Pre-Chapter A/N:Another chapter on time? Guess my lock-in is going pretty well. If you haven't already, I recommend turning on notifications for my stuff so you can see when new stuff drops right as it drops. More chapters on my patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga)— same username as here and link in bio.
The day after the final feast began slowly. Viserys was scheduled to hold court from noon onwards, and we had been told in no uncertain terms to be present, so we would be there. But in the time before that, I watched the sun rise from the balcony of my rooms. Or at least, I watched what I could of the sunrise. Maegor's Holdfast was one of the most protected and secure places in the realm. A castle within another larger castle. It was remarkable.
But oh, so terrible for getting a good view. The Red Keep's presence meant I could only spot the orange glow of the sun until it had risen high enough to peek above said walls. But then, once it was so high in the sky, the orange had given way to a brilliant yellow. I considered stepping out for a fly, but making it back in time to shower and be early for court would be unlikely if I did that.
I turned back towards the room. I had decided to have breakfast by my lonesome today, and there was a healthy spread before me. After this, I would shower and then make my way to the throne room.
"What are you doing?" I asked as the door swung open.
Laena walked in, closing it behind her. "I expected you to sneak into my chambers last night. After all that dancing, the passion."
I could feel my cheeks flush at the reminder. Particularly at the fact that I almost had actually given in to the temptation and snuck into her room. Luckily for both of us, my more reasonable head had chosen to make itself known before I did.
"This castle hides few secrets," I said.
"I figured you would say that. That's why I came here instead."
"I don't think I need to tell you that my chambers are within this castle just as surely as yours are," I chuckled.
"Are you going to lie to me that you haven't found the secret passageways and made certain none could use them without you knowing?" she asked. Well, she had me there.
"There's no certainty that I found all of them." And that was the truth. I was fairly confident that I had, but I was still far from certain.
"But you are pretty sure that you did," she said.
"Yes," I breathed out as she walked closer. Even from this distance, I could smell her perfume. Yup, peace with the Triarchy had definitely been worth it. No one made perfumes the way the Lyseni did.
"Then that is enough for me," she said, dropping the sleeves of her nightgown and allowing it to pool at her feet.
I looked at her unclad form, drinking it all in. "Are you sure you want to do this?" I asked. Unsaid was the fact that things were, however, still not certain. Even if we had told Mother otherwise, we had been careful never to cross a certain line. I would never ruin her for future suitors in case I could not marry her.
"I have never been this sure of anything in my life. Now are you just going to stare, Laenor, or are you going to do something about the naked woman in your room?" she asked. Well, that… that was not an offer I could refuse.
—XXXXX—
We were late to court. Seats had been saved for us, yes, and that was even worse. We had to walk past rows of gossiping and smirking nobles, under the imperious gaze of the King all the while, until we reached our seats.
Mother looked far from pleased. I could see she was visibly holding herself back from ripping us both a new one. And despite all of that, I couldn't wipe the damn smile from my face. Laena could not quite manage it either, and so we sat there smiling for reasons only we knew as court unfolded around us. First of all, Viserys invited complaints from lords around the realm.
Now that the tourney was over, those who had come to see their disputes resolved were finally getting their opportunity. And for the most part, they were making the best use of it. "Most part" because it was clear that both Bracken and Blackwood were at least slightly insane. Blackwood had come to appeal a decision made by Lord Tully, and while that was not all that special as the right of appeal to the King was nothing new, it was usually reserved for the most important subject matters. Not the matter of an elk.
Viserys, credit to him, listened to both lords discuss how they had found the elk and then how Blackwood had killed it. Bracken insisted it had been killed on his lands and so he was the true owner of the elk, while Blackwood insisted that the thin strip of land concerned was his, and so the elk was his.
"To clarify, does this particular strip of land grow anything?" King Viserys asked.
Both men shook their heads to say no. He looked over to Otto. Otto shook his head, and then he looked back down at the disputing lords before sighing.
"The land in question now shall be given to the Faith for the construction of a Sept to be funded by both Lords Blackwood and Bracken," he said. Blackwood was outraged, and while Bracken was initially disturbed, the sight of his enemy's displeasure made him pleased.
"And the matter of the elk, my Lord?" Bracken asked, preening.
"As the land now belongs to the Faith and the elk was killed by Lord Tytos, weregild will be paid by you to him for wrongfully seizing the elk," he said. And now Blackwood was happy again. What an interesting pair of men. And what an interesting judgement from Viserys. If not for his mess with his family, he would probably have gone down as one of Westeros' better Kings.
