The Bow Of The Vale

It was the day after the king's arrival. He was talking with Ned in his solar about the good old times, about the North and how Kings Landing was going.

Ned, as usual, was brooding and currently was indecisive about if he should become Robert's Hand or not. It was a worrisome thought to be sure, he had next to nothing about the politics of the south and despite knowing how Robert likely needed him it still was not something Ned wanted to do.

"Please Ned, I need loyal men in Kings Landing to help me rule. John was great but, without him, I will need a replacement." Robert said to Ned.

"Robert, you know that Starks don't do well in the South. My father and brother are proof enough of that." Ned said and Robert mumbled in irritation.

"Fine, we can discuss this in more details later." Robert grumbled before continuing, this time a bit more joyous. "But Ned, have you decided which of your daughters to betroth to Joffrey? Even if you don't become my hand I will at least get my dream done right, House Baratheon and House Stark will join as one, as it would have if not for that silver-haired bastard."

"Robbert, I still need the input of both of them to know which one would fit better. Both are of appropriate ages, true, but we need to think about who would be the best Queen for the realms." Ned said.

"Hah, you said it right. We need to think carefully on this as I feel no d.e.s.i.r.e for another bad match like mine and that blond c.u.n.t to fall down on my child." Robert said, barely managing to not compliment his child by calling him a dimwitted cruel coward.

Ned grimaced at that, he had heard of how the relationship between Robert and Cersei was and he did not envy either. If anything he could only think it fortunate that he managed to find a good match with Catelyn, even if she had her flaws when it comes to things he did not approve off.

"Truth be told, I am quite sure that the best option as Queen would be my Ludmila." Ned admitted.

"Oh, I heard of that one from Tigre last I talked to the boy two and a half years ago. He and his little group of girl friends had mostly come to Kings Landing and I commented that they were shaping up to be the most beautiful women in the Seven Kingdoms and he spoke of how there were others like Ludmila and Olga who are just as beautiful. I have to admit that if they all continued to grow in beauty and your Ludmila is as beautiful as some of the stories I heard claim her to be then she should be able to make Joffrey quite happy." Robert said.

Ned just shook his head.

"I would not count on it. She is, well, the best way to say it is that the Wolf's Blood runs strong in her. Stronger in her in fact than had been seen in generations of Starks. She will not marry unless she is willing and if I try to force her she is likely to run to Essos and create her own sellsword company. She could be the perfect Queen, her manners and insight in everything is perfect without a doubt, but she only accepts those she accepts and no one else." Ned said.

"So what? We hope the shitstain to impress your daughter enough for her to be willing?" Robbert asked bemusedly.

"Aye, that is one way about it." Ned said and Robbert snorted.

"... Then it will be the other one, Sansa, right? She is pretty enough, I suppose." Robert said and Ned nodded, already knowing that the list of 'acceptable' partners for his daughter was exceedingly short and with no signs of growing any larger.

///////////////////////////////

Joffrey's P.O.V.

This place disgusts me.

Everyone is a barbarian who doesn't seem to know the first thing about manners and how to treat their betters. No one even bows low enough to my presence, I should have their knees for that!

Maybe I could use father's hammer for it, this way he can see for himself that I am his son.

... Or make someone else do it for me, the way of true royalty is to make others do those menial tasks for me in my say so. Maybe even make that arrogant heir to Winterfell do it in my name, perhaps this could help in alleviating my boredom and would be a nice enough gesture of loyalty to his liege and king.

I walk through the castle's halls and sneer at the people here, all of them wear furs so much inferior to my own that it seems fitting. I can even see some of the maids around looking at me with admiration and love, as if the vision of me is the most amazing thing ever, perhaps I should remove their eyes to make sure their last vision was of me. That should be nice enough an action.

"My prince, I have a message for you." A servant came to me and I look at him approaching, I wonder how this annoying being who is screaming so loudly when coming to me would scream if in the torture chambers. Ideas, ideas.

As he got to me he kneeled and spoke up.

"My prince, the king and Lord Stark are calling everyone as Lord Arryn and his host is fast approaching. They also sent me to tell that many of the Northern lords will be arriving soon to meet the king."

