"Absurd, absurd, he's my son. Do you think I would hurt my own son?" Queen Rhaella looked at Brandon, who was guarding the prince's door.
"These are Princess Daenerys' orders. If anything happens to Jaeaherys, don't let anyone in to see him except the maester who is attending him. No exceptions," the man explained.
"I'll put your head on a pike if you don't let me see my son," Rhaella warned, or threatened.
Brandon laughed a little; he couldn't help it.
"The princess warned me something similar. Although she used dragon fire as a threat," he told the woman. "The prince is safe. Or so the maester says," Brandon found all that talk annoying. His brother Tohrren was the good talker.
"The prince is fine," said a tired Sansa as she left the room where Jaehaerys was being treated, her daughter in her arms.
"The royal family is not allowed in, but a Stark is?" This time, it was Rhaenys who spoke. She looked at Sansa and her daughter with no small amount of resentment.
Brandon wanted to bang his head against the wall. The prince really was an annoying bastard for putting him through all this. Gods, he wouldn't be surprised if Jaehaerys knew precisely what he was causing by starting this whole charade.
"Orders," Brandon shrugged. He looked at the immaculate man beside him, who seemed concerned about the prince's health. "I'll guard the room from the inside," he said, leaving the eunuch outside.
Inside the room, there was a lump on the bed, too still to be human. In the deepest part of the room, where it was impossible to see from the door, was the prince, writing. All possible entrances or avenues for espionage were covered.
"You look overwhelmed, Brandon," whispered the prince when the bastard got close enough.
"As if you didn't know..." He stopped complaining. "How was the fall?" Despite it being a charade, the prince fell from the top of his jumping mount. The fall must have been at least two meters.
"Fine, my chest hurts more thanks to Garlan. Have you heard anything from the mountain?" asked the prince.
"Dead. That's what happens when you crack someone's skull," he said sarcastically. "Oh, his brother, the puppy, seemed to be looking for you," the prince smiled mysteriously.
"Well... he could come back with us to ArgentStone. Do you know if he'll be participating in the melee?" he asked.
"No idea." He hadn't exchanged many words with the man, only what was necessary.
"Find him and ask him if he wants to team up with me." The prince stretched, his bones cracking. "The knight with the red cape," Brandon nodded, knowing what he meant, and quickly left.
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An assassin. He would only have to send an assassin to Jaehaerys's chambers. One man, one dagger, and it would all be over. He didn't even have to wait for the melee. Tywin had proven himself a most capable man, wearing his brother down in every encounter until he reached the mountain.
Rhaegar was surprised by his brother's skill. Even when he killed Gregor, he didn't seem to have suffered much damage. His fall from his horse was attributed to the blows he had received earlier.
"The best man, I don't want any mistakes," he said to Tywin.
"It will be done, Your Grace," said the Lannister before leaving.
Rhaegar had contacts in Lannisport, but he did not trust them to send a man to the prince's chambers to assassinate him. There were at least forty guards, and the Starks had another forty there. The mercenaries needed for an attack would be too many and too conspicuous.
Rhaegar looked down from the heights of Casterly Rock. Lannisport was prosperous and well-regarded, unlike King's Landing, which seemed like a joke compared to this city. The capital was a pile of shit, only relevant because the royal family resided there.
Rhaegar walked to the dining room, where he had organized a small dinner with his family to wish his brother a speedy recovery. The king was actually celebrating his brother's descent into hell.
Everything on the table was gold. Rhaegar said nothing against it, although he always thought silver was better, more refined, and beautiful.
"Has there been any news about my brother?" he asked Rhaenys and Rhaella directly. Both women had gone to the prince's mansion earlier.
"He is alive and stable, though still unconscious," said Rhaenys.
The queen mother frowned with concern. Rhaegar almost felt sorry for his mother; she had already lost several children in the past, and reminding her of that pain was cruel but necessary. Jaehaerys did not need to live.
"I hope for his speedy recovery. He was always a strong man; I'm sure he'll pull through," Rhaegar said, the lies stinging his mouth as he spoke.
"You should send a maester to check on him. The Lannister's maester," Rhaella said suddenly.
"I will, I will order Tywin to send him," said the king.
The poison could work on his brother. If the assassin failed, the maester would only have to slip a few drops, and he would die. Then he would have to kill the man, but a small sacrifice for a greater purpose never weighed on Rhaegar's mind.
"I doubt the Prince's men will let him near," said Rhaenys. "Even we weren't allowed to set foot inside his room," she said, looking angry, like a child about to throw a tantrum.
Jaehaerys was capable of eliciting that reaction in her. Although they were no longer the closest, Rhaenys was still much more sensitive to the prince than to anyone else. Rhaegar remembered his daughter asking, no, begging him to let her marry Jaehaerys.
He almost threw her into the flames right there and then.
"You weren't allowed in, Grandmother?" Prince Aegon spoke, sweating, even though Rhaegar didn't find the room hot.
"No. Daenerys' orders, in case anything happened to Jaehaerys," Rhaella said reproachfully.
"Daenerys' word is beneath that of the king. Order his men to let you see him. The maester will follow you," said the king.
"They are immaculate, most of them. They probably won't take orders from you," said Aegon. "Their obedience is to their owners, or liberators," he said at last. After all, they were no longer slaves, but free men under ArgentStone's command.
"I will send Ser Arthur to ensure their obedience," the king added, somewhat displeased that a simple man would want to obey an order above his own.
"And start a fight?" Aegon refused. "Do you have any idea how the news will reach my aunt's ears?" he asked. "It could look like an attempt on the prince's life," said his heir. And Rhaegar found himself listening to his words.
After dealing with Jaehaerys, he had to deal with Daenerys. The girl was not as good as her brother, but she had good men by her side. Qyburn and Torrhen stayed with her at ArgentStone. Rhaegar did not know the bastard, only that Barristan and Varys had told him he was a fierce warrior like his brother.
He knew from Qyburn that he was a man who broke the rules of the Citadel for the sake of his research, for the pursuit of knowledge. The king thought he would have been a good man under his command, helping to decipher the prophecies.
Rhaegar remained silent. A direct attack on the prince could mean that Daenerys would take it as a declaration of war. She was a woman, a hurt woman who could go around burning everything like a madwoman. He couldn't risk it; his Visenya was still in ArgentStone.
"Send for the maester. It will be up to the prince's men to deny their lord the best treatment," he said at last. He couldn't stir things up too much without consequences.
'Not yet.'
'I could take Daenerys as my wife. I could produce other children of strong lineage to marry Aegon's children,' thought the king.
But first, he would have to eliminate Lyanna and Elia.
The she-wolf had been evading death for a long time.