The Bloody Prince: HOTD SI

Chapter 23

JEYNE ARRYN

Life in the Eyrie was mostly monotonous. All the tasks of ruling had always been so effectively delegated by Aegon that she rarely had to worry about anything. Not that her council was ever ignored. On the other hand, Aegon would always force her to attend Council Meetings, and other important negotiations and meetings, directing the people towards her himself as he tried to take a backseat and not infringe upon her powers.

Yet it had become the norm for her to delegate most of the tasks to him, knowing that she could put her trust in him without a second thought. And as he would himself say, it was in the greatest interest of a ruler to delegate the right tasks to the right person, and in a sense, it made her a rather effective ruler that she knew just whom she had to dump all her tasks on.

And so, with Aegon gone and her relationship with Jessamyn growing terse, she found herself in her solar hunched over missives and reports pertaining to all the lands in her dominion. These included reports about the tax collected, the crops farmed, the tolls collected, and so forth.

Tedious tasks that she had no qualms about doing, but she would much prefer not to.

"I cannot do this anymore," she complained childishly as she put down the missive and looked towards the person Aegon had sent her way, expecting this increase in the workload, though that was not the only reason for it.

"I am going to write to Aegon and order him as her Lord Paramount to return at once," she complained as Willam Royce chuckled. He was Aegon's cousin and one of his trusted aides, and when he had heard the news of Arnold Arryn's escape, he had sent him back with two dozen Royce guards to bolster Eyrie's defense.

"I doubt the Princess will let him come so easily," he said, and she had learned that Princess Rhaenyra was quite taken with her cousin and would not let him return so easily even if she was to call for him.

However, she was more interested in the relationship between Aegon and the Princess's famous friend, Lady Alicent Hightower. If Willam's words were to be believed, both of them were quite enamoured with one another while behaving like shy toddlers around one another.

"And what about our Prince's lady friend?" she teased, and Willam raised a brow.

"I doubt she would complain about accompanying Aegon back to the Eyrie, though I doubt the Hand will ever let that happen," and wasn't that a tragedy, for Alicent Hightower was the daughter of Otto Hightower and the animosity between the Hand and Prince Daemon was famous even in the Vale.

She doubted that the man would ever let his daughter marry the son of the Rogue Prince, his greatest political rival.

"Its really a shame. I really want to meet the girl that melted our Aegon's heart," she said as she leaned back in her chair, a pang of sadness gripped her heart at that. She was happy for Aegon and prayed the best for him, and yet imagining him spending his life enamored with another soul did make it seem awkward.

Perhaps because in her head, she had always imagined him by her side, both of them ruling over the Eyrie and living a content life. The fact that Aegon was interested in someone like that had been a surprise, especially when her own love life had been rather tumultuous.

And yet, as soon as this seed of discontent emerged, she quashed it down, for she had no right to demand his heart when she had given her own to Jessamyn. And it had always been his desire, something that he had shared with her many years ago when she had asked him what he would wish from his marriage, and he had given her a most simple reply—Happiness.

And who was she to take that away from him when he had stood by her when none had?

"She is rather simple at first glance. But that's all a ruse, she is smart and fiercely loyal and dutiful," Willam added as he told her about Alicent Hightower.

"She has a certain melancholic feel to her like there is a deep sadness in her heart. In ways similar to Aegon himself. They do suit one another," he added, and she smiled.

"Then I hope everything goes well for our Prince in love," she said as she sighed and got back to work. Calling back Aegon was now a pipe dream.

"My lady, may I ask you something?" Ser Willam began, and she nodded.

"Ask away, young Ser?" she answered with a smile as she reviewed the tax report from Heart's Home.

"Why are the Corbays here?" he asked, and that was indeed a mystery.

"Truth is, I do not know either. On paper, Lord Corwn Corbay came here to bring the taxes from his land. He was set to leave yesterday but fell ill, and I offered him to stay until he had recovered enough," and yet even she had been unsettled by this whole ordeal.

