"You are sure?"
"I am your Grace" the woman know a Lady Misery replied, bowing
her head slightly "Prince Daemon and the bastard Ser Hugh are
dining at the Sapphire."
"Dining?" she asked, one eyebrow arching of its own accord.
"Yes, but dining also includes the services of whores, and Prince
Daemon has long patronised the Sapphire."
"I see" came her frosty reply.
She supposed that it would have been too much to ask her husband
to keep to the vows he made her, especially when such temptation
was right there before him. On Dragonstone Daemon's appetites had
been curtailed by the lack of available sources to quench them, and
he at least had the good grace to be discrete when he indulged.
But now that they were back in Kings Landing? No, the Rogue
Prince would indulge himself to his heats content, of that she was
certain.
But she would not bar him from her bed, despite her cold fury, no,
Daemon was too skilled a lover, too valuable an ally and he was the
father of two of her sons. And he was loyal to her, the only person
she could, really, really trust, in this nest of vipers that they called
Kings Landing.
And that was the truly most terrible thing that she knew, that of all the
people she knew, it was Daemon whom she could trust the most, if
only as far has his ambitions wanted to reach. The sooner Jacaerys
and Baela were married the better, and with Jacaerys as her heir this
should go some way towards placating Daemon's unquenchable lust
for the Iron Throne. But her husband required watching, of that she
was certain. Hence why she had appointed this Lady Misery, a
former whore as her unofficial 'Mistress of Whispers', oh she knew
that Daemon and this one were former lovers, the whore had
admitted it plainly, but had also admitted that Daemon had scorned
her on his return from Kings Landing for other, younger and more
comely whores.
Ah, so like Daemon she mused, always thinking with that rather well
proportioned pillar of his. But still, her husband had been right all
along about the ambition of Alicent and her sons, and the ambitions
of her father and other members of the Small Council. And maybe if
she had listened to Daemon on Dragonstone all those times down
the years when he had pleaded with her to turn the war of words and
position between her and the Greens into one of knives in the dark.
Then maybe, maybe sweet Luke would still be alive, and she would
not be in a war with that bitch Alicent's usurping spawn!
Ah but did she not have Alicent prisoner now, along with her cunt of
a daughter Helaena. They also had Aegon prisoner, though he was
so badly burned and injured from the battle over Rooks Rest that he
was bedbound and incoherent most of the time. Helaena's children
Jaehaera and Maelor were also enjoying captivity with their mother,
whose mind appeared to have been broken by the ordeal of losing
her son Jaehaerys. Grand Maester Orwyle also languished in
captivity, despite the protests of the Citadel, as if she would listen to
the bleating of those who hailed from Oldtown of all places! She had
wanted Maester Gerardys to replace Orwyle, and she had draped
the chain of Orwyle around Gerardys's neck, but the Lord Protector
had persuaded her that Gerardys should remain on Dragonstone for
the time being. They were using the services of several Maesters
from loyal Crownlander houses in the stead of Gerardys, whose
elevation to the title she had bestowed upon him the Citadel had
refused to sanction, because of course they had….
And the more she pondered on those that had attempted to steal her
birth right, the more she became resolved to visit Fire and Blood
upon them. Mercy was all well and good, and forgiveness was the
coin that redemption was paid with, but she struggled with this,
struggled with wanting to offer mercy to her enemies. Daemon of
course wanted to sweep all their enemies away in a tide of fire and
blood, an elegantly simple proposition that was not unattractive, and
to uproot almost the entire structure of the Seven Kingdoms in the
process.
Her husband was fond of these dramatic gestures she knew, and he
had made a compelling case for what he wanted to do, to strengthen
House Targaryen massively versus its Vassals. And to do this
Daemon proposed to expand the Crownlands significantly,
encroaching on territory held by House Baratheon, House Tyrell and
House Lannister. And on top of that Daemon wanted to redraw web
of vassal alliances within the Reach to hamstring several of the
major supporters of the Greens, specifically House Hightower.
Daemon even wanted to attain a whole swath of Houses for treason
and hand over their lands to his supporters, scummy sellswords,
minor Lords and Hedge Knights mostly.
Which led her to the thorny issue of the dragonseeds - her house
was fatally dependent upon these now for their power, hostage to
their demands, whatever they might be. Daemon had wanted to
replace House Lannister and House Baratheon with two of them, the
two smallfolk from Dragonstone, an idea which if she had not heard
it from Daemon's own mouth she would have laughed off as
hysterical. The strident opposition from several of her Lords to this,
notably Lord Corlys, had swayed Daemon from this course of action,
but still he persisted in attempting the raising of this Ulf and Hugh to
heights scandalously above their station.
Not that they should not be rewarded for their service, they had been
Knighted as a first step, but by Lord Corlys himself and given land on
Driftmark, something she was not pleased with at all. Did Lord Corlys
think that she would let dragonriders exist as his vassals? No, never!
Dragonriders, and their dragons, were going to be the sole preserve
of the royal family, and she was working on laws to solidify the Iron
Thrones control over the dragons and their riders.
