-Chapter 201-
-21st day of the 10th moon of the year 121 AC-
-POV Saabhos Saan-
"Captain Gessien, do you have something to tell me?" I said to the most powerful captain of my fleet, who commanded twenty-five ships out of the one hundred and sixty war vessels that now made up my armada.
Lovan Gessien looked me straight in the eyes for a few moments, then looked at the other captains before finally turning his gaze away.
I had simply explained to my captains that they had to make preparations to bring their entire fleets without delay.
I had not told them the reason why they all had to do it.
Today, they had all just learned that we were leaving the Stepstones.
I could see, in each of their eyes, a glimmer I did not appreciate in my subordinates' gaze, but there was nothing I could do.
'The Prince was very clear: no one must know what we are truly going to do on the Basilisk Isles until we have passed Lys,' I thought, a little bitter at this order, for it put me in danger during the days to come and would sow doubts in the minds of the boldest.
Fortunately, thanks to the Prince, I firmly held my subordinates' accounts in my coffers, and most of the crews had been properly trained like a real navy, and were totally loyal to me.
ROAR OF CARAXES
Upon hearing the roar of Prince Daemon Targaryen's dragon, which had been patrolling above our island for a few hours, sending us the signal to leave if we did not wish to end up in its belly, I clapped my hands, waking my stunned captains who expected us to defend our position.
"Since we are all in agreement, then let us waste no time and withdraw," I said as I left, under everyone's gaze, heavily escorted toward the port of Bloodstone to board my flagship.
---
-23rd day of the 10th moon of the year 121 AC-
-POV Aemon Targaryen-
"Does that ease your fears?" Johanna asked once I had lifted my eyes from the letter she had handed me a few seconds earlier.
I shrugged and calmly replied: "I fear nothing."
Johanna rolled her eyes and said: "Oh, please. You are far from being the most fearless man I know."
I raised an eyebrow and replied: "But I am the most powerful man you know."
She smiled slightly and answered back instantly:
"Which does not mean you didn't fear that Daemon might fall back into illusions of grandeur, and that I might help him down that path."
"I feared for him, not for myself," I replied just as quickly.
"It is still fear," she said, smiling triumphantly, silencing me.
After a brief moment, I smiled myself, shrugged again, and then said: "I must admit, I did fear at some point that my father might return to the path he once walked, and that you would drag Baelon with you in your fall."
"I never hid from Daemon that I would always choose you," she said in a charming tone that had practically become second nature, though I knew very well she was not trying to seduce me, brushing aside the slight threat as if it were nothing.
'It is simply ingrained in her whole being, her way of speaking, moving, thinking.'
"Isn't he jealous?" I asked, using an ambiguous, double-edged tone of my own, deciding to play the same game.
Though I was well aware that what she truly meant by always choosing me was that I was endowed with overwhelming power, and that she did not want to drag Baelon with her into her downfall, or even into a potential disgrace.
"Your father has changed a lot," Johanna said in a less charming tone, cutting short this little game as she felt she was treading dangerous ground, before adding more softly: "He truly wants to mend your relationship."
"There is nothing to mend, he was nothing to me," I said at first, before adding a few moments later: "But in the future, if he wants to find a place in the family I am building, he is welcome. I will never forgive him for what he did in the past, but I am ready to start afresh and build on new foundations. I believe I already made that clear to him."
"That is all he asks," Johanna said with a slight smile, and I could see a hint of mischief in it. So I answered: "Do you enjoy playing the mediator?"
She did not reply, but kept smiling.
I shook my head and motioned that she could leave.
Once Johanna had left the room, I opened a drawer and took out a map, which I quickly unrolled on my desk before beginning to place tokens stored in a box at the side.
'Perfect. Now that I have regained control of all the waters of the territories between Eastwatch-by-the-Sea and Lys, no ship from Pentos, Braavos, or even the Triarchy will be able to try to help Dorne resupply,' I thought, having already managed to isolate Dorne from all the western coast of Essos.
'Now, I only need to completely isolate Essos from Westeros, and to do that, I must create a net stretching from Lys to the Basilisk Isles,' I told myself as I placed tokens shaped like a squid on the Basilisk Isles and others bearing a crown of bones along the route to the Basilisk Isles.
'Once the Greyjoys and Saabhos Saan have taken control of the Basilisk Isles, I will be able to isolate Dorne from the entire world.'
"Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken, my ass," I muttered as I looked at the map, eager to finally smother the last risk factor present on my continent.
'Once the Dornish are defeated, I will marry Aerys to the daughter of Qoren Martell, and bind nobles from the houses Yronwood or Dayne with the Royces, as well as some of the nobles most loyal to me, mixing our lineages so they will be tied together for generations.'
'But that still does not solve my problem,' I thought, for ever since Aemond had claimed the Cannibal, everyone was turning away from Rhaenyra—except for Rhaenys, who stubbornly remained close to her, considering Alysanne as the last trace of Laenor's memory, distancing herself from us a little more each day.
'Sunfyre, the Cannibal, and Dreamfyre: three dragons capable of fighting, not to mention Daeron's still young dragon, Tessarion.'
Rhaenyra no longer had any chance of winning a war of succession. Even if Rhaenys fought for her and her children mounted dragons of respectable size, Aemond could, with good training, kill them all without even calling upon his brothers and sisters.
At first, I had intended to simply continue playing the card of ambiguity, letting the dragons of both sides destroy each other while I kept fortifying my position. But in such a situation, I could not help but rack my brains.
If tomorrow Viserys were to die before my eyes, Aemond and Aegon would win an easy victory, then have enough dragons to resist my decisions.
Though I had Laena and Vhagar with me, as well as my children capable of mounting a dragon, I would never risk losing them in a war against other dragons—unless, of course, it were an unavoidable situation where our survival was at stake.
'So that leaves me only Caraxes.'
Four against two, despite Urrax's current strength, put me in a passive situation I did not like.
'I must break this numerical advantage.'
'To rebalance it all, I would need to remove one dragon from their side and bring it over to mine,' I thought, a slow smile spreading across my face as I finally decided to use an old promise between Alicent and me.
---
N.A : I've launched a brand new story set in The Walking Dead universe. I'm counting on you to leave a nice comment 🥹🙏