Capítulo 31: 31. Prophecies
King Aegon V Targaryen's POV
It was another day filled with problems. I wished I could have given this crown to one of my sons and been done with it, but there were still too many things left to do. For once, I had all my family together for a meal, yet the mood was sombre.
Jaehaerys was still agitated over the words Jenny had brought. Lily had been having dreams—troubling ones, according to Jenny. The first dream involved the upcoming tourney, predicting a death that would shock all those present. All she would say was that she saw purple eyes covered in blood.
Jenny was the most troubled by this, so she begged Duncan not to participate. However, he had only said he would think about it. He had not yet returned from escorting the Westerland lords, but I expected he would choose not to participate. Yet, despite being a good son, like his siblings, Duncan was stubborn.
Despite the seriousness of the first dream, it was the second that troubled us most. It concerned Jaehaerys' children, Aerys and Rhaella. She had seen a future where they were married to each other and had only one child, who would be the last Targaryen. All of their other children would not survive. Their union would be a disastrous one.
This deeply troubled him, as he had been fascinated with Lily and her dreams.
"What do you intend to do? You've heard what Jenny said, and I assure you, I had nothing to do with this." I asked Jaehaerys. I could feel Betha's hand squeezing my arm as I spoke. Perhaps my question sounded too antagonistic, we had been arguing about this for an entire week.
"Please, Father, give me some time to think on this. I won't be rushed into making a decision that involves the future of our house," he said, and I almost scoffed. If only he and Shaera had done the same when they disobeyed me.
"Dear, please be patient. This is a lot for all of us," Betha said gently. She was right; it was indeed a lot. Shaera also seemed distressed as she glanced at Jaehaerys. I squeezed Betha's hand reassuringly. Pushing this stubborn fool would get me nowhere.
Why couldn't he see that this would be for the best? I had proposed that both Aerys and Rhaella marry into other houses. For Aerys, I suggested the daughter of the Lord of House Celtigar or the sister of the current Lord of House Velaryon. For Rhaella, I had put forward Tywin as my top choice.
He dismissed me as if I were japing. Instead, he chose what he referred to as the "honoured traditions" of our house, the unification of the bloodline. This fool! That had been when we had dragons. I still hoped we would one day have them again, but why couldn't he see reason?
History would repeat itself if we didn't stop this "honoured tradition." I was the fourth son of a fourth son. My father was never supposed to be king, and neither was I. Even now, the nobles think I don't know the other name they've given me: Aegon the Unlikely.
Jaehaerys was my heir, despite Duncan being the eldest. To this day, Duncan and Jenny have not produced a child. This meant the line of succession was clear: Aerys would become king after Jaehaerys. But Jaehaerys and Shaera had conceived twice, and both times had resulted in miscarriage. If this continued, Aerys and Rhaella's child would be the last of House Targaryen.
Even the Grand Maester agreed that this continued tradition of sibling marriages was causing the number of healthy births in our house to decline. I had even considered suggesting Aerys marry one of my sister's daughters from Essos. But I saw no issue with a match from House Celtigar or Velaryon—both were houses from Old Valyria, with Targaryen blood flowing through their veins.
"Father, give me until after the tourney to make my decision. I need to see for myself how accurate Lily's dreams are before I act. I pray that blood doesn't flow during this tourney, but if it does, I will then make my decision."
With that, the mood soured, and everyone left one by one, except for Betha and Jenny. Jenny sat with her head down, avoiding eye contact, which was unlike her usual cheerful self.
"What is it, my child?" Betha finally asked when the three of us were alone.
"I haven't told you everything that Lily said," Jenny responded in an apologetic tone.
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"Madness!?" The word was bitter in my mouth. After all I had worked for, was my house to come undone in this way? According to Lily, Aerys was destined to fall into madness. 'The young dragon will be stalked by a great beast, which will drive him deeper and deeper into despair until madness consumes him, and it will be his undoing.'
