-Chapter 151-
-POV Aemon Targaryen-
"So, it's today that everything will begin," said Laena, wrapping her arms around my waist and resting her head on my back.
"Hmm," I murmured, focused on the horizon, utterly unshaken, immersing myself in the soft morning breeze.
"To be completely honest, I didn't think you would go through with it," said Laena.
'Neither did I,' I thought, remaining silent.
"But you did," Laena added in response to my nervous silence.
"Hmm," I repeated once more.
Sensing my nerves, she tried to read me, attempting to understand what was troubling me by asking:
"Aren't you afraid of an uprising?"
"I hope for an uprising," I said softly.
'And that's the problem—I can anticipate the number of soldiers needed for a war, but during a popular uprising…'
"To establish a hierarchy?" she asked.
I shook my head and then said, "No, not to establish it—to restore it."
Since its founding, House Targaryen had not lost its strength but rather its prestige and authority.
'As well as its unity,' I thought.
'In any case, we have gained strength since Jaehaerys' death,' I reflected, because with Laenor and Laena's marriages, dragons had returned to Targaryen hands.
With my ascension to the lordship of Runestone, I had managed to elevate myself to the rank of Lord of Houses Arryn and Royce, earning the title of Prince of the Vale, and I could easily call upon fifty thousand soldiers.
That was a considerable force in this prolonged period of peace since the current armies were much weaker than those that would emerge in a century or two.
Not to mention the dragons on my side at the moment.
Even without counting my children, who were not yet old enough to fight, I could call upon five dragonriders, including myself and Daemon, with whom my relationship had significantly improved since our little discussion and with whom I had found common ground.
'Even though I still keep an eye on him,' I thought, never forgetting all the harm he had done in my life.
'No one can rival such power,' I mused, feeling no fear of a hypothetical defeat, as I knew perfectly well that it would not happen.
'What scares me is what I am about to do,' I thought, feeling my heart beat faster.
"My uncle Borros has asked to receive you in his chambers," said Laena, trying to distract me, and it worked, as I shook my head, finding the request of this second-rate lord ridiculous:
"I will not receive any lord before the trial is over."
'House Baratheon is no longer what it once was,' I thought, but said nothing since he was still Aunt Rhaenys' direct cousin.
"He might see that as an affront. After all, he is your great-uncle," Laena reminded me, emphasizing the blood ties that bound us to that fool.
'What use would an alliance with someone who cannot even read be?' I thought, having no desire to align myself with someone who constantly needed a maester's help to read a letter.
'Might as well send a missive straight to Oldtown,' I mused, slightly sarcastic.
"He will wait until the trial is over, like all the other lords," I said, not concerning myself with this so-called great-uncle, as I had refused all audience requests from the lords.
'And some more than once,' I thought, recalling the repeated requests from Jason Lannister and his brother.
"Before negotiations, I must show all these scavengers who rules this jungle."
"You need to set an example," said Laena, understanding what I meant, despite not knowing what a hyena was, and I nodded.
'Do hyenas even exist in this world?' I wondered, briefly drifting before pushing the thought to the back of my mind.
'I will have to take some time to explore lands unknown to me,' I thought, convinced that magic existed and eager to learn how to wield its incredible power.
Laena pulled away from me, and just as I thought she had taken what I said the wrong way for some reason, she stepped in front of me, sat on the railing with my help, and kissed me, saying:
"We will get them."
I smiled softly, feeling a little lighter, and nodded before saying:
"We will get them all."
---
-POV Tyland Lannister-
"You don't realize what's at stake," said Jason, pacing back and forth and raising his voice at me.
'And what do you expect me to do? You were the one who decided to ally with Otto Hightower despite my many warnings,' I thought, rolling my eyes, as I could no longer stand how he constantly lost his composure.
Even though I refrained from speaking out loud, as always, Jason managed to understand what I was thinking and said in an irritated but mostly frustrated tone:
"Stop it."
"I didn't say anything," I replied in a neutral tone, rolling my eyes.
I hoped he would calm down, but it had the opposite effect, as Jason huffed in dissatisfaction and then said:
"You don't need to—I know exactly what you're thinking."
"Oh, really?" I said, popping a grape into my mouth before slightly opening my arms and asking him:
"If you know better than I do what I'm thinking, then go ahead, enlighten me."
"You think it's all my fault because I allied with the Hightowers and the Queen," he said, already a little calmer.
'He only calms down when he remembers to think,' I thought, slightly sarcastic.
"You're not far off," I said, trying to ease the tension, but it had the opposite effect, as I saw his chest rise and fall more rapidly once again.
Understanding that my irritated twin simply wanted to vent on someone to avoid owning up to his mistakes, I straightened up, looked at him, and then said:
"It was a misjudgment on both our parts. I could have told you no, but I didn't. So now, we're going to fix this problem together."
