LionHeart | OC Baratheon/Lannister [Game of Thrones]

chapter one

The whole trip was pointless and a waste of time in Declan's opinion.

His father, King Robert Baratheon, had insisted in traveling North once Jon Arryn's body was sent back to the Vale, to name his most trustworthy friend, Eddard Stark, as his new hand.

Much to his mother's dismay.

Not even her arguments about how his grandfather, Lord Tywin Lannister, would be a more suitable option made his father change his mind. Once Robert Baratheon put something in his mind, not even the gods could change it. His mother had once said something about the Baratheon bloodline being made of stubborn men.

He did not have a close relationship with his father, between him being fostered in Castely Rock and his father busy schedule that was mostly fulfilled by whores and drinks it hadn't a lot of time left to father and son to bond. Not that he cared about it, Robert was not a great father and neither a great king, he was far from a role model. The fact that he treated Declan's mother, Queen Cersei, so poorly was definitely a fact that helped the two to grow apart.

Declan remembered from when he was young how his father seemed to favor him instead of his brother Joffrey, all because he looked more like him, with his brow hair and desire to wield a sword. But his father had eventually given up on him when he noticed how Declan favored his Lannister side of the family and went back to not paying attention to him.

"Enjoying what the North has to offer, nephew?" His uncle and member of the Kingsguard, Jamie Lannister, asked coming on his horse to stand next to him.

Declan rolled his eyes and then gave his uncle a sarcastic smirk "You know me too well, uncle, do you think that a beautiful landscape could fool me so easily?" He then frowned and returned his eyes to the road "Everyone knows how my father considers Lord Stark as a brother, he as well may know by now my father's intentions and if he knows what is better for him and his family, he would decline"

The smile vanished from Ser Jamie's face "I've met Lord Stark, a fool who values honor and duty above all else, looked at me as if I was worse then criminals" He then looked at his nephew "I highly doubt that he would not answer Robert's call"

Declan pressed his lips on a tiny line, he already suspected it based on his father tales of the man, but to hear it from someone that had met him confirmed his fear.

"If I may ask, my Prince" Intervened Ser Barristan Selmy, that was Declan companion during the trip "Why are you so concerned about Lord Eddard being the new hand? I have also met the man, he would die for your father"

Declan looked at the man, who is one of the few that he really could trust "Kings Landing is not a place for honorable man, Ser Barristan. I believe Lord Stark's place is in the North, my father is too stubborn to admit that my Grandfather is a better option, he refuses to see another Lannister in King's Landing even if it's for the good of the Kingdom" Declan then sighed "I also believe that nine years is a long time, my father is not the same man, and he is being selfish and trying to hand the Kingdom to someone he trusts to rule behind the curtains. Lord Stark will accept the offer because he thinks that he knows the King, but he will be relying on the past, this is all a huge mistake that could end poorly for everyone"