Conflict in the family

NOTE: Some of you told me you cant read the chaps cause of some webnovel update shit. I also publish in Archive of Our Own and Fanfiction.net Same story title and same user name.

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"I, Lady Wylla Wyl, Matriarch of House Wyl of Boneway informed you, my liege, Princess Dorna Nymeros Martell, Princess of Dorne, of the attack on my lands by the hands of the cowardly Lord Sam Swann of Stormlands. My young cousin, Ser Willas Wyl, and over a dozen good men were slaughtered in the dead of night. My House will not stand still before this unprovoked attack. I have already summoned my banners, as a House of The Marches I will fulfill my duty and defend our kingdom."

Arthur reads the letter out loud, his wife sitting at her desk with a glass of wine in her hand.

"When did this letter arrive?"

"This morning."

"The raven must have taken two days to arrive here from the Marchesa and Lady Wyl will take at least a fortnight to collect all her banners. The boat trip to Wyl is 8 days, I can get there before the war begins "

"And do what, husband?" Dorna looks at him with a frown. Arthur stops for a moment and looks at his wife, sees the anger and irritation in her eyes.

"Stop this war before it starts."

The Princess of Dorne scoffs at his words.

"The war has already begun, those barbarian stromlanders attacked our lands. Do you want me to tell Lady Wylla to sit idly by? To not take revenge for spilled blood? To not do her duty as a Marches House?" The princess's voice gets louder with every word, by the end she's practically yelling at her husband.

Arthur takes a few steps back and looks warily at his wife, he hadn't seen her so upset in a long time.

'Since the last Blackfyre rebellion,' he thinks with a scowl. But he is not willing to back down.

"In the Crownlands there are five lords who have been killed by the smallfolk who rebelled, in the Westerlands eight, in the Riverlands two, in the Vale six, in Stormlands four, in the North three, in The Reach seven and here in Dorne one. And the numbers continue to increase with each passing moon. Our priority must be to end this rebellion at the root, we cannot afford to fight with other Houses, that would weaken us." Arthur walks over to his wife's desk and leans against it, looking at her intently.

"And not responding to House Swann's invasion will make us look like weakling fools to the entire continent." Dorne gets up and slams her hands on her desk.

They look at each other with fire in their eyes, black versus gold, neither willing to budge on their point.

They both have valid points.

Rebellions among the smallfolk have been increasing in recent years, the peasants even dared to kill their lords when they refused their demands. Of course most of the riots were put down by knights but not all lords and landed knights have extensive guards to protect them and deal with the protesters.

There are hundreds of small lords and landed knights scattered across the continent with less than a dozen guards at their service. Those lords and knights are easy targets, and more than two dozen have been killed.

Arthur knows that for the future of Dorne (and Westeros in general) they must focus on that problem, on finding out who is urging the smallfolk to rebel. Rumors circulating among the nobility say that the revolts are a product of Aegon V Targaryen's reforms, saying that new protections and laws for the smallfolk made by the king emboldened them to rebel.

But Arthur doesn't believe it at all, the prince consort senses something else going on. Aegon has been on the throne for almost two decades and his reforms are not new news. The king tried to force them from his first years on the throne. How is it that only now, after so many years, that the smallfolk starts rebelling so violently?

Arthur Uller is certain that there is someone behind all this, and that person or persons must be stopped before the chaos in the realms escalates further.

On the other hand, Princess Dorna Nymeros Martell is the ruler of a kingdom. Her duty is to her kingdom. And House Swann's actions are unacceptable. If she does nothing or responds in the wrong way such as ordering her vassal not to respond to the attack, her credibility as Princess of Dorne will be destroyed. And that could very well destroy House Martell.

Politics is a world full of hidden daggers and poisoned smiles. Your friend today will smile at you while he stabs you in the back tomorrow. And one's reputation, and their House, is one of the most lethal weapons and most powerful defense of a politician. If word spreads that House Martell are weak pushovers, their vassals will stop obeying them and others will try to take their place as rulers of Dorne.

Dorna Martell is perfectly aware of that, not half a decade ago they had to put one of her vassals in their place after the assassination attempt on her youngest grandson.

"Arthur, you will not intervene. That is my order as your princess." Dorna narrows her eyes.

Arthur nods but whinnies his teeth and storms out of the solar.

The princess sits up and rubs her tired forehead.

"..."

***

Arthur Uller walks through the Tower of the Sun with his fists clenched and his face twisted in anger.

As he walks past his eldest grandson's room he hears laughter inside him.

`And this fuss? Aren't Lewyn and Mors sick?'He walks over curiously and opens the door.

On one side of the room, sitting on the floor, are his grandchildren and his children. The four of them are sitting in a circle around some pieces of paper.

"Wolf Twins!" Obella exclaims taking two pieces of paper. Lewyn and Mors complain but Doran is calm, his eyes fixed on the papers.

"It's Mors's turn." The little boy takes a piece of paper and turns it over, Arthur sees what looks like a whip drawn on the paper. The baby looks at the other pieces of paper deciding which one to choose, Doran points to one discreetly and Mors picks it up and it has the same draw as the first paper.

"Twins!" The toddler shouts excitedly.

"Yes Mors! Well done." Doran high-fives his little brother. A somewhat strange thing, from Arthur's perspective, to do, high five each other in victory or congratulations. But Arthur only attributes it to children being children, he also had secret signals, much more ridiculous, with his brothers as a child.

"What is this game? I've never seen it before." The prince consort approaches his descendants and sits next to his youngest child.

The children proceed to explain the rules to him and Arthur joins in the game.

And so the five of them stayed playing until late at night, they even made some servants bring them dinner on the floor so as not to interrupt the game.

Arthur's anger faded and a rare smile graced his face for the rest of the afternoon.

***

"My prince, are you sure?"

"Yes captain. My orders have been clear."

"But leaving in the middle of the night-" Arthur hardens his gaze and the captain trails off.

"Can I at least ask where we're going?"

"To Wyl."

***

NOTE: Both Dorna and Arthur have good points, on whose side are you?

Also leave a review please, so the story can be ranked and reach more people. We are 11chaps in and 17K words, sooooo