Jaehaerys and his group had ridden along the Gold Road until they reached Deep Den, the settlement of House Lydden. Jaehaerys left the prisoners at the castle and allowed his men to rest. Lord Lydden was friendly, but he seemed tense from the moment Jaehaerys set foot in his house.
He gave the impression of wanting to impress him with stories of his house, such as when they married into the Lannister family. Joffrey Lannister was an Andal, born Lydden, who ultimately married the daughter of King Gerold III Lannister. When King Gerold died without a male heir, Joffrey took the surname Lannister and ruled as the first Andal to be king of Casterly Rock.
Jaehaerys was a little intrigued by the story, but not too surprised.
He did not stay long, declining Lord Lewys Lydden's invitation to a banquet. Casterly Rock was only a few days away. He left the prisoners and asked that they be sent to the Wall, even leaving a few gold coins. They could send a letter to the Wall so that they would be picked up when they came to recruit.
On the day of his departure, he had the misfortune of meeting Stevron Frey and his son Aegon Frey. Stevron had been married to Jayne Lydden, Lord Lewis's aunt. Aegon, despite being almost fifty years old, was unmarried. He was a man with... mental deficiencies, and Jinglebell was the nickname he received from the Freys. Apparently, he was a kind of jester.
He wasn't hilarious at all, and his attempts to make the prince laugh didn't work. He was just a dirty, retarded old man. Although everyone around him seemed to laugh. His humor lay in his intellectual disability.
"Didn't you find that funny, Serena?" he asked the girl riding beside him.
Serena had remained hidden by her guards on the day of the battle with the bandits. She was not entirely happy with her, especially when she heard the men talking about what a great warrior Jaehaerys was. She wanted to see him fighting again.
"No. He stank of urine," the girl complained.
"We'll be at Casterly Rock soon. Your family will be there, including—," the prince interrupted her.
"Joffrey, I know," said the girl.
"I'll keep you away from him. I can order Brandon to be your guard. The Dornish may take orders from Joffrey, but Brandon does not. Even an Unsullied will be able to protect you," the prince gave her options. Once at Casterly Rock, he might not have any chance of protecting her personally from Joffrey, but his men could do it.
"Will you use the information about my brother for your own purposes?" asked the princess, ignoring his words.
"No," replied the prince. He had considered it a possibility, but even then, it was not something that would affect anything beyond tarnishing the Lannister family name and causing a little chaos.
"A pity," said the girl.
"Oh, you wanted me to use it?" Serena didn't want to appear weak at all, so she kept that information to herself, regardless of the problems it would cause.
"I wouldn't mind if you used it," she shrugged, seemingly indifferent to the situation.
"I won't use it, it's not my story to tell," the prince put a hand on the girl's shoulder, and she trembled at his touch.
"If you killed Joffrey..." the girl didn't know how to continue.
"Your father trained Joffrey; he's a jerk, but he's not weak. Honestly, you don't stand a chance against him," he was direct and, perhaps, a little cruel. "Kill him in your grandfather's castle, and you'll be discovered, Kinslayer. Being a woman, I don't know what would happen to you if the silent sisters or death," the prince explained the consequences. "If you want him dead, you can tell your father," he said.
"I don't want him dead," she denied, Jaehaerys feeling a little strange at her words. "I want to kill him myself," she finished in a flat voice.
Jaehaerys nodded; she wasn't the first person who wanted to kill her own brother. Within House Targaryen, there was more than one with that ambition.
The days passed, and soon the Rock came into view. It was not a castle built of stone. No, it was a mountain made into a castle. The Casterlys built it and later became the property of the Lannisters thanks to Lann the Clever.
It was enormous, a mountain after all, with labyrinthine passageways carved out of natural caves.
At its foot lay Lannisport, one of the five cities of Westeros. Jaehaerys hoped that the small settlement outside Argentstone would grow large enough to be considered a city.
In the distance, Jaehaerys could see people on horseback approaching, a sun pierced by a spear visible on a pole.
"Oberyn Martell," he greeted the man when he reached his side. Oberyn passed him by and welcomed his daughter.
Jaehaerys shrugged; he didn't care about the man. They had exchanged barbs and compliments at the king's landing. And with Cersei whispering in his ear, it was unlikely that Oberyn would have much goodwill toward him. Not to mention that he might see Jaehaerys as a threat to Elia Martell's children, Aegon and Rhaenys.
"Father, the prince has greeted you," Serena escaped her father's embrace. Oberyn had hugged her awkwardly on horseback.
"Oh, yes, welcome to Casterly Rock," he said indifferently.
"Oh, Serena, I hope you missed your family," Joffrey said as he approached. Serena stiffened for a moment, even bowing her head in submission.
"I really felt a sharp pain when Grandfather asked me to come, knowing I would have to see your stupid face," the girl said. Joffrey was surprised, and even Oberyn looked at her curiously. Serena's father looked at Jaehaerys with a frown, as if he thought his daughter's change was because of him.
"No one blames you, Serena. We're sure the prince keeps you quite busy," said a dark-haired girl, one of Oberyn's daughters. Jaehaerys didn't recognize which one it was, Nymeria or Tyene. He couldn't quite remember her features. It was easy to identify Obara, who looked at him like prey to be hunted.
Oberyn did not react at all to the fact that his young daughter might be having an affair with the prince. Instead, he looked at the weapon at the prince's horse's side.
"I have no desire to fight, Prince Oberyn," Jaehaerys could sense the prince's desire to test his staff.
Oberyn did not stop looking at him, like a snake assessing whether or not it could eat a lamb in one bite.
"Serena, do you remember my words?" he asked the girl.
"I want Brandon to be my protector," she replied quickly. Jaehaerys noticed how, days ago, she wanted to ignore his request. But she quickly changed her mind after meeting Joffrey. Her fear had subsided, but it reappeared when she saw him.
Brandon waited for no orders from anyone before riding alongside Serena, looking at Joffrey with a grimace of disgust that he tried to hide. Oberyn also said nothing as he assessed Brandon.
"I don't swallow swords either," said the bastard.
"It's a shame to limit yourself to the pleasures this world offers," said the prince, having finished evaluating the men.
Oberyn spoke to the prince on the way to the Rock in a more formal manner, seeking to inquire about his intentions toward his daughter. Afterward, he went to the ArgentStone construction site.
At one point, he began to talk about his time at the Citadel, perhaps seeking to gauge Jaehaerys' reaction. The prince glanced at him sideways at that moment, a hint of disdain crossing his gaze, though he quickly hid it not too shortly for the Red Viper.
"Problems with the Citadel?" Oberyn asked.
"None whatsoever," replied the prince, bored. "Their book collection is quite impressive," he continued.
"It's more than a book collection," said Oberyn, not at all offended, simply seeking to discover more.
"They merely record. They rarely create," Jaehaerys shrugged.
"Do you consider yourself a creator, Jaehaerys?" asked one of Oberyn's daughters, who was not dressed as revealingly as the others.
"Creator? I would say researcher, scientist," he replied.
Although the truth was that he had not done much research, he had spent his time in Westeros more focused on discovering how to implement his knowledge of the modern world. "Are you Sarella Sand?" he asked the woman, who had dark skin and curly hair. Her eyes were black like her father's.
"Yes, my prince," the bastard was surprised that the prince recognized her instead of her more famous sisters. "Have you ever been to Oldtown?" the girl asked.
"I don't plan on going anywhere near that place," Jaehaerys would have described it as a nest of vermin if he could have spoken freely.
The prince considered Casterly Rock to be much safer than the Citadel. The Citadel held secrets that he did not yet know. At Casterly Rock, he would find steel beneath the silk.