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

Chapter 144: Chapter 143 – Decisions and Trust (II)

In a tent, hundreds of meters away, three people could be seen talking. Two men and a woman.

“Princess, Mors was seen talking with Prince Daemon and Viserys.” Lord Darill Vaith looked at Mara and spoke in a cold tone.

“That filthy, vile, treacherous pig.” Mara couldn’t help but curse her uncle with a cold, murderous look. Fortunately, she had Maekar’s protection; otherwise, she’d be dead by now. Especially since she had nearly died on the journey to Stepstones. A venomous snake had almost killed her.

Some might say it was mere coincidence, but Mara didn’t believe that for a second. She was certain the snake had appeared in her tent on purpose. Besides Mors, there was no one else who wanted her dead so badly.

“Still, this is good.” Mara’s expression changed, and she spoke with a graceful laugh. With Mors allying himself with Viserys, his supporters were finally coming out into the open. That was something she’d have to deal with sooner or later.

Traitors weren’t worthy of trust; the next generation of those noble houses would have to be cultivated slowly so they’d hold loyalty to her, the rightful Princess of Sunspear and Warden of the Desert.

“Write down all their names; we’ll deal with them later.” Mara said in a cruel tone. She wouldn’t be weak in this moment and would kill any dangerous element in her domain, especially those rebellious lords who supported her uncle.

She would kill them one by one until finally the only voice in the desert was hers, just as it had been for every prince and princess of Dorne.

“Princess, I think it would be better to try to win these lords over.” Lord Quentyn Qorgyle spoke at that moment. “This causes more chaos than good. The sons of these men will hold grudges and, in the future, will certainly cause a great deal of trouble.”

Mara didn’t think Quentyn was wrong; she knew it, but that was exactly why she couldn’t accept these traitors.

“Lord Qorgyle, the price of betrayal is death; that has never changed since the world began. These people need to know the consequences of betraying me. Let them plot in their castles; I’ll kill them too if they dare cause trouble.” After spending some time with Maekar, Mara had absorbed a bit of the Targaryen princess’s habits.

She only needed a reason to kill the traitors, and no one would ever see her as a powerless woman again.

Quentyn wore a helpless expression at the princess’s intense bloodlust. In that moment, he truly believed the girl was the daughter of the former Prince of Dorne. Morion had been mad, but being mad didn’t mean being stupid.

He still remembered watching Morion kill hundreds of people without any hesitation over a mere act of insubordination. At the time, there had been nobles who didn’t want to take part in the Fourth Dornish War, since it was suicide.

In the end, those nobles died by Morion’s orders, and their heads were mounted on spears to serve as warnings against traitors. As for the outcome of the war… well, the Maesters recorded a hundred candles burning at sea. Hundreds of ships burned that day, and they never even set foot in the Stormlands.

Mara had the same determination to kill, but, fortunately, she wasn’t mad like her father. This eased the nerves of many people, who now supported Mara.

Mara didn’t know what was going through Quentyn’s mind, nor did she care. What mattered to her was killing Mors as soon as possible. Once that man died, Dorne would be entirely hers. Unfortunately, the assassination attempts she’d arranged had all been thwarted. The man wouldn’t drink or eat anything before a food taster did the job for him.

Because of this, Mors had had to replace three food tasters, leaving him exasperated by his niece’s childish methods.

“Lord Darill, I hope you’ll keep monitoring Mors’s movements. We can’t let that man hide in some filthy hole and cause trouble for us.” Mara said, looking at Lord Vaith, who simply nodded.

He too didn’t want to lose sight of Mors; that man was dangerous, and he didn’t dare let his guard down, fearing that if he lost sight of him, he wouldn’t even know how he died.

“Princess, I think it will be hard to kill Mors.” Lord Quentyn spoke at that moment, drawing the attention of Mara and Darill.

“We can’t kill him for being too cunning, but we can do something worse than killing him.” Quentyn said, smiling coldly. “We can undermine his power and weaken him. Once he has few allies left, that will be the right moment to slit that upstart’s throat.”

Mara’s eyes lit up at Quentyn’s words. Yes, she couldn’t kill Mors right now, but she could weaken him before striking and killing him. That was the best outcome, not to mention she could win votes for Maekar in the process.

Besides killing Mors, Mara’s greater goal was to put Maekar on the Iron Throne. The power she’d gain from having a friend on the Iron Throne would be enough for Mara to live comfortably in Dorne while growing extremely wealthy herself.

Thinking about this, her intent to conspire against Mors grew even stronger. She couldn’t wait to slit that filthy, vile bastard’s throat.

“Let’s show how disappointing Mors Martell is to his allies. Once they see that man isn’t worthy of trust, that rebellious alliance in Dorne will collapse entirely.” Darill said with a cold smile.

“Tyrosh will probably surrender and send ships to buy peace with House Targaryen; we could sink those ships.” Quentyn said at that moment, looking at Darill with an equally cold smile.

“If it were just Mors’s gold, I truly wouldn’t hesitate, but that gold belongs to House Targaryen. That poses substantial dangers. If we give Prince Daemon a reason to attack, we’ll die without even knowing when it’s coming.” Mara shook her head and rejected the proposal.

At Mara’s words, Quentyn and Darill finally woke up from their sinister thoughts. They exchanged glances and saw the fear in each other’s eyes. They had forgotten something: House Targaryen couldn’t be provoked, especially not by someone like Daemon, who was an enemy.

If they gave Daemon a reason to attack, both lords knew better than anyone that Daemon was capable of doing exactly that.

“Let’s think about that later.” Mara cut off both lords’ deep thoughts.

Mara looked at Darill and asked in a tone full of anticipation. “How is the mapping of the island going? Have you found a suitable place to build a castle?”

Although Stepstones was House Targaryen’s personal domain, it would be shared with House Martell, at least commercially. And that was great wealth. Stepstones practically controlled a major sea route.

A sea route meant taxes!

How could Mara not be happy about this situation? She wanted to build a castle as quickly as possible to start making money.

“We’ve found three suitable spots, especially one hill that’s easy to defend and hard to attack. ” Darill spoke with a smile, also pleased to be taking part in building the castle. That meant his second son would have a profitable job if he worked for Mara.

“However, that hill is somewhat high and will cost much more to build a castle on.” Darill said in a helpless tone. The hill was perfect for a castle; unfortunately, it was a bit too high and could cause problems for the craftsmen.

“It doesn’t matter; just build it in the most suitable spot. Gold won’t be lacking.” Mara said in a confident tone. She was confident because she had money, especially in the future. Besides, House Martell and House Rogare of Lys had been friends for generations and could get a good loan if needed.

“That’s good; once the war ends and the sea routes return to normal, I’ll begin construction of the castle.” Darill said in a solemn tone. He perhaps treated the castle’s construction with more seriousness than Mara did.

Mara merely nodded and showed a satisfied smile.

——-

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