Please see Rewrite Notes below after you finish reading.
The Red Keep
129 AC
A chilly breeze blew through the window of the king's bedchamber and King Viserys I Targaryen buried himself deeper into his blankets. The air from Blackwater Bay was always cool at night, but tonight as well as earlier that day, the breeze was unseasonably cold. The wind had changed direction that night and instead of blowing eastward, the current was flowing south into the once cozy confines of the king's massive bedchamber. Not even the huge hearth within the chamber could stave off the chill that Viserys felt as he tried to keep his ailing body warm against the elements. As frail as he was, Viserys was still able to reach over with a shivering hand towards the cord to summon his faithful manservant, Wesley, to enter his chamber to close the window for him.
Within a few moments, Wesley entered his liege's bedchamber and he was by Viserys's bedside. The man must have been getting ready for bed or was sleeping when he dutifully answered his king's summons since he was dressed in his nightclothes. This made Viserys feel bad, and he promised silently to himself to leave Wesley alone for the rest of the night until tomorrow morning.
"What would you like for me to do for you, your grace?" Wesley asked, his tone full of concern with no hint of annoyance at all.
Viserys smiled softly and he gestured towards the offending window with his mangled left hand.
"I am so sorry to have woken you, Wesley, but could you please close the window for me?" the manservant went off to do as told as his king continued to speak. "I would have done it myself, but I have no strength left in my legs tonight."
"It is not a problem, my liege." Wesley spoke as he closed and latched the window shut. "Your health has not been the best lately. Do not hesitate to call on me anytime if you need help with anything."
"I know I can always count on you, Wesley…" Viserys said with a small appreciative smile. Wesley had been in the king's service since he had ascended to the Iron Throne twenty-six years earlier. Back then, Wesley had recently become the manservant to Viserys' grandfather, King Jaehaerys I Targaryen, but his tenure lasted for only one day since the Old King died that same night. Instead, Wesley became the manservant of the late king's grandson, and he had served him faithfully and loyally since then. For his faithful service, Viserys helped his manservant's family to climb up the social ladder.
The king named Wesley's son Edmund as Prince Aegon the Elder's page when he was seven years old in 121 AC, and later the prince's squire five years later in 126 AC. Edmund was still proudly serving Aegon, and he eagerly awaited the day when he would become a full-fledged knight. To further Wesley's family into the upper echelons of society, Viserys helped to arrange the marriages of his manservant's two daughters into rich but minor nobility. Wesley had become a grandfather for the first time a month earlier when his eldest daughter gave birth to a son, and his youngest daughter had recently announced that she was now with child for the first time herself. It was a long way from being the son of the head gaoler of the Red Keep, and Wesley could not have been any happier or content with how his life had turned out.
After closing the window, Wesley turned to his king. "Is there anything else you need of me, your grace?" He asked politely. The king shook his head.
"No, thank you, Wesley. That will be all. Have a good night." Wesley bowed and he began to walk towards the door to leave when Viserys spoke again.
"Wait, there is something…"
Wesley turned around and to look at his king. Viserys's face was illuminated by the golden glow of the hearth's fire. Only twenty-six years old when he ascended to the Iron Throne, King Viserys I Targaryen was called the "Young King" by the people of the Seven Kingdoms, but now, he looked older than his fifty-two years. The deaths of his first wife and their newborn son, coupled with the drama over his second wife being furious that his daughter was going to inherit the Iron Throne before their firstborn son, and the scandals that his family had been embroiled in over the years had weighed heavily on Viserys' face, weathering his flesh with wrinkles and wearying dark purple eyes that once sparkled with optimism and joy. Besides his face, the Young King's left hand still bore the two small reminders of the serious injury he had received on the Iron Throne when he sentenced Lord Corlys Velaryon's kinsmen and their wives and sons to be muted forever with red-hot pincers. Both his left ring and pinky fingers had been amputated, and Viserys's health had suffered ever since their painful removal three years earlier.
Wesley felt bad for his king. He did not want his liege's peaceful reign to end with him as a broken and miserable man.
"Yes, my lord?" Wesley asked, curious as to what Viserys I had on his mind.
The king was silent for what felt like a full minute. Viserys looked from the floor, to the hearth, and then to the canopy of his bed before his gaze focused back on his manservant.
"Wesley, I have a question and I want you to answer me honestly."
