NOVEL NEXT Chapter 1: Chapter 1: The Halfhand
129 AC
"It is our fate, I think to crave what is given to another, if one possesses a thing, the other will take it away," Helaena sagely said to the nursemaids, Branda and Dyana who were watching the twins play with their dragon toys.
"Yes, Princess," She nodded in agreement with Helaena who was satisfied that she understood. In reality, I wondered if she was agreeing with Hel for the sake of agreeing or because she genuinely agreed because she loved Hel. Most of the servants and the smallfolk loved Helaeana, she was kind and respectful to all and the only Targaryen Princess they met due to her frequent trips to the orphanages and soup kitchens of King's Landing.
On the other hand, I was a rare sight in the city except for when I rode out to the Dragonpit. There were however a few times that I got drunk with Ser Arryk Cargyll in one of the many taverns in the city.
Of all the people in this screwed-up family, I ended up in the body of the drunk disappointment of the family, I feel bad for him and I am disgusted by him and yet I find myself as the new Aegon, not that anyone else knows other than perhaps Sunfyre but the golden boy accepted me. I entered this world after a riding accident where Aegon fell off his horse about a month before the shitstorm in Driftmark.
Other than perhaps pushing back my marriage to Helaena by another three years, I haven't achieved anything positive along with making things worse for everyone.
At the present moment, I was nursing a hangover with some hot tea while little Maelor decided that his teething needed to be dealt with by chewing my thumb. I was too tired to even move him away, I just let him do his thing before he decided to move on. Unfortunately, he began to move on to the next finger so I groused out, "Hel, Maelor is eating all my fingers, help me."
Helaena chuckled as she placed the embroidery on the couch before coming over to me to take Maelor.
I would say that I had a better marriage to Helaena than OTL Aegon had with her. I don't cheat on her and she is fine with my occasionally habitual depressed drinking that has worsened as the year 129 AC inched ever closer. It has been more than eight years in Westeros with a wife, three beautiful kids and a new crazy nutcase of an extended family and I still dread the inevitable.
Did I do anything to stop it? I tried but it became worse, much worse. Could I have stopped it, probably not, my new mother Alicent and my new half-sister Rhaenyra were already in the war zone and the Driftmark incident solidified it for the rest of us. Especially for me and Aemond.
"I am assuming that your dreams are getting worse, you don't drink so much when you are around the children. The twins are usually able to keep you off the drink," She remarked as she took a protesting Maelor into her arms and gave him a ball of yarn to chew on.
I managed to pass off my depression coming from dreams and Hel was sympathetic, the only person in my family who understood me. And I was the only one who understood her and her cryptic dreams though I didn't quite understand her fascination with bugs. Oh dang, I need to pee and I can't do that while the kids are around.
I nodded as I said as I sipped the tea, "Today is the climax, in two minutes both mother and grandfather will barge through that door with the most dreadful news for both us, for our children, our house and for the realm." Maybe I should go to another chamber for my nature's call.
Almost immediately, both Alicent and Otto burst into the room, "I guess I was wrong, it was two seconds, not two minutes," I wryly remark to Hel as they come toward me. Both look tired from their all-night plotting session yet they seem tireless especially now that they have arrived at the climax of their dreams.
"Aegon, Helaena," Alicent breathlessly said but before she could continue, the ever-domineering Otto turned to Branda and Dyana, "Leave us, take the children with you."
Brenda bowed her head and immediately left with the twins while Dyana came and took an unprotesting Maelor from Hel. The twins weren't happy about having to leave their toys there while Maelor was happy that he got to keep the ball of yarn.
"What's happened?" Helaena warily asks while I yawn before gulping the rest of the now-cooled tea. Maybe I should get another cup.
Alicent quietly revealed, "Aegon, Helaena, your father is dead." She looks sad but I guess that we all knew that the old man was going to crack.
I quietly get up as Ser Grandfather says in his indomitable voice, "Aegon we must talk-" I cut him off with my hand as I walk over to my chamberpot on the other side of the room.
"Wait, I have been holding this in for a long time, whatever you have to say, say it in front of Hel, else don't say it at all," I said as I unlaced my breeches.
After a relieving minute, I walked back to Otto who was not happy with being interrupted, "Yes, we are all sad that the old man is dead. At least he had a final happy time with the kids with his crazy story about Wildlings and Vermithor and Old King Jaehaerys." I said rolling my eyes.
