Chapter Text
Cersei Lannister I: Queen of the Seven Kingdoms
Sixth Moon, 294 AC
In all of their years of marriage, Cersei had never seen Robert so…
Excited.
It was disturbing, truth be told.
She had heard many rumors of Robert Baratheon before the Rebellion, and it was to her dismay that she found out first-hand that almost all of them were true.
He had bastards aplenty, disregarded court etiquette, and leered at every women in sight, but he was also one of the most fearsome warriors that she had ever seen, perhaps even better than her other half, Jaime.
However, even within her mind, Cersei make sure to place particular emphasis on the use of the word was as she looked at her husband once more.
Once the Demon of the Trident that no man could bare blood from, even the greatest warriors could fall to something, and for him, it had been to drink and time.
Even still, it was unusual to say the least to see her husband complete sober. The only times she has seen such was when the Red Keep had received news that Lannisport had burned and that the Ironborn has rebelled, but he had been long since back to his usual ways after the Ironborn Rebellion had been crushed.
Had another kingdom rebelled?
Cersei didn’t think so.
The Westerlands, Stormlands, Vale, Riverlands, and the North were all firmly behind her husband and her as King and Queen, the Crownlands had long abided to her husband’s rule, the Reach were careful to maintain themselves after Robert’s Reblleion, the Iron Islands had been firmly crushed, and Dorne would never dare to strike from beyond their Kingdom.
Even if there had been a rebellion, it still wouldn’t explain why Robert was so… giddy.
For the first time in his life, he had even gone out of his way to have their children brought to him.
Perhaps that was why. It was nearing Joffrey’s two-and-ten nameday, but why now? To her dismay, Robert had not once shown even the slightest bit of interest in their son, so why would he do so now?
Why were they traversing the secret passages of the Red Keep as if they were servants? Why had he temporarily dismissed the members of the Kingsguard to leave their sides?
Where was he taking them?
Cersei felt her breath hitch.
Had he found out the truth?
Observing her husbands jolly stroll, Cersei slightly shook her head at the back of the line.
Her husband had never been able to control his emotions, and if he had truly found out that their children was in fact not his, no force on Planetos would be able to stop him.
What in the name of the Seven could excite her husband so much that he would voluntarily forego his drink and whores and talk with his children?
Had she been asked such a question the previous day, Cersei would have scoffed at the absurd question but nonetheless replied that there was nothing that could do such a thing, but evidently, she was wrong.
Seeing a light at the end of the passage they were in, Cersei squinted her eyes, the light being too bright for her eyes after spending several minutes in the dark underbelly of the Red Keep, and she heard her children softly muttering about the same.
As her eyes steadily began to adapt to the presence of the sun once more, she suddenly froze as she noticed an armored figure on the beach waiting for them, leading her to shout, “INTRUDER! GUARDS! GUARDS!” having temporarily forgotten that her husband had forgone his trusted Kingsguard, including her brother.
Robert spun, a stern look in his eyes, “Enough, woman! I summoned him here!”
Cersei reeled backwards, “Who in the Seven Hells is he, and why did you dismiss our Kingsguard from protecting us?”
Robert chuckled, his large stomach bouncing as he did so, “If they attacked, I didn’t want to find seven new members of my Kingsguard.”
As Robert turned back to the mysterious male figure who had since turned to look at them, Cersei could barely repress a scowl. Their Kingsguard not only had her other half, but it also had the Ser Barristan, who even she had to admit was still a formidable swordsman even in his old age, as well as five others that were among the best swords in the Seven Kingdoms, and her drunkard of a husband truly believed that one man could take them all?
“Perseus!” Her husband shouted at the figure mere feet away from him. “Meet my children.”
The figure obediently walked towards her husband, in the direction of her children, but before Cersei could do anything, the man that her oaf of a husband had identified to be ‘Perseus’ had kneeled before them with a gentle smile at her children.
After a moment of surveying them, Percy gave a questioning look at her husband, “These are your children?”
Cersei’s blood froze.
How could he know?
He had only looked at them with a single glance, and he had already determined the truth that had not only fooled her husband for over a decade, but also the Old Falcon, the Maesters, and even her very own father?
How?
Who was this man, and what would he do with such information now that he knew the truth?
To Cersei’s relief, Robert merely let out of boisterous laugh, “Of course! It’s nearing my Joffrey’s ten-and-two nameday, and it’s my turn to carry on the family tradition!”
Still shaken by the proclamation of the mysterious figure, Cersei confusedly enquired, “Family tradition?”
Gaining a serious look on his face, Robert nodded, “A tradition that comes not from the Baratheons as the Seven Kingdoms knows them today, but the Durrandons. The Storm Kings.” Robert turned to Perseus once more, a sheepish look on his face, “I can never remember the full picture, so if you would, my friend?”
Perseus nodded as he stood back to his feet, “Of course, my liege.” He turned to face her children.
“Centuries ago, I was found by a civilization called the Rhoynar with my face submerged underneath the water. Even with their water magic, they only had slight hope that I would survive after who knew how long being underwater, but to their surprise, I was breathing just fine. When I awakened, they curiously questioned how I had such magic, but I could not reply for I could not remember. My memory was lost, and the time before, who I was, is lost to the sands of time even now.”
Cersei couldn’t contain her scoff this time, “You mean you tell me your centuries old?” She glanced at Robert, “And you believed him?”
