Chapter Text
King’s Landing 1811
Stannis Baratheon
Stannis hated when Prince Robert demanded he attend one of his fancy dress balls. Due to their uncle’s onset of madness, Robert was Prince Regent and sat on the Iron Throne. As such, Stannis couldn’t tell him to shove one of those rusty swords when he required him to leave Storm’s End and come to this hellhole. When sane, Uncle Aegon had never cared which lords came to King’s Landing during the Season. At least, in a fit of insanity, King Aegon had accomplished one of the best renovation projects in the history of King’s Landing by burning down most of the Red Keep. The cost of building the King’s Palace and the other ministerial house and offices had been exorbitant, but not nearly as exorbitant as the recurring costs of maintaining the Red Keep and making it livable.
One of the many things he hated about these affairs was being announced. Stannis stopped for less than a second before descending the staircase into the lavish Great Hall of the King’s Palace as he heard, “Stannis, the Lord of Storm’s End; Lady Shireen Baratheon; and Lord Seaworth. The other two, showing more decorum, waited for the full announcement before following. This particular ball was Robert’s way of celebrating the arrival of Lord Eddard Stark, heir to Winterfell, along with the Prince Regent’s betrothed, Stark’s sister, Lady Lyanna. Stannis knew several of Robert’s aspirants for the next lady of Storm’s End would be present, and he was determined to avoid them all. He had no wish to marry either of Robert’s chosen two ladies, Cercei Lannister or Selyse Tarly. Robert currently favored Lady Cercei, believing the lord of a liege house might placate Lord Lannister in Robert having rebuffed the arrangement made years ago between the King and Lannister. Stannis rather doubted the nephew of a king, even if the lord of a liege house, would be at all attractive to a Cercei Lannister. Not that he could not and would not say No; he just preferred not to have the inevitable squabble with Robert.
The Tarly girl was merely Robert being perverse in putting forth one known to be both unpleasant in appearance and insipid in intellect. Lady Cercei’s character wasn’t any more pleasant, but her intellect was unquestionable. Stannis strongly suspected her intellect was primarily spent on manipulation. Fortunately, the laws of Westeros had changed and he could not be forced to marry by his king or the prince regent. Many still bowed to a strongly worded wish, especially since it was often accompanied by some inducement. There was no inducement strong enough that either could legally make to encourage him to make such a match.
“I’ve been told Lord Tully has returned to King’s Landing this season and brings his three daughters,” Seaworth said in a low voice so as not to be heard by anyone other than Stannis and Shireen, and then raised an eyebrow to Stannis, “I hear all three have auburn hair, but one is closer to copper. You have a weakness for redheads, do you not, Baratheon?”
Stannis scoffed and then, as was his trademark, clenched his jaw before relaxing enough to answer. “I believe this redhaired child of House Tully of whom you speak has to be nine or ten years younger than I. What would I have in common with a child?”
As he turned slightly to acknowledge one of the perfunctory bows they were receiving from others with a slight nod, he saw Shireen blush and manage a sideways glance at Seaworth. So that’s how it was! His sister was more somewhere between eight or nine years younger than his friend, and yet he had to admit he was pleased by the possibility of a match between them. The marriage of a lady from a high-born family is usually married to increase the family’s wealth, power, or position. Marriages used to be made for alliance, but that seldom happened. The Baragaryen family, after the power combination of the marriage of King Steffon Baratheon to Lady Shaena Targaryen after the Fourth, and thankfully last, Civil War of 1559 and their son, Renly, combining the house names and creating a family with a firm grip on the Iron Throne for the last two-hundred fifty some years.
Stannis saw no need for either of them to be sacrificed in marriage to politics or money, and the joining again of House Baratheon and House Seaworth, as had happened often over the generations, was welcomed by him. “You have not been a child for many years now, my dear, despite your youth” Stannis tried, hoping to imply that he was not discouraged by this new possibility. “You have far more maturity than many your age and far more sense, as well.”
His sister smiled and took his arm as he guided them toward an uncrowded area. Fortunately, even as members of a liege house, they would be of little interest to most here since there would be so many lords and ladies present, as well as knights and their ladies, with the keenest of interesting being the marriageable sons and daughters. Their other two siblings, Steffon and Rhaelle, both remained in King’s Landing and were far less disapproving of Robert’s dissipated habits, flattering him enough to make life at court pleasant for them. Shireen broke into his thoughts, “You may find that Lady Sansa Tully of interest. After all, we descend from the first King Stannis and his wife, Queen Sansa. I can’t remember if she was originally a Tully, however. Sansa is a name favored mostly in House Tully and House Stark, although it has come from other houses in the North and the Riverlands. I believe Riverrun was once the seat of House Tully in ancient times and was a liege house.”
