The news of the pregnancy of Prince Joffrey and his Lady Wife, Princess Consort Elowen, was broken after the third time that Elowen fainted, as Septa Melarie informed the couple that keeping the pregnancy a secret any longer would do more harm than good, especially considering the weakness that seemed to plague the Princess Consort.

And as expected, the news was received through out the realm with great happiness, with countless of ravens arriving at the Capital with well-wishes for the mother to be.

It was also as expected, with her poor health that Elowen was mostly confined to her chambers, preferably abed, with her sisters alternating between them in keeping her company, alongside her direwolf, and with Joffrey rarely straying from her side unless his father summoned him.

What was unexpected, at least for those that knew the Queen, was that Cersei Lannister visited the Princess Consort after breakfast, walking with her to the gardens so she could catch some air that wasn't from the window of her chambers.

Something that was expected as well, but Elowen did not like, was how due to her poor health as she carried the potential heir of the heir to the Iron Throne, was that she was created as she was fragile. Granted she knew that she was prone to fainting but she felt suffocated with the amount of people that tended to her.

Still the year 298 AC soon came to an end, with the Stark twins celebrating their ten and fourth nameday during the twelfth and last moon of the year.

However, the beginning of the year 299 AC didn't bring with it good news. Much like Cersei had predicted, and despite being out of the main danger zone of pregnancy, disaster befell the Royal family on the third moon of the year, the fifth moon of the Princess Consort's pregnancy.

The Gods seemed to have orchestrated the tragic event, as the morning of the disaster started off with light rain and cold weather, uncharacteristic of the South, and while she was walking through the indoor gardens was when it happen. A sensation of her stomach tightening and tightening ever so painfully, something that ripped a pained gasp from Elowen and forced her to cling onto a concerned Cersei.

"What's wrong?" Cersei questioned as Elowen clung onto her.

"I don-I don't know... It just hurts..." Elowen confessed in a tight tone, burying her face in Cersei's bossom as she let out a groan.

Unlike her human however, Wylla seemed to understand what was going on because she began to growl at anyone who dared step closer to Elowen after the pained groan left her lips, obviously with the exception of Cersei.

"What hurts sweetling?" Cersei questioned, rubbing the ginger girl's back in an attempt to soothe her. Her emerald eyes locked on the growling direwolf, watching with slight far as it rose its hackles at everyone else around them.

"My-my stomach and my ba-back." Elowen gasped out  before another pained groan left her lips.

Those words seemed to trigger understanding in everyone present, because without Cersei even having to order it, Elowen's maids and Septa broke away, each going in their own direction, leaving Ser Criston Caron and Queen Cersei with the Princess Consort.

"I'll go warn the Prince." Criston told Cersei only for the Queen to shake her head and move her hands to apply pressure on Elowen's lower back.

"The birthing chambers are not a place for men, tis a place for women to be at their most vulnerable." Cersei ordered, despite the fact that she'd had her own twin brother and lover with her each time she gave birth.

"You must carry the Princess to the birthing chambers, I cannot." Cersei told her good daughter's personal guard, watching as he glanced at Wylla in fear, a fear that many shared as Wylla had grown much larger, to the size of an actual wild wolf.

"Wylla... get Joffrey." Elowen ordered weakly, but the command was there, a command that Wylla would never disobey, even when her human was vulnerable and in pain, although she didn't obey it before growling at Criston Caron one more time, as if warning him to beware of his actions lest he wish to be mauled to death by her.

Once Wylla was a safe distance from the trio, Criston wasted no time in carefully picking up the Princess Consort, listening to every order that Cersei gave him. Trying not to wince each time Elowen groaned loudly in his ear while clutching her stomach.

The pain that burned through Elowen was beyond anything that she'd ever experienced, even worse than the time she'd tried to climb afted Bran, only to fall and break her foot, it was a sharp but prolonged pain that seemed to make her stomach tighten and made her feel as if she had to push.

"Wha-What's going on?" Elowen questioned in a pained tone, beads of sweat building up on her forehead and her face flushing.

Cersei looked at Elowen, her own heart dropping to her stomach at the sight of the young girl that her eldest and depraved son had grown overwhelmingly attacked to. In truth Cersei hoped that she was wrong, she had prayed to the New Gods that the Princess Consort had a safe pregnancy, and praying was not something Cersei was known to do.

"Your labours have started." Cersei told the panting Princess Consort, as she gripped her skirts to follow Criston quickly to the heir's chambers.

At her good mother's words, Elowen panicked, which was something that she shouldn't do, not when giving birth to a babe that was to term, much less a babe that was 4 moons too early.

"No- No, it's too early! I can't have the babe." Elowen frantically moaned, the pain intensifying with her panic. It wasn't that Elowen didn't know that this could happen, in fact, after passing out at the Hand's Tourney, she was very much aware that this pregnancy would be rough, she was made aware of the dangers, of the possibilities, which was why she allowed herself to be locked in her marital chambers.

