"So Lyanna said," Ned says, the good humor vanishing at the woman's sudden chill. Her brother. That made perfect sense. "By her testimony, he treated her well. That does not mean he should have done what he did. Crowning her Queen of Love and Beauty over his own wife. Encouraging her to run away with him while her family thought her kidnapped and raped."

He has no reason to love Rhaegar. He has every reason to love Robert. Especially now, with Robert his closest friend and ally, his foster brother at Jon Arryn's knee, and both of them pledged to avenging his family's deaths at Aerys's hand.

Her final words draw a frown of genuine confusion and aversion. Ned stares at her. "Aegon? What happened? Who battered him against the walls?" The prince-in-waiting had just been born, last he knew. Who would harm a babe like that?