Daemon had been making suggestions about how to reward the
dragonseeds, Addam Velaryon had been legitimised, mayhaps an
advantageous marriage might be arranged for the lad. Rhaena was
available but Daemon was being very coy about his daughter's hand,
refusing to be drawn on a new betrothal for the girl. Nettles seemed
to care for nothing beyond riding her dragon and staying away from
everyone, a shame really as the girl was to all intents a good
dragonrider. And if cleaned up and taught a little manners and
courtesy she would be a reasonable catch, but again any betrothals
for her would have to be managed very carefully.
The pair from Dragonstone were more problematical, she knew they
had to be rewarded further and at the same time brought more fully
under the Iron Throne's control. Lands and titles would have to be
bestowed upon them, and advantageous marriages arranged for
them, a likely easier task for the Blacksmith lad than for the former
Man at Arms fellow.
Hugh seemed to be the calmer and more level-headed of the two,
and seemed to have a natural affinity for dragons, and he was
something of a friend to both Jacaerys and Addam. There was a time
when she would have been swift to put an end to such a friendship
between her son and heir and a smallfolk blacksmith. But now, given
who Hugh was and how he had behaved, not so much, and Hugh
was an easy enough fellow on the eye it had to be said. He
reminded her of her beloved Harwin in his size and height, and she
was not blind or deaf to the blushes and tittering's of the maids and
ladies in waiting of the court.
Which meant arranging a betrothal for Hugh was a priority, the eldest
Baratheon girl was a possibility, for she would not be attaining House
Baratheon, no matter what Daemon wanted to do. A betrothal to
Hugh of Lord Borros's eldest to Hugh would be an insult and
something of a sop to House Baratheon, and Hugh could be given
some of the lands to be taken from the control of House Baratheon.
There were some likely maidens in the Westerlands also, notably in
House Lannister, and a smattering of others across the Reach, both
in loyal and rebel houses.
But she suspected that Daemon was up to something with regard to
Ulf and Hugh, no she did not suspect it, she knew it, and this
meeting in a whorehouse only confirmed her suspicions.
"Will you be able to report what was said?" she asked of the whore.
"Maybe, it depends, but Daemon is careful enough when he wants to
be" shrugged the whore.
Only a handful of candles provided illumination for the Small Council
chamber, Rhaenyra preferring it this way, she had become more
accustomed to the dark these last few moons. The lustre and joy of
taking of Kings Landing and the bulk of her enemies in one fell
swoop had rapidly faded and left her with the crushing realities of
ruling during a war. And not just any war either, a war for her and her
children's very survival, and a war brought on by the fact that oaths it
seemed were just words, and words were just wind.
"Well keep an eye on my husband, the Lord Protector of the Realm,
and report anything interesting. Do you have anything else to report
to me?"
"I am positive that Lord Larys Strong is still present in Kings Landing,
he has not fled the city."
"Oh? What makes you so sure of that?"
"The way certain of his agents are acting, the way certain people are
now behaving."
"Hrmmm, I see" she replied, when she did not see at all, but she was
content to not press the whore further on the mater. Content might
have been too strong a word. Hah! 'strong', and this man a brother of
Harwin…..She trusted the whore about as much as she trusted
Daemon, which was to say little, but the whore seemed competent
and had been instrumental in their capture of Kings Landing. And so
far, the whore had not disappointed her with regard to whispers she
had brought to Rhaenyra's attention.
The whores network gave her reasonable coverage in Kings
Landing, and she knew that Lady Misery, she would not use the
whores name, preferring this to her actual name, was working hard
to build a network of spies across the rest of the realms. Most likely
using whores, but that troubled Rhaenyra not one whit, so long as
the whispers that reached her ears were accurate, she cared not
how they came to her.
"Will he be a problem?" she asked, already suspecting what the
answer would be.
"Yes, he will be a problem, of that I am certain."
"Very well, should you discover him, do not try and capture him, its
better if he dies than escapes. Here…." at this Rhaenyra grabbed a
parchment and wrote upon it the death warrant for Lord Larys
Strong, she included all the necessary language and crimes he was
guilty of, there could be no doubting this document. Signing and
sealing it she handed it to Lady Misery "….this is your royal warrant
for the death of Lord Larys Strong, traitor to his Queen."
The whore gave her a small bow at this, and the rolled-up parchment
disappeared into the depths of the woman's hooded cloak.
"This Janas Barner fellow, has he sung yet?" she asked, hoping that
the man had decided to swap torture for revealing all that he knew.
"Not yet, but he is close, I can tell."
"Good, inform me the moment he spills his secrets, I want to know.
Daemon may have been content to watch this fool, but I am not. I
know what he was about, even without pulling his secrets from him
with hot pincers, he was trying to turn the dragonseeds away from
us!"
"If you are sure of this your Grace, should you not have them
arrested?"
"No, not yet dear Lady Misery, not yet. I want this Barner fellows'
confession first before I act, and if he confirms the treason of the
dragonseeds then I'll have their heads, but not before."
Despite all the thoughts of betrothals and lordships she would not
hesitate to act in the defence of her and her children, she had stayed
her hands during the long years that cunt Alicent had pupped
usurper after usurper to her throne. And look where it had gotten
her? No, if she discovered treason she would act, and act swiftly.