Pre-Chapter A/N: Here we go with another chapter, coming in right on time. Next three chapters on my patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga)— same username as here and link in bio.
We enjoyed our company for the few minutes we had alone as he regaled me with tales of his latest discoveries from what had been sent from Dragonstone's library about Valyria as well as the Citadel's own information and I tried to push him in different directions without being too obvious about it, using Aurion's expertise and what I myself had seen on Tyria. His latest interest—Valyrian roads.
"They inspired him, you know? Jaehaerys. He wanted Westeros to be like Valyria in that respect, joined by roads from every major castle to every other major castle," he said.
"He succeeded in some ways," I said.
"They are dirt tracks, not true roads. Not like what I read in the books about the Empire before it fell. Not even like what I saw on Bloodstone," he said.
"What we did on Bloodstone cannot be replicated across the realm. Even just trying to do it in King's Landing here would bankrupt many a Lord," I said. The fact that he was among those it would bankrupt was thought but not said.
Beyond Otto's attempts to deal with me, Viserys' small council had not raised taxes even once in the last decade. Costs were going up, but the gold coming in was barely changing. If the realm itself was getting richer and paying more in taxes as a result, that would make sense, but Lords of Westeros cared little for copper counting. Taxing them was, counterproductively, the only way to get them to make more gold. They were too used to their lifestyles and if taxes began to eat into that, they would have no choice but to find ways to increase their income and get things back to baseline.
"I know. But the Valyrians found a way to manage it," he said.
"To be honest, the roads Valyria had compare unfavourably to Bloodstone's. I apologise, cousin, if it sounds like I am overcome by a wrongful sense of pride in my accomplishments, but I can swear to you by the gods, old and new, that I do mean it. The Valyrian roads used only fused stone and mine was two layers of fused stone, one layer of cobblestones, and then another so the road was both flat and raised a bit from the gutters to the side of said road so water from our storms can easily be funnelled away," I said.
"Something like the—" I made to continue, but the doors swung open then. Alicent came first. And then behind her in single file like ducklings following their hen, came the children. Aegon, then Aemond and then Daeron with Helaena bringing up the rear. You could see Viserys in all their faces. In Aegon's the least as time in the yard had robbed him of the softness that Viserys wore even till this day. Leprosy or not.
"Husband," she greeted with a deep curtsy. "Lord Velaryon," for me, the curtsy was much shallower, but the warmth no less palpable.
Oh, how one could change in a woman's estimation by becoming the only way her son would see a throne.
"Your Grace. You look radiant as ever," I said, rising in greeting as I did so. The children behind her murmured their own greetings. I wondered how these dinners must have felt for them. The others most likely felt that they did not notice the hostility but I knew well how observant children could be, and it only made sense to expect that those purple eyes saw more than they seemed to.
"You flatter me, my Lord. The years and trials of both Queenship and Motherhood have worn away at me, I know. But I would not have it any other way," she said, before taking her seat and gesturing for her children to sit to her sides.
I did the same, offering her another nod as I did so.
----
"Would you mind if we spoke plainly, Otto? I can call you Otto, right? My cousin does and it feels strange to call you anything else," I said, taking the seat across from him that he was yet to offer to me.
"I shall call you Laenor then," he said in a clipped tone. He wasn't pleased about me taking whatever plan he had for how this conversation would go and tossing it out the window, then.
For one, I hadn't bothered to wait for the steward to announce me and just strolled into the office. A greater Lord would have had some sort of guard posted at the entrance to prevent this sort of thing from happening, but Otto was a second son and the brother to a great Lord was many things. A great Lord in his own right was not one of them.
Even if I was reasonably sure that he could afford it if he wanted to, it just sent the wrong sort of message most likely. The realm would be abuzz with whispers the second Otto started moving around with his own Private Knights. Not like he did not already have a small army of stewards, maids, and servicepeople already. Those ones just tended to be less attention-grabbing than the men with swords.
"So what do you want?" I asked, leaning back. I shouldn't be doing this, I knew. I should be reasonable, but my patience had just spent the better part of the last hour being tested. Rhaenyra was in fantastic form with a neverending deluge of snarky remarks, side comments and dirty looks. Ordinarily I wouldn't mind, but being more or less forced to just sit there and take it while pretending not to notice was its own form of annoyance. If it didn't piss Rhaenyra off as much as I knew it did, I probably would have broken my silence on her behaviour a few times across that dinner.
He looked at me, judging with his gaze, before seemingly finding whatever it was he was looking for.