That arrogant and stupid upstart is coming here? F.u.c.k, perhaps I should really have convinced mother to let Sir Gregor come with us, this way I would have a much better chance of killing him. I hate his guts with every fiber of my being, he beat me in any and all duels I challenged him, father loves him, he is popular and loved by all, father loves him, he is considered a genius by all, father loves him, he is annoyingly nice to those bellow his station, father loves him, my sister and brother, stupid as they are, like him and act more like he is their eldest sibling instead of me, father loves him, he stole all of father`s love that should be mine.

He is someone I will take great p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e in killing when I am king.

Moving away from this topic mentally I refocus on what is in front of me. Father ordered me to come and see their arrival, so this is what I should do.

Not bothering with the messenger I move to the gates. I haven`t seen him for quite some time now and he never really brings his host of bastard girls to the court. At least he has the decency to keep those shames away from my presence, polluting the air I breath should well be a crime.

However, I did hear tales about their beauty being unrivaled across time and I agree with mother to sneer at such insinuations. How could baseborn bastards be as beautiful as even he ugliest pig true born girl? Perhaps the Tarly girl is decent looking, she is trueborn after all, but that should well be it.

I move to beside my father, he is drinking his wine with gusto and no one can call him out on it, a king can do anything he wants and everyone else needs only to listen to their betters. Mother is as ever, being ignored as the woman she is, she likes to pretend to be strong but anyone can tell she is just pretending, she lacks the strength a man like me has.

As I see the Northerner barbarian chief and his brood, all of them disgust me. To think that my bride would be that ginger bitch, I feel myself almost throwing up just at the thought of it. Maybe after becoming king I can put her in flames to match her hair, or just beat her up whenever I feel like it. I will be king, I can do as I please at anytime and anywhere.

"You took your sweet time, boy. Gods, look at Ned's children, all of them got here in half the time you took! You useless piece of shit." Father said and I lowered my head to him. I blame the Arryn boy for this, if not for him coming now father would not have yelled at me. I am not to blame for taking longer than the others, they probably were close by at that point and would probably be more willing to go to see that disgrace of a noble who can't recognize their betters.

We wait for a few seconds when two dozen soldiers started entering the castle, all of them highly armored and with equipment that I admit is not that bad. It seems that the Vale really is getting quite rich if they can foster armor like that for their soldiers, perhaps when I am king I can make them do something more useful with their cash like increasing their taxes or something, that would solve the economic crisis that I hear people talking about so much, if I do this I will instantly be able to solve a problem everyone else wasn't able to solve.

I am a genius, after all.

And, if they from the Vale get upty I can just have grandfather deal with them, execute all their lords and make some of my cousins take the Vale, that should work to unify the kingdoms just as well.

After the soldiers, there was a carriage and it was quite big. Looking at it I sneer, mother's and mine carriage is much grander and great than this piece of trash thaaa…

The door of the carriage opened and as the first woman got out of the carriage I completely lost my ability to talk. It was a woman with fiery red hair, two colored eyes, a regal bearing that suppresses even mother in the court, and a body to die for. Her face is elegant and powerful, her dress is a beautiful purple color and I was completely lost when I saw her.

The worst, however, was how she was not the only one to shock me.

Girl after girl, six outstanding and impossibly beautiful women got out of the carriage and stood outside of the carriage.

I could not help but gulp, thoughts of seeing how they would look beneath me in bed as I took them filling my mind, their screams of protest the whole time an aphrodisiac as they are much too weak to fight the greatest men in existence off and they would inevitably give up and simply start to enjoy their new station in life as slaves to my every whim. Not like everyone else isn't my slave anyway, perhaps when I become king I should establish slavery as it does sound like something we should be doing already.

Yes, those ideas sound wonderful.

I also see that the Arryn idiot is also there, his clothes the usual pathetic rags that seem more fitting a common folk hunter instead of a lord, his hair messy, and with an idiotic smile on his face as he speaks to the Northern idiot.

If I was like that for a moment than father must be even worse.

I turn to him and notice that he is staring, but his face is not one of l.u.s.t, but of the purest shock I have ever seen. His mouth opens and moves by itself a few times before speaking up.

"M-Mother?" Father says in utter shock

///////////////////////////////

Robert's P.O.V.

… I need to slow down on drinking.

As I look at the girl in front of me I can tell without a doubt that she is of my blood. Not only that, she looks exactly like my mother did in the past, every little detail excluding her eyes that are like my grandmother I remember oh so well. She is the only one of those even slightly associated with that silverfish prick that I cannot hate, not in the slightest.

