Chapter 44
RHAENYS TARGARYEN
The King was dead. Baelon Targaryen. The Spring Prince, and her uncle was dead. Rhaenys had many a reason to hate the man who ribbed her birthright from her the first time. She was the eldest child of Jaehaerys's eldest son, and by all the laws of men and Gods the throne was hers to inherit.
Yet the Old King had thought her incapable of ruling, and had stripped her of her right and given it to his second son, the Prince Baelon. For many a years Rhaenyra had held a great resentment for her uncle, and even as she had reeled from the pain of being supplanted the entire realm had been celebrating its new heir.
They thought him to be better suited to ruling than her, and so she accepted her defeat and the Spring Prince became the heir to the Conciliator's throne.
Alas! The lords were wrong.
In the end, the Spring Prince proved unequal to the task, and his rule short as it was would only ever be remembered for its failures. Thousands had died because of his mistakes, and thousand more had suffered.
But now he was gone. Dead, and Rhaenys felt no joy in his failures or in his death. Troubled as they were, he was family and after five years of isolation she had begun to miss having a family.
"This is preposterous," Corlys raged, and the Stranger had cast a long shadow once more, and had taken not only the Spring Prince with him but the Dowager Queen had been taken in by his embrace as well.
It was a tragedy, for with her gone Kingslanding had lost the last voice of reason, and Rhaenys could smell the embers of war in the air.
"You seriously cannot be considering this," Corlys raged, and for five years they had let the pain of Laena's death fuel their rage, but five years was a long time and Rhaenys had become exhausted.
"What if I am?" she countered, as Corlys's nostrils flared.
"This is no different than the lies we were offered years ago," and may be he was right. Maybe all of these were lies truly.
"Will you really forsake our daughter's life for these mere promises!" Corlys uttered as he threw away the letter that had come for them from Kingslanding.
The writer had been none other than the Good Queen herself, and it reminded her once more that the Conciliator had not earned his title and praises by himself. His wife and his aides had as much of a role in them as himself.
"Our daughter's death was not caused by anyone's design but the Gods," Rhaenys countered, and Corlys shook his head.
"No! It was Baelon who killed her! Baelon and that scum of a son who now calls himself King," and Baelon was not entirely innocent in the demise of her daughter, but who was to say that the same would not have happened had her uncle not made the mistakes he had made.
Who could assure her that Laena would still be alive?
"King Baelon has paid enough of a penance for his crimes," and his was to be a legacy of prosperity and progress, and yet history would only remember him for death and ruin. They would curse his name, and blame him for the downfall of the House of the Dragon, and that was enough of a punishment for a man who had been given the throne with the greatest of expectations.
"As for Daemon, we will not be bending our knees to Daemon," and that was why she was even considering this offer.
"Gael is not Daemon. She is kind," and though the girl was her aunt, she was more similar in age to Laena than herself.
"She is a Targaryen, and I will not lower my head to the Targaryens anymore," and that was the real problem now, for it was not rage and reason that drove him now.
It was ambition and greed.
Corlys had spent the last five years trying to gather support for their cause, and yet his efforts had produced little result.
"Then how do you intend on taking the throne?" she asked, as his lips thinned.
"We lack the strength," she countered, and Corlys was on his feet.
"Then we will gather it," he added, and how could he hope to accomplish in a few moons what he had failed to do so in years.
"The Baratheons will support our cause. They share blood with you," and she scoffed.
"And they shared it with my Grandmother as well," who had Baratheon blood flowing through her veins.
"You read so yourself. She has convinced Rogar to remain neutral in case a clash erupts between us and Gael," and she had apologised to him for the wrongs her family had done to her, even though Rhaenys had never forgotten that she was the only person at court to support her claim when the conciliator had chosen to replace her with Prince Baelon.
"The Lannister..."
"Will side with the winning side, and unless you are blind then Gael is winning," she had grown tired of this by now. Tired of these wars and plots.
She was not so young anymore, and with all these deaths she had begun thinking of the world she wanted to leave behind, and how she would be remembered in it.
"She has the Starks, the Tullys, the Arryns, and the Hightowers on her side. Even if you can get Rogar to break his promise, we will never have the numbers to win this war," and Corlys knew that as well.
"We have dragons," and she would draw the line there.
"Gael has a dragon of her own, and if the rumors about Rhaenyra fleeing with her to Harrenhall are true, then she has two dragons as well," and Corlys scoffed.
"And yet none of them are as good a rider as you," and Corlys was beside her now, as she shook her head and rose from the chair.
"I will not take to the skies against my own kin," and perhaps if it was Daemon she just might pick up her riding leathers, but against Gael and with those words she walked up to the balcony as a dragon's roar filled the air.
Seasmoke was up in the skies, and after Laena's demise Laenor had taken up her sisters love for riding as a way to remember her and so the sight of Seasmoke flying over the Hull was all too familiar to the people there.
"So, you will abandon this family for your last once more," and he could not do this to her.
"I would save this family Corlys," she answered as she turned around to meet his gaze filled with betrayal.
"You and I both know the truth of about our son's nature," and so did half the realm even though they did not voice it out.
"He will change..." and she chuckled.
"He will not," she countered, and she did not love him any less for it.
"He has no desire for the throne. None," and neither did she.
"She has promised that he will be Gael's heir until a child is born to her, and given her condition a child may never be born to her and you may have your ambition of seating your blood on the throne fulfilled without any conflict," and yet it would entail him bending the knee to her proverbial aunt.
"A false hope," he countered and perhaps it was false.
"We have already lost one of our children to God's plans. I will not lose another to yours," she made her declaration, and without her he had no claim.
"I intend to write to Gael to give her my support," and Corlys shook his head.
"I will not accept this..." and now her patience had run out.
