Chapter 26

As Ashara shut the door to Elia's chambers softly, Lily leaned against the stone wall opposite it and slowly slid down until she was in a rather unladylike heap on the floor. Her blue dress pooled around her, resembling something of a jellyfish.

She leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes, wondering for what seemed like the millionth time, what in Merlin's name had happened.

Ashara adopted a similar position next to the door and folded her arms across her chest, her head low.

For a long moment, neither of the girls said anything.

Outside of Harrenhal, the rain had turned into an explosive storm, complete with thunder and lightening and torrential rain. No one dared to venture outside in this weather and even though she knew her magic would keep her dry, Lily had no desire to attempt leaving.

A moment later, Ashara broke the silence with a stream of curses she could only have picked up in Flea Bottom.

Lily wondered absently what Ser Arthur might think of that sort of language.

"That snake!" Ashara hissed through her teeth, sounding very much like a snake herself. "What was he thinking? What was he doing? Everyone saw! And I mean everyone!"

Lily rubbed her eyes, suddenly feeling exhausted. "I know Ash, I was there."

Ashara broke out of her rigidity and suddenly began to pace up and down the hall like a caged animal. "What are we going to do? There isn't any damage control in the world that could fix this. He gave her the –"

"I know Ashara!" Lily snapped, shocking the other girl into silence. She snapped her fingers, casting a wordless muffliato over the hallway. "I know how bad this is. The future queen has been jilted and a….a…child has been elevated."

Somehow Ashara managed her telltale smirk. "Isn't she only a year younger than you?"

Lily sputtered. "That's hardly the point! The prince didn't give me the crown of flowers did he?"

Ashara's face darkened. "What do we do? I don't think his disinterest could have been any louder had he shouted it from the top of Harrenhal."

Lily bristled. She would be remiss in saying that she wasn't boiling from the prince's humiliation of her friend.

She had known that the two of them didn't have a perfect marriage, what relationship was in Westeros after all? But she hadn't known that it was this bad.

At best Rhaegar seemed clueless and at worst he seemed indifferent and apathetic.

But this? This was as bad as Lily had ever seen.

Then she remembered something odd and frowned. Rhaegar hadn't just handed Lyanna the crown of flowers because she hadn't been in the front row. He had had to reach past people in order to place it on her head.

In order to do that, he had had to find her first.

Lily's heart dropped into her feet remembering the prince's contemplative look as he scanned the faces in the crowd. He was searching for her.

A moment later another awful thought occurred to her. Had they met before this tourney? Had he and Lyanna been conversing this entire time?

Lily wasn't even aware that Ashara was talking to her until the other girl snapped her fingers in her face. "Lily, are you listening to me?"

The red head blinked and shook her head. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

Ashara sighed and ran both hands through her unruly dark hair. "I was asking you how are we going to fix this."

Lily shook her head helplessly. "I don't know if we can. It would be bad enough if the prince had made such a gesture privately but to do so in front of practically the entire realm is catastrophic. Dorne has been publicly humiliated and I am certain that the ravens will be flying soon."

"Gods, this is a nightmare," Ashara whispered.

Though the ramifications for the princess's marriage were going to be difficult to say the least, Lily was worried more about the private humiliation that her friend had endured. While she wasn't certain what Elia's true feelings towards the prince were, the expectation for loyalty and respect were things that should have been honestly given and received between them.

For the prince to disrespect Elia in such a way made Lily's blood boil.

"Do you think its possible that we seek an audience with him?" she asked her friend.

"What good would that do?" Ashara asked.

"I don't know but I'd like to give him a piece of my mind all the same," Lily growled. "How dare he pull a stunt like that and think that there won't be consequences?"

"That's the thing," Ashara said in a low voice. "There won't be any consequences. He is the crown prince and the heir to the throne. He can pretty much do anything that he wants and while there will be gossip about it, that is likely all he will suffer. The king will not punish him, he was practically laughing after that affair."