"Everything will be alright Princess." Criston Caron tried to sooth as he turned around and pushed the doors of the birthing chambers open with his back.

"I'm scared, I want my mother." Elowen cried as Criston carefully set her down on the bed. It was no secret that mothers to be always begged for their mothers present, and their mothers would usually be there, but most times with young mothers to be that wasn't possible because they had other children to tend to.

And unless the mother lived close to the family in which their daughters married into, they would certainly miss the birth of their grandbabe if the mothers went in to labour too early.

"Inform the King and the Hand of what's happening. Should worst come to pass, they need to be informed." Cersei told Criston with a heavy tone, stopping him by the door, keeping Criston's back turned to the labouring girl of ten and four that was being stripped down to her undershirt.

Criston nodded and officially left the birthing chambers, allowing Cersei to close the door behind him before the Queen rushed to the side of her good daughter, "I want my mother." Elowen cried, her red hair clinging to her forehead with the sweat of labour.

"I'm here sweetling, I know I am not your mother, but I'm here." Cersei soothed, brushing Elowen's hair out of her face. A part of Cersei wished and prayed that she would be there when Myrcella was taken to the birthing chamber, but in that moment she knew that she couldn't think of a future that was still far away, she had to be the mother that Elowen needed.

"Your Grace." Pycelle greeted as he entered the birthing chambers, a few other Maesters with him to record anything and advice if anything went wrong.

The sight of Pycelle was not a welcoming one to an already overwhelmed Elowen, who since getting married to Joffrey had heard tales of horror about how Pycelle took advantage of his position as Grand Maester when it came to the young ladies of the Keep.

"No. Anyone but him." Elowen moaned into Cersei's shoulder as the need to bear down and push got more intense and painful, she could feel Cersei brushing her hair, she could hear her soothing her.

"Grand Maester Pycelle, would you please stay outside unless there's an emergency with the Princess." Cersei ordered, her gaze hard and demanding, to the point that Pycelle couldn't disobey her, no matter how much it displeased him that he wouldn't be present for the birthing.

Disgruntled, Pycelle accepted and left the scene, leaving behind of the newer Maesters to record what was happening, as that was protocol that not even the Queen could dispute. It was with the departure of Grand Maester Pycelle that Septa Melarie was able to cheek the labouring Princess.

Meanwhile, outside the birthing chamber a group of men had gathered. Usually the men waited in the marital chambers for their wife and newborn to be taken to them, or in the case of the King, he'd wait in the Throne Room or the Small Council, but because it was much too early for the babe to be born, it was obvious that none related to the Princess Consort wanted to stray too far from her and the birthing Chambers.

"How is she?" Ned questioned Pycelle as soon as he was close enough, Robert trailing behind him along with the rest of the Small Council, their meeting having been interrupted by Ser Criston Caron with the news.

"How's my Lady Wife?" Joffrey questioned loudly as he approached from the other side of the corridor, Jaime Lannister trailing after his nephew, showing how the two had been training, while Wylla led Joffrey with a low posture.

"I cannot say. I've been thrown out, but should the gods wish for the babe to be born today, there is little chance it will survive." Pycelle informed the approaching men, while this was nothing new, it was still hard for them to hear.

Joffrey, who everyone knew not to care about anything other than pain and gore, looked possitively worried, but for what no one knew for certain. "I must be by her side." Joffrey claimed approaching the door, only to be blocked by Pycelle.

"The Birthing Chambers are no place for men, they are the battlefield of women, much in the same manner that women do not ride out to war with their men." Pycelle informed the Prince, who had turned ten and five the previous moon.

"My Lady Wife is inside, in pain, birthing our babe." Joffrey said with an angry and deadly look on his face, "Now I will be by her side, holding her hand, allowing her to hurt me just as much as she is hurting me, and if you try to stop me, I will have you sent to the day for live the remaining days of your pathetic life."

"You wouldn't dare." Pycelle countered, finding it very hard not to be afraid of the young Prince, who in that moment seemed more scary that late Mad King.

"I will dare if you do not let me join my wife." Joffrey replied with one of his typical smirks on his lips, one hand on the hilt of his sword while the other rubbed the Wylla's head to keep her from attacking the Grand Maester.

Once Robert gave his eldest son permission to join his wife in the birthing chamber, Joffrey entered, undoing his belt and placing it on the wall near the bed as soon as he was close. Effortlessly climbing onto the bed next to Elowen, pulling her from his mother's arms and into his, with his lips gently placing a kiss on the crown of her head.

"It hurts." Elowen moaned, closing her eyes as she tightly squeezed the hands of her husband and good mother.

"You're almost ready to start pushing." Septa Mellarie informed, glancing up at the Queen with a slightly grim look on her face. A look that Cersei knew all too well, it meant bad news.

It didn't take long after Septa Mellarie's word for Elowen to actually start pushing, following the instructions of her Septa as she bared down and pushed with all her might, Joffry applying pressure on her lower back per his mother's guidance while Cersei kept cleaning Elowen's face.

