The Dragon's Peace - Book One: The Dragon Ascendant
33 parts Complete MatureIn a world where one choice altered the fate of Westeros, Prince Rhaegar Targaryen makes the ultimate sacrifice to save the Seven Kingdoms. When the Mad King Aerys II moves to burn his own family and city, Rhaegar slays his father to stop the madness, sparing King's Landing from wildfire and averting Robert Baratheon's rebellion before it can engulf the realm. In the aftermath of this kinslaying coup, the new King Rhaegar I ushers in a fragile "Dragon's Peace" - a realm not scourged by civil war, yet simmering with uneasy alliances and unhealed wounds. All the Targaryens survive intact - Rhaegar's wife Elia and their children, as well as Viserys and newborn Daenerys - but peace comes at a price: the young king must prove his legitimacy, atone for his father's sins, and unite rival great lords who begrudge the crown he saved.
The Dragon's Peace: Book One chronicles an alternate saga of Westeros had the Dragon Prince claimed the Iron Throne in time to save it. Now King Rhaegar Targaryen seeks to forge alliances through marriage and diplomacy, not fire and blood. In the cold North, House Stark withdraws its banners after Rhaegar's act of mercy, yet old grudges remain - Lyanna Stark's honor and Robert Baratheon's heart have been broken for the sake of the realm's peace. In the South, Lord Tywin Lannister returns to King's Landing to serve as Hand once more, even as his pride quietly rebels against a king who once slighted him. Seven Kingdoms that nearly splintered are bound anew under Rhaegar's rule, but each Great House follows a new, uncharted trajectory that teems with intrigue. The Martells of Dorne bask in the favor of their beloved Elia as queen, the Baratheons smolder with unmet vengeance, and the direwolves of Stark gnash their teeth over debts of honor unpaid.
Fans of Game of Thrones will recognize beloved characters on new paths - and new characters with daunting challenges - in a gripping tale of what might have been, had the Dragon Prince lived to rule.