"So what do we do for Elia?" Lily asked in an equally quiet tone. "She's devastated. She was practically numb when we helped her get to bed. Thank god the queen volunteered to stay with Rhaenys and Visenya because she was in no state to care for them."

"Elia is strong," Ashara said vehemently. "She has survived illness and pain and the prince's indifference before. She is unbroken, it is in her house words after all."

"To be unbroken does not mean that one cannot feel hurt," Lily shot back. "She's suffered far more than any princess should have with assassination attempts, difficult pregnancies and being the brunt of court gossip. When is enough going to be enough?"

To that Ashara had no answer and the two of them lapsed into silence as they sat alone in the hallway.

"There's not going to be a feast tonight is there?" Lily asked suddenly.

Ashara laughed darkly. "What do you think? A winner has been crowned and this entire tourney was meant to celebrate the birth of the new princess. Of course there is going to be a feast."

"Well, its one that I will not be present at," Lily ground out as she got to her feet. "I have no desire to dress up and act like what I just saw didn't happen, especially if the prince is going to be there acting charming and smiling as if he didn't break the heart of my friend. The whole thing makes me sick to my stomach."

"Where are you going?" Ashara asked as Lily strode off down the hall in the opposite direction.

"To get some air," the red head called back.

She had no concerns about her friend's safety that night. The members of the Kingsguard were keeping an eye on the hallways to the royal rooms. Elia and the rest of the royal family would be safe enough for now.

At the moment, she needed to get outside of the keep before her head exploded.

Lily nodded once to the guards as she passed them and noted the tightened jaw of Prince Lewyn Martell as she did so.

He was the uncle of the princess and likely had reacted in a similar fashion when he saw the end of the tourney earlier. Although he would have had to do so privately.

Lily rounded the corner away from the royal set of rooms and made her way up a set of stone stairs onto a separate landing where there weren't any chambers present.

Her goal was to go as high as possible to ensure that she wouldn't see anyone and have to make up an excuse to hide.

Her mind was so far away from her body however that she ended up climbing several flights of stairs into an utterly disused section of the keep, one where likely few had been in years.

There were sections in the stone wall that had been torn out, likely by the claws of the dragons from long ago. Parts of the floor were wet as the rain slanted in through the cracks but the long ago burn marks of dragon fire could still be seen on the wall and the floor.

If there had once been tapestries they were gone now and Lily gingerly stepped over and around puddles as she walked down the corridor.

Overhead, a crack of thunder sounded, loud and insistent and she flinched unconsciously.

Tonight would certainly not be the night for a feast.

At the end of the corridor, the passage opened up completely onto a stone bridge that had been broken in half in the assault on the keep from long ago.

Lily was reminded of the bridge she had met Lyanna on only days earlier and flinched again.

The bridge itself was mostly blocked from the rain by yet another bridge from above, one that hadn't been damaged by dragons.

The stone of the bridge was dry and Lily let out a small sigh, thinking it a good place to hide for a while. No one would come looking for her up here.

Just then a hulking shadow ahead of her detached itself from the wall and filled up the opening onto the bridge.

Lily cursed quietly, fingers instinctively reaching for the wand that she knew wasn't there. Years of habit had rendered that movement an almost unforgettable thing.

And yet when the shadow didn't move towards her, or didn't move at all, Lily wondered if the figure had seen her.

She took a step nearer and blinked in surprise when she recognized the colors of black and yellow, the same garments that had been worn earlier today at the tourney.

She frowned. "Baratheon? Is that you?"

The tall figure turned at the sound of the name and Lily recognized the muscled features and dark good looks of the Storm Lord right away.

Only this time, the expression on his face was blacker that his house colors. His tunic and doublet were a bit wrinkled and the collar had been wrenched open as if he had been tugging at it.

In his left hand was a half empty wine bottle and judging from the slight redness in his cheeks, the other half was affecting him by now.

For a moment, Lily wasn't sure whether to be disgusted or sad. After a moment she settled on the latter. He had been humiliated just as much as Elia was.

What would her reaction have been if the person she was promised to had accepted the favors of a married individual? Or given them?