The manservant stiffened immediately. The king was so serious and he could not help but oblige.
"Of course, my lord. What is it?"
"Do you think that Alicent will honor my wishes to have Rhaenyra crowned after I die? Will my sons? Will Ser Otto? Tell me Wesley, be honest with me…"
Wesley looked into Viserys's purple eyes and he sighed. He knew the answer, and he knew that the king was not going to like it.
"No, your grace. I believe your queen will not honor your wishes. Neither will your sons nor your Hand. Permit me if I may, but why do you ask your grace?"
"Because," Viserys said in a tone that hinted at defeat, "I have been thinking this over ever since Helaena had left with her children after visiting me earlier tonight. Alicent usually accompanies her when our grandchildren come to visit me. Tonight she was absent. She is still angry with me after learning that Rhaenyra was planning on naming Jacaerys as the Prince of Dragonstone when she becomes queen."
Wesley nodded his head in understanding. The most recent argument between the king and queen was very heated and Wesley, along with anyone else who was near the king's bedchamber that day over a week ago, could not help but listen. Holding court from the comfort of his own bed was more convenient for Viserys I, but it had its drawbacks. His bedroom was not big enough to hold all of his courtiers, government officials, and family members, and there was almost always a long line to the king's bedchamber that consisted of people who had an appointment with him. For crowd control, Wesley doubled as an usher, allowing people entry and then escorting them out until Viserys had grown tired of having visitors.
Last week, Viserys was in the middle of a meeting with his Master of Coin, Lord Lyman Beesbury, when muffled protests from Wesley were heard coming from outside the closed door. A split second later, the door flew open, and an entourage consisting of Queen Alicent Hightower, her father Ser Otto Hightower, and her three sons: Princes Aegon, Aemond, and Daeron Targaryen, stormed in. All five individuals were fuming; poor Wesley peaked through the door looking scared.
"Alicent?" was all the startled Viserys was able to say as his second wife, sons, and father-in-law crowded him at his bedside. The octogenarian Lord Beesbury sputtered in disbelief as the ensemble all but pushed him aside. Not in the mood for tolerating the old man's presence, Queen Alicent coldly commanded her husband's Master of Coin to leave the room.
"Leave, Lord Lyman…" the queen had all but growled at him. The Lord of Honeyholt protested without regard to the station of the person he was up against.
"Leave?! I am in the middle of an important discussion with your husband—!"
Lyman's protest was cut short when both Princes Aegon and Aemond sauntered over to old man and towered over him. Although clearly outmatched in every capacity in age, height, and strength, Lord Beesbury stood his ground and looked the princes straight in the eye without flinching. Before anything untoward could occur, Viserys gently commanded his curmudgeonly Master of Coin to stand down and return to his bedchamber. After Lyman had left with his head held high, all three princes, along with their mother and grandfather, turned their attention towards their ailing king. Viserys braced himself for another unpleasant confrontation with his second queen.
"I have asked you this a hundred times before, and I shall continue so for a hundred more." Queen Alicent began, fury edging her tone and growing stronger by the second. She took a step closer towards her husband's bedside, her hands clenched into tight fists. "How. Can. You. Be. So. Blind!"
Alicent did not yell, but her hiss was just as bad. When a confused Viserys tried to inquire his wife as to what was the reason behind her latest fury, Aegon the Elder stepped in to answer for his mother.
"It is about Jacaerys, father. We heard that Rhaenyra is going to name him as her heir!"
"Well, yes…" a bemused Viserys responded. "Jace is your sister's firstborn son. Of course she is going to name him as her heir. Is that what this is all about?"
Alicent looked up towards the ceiling with an exasperated look all the while letting out a dramatic exhale. Aemond added to his brother's statement.
"You know why he should not be allowed to inherit the Iron Throne, father! He's…" Aemond regarded the warning look coming from both his grandfather and parents, and he took a second to reconsider what he was going to say next for the sake of his tongue. "He is not Valyrian in appearance…" was what Aemond had finally said.
The memory caused Viserys's blood to boil even now. How could his children be so disrespectful to their own blood even if they were half-related? Blood was blood regardless of parentage.
"Not Valyrian? Not Valyrian?!" Viserys said in a raised voice to his middle son. "Jacaerys, Lucerys, and Joffrey have more Valyrian blood in them than both you and your brothers and sister combined!"