"Is it normal for Lord Corbay to send his younger brother to present his taxes?" he asked, and she shook his head.

"No, not from what I can recall. Often enough, a simple tax collector with half a dozen guards would be enough, yet this time, they sent a retinue of nearly a dozen or so guards alongside him," she added and saw Ser Willan nod.

"That is strange. Their tax amount is not that different from last year's, yet why would Lord Corbay send his brother this time?" he thought out loud, and she asked herself the same question.

And suddenly, the whole castle shook as the sound of shouting and an explosion made her jump from her chair.

"What is going on?" she asked, as the ominous feeling that had been gripping her heart ever since word of Arnold Arryn's escape had reached her ear roared forth as she rushed towards the window.

"The stores," she gasped as she saw smoke coming out of the tower.

"They are on fire," she said to Ser Willam, who was looking at the scene with a frown.

The door to the solar swung open as a guard entered the office.

"My lady, my lady! The stores are on fire! We have a thief in the castle. You need to come with me," he said, and she gasped. As she was about to move towards the guard, Ser Willam put forward her hand, stopping her. She turned towards the Royce knight, who shook his head and began to walk towards the guard who was looking at her.

"My lady, Ser Joffery, sent me to get you. He asked me to escort you to your room," and with that, he stepped forward towards her, trying to reach for her when suddenly he stopped as Ser Willam took out a dagger and placed it on the man's throat.

"AGHH!" the man screamed as Ser Willam twisted his arm.

"Who are you!"

0000

ALICENT HIGHTOWER

"So, you and Aegon finally made up?" and the suddenness of that question startled her, for she had not mentioned anything about her meeting with Pri...Aegon this morning, as she now walked with Rhaenyra in the Godswood.

Time had a strange habit of numbing the pain, and it had done so for Rhaenyra just as it had for herself when her own mother had died. And though we never really stop missing those gone now, humans are curiously very resilient by nature, allowing them to move past pain, anger, and loss.

And though a cloud of sadness still hung over her dear friend, slowly she was getting by, growing up and returning to gentle and carefree Princess famous throughout the lands as the Realm's Delight.

"How...Why..." her words failed at Rhaenyra's sudden declaration before she became quiet as Rhaenyra's lips turned up.

"You are looking much better today," she added, and she touched her face, thinking about how changed she really looked.

"It is as if a heavy burden has been lifted off of your shoulders, like you are at peace once more," Rhaenyra added as she jumped ahead, making her mind race.

"Was it really so obvious?" she asked, and Rhaenyra nodded.

"It was to me. And not just for you," she suddenly added with a soft conspirational smile.

"Aegon was in a similar condition. I met him a few times, and his face was so serious and pained, but today, he was also rather relaxed when I met him at breakfast," Rhaenyra added. She lowered her head, a part of her intrigued that Aegon was so affected because of their little quarrel that she was so obviously affected.

"So what did you guys even fight about?" Rhaenyra asked nonchalantly, and she thought of just what to say when suddenly the Princess continued.

"I do hope it wasn't about the rumors," she added, her ears perking up at that. Alicent had not been to court much in the past few weeks and so was rather oblivious to the latest piece of gossip.

"What rumors?" she asked, and Rhaenyra rolled her eyes.

"They are the most absurd thing. There are rumors claiming that Aegon and you fought because you are enamored with his father, Daemon," and her heart sunk at those words.

"Some of them claim that you even met him late into the night the day, and Aegon found out," and with every passing word, her heart sunk further and further, and the reason behind Aegon's distress became more and more clear to him.

"There are a bunch of other things, but you know most of the ladies at court, and the servants shut up whenever I am near them, so I could only learn about this bit," Rhaenyra added, and this was much worse than she had thought.

By the nature of her stature and station, it was the habit of the ladies at court to simmer down their gossip around the Princess lest they catch her ire, for catching the ire of the Realm's Delight meant a swift end to your political existence in the capital. Rhaenyra had never truly interested herself in court gossip or lickspittles; mostly, she relied on her to bring her juicy and funny gossip from the court so they could laugh at them.