What if James had done as Rhaegar had? Or Elbert?

Suddenly Lily felt sick.

She likely might have reacted in a similar way much as she would not have wanted to.

He squinted at her. "Tully? What are you doing here?"

She sighed and walked over to him, holding out her hand for the bottle. He raised an eyebrow but handed it over and she quickly threw back a swallow, grimacing at the burning in her throat as it went down.

"I wanted to get away from the nonsense," she said tightly. "Everyone's going to be talking and for once I don't want to hear any of it."

Robert's only response to that was to issue a grunt and the pair of them turned towards the stone bridge and the rain that was coming down on either side of it.

Surprisingly it was Robert that spoke after a few minutes. "I never liked him."

Lily blinked and turned to him. "The prince?"

He nodded and took another swig from the bottle. "The fool prances around as if he owns everything he lays eyes on and claims everything he can see. Well not this time."

Lily didn't have anything to say to that but a part of her wanted to comfort Robert.

"And she just sat there and took it," the Storm Lord went on. He was surprising Lily with how much he was speaking. The alcohol must have been affecting him more than either of them realized. "She just sat there with that bloody smile on her face and accepted his gifts…as if I weren't sitting next to her….as if I didn't even exist."

Lily swallowed hard and told herself that it was the alcohol talking. A completely sober Robert Baratheon would never have said this much to anyone.

Maybe to Ned, but certainly not to her.

She fumbled for words, wishing there was something that she could say to make him feel better but then she remembered Elia's teary eyes and clammy hands as she and Ashara had tucked her into bed.

No, nothing she could say would make anyone feel better about what had happened.

"Have you ever thought that maybe this isn't a good idea," she said finally, wondering absently where she was going with this.

Robert frowned at her. "With what?"

"I don't know, marriage," she said reaching for the bottle of wine again.

He wordlessly handed it over. "Everyone in this land has to marry Tully. You can't escape it. I thought I might win by marrying someone I at least liked."

But do you? She wanted to ask. He certainly wasn't happy today. She didn't dare ask such a question though. She didn't know him well enough for that and it was none of her business anyway.

The alcohol was no less pleasant going down the second time and she gripped the neck of the bottle in her fist.

She needed to be careful, it was doubtful that anyone would come up here but on the off chance that they were seen, the betrothed daughter of Hoster Tully and the betrothed Robert Baratheon drinking wine together on an abandoned bridge in Harrenhal was sure to bring about gossip.

And there had been quite enough of that for one day.

"And now?" she asked, settling for a question that was less pointed but still somewhat dangerous.

He shook his head and threw back another swallow of the wine. "Now I don't know. Maybe I never did."

Lily blinked in surprise and opened her mouth to ask more questions but was interrupted when the Storm Lord stepped out onto the broken bridge.

Water was pouring over the sides of the bridges above them, creating a curtain of water between both projections of stone and mildly obscuring the overall vision of Harrenhal.

Still however, the air was cool between those waterfalls and it was with some reluctance that Lily followed Robert out onto the bridge.

She wasn't even sure why she was doing it.

The pair stood side by side looking out at the world behind the water's opaque curtain and not saying anything for a moment.

"It all seems so silly from up here," the red head murmured. "When you look at things from a distance, the whole world seems small and nothing else matters anymore, politics, betrothals none of it."

Robert chuckled darkly and gripped the neck of the wine bottle in his hand. "Aye, but the minute we go back downstairs we'll be immersed in it again. Gods I hate all of it."

Lily felt a question burning on her lips and heard herself speaking the words before she could stop them. "What will you do?"

Robert shook his head again. "I don't know. What can I do? It's not as if I can rip the flowers from her head and burn them. She might hate me for that."

"You wouldn't be wrong for wanting to do that," Lily said thoughtfully. "But you're right, she wouldn't thank you for it. Although I don't know why, she shouldn't want them."

Robert stared stonily out over Harrenhal and she wondered for a moment what was going on in his head. "There's many things I'd like to burn but that crown of flowers is the least of them."

