Chapter Twenty-Five (Cregan)

                                    

                                          
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Cregan
            Alana and Baela burst through the doors with nothing but laughter on their faces. Suddenly I'm brought back to the first moment I ever laid my eyes on Alana when she waltzed into my great hall in Winterfell on the arm of my bastard sister. The same crinkle in her eyes when she laughed and smile as bright as the snow in the sunlight. 
            My heart skips a beat but somehow warms and feels at ease.
            Gods my wife is so fucking beautiful that it takes every breath from my lungs and leaves me staring at her in silence like a fool.
            As she walks closer to me she lets go of Baela who goes to stand quietly next to Rhaenyra. Alana comes to my side and holds my hand and wraps around my arm as she smiles up at me. My cheeks burn scarlet and I can feel Harwin and Larys glaring into me with the urge to kill me. 
            Harwin has made it known he does not approve of mine and Alana's marriage and Larys, the spider he is... Has crept into the depths of his brother's mind to control that fact. Telling him how I was once wed before and how it had only been a year since her passing when I met Alana. Harwin claimed it was "not a good look" for me.
            "Alana you shouldn't be here right now." Harwin said with a deep tone. "We're trying to plan a war."
            "And I am apart of this war, am I not?" She retorted and I fought the grin that pulled on my lips. "I'm a representative of the north and as Lady of Winterfell-"
            "We already have a representative of the north. The Warden of the North to be exact. You are not needed here, daughter. Go along with Baela and play dolls or whatever it is you girls do." Harwin argued back and Alana released my arm and strut slowly toward him.
            She put her hands behind her back and tilted her head to the side. "When I was fourteen do you remember when you taught me to blindly throw a dagger at any target?" 
            A smile threatened to express itself onto Larys's face. 
            Harwin exhaled through his nose and nodded. "Yes Alana. I remember. But this-"
            "Has everything to do with me. This is not just about my mother's claim but it is about the safety of this entire family. All of us. We are all exposed more than ever right now and each of us vulnerable in many of different ways. The Greens the target and I want so badly as to throw my dagger at them and hit the bullseye the way you taught me. But I can't do that if you cast me away because you are upset with me over something so small."
            My eyes pan from Alana and her stan of confidence and her father who seems to melt the moment he looks at her. He gives a nod and then pulls her in for a hug. Holding her tightly, muttering something in her ear before looking at me over her shoulder with a death glare again. 
            I suppose I'll have to get used to enduring that from Ser Harwin Strong. 
            Alana kisses his cheek and then rounds the table to the other side where Rhaenyra is standing with Baela. She narrows her eyes at the different pieces on the table. 
            "Aegon is not smart he will throw a tantrum and want Harrenhal back because he will be under the guise that Larys will side with him." She looks to her uncle. "Do I have your word that you will go to the Red Keep and stay there to allow them to believe you've yielded Harrenhal to them?"
            Rhaenyra says nothing as her daughter seems to take the reigns of this council meeting. I gaze around the room and see the Daemon is nowhere to be found. After the snap Jacerys had this morning I can only be certain he's either finding solitude to not kill the boy or he's currently threatening to kill him.