Author's Note
I am most displeased with the leaks of the final episode this Sunday. I hope the leakers go to bed every night with hot pillows and that their ACs break, leaving their homes hot and humid.
Rant ended.
Review Replies
(To Guest) Hot indeed, some might say almost blazing.
(To Bowman12) Somewhat correct. Most won't who have come to see the King in his state but the majority who take the act of kinslaying strictly will be very cautious and suspicious of Baelon as the Greens will want to discredit him and his claim. (Somewhat like what they did when Rhaenyra had little to do with Jaehaerys assassination)
The news was spread swiftly through the Red Keep, and Otto and Queen Alicent worked throughout the early morning to snuff them out, sending many servants and staff to the dungeons and imprisoning many nobles who were staying in Maegor's Holdfast in their chambers.
Otto gathered the Small Council with Alicent after she had said what the King spoke of just hours before his passing.
"He told me that he wished for Aegon to be King," The Hand said, slightly rising in his chair.
And now here they sat as the sun just cresting Rhaenys Hill. "King Viserys... is dead." The council was aghast at the news. "We have reason to believe he was slain by his son, Prince Baelon."
"How came you by this, Lord Hand?" Harrold asked and was horrified.
Alicent wiped tears from her eyes. "It had to have been him. He was the last to see his Grace after I administered his tonic for the night. Blackfyre, the ancestral sword, was gone as well, and the Prince was quick to flee the city on his dragon."
"Prince Baelon was rather perturbed by the King for many years. Perhaps he took this time to impulsively take revenge." Jasper Wylde mentioned with a grim face, "Kinslaying after being honored and given a Princely title? Monstrous."
Otto agreed and tugged on his hand's pin. "Fortunately, shortly before his demise, the King had left us a gift that he rescinded his wishes and named Aegon as his heir."
The room was quiet for a long moment until the Master of Ships, Tyland Lannister, spoke up. "Then we may proceed with the King's blessing in our long-planned plans."
Otto looked at his daughter, who regretfully nodded. "It is a messy business, but it should be done with quickly; we begin with coronating Aegon before Rhaenyra realizes what has happened." She ordered, and the majority of the council agreed, but two.
Harrold Westerling was quiet.
Lyman Beesbury, the oldest member of the Small Council, rose from his chair in protest. "Are you all truly plotting against the King's wishes? How can we be so sure his grace spoke so true when he is administered with Milk of the Poppy?"
"What are you saying, Lord Lyman?" Otto questioned, and Ser Criston Cole angled close to the Lord Treasurer.
"I knew his Grace longer than any at this table, and I tell you this: he would not change the succession on a whim after twenty years! Nor without a room of witnesses to prove it!" The old and aged Lord of House Beesbury stood his ground, "If Prince Baelon had slain the King, then let justice be done, but I am not so old that I will sit here meekly whilst the likes of you plot to steal Rhaenyra's crown- "
Criston Cole swiftly opened the Master of Coin's neck, the blood spraying onto the table and making Ser Tyland's red clothes even redder.
"Now... Are we on the same page, my Lords?" Criston asked, and Harrold Westerling unsheathed his sword.
"Lay down your weapons and remove your cloak, Ser Criston?" The Lord of the Kingsguard ordered, and his fellow brother refused, unsheathing his own sword in response.
When the old knight knew none stood by the side of the good and right, he sheathed his sword and removed his own cloak. "This is not right, such bloodshed hours after the King's death. He was my friend and your friend, Otto."
Alicent and Otto rose from their seats. "Guards!" The doors were thrown open, and some Hightower men entered. "Take Ser Harrold to the dungeons. There, he will await the new King's justice."
From there, they cleaned up the council chamber and had Ser Erryk and Ser Arryk bring Aegon to them. Not minutes after they left, they returned with news that the Prince had fled the castle in the night and as to where they didn't know.