Lily cocked her head to one side, fighting the sudden urge to laugh. Robert had always been a zero to one hundred sort of person in personality. Moderation didn't seem to be the sort of thing that he understood.

"Accepting them in the first place was beyond foolish," she said darkly and Robert growled something under his breath that she didn't quite catch.

She sighed and turned to him, sensing she had spent enough time up here to be missed if others were searching for her. "Look, I can't tell you what to do but if you should get an opportunity to talk about what happened with her, I would."

She turned away but stopped when Robert called out to her again. "What good would that do?"

Lily turned back and walked up to him again. "It would be for your benefit as much as hers. Maybe ask her why she accepted them, or why she seemed happy doing so. If you're trying to understand her, maybe attempt to understand those things first. It might help."

Then feeling as if she had said enough for one day, Lily turned about and strode off the bridge.

She could still feel Robert's eyes on her back as she walked away.

Ω

Lily had no sooner reached the doors of her chambers when the sound of pounding feet met her ears.

"Lily!"

The red head looked down the hall to see Ed hurrying in her direction, a look of worry on his face. She frowned and turned toward him. "Is something wrong Ed?"

He skidded to a stop in front of her, panting slightly. "It's Lysa, I think she's sick."

Lily dropped her hands from the door handles and turned fully to her brother, "How do you know?"

Ed wrung his hands for a moment, looking severely unnerved. "She wasn't feeling well during the tourney but came anyway and as soon as it ended, she ran back to the keep as fast as possible. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought demons from the Seven Hells were on her tail. I came back to our rooms and passed her door and it was open slightly. I was about to knock and see if she was alright when I thought I heard the sounds of….retching."

Lily reared back slightly, a little alarmed by what she was hearing.

What else? What else can happen today?

She reached out and gripped her brother by the shoulders. "You didn't tell anyone else did you?"

He shook his head, looking even more alarmed than he had a few minutes ago. "No, I came straight here to you."

The red head nodded. "Good, go back to your room and I'll check on her. I'm sure she's fine. She might have just eaten some bad food at breakfast."

Ed still looked worried. "You think so?"

Lily nodded. "It's probably nothing, but I'll check in to make sure. Go on now."

Ed nodded and hurried on down the hall to his own rooms that were around the corner.

As soon as he was out of sight, Lily lifted her skirts and ran for Lysa's room. Most of her calm façade had been for the sake of her brother because she didn't want him to see how worried she truly was.

Lysa had never been sick before and to be so now was indeed concerning.

I hope it's nothing serious. Food poisoning, please let it be food poisoning.

As she neared the door to Lysa's chambers, Lily noted that the door was indeed slightly ajar and she gently pushed it open as she stepped inside. "Lysa? Are you alright? Ed told me that you weren't feeling well."

There was a muffled sound from the latrine and Lily grimaced a bit before shutting the door gently behind her. "Lysa?"

A muffled groan followed and Lily muttered a curse and locked the door with magic so that without a doubt no one would come in.

She scurried over to the doorway of the lavatory and grimaced when she saw her sister bent over the porcelain bowl and attempting to hold her hair back at the same time. "Oh Lysa."

She moved to her sister's other side and took her hair in one hand while she rubbed her back with the other. "It's alright."

A few more dry heaves later and it appeared that the older girl was finished but what happened next surprised Lily even more.

The silence that followed the other girl voiding her stomach was soon filled with soft wailing cries that alarmed Lily even more than her sister's sickness.

Still however, she didn't ask questions and hurried over to the wash basin, snagging a cloth on her way. She quickly heated the water with magic and dipped the cloth in before wringing it out.

Lysa was still crying softly as her sister wiped her face and quickly tied back her hair so it was out of the way.

Only when she seemed a bit more calm did Lily lead with the pounding of her heart and ask a question that she was afraid to know the answer to. "Lysa what's going on? You've never been sick before, was it just something you ate?"

The tears still continued to fall as her older sister shook her head and continued to dab at her face with the cloth.

