"Well, that was tiring," Rhaella said, collapsing into her chair. Beside her, Aerys ran a hand across his face. She wound a lock of hair around her finger and grimaced as she gulped down Arbor Gold. Thinking of it, taste wise she preferred Dornish Red, however being even better than champagne, Arbor Gold was a true drink for royalty. And gods did she need a drink right now. She glared up at the ceiling as she was forced to recall the exhausting last few hours.

She and Aerys had just gotten back from being summoned by Jaehaerys, whereupon the weak, sickly, snivelling man had wept, forced them to comfort him – honestly, what on earth made him think they would ever want to do that? – and tearfully reminded them of their duty to the realm now that they were directly in line to the throne. The entire ordeal was almost enough to make Rhaella wish she had died with Duncan, Maegor and the others at Summerhall.

Not only did she have to deal with the man's annoying emotions, but now she had the "duty to the realm." The man had also asked them again for kids, she thought with a shiver.

Duty this, duty that, soon the man would tell them that she couldn't purposefully ask servants for things that weren't in the kitchen just to see them struggle. The anxiety in their eyes never failed to amuse her. Some of her bad mood faded a little at the memories. Fun times.

Thinking more on it, there were some good things now. Soon enough, with the slightest bit of luck (or if luck wasn't on her side, the slightest bit of cyanide) Jaehaerys would make himself unavailable from a slight case of dropping dead and leaving them the fuck alone.

Then they would be King and Queen, at last! She could do whatever the hell she wanted, without her "father" breathing down her neck and demanding that his two children fucked each other. That was the worst thing, but there were so many others. "Vassals should be respected this, can't dable in dark magic that, having a harem of ladies is wrong they say." Well, she said they were idiots. Who didn't want a harem? Issei had had the right of it, in her opinion. Highshool DxD was a shit show, but even a broken clock was right twice a day.

Yes, the thought was very appealing to her. She had to admit that the idea of having Loreza Martell whenever she wanted was an intoxicating one. Hmm, maybe that would be a bit much. She wasn't sure, but there was the smallest chance that she just needed something to busy her mind with to vent after the encounter with their "father".

Aerys stood up from his chair with a grunt. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes. Even now, frustrated and tired as he was, he refused to just slump like a fucking normal person. Honestly, he was so strange sometimes. She had in the years started to like him, but there were things about him that just weren't fun. On the flipside, she had had the time of her life at Summerhall, so she couldn't judge him too harshly.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

He smoothed down his doublet and said, "I'm going to sleep." He waved a hand vaguely. "We're never talking about what just happened ever again."

He stared at her until she grunted in acknowledgement. She agreed full heartedly. THREE half minute hugs! Three! The sheer audacity of Jaehaerys!

"Good night, Aerys," she said, further curling into her chair. His lips tugged upwards into a thin-lipped smile.

"Good night, Rhaella."

Rhaella disliked the training yards. They were loud, sweaty and messy, full of a bunch of unattractive men spilling bodily fluids onto the ground. Their only semi-redeeming quality was the ladies who swooned after these men, blushing and tittering in a way that gave Rhaella war flashbacks to the One Direction craze of the 2010s. She covered her nose with a handkerchief as she scowled, eyes sweeping around the area for Aerys as she prowled in search of him.

She found him sparring against her least favorite person in the entire world: Tywin Lannister. They were fighting with live steel, the metal clanging as they ducked, parried, and stabbed at each other. She was somewhat impressed by Aerys' skill; he was surprisingly good, from what she knew about combat. But it was evident that Tywin was better. He pressed and pressed until Aerys' defenses failed him and he went collapsing into the dirt.

Rhaella felt something bristle in her when Tywin smiled smugly and when to help Aerys up, arrogance in his every move. Slowly, she began to clap, and every head in the training yards turned her way. Good.

"Well fought, Lord Tywin," she said. The smile she sent him was sickeningly sweet and laced with poison. "It is good to see that even with all of the gold Lord Tytos has wasted down the drain, he still provided his sons with good dueling instructors."

Tywin stiffened and Aerys shot her a dark, warning look. She ignored it and walked over to him.

"Your Grace," Tywin said with incredibly gritted teeth. Well that was probably yet another Reyne that was going to die in an especially horrible way. The look on his face was worth it though.

Rhaella's smile grew even wider, all teeth at this point. She placed a hand on Aerys' arm. "I have matters to discuss with my husband," she said, "if you will excuse us, my lord." Her tone made it clear that it was not a request.

"Of course, Your Grace, I shall leave Prince Aerys to his… summons," he said with the smallest bow he could possibly do. I am so going to sleep with your wife, she thought to herself. She had never met Joanna Lannister in her entire life, but at this point, it was a matter of principle. Also, if Cersei's looks were anything to go by, there was a lot to admire there.

Aerys' voice in her ear distracted her from her plots of revenge. "Rhaella," he asked, "what is it?"

"Important matters of the realm," she said haughtily. She leaned in to whisper in his ear. "The Blackfyres," she said softly. Immediately Aerys sprang like a bow.

"That is indeed important," he murmured.

Quickly he followed her until she found herself in an abandoned passageway, hidden behind one of the most ancient tapestries in the Red Keep. She rather liked exploring them, even if it was ghastly dirty.

"So, what about the Blackfyres?" he asked.

She kissed her teeth. "Nothing new, but we need to talk about them, and more," she said. "A lot is going to happen quite soon, so… what now?"

"Well now the Throne is almost ours," Aerys said, slightly dreamily.

Her eye twitched.

"Gee thanks. I wouldn't have guessed that on my own. Do you have any other thrilling discoveries? Have the maesters uncovered that water is actually wet?"

"Very funny," he said in a deadpan. "Okay, what do you think we should do now, because clearly you have something in mind." How the fuck had he guessed that?

"Well," she said, "for starters, the war of the Ninepenny Kings is coming up. How should we deal with that?" she asked.

"Well, I need to participate," he replied, his voice sure without a hint of doubt in it.

"Why?"

"I need to show my face there. I need to make connections and friends, including, even if you hate it, Tywin." Her eye twitched at that. She might publicly sleep with Joanna.

"And I need to be there to ensure that the Blackfyres and the Golden Company are fully cleansed," he said. There was logic to all of it. If she could, she wasn't sure if she would have gone or not. War seemed exciting, although rather messy for her tastes. But more importantly, she saw her opening.

"Speaking of ensuring they are removed, I think I need to start working on a spy network." Spy networks were fun, all that intrigue, all that drama, everything done cleanly and out of sight.

"Oh?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well yes, we clearly can't allow others to run that thing for us," she said, speaking to the arguments she by now knew Aerys would be most receptive to.

"And what specific ideas do you have in mind? How will you run a spy network?"

"With spies, you dingus," she said frustrated.

She was quite offended by his doubtful look. She'd read plenty of John Le Carre, it would be fine.