Robert gained a dangerous look on his face, one that had Cersei taking a few steps backwards out of fear, “I’m the King of the Seven Kingdoms, woman. If I told you that you were a Greyjoy, I expect you to be believe it. Understand?” Cersei scowled, but Robert ignored her. What a surprise that was.
“I was introduced to Perseus by my own father when I was just a boy of twelve, and he has changed not a bit in decades that have passed. It was my own father that told the story that Perseus has told every generation of Baratheon’s since the Conquest and will continue to into the future. Now, continue, Perseus.” He dismissively glanced at Cersei, “And no more interruption, wife. You’re lucky I allowed your presence here to begin with.”
Perseus tilted his head in acknowledgement. “The Rhoynar took me as their own, and I found peace with them. I lived with them on the shores of the Mother Rhoyne for decades before we learned the truth just as you had. I had not aged a single day in the years since I had been found, all the while the ones who took me in began to fade into dust and ash. Decade by decade, the new generations welcomed me as their own, as for most of them, I had been with them for their entire lives, and just as the Rhoynar had once taken me in, I took them in as a favor for those that had given me life. I was happy.”
Perseus gained a dark look in his eyes. “Everyone was happy, until the Valyrian’s came. While only a mere handful of the Rhoynar could manipulate water, it seemed as if almost every Valryian had their own dragons, and they were destroying everything. The Valyrians went after the major port city Sarhoy, and we in turn went after some of their colonies, and even conquered Volantis itself, not before they managed to get word to the Freehold. For most of our battles, there were only a handful of dragons in every raiding party, but when Valyria came to relieve their daughter… hundreds of dragons, each bigger than the castle up there,” He nodded his head in the direction of the Red Keep, “enough to block out the sun itself.”
He shook his head. “It was unlike any battle I had ever seen, and not a single one came close afterwards. I led the vanguard of our strongest forces, and we slaughtered them by the dozens, but for every ten we killed, three of us died, and we didn’t have any reinforcements. The battle seemed to last hours, corpses of dragons laid upon the ground large enough to build a mountain, but eventually, I was the only one that still stood. In my rage, I created a storm that decimated their dragons, but it was too much.”
“When I woke next, hundreds of years had passed, and the Rhoynar had been destroyed entirely, except those that had managed to flee to Westeros. I tried to follow, but in my dazed state, I found myself in the Stormlands, and I was taken in by Arthur Durrandon, and he had me something to live for. I swore myself to his service, and a mere hundred years later, the Dragons came once more. Aegon and his sister-wives had come, and they wanted the Seven Kingdoms.”
Cersei had enough as she snorted, “You said you slaughtered Dragons by the dozens, but you couldn’t kill three measly dragons?”
Perseus and Robert shared a look before the latter devolved in another round of boisterous laughter, leaving Cersei confused and angry once more, “What’s so funny?”
Perseus straightened, “The fact that you think the Targaryen’s only had Three Dragons for their conquest.”
Cersei reeled, “But the Maesters…”
Perseus let out the first sign of emotion as he himself snorted, “Those know-it-alls truly think they know it all, but everyone has secrets, and Aegon himself made sure that this one was kept. The Targaryen’s may have been among the least amongst the Forty, but almost everyone else still paled before them. The Freehold had thousands of Dragons, and the Targaryen’s only accounted for a hundred among them, and so they came to Dragonstone with a hundred, and only lost a handful during the Century of Blood. Aegon’s sister-wife Rhaenys came to Storm’s End with her half-brother Orys, but she fled at her first sight of me.”
He let out a chuckle, “I thought that was the end of it, but she came back a moon later with the entirety of their reserve force, each of whom had heard ghost tales of me when they were children, the time when the Freehold vanquished the Strom-Bringer, and they wanted revenge.” He shook his shoulders, “Unfortunately for them, they wouldn’t get it. At least, not how they wanted it.”
Perseus scowled, “While I assumed they had gathered their Dragons in an attempt to try to kill me once and for all, I was mistaken. The eldest Conqueror, Visenya, had also arrived, and she was the last to be trained in Valyrian Magicks. The Conqueror’s reserve force knowingly sacrificed themselves so that Visenya could cast her ritual, but it didn’t go as planned. She tried to bond me to her family, but she merely bonded me to the Durrandons. Upon realizing this, Visenya forced Orys to wed the Last Durrandon, all while the Conqeruors kept me occupied. By the time I realized something had happened, they were wed, and as the Last Durrandon, Argella commanded for me to step down, and I was forced to oblige. Moons later, Aegon appointed Orys and Argella as the Baratheons, and I’ve served ever since.”
Shocked by the tale herself, Cersei was still of mind to observe the other reactions, and was unsurprised to notice that both Myrcella and Tommen had been captivated by the story but was slightly surprised to notice that even Joffrey had been drawn in.
To make her even more surprised, Robert managed to get onto one knee as he gathered her children in his arms, “Perseus has faithfully served our family since the Conquest, and one day when I’ve passed on, he will yours to command. Perseus allowed me to drive those filthy Targaryen’s away, but they’re not finished yet. One day, they’ll be back, I can feel that much in my bones, and I’m not going to be here when they do. Commanding Perseus is a massive responsibility, and so I say to take close heed. For all of his power, it’s not why he’s so dangerous, but rather the fact that none alive know of him. Remember this, my children: a weapon is most dangerous when no one sees it coming.”