He had first of all taken the land from the discussion entirely, as it was worthless, and then given it to the Faith. It was not a direct benefit to the Brackens, but an indirect one in that the Blackwoods followed the Old Gods and were definitely going to be none too pleased with contributing to the building of a Sept. And then there was the weregild to be paid for the seized elk. It would probably be a pittance, but the fact that it was coming from Bracken's own treasury would probably please Blackwood and tick off Bracken. Both of them had come for a clean win, and neither had gotten it.
It was a somewhat perfect judgement and not the kind of thing that I honestly had expected Viserys to come up with on his lonesome. But then, that had just been me expecting him to be a bumbling buffoon. No one seemed all that surprised at his wise ruling. Both lords bowed and were off. Chances were, neither of them was going to be coming before the King anytime soon. The fact that neither had gotten a clean win and both were giving something up would probably have them cutting their losses at their Liege Lord's judgement rather than risking coming up here for a double defeat.
The next set of complainers walked up, and I watched the proceedings for another hour before the never-ending line of complainants came to an end. Viserys cleared his throat, and every head in the hall turned in his direction.
"Now that we have finished with the first round of court for today, we have one final bit of business," he started.
"Laenor Velaryon, come forward," he called. I looked over at Mother to find her nodding at me. So this was something she had some part in planning and seeing happen. How interesting.
I walked down from my seat and made it the couple of steps before I was below the dais that led to the steps upon which sat the monstrosity that was the Iron Throne.
"Kneel," he ordered, and I did so.
"Your performance in the joust was exemplary and has silenced whatever doubts in my mind I had regarding this. Your work in conquering the Stepstones on behalf of the Iron Throne can never be underestimated and will be spoken of long after you and I have joined our ancestors," he said. I looked down at the ground and began to wonder just what exactly was happening.
"My daughter has rightfully suggested that your actions be met with reward. I, Viserys First of My Name, King of the Andals, the Rhoynar, and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms, and Protector of the Realm, do hereby name you Laenor Velaryon, Lord of Driftmark, Master of the Tides, Lord of Bloodstone, as the Lord Paramount of the Narrow Sea and Lord of the Stepstones, to hold both titles in my name until death or until I or my successor deems otherwise," he said. The gathered nobles began to applaud, but it took all that I had to remain on my knees and not shove something sharp where the sun doesn't shine.
He fucking did it. I almost could not believe that I was actually still in reality. Wasn't this a dream? How could he not see that this was the fucking stupid thing to do? He was just about inviting war with every major power to the East.
Sure, we had brought the Stepstones into the Velaryon holdings, but never fully into the Seven Kingdoms. Crucially, I hadn't paid tax on any of the profit I'd been making from shit I got up to in there. And now all that was going to change. It wasn't even the tax that was the problematic part—annoying as it was, I had faith in my ability to cook the books. No, it was that last sentence. Sure, every Lord Paramount did technically wield the title in the name of the King and it could be removed at will, but they were all old, entrenched houses at this point. Removing even one of them would cause untold amounts of chaos.
But House Velaryon had no real legacy in the Stepstones beyond my conquest. And if the Princess that I had taken pleasure in pissing off yesterday managed to become Queen, she could just fucking take it. I wouldn't let her, of course. But she would try, and then I'd have to spend crucial resources fighting her off when I could be doing a million other things. It was all just so… annoying.
Still, I plastered a smile on my face like I hadn't just been fucked with a ten-inch tool with two sharp ends and looked up at the King, working very hard for my eyes not to linger on the smirk Rhaenyra's face sported. I accepted the enfeoffment and swore the standard oaths with a bright smile that was no less a lie than any other thing in this fucking place. I returned to my seat when he permitted me to, and spent the rest of the session stewing in my rage as the King bestowed some knighthoods, granted some keeps in the Crownlands, and then was entertained by the infamous Mushroom, Jester and purveyor of gossip. Another time, I would have been way more eager to watch and hear what such an interesting character had to say, but I was truly sick and tired of it all. If not that it would have been disastrously rude to leave court before it was dismissed, I would have done so already. And so the seconds and minutes ticked past, with each one adding to the rage I felt inside.
When Viserys finally rose and left, I was maybe the third or fourth person out after him. I was careful to avoid bowling anyone over in my haste, but I also wasn't so patient as to wait for the laggards to get out of my way. A firm tug in one direction or the other was often more than enough to get even the most indolent out of my way. And when I returned to my chambers, I wasted no time in filling a glass and emptying it.
