The Legacy

Prologue

"Traitor!" The Mad King yells from his throne. "My own daughter a traitor! You will burn, just like that wolf husband of yours." He descends from the Iron Throne toward the limp body before him.

"You will pay for your sins father" a whisper escapes from the beaten woman. Elaena Targaryen raises her head to look at her father one last time. Her silver hair stuck her face and bright violet eyes stare the mad king without fear. "You have lost your way and only in death will justice be served".

"My dear daughter, it is you who has lost her way." The kings kneels before his eldest child and lifts her chin with his finger. "You let that wolf influence you. You are not a dragon." He admires his daughters face one last time. "You are a disgrace." He spat at her.

"My king they have reached the gates! We will soon be overrun!" Jaime Lannister enters the throne room and views the scene in front of him. Elaena Targaryen beaten and bloodily. He instinctively runs to help the woman he was secretly in love with. The woman who was kind of heart, but fierce with a blade in her hand. The woman he watched fall in love with a Stark. "Elaena!" Jaime places her head in his lap. He could feel the life draining from her body with every second.

"Burn her..." The king demanded. "Burn her and find that abomination she calls a child and burn her too...". Aerys turns to face his throne. "BURN THEM ALL!" the mad king began to chant.

"Stop him Jaime." Tears ran down Elaena's face. "Please..." She whispered and her eyes pleading. Jamie knew what he had to do. He placed her head gently on the floor. He arose with tears in his eyes and pain in his heart. His sword was in his hand when he approached the king from behind. He felt the king's body jolt the moment the blade passed through. Warm streaks of blood traveled down his hand and he unsheathed his sword from the mad king. The king collapsed to the floor.

"Burn them all..." Aerys the mad king spoke with his last breath and his final image of this world was of his most beloved daughter.

A gasp shook Jaime out of a trance. He rushed back Elaena's side. "Thank you" a small voice came from her lips. "Promise me, dear friend".

"Anything." Jaime moved the matted hair from her serene face, something he had always wanted to do whenever they were alone.

"Watch over her" Elaena's eyes struggled to stay open. "Let her know how much we loved her." her lips start to quiver. "Do not let her be alone in this world" tears flowed more steadily from her violet eyes.

"I promise." Jaime knew there would never be another chance to tell her how much she means to him. "I love you Elaena, my biggest regret is not telling you sooner. Please don't leave me." The tears fell on his golden cloak and her silver hair.

"Maybe in a different life, your regret would only be a fear, my dear friend." Elaena smiled and let her eyes rest. "May Viserra be fortunate to have you in her life, as I was fortunate to have you in mine". She spoke her last breath with a smile on her face. Jaime held the love of his life in the silent tomb. He didn't bother to look up when Robert Baratheon and Eddard Stark burst in the throne room.

"Lannister! Did you do this?" Robert gestured to the dead king. Ned Stark knelt down by his brother's wife.

"Who did this?" Ned's voice trembled with anger. He loved Elaena like a sister and feared now that both of his sisters were lost.

"The king himself." Jaime met Ned's eyes. "I saw fit to kill him for it." Robert and Ned exchange glances and realized that they weren't the only ones who killed for those they loved. The pain in Jaime's eyes was something the pair knew well. Jaime stood up and sat on the steps to the throne.

"Where is she Jaime?" Robert approached him.

"Lyanna is in the Tower of Joy." Ned turned to leave. "Your niece Viserra is with her." He stopped in his tracks.

"Niece?" Robert asked. Ned looked at Elaena with great sadness.

"Viserra Stark, Daughter of Elaena and Brandon Stark." Jaime met Ned's eyes.

"Who else knows about this?" Robert asked devoid of concern for the orphan child.

"Everyone in this room." Jaime stood up and wiped the king's blood off before sheathing his sword. He walks toward Ned and Robert stops him with one hand.

"The girl, is she a true Targaryen?" The coldness in his voice made Jaime boil inside.

"She is a Stark, Robert. You will not harm a child much less my blood." Ned spoke harshly to his oldest friend.

"Answer Lannister." Jaime had seen the child and helped Elaena conceal her pregnancy and birth. The girl had Targaryen features, but the Stark seed is strong. Given the chance he would've loved this child like his own if it meant being with her mother. His love for Elaena meant love for her daughter as well.

"The girl is a Stark." Ned relaxed at Jaime's words and looked to see Robert relieved.

"I will take my leave." Ned left and Jaime tried to follow.

"Kingslayer! Stay and clean up this mess. I want every last Targaryen dead." Robert barked. Jaime turned to speak up when Ned stopped him. The unspoken communication silenced the young Lannister and followed Robert down the corridor to rid the Red Keep of the ancestral family. Jaime had hoped Ned would return with the girl so that he may see her one last time. He never did and the Stark did everything in his power to shield the girl from King's Landing and it's occupants. Jaime became numb to his feelings of Elaena and her daughter. He lived his life in the King's Guard even though he despised Robert. He turned toward his sister the queen, in attempts to forget the pain. Years had passed, Jaime had convinced himself that had saving the girls life from the Baratheon was enough. With the death of Jon Arryn, Jaime's stomach turned not from his involvement in the death, but they were to ride to Winterfell. He was going to see the child that haunted his dreams for so many years and he feared the worst.