-Chapter 42-
-POV MC-
I entered the White Worm brothel accompanied by my uncle Gunthor and Arnold Arryn, who acted as bodyguards.
I trusted no one in this city of sin, where anyone might take their chance to kill me far from my dragon, in a typical street assassination.
I quickly noticed that this brothel was different from the few pleasure houses I had seen in Runestone or elsewhere.
'Though I've never frequented one myself.'
The atmosphere was festive, and people were engaging in acts of debauchery everywhere, indifferent to the stares of others.
'This is a giant orgy,' I thought as I walked a bit faster, slightly repelled by such places due to my upbringing, both in this world and the previous one.
Regardless of the upbringing I had, the parents who raised me disliked these kinds of places and found them filthy.
'A judgment I seem to have adopted as well.'
A few moments after entering this den of depravity, a young woman appeared and asked us to follow her to the lower levels, where I found four people gathered around a fireplace.
'Rhaenyra, her faithful lapdog Ser Harwin, my father, and the so-called White Worm, Mysaria, who was supposedly lost at sea,' I thought, frowning as her survival and her nearly identical hair color to ours made it clear she wasn't Baelon's mother, confirming my initial suspicion.
I noticed there were only four chairs: one for Daemon, one for Mysaria, one for Rhaenyra, and one for me.
I glanced at my chair but didn't bother to sit and said:
"I have little time, so let's get this done quickly. I want your answer right now, Rhaenyra."
"There's no rush. I can have refreshments brought if you'd like…"
"I don't recall speaking to you," I said, frowning at the woman who had trampled on my mother's dignity.
Daemon, sensing the tension between us, frowned but said nothing, though it wasn't necessary. Mysaria humbly responded, standing up and stepping behind her chair:
"Forgive me, my prince. I overstepped."
I frowned at the insincerity of her apology, but I acknowledged the effort and moved on.
'That's not why I'm here anyway,' I thought, refocusing on my objective: securing my cousin Rhaenyra's support.
"I'm willing to support your candidate for the title of Warden of the Vale, but only on one condition."
"Very well, tell me," I asked, slightly curious but mostly certain of what she would ask.
"I want you to swear allegiance to me and publicly support me as the one and only heir to the Iron Throne," Rhaenyra said, lifting her chin slightly.
I raised an eyebrow and asked my cousin, incredulous:
"You want me to turn the Hightowers and all their allies against me for you?"
"If you agree to declare for me…" she began, but I didn't let her finish, already knowing what would happen and what they would do.
"The Hightowers and the rest of the world wouldn't stand a chance against us, given our four dragons. Everyone would abandon Alicent and her brood. I would marry my first daughter to your son, and I'd be the father of the queen."
"I'm only 15, Rhaenyra. I've sworn allegiance to my king, and I intend to keep my oath. As for the rest, we'll see how things unfold."
"Then I won't support you."
"Fine, then we have nothing more to discuss," I said, shrugging, not too disappointed, knowing I had dozens of ways to knock her off her pedestal.
"I have another proposition," Rhaenyra said, stopping me from leaving.
I raised a questioning eyebrow in her direction, and she said:
"I'll withdraw my support from Jeyne, but you step away from the heir question. You don't support anyone, and we remain neutral, not interfering in each other's affairs."
I quickly weighed the pros and cons, then nodded: "Very well, we have a deal."
'Anyway, I don't like court life. All I want is to live peacefully and survive with my dragon through the Dance. The rest doesn't matter to me. Let them tear each other apart if they want to.'
As I turned toward the exit for the second time, I heard my father cough and say:
"Aren't you forgetting someone?"
I raised an eyebrow, slightly surprised: "You want a piece of the pie?"
"I already have a piece of the pie. All I want is both of your support to counter Corlys' voice in the council," he said.
"For what?"
"I want the right to impose whatever taxes I see fit across all my lands," Daemon said with a small smile.
'Well played,' I thought, admiring this clever and potentially lucrative demand.
"And Corlys opposed this because he fears that due to your quarrel, you'll raise taxes on his goods," I said, understanding the concerns of my future father-in-law.
"Which I fully intend to do," my father said, raising a cup in the air for a silent toast before downing it.
"I have no problem with that, but I want 10% of whatever you make from it," I said.
"Same here," Rhaenyra added, following my lead.
Father grimaced before finally agreeing, saying, "What wouldn't I do to see the sour face of that old serpent?"
I nodded, uninterested in staying any longer, and said, "If that's all, I've got things to do. Goodnight."
My father gave me a dismissive wave to leave, which I did, while Rhaenyra followed my example and also exited Mysaria's brothel, just a few meters behind me.
'We could have walked back together, but I had nothing to say to her. We were just partners in a transaction, nothing more.'