The council member gave Daemon a glance. Despite being aware of Prince Daemon's attitude but their attention was drawn by the to two beautiful women who had just entered the council room. Ashara and Elia gracefully made their way into the room and sat down in the vacant seats. Since they knew they were the mother of Princess Rhaenys, no one objected to their place.The presence of Princess Elia meant that the Dorne is on their side.
Daeron gave a polite nod to both ladies before focusing his attention again on his uncle and Bashar.
"Uncle, I asked you a question just now."
Daemon still maintained his smug face, first looking at Reynard Reyne, then at Daeron.
"Nephew, you should be thanking me after I had won you Summer Isles."
Lord Reyne, who is always at odds with Daemon, wanted to suppress Daemon and may be get Daeron to punish him.
"It's not about you capturing the Summer Isles. You, along with Sardaukar, went to war without his grace permission, and above all, this was not expected of you. Ser Bashar, do you have any explanation for your crime?"
Daemon clearly saw Reynard's intention. But Daemon, being Daemon, wants to let that happen.
"I won the Summer Isles for my nephew. Yes, I did it without your permission, but I did it for our house. Besides, what do you know about War, Lord Hand, as when Tywin Lannister of Casterly Rock attacked Castamere? You could do nothing except watch as his men burn your castle and kill your men like cattle!"
Reynard got up from his seat clearly enraged, while Rhaenys looked at Daeron with an amused face, as if she found the conflict between these two grown men funny.
"Lord, hand, take your seat. Uncle, no moments like that would be tolerated.Next time there would be consequences."
"Lord Bashar, how did my uncle fool you?"
Bashar stood up and was eager to clear his name.
"Your grace, we got this letter, and it had your seal on it. The letter stated that you had given the command of Sardaukar to Prince Daemon."
But he was interrupted by Reynard, as he was present when Daeron was discussing it. He had clearly objected to giving the command of Sardaukar to Daemon, stating that he is unfit to be the commander of Sardaukar.
"Yes, we all knew about it, but His grace did not give any orders regarding the attack on the Summer Isles."
Bashar didn't like Reynard much and was eager to prove his innocence, but Daemon decided to step in and tell the truth.
"I lied to Bashar and the rest of the General of Sardaukar that you ordered me to attack the Summer Isles."
"And they believed you. Does the prince expect us to believe that he lied to the Sardaukar, and they agreed to follow him into a war?"
Reynard commented sarcastically. This angered Daemon as he was unable to understand why Renyard was trying to get on my nerves.Deron didn't want the situation to get out of hand, so he decided to interrupt.
"Stop it, Commander Bashar; explain yourself clearly; otherwise, I would feed you along with your generals to dragons."
Bashar wanted to be out of this mess, so he decided to come clean and tell the truth.
"Your Grace, after we got your letter, from that moment we were under prince Daemon's command, and he came to us stating that he got a letter from you ordering the prince to lead Sardaukar and win the Summer Isles for you."
Renyard, still not satisfied by the answer, decided to ask a question.
"Commander Bashar, did it occur to you that perhaps you should check the letter first before leading an army of thirty thousand elites to war?"
Bashar clearly annoyed by Reynad looks at Daeron, as he wanted the Daeron to understand that he could do nothing about it as it was the military order to follow the command of their superior.
"Your Grace, you should understand that after you gave Prince Daemon the command of Sardaukar, we were to follow him till death until we get a new order from you, and the only time we don't need to follow him is when he goes against the crown, which he didn't."
Daeron could now understand what has happened, as he had made a rule in his army to follow the superior as long as they don't go against house targaryen, and attacking the summer Isles was not against him or his house but in their benefit, so no one in the sardaukar had any reason not to trust his uncle.
Daeron P.O.V
I am stupid enough to trust my uncle, but I would need him and his ruthlessness, his strategic mind, and his dragon; otherwise, I would have killed him. I need to control both my aunt and uncle, and I know exactly what to do to limit their new powers.
"Fine, Commander Bashar and Sardauakar will not be held responsible for war."
"But, Your Grace, they did not follow your order."
I looked at my hand, and I know why he is doing this, as he wants more power for his house as he has grown old and won't live long. So he wants me to give command of Sardukar to his son, which I have denied, and the only reason I am tolerating him despite his hunger for more power for his house is because I need his house name to counter that of Lannister in the westernland.
"No, it's not their fault as they were following the military rules that I personally laid, and it's my fault that I left a loophole that my uncle used. So I have decided that from now on every order shall be read in front of all the generals of the army, and they must see the order before doing it. I think this would prevent any future events like this."
I will have to deal with my uncle, as I can't afford to look weak. After the death of my mother, he had taken care of me, as did my aunt, and I owe both of them a lot for it. But that doesn't mean he could overstep my authority and do anything that he wants.
"After the Imperial Council ends, I would like my family to stay, and the punishment for my uncle would be announced soon. I want to know about our losses that happened while escaping Valyria.
I looked at my aunt Visenya, who was responsible for leading the people out of Valeria, stood up and started explaining the losses.
P.O.V ends
"We have lost eight legions of the imperial army and half of dragons, as when they were flying, the gained rocks that came out of the volcano hit them, and since the adults were slower, they could not escape.The civilian loss is low, as they were the first ones to be rescued. I had stationed them in the city of Tolos along with the imperial army and Atreides. And now we only have eleven Valyrian steel swords left, including the swords that I, Daemon, and you both have. "
She said while looking at Daeron and Visenya. Daemon got angry as he knew that Tolos was not under their control, which means Visneya took the city by force.
"She went to war, and I am the only one who would be punished?"
"Because unlike you, I attacked the city on the orders."