The silence was as thunderous as the pounding of Lily' own heart as her mind raced through the possibilities of what could be wrong. And it finally landed on one that was altogether too terrible to consider. "Lysa please tell me that – "

But her sister had begun to speak. "He came to me just after you got back from the capital. I think he was drunk at the time, I'm not really sure. He kept muttering something about you dancing with Stark and what an arrogant ponce he thought he was. I don't remember much of it. All I could think of was, finally…finally….he had noticed me. Finally he showed some interest. I was so happy."

Lily suddenly felt the need to sit down because she worried if she stood any longer her legs might give out.

The more her sister spoke, the more it seemed as if the voice was coming out of a long tunnel, echoing somewhere from far away, coming from some other voice.

Lily's breath sounded loud in her ears and she didn't think she could speak even if she wanted to.

Her older sister turned to her with eyes that were pleading, perhaps seeking assurance or forgiveness. "I thought he loved me Lily…I truly thought he finally did."

Lily gripped the edge of the tub she was leaning against, suddenly feeling as if she were going to be sick herself.

"And then in the morning…." Lysa was still speaking, "in the morning he wouldn't even look at me. He avoided me for days and wouldn't even be in the same room with me, I was so hurt and confused.

"I tried to talk to him but he wouldn't get within even five feet of me….as if I had some sort of disease."

Lily bristled at her child hood friend's carelessness.

"And then after you left for Harrenhal…..he left too. He didn't even tell me he was leaving, he just got on his horse one day and never came back. Father said he left him a letter thanking him for everything and that he was going back to the Vale."

Lysa's throat constricted and she buried her face in the damp cloth. "I was heartbroken…I didn't know what to do….and then I began feeling ill. It came and went every few days but it was so irregular that I didn't think too much of it. But then….then my moon blood didn't come."

All of a sudden Lily felt very small and cold, as if she had been suddenly turned to ice.

"Lysa," she whispered barely moving her lips. "Please tell me that…..are you saying that….

Her older sister looked up at her with eyes that were glassy with tears and desperation. "I don't know what else it could be. I'm pregnant Lily….and I don't know what to do."

Ω

The storm lasted all night, thankfully throwing a damper on anyone's celebratory ambitions. The violent cracks and booms of thunder along with the flashes of lighting, cast an amber glow on the floors and rushed everyone into their own chambers in the hopes of waiting out the storm.

And that was fine by Lily.

After Lysa's tearful confession, little had been said and Lily had acutely felt her own uselessness. Truthfully, she hadn't known what to say at all.

If Lysa had given such a statement in the English world of magic that she had grown up in, it might have evoked some gossip. But here?

Here, such a truth would ruin her.

Somehow Lily had managed to numbly mumble a promise about the two of them coming up with a plan before they all left Harrenhal.

She had helped Lysa change and got her into bed, although how she had managed such a feat with her head lost in a fog was still a mystery to her.

And now the bloody storm was affecting her ability to sleep!

Lily let out a low growl and rolled over for the millionth time so she could punch her pillow into submission.

It was no use and she slapped her hands down over her eyes and groaned aloud again.

If she thought long and hard about it, Lily realized that a small guilty part of her was furious with Lysa for getting herself into this mess. Surely she must have understood the consequences of being with someone other than her betrothed.

But then that part was immediately drowned out by a much larger part that wanted to wring Petyr's neck for making such a stupid decision and then running without even speaking to her sister. Surely his guilt in this was far greater than hers.

When did I become responsible for attempting to solve everyone's problems?!

Finding sleep useless, Lily threw back her blanket and sat up. With a flick of her wrist, she summoned her robe from across the room and wrapped it about herself haphazardly. I may as well be up and active for how pathetic I'm doing at sleeping.

Feeding her feet into her fleece lined slippers, Lily quickly cast a disillusionment charm and left her room soundlessly.

She doubted that anyone was about at this time of the night but in case she happened to run into someone, the charm would ensure that no questions were asked.

Right now she had far too many questions of her own.

