Loreza Martell was a beautiful woman with olive skin, curly black hair that fell to her back, and gleaming black eyes. When dressed in the colors she favored — light yellows and bright oranges — she looked positively vibrant. She watched Rhaella with intelligent dark eyes, now, as courtiers flitted about them.

"Are you going to write your next story soon?" Loreza asked.

Rhaella nodded and spared her friend a glance. "Yes."

A slim eyebrow rose and Loreza's full lips curved to form a smirk. "Well? Don't spare the details," she said.

Rhaella rested her chin against her palm. "I was thinking of a murder mystery. 'Ten Little Piglets,' I was thinking of calling it."

Loreza's lips twitched again. "I like the sound of that," she said, "it reminds me a bit of the first work of yours I read."

Rhaella smiled fondly when she remembered that. Her interest in 'The Cask of Arbor' was what had first gotten her and Loreza discussing, and she had been so glad to find someone else who agreed with her on the utter righteousness of the protagonist. Well, besides Aerys, but he was always too busy annoying her over taking inspiration from Edgar Allan Poe. 'Plagiarism,' he called it, as if all great works weren't entirely made up of other great works. Had he never heard of postmodernism? She shoved down her irritation in favor of focusing on one of the only people who had taste in this damnable city.

They were at court, loitering nearby the king and queen whilst Aerys stood with Tywin Lannister and Steffon Baratheon across the hall. Rhaella watched his interaction with the heir to the Westerlands through a narrowed gaze. She still thought murder was the best idea for the man. Oh to be a dwarf with a crossbow…

"And how is little Oberyn?" she asked.

"He is well," the older woman said with a bright smile, which she shared. Out of all the Martells, he was by far her favorite. It was a shame in truth that the Westerosi didn't have the concept of a godmother, otherwise she would have tried to become his. Oh well… she guessed he could serve as a cupbearer or a page later on.

"And so is little Elia. The maesters are convinced she'll be just fine, with no other issues. Speaking of, when do you and Aerys plan on having your first child?" She wasn't exactly being subtle.

Rhaella hid a grimace. The constant reminders of their upcoming duty to have children, which was so unfair especially to her, served as more and more reason why she hated her wedding even more than when she had had to go through it.

And that had been bad enough. Weeks upon weeks of rehearsals, and tight fitting dresses that had to be tested half a million times, as well as taking with every brainless not-deserving-to-be-called lady between the Wall and Dorne. At one point, she had seriously entertained the idea of jabbing a needle through her seamstress' eye, if only to end the torture of it all. Maybe even sow some buttons over her eyes, Coraline style.

The only entertaining part had been the High Septon's obvious discomfort at performing an incestuous marriage. If only he had had the spine to go out and say that and condemn them. That at least would have made the whole wedding entertaining.

They had been dressed in enough clothes that she wondered why knights didn't wear her dresses into battles. It would definitely be thicker than plate armor. And the jewelry Rhaella wore was so heavy she thought her neck might snap.

"Not for a long while," she said curtly. She didn't even want to think about that in truth, not while she had the body of a thirteen-year-old. Not to mention the thought of having to fuck her kinda but not really brother… Though on the bright side, Aerys seemed to be as disturbed by the very notion as she herself was.

At that moment, the herald's voice was heard, drawing everyone's attention to the King.

"My lords," he said. "I have news concerning the running of the realm. My son Jaehaerys has for a long time been the Prince of Dragonstone and learned the art of ruling there. However it is time for him to start ruling his future realm as well. Therefore, when in a few weeks time me and most of the Royal family shall withdraw with our retinues for a stay in the palace of Summerhall, he shall rule in my name during my absence."

Bullshit. Rhaella's eye twitched as she watched Aegon smile benevolently at his court, as if he hadn't just lied blatantly to everyone in the room. The gullible fools seemed to buy it, as the mutterings that followed that declaration seemed more curious and excited than anything else. She withheld a scoff of disgust. Idiots.

The hair at the back of her neck stood up, then, and she looked around the hall for Aerys. He had stopped speaking with Tywin and Steffon, his face ashen. Then he smiled pleasantly and excused himself, moving towards her. His steps were brisk, the line of his mouth tugged downwards.

"Princess, will you allow me a moment with my husband? I see he's looking for me."

Loreza Martell curtsied good naturedly at that. "Of course, Your Grace," she said, bowing out. Quickly after that, Aerys was by her side.

"We need to talk," he said simply, to which she nodded. Wordlessly they started making their way out of the hall towards their rooms, shadowed by their two Kingsguard. However on route to the exit they were assaulted by the rabid piranhas in a feeding frenzy that were the courtiers. Your grace this, your grace that, Rhaella started questioning if Aegon might want human sacrifices for his secret dragon eggs.

Finally, after nearly ordering the Kingsguard to pull their blades on several courtiers, they were in their rooms.

"So, he's obviously full of shit," Aerys said as soon as they were alone.

"Obviously. Which is weird, I haven't seen a whiff of the eggs around here. I was halfway suspecting we might have altered canon by accident." She wasn't sure if that would have been a good or a bad thing.

"So are we going there?" he asked, though his voice suggested he already knew the answer.

"Of course," she replied. "The question is what are we going to do there? Are we going to let things proceed like in canon?"

"I mean, Aegon is going to very conveniently kill all the branches of House Targaryen that might threaten us."

Rhaella squinted at him. "How much of that strategy game where all your vassals revolt, always, did you say you played again?"

He leveled her with an unimpressed look. "It wasn't just 'a strategy game,' it was the best strategy game. Crusader Kings 2. Also, take this seriously, please," he said, and she snickered.

"Fine. Get snobby about your videogames. But in all seriousness, it's the potential of dragons that is the most important thing that could come out of Summerhall. I don't give a damn about any Targaryen brats who aren't our heirs."

"I guess, though I'd still think it's best to remove them," he replied. You've been spending too much time around Tywin, she thought, annoyed at him.

"The dragons, Aerys, let's focus on the dragons," she said firmly.

"Right, well whatever else, we shouldn't allow Aegon to gamble all of the dragons at once," he said.

"So nick two dragon eggs in case shit hits the fan so we can hatch them later?"

"That sounds like a good idea. But with regards to the other ones? Do we try and get them to hatch? Or maybe get Aegon to not burn himself?"

"How would we do that exactly? He's obviously growing desperate, he won't listen to us."

"True. Mayhaps we could try and limit any maester influence. They might have played a part in the disaster," he said.

"Might," she replied, unimpressed. "In any case, I guess we can watch the maesters. But other than that we have nothing to go on at the moment for stopping a disaster," she said.

"So… damage control?" he asked. "We search for the best escape routes for if or more likely when wildfire hits the eggs, get two eggs to safety and watch the maesters for any tampering?"

"Works," she replied. She doubted however the maesters had anything to do with it. Though it would be really fun if they did… She would at least have an excuse to get rid of the untrustworthy bastards. Her fingers flexed at her sides.

And with that, they had their plan.