"The seed is strong!" Inside the Tower of the Hand, the aged Lord of The Eyrie and Hand of the King, Jon Arryn, muttered to himself, pacing back and forth in his study.
On the wall hung a sword crafted for him by his wife, Lysa, which he wore whenever he sat on the iron throne in King's Landing, substituting for King Robert. The blade was engraved with silver wire depicting the long sky over the mountains. The hilt resembled a falcon's head, and the guard was formed by two wings.
"As High as Honor!" Lord Jon looked at the falcon sword, thinking painfully, As High as Honor. He ought to be like a free-flying eagle in the mountain streams, not trapped in various snares in King's Landing.
On Lord Jon's desk lay a massive tome, borrowed from the equally aged Old Man, Grand Maester Pycelle: "The Lineages and Histories of the Great Houses of the Seven Kingdoms (With Descriptions of Many Lords, Ladies, and Their Children)." This voluminous work was indeed dry and tedious.
"I may have discovered the facts and the truth!" Lord Jon thought. Every single bastard of the King had hair as black as night.
This was reality, whether it was Edric, Mia, the one newly born to the prostitute in King's Landing, or those Across the Narrow Sea. Then there was the Queen's behavior: Queen Cersei grew prouder every year. Her nature held the same cruelty as her father. She was a woman audacious enough to commit adultery. Previously, Lord Jon had attributed the murder of those bastards to her temperament; now it seemed it might have been an attempt to destroy evidence.
History also bore witness; no matter how far back Lord Jon traced through the brittle, yellowed pages, gold always yielded to charcoal black. Grand Maester Mellion recorded the last union between a stag and a lion ninety years ago: Tya Lannister married Gerold Baratheon—the third son of his house. Their only Child was an unnamed infant boy who died young, described in Mellion's book as: "Large, hearty eater, and with a full head of black hair." Thirty years before that, a male from House Lannister married a girl from House Baratheon. She bore him three daughters and one son, all of whom had black hair.
"Poor Robert!" Jon inwardly accepted Stannis's suspicion: Queen Cersei Lannister's Children certainly did not flow with the blood of House Baratheon, but were the product of adultery between the Kingslayer and the Queen. "Clever Lann stole the sunlight from the sun and dyed his hair gold. House Lannister truly are descendants of cheats and thieves."
"I should set the realm back on track and resolve this matter! But I cannot strike directly; murdering the Children would damage my reputation, and worse, offend House Lannister! I must think of a good way to send the Kingslayer to the Wall, deal with those Children appropriately, and not harm the vitality of this new Dynasty!"
In the nascent Baratheon Dynasty, Lord Jon had always been responsible for the top-level design. "That damned Lannister woman, and the Kingslayer!" Since the Baratheon Dynasty lacked dragons, its foundation was inherently weaker and needed a fixer like Lord Jon. Whether it was courting House Lannister through marriage with the Westerlands, or reconciling with House Martell to achieve superficial unity, all were part of his plans.
But what Lord Jon had not anticipated was that his brilliant move of marrying into House Lannister now appeared to be the root of chaos! At the time, it had been done to consider the strength of the Westerlands and consolidate the new Dynasty.
While Lord Jon was still deep in troubled thought, his wife, Lysa Tully, entered the study. Lysa had the blue eyes of House Tully, small, severe-looking lips, and a mass of soft, reddish-brown hair that flowed down to her waist.
Time had taken its toll; in her youth, Lysa had been a pretty, slender, full-busted girl, delicate and shy. After marrying Jon Arryn, enduring multiple miscarriages, and finally giving birth to Robert, her figure began to thicken. Although two years younger than her sister Catelyn, Lysa looked ten years older; her body was bloated and slack, and her pale cheeks were heavily powdered.
"Did you call for me, my Lord?" Lysa asked after entering.
"Nothing in particular, but our Sweet Robin is reaching the age. A bit older than he is now, young lords usually become pages, wards, or cupbearers! I intend to send him to Dragonstone to be Lord Stannis's ward!" Lord Jon looked at his wife, trying to show a gentle expression on his face.
Lord Jon was older than his wife's father, Lord Hoster. Even without love, the marriage of an old husband and a young wife inevitably included some pampering. Lady Lysa's influence was quite effective, such as promoting Littlefinger and arranging for the Blackfish.
"You want to take Sweet Robin away from me? You cannot! There are enemies everywhere!" Lysa screamed hysterically. Lysa had miscarried five times—twice at The Eyrie and three times in King's Landing—and had two stillbirths before finally giving birth to one son, Robert Arryn. After the last stillbirth, she had become paranoid, believing enemies were everywhere.
"My dear wife, you must calm down! Sweet Robin is six years old now. He is the heir to The Eyrie, not a Child still nursing at his mother's breast! Everything I do is for the Vale and for him!" Lord Jon said, looking at his wife.
"I knew this all along. You never loved me. You only married me back then for my father's army! I still remember the words my father said. He told me I should thank the heavens that a renowned great Lord was willing to marry a woman who had lost her maidenhead! I hate him, and I hate you!"
"Those things! Those things! Why bring them up again?" Lord Jon's aged face was full of helplessness. Because of Lysa's lack of chastity before marriage and the huge age difference between them, their marriage was devoid of love.
"Enough! My Lady! I was only asking for your opinion!" Lord Jon coaxed softly, then escorted Lady Lysa, who was still full of resentment and muttering curses, out of the room.
The empty room now fell silent, leaving only the aged yet hale Lord Jon.
In this moment, Lord Jon missed his two deceased wives. How wonderful it would be if they were still alive, along with the vigorous, healthy heirs he had loved. Some had died on the battlefield, others at the hands of the Mad King.
"For that cold, thorny iron throne! I need to stand firm, and currently, I can only ally with Stannis!" Lord Jon had not been on good terms with Stannis previously. Sending Robert Arryn to Stannis now was a deeply considered idea by Lord Jon. Among the great Lords across the realm, few could truly be relied upon.
Once the scandal broke, Lord Tywin would turn against King's Landing. As for Winterfell, it was too cold, and Robin's health was truly poor, plus Lysa had always hated her sister. And as for Renly, Lord Jon didn't trust that boy either!
"The realm must return to legitimacy! Since the marriage between the King and Queen is invalid, and the King has no legitimate Children born of the marriage, then the position, by order of succession, belongs to Stannis!" Lord Jon thought. "Stannis is certainly harsh, unreasonable, and little loved. But once his brother's marriage is annulled, he will be the first legitimate heir. Only when Robert has a new heir will Stannis move down the line!"
In a sense, Jon and Stannis were consistent in following their own sense of right.
"Robert's line of succession—once the heir is vacant! How will the ambitious act?" Lord Jon worried again. "The bastards and the Dragon Princess Across the Narrow Sea, little Renly with his witty remarks, and Lord Tywin lurking in Casterly Rock." But these people were secondary; the crucial thing was first handling the succession scandal and the problem of deposing the Queen.
"I must hold on!" Lord Jon thought. "Only by staying healthy can I handle this crisis! Not just for Robert, but also for my own son!"
"Lysa will understand my painstaking efforts once I explain it clearly!" Lord Jon comforted himself.
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