Notes: Epic AU of Game of Thrones, starting where King Robert realizes that Joffrey and his siblings are not his own children. Bearing no love for his older brother, Stannis, he orders his own Hand of the King to announce his favourate brother as the next King. This moment changes everything, for better or worse.

Chapter 1: Lannisters And their Lies

Robert Baratheon I

He really should have known better than go off gallivanting into the woods with the only two people he trusted most. The third person in tow, a young Lannister boy with golden locks and green eyes, was not excluded into his repertoire of people he trusted with his own life. However, he had to keep up appearances of being the drunken King that his wife hated. No doubt she plans on deposing the Starks as soon as I'm gone, whether it be from a battle wound or backstabbing. King Robert's mood darkened at a sudden idea in his head that the Lannister pageboy might have added something extra to the wine, possibly to throw him off balance and be skewered by a boar's tusk, making his death look more like an accident rather than an assassination.

Thus, he had little choice but to consume the beverage the pageboy was so eager in offering to him. The way the sunlight glinted off those sparkling green eyes, King Robert noticed that the pageboy didn't really have the mannerisms to be an assassin. His limbs trembled too much and the poor lad was more afraid of him than his liege lady, at least right now.

Now, the younger man standing beside the Lannister page, was someone he could trust, at least with his secrets. Lord Renly was ten years his junior years but while he lacked the skills of battle, his wit and charm in courtly matters perhaps won over more people than he himself did when he rebelled against the Mad King Aerys. Though dressed in green robes that had more purpose in a court than out here in the dry woods of their hunt, the young man appeared rather noble and the greenery of his attire brought out the blueness of his eyes and his short, black hair. Robert remembered how long his brother's hair used to be some years back, almost shoulder-length, and his reaction upon seeing his brother after last summer's eve.

"The Storms were fiercer than normal, brother," Renly had told him upon being asked of why he had cut it so short. "I got so tired of having to get the tangles out of it that I had my squire cut it for me."

He did regret in asking Renly to accompany him on his own hunt but he certainly didn't trust Stannis, not when he was involved with that suspicious wench from the land of Asshai. Unfortunately, Renly still hadn't forgiven him for this hunting trip and it was just now that they had separated, albeit briefly, leaving behind angry words and foul tempers.

Unfortunately, the brief time of Renly's absence allowed the unthinkable to happen and Robert found himself being gored in the side, the boar's beady black eyes glaring into his own. Who would have thought that he would meet his end at some animal's behest instead of a woman's scheme? As he plunged his small dirk into the beast's temple, his last sight was of his youngest brother calling out him, genuine concern sparkling out of those dark blue eyes that looked so much like their mother's.

He awoke again, thinking that the hunt might have been a dream, and discovered himself to be in his own bed at Red Keep, accompanied by his trusted Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, Cersei, and her son. Her son. Not his own. Oh yes, Robert was sharper than he was given credit for and his wife's strange behaviour when it concerned her brother, Jaime Lannister, did not go by unnoticed by his eyes or ears. The King found it amusing to watch her act coyly around the Kingsguard member but her children with blonde hair would always wipe that smile off his face. It saddened him greatly for her to demand Ned to give his daughter's wolf to the butcher's knife but there was nothing he could do about it, not without earning the ire of her father. Tywin Lannister, while he was a rich bastard, was not known for his mercies. At that time, he really had thought Joffrey was his own son and so he did what a father did best when protecting his children from the others, even from his Hand's own family.

"Robert, my sweet?" Cersei's voice lacked a wife's warmth for her husband and he inwardly trembled at it. He did not want his last moments with her and that bastard of a son. While she could have ended him with poison, Robert knew that Cersei wasn't that stupid. She could easily have been caught and then her whole family would be viewed as the Kingslayer family again. Jaime would have been so proud of her, Robert thought, of his little sister.

"Get me Ned Stark and my brother, at once," he ordered the Lord Commander, who swiftly bowed his head and left his side to fetch the other two men.

"Father?" Joffrey's voice needled at him and Robert glared at him. Then he said something that frightened Cersei and her son both. The fright gave way to anger and Cersei probably would have done something to him had it not been for the pair's impeccable arrival.

"Leave us now," Robert demanded, voice coming out strong and Kingly despite of his wounds. He watched at how Cersei sneered out of plain disgust for the Hand of the King and Robert knew it wasn't due to Ned's need for the cane. Renly, for his part, stayed quiet, which was odd for his little brother. Renly always had something witty to say about anyone, regardless of rank.

"Paper and ink," he told Ned Stark after giving him a chance to sit at the stool where Joffrey had resided before him. "And Renly, listen to what I have to say very carefully."

-TBC-

A/N: I really couldn't help myself in having started another epic story but after seeing three seasons of A Game of Thrones, I really want to write something that doesn't kill off everyone I loved in the TV show. Now, just click on the little link of 'review' and say something! :D