Jason calmed down slightly and asked me:
"How?"
"Very simple," I said, popping another grape into my mouth before adding:
"Whatever Jeyne Arryn and Prince Daemon vote for, you just vote the same."
Jason took a deep breath and then finally calmed down completely before saying:
"You're right, there's no point in panicking. If they had wanted to harm us, they would have imprisoned us upon my arrival."
I nodded, then extended the bowl of grapes to Jason, who took a handful and ate them quickly.
---
-POV Aegon Targaryen-
"So, nervous?" asked Cregan as I struck the dummy in front of me.
"That's an understatement. Either way, I'll be the loser," I said, continuing to hit the dummy as I had learned over the years.
Cregan frowned and positioned himself beside me before saying:
"Why do you think that?"
"Either my mother's family will start a war at the end of the trial, or Aemon will start a war against them, and I'll inevitably be caught in between," I said, both discouraged and furious.
"You don't have to put yourself in the middle of the problems between your two families," said Cregan.
"You're in no position to tell me that," I said, rolling my eyes before continuing to strike, as Cregan had already told me what had happened with his uncle.
Cregan nodded and then said:
"It's not the same. If I had a dragon, I wouldn't be in my current position."
I stopped and briefly raised my eyebrows before saying:
"In my case, Sunfyre would be devoured effortlessly in a fight against Sheepstealer, so don't imagine I could do anything against the other dragons."
"Always about combat," said Cregan, shaking his head before adding, "That's the reason why you and your family will never win a confrontation against the Prince."
'My mother's family,' I corrected him internally, as the Hightowers were not my family, and I had made that very clear to my uncle Bryndon last time.
'I am a Targaryen.'
"What do you mean?" I asked, focusing on the most important point.
"How did the Prince manage to rise to the highest level of the realm?" Cregan asked in return.
"Urrax," I said with certainty, as it was the obvious answer. Everyone feared Urrax.
'And since he married Laena, and she has shown unwavering support for her husband to the entire realm, Aemon is untouchable,' I thought, genuinely admiring the strength of such a couple.
'Shame I can't have a woman like that by my side,' I thought, knowing that Aemon would never marry me to one of his daughters and that I would neither wed my sister nor Rhaenyra's bastard for obvious reasons.
"Count the number of battles Urrax has had to fight, excluding the Stepstones," said Cregan.
I did the mental count, wondering what he was trying to prove, and I was surprised to note that he had not had to use his dragon more than five times in battle.
'If we don't count the Stepstones, I don't even think he's needed him once,' I thought.
"You're starting to understand," said Cregan, watching me widen my eyes as I realized that Urrax had always served as a deterrent.
I had been aware of this for a long time, but I hadn't understood that it was solely through this method that my cousin had risen to the highest ranks.
'I thought this fear stemmed from something real, like that of Balerion and Vhagar,' I thought, but I tended to forget that Urrax had only been born some time after my cousin and had not yet participated in a single real war.
"But…"
"But what…?"
"I don't have an Urrax," I said, as Sunfyre was only 82 feet long.
"No, you don't have an Urrax," said Cregan, understanding my point of view, but he quickly added, "But you have a dragon capable of fighting, an extremely fast dragon that, in a few years, could rival the Red Queen. Not to mention that Prince Aemon has taught you how to fight with your dragon."
'He's right,' I thought, lost in my thoughts.
"He knows that you can cause enormous damage with your dragon, and he's the one in power. Now is your chance, so take it. You'll see—she will never be able to do anything against you again," he concluded, subtly gesturing toward a direction with his eyes.
I saw Rhaenyra, as usual, watching me from the balconies, accompanied by her guard, who had returned to the capital after a brief period away from the Crownlands to reflect on his 'failures.'
'It's disgusting,' I thought, glancing at the bastards mocking Aemond.
'He's weak,' I thought, watching his back curve under their taunts.
Even though I wasn't close to Aemond, seeing him bullied by those little brats made my stomach turn.
I had only one desire—to make them eat dirt… but I couldn't.
'If I intervene, it will be considered intimidation,' I thought as I observed my parents together, watching the scene from another balcony.
"Train your brothers and sisters in combat, push your little brother to claim a dragon, and train them all as the Prince trained us… or at least as he trained you," said Cregan before whispering:
"Once you have three dragonriders at your side, all your arguments will be more compelling, more relevant, more impactful… Until then, you'll be nothing more than a spoiled child in everyone's eyes."
'Two,' I thought, not counting my sister in the equation, as she had always been… strange.
"And you won't be?" I asked in a slightly mocking tone to shift the conversation.
"I will soon be the acting Lord of Winterfell," said Cregan before adding coldly, in a nearly imperceptible tone, his eyes lost in the horizon:
"It's been a while since I was a child."