"Just so you know, I told everyone that you were having a bowel disturbance," Mother said as she breezed into my rooms seemingly without a care in the world.
"Did you know he was going to do that?" I asked, barely able to keep myself from snarling.
"Elevate us to a Lord Paramountcy? It was not my idea in truth, and I had not been ambitious enough to wish for it, but I had no objections when Lord Strong informed me of the change. I take it from your red face and the fact that you are gulping down wine like your cousin at a feast that you somehow have a problem with this."
"Somehow? Do you not see how this—" I froze as I heard the sound of a bell ringing, and then there was a muffled curse.
"What was that?" Mother asked. I whirled around as quickly as I could and reached for the candleholder beside the fireplace. I pushed down on it before dragging it to the left, and then a latch came undone. I turned to the wall right beside it, and feeling for the loose brick, pushed it inside and then began to pull the wall itself out of the way.
"A secret passage? They would dare?" I heard Mother hiss behind me, but I didn't have the time to reply as I caught a glimpse of a fleeing figure. I looked down to see that the traps had been triggered.
"Wait here," I told her before jumping into the passage straight after their fleeing form.
"Laenor, wait!" was the last I heard of her before I was gone. I shot down the passage like a bullet from a gun, pulling on Igneel to give me the required speed. Limping as they were from the mousetrap that had surely caught one of their feet, it was only a matter of time. They took turn after turn in the near pitch blackness, probably aiming to confuse me. If that was the goal, they had chosen the wrong man. I saw with a dragon's eyes and smelt with a dragon's nose. There would be no hiding from me.
I gained on them rapidly, and they made a final attempt at escape by leaving the web of secret passages itself. Too little, too late. I followed, and before they could make it two steps down the newly revealed hallway, I'd grabbed onto the back of their cloak and slammed them against the wall.
"Who are you?" I growled before manhandling them to turn around. It was a woman. Brown hair, brown eyes, mousy face, small tits, and nothing of note except for how little there was of note. Her clothing as well must have been chosen for that purpose. A brown tunic and trousers with matching boots, all covered with a black cloak.
She smelt of blood and piss.
"Did you piss yourself?" I couldn't quite manage to stop myself from asking.
"You chased me like a demon from the Seven Hells," she ground out. Her voice was light and airy, like a soap bubble yet to land.
"You were spying on me," I shot back.
"Not like I managed to hear anything before you caught me. Paranoid much? Why would you go so far as trapping a secret passageway even? Are you some sort of—" She froze like a movie buffering in poor network as she looked back at me.
"I apologise, my Lord."
"Who are you?" I breathed, both in wonder and curiosity. I'd never heard any smallfolk speak like that.
"Mesilla, my Lord."
"And who do you work for, Mesilla?"
"I am a baker in the kitchens, my Lord," she said.
"I mean who do you spy for, girl," I said.
"Spy, my Lord? Whatever do you mean?" she asked, placing a confused expression on her face. I gave her a deadpan stare.
"What do you think will happen if I drag you over to the King and say I caught you spying? Do you think whoever you work for will step in to defend you? The King himself will order your hanging. Even if you are not hanged, you will be dismissed from service. Whoever employs you will leave you out there for fear of tipping their hand by helping you, as you have already outlived your usefulness. From the way you moved about the passages, I can tell you grew up here. Skin's too good to have ever lived outside the keep as well. You've not known true suffering. What do you think will happen to a pretty little thing like you outside this castle?" I asked, leering down at her.
"I give it two days—less if you can't run as fast as you were just running with your luggage—before some drunkard rapes you. And then after that, if he doesn't cut his throat to protect his identity, then you have few options. Not enough gold to rent a room in an inn for long. No chance the Keep pays their bakers that much. Maybe you'll manage to convince whoever rapes you to marry you. That's a bed to sleep in and a fire to keep warm when he isn't beating or fucking you. Maybe you'll get a taste for it and decide to work as a whore instead. That would probably be your best choice." I laid out the options as I watched her cringe in on herself.
"Or I keep this incident between us and report nothing to the King. But instead, you will tell me everything I want to know. If you lie, I will not give you another chance. I will take you to the King immediately," I said. She nodded fervently, the previous boldness all but gone like the morning dew when faced with the sun's rays.
"Now, I asked you a question. Who do you spy for?"
A/N: Meet Mesilla, expect to see her a bit and then not at all, and then a lot. Such is the way of things. Next five chapters up on patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga) (same username as here and link in bio), support me there and read them early.