The usually mild-mannered and good-natured king proceeded to go on a tirade while his family gaped at him. Of course, the queen was the first to get over her shock, and she flew into a rage of her own in defense of her children. Soon Ser Otto and Aegon and Aemond joined Alicent in the argument; Daeron was unable to speak over the bedlam, and he simply stood off to the side as if he was a servant. As the royal family bickered, the doors to the royal bedchamber opened, and a slew of Kingsguard knights stormed in, including Lord Commander Criston Cole. Tailing after the knights were both Wesley and Grandmaester Orwyle.
The presence of the esteemed knights had brought the latest spat between the king and queen to a grinding halt. Taking advantage of the situation, Viserys, whose physical state had begun faltering from the stress, ordered for the men to remove his family from his room. As the queen and her sons and father were led out by Ser Cole, Wesley and Orwyle rushed to their king's side to tend to him. Ever since then, Alicent and Viserys were no longer on speaking terms. The distance between them was further compacted since Alicent had her own chambers in Maegor's Holdfast.
She had moved into that room nine years earlier out of anger when her husband did not punish her second step-grandson Lucerys for cutting out Aemond's right eye, instead forcing her to "apologize" to her stepdaughter for fighting with her over the incident. The two hadn't shared their marital bed since then. Viserys was staring into the flames of his hearth before he spoke again, this time, his voice was hard like stone.
"Wesley, summon Ser Steffon Darklyn and Lord Lyman Beesbury into my chambers. I need to speak with them now."
Wesley blinked when he heard the command.
"Now, my lord?" he asked incredulously, to which Viserys nodded in an uncharacteristically impatient manner.
"Yes, now! Fetch them immediately. When they are assembled, I want you to stay here until I tell you to go. Do you understand me, Wesley?"
The king turned to look at Wesley, and the manservant felt a chill slither up his spine like an adder creeping up towards an unsuspecting mouse. Viserys's purple eyes were now burning with fierce determination. Without needing to be told again, Wesley did as he was commanded. Despite being two and fifty, the same age as the king himself, Wesley's legs carried him all the way to the Whitesword Tower to rouse the Kingsguard knight. Thankfully, Ser Steffon had not fallen asleep yet, and he immediately answered the king's mysterious late night summons without question. Next, Wesley took off for Lord Lyman's chambers near the Tower of the Hand.
The eighty year old Master of Coin was sound asleep in his bed when the anxious manservant roused him from his slumber. Cursing at first for being woken up, Lyman immediately became silent after hearing about Viserys I's urgent request to see him. Despite being old, Lyman immediately got up and took his walking stick with him, and he hobbled after Wesley to the king's bedchamber. When all of the men had been assembled, Wesley closed the door behind him and he stood by Viserys's bedside. Ser Steffon was the first to speak.
"Now that Lord Beesbury and Wesley are here, your majesty, can you please tell us what you have in mind? What is so serious that you had to send your manservant to rouse us from our beds in the middle of the night?"
"My thoughts exactly, Ser Darklyn." Lyman said. "What is going on here, your grace?"
Viserys moved his gaze from the fire to the eyes of the three men who were now with him. He leaned forward like he wanted to whisper a secret to them. Lyman, Steffon, and Wesley inched forward to listen better.
"Before I begin, I want to know that you three will keep what I am going to say to here in the strictest of confidence. Do you all understand me?"
The men nodded as they anxiously waited to hear what their liege wanted to say to them.
"I have been thinking this over and tonight, thanks to Wesley, I can finally accept the truth that I have been willingly blind to for so long."
Steffon and Lyman both raised their eyebrows curiously when they heard this.
"We all know that ever since the birth of my son Aegon, my wife and daughter have been at each other's throats. I have mediated between them each and every time they became wroth with each other. But I am not like my grandfather. He was able to make Houses Blackwood and Bracken end their family feud and make peace with each other for the first time in their history, but in the present day, I can barely make my own family put aside their differences and get along. The Iron Throne has permanently divided them and when I die, there will be no one here to keep the swords of the Blacks and the Greens sheathed next time they clash.