Seaworth chimed in, “This history of King Stannis, first of his name, is a required education at Cape Wrath as it was he who brought our family into the nobility. After his first wife died in a fever, who was ironically from House Florent, he married Sansa Stark after my ancestor found her hiding from those she believed were out to kill her and returned her to her home in Winterfell. The marriage gave him the strong alliance with the North he needed to defeat all the other claimants to the throne at the time. If I remember correctly, Shireen was a daughter of the king and his first wife.”
Shireen nodded to him, smiling shyly. “Yes, she is the first of that name of which I am aware. I am told I am named for her because she was reputed to have had big ears, as was apparently an obvious curse that was readily apparent at my birth.”
“I have not noticed you to have big ears,” Seaworth defended as they positioned themselves in a vacant spot.
It was all Stannis could do to keep from rolling his eyes at him. He loved his sister dearly, but she did have rather large ears. History was not Stannis’ forte although he often retained bits and pieces of some of the various stories Shireen told him from her voracious reading, spending hours in their home’s rather extensive library. “That is a House Florent trait, is it not? Did you not just say we were descended from King Stannis’ second marriage?”
“I wondered about that as well, “Shireen explained, unconsciously smoothing her dark hair styled to hide her ears before sweeping upward, “I discovered there are several generations for there to be an introduction of Florent traits into our bloodline. As it happens, we also descend from this same Shireen Baratheon. In a suit for peace, she married an Aegon Targaryen. Their great-granddaughter, a second great-granddaughter I believe, married one of the later Baratheon descendants. At least I do not have her scales.”
“Scales?” Seaworth asked with a laugh. “She had scales?”
“There was a disease of that time that usually ended in death. It was called Greyscale. She survived it, but histories tell she had scales on one side of her face and neck.” Shireen looked about the room after answering him, “I see Lady Cercei with her second cousin, Ser Tywin Lannister-Darry. Somehow, I believe Lady Cercei is relieved that cousin Robert did not choose her.”
Stannis did not follow her gaze and kept his more unseemly thoughts to himself. It was long believed that Lady Cercei and her cousin were romantically involved to the point where Lord Lannister was eager to wed her off for fear she would turn up unwed and carrying Tywin’s child. While siblings no longer married as they once did in Westeros, even first cousins who married were not at all unusual. Indeed, it would be difficult not to marry a cousin if you were of the nobility. The challenge was in ensuring you weren’t of too close a kinship for too many generations. It was feared such a thing was why King Aegon, the Eleventh of his Name, had gone mad as had kings from both lines before him. Stannis wasn’t entirely sure what the objection to Ser Tywin by Lord Lannister was, but he would wager if Lady Cercei truly wanted to marry him, she would force the issue by becoming with child. It was all of little interest to him.
“Lord Tully, Lady Catelyn Tully, Lady Sansa Tully, and Lady Lysa Tully of Blackfish in the Riverlands.”
Stannis looked up when the party was announced and while he would never admit it to his sister or his closest friend, his eyes stopped on the face of Lady Sansa more than the rest. Seaworth had been right; her hair was a red that he had to admit he found . . . attractive. It wasn’t the same shade of red as Melisandre’s hair and it didn’t make her look dangerous. Mel had a beauty that made a man want to throw her onto the nearest bed and have his way with her, as she had let him do before joining the cult who worshipped R’hllor in the old fashion with fire and sacrifice and had been banned from Westeros. Lady Sansa Tully was quite the opposite. Hers was a beauty that was too delicate and regal for that sort of behavior. He wouldn’t be surprised if the men in the Great Hall didn’t bow to her in the way usually reserved for the royal family just at the sight of her. Her sisters would get equal attention, or at least the oldest of the three sisters would. Lady Lysa would be considered far prettier than many other ladies in the room, but he had to admit she paled in comparison to her two sisters. Many present would be aware that House Tully had been absent from King’s Landing during the Season for many years due to the long illness, death, and subsequent period of mourning for their Lady Tully. Stannis remembered Lady Catelyn’s first and last Season just before her lady mother took ill, and her acceptance of a proposal from Ser Trystan Dayne. She returned to Blackfish in the Riverlands with her mother and Dayne went down with his ship while traveling to Blackfish for the marriage. What he could not remember was how old Lady Catelyn was at the time and how many seasons ago that had been. He guessed Lady Sansa to be around the same age as Shireen, which would make her eight and ten. He assumed Lady Catelyn was a year or two older. Lady Lysa was actually, in his opinion, too young for attending her first Season. She looked to be five and ten at the most.
His lingering attention on the Tully sisters did not go unnoticed by Shireen. “Lady Sansa is very beautiful,” she whispered. His sister would, unfortunately, know exactly which one would catch his eye.
Trying to be dismissive, Stannis put on the scowl that Shireen often teased him was his grumpy face and turned away from the Tully party. “There are many ladies here tonight with any number of appealing features. Lady Sansa is merely is one more.”