Other than the torches that lined the hallway, there was little light, save for the occasional flash of lighting from the windows because of the storm.

Even though she was disguised, Lily's footsteps sounded loud to her and she concentrated on walking on the balls of her feet.

Her meandering path took her down several flights of stairs this time rather than up and she didn't pause in her meandering stride until she had reached the ground floor of the keep where the large hall and library were located.

Naturally the first was empty given the time of night that it was but just as Lily was about to go into the library, thinking it might be a quiet place to be alone, she noticed that the door was slightly ajar and there was a faint light coming from somewhere within.

She frowned and pushed on the door slightly before steeling inside, before the hinges could creak and give her away.

She had to admit that the Harrenhal library was impressive. The Whents had done a remarkable job restoring the ground level and the library itself was like a dome, easily visible from all areas of the great keep.

The book shelves were at least fifteen feet high and completely full of tomes from the bottom to the top.

There was a sliding ladder on wheels that occupied each shelf so a person might slide up and down its length in order to find the manuscript it needed. And though the book shelves framed the outer edges of the library, there were long rows of tables and chairs set up for open study and reading.

Lily smiled absently, reminded somewhat of the way the Hogwarts library had been laid out. She felt a pang of nostalgia and loneliness, remembering the simpler days before the war, before marriage before a prophecy and a death, before reincarnation.

Merlin, it was so simple being a child for the first time. I didn't have so many memories, or so many cares. My life consisted of school, my housemates and that was it. There was very little politics unless they were house politics and there was never the fear of putting one toe out of line for fear of ruin. If Lysa had lived in my world, sure there would have been talk, people would have whispered. But that would have been it….here women are ruined forever.

The red head advanced more slowly into the library, letting her thoughts take over. Did Lysa make a poor decision? Certainly. But she didn't go looking for Petyr….from the sounds of it he was drunk and looking for a distraction. She was just the first one.

Lily cursed under her breath and fought the urge to put her fist through one of the books on the shelves. Her sister was more than a distraction!

I have half a mind to leave here immediately and ride for the Fingers so I can wring his scrawny neck!

All of a sudden she heard a thump from somewhere nearby and flinched, ducking behind the nearest bookshelf.

A moment of silence passed and Lily took a slow breath, wondering if she had been hearing things.

And then a familiar voice spoke, causing her to flinch again.

"Perhaps you should turn in your grace," said a familiar voice. "The hour is now very late."

What followed this suggestion was an absent grunt as well as the sound of pages flipping.

"Your grace?"

"In a moment Arthur, it has to be in here somewhere."

Lily's eyes widened and she pressed her fist against her mouth before she remembered that they couldn't hear her.

What is the prince doing here in the library this late?!

A moment later, a vicious thought followed. Hopefully ruminating on the absolute fool he made of himself and Elia today and is seeking the more grim form of penance!

And then she realized she would get no answers to why the first of her two most hated people in the keep was awake at this hour if she continued hiding behind the bookshelf.

Slowly, she peeked around the corner.

Several feet away, the familiar white head of Rhaegar Targaryen was bent over a book while he was sitting at one of the library's tables. Next to the table a small bronze brazier had been lit, illuminating the space and Ser Arthur, still in full armor, was standing on the other side of the table

The prince's face was so close to the book he was reading that his nose might have touched the page. Sitting next to that book was an enormous stack of tomes, presumably that he had already looked through.

Lily frowned as she watched them. What is he up to?

The prince sighed finally and ran a hand through his hair, making even more unruly. He had looked handsome, self assured and well put together earlier, now he looked harried, frustrated and tired.

Lily felt a twinge of satisfaction. Good.

"It's not here Arthur," the prince said finally. "Harrenhal has one of the most ancient libraries in Westeros, one of the few rooms that was untouched by dragon fire. I thought for sure that what I was looking for would be here."

And just what is it that you should be seeking other than forgiveness from your wife who you publicly scorned today?!