Alicent will make sure that Aegon gets the throne, and she will do everything she can to bar my daughter and her sons from their rightful inheritance. Otto was not satisfied when I married his daughter and made her my queen. He wants to have his grandson ascend the Iron Throne as king so that the power of House Hightower can become almighty in the Seven Kingdoms…"
All three of the men looked raptly upon their king. They absorbed his words and became solemn as Viserys laid bare the troubles of his heart to them. It was a humbling experience…
"I ask you three to help me now." The king continued, "I love the children that Alicent has given me with all my heart, but I love Rhaenrya just as much. She is the only living child born from my first marriage to my sweet and delicate Aemma… Even though she is a woman, Rhaenyra is my oldest child and she is more politically inclined than Aegon who is, forgive me, lazy and sullen. She will be a great queen and regardless of the legitimacy of Jace, Luke and Joff, they are my grandsons and Jacaerys will make a great king someday.
He has the blood of the dragon in him, and from what Rhaenyra has told me, he has the skill of diplomacy just like his great-great-grandfather…"
Lord Lyman wiped away some tears that had formed in his eyes and even the eyes of Ser Steffon and Wesley glistened.
"I know my end is near," the king continued, "and I know I can trust you three. You all support Rhaenyra and I want all of you to make sure that she gets the Iron Throne. I do not want any of the schemes of my wife and her father to come to fruition. Will you please help me?"
All three men nodded their heads and they began plotting their conspiracy. Three days later, Wesley checked on King Viserys and found him appearing to be taking a nap. Seeing how still the king was, Wesley checked his pulse and discovered that King Viserys I Targaryen had died in his sleep. Almost immediately, Wesley put the plan that was devised by the late Viserys and his fellow conspirators into action. Wesley quickly fled from the room, being sure to lock the door behind him with his master key, and went off to summon Ser Steffon Darklyn and Lord Lyman Beesbury at once.
After the two men were summoned and informed of the king's passing, Wesley, Steffon, and Lyman quickly went over their duties and then parted ways to fulfill their assigned tasks. Steffon guarded the door to Viserys's bedchamber while Wesley immediately went to the main sept in King's Landing to bring in the Silent Sisters, who he had arranged the morning after the clandestine meeting with Viserys to be disguised as ordinary septas to come into the king's bedchamber on the pretext of conducting a faith healing ritual on him. Behind the closed door, the women wrapped up the Young King's body in a shroud and quietly snuck it out through a secret passageway in the bedchamber. Lyman, meanwhile, wrote a letter to Rhaenyra announcing her father's passing and how she must send her husband, former mother-in-law, and two oldest sons to King's Landing to secure her birthright since she couldn't go herself due to being eight months pregnant with her sixth child. After he was done, Lyman quickly tied the message to a raven, and after double-checking to make sure that the letter was securely fastened, he released the bird in the direction towards Dragonstone.
Lyman fervently prayed that the message would reach the princess before Alicent and her family caught on to the conspiracy. The Master of Coin was more than happy to help keep the queen's brood off of the Iron Throne. Lyman remembered swearing an oath of fealty to the then eight year old Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen in 105 AC during that memorable feast where Viserys had named her as his heiress to the Iron Throne. Lord Beesbury was a man of his word, and he was going to keep it no matter what. Ser Steffon Darklyn wanted to help Rhaenyra as well for the same reasons. He too had sworn an oath to Rhaenyra that day all those years ago.
Both men disliked the glaring flaws that were present in the queen's sons: Aegon's laziness and skirt chasing, Aemond's wild behavior and short temper, and Daeron, although kind and gentle, was a pushover who could be easily manipulated by his family and their courtiers to do their bidding. Wesley meanwhile simply wanted to help fulfill his late king's final wish. His position regarding the succession of the crown was neutral, but Wesley's loyalties were only to his king. Whatever Viserys had wished for, Wesley was determined to make sure that it happened. After he learned about the flight of the raven, Wesley, Steffon and Lyman continued with the rest of their plan and they began the long wait for the Princess of Dragonstone to act.
Their patience would be richly rewarded…
Rewrite Notes: Changes as follows.
1. Season changed from summer to autumn.
2. Viserys's wounded hand was switched from his right to his left (ASoIaF Wiki).
3. Ser Steffon Darklyn is just a regular member of the Kingsguard rather than its Lord Commander.
4. The confrontation between Viserys and his family in the throne room has been omitted since according to ASoIaF Wiki, Viserys stayed away from the Iron Throne. I consider the bedroom confrontation in the rewrite to be more personal however.