yet none of that is the same as having it become a pressing reality.
King or not, how could he tell the people of Westeros that they might be annihilated by a hord of frozen living dead creatures before Winter is through? They would deem him even more mad than his father.
The king is also disturbed by ravens he does not receive, namely from his brother. Viserys has always been troubled but Rhaegar had honestly hoped the prince's time on their ancestral seat with Dany would help him understand why each member of their family is essential, why they need to be cohesive. Dragons do not form packs the way wolves do, but they are stronger together. It is another lost hope.
The only message left is the one with the sigil of House Stark. Rhaegar touches the direwolf reverently. If only Lyanna hadn't turned from him after the war was over. Maybe then he wouldn't feel so lost. He opens it, and is surprised. The good news he has been looking for, suddenly there. The king could expect the arrival of Eddard Stark, and his children. Lyanna would be overjoyed at the news.
