-Chapter 158-
-6th day of the 2nd moon of the year 300 AC-
-POV MC-
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah"
"Push, Your Majesty, you're almost there."
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah"
Hearing Arianne's screams gave me chills, and I took a moment to thank the gods that I wasn't born a woman because I don't think I would have had the courage to give birth to a child.
I squeezed my wife's hand without saying anything because there was nothing I could do except show her that I was there for her.
"I can see the head, Your Majesty, you're almost there, just one last effort."
"Hold on, Arianne, you've done the hardest part," I said, looking into her eyes.
I didn't want her to suffer any longer, and for that, the delivery shouldn't last for hours as the risk of complications increased with time.
Even though I had assembled a specially trained team of midwives, built a sterilized room with the means I had, and created hand sanitizer, I couldn't be sure everything would go smoothly. After all, she was just a normal woman.
"Push... push... push."
After a few minutes, the head midwife fell silent, and cries erupted.
Relief washed over me, and then I kissed Arianne's forehead, whispering to her, moved by the fact that I was now a father: "Thank you for this wonderful gift, my love, I love you."
She didn't smile or react; on the contrary, she kept grimacing, and I saw the midwife, surprised, say: "There's another one coming, it's almost out, one last effort, Your Majesty."
A few seconds later, a second baby cried and was swaddled before me, leaving me in shock as I was not only a father but the father of two children.
"Here's your firstborn, Your Majesty, a boy," said the midwife, presenting my eldest son to me.
I carefully took the small bundle, so afraid of hurting him due to his size and fragile appearance that after a few seconds, I handed him back to the midwife, who then gave him to Arianne.
Arianne smiled at the sight of our son and then said: "He's beautiful, isn't he?"
'Usually, I didn't understand why people marveled at babies' faces, but this time I agreed with her; we had brought an angel into the world' I thought, looking at the little boy who kept crying.
"He's beautiful."
"Your daughter, Your Majesty."
I was distracted by the head midwife, who this time handed me my daughter, and unlike my son, I tried to hold her longer.
"What are you going to name them?"
"Aemon and Visenya."
"Targaryen names."
"That's what they are, will be, and will represent in the future: the nobility, power, and pride of the Imperial House of the Dragon."
She gently smiled and then said, placing a hand on Aemon's still-crying belly:
"Everything's fine, my little dragon, everything's perfectly fine, you're safe, so don't cry anymore."
As if she had enchanted him, Aemon stopped crying, and I raised my eyebrows at the magical power of maternal instinct.
---
-29th day of the 2nd moon of the year 300 AC-
-POV Ellaria Martell-
"Arianne Martell gave birth to a pair of twins," said Daenerys, looking at me.
Even though it was a simple phrase, Ellaria knew perfectly well what the young queen meant by it. Since the death of her Hand of the King, she had internalized all the rage and frustration she felt, but at the mere mention of her nephew, the dragon's anger was ready to explode.
"I understand," I said, crushing the guilt I felt towards her. Arianne had chosen to side with Oberyn's assassin, so be it.
A heavy silence settled between us, which I broke by asking: "Have you found Quentyn?"
"No, to this day, we still have no news of his whereabouts; in fact, we don't even know if he's still alive."
"That's a big problem, are you aware of that?" I said, frustrated, because without a marriage with him, any chance of Doran abandoning Aegon's party was dead and buried, and no house in Dorne would side against Doran now that his daughter had given birth to the future emperor of Westeros.
"I know," she said lightly.
"No, you don't understand. Your plan to reconquer Westeros from the Baratheons has been dead for a long time. You might have thought you'd be welcomed with open arms by the people of Westeros, but that era has been over for years. House Targaryen rules Westeros with an iron fist, and with two dragons. If you continue to take your time gathering your forces and attacking, you won't be able to do anything," I said, because now that she had made enemies of the slavers, we would have no chance of forming an alliance with other cities, as most practice slavery.
"I can't go any faster; I don't have enough people to secure the territories I've conquered," she said, annoyed.
"Then recruit men," I said in a tone that highlighted the obvious.
I had seen so many people in the streets with nothing to do that it seemed obvious to me that she should put these people to good use by incorporating them into her army.
'That's what Aegon did,' I thought.
"I can't impose a war on them; they've suffered enough," Daenerys said, shaking her head.
Annoyed by her persistent innocence and naivety, I said: "That's the harsh reality we live in; it's the harsh reality of war. They have more dragons than us; they have more soldiers than us; they have more alliances than us. To have even a minimal chance of winning, you need men to win this war."
She frowned but didn't interrupt me, so I continued: "That's the only way you can show everyone who's afraid to oppose Aegon that they have another choice. The Vale and Dorne aren't ready to submit to Aegon, but over time, he'll strengthen his position so much that they won't be able to do anything but bow down, no matter how many soldiers and dragons you send there."
When I finished speaking, I saw her fall into deep thought, then she looked up.