"His Grace will offer you the matches again in two days. I am here to ensure that you say yes and end this delay."
His tone said he expected this to be an easy conversation, but I could smell the exact opposite on him. He knew this would be a fight from the get-go.
"We agreed to speak plainly, yes? Then plainly said, those matches are an insult," I said.
"A Princess and two Princes is what you call an insult? Surely the whole realm must hunger to be so insulted then."
"I have a claim on that throne. However distant it might be now, it still exists. The Realm will not soon forget how Viserys became King. And beyond a claim, I have seven dragons. Any match that does not see my blood seated on the throne in a generation is an insult," I said. The indignation he felt did not show on his face as I spoke about my claim. A claim that he would deny the existence of till his dying breath if he could. But not now. No matter how much he wanted to fight on that point, he could not. They needed me. It felt good to be needed. But not as good as it felt to play a trick.
"Prince Aegon's hand is too valuable a tool to be tied down so soon. You have raised him like a son for years. Taught him, made him the man he will become. What is the difference between him and a son of your blood? And if you want that so badly, a match between Aegon's firstborn and one of your grandchildren will still see your blood on the throne. The Realm will not take kindly to a Velaryon Queen. Not with you already receiving so much," he said.
"You will decide what the realm will take kindly to, one way or another. And let us be honest with ourselves, Otto. The King has not named Aegon his heir. You think he will eventually, and I know for certain that he will not. Yet, despite what he wills, you will seek to put Aegon on the throne. Rhaenyra has lived her entire life coveting that throne. She will not give it up without a fight. A fight that you will lose without me. Without Igneel, Vhagar, and Meleys, what do you have? Caraxes and the boy riding it? Sunfyre? To stand against Vermithor?" I asked with a chuckle at the end to make it certain just how ridiculous that notion sounded to me.
"The King will name Aegon his heir. It is only a matter of time."
"If you maintain that view, I might as well leave now. I came to deal with a sensible man, not one blinded by foolish hopes," I said.
"What you speak of. It is treason," he hissed at me.
"A treason that both you and Jason Lannister have been planning for years. No one with eyes fails to see the moves you both make, the dance on the cyvasse board that is the realm as you court allies to your side. And you have lost that dance, Otto. Lost it woefully. Now your best chance is me, my ships, my dragons, my men, my gold. You want them, you have to pay. And my price is a Queen. What say you?"
----
I looked at the boy in front of me and struggled not to laugh. He wore a helmet over his head, had platforms in his shoes and spoke in an almost believable version of his brother's voice, but what in the seven hells would have convinced my silly Squire that I would fall for this ruse?
"Come in, Aemond. We haven't ever spoken, have we? I might as well get to know you," I said, gesturing for him to come into the room.
"Aemond? This is Aegon, my Lord. My brother is in his rooms," he said in his brother's voice. A passable version of it, at least.
"No. Your brother is putting on his armour now and probably about to begin taking his place for the Squire's melee. It starts in an hour, after all," I said, still gesturing into the room. At that, the young Prince gave up the ruse and took off his helmet.
"Aegon is going to hate me," he said. I just chuckled.
"He won't. Because I won't stop him from participating. Now, will you come take a seat? We have enough time for a tea before we need to leave to catch the show," I said.
"Tea?" he asked, walking into the room. My accommodations were in Maegor's Holdfast rather than in the wider Keep like most other Lords. A privilege of being a cousin to the King, and having his son as my Squire.
"A drink from Yi-Ti. It must be drunk hot to be fully enjoyed," I said, gesturing to the jug of water in the room. I put my hand to the outer edge and frowned at the coolness I felt. A flex of my will and a few seconds of patience later, and the water began to bubble inside.
"Let's keep that little trick between us, no?" I asked with a smirk. Of course, he would tell the very first person he saw, but no one would believe him. Such was the curse of the young.
I poured the now boiling water into the specially crafted teapot, a gift from the Emperor of Yi-Ti, and in a matter of minutes, we were both sipping our tea.
"It's bitter," Aemond said with that honesty only children could manage after he took his first sip.
"Honey?" I offered, turning to a different jar.
He accepted the offer gladly.
And his second sip was much less dramatic. This time, he didn't look like he'd swallowed a lemon, at least.
"How did you know it was me, my Lord?" he asked after a few seconds of silence. Like Aegon, he didn't seem to have the ability to sit still for a minute in silence. Would be a shame if it turned out that all the famous Targaryen madness was just undiagnosed ADHD.