Ser Arthur sighed in a long suffering manner. "Your grace, I do not know what it is that you think you will find in old tomes on the riverlands. The ideas of prophecy are hardly self explanatory."

Lily frowned. Prophecy?

Rhaegar slammed the book shut and glowered at it as if it had done him a personal wrong. "Than this was all a waste of time and I should have gone to the source for answers from the beginning. The Song of Ice and Fire will be sung Arthur and I can either play a role in that great fate of the world or I will be left behind like so many others."

Lily was now thoroughly confused. What in Merlin's name is he talking about?

"Your grace this prophecy has seen attempted interpretation for centuries now," Arthur said sounding somewhat more forceful than his usual mild manner.

"What makes you think you now have the key to solving it?"

"Because the timeline fits Arthur," the prince said incessantly. He stabbed his finger into the book as if to place his finger upon an imaginary world or doctrine.

"The timeline has fit at no other period in history other than this one. The words of the wood witch to my grandfather are of inestimable value. She knew the treasure that would come through my line. All great magic users did. And he will too."

He stood up then and gathered the books in his arms. "Clarity is all I seek Arthur and once I complete this journey, it is clarity that I will have."

The prince then marched imperiously from the library causing the knight behind him to sigh, take up the torch and follow after.

Only when the lights in the library had gone out completely and Lily was forced to rely on her magic for illumination, did she emerge from behind the bookcase.

"He's gone mad," she whispered to herself. "All of this reading, all of this muttering and this dreaming and scheming….it's all been because of a prophecy?"

And then all of a sudden she felt as if she were standing at the end of a long tunnel and a voice was echoing through it towards her.

"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches…born to those who have thrive defied him, born as the seventh month dies…and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not…and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives….."

The words of the seer faded away in Lily's memory but left behind a haunting echo reminding her of her own connection to a sinister prophecy and how such a thing had ended her first life.

She clenched her fists and the lumos charm that glowed about them grew even brighter. I am now wholly convinced that prophecies are not things that simply happen to us….they come as a result of our will. Rhaegar is trying to fulfill some type of prophecy….but what?

She glanced back at the stack of books around her and narrowed her eyes. Prophecies were nebulous things, ill defined and ambiguous. So when someone claimed to have interpreted a prophecy with an irrefutable fact, Lily had often held that person up to intense scrutiny.

Everything that Rhaegar had spouted was a major red flag to her. He almost sounded like a fanatic because his belief was so intense.

To believe in a prophecy is to deny the existence of some form of human choice, she thought to herself. And when someone believes that, they are treading on very dangerous ground because they are absolving themselves from all responsibility. Rhaegar has already absolved himself from honor and respect to his wife today….what else will he absolve himself from?

Ω

Why in Merlin's name does Lysa wish to meet at the crack of dawn? Lily wondered fumingly. She did a poor job of hiding a yawn as she hurried towards her sister's rooms, trying her best to keep quiet.

After coming across the prince's bizarre meanderings in the library the night before, Lily had returned to her rooms and slept poorly, tossing and turning as the sound of echoing laughter, green flashes and screams bounced around in her unconscious mind.

She had finally awakened in a cold sweat to find that a note had been pushed under her door from Lysa asking to speak to her as soon as possible.

She had come up with no answers to her sister's dilemma and now in a few days all parties were to begin leaving with the conclusion of the tourney.

They were running out of time.

This had better be good, she groused to herself as she raised a hand to knock on her sister's door.

Before she had even laid hand to wood however, the door swung inward to reveal a Lysa that looked even worse than Lily did.

Lily blinked as she took in her sister's haggard appearance and rumpled clothing. There were dark circles under her eyes and her normally fair complexion now resembled alabaster. Her hair was hanging loose and unruly down her back and she was still in her bed clothes from the night before though it seemed unlikely that she had slept.

However it was the blazing in her eyes that looked suspiciously like hope….that scared Lily the most.

"Lysa," she said cautiously, "what is it?"

In response, her older sister reached out to take her hand and tugged her into the room before shutting the door behind her.