Otto looked to his daughter and said, "He must be found lest the news of the King's death reach ears we cannot allow to hear." Alicent regrettably nodded to his will, and so the Hand of the King ordered the brothers to find Aegon.
Aegon didn't think to be found where he was scurried off to after last night's family supper.
He'd snuck out of his favorite tunnel back to Flea Bottom, where he took to bed with his favorite paramour. She was a pretty thing with a tight cunt despite her being what she was and birthing a number of his own silver bastards. It was funny as his spawn looked more valyrian than his elder sister's sons.
It was in the rat pit where Ser Erryk and Ser Arryk found him. He had finally gone to sleep with his woman, nestled in her bosom and a hand on her arse.
The Kingsguard said nothing about why they were searching for him, only that the Queen and Hand of the King needed him back at the Red Keep. It wasn't uncommon for him to be made to attend even the earliest sessions, but this early? It didn't feel right, and he more than once commanded them to leave so that his father would hear of them being a nuisance.
They hastily returned to the safety of the Red Keep; they didn't stop even when he wanted to take a piss. Entering the gates, he groggily walked toward the Tower of the Hand and entered the chamber of the Small Council.
"What trouble couldn't wait until morning?" He asked while taking a seat where his Grandfather gestured for him where to sit. "Why are you all so quiet?"
The Queen came to his side. She was dressed in green, as she was used to wearing, but she had a black scarf around her neck. "Aegon, listen to me."
The words that came next were almost unbelievable, inconceivable considering how he just continued to live on, but his mother was sincere when she spoke the words. "Your father. The King. Is dead."
"What happened?" He asked and she didn't have the heart to answer.
His grandfather stepped forward, "After leaving your father, Prince Baelon entered his graces compartments and killed him." That was equally unbelievable to hear.
Baelon was always a twat and ever angry with their father, angry he wasn't the heir over their elder sibling, but he never could have imagined that he would be so stupid as to slay their father for such a slight.
"What?"
"Furthermore, your father whispered to me before your brother killed him that he wished for you to be King." Aegon didn't understand that at all. He was the third-born child, eighth in line after his two siblings and nephews.
Father named Rhaenyra the heir years before Baelon was born and held this position steadfastly for more than twenty years despite people (including Baelon) saying otherwise.
Aegon threw himself up and backed up three paces, "No! I don't want the throne!" He denied it.
It could go to anyone but him. He wasn't made for crowns and power, so why would his father, mother, and grandfather wish this of him? His mother approached and took him by the hand, grasping it tightly. "You must be King, Aegon. I told you this many times, but I tell you now that you will be our King."
"Stop this foolishness, Mother. How could you ask this of me? Moments after telling me my brother murdered my father!" He pushed her back and nearly stumbled, but the knight, Criston Cole, grabbed him and steadied the Prince, who was now wide awake.
Wide awake and scared.
Aegon rested her hands on a chair as his grandfather came to his side, "The King's killer will be brought to justice, and your coronation must be swift and soon."
"... How can you ask me to take my sister's rightful throne?" His question quieted the two until Ser Criston spoke up from behind him.
"If Rhaenyra takes the throne, she will need to secure her and her bastard's claims to the Iron Throne. Her husband, her council, and her sons will ensure you, your children, and your siblings all die in some form or design." Rhaenyra didn't seem the kind to do such a thing, not even Jace but Daemon.
His Uncle never liked them. He never tried to know them apart from a passing glance.
Then there is Baelon if what they say is true... "I... " He couldn't form the words. He didn't know what to say.
Aegon may have been less kind to his siblings, even bullying them when he probably shouldn't have. He did, however, love his sons and daughter, even with Helaena's strange complexity that he still has yet to understand.
He also loved his mother and knew her to be genuine in her feelings when speaking to him, even if the tidings she spoke of were most displeasing, even heartbreaking.
"What do we do, Mother?" he asked, smiling. She caressed his cheek and then took his hand in her own with care.
"We make you King."