The grunts, screams and moans of pain were heard by everyone outside. Wylla was laying at Ned's feet, her ears tucked back and her snout facing the door from where she could smell blood, Ned was leaning against the wall trying to tune out his daughter's pained screams, knowing that there was nothing that he could do to take the pain away, Robert paced up and down the corridor.

No nameday predictions had been made about the babe, nor predictions about the sex of the babe, they didn't dare it considering the poor health that Elowen was in as she carried the babe. So everyone was quite literally in the dark about which gender.

Despite labour having started not too long in the morrow, it lasted well into the lunch, when Elowen slumped into her husband's arms, tired and sore, dazed even. No cries filled the room, no sound came from the babe, but in a way everyone knew that there wouldn't be, Cersei praised Elowen on her strength and resilience as she endured the pain of childbirth.

Joffrey merely held Elowen, rubbing her sweaty back and holding her close, the fear of losing something, someone that had become so dear to him still ran through his body, preventing him from being able to say anything, from being able to do anything other than just hold Elowen close to him.

"Tis a boy." Septa Mellarie announced in a low tone as she held the unmoving babe, quickly turning around to clean it as soon as the cord was cut. All three royals turned to her, Cersei seemed to be having a moment of nostalgia, while Joffrey looked like he wanted to disappear from there, having vehemently wished for a girl, while Elowen looked like she was finally about to cry.

"I'm sorry." she whispered to Joffrey, glancing up at him with tired and apologetic eyes, knowing that it was her duty as his wife to give him heirs, something she'd failed at.

"Why?" Joffrey questioned, looking down at his wife, confused with her apology, even though he should've known that she would apology, seeing as it was something she'd been doing since she'd been confined to the their chambers.

"The babe, tis a boy but-" Elowen started when Joffrey cut her off with a gentle kiss, one he usually gave her when they weren't alone in their chambers.

"I care not, as long as you are healthy." He told her, his soft and caring words snapping his mother from her moment of nostalgia, her head snapping to her son's soft and uncharacteric behaviour that she was still not used to seeing on him.

Elowen relaxed a bit before another grunt of pain escaped her lips.

"Here comes the after birth." Mellarie explained, allowing a midwife to guide Elowen as she finished cleaning the babe. The birthing of the afterbirth wasn't painful, or rather it wasn't as painful as birthing a babe, and as soon as it was out, Mellarie gently place the stillborn babe in the Princess Consort's arms.

Cersei stood, allowing the couple to cheerish this moment, even if it was a sad one.

"He's so tiny." Joffrey commented as he stared at the pale babe in his wife's arms, his morbid curiosity shinning through slightly as he stared down at his dead son.

"I think he would've had my hair." Elowen whispered in return as she brushed the blanket around the babe off his head, showing tuffs of dark red hair, at her words Joffrey smiled softly, as if imagining the babe living and with his mother's wild hair.

"What will you name it?" Cersei questioned, her voice low, motherly and caring.

"Edmund." Joffrey replied, not taking his eyes off his son, admiring the unmoving babe that he aided in creating, feeling proud on himself, the only other emotion that filled him besides the lingering fear that he might lose Elowen.

"Edmund Baratheon." Elowen replied, staring lovingly at the body in her arms, despite the feeling of failure that spread through her bones.

"Whenever you're ready, we'll take him to the Silent sisters." Mellarie informed the Princess Consort, only to be met with a shake of Elowen's head.

"Whatever they have to do, they can do it here. I don't want him out of my sight." Elowen told her Septa, who despite wanting to protest nodded slightly and ordered one of the handmaidens to go fetch the Silent Sisters.

Cersei left the chambers with the handmaiden, only to find herself face to face with the members of the Small Council.

"What is it?" Robert questioned instantly, insensitively going straight to the point, which earned him a glare from his wife.

"Is my daughter alright?" Ned questioned, his tone pleading for good news, a sight that Cersei wished her Lord Husband had.

"She's brave and very strong, Lord Hand." Cersei replied, choosing to reply to the loving father instead of the impatient King, "She's braved birth with a stiff lip and the strength of a beast." the compliment although not fully using the right words, was enough to show that Cersei was impressed and proud of Elowen and how she handled her first birth.

"But even in all her strength, the babe was stillborn, a boy." Cersei added, finally replying to her husband, "They've named it Edmund."

Author's note:

-> Good news, I've finally narrowed down the timeline of the first season of the show and from when to when this book will last. The story itself from the show is being pushed back to accomodate Elowen and her story so events that have happened in the show thus far, might not have happened yet in this book.

-> Bad news, I still have to narrow down the other seasons that this book will span, but when I get there I'll deal with them. I am extremely sorry to tell everyone that you will suffer in this story and I will be pulling an HBO Aegon with Joffrey, not really sorry, it has to happen.

-> Last but not least, all of you, and mainly I, have to thank one of my closest friends for putting up with me ranting over and over and over again about how I want the timelines and my books to go and helping me through the creative process. She is a goddamn saint!