House of The Dragon:The Rise of the Emperor of the Seven Kingdoms

In House Velaryon’s tent, Rhaenys was pale. She was twenty-six years old, young and not yet the woman who would dare fight against Vhagar thirty years later. Before Jaehaerys’s murderous intent, she was completely helpless.

"Corlys, my grandfather wants to kill me." Rhaenys said in a heavy and slightly panicked tone. "I knew it was a bad idea to give Laenor a dragon egg."

The idea of the dragon egg had never been hers, but Rhaenys had allowed it because of her husband’s incessant requests, the man she truly loved deeply. Even knowing it would make the king furious, she still did it out of love. However, now that the consequences had appeared, she was completely panicking.

Jaehaerys’s anger was not something trivial. The man was famous for being a conciliator, but the entire House Targaryen knew Jaehaerys was a man of strong and tyrannical personality. At this moment, she felt extremely foolish for testing the king’s limits.

"Don’t worry, Rhaenys." Embracing his wife, Corlys said in a calm tone. "The king won’t do anything to us; we are not a small Noble House. We are House Velaryon, the richest noble house in Westeros. We have power and money."

"If that still doesn’t work, I can give the king a great deal of money. We just need to stall for time and wait for the Old King to die. If Laenor wins, great; he won’t do anything since he is the dragon himself. If Viserys wins, it’s still great. Knowing his personality, he will probably think of reconciling both Houses and will want to marry Princess Rhaenyra to Laenor."

Corlys comforted his wife. He was calm and lucid. He already had plans for this and would not back down now that House Velaryon was at its peak, with two dragonriders and one step away from sitting on the Iron Throne.

If Maekar had been present, he would have mocked Corlys’s actions. Money was important to a kingdom, but the greatest weapon of destruction was even more important. Without dragons, House Targaryen would not have the power of coercion it currently held.

Jaehaerys certainly liked money, since with money he could reform the kingdom more efficiently, but dragons were many times more important than money. Corlys seemed to forget this, but he would come to remember it soon enough.

Rhaenys grew calmer with her husband’s comfort, but there was still a shadow of worry in her expression. She felt a bad premonition that something terrible would happen in the future.

-

Inside Harrenhal, in the room Jaehaerys was sharing with Alysanne. The king could be seen sitting on the sofa. A shadow fell over him, obscuring his features; only his eyes could be faintly seen in the darkness.

All seven members of the Kingsguard were in the room. From young to old. They wore gleaming white armor.

Jaehaerys’s finger tapped rhythmically on the wooden arm of the sofa, making a relatively loud sound echo in the room. As Maekar had said earlier, Rhaenys and Laenor had crossed a line the king could not allow.

Why were there only forty dragonlord houses? Because, before that period, there had been hundreds of Dragonlord Houses. However, where there are interests, there are conflicts. What followed was the spark of the War of Wrath.

Of the hundreds of noble houses of Valyria, only forty remained.

To prevent something like that from happening again, the Valyrian Parliament created the Dueling System. Let enemies face each other in a duel to the death or partial defeat; the loser had to accept defeat and not seek revenge.

Of course, most of these duels involved dragons, and the result was the death of one side. Since the losing side could not seek revenge, the conflict ended. Going against this system became something extremely frowned upon and even reviled by the Dragonlords.

However, Jaehaerys could not allow such a thing to happen in Westeros.

Only House Targaryen should have dragons.

Showing a determined look, Jaehaerys was resolved to create a peaceful transfer of power for his successor. And he would make that happen.

Rhaenys had crossed any acceptable limit he could accept.

Perhaps, if it had been before the deaths of Loreon and Matthos, the king would have been more peaceful, but now that it had been proven that the kingdom was still strong even with the deaths of two important lords, Jaehaerys was far more determined than before.

"Ser Ryam, bring Lyrios to my chambers." Jaehaerys spoke in a calm tone.

The other six Kingsguard showed solemn and cold expressions. They knew what would happen in a few moments.

"Yes, Your Grace." Ryam stepped forward, bowed, then left the room with the white cloak over his shoulders, rippling.

Ryam returned in ten minutes. Behind him was an old man of ordinary appearance; he seemed completely harmless, but he was Jaehaerys’s Master of Whisperers.

As Varys once said to Eddard Stark, the King’s Justice ought to be feared; the master of coin ought to be frugal, and the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard ought to be brave, while a master of whisperers ought to be cunning, obsequious, and without scruple, since a brave informer would be as useless as a cowardly knight.

Despite hating his uncle, Jaehaerys had to admit that a spymaster was something very good, especially for a king. So, Lyrios had served him for over forty years without anyone even knowing he had a Master of Whisperers.

Yes, Jaehaerys believed the Master of Whisperers did not need to appear on the Small Council, since he would lose a spy’s greatest power, being discreet.

"Your Grace." Lyrios knelt before the king and lowered his head.

"You failed to discover that Maekar had a spy organization; you failed to discover that Laenor had claimed a dragon. Tell me, Lyrios, have you grown too old?" Jaehaerys asked in a cold tone.

"Forgive me, Your Grace; I failed your expectations." Lyrios lowered his head even further.

"I will give you a chance to redeem yourself." Jaehaerys said in a still icy tone. "If you fail, you need not come back."

Lyrios did not answer and simply listened in silence to the king’s next words.

"My great-grandson has claimed a dragon." Jaehaerys said in a calm tone, but the murderous intent in his voice made everyone’s expression change.

"Kill the dragon hatchling and then..." Jaehaerys was about to speak but hesitated over the next orders and, after a while, finished giving them.

"Cut off the child’s ear and place it on Rhaenys’s pillow. A warning for her arrogance."

In the end, Jaehaerys did not want to kill a child for the mistakes of the mother and father. Although it was cruel to use a child as an example, it was better than killing him.

Ryam, who heard everything, as did the six kingsguard, breathed a sigh of relief at hearing those orders. Losing an ear was better than losing one’s life. Although the child would probably be traumatized for the rest of his life, it was better than dying.

"Yes, my king," Lyrios spoke in an incredibly solemn tone.

He knew it was the last chance to do the job correctly, or he would no longer serve Jaehaerys as Master of Whisperers.

Making no sound as he left the room, Jaehaerys returned to being alone with his Kingsguard. His figure was still obscured by the shadows. Only his violet eyes faintly glowed in the darkness.

"In the end, I’m not as decisive as I used to be..." Jaehaerys murmured, feeling the weight of being old again. He was becoming more and more sentimental as he aged. Perhaps it was the curse of time.

Suddenly, the door of the room was abruptly opened, and Jaehaerys woke from his thoughts. He did not even need to look to know there was only one person who dared enter his room in such a bold manner.

Alysanne entered the room and, without caring about her husband’s figure obscured by the shadows, threw a change of clothes at him.

Jaehaerys caught the change of clothes with a confused expression. He recognized that style of clothing; it was clothing worn in Valyria during weddings.

"Gael is marrying Maekar today in a Valyrian ceremony. These are your clothes; the wedding will happen in the late afternoon." Having said that, Alysanne did not waste any time as a husband would and left their room without any hesitation. She seemed twenty years younger at that moment, full of energy and strength.

Jaehaerys showed a confused expression at the amount of information he had received and twisted his lips in frustration.

"Lyrios, you useless piece of dragon shit." Jaehaerys murmured with a look full of resentment. As a king, he hated surprises.

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Read my other books:

House of The Dragon:The Rise of the Emperor of the Seven Kingdoms

Game Of Thrones: The God-Emperor of Planetos

Percy Jackson: Godwyn the Golden.

Game Of Thrones: The King’s Court Wizard