"When is the funeral feast, the twins have their nameday coming up within a month, should we combine them both," I snarked.
"Aegon," Alicent frantically screeched, "You know why we are here. You must take the throne, there is no other path before us. No matter what happens we cannot let that whore Rhaenyra take the throne, especially after what she and her bastards have done to you and Aemond."
My right-hand clenches upon hearing her, these days I barely feel their loss but even now whenever someone reminds me, I clench my right hand or whatever is left of it. I look down at my hand to see the thumb and the forefinger standing there alone on my palm. The remaining three fingers are gone forever courtesy of Jacaerys Velaryon, ever since Driftmark I have been called Aegon Halfhand. The Elder of the Maimed Princes.
"You must take the throne, your mother and I have sacrificed so much for this. You have lost so much to them as well," Otto followed up.
I sat down on the settee and sighed before I said, "You will have my answer by sundown. I need to think about what I am about to embark on and it needs to happen without any of your wretched politicking around me."
Otto is about to protest but Alicent stops him, "Let him, give my son the day. I know that my son will make the right choice," She resolutely declares by giving me a not-so-subtle glance at my right hand. Damn, that's cold.
As they both leave the room, Hel cryptically says, "You will cut yourself if you are not careful." Before I can say anything, she leaves the room with Otto and Alicent.
I sit on the settee pondering over my options. One: I take the throne and start the Dance which will end up with me dead, Two: I don't take the throne and once Rhaenyra is crowned all the politics and tensions of both Blacks and Greens, especially the one between Jace and I and Aemond and Luke explode out into the open with a single spark and start the Dance which will end up with me dead.
This is like asking a man if he wants to freeze to death at the Wall or die of thirst in the Dornish desert.
If it was just me then I would have probably accepted the Dance but now I have Hel and my kids to take care of. They are the only thing in this world of Planetos that I care about, the rest I don't expect for Aemond, Daeron and maybe Alicent.
As noon approaches, Aemond enters my chambers, he has forgone his eyepatch and has let his sapphire eye gleam as he walks toward me.
"I hear that you are hesitating," Aemond remarks as he sits opposite me in a chair. Look at us, the Maimed Princes of the Red Keep. "For a moment, I wondered if you forgot what happened to your hand and my eye."
"It is less about me and more about my children," I reply as I wonder where the jugs of wine are. Then I remember, Hel doesn't allow wine in the room whenever the kids are around. Dang it, I should call a servant.
"It will be war either way but if you take the throne now when you have the chance, we will have the upper hand and we will be able to keep them safe here in the Red Keep. Should we be the ones declaring rebellion we will be less safe." Aemond responds. Blood and Cheese would disagree with his first point but that itself is another point, I know how Blood and Cheese will happen, I have the foreknowledge that no one else has, and I must make use of it while I still can.
"Our father was a cunt wasn't he?" I asked Aemond who snorted.
"The man's dead, let him rot in peace," Aemond mocked.
"More like rot in pieces," I chuckled, "He did nothing when we were maimed. He expected us to just forgive and forget about it. I wasn't even trying to fight them, I was trying to stop the fight and look where it got me." At least Aemond could say that he got Vhagar for his eye, I got nothing and I was trying to stop the fight and not join Aemond in pummeling those Strong boys even though I could have.
"He loved that fucking model of Old Valyria more than he loved us," Aemond bitterly remarked.
Suddenly I got up, "Let's destroy it."
Aemond nodded, "I will go get a couple of Morningstars from the armoury."
After an hour of destructive catharsis, I looked around the King's chamber to see that Aemond and I had destroyed every single standing piece of that model until it was all a debris field. Aemond and I were breathing heavily as we looked around. Upon the canopied bed, lay Viserys First of his name from the House of Targaryen. His fat bloated corpse had cooled and for the first time, I felt a measure of satisfaction for my missing fingers. I will get Jacaerys one day and that day is coming.
The door opened and Ser Criston Cole entered the chamber looked around with an expressionless face and asked, "Have you made your decision?" He was the man who trained me along with Aemond after we were maimed. He taught me to fight with my left hand and Aemond to fight with one eye. He was the teacher who brought me out of the lowest moment in what I would call both my lives, while I needed no father figure being a grown-ass man, Aemond certainly did.
I nodded as I dropped the Morningstar, "Fine, I will take that damn chair."