She said it wasn't until she saw the boy that she realized he was the young dragon from her dreams. However, she couldn't see the beast's face, only its menacing shadow looming over the boy. Was this a conspiracy, or was the beast a representation of something else?
At first, Lily had refrained from sharing the dream, but as time passed, it became more vivid. Dreams had saved our house during the Doom, and each Targaryen was blessed with the gift of dreams—some more than others. But few could truly understand them. Madness, it seemed, was also a curse on House Targaryen. What was I supposed to do?
"Knock, knock," came from the door to my study.
"Who is it?" I asked.
"It is Prince Jaehaerys, Your Grace," Ser Donald replied.
"Enter."
Jaehaerys stepped in, his face neutral, though turmoil was evident in his eyes.
"What is it, my son?" I asked as he sat beside me.
"Father, I will stand firm—I will make my decision at the end of the tourney. What I came to discuss are the possible matches you have in mind."
This surprised me. He had always seemed intent on continuing our tradition.
"What has caused you to reconsider?" I asked curiously. Jaehaerys looked at me for a few moments before answering.
"Shaera, Father. She has made me take a hard look at our situation. We've been trying to conceive again, but we haven't been successful. Despite your words, I do care about our house and its future. That's why I'm here. I want to discuss how we might move forward if I agree to find matches outside of our house."
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Tywin Lannister's POV
Finally, the day had come when House Lannister's retinue arrived at King's Landing. The convoy of wagons, horses, servants, and elegantly decorated carriages stretched for more than a mile, resembling a fat, slow-moving snake from where I stood on the walls of the Red Keep.
I hadn't ridden out to meet them, fearing I would lose my temper at the sight of such nonsense. Prince Duncan had returned in the early morning, and now it was nearly evening. The king had originally planned a feast to welcome the nobles, but at the rate they were moving, Prince Duncan advised postponing it until tomorrow.
Even if the prince had held back out of consideration for me, I could see from the micro-expressions on his face that he was displeased by what he had encountered. Tytos had spared no expense in entertaining his guests, purchasing all the food and alcohol from every small town and village they passed.
The problem was that while he had paid with plenty of Lannister gold, the people couldn't eat gold if this winter turned out to be particularly harsh. Worse, it would make them targets for bandits as word spread of their newfound wealth.
His careless actions would cause problems down the line. Banditry had been kept down by the king's orders, but the patrols couldn't be sustained indefinitely. Men and beasts grew tired, and they needed to be paid and fed.
Because of his spending, the nobles weren't in any hurry to reach King's Landing, travelling at a leisurely pace. It wasn't until the prince's arrival that they finally picked up speed. As usual, Tytos' people-pleasing ways were creating more problems.
According to letters from my uncle, Ser Jason, over the last couple of years, he had managed to curb Tytos' lending of money—but only to noblemen. He still lent to them, just in smaller amounts. Chief among those borrowers were the Reynes and the Tarbecks, who had borrowed heavily over the years.
Fate, it seemed, was at work here. The original Tywin had made a name for himself by culling both houses. If they insisted on following the same path, who was I to stop them? I was more than willing to let them dig their graves; I would simply provide them with a shovel to hasten the process.
As for Tytos, I didn't need to make him look foolish; he would manage that on his own. This would make my transition to officially becoming Lord of House Lannister much easier. It might tarnish the house's reputation slightly, but it was a sacrifice I was willing to endure.
The gold he was burning through could be earned back. The loans would be repaid, with interest, and The houses that could not repay me in gold would have to repay me in other ways. As I stood there waiting, after an hour, they had finally reached the gates of the Red Keep. The first banner among them was the golden lion on the red of House Lannister. A large, beautifully adorned carriage pulled up, and the guards opened the doors to let the passengers out.
As the man stepped out, I saw the look of surprise at first, which quickly turned to joy on his face. He approached me quickly, stretching out his arms and giving me a big hug.
"