"In total, with the Unsullied Illyrio Mopatis gave me, I only have 6,000 Unsullied and 1,000 reserves ready to become Unsullied in the coming months. Even if I were ready to recruit tens of thousands of soldiers, even a hundred thousand soldiers, they wouldn't be a match for the imperial army," said the queen, discouraged by what I had just told her, because we all knew that the 100,000 legionnaires of the imperial army represented a third, maybe a fifth, of the total strength of the Empire of Westeros in case of total war, and we couldn't even face that.
"The Unsullied are the best trainers there are; the imperial army is proof of that. All the empire's legions were trained under Aegon's supervision and with 500 Unsullied. That's how he managed to turn 100,000 peasants into the 100,000 elite soldiers currently protecting all the borders of his empire," I said, looking at the young queen who seemed to be caught in a dilemma.
"You've given me something to think about; now leave me," she said finally, to my great disappointment, because it's this kind of indecision that could make her lose.
"I apologize if I offended you; I was just trying to give you the most sincere advice."
She said nothing and didn't turn towards me, tacitly indicating that I should leave, which I did, and once outside, I let out a deep, exasperated sigh.
'Oberyn, maybe I was wrong about everything,' I thought.
---
-POV MC-
"So?" I asked Connor, who entered my office without knocking, one of the few with that privilege, though with my Magical Sense, I detected him from dozens of meters away.
"You were right, all the nobles of the Night's Watch we let go into exile were contacted by Red Priests. So, based on that, I can be sure of one thing: the man named Benerro is gathering all the people who have grudges against you and who have a minimum of influence to turn them against you so they can serve Daenerys," Connor said.
I nodded because I expected it, then I said: "I suspected as much. Hearing what Kinvara told me about him, I realized he probably managed to turn Tyrion against me and that he was behind the plot for me to assassinate Jorah Mormont."
"You knew before asking me to eliminate him?" Connor asked.
"That it was him? No," I said, looking at my brother at heart before adding:
"But that someone was trying to get rid of Jorah Mormont through me, yes."
"Then why did you do it anyway?" Connor asked.
"There are several reasons for that. First, he's the one who initially turned Daenerys against me. Second, he controlled her, and she will never become a true queen with that kind of leech stifling her thinking. And finally, I don't want to alert the snake lurking in the grass."
"Benerro?" he asked.
"Hmm, for now, he's trying to gain Daenerys' support to stop the White Walkers, which means Daenerys' offensive will happen in less than five years," I said.
"How do you know?" Connor asked.
"It's a feeling I have," I said.
"He'll try to attack us in many different ways, but unfortunately for him, they have a significant handicap: their tolerance of slavery."
"I thought you hated slavery too," Connor said.
I nodded, then said: "I hate it, and I would never allow its practice on my lands, but I'm not crazy enough to go to war against the rest of the world because they still practice slavery. I can try to eliminate this practice by proposing contracts between nations with incredible benefits at stake so that the interests of the slaver families aren't affected, but that's all I can do in the current situation."
"Your legendary pragmatism," Connor said, slightly mocking me with a joke Valeria often made.
I nodded, then said with a small smile: "You got it."
"What do we do now?"
"For now, we do nothing. Our coffers need to grow, our finances need to be solid because although I've already said no war will happen on our land, we're going to go through troubles worthy of the Age of Heroes. The goal for the next five years is to conquer the Summer Isles and exploit the rich resources of these islands to open several new markets and dominate them instantly because we'll have the producing country as a vassal kingdom of the empire."
"It won't be easy; we could lose a lot trying to conquer these lands," Connor said.
I smiled, then said: "Unfortunately, we have no choice. The resources of these lands interest me far too much for me to let anyone other than myself use them."
Connor shook his head, amused, then said: "And here I thought you were going to get lazy and become an old, fat noble enjoying his wealth until the day he dies."
I smiled, then said: "You're talking about yourself there, Connor."
We laughed, then he said: "I've met someone."
"I know," I said.
"Bryan?" he asked, annoyed.
"Bryan," I said with a smile.
"What a nosy bastard," Connor said, hoping to keep the secret.
"He's your brother," I said.
"I know, and I love him with all my heart, but he's a nosy little bastard," Connor said.
I smiled, then he said: "She's pregnant, I want to marry her and start a family, so I'd like to take some time for us now that the situation has stabilized."
I could see he was worried about my reaction, but I immediately reassured him by grabbing his shoulders and saying:
"Don't worry, live your life, have lots of kids with your wife, and come back when you're ready."
"Thank you, Aegon, thank you for... you know what, thank you for everything," he said, hugging me.
"I wouldn't have made it without you guys," I said, remembering everything, a little moved by the path we had taken.
"You would have made it, you're someone special, and it's an honor to serve you in this life, I want you to know that," Connor said.
"You're my friend and brother forever, Connor," I said, patting his shoulder and letting go. He nodded, then left.