"THE REALM WILL NEVER ACCEPT A SWORD SWALLOER AS ITS KING!" and her voice thundered though the room.
"I know this, Laenor knows this, and in some deep and dark part of your mind you know it just as well!" she raged, and for years she had buried this secret in her heart, hoping to never be forced into bringing this up.
"Do not insult..."
"I know Corlys," and for a second he frowned, as their eyes met before the realization finally dawned on her, and he had kept them well hidden but Rhaenys was raised to be a Queen.
"Ho..." and words failed him as she turned away from him.
"How can you expect the realm to accept our son, when you yourself can not do the sa..." and yet before she could finish, another roar tore through the skies and her heart sunk as she a shadow pass over her castle.
"No...."
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GAEL TARGARYEN
It took her a few days to reel back from the shock of it all. Back in Kingsladning things had happened so fast that she had little time to process it all, and now that she had, Gael was filled with questions.
And now she would have her answers.
"How long?" she asked, for the number of men that had come out of the shadows to save her was not so small that they could be assembled on a whim. No, the men were armed and cloaked as if they had been waiting for such a day, and such a group did not sprout out of the blue.
No, it required years and years of planning.
"Two years," the black haired girl answered as she sat opposite to her, and that was longer than she had expected, and yet it was around the same time when Viserys had died and rumors about her taking the throne had begun to surface.
"Why?" she asked.
"Lord Galen may have left the lands but he never stopped worrying about you," and she gave her a smile at that.
"It pained him to be away, but he blamed himself for everything that happened and so he vowed that he would never let such a thing happen again to people he cared for, and I believe it is no secret that the person he cares for most in this world is you, my lady," and she blushed at those words.
"After two years in Braavos he had saved millions of people, and had made for himself an empire that could rival many a magisters and Princes in Essos, and so he sent me to the capital to establish a small force whose focus was to protect you from any harm," and it filled her heart with warmth to know that he cared so much for her, and if he had only ever asked once she would have left the capital for him and yet he had not, for he knew how well how much it would pain her to leave her homeland in such a trying time.
"Hundred volunteered, and with overflowing coffers to back our cause it did not take us long to establish a foothold in the city, but then as we were growing in numbers I was approached one day by a woman on behalf of your late mother," and by now word had come of her passing, and after contemplating over these affairs for three consecutive nights, Gael had an inkling that this was her mother's work.
"I had guessed as much," Gael added, and the girl shrugged.
"It was quite a surprise, but it was then she told us of her intentions of having you inherit the throne," and now it was too late for her to ask her about her reasons.
"She wished to have Lord Galen's support," and now she raised.
"What did he say?"
"He left the choice in your hands, my lady," and she took a deep breath at that.
"It was why I came to the capital myself when word reached me about Prince Baelon's demise, for he wanted to make it certain that no harm may come to you," and that was just like him.
"We were prepared to act either way, and were coming for you the second the bells rang but by then you and the late Lord Hand had moved already, and so we had to rush towards the Dragonpit to save you from Prince Daemon," and so the choice was hers in the end.
And so it was just as he had expected. This was all her mother's plan, and a part of her hated for forcing her into this situation but her reasons were obvious enough for, Alyssane Targaryen was amongst the very few people who had seen Maegor alive.
She had even mentioned it to her how she saw a shadow of that man in Daemon and with how he had acted towards her and Rhaenyra, maybe she was right indeed.
What she had done was cruel, yet she had done out of necessity for if Daemon had inherited the throne he would have destroyed the Targaryen name and family.
"What happens now?" she asked, and the girl reached into her pocket and gave her a letter.
"Queen Alyssane entrusted me with this, to give to you in case of her demise," and she reached for the letter and put it beside her.
"The Lords of the real are riding to Harrenhall as we speak. They are bringing with them modest armies and once we have a full host assembled we will march it towards Kingslanding on your request," and so they intended on laying a siege around the city.
"And what of the Vealryons?"
"The Velaryons will bend the knee. Lady Rhaenys has no desire for war, and Prince Laenor's nature makes him an unsuitable candidate for kingship. You should write to her and Lord Corlys yourself to make amends but they will not raise their banners against you," and she could not help but chuckle at those words.
"So, she planned for everything," and Elsa nodded.
"Your mother was able to stitch together a realm torn apart by her predecessors wars in but two decades through a series of alliances and marriages. She was well loved, and respected and age had only made her wiser and shrewder," and so she had plotted it all out, laying out a simple path for her ascension.
"She did not doubt you, my lady. But she felt guilt enough of leaving you behind with such a heavy burden, and she only ever wished to do her part," and it surprised her to see Elsa speak so much of her.
"You two were close?" and the black-haired girl shrugged.
"We met often enough. She would have me dress as one of her maids to send all the missives and such. She did not trust the Maesters, and so she relied on me and my network to reach the lords, and so we became rather close," and no wonder she was so well informed about the affairs of the realm despite being bed ridden.
She had eyes and ears everywhere.
"She loved you greatly, my lady," and she knew that. The entire realm knew that, but in the end she had been rather cruel in her plots, and she did not know how and when her eyes began to tear up as tears fell onto her hands.
"I know," she answered with a shaking voice.
"I know," and it was as if her loss registered to her for the first time as Gael began crying, as Elsa came and wrapped her arms around her.
"I want to hate her," she sobbed into her shoulder.
"I want to," she said, but she couldn't.
"You can," Elsa uttered.
"She won't begrudge you that, but know this that she helped your father build this empire. She gave it fifty years of her life, and she could not see it all go to waste. She simply could not," and so she chose to saddle her with it all.
"I know," and she understood her. She did, but that did not make it right. Did not make it easy.
"In the end, she did as a Good Queen would...."
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