As I see the girl I can't help but think back on all those times I remember of mother and grandmother, of how my heart broke at each of their deaths and how only with Ned's presence did I got any better.

I, I don't know how to approach her. She is just so much like my mother and grandmother, two of the three most important women in my life and that I had long since started to forget.

The boy, John's son, approached me and started introducing himself and his companions until he spoke something I could never, NEVER, accept.

"… And this here is Vallentina Ston-"

"NO." I said loudly, everyone stopping and looking at me. I don't give a f.u.c.k, I won't let someone who looks so much like my mother and grandmother, who is so much like that, will not be called a bastard, not when I can have a say on this. I AM KING AND I WILL NOT ALLOW IT, EVER!

A plan forms in my head, I need something that will ensure this will work, a way to ensure that this girl who is so much like mother will have a seat that is fitting for her, and if I can make John's son as part of the family as well then all the better.

I had thought of making him marry Myrcella, but she is too much like her mother for it to really feel right, so this works just as well.

"I proclaim, as the king, that from this day forward miss… What is your first name again?" I ask the girl and she looks at me surprised, even her gestures are so much like mother that it hurts.

"My name? It is Valentina, My Majesty."

"Bah, none of that My Majesty with me, girl. You can just call me father, and anyway, I declare that Lady Valentina is, from this day to forever, shall be renamed as Valentina Baratheon and have all the rights and titles equal to her post in comparison to her age thus making her the first princess. And I also propose here and now for her to be betrothed to the son of the man I considered as a father, I betrothed her to Tigrevurmud Arryn. And as for the dowry, I give them one and a half million golden dragons and the Vale won't have to pay any taxes to the crown for the next ten years."

I ignore the shouts and anger from my 'dear wife' as she probably knows this will come out of her family's coffers, I don't give a damn about what she and her bloody father want to complain about they produce gold as much as they want for f.u.c.ks sake, and doesn't she still get a son out of me to put on that annoying throne and with a spare to him as well. F.u.c.k, I only want one child that actually looks like a Baratheon in a position of power instead of them being all lion. I have more than a dozen bastards who are the spitting image of a Baratheon but all my actual children look too much like blond little shits.

And besides, Joffrey is still set to inherit that f.u.c.k.i.n.g throne. It's not like I'd just given away his inheritance to my daughter, which would have gotten Tywin to rant my ears off. And even that prideful f.u.c.k has rewarded people based on merits, and with what Valentina has helped done for the Vale he has no room to argue against it.

Ignoring everyone else I move to the training fields, I will start working up a sweat as, after looking at Valentina, I can't help but think of how mother and father would be disappointed in me now.

///////////////////////////////

Valentina's P.O.V.

Well, this went better than expected. Much better. The fact that I never even planned for it made this quite a pleasant surprise, as I never had to present any of my achievements to my father to get legitimized.

Seeing the Queen and the Lannister soldiers fuming with all they have, which is at most cute in my eyes.

Perhaps moving the king to do those moves that completely ensure the chance of victory to us in our objective may not be that difficult. Yes, I also need to know more of the Queen and ensure that the Realm will be the right level of unstable. It was a delicate balance, and while Tigre may not like it, he understood that we needed more influence than we have, more power, and nothing quite helps to rise that ladder than chaos does. I had no interest in plunging the Kingdoms at this point in time with what was approaching from the Lands of Always Winter.

Now, my only real worry is how to not get killed by the other Vanadis, but it shouldn't be that hard. I don't mind sharing anyway. as I had developed my own feelings for Tigre and this is as good a chance to ensure a colossal amount of wealth will flow through the Vale if we intend to prepare for the said Long Night. We can finally start putting the ports to full use with trade with the Summer Isles and the rest of Essos, the money can be used to bring some Unsullied to our work as well as they sound highly interesting to work with. The story of how a force of 3,000 held back a force of 50,000 Dothraki screamers, and by the end of that particular battle, the Dothraki withdrew in defeat after losing over 12,000 of their riders. We need as much as we can get when it comes to fighting force, and the Unsullied represented one of the strongest known forces. We could just release them from their slavery when they get back and put them in the army like regular soldiers, we can even buy some regular slaves and say that the money is being used to make more people free like the Seven proclaimed all men must be. That should shut up most of the Vale Lords who would grumble otherwise.

I can only think how the crown will deal with this situation their king put them into, though, their debt will increase so very much that Petyr will actually have to try and get money, that should be amusing.