Aemond Targaryen stood beside his sister on the platform within the Dragonpit, the children beside their mother and baby Maelor in the Queen's arms.
The masses were gathered to see his brother become King; their grandsire ensured it to be public and with as much legitimacy as possible, even without the loss of Blackfyre.
When Mother spoke of Baelon, he immediately knew it wasn't true and that Father had to have died from his ailing body than a feathered pillow. Still, the Hand and Queen believe it, they want the court to believe it and to discredit Baelon's own claim from their plots to steal the throne from Rhaenyra.
"Today is the saddest of days." Aemond heard the Hand start, eyes full of tears, "Our beloved King, Viserys the Peaceful... Is dead." The crowd gathered within the pit grew quiet to the news, "He was struck down in the late hours of the night by his unfilial son, Prince Baelon."
Now, there was outrage, a few of the smallfolk calling for justice and revenge for the monarch who had reigned for eight and twenty years.
"Though today is marked with such tragedies, his Grace, before his demise, let it be known to those closest to his heart that he declared his son, Aegon Targaryen, should succeed him."
Mayhaps there was some murmuring in the crowd, some confusion, and maybe a few remembering that the King named his daughter the heir and not his third-born child and second-born son.
Those murmurs were swiftly put aside. The majority of the populace started to clap their hands, a few cheering for the fact that there was a ruler to succeed the passing King.
"Ōtor... Issi mirre ōtor (Sheep... They are all sheep)." Aemond whispered, and only his sister heard him.
Truly, the smallfolk are especially small of mind not to know they are being fooled. He pities them for their ignorance, and maybe he was envious at how they could not notice the machinations of those higher than themselves.
An escort of guards made a show of bringing his brother to the pedestal, trumpets blaring the dome of the pit with songs of triumph.
Aemond would be lying if he wondered if he was in Aegon's place. The second eldest brother didn't feel very enthusiastic about performing such a grand duty. In fact, shortly before leaving the Red Keep, Aegon came to him, asking if Baelon really did what their mother and grandfather said.
He only looked his brother in the eyes, "Whether it is true or not, just do as Mother says. You are being given something our elder had been chasing for nigh on twenty years."
Septon Eustace, long friend of the Crown and a most devout, performed the ceremony and anointed Aegon with the sacred oils.
Ser Criston Cole, now Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, stepped forward with Aegon the Conqueror's valyrian steel crown. "The Conqueror's Crown passed down through the generations. Let the Seven bear witness that Aegon Targaryen is the true heir to the Iron Throne."
Septon Eustace then declared it true and cemented the new reign, "All hail his Grace, Aegon, second of his name. King of the Andals, Rhoynar, and the First Men. Lord of the Seven Kingdoms, and Protector of the Realm."
"Aegon the King!" Criston declared, and just then did the bells toll from the sept, letting the rest of the city and soon the realm know of Viserys I Targaryen's death and the beginning of a new reign and a new King.
The denizens that were brought to the dragonpit erupted in cheers and love for the Targaryen family, for the new King and his Queen. Aemond saw a flicker of joy in Aegon's expression as the people showered him with favor.
He would say it was the first time his brother felt such affection, as their father prioritized Rhaenyra and Baelon for most of his life.
Aegon took wing atop his dragon, Sunfyre, who bellowed a victorious screech around the pit before leaving. Aemond and Helaena joined him soon after, encouraged by their mother after the new Queen Dowager crowned Helaena.
The three flew about the city in the first of many victories.
Aemond and the family would deflate upon returning to the Red Keep as a few things transpired whilst they were away.
Ser Erryk Cargyll had fled with King Viserys crown. Furthermore, Ser Harrold, who was in the dungeons, had also escaped, knocking out the jailer after being brought his meal.
Aemond knew that soon the Blacks and Rhaenyra would know of their dealings, and then there was Baelon, who fled to the Stepstones, where his Redwyne ships were patrolling the shipping lanes.