Chapter 52: Suspicious Minds
Viserys walked out of his tent and made his way through the campsite. He knew he had spent a lot of time travelling through such things growing up, usually with Daenerys as his companion, but now his sister was gone, off making herself some sort of conquering queen with dragons. He thought back to the eggs he had taken and wondered how he might get them to hatch. Ideally, he would want to ally with Daenerys, but he agreed with Aegon they could not simply go hat in hand to her. Aegon was to be King. He found Rhaenys tent, waited for the guards to announce him and then entered.
He felt his breath leave him slightly as he looked at her. She looked beautiful, her hair down, earrings in, and a slight tiredness about her, that truly made her look beautiful. "Princess." He said bowing.
"Oh come off it." Rhaenys replied. He smiled and straightened. "How did the meeting go?"
Viserys sighed, he grabbed a cup of wine and took a sip. "Arguments as usual. Connington and Strickland want to meet with Daenerys and ally together, and marry Aegon to her. Aegon wants to go straight off into Westeros to make a play for the throne. He thinks, and I agree with him, that if he has some conquests behind him when Daenerys does eventually come to Westeros it will make his suite more impressive."
"Do you think she will come to Westeros though?" Rhaenys asked. "I have heard tell that she prefers Essos."
Viserys thought on that. "I think she will come to Westeros. Eventually. She will feel it in her bones. It is all I used to speak about to her. And, Daenerys never did have a mind of her own."
Rhaenys raised an eyebrow. "Was that by your design?"
He heard the accusation in her tone and shook his head. "No, I always did my best to encourage her to think for herself. But she was always biddable. I did not know how to change that. So, I did not bother."
"So, Jon Connington will get his biddable little wife for Aegon." Rhaenys said sounding bitter.
"Biddable?" Viserys replied. "No. Daenerys won't be biddable, but she will come." He blinked a moment and then asked. "What was it you meant in your note? You said all is not what it seems."
Rhaenys sighed. "Sit." And so he sat. as did she. Then she took his hand and spoke. "I think that Aegon is not Aegon."
"What do you mean?" Viserys asked.
"Do you ever remember seeing him?" Rhaenys asked. "I was too young to remember much of that time, but do you remember anything?"
"I remember that he had a little mark above his right eye, where something had happened during his presentation to Father." Viserys whispered. He remembered Father in his madness barking about Dornish smells.
"That mark was written down in the book by Yandel." Rhaenys said.
"Yandel?" Viserys asked.
Rhaenys handed him the book. "It's a book about the history of Westeros and Essos. Read the page about Father and Mother."
Viserys did as he was bid and read aloud. "On the seventh day of the third month of the 281st year after Aegon's Conquest, Princess Elia was delivered of a baby boy, who bore a slight dragon shaped scar above his right eye. The Prince of Dragonstone named this boy Aegon after the conqueror." Viserys looked up and asked. "What of it?"
"Have you seen such a scar on our Aegon?" Rhaenys asked.
At first, Viserys wanted to affirm that he had, but then he thought about it and realised. "No, I have not." He paused and then continued. "Do you think that is enough to say that Aegon is not Aegon?"
"I do not know." Rhaenys said. "I just find it hard to believe that Mother would willingly part herself from her children and not want to come."
Viserys put down his cup of wine and took Rhaenys' other hand. "Your mother loved you, Rhaenys. She loved you more than anything. She would have come if she had thought it possible, but your protection was of the greatest importance."
"Then why was Aegon switched?" Rhaenys asked. "Why were we not allowed to meet you before?" Viserys went to respond and then his niece continued. "I do not buy Connington's story. If he was able to keep us hidden for that long, he could've hidden you and Daenerys as well."
Viserys didn't have an answer to that. Instead, he asked. "So, what do we do now?"
"We can't do anything now. But we have to keep our eyes open." Rhaenys said. She also added. "Hells, I might not even be who I think I am."
He saw the tears come into her eyes then and kissed her hands. "No, you are Rhaenys. I know."
"How?" She asked.
"Because I just do." Viserys said, he would know if she were not Rhaenys. He was sure of it.
"That's not the only problem." Rhaenys said.
"What more is there?" Viserys asked.
"Father had a son by Lyanna Stark." Rhaenys responded.
"How do you know?" Viserys replied.
"I overheard Connington speaking about it with Strickland. They want to bring him to the fold." Rhaenys said.
Viserys thought for a moment and then it clicked. "Stark's bastard?"
"I think so." Rhaenys said.
"We need to get him before they do." Viserys said.
"How?" Rhaenys asked.
"I have a friend in Tyrosh." Viserys said.
"Do you think it would work?" Rhaenys asked.
"We can only hope." Viserys said in response.
