The following morning I dressed in a finer material, a satin dress that was my mother's and had been left by her.

It was black and tighter fitting than I would have liked.

But I had decided today was when I began, and so I told the knights to have Aegon join me for breakfast.

I poured a drop of poison into his chalice of wine, and then sat and waited for him to arrive.

He barged into the room with all the might of a strong man. I held back a laugh.

'Aegon,' I said in greeting, 'I thought we might eat together, to get to know each other better. My mother always said that Kings are only available at dawn and dusk…' I motioned to the food before me.

'Scrap, come,' He said and I expected a dog to follow behind him, but instead, it was a small servant boy.

The boy stood beside him as he ate, tasting everything first. I would have felt guilty, but Aegon never asked him to taste the wine.

He drank it slowly, but he drank enough that would mean the poison would begin to take effect.

I tried to make conversation with him, but Aegon refused to engage.

I picked at the food, having no appetite.

He was finishing the last of his wine when Helaena walked in.

Aegon did a double take, not realising at first that it was her. Helaena'a presence made him grumpier than he already was.

'What are you doing here?' he said, expecting that she had come for him.

I looked at her, wondering if she would tell him where I found her last night. Seeing the grief on her face, and on my mothers, had solidified my dislike of the idea of becoming a mother. I didn't want it, especially not a child of Aegon's.

Of course I would love the child, but we play a dangerous game, and so wouldn't want to risk losing it, especially not whilst there was still a plan in place to usurp Aegon. The child would end up a pawn.

'I came to ask the Queen if she would like to take a walk?' Helaena didn't look up from the floor as she spoke.

I realised then that she was scared of him. Whatever he did to her in private would not work with me.

'That would be lovely,' I stammered, slightly shocked by Helaena addressing me as the Queen. Despite no formal coronation, I still was the queen. I had taken her place.

'Why would you want to go for a walk with her?' Aegon said to me. Whatever their private relationship was, I had no interest in being in the middle of it.

'It's a nice day and I've been inside since I arrived,' I answered.

He grumbled, drinking more wine out of his chalice.

'I want you to come to dinner this evening, in the great hall, it's family only,' Aegon shot Helaena a look as he said this, wary of how she might respond.

Helaena only pretended not to hear, and so we left to go on our walk.

Of course I knew not to trust Helaena completely, but I had no one else in the Red Keep to spend my days with.

So we went for a walk in the gardens, and she told what the different flowers and insects were, and I listened.

She was gentle and patient, and everything I wasn't.

'Why is your hair like that? Do you know?' she asked me.

I studied her as she studied the flowers before her, 'No, I don't. There were no other Targaryen's with hair like mine,' I told her, 'At least not in the history books.'

'Ive never seen anything like it. It's amazing,' she said softly.

'Would you like some company?' his voice came before we saw him and at first I thought I might have imagined it.

As we rounded the corner, Aemond stood there, a rose in his hand for his sister. She took it from him and began to inspect it without saying anything.

'Good day, my queen,' he said to me. I would have to get used to this title, try and make it fit me.

Millions of questions were running through my head, were I supposed to appear congenial with Aemond? Or could I outright hate him?

'Hello Aemond,' I said and he smirked at me.

'Mind if I join you?' he asked me directly.

It was Helaena that replied, 'I need to go back and check on the children anyway,' she mumbled.

She turned to walk back in the direction of the red keep, and kept her head down, eyes fixed on the rose.

'Did you do that on purpose?' I said once she was out of earshot.

He laughed and shook his head, 'She blames me for the death of her son, she's doesn't want to see me.'

'It is your fault,' I said slowly, emphasising every word.

Aemond turned to look at me and grimaced.

'I think she also blames herself for being reckless,' the way he said it made my heart beat faster.

'A son for a son?' I said, taunting him. I didn't want him to hold such power over me, so I hit out with words.

He glared at me with his one eye and then held his head in his hands.

'I fucking knew that's why Daemon ordered it,' he said quietly.

I flinched. Whilst I had inferred it, that's not what I meant.

'You fathered Helaena's children?' I whispered, shocked.

He spun quickly and gripped my wrist, staring at me. 'I only fathered them out of duty,' he hissed, slamming his other hand over my mouth as he did so, 'If you tell anyone I will cut out your tongue.'

I used my other hand to push him off.

'How terrifying,' I said sarcastically as the anger boiled in my bones, 'And you had the nerve to question my brothers parentage?'

I slipped my hand through the slit in my dress and pulled my dagger out.

Aemond scoffed.

'I promise you, you'll pay for his death someday Aemond.'

My words angered him and he lunged. I dodged sideways but he had already anticipated that I would and grabbed me by my hair, pulled me back as he held his own dagger against my throat.

'Twice in twenty-four hours, you'd think you had a kink for this,' I said, placing my hand over his own that held the dagger to my throat.

'I won't hesitate,' he whispered low in my ear, having to bend his head to do so as he held me against him.

'Neither will I, and you'll lose something more valuable than your child,' I pressed my dagger into his trousers, right next to the bulge in his pants.

'What is going on here?' Alicent shrieked, coming towards us down the path.

Aemond released me then, abiding by his mothers' rules.

'We were practicing, like we used to,' I told her as she eyed us suspiciously.

'Aerys isn't quite as fast as she used to be,' he said and I scowled at him.

'Take it back to the training grounds, not here,' she fixed her gaze on Aemond, 'You know better than this Aemond.'

He turned to look at me with such anger I felt my face turn red.

He began to walk away from where Alicent and I now were.

'Walk with me,' Alicent demanded, and I bowed my head at her, even though a storm was raging inside of me.

The fucking greens were commanding my morning, this was why it was better when I stayed in my chambers.

'Whilst I don't begrudge you for carrying a weapon, I am slightly disappointed in the way you conduct yourself. You are a Queen now, you must do things that won't be seen or heard by anyone, least of all the servants,' she chided as we walked along.

I nodded at her.

She rolled her eyes at me. 'Oh for goodness sake, your father told you I was scared of you didn't he?' she said.

I kept my face neutral and didn't speak.

'You are Queen now, that's all that matters, so you need to act like one. And if that means some kind of dalliance with Aemond so be it.' she waved at where Aemond had just gone, suggesting that we were already having some kind of sordid affair.

'What?' I choked, dumbfounded by her words.

She sighed as if I was playing dumb. 'It happens, and if it's Aemond then at least the children will look like Aegons,' she held her hand to her forehead.

'You can't be serious in suggesting that?' You wicked and twisted bitch, I wanted to say. I wondered if Alicent had pressured Aemond into fufiling Aegon's duty in the first place so that her family would have a stronger claim to the throne.

'Of course, I am, we have to make sure things move on,' she was looking at me like I was the one with a few screws loose.'I regret what happened, but Viserys told me he wanted Aegon on the throne, and if you are his wife it seems a palatable compromise for both sides. Otherwise, I fear we would spill unnecessary blood.'

'I think so too,' I replied. Agreeing with Alicent was difficult, especially because I felt loyal to my mother, whom she had berated and corralled all of these years. But I had to play the part my family were counting on me doing.

'Good, now come with me, we can get the wedding dress started and begin organising the celebrations.'

And so she began to question me about my preferences for the wedding and decide on what food to serve and what Targaryen customs needed to be included. I gathered a lot of the colour choices would include green as well as black. But that didn't bother me quite so much, I was only happy that she hadn't mentioned the Valyrian Wedding Ceremony. In my eyes, and that of my parents, my marriage to Aegon was void. And whilst I would still need him dead to remarry, I held on to the hope that one day, long after this was all over, I might be happy.