In Kingslanding, Cersei was laying in her bed while her brother Jaime was laying next to her. He had just returned from Dorne after he had successfully gotten their daughter Myrcella back from Sunspear.
Myrcella was able to make it back without dying, since Lady Mellario didn't poison her because her husband was actually preparing to go to war with the Lannisters. And she was also told by an anonymous person to let her live or else she would have died.
Lady Mellario didn't believe it at first, but hearing her husband also talk to the person in secret, she saw the person disappear into nothing. So, fearing for her life, she decided not to poison Myrcella and let her live.
The Sand snakes, which were the Bastard daughters of Oberyn Martell, were not imprisoned since Oberyn is still alive and wasn't killed by Ser Gregor Clegane also known as "the Mountain".
And the Sand Snakes were eager to finally go to war with the Lannisters. Doran Martell was already gathering an army of 50k Dorne soldiers, which his brother Prince Oberyn will lead since he can't walk due to him have a bad case of Gout.
Gout is a form of inflammatory arthritis characterized by recurrent attacks of a red, tender, hot and swollen joint, caused by monosodium urate monohydrate crystals deposition. Pain typically comes on rapidly, reaching maximal intensity in less than 12 hours. The joint at the base of the big toe is affected in about half of cases. It may also result in tophi, kidney stones, or kidney damage.
A/N: Obviously that was a copy and paste from Google so to sum it up basically it can be caused by having elevated levels of uric acid in the blood which when combined with Health problems can cause Gout to attack your joints such as the heels, knees, wrists, and fingers.
In Doran's case, his knees, toes, and hands have been swollen, causing him to not be able to walk. I originally thought he was just paralyzed or something, but found out that it was something called Gout instead, anyway back to the story.
Prince Doran had been promised by Maximus that he was able to heal his body and make him able to walk again. Prince Doran before this was already debating whether he should start a war with the Lannisters, but after looking at the situation of Westeros and being promised that he will be able to walk again, he made his decision.
Now the armies of Dorne were preparing to March off to war against the Lannister army. Many Dornish were glad that they would finally take vengeance against the Lannisters for what happened to Elia.
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While this was going on, a Month had passed and Aerella and Margaery had made it to Winterfell. It only took them a month, since now that the North was a vassal of the Empire they could just sail to White Harbor, which only took 3-4 weeks.
A/N: I did see a comment about since he is an Emperor, his army should be called the Imperial army which is true, so now I will call the Royal Army, the Imperial army and the Royal Guard will be the Imperial Guard.
From White Harbor, they were picked up by an Escort of Imperial Guards mounted on Great Eagles, and were transported to Winterfell. The Imperial Guards had noticed that Aerella's stomach was a little big, indicating that she was pregnant, but Aerella told them to keep quiet since it would be a surprise for his majesty.
They didn't mind keeping it a surprise, but now this simple escort mission had turned into protecting the future prince of the Empire. So while flying towards Winterfell, they flew slower and flew lower as to not cause any discomfort for Lady Aerella.
The Flight took a few minutes longer, but they still arrived at Winterfell safely. The great Eagles landed in the courtyard of the Castle and dismounted safely, letting Aerella and Margaery off the Great Eagle.
Aerella had thanked the Imperial Guards and had followed them to where Maximus was at. Aerella had asked Margaery to give them some alone time, so Margaery went to see Sansa.
Maximus was in his office room signing some papers about the materials that would be transported to the various castles to repair them and make them better at keeping the people warm over the long Winter, which was just starting.
Already outside some snow could be seen on the castle walls as some days it would snow all day and some it wouldn't but as the days went on the snow became more frequent.
While Maximus was signing the papers, there was a knock at the door and a sweet voice was heard from the other side. Maximus already knew who it was and told them to come in.
The Imperial Guard opened the door and Aerella walked in while he closed the door behind her. Maximus was still looking at a paper, so he didn't see Aerella's stomach.
"How was your trip Aerella" Asked Maximus without looking up
Aerella rolled her eyes seeing that he didn't even look at her, so she started walking closer to him, "It was fine besides the fact of the long boat ride"
Still not looking up, Maximus had replied "Well Brenn the Imperial Ship Designer is working on making a Steam Engine that should greatly reduce travelling time between the Continents, so we shouldn't have to wait that long"
By this time, Aerella was standing right next to Maximus, who was looking at another paper. Aerella knew he was working hard to help his new Vassals for the Winter, but she didn't care since that could wait, so while he was looking at the paper she grabbed his hand and put it on her stomach.
Maximus, feeling what his hand was on, had put down the paper and calmly looked at Aerella who turned around and sat on his lap.
She turned her head away from him while pouting, "If you had looked at me sooner you would have found out"
Maximus was still calm since he knew that this was bound to happen since when he was back in his Palace all of them often did it quite a lot.
He started rubbing her stomach, feeling how big it was (Pause) making her mood start to improve "I was too caught up in work I'm sorry" Maximus tried to apologize but Aerella was still a little moody
"I'll make it up to you, I'll do whatever you want how about that" Said Maximus
Aerella had thought about it for a little and decided to accept it "Fine, but you have to hold me like this until I say to stop" Aerella had leaned back as she comfortably sat on Maximus's lap and rested since walking too much would make her legs start to get tired.
Maximus just sat there and let her rest while rubbing her stomach. They hadn't seen each other for months, and now she comes and surprise him with a baby in her stomach.
He sighed since Once the other two find out that Aerella is pregnant they will not let him rest until they also get Pregnant.