"I've trained Aegon for years. I saw him this morning. How did the three of you expect that a helmet and some platformed boots would do anything? It was wise of you to prime it by having Aegon wear the helmet yesterday so I would not think it odd, but still I wouldn't consider your plan particularly well thought out," I said. He flushed.
"Whose plan was it?" I asked, already having a good inkling of the answer.
"We all came up with it together," he said, not meeting my eyes. Yeah, definitely his plan.
"It is no trouble. I have no problem with Aegon participating today so all the best to him."
"So why did you forbid him then?" he asked.
"Did I? Well, let's just say I had my reasons. Aegon must have told you that I am different from other Knights," I said.
"He said with you everything is a test," he said. I inclined my head at that.
"So this was a test. To see if he'd disobey you."
"To see if he could go after something he wanted. Some people never break rules. They take every no. Some people break every rule. No means nothing to them. Both of those types of people are useless to me. I forbade Aegon for an intentionally flimsy reason. If he used his own judgement and decided to disobey me, that would mean something. So he gets points for the decision. But then loses some for the execution," I said.
"Helaena said you'd know. That we did not need to do so much," he said finally.
"You should listen to her more often. She's smart," I said.
"She doesn't have a dragon," he said, as if that somehow related to what I had just said.
"Neither does your mother. Is she not smart?" I asked. He flushed at that, looking away.
"Besides, Helaena is young still. You are all young. Plenty of time to claim a dragon. Not like your house will run out of them anytime soon," I said with an internal chuckle that must have shown a bit on my face considering the strange look he gave me. I looked over at my candle and then looked outside. Yeah, time to go.
"Now, up. Let's go lest we miss your brother's grand show," I said.
XXXX- AEGON TARGARYEN
Helaena said it was a stupid idea. Erryk had said the same. But it was not until he watched his Knight walk into the royal box with an unhelmeted Aemond on his side that he realised they were right. Of course he'd noticed in seconds. He could always tell what Aegon was thinking. Lord Velaryon was too smart to fall for it.
So he was most likely going to be punished once this was over. A beating, perhaps. The other Squires were never shy to talk about just how often their Knights found cause to beat them. While they all agreed that a lot of them were unearned, disobeying a direct order and trying to trick one's Knight ended in only a few ways once you got caught. He might even be discharged, a traitorous part of his mind whispered. He refused to take it seriously, but disobedience could lead to it. And Lord Velaryon did not like being disobeyed.
Aegon had seen it many times, how he treated people that didn't do what they were supposed to. Would Aegon himself be any different? This tournament just became all the more important. Because if he could win this melee, then maybe Lord Velaryon would not punish him. He'd said that he hadn't entered him because he hadn't felt Aegon could win, but Aegon could win. He knew it in his bones.
Yes, some of the other boys were bigger, and older, but he was quicker than everyone he had seen spar and he was better as well. Their Knights had not taught them all the things Lord Velaryon had taught him. Lord Velaryon was the best Knight in the world. Did that not make Aegon the best Squire as well? He could win. He just had to go out and do it.
He filed out onto the field with the rest of the Squires when their cue was called. It was to be a free-for-all melee, starting on foot, and with blunted swords rather than live steel. Knights died in tourneys, but it had been years since a Squire had. Not in any that Aegon had heard of at least.
Aegon turned to look towards the royal box now that he could see them better. Aemond gave him a thumbs-up gesture. Lord Velaryon just watched, not doing anything. His face gave nothing away as well.
Aegon snapped his faceplate on. Lord Velaryon had not looked all too displeased, but then he did not wear his emotions on his sleeve and could hide his anger behind soft smiles when he wanted to. That time the sailor had been brought in after raping the publican's daughter, Aegon had seen nothing on his face while the story was told, but he had heard the anger in his voice when he sentenced him to the rope.
He had been so angry that he hadn't even given him to the Night's Watch like he usually did with the prisoners, but none of it had shown on his face at the time.
Through the slits for eyes, he could see the other boys. Their armour was not as good as his so he stood out for that alone. Those who hadn't seen Helaena and Daeron helping him into it would not need much to figure out that he was the Prince in their midst. And those who had seen it already knew.
So he had to expect to be the first to be set upon. Him or that other boy, Jak.
He took a deep breath like his Knight had taught him and he took his stance and waited. Any second now. The horn went off, signalling the start.
A/N: Another chapter. As for the negotiation with Otto, I assume you can fill in the gaps. Also Laenor is playing a game here. He wants something, but not any of the things that he has claimed to want so far. Next chapter comes on here by Sunday night/Monday morning most likely. Next three chapters up on patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga) (same username as here and link in bio), support me there and read them early.