Yet she had never really expected herself to be involved in these rumors.

"Though that is all a distraction. The biggest news in the court these days is about Daemon, father has sent him to Dragonstone to muster up a host to launch a campaign in the Stepstones. Everyone is rather perturbed at the notion of the Seven Kingdoms going to war in the Stepstones," Rhaenyra added, and the politics began to make sense.

She doubted there was not more to Prince Daemon's swift exit from the capital, the King would not have sent his brother away like this. Especially not so soon after the Queen's death. He had persisted for all these years despite many attempts by the Council—mostly her own father.

Unless the King's hand was forced, and the mere thought of how such a thing could have been done made breathing heavy as she found herself rooted to the ground, the machinations behind all of it clicking together.

And as she recognized the hand behind it all, her gut wrenched as she felt a wave of nausea hit her.

"Are you fine, Alicent?" Rhaenyra's worried voice broke her out of her trance. She tried to nod but felt her head spin.

"I am fine," she gasped out as Rhaenyra helped her to the shade of a tree nearby.

.

.

"Are you really fine?" Rhaenyra asked her once again as she sat there heartbroken, and yet she nodded, keeping up the facade that had been her whole life.

"I am. It was just the heat," she lied, and Rhaenyra nodded.

"I was hoping that you could accompany me to a soup kitchen tomorrow, but seeing that you..."

"I will join you," she agreed, but Rhaenyra shook her head.

"No, there is no need. You should rest tomorrow. The kitchen can wait a day. We will go the next day."

"No, I am fine. Tomorrow will be just fine."

Or will it?

00000

AEGON TARGARYEN

His talk with Alicent had relieved him of the guilt that had been riling him up as he learned of the truth of that night. And though what had transpired was not good, it was nothing compared to what the rumors made it out to be.

And yet the question was who was perpetuating this heinous allegation against Daemon and Alicent, with no care for either one's honor. It couldn't be Daemon or his camp, happy as they would be to get one over Otto Hightower's camp. The news was equally, if not more, harmful to Daemon's own self.

And it couldn't be Otto Hightower as well, for which father would have his daughter's honor and virtue brought into question, then who was it?

He had spent the last day trying to sift through sand to find the source of these rumors, but it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. The task was nearly impossible, and he had only one person he could turn to look into the matter.

The one person he did not wish to associate with but had no choice but to, and yet no matter how long he waited on that bench, the man did not show until Ser Hardwin left the ring, and he was forced to call for the man.

"Ser Hardwin," he called out, and the hulking giant of a man turned towards him.

"Yes, my Prince," he said as he walked towards him, rubbing off the sweat with a cloth as Aegon rose from the bench.

"Could you please tell me where I can find your brother?" he asked, and the man's face tensed.

"My brother, Larys?" he asked after a pause, and Aegon nodded.

"Yes, can you point me to where I can find him," he asked again.

"I am not sure, but I think I heard Father mention that he went into the city a few days ago," he continued. Aegon nodded, and just as he was about to walk away, a castle guard stopped him.

"My Prince, the king has summoned you to the Council Chambers."

0000

Late at night in the city, two men were drunk as they ranted to one another, wearing full plate armor and a gold cloak hanging off of their shoulders.

"I cannot believe the Prince left us to fight in a war," one of them slurred.

"Yeah, I heard that it was the cunt Hand's doing! That he had his daughter ensnare the Prince and force him out of the capital..." the other added while the other took another big swig of his cup.

"Yeah, he is a damned cunt! Just when things were getting good for us he had to step in! That cunt!" he added, and while others left the two drunk Gold Cloaks a wide berth, a robed figure approached them, his face obscured by a cloak, as he limped towards them, walking with the aid of a cane, as he approached them and as the two men turned towards him, he opened his mouth revealing his crooked teeth.

"And how would you like to get some revenge on the man who took your Prince from you..."

0000

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