The room was just as messy as Lysa's appearance but she appeared not to notice as she led Lily to the edge of an unmade bed.

Only when they had sat down did the older girl begin to speak.

"Lily," she said softly in a voice that was hoarse. "I have been doing a lot of thinking about my….situation and I have reached a conclusion that is not easy, but then no conclusion would be easy in this case."

All Lily could do at this point was nod.

"However," Lysa continued. "After you left yesterday I laid awake doing some soul searching and I realized a few things."

"And those are?" Lily asked warily.

Her sister fixed her with a look that was almost steely. "I remembered that what I want matters. For years I have always done what people told me to do, people with more power than I, people who claimed to know better than I and all it got me was immeasurable amounts of happiness. So I have decided to do something that I know is going to make me happy."

She paused here and took a deep breath as if she were bracing herself to reveal the truth. And when she did, it wasn't exactly what Lily was expecting.

"I want this baby Lily," Lysa said, her voice dropping so low that the younger red head could barely hear her. "I've been doing a lot of thinking and I know what a disgrace and a scandal this will be upon our house. But Cat's marriage is already secure and it cannot be broken without major offense being suffered. My marriage to Jaime Lannister still has yet to be announced publicly and now it never will."

Lily swallowed hard, suddenly recognizing the all too familiar look of hope that was building on her sister's face and curled her hands into fists. "And what do you intend to do instead Lysa?"

Her sister nodded to the writing desk in the corner of the room. "I am going to write to Petyr, tell him the truth and that he must return in order to claim his child. He will not refuse me this time, I know it. And then once the letter has been sent, I will go to father and tell him the truth, that I am carrying Petyr's child, that I wish to marry Petyr so a scandal will be somewhat avoided."

A million things were on the tip of Lily's tongue, begging to be said but somehow she held them back.

"And what if he doesn't agree to that?" she asked finally.

Lysa's chin rose defiantly. "It doesn't matter what he wants. I am tired of living a lie and I will not allow him to force me to marry Jaime Lannister against my will. I will ruin my own marriage prospects if I have to in order to marry Petyr."

Lily's mouth was suddenly very dry. "Lysa that's very….daring. Are you sure you want to take that risk? Suppose Petyr doesn't come back?"

Lysa's eyes narrowed. "He will for this child Lily. This isn't just about my foolish childhood love anymore. This is about another life and I will not see this babe be raised as a bastard."

The way she placed her hand upon her stomach was an action that Lily recognized as she had done it many times when she was pregnant with Harry. It was an act of protection, and of love.

And that was something she understood all too well. She knew then that nothing she could say would talk her sister out of this plan.

A part of her was afraid for her sister. Their father was known to be ruthless when it came to getting what he wanted.

Another part of her was very proud. Lysa had always been seen as the frail and meek sister and the fact that she was finding her own voice and exercising her own will in all of this was something to be admired. She just hoped that it didn't all backfire on her.

So she took a deep breath and decided to offer a show of solidarity. "Do you want me to go with you when you tell him?"

Lysa looked like she was wavering a moment before she shook her head. "No. This is my battle and I need to fight it alone. You've tried so hard to protect me and Ed and Axel and I think it's time I start looking after myself. But I do need to thank you for giving me courage, I never would have been able to work up the nerve to do this if it hadn't been for you."

And then she reached out and hugged Lily, both girls holding on tight, both desperately hoping against hope that what they wished for was not in vain.

Ω

And there we are. In the next chapter, we see the fallout of Lysa's pregnancy, Lily returns to the capital and the rumblings of the rebellion begin.

As a side note, I have recently published the book I am writing on Wattpad, hoping it will gain some more traction and followers. It would mean the absolute world to me if you guys would head over there and check it out. It's entitled, Memoria. I will leave the link right here.

story/224704026-memoria

Also, if you have not subscribed to my booktube channel yet, the channel name is Kaetie Mac. I would love it if you guys would head on over there, check out the channel, hit like and subscribe, all that jazz. I will be back with another chapter soon, I hope you liked this one, don't forget to review!