Rhaegar looked at the door, and his eldest daughter looked at him with those purple eyes similar to his own.
Rhaenys. She was named after the wife of Aegon the Conqueror.
As the eldest, she should have been named Visenya, but Rhaenys died in Dorne. When his daughter was born with Dornish coloring, he thought, wasn't it fair that Elia's Dornish womb should bring her back?
The King initially believed that the Song of Ice and Fire was about him. But he soon discovered that it wasn't. It was about his children.
Rhaegar always knew that Elia would not give him the three heads of the dragon. The second son was Aegon, in whom his features prevailed. Elia left little of herself in the child. After the birth of his heir, he received the news that Elia could have no more children. He could have forced her, but the resentment of Dorne would have haunted him throughout his reign.
He spent months searching for a place to sow his seed. His Visenya. First, he thought of a Valyrian woman; he even looked at Rhaella. However, the prophecies foretold that Visenya would have black and silver hair. He thought of Baratheon, but there were only sons in that house.
His father's madness began to spread and damage the already fragile foundations of the House of the Dragon. That is why he organized the tournament at Harrenhal, using the flimsy excuse of Lord Whent's daughter's name day.
And that is where he found her. Lyanna Stark. Wild and untamed. The flower of the north. She would give him the last dragon's head. Seduction did not work; she was smitten with him, but she constantly pointed to his wife. Robert, her betrothed, was not mentioned at all.
Was Lyanna's will greater than the will of the prophecy? Of course not, but Rhaegar would do whatever it took if it helped him fulfill his duty. What did the screams of a brat matter compared to destiny? His children were destined for great things. Lyanna would not interfere.
However, his father was there to ruin everything again. He killed the Lord of the North and his heir. Lyanna was important, but she wouldn't start a war, especially when Rhaegar announced his intentions to take her as his second wife. He had already bought off the Septons; The Seven weren't the problem.
But Eddard and Robert's heads were requested by Aerys. And the rebellion began. Rhaegar first took care of Lyanna; he had to secure his seed. Then he spent his time searching for answers in mysticism for the war. House Targaryen would not fall. It would not end. The question was: how to win? He did not find the answer. Robert won battle after battle, and the loyalists began to wonder where their prince was. He had to show up. He left the three king's guards in the tower of joy.
He had to make sure Lyanna didn't escape.
Soon, he found himself at the Trident, looking at the rebel army. The hawk, the stag, and the wolf. They fought well. Better than he expected. The loyalists began to retreat.
Rhaegar faced Robert in single combat. He still remembered his arm burning with every blow from the stag.
He wondered if his younger brother's blows would be as hard. The dragon lost that fight. He fell backward into the river, his sword somewhere underwater. He watched Robert's hammer rise. He was going to die.
Suddenly, he heard horns. Then Tywin Lannister came. The lion flanked the rebels from the side.
Robert made a desperate attempt to kill him, but his hammer struck the river. One of the loyalists knocked him off balance.
Rhaegar didn't remember his name; he was just another one of the many who died in the service of his duty.
Robert fled.
"As long as I live, there will be no peace for your bloodline," Robert's voice echoed like thunder rumbling across the land.
The rebel army was defeated.
Rhaegar won the war as was destined to happen.
The rest was explaining his actions to Lord Stark and Lord Arryn. He told them how Lyanna and he had fled, sharing the blame with her. He apologized for his father and asked for their help. He brought them to their knees and then extended his hand, just as he had learned from Tywin. They had no choice but to accept.
Then he came to make Lyanna sing as he wanted. But when he saw her again, he discovered that she had not brought a Visenya, only a child. Rhaegar's anger was palpable. He thought of naming him Maegor to stigmatize him. His mother, Rhaella, would not allow it, and he ended up calling him Daemon, wanting the lords to think of Blackfyre.
But they ended up making it closer to the Rogue Prince. Rhaenyra's husband, although known as a shameless rebel, was recognized as a great warrior and general.
It was only years later, with a small sacrifice, that he managed to reunite the three heads. He dreamed it. Three dragons are soaring through the skies.
All that remained was to get rid of Myrcella. His mother had exchanged letters, not with Tywin, but with Joanna. Behind his back, they arranged a marriage between their grandchildren. That marriage won the war.
Myrcella had to go. He wasn't ready for that yet. The kingdom was still healing, and the Targaryens held power, not by force, but through alliances.
He sent people in search of dragon eggs. To Essos, to Valyria, although they never returned. Sothoryos and Ulthos were also considered. He obtained two eggs from a Pentoshi merchant, Illyrio Mopatis. The two eggs showed no sign of being anything more than precious stones.
Why couldn't Rhaegar, the father of the three dragon heads, get dragons?
Where he failed, his younger siblings succeeded. Daenerys is a beautiful girl with thick Valyrian blood. And Jaehaerys, with the mind of a maester and the strength of a giant. None of his children was known or mentioned with such effusion. Only Daemon, but he was more wolf than dragon. Rhaegar tried not to think about the people calling Visenya, his youngest daughter, "wolf blood."
His children were perfect. You could see Valyria, the Rhoynar, and the first men in them. The Andalus blood, though not noticeable, still ran through their veins. All seven kingdoms were represented in them.
Why did his siblings, who were not mentioned in the prophecy, overshadow his children so much?
Now he had to come to Harrenhal, or Argentstone, as they wanted to call it now. He wasn't going to beg for the dragons; he was going to negotiate for them. He would offer the hands of his grandchildren or more gold. It didn't matter. He would not leave that castle without the three dragons that his brothers had somehow managed to hatch.
"You say Lyanna stayed talking to Jaehaerys?" the king asked his eldest daughter. He had to kill his wife soon; she had tried to poison him. She was becoming bolder. With Daemon out of his reach, he could no longer threaten her; he would not harm Visenya.
That was worrying. He did not know how much she would dare to reveal.
His brother already held a grudge against him for condemning Viserys. A few howls from the she-wolf, and he could turn against him. Rhaegar could march on Harrenhal with an army. But the lords would see him as greedy.
With dragons, that didn't matter, but he didn't trust himself to raise an army large enough to defeat his brother's thousand men without alerting him. He had heard that some of those men were Unsullied.
An army takes time to assemble and march. Besides, there was no guarantee that other houses would not see this as an opportunity to rebel. The roses were still angry. The trout and the falcon were wounded, although the Tullys, united to the Lannisters by marriage, would not move.
The wolf remained in the cold north, licking his wounds.
"Yes. In front of the weirwood tree in Godswood." His daughter was so Dornish that he sometimes regretted having his children represent the races of Westeros. 'But it's necessary,' he told himself.
"What do the flames say, Melisandre?" The red woman had been a constant support. She understood the value of prophecies and saw Azor Ahai in Aegon.
"The dragons will go to the three heads of the dragon." Her gaze remained fixed on the flames. "It requires a sacrifice. You must give up something you have, only momentarily. The dragon-wolf will ride the copper. The false riders will never achieve their goals," her voice was mesmerizing.
"What could my brother ask of me?" He shook his head. It was only momentary. 'Dragon wolf. That can only be Visenya.'
"What about Aegon and Rhaenys?" he asked the priestess.
"I can see the three dragon heads falling on the Others," was all she said.
Rhaegar hoped that neither Daenerys nor Jaehaerys had managed to join the dragons. He didn't want the stigma of being a Kinslayer.
But if his brothers wanted to usurp the right of his children...
Dragons can have a rider when the previous one dies.