Chapter 123: Journey to The Tower of Joy
A/N: Hey guys,
Here's today's first chapter.
For every two new pàtreons, I will upload one more chapter the next day.
Thanks for your support.
You can read up to 25 advanced chapters on my pàtreon.
https://www.pàtreon.com/Gnanaa
Enjoy.
------------------------------
Stannis thought for a moment and could only come up with how troublesome it would be to rule the castle and the lands around it. Since Summer Hall had such an important location, Edward would not allow him to take full control of The Castle. To facilitate the trade and commerce in the area, Summer Hall must have to follow the general rules that Edward would put, not to mention it would be the key to the Dornish Marches and Dorne. Plus, Stannis preferred a location near the sea. He wanted to develop a fleet for himself. That was his passion. He was envious of Bruce Caron for leading all the Stormsland's fleets.
"Can I have a castle near the sea?" Asked Stannis as he raised his brows. He wanted to develop his land in all the ways, especially its naval force.
Edward thought for some time while looking at the map around him. Yeah, he could build a new castle by the sea for Stannis, but he had the thought that Stormsland had enough by now, especially after taking Stonedance and Sharp Point in Crownlands. Edward also could not drive a family of its lands just for Stannis. After checking the map for some time, he remembered his new mission for Bruce, and it suddenly came up to him. Why could not he let Stannis take Dragonstone like the canon? And with Edward's help, Stannis could develop it. He would take Dragonstone as part of Stormsland and let Stannis do whatever he wanted there. Stannis would work as Edward's hand, and when the time came; and Robert died, Edward could grow the ambition in Stannis's heart to take Robert's place. Edward would witness some part of the scheme.
Edward did not reply to Stannis but looked in Bruce's direction before returning his sight back to Stannis. It was time to send Bruce for this mission, but he would not send Stannis with him as he would have another task for him to complete.
"How about Dragonstone? I intended to send Bruce to take Dragonstone and Driftmark and subdue House Velaryon when I return from my travel with Ned. It is not fertile land, but if I add it to the trading network, it will start making Gold dragons for you. What do you think? You could always develop it the way you want. Driftmark would be under your command as well if House Velaryon did not bend the knee. They would not need to exist if they did not." Said Edward with a smile while looking at Stannis. If Stannis attacked King's Landing in this life and failed, he would take it from him and prepare it as a gift for Daenerys when the time came. Edward started admiring himself for playing with everyone's life from behind the scenes.
Stannis weighed the pros and cons of this reward and agreed in the end. Although Dragonstone did not have much, it would be far from Edward's full control. He would have the space to develop Dragonstone the way he wanted. And with Edward's help, Dragonstone could flourish. If he had Driftmark as well, he would solve the food problem.
"Now, I have a task for you while Bruce takes Dragonstone. I wanted you to go to Highgarden and gather the Tyrell, Hightower, and Tarly and discuss the conditions written here." Said Edward as he gave Stannis a paper with the conditions he had for the Reach. He had agreed to help Lord Arryn convince the Reach by using Mace Tyrell and Randyll Tarly. Plus, Edward wanted the books in the Citadel. Edward wished that Renly was here at the moment. That bastard was good at using his tongue and would be a much better choice than Stannis in this mission. Although Stannis had changed a lot and was more open to others and spoke a little more, he was still so straightforward. Edward had to send maester Jones and his Steward to help him. With Elbert and Lance still besieging Highgarden, Edward saw that he had put enough pressure on the Reach.
After finishing his discussion and sending everyone to do his task, Edward stopped Bruce and gave him some instructions. He wanted Bruce to kill every Targaryen's loyalist on Dragonstone, but he had to save the two children. He did not ming if Bruce killed Rhaella, as well, in order to free the woman from the pain she had gone through.
After an hour, Edward, Ned, and the other two rode their horsed and took Dorne's direction. Time was the most significant factor in saving Lyanna. Although Edward did not want to rescue her since he did not see any benefit coming to him after saving Lyanna, he still had to show that he cared.
When Edward kissed Lyanna to see if he felt anything about her, he was doing that in order to see if he would have to save her. He could not marry Lyanna anymore after he married Ashara, not to mention she was his brother's betrothed, but if Edward had any feelings for her, he would take her as his mistress and hide her after saving her. But since Edward did not have any feelings for Lyanna and could not marry her anymore, he did not see any reason to save her.
If he wanted to make the north an ally, he already had Ned who respected him, even if his respect had decreased due to his action. Any further development in this relationship would go through a marriage between his son and one of Ned's daughters. Lyanna could not live anymore, or this war would not end here. Edward had the little daughter of Elia to protect and would have to wed her to his son when they were older.
Edward had missed his chance to save Elia Martel as the thought of marrying her to his brother Stannis would have helped him a lot, but still, a different problem would have come with it, so Edward ignored the thought after some thinking.
The result of this long thinking that Edward came up with was the cause for this Rebellion must die so that a new era could start. Even if Lyanna survived this accident, Edward would send men to kill her. The consequences for letting her continue to live would be disastrous to all sides. Not only would Robert want to take her back, but Tywin might use this chance to start another Rebellion if he did not marry his daughter to Robert. If Edward rescued her secretly, even if he did everything he could, Edward would not be able to prevent Lyanna from leaving Storm's End unless he treated her like Rhaegar did. And if the news reached the north in the end, all hill would come to him again this time. So, it was better for Lyanna to die in his eyes. Maybe only Allyria was innocent in all this, but still, he did not have a use for her. The fucken Dayne had sided with the Martel and sent some men to participate in the war, and Edward did not trust them anymore.
Six days later, Edward and the group reached the Tower of Joy. It was finally the time to say farewell to little Lyanna.
At this point, the author started to cry while writing this scene. He started regretting this scenario and started shouting at himself after all this, but that was how the story went. The author wanted to know how G.R.R.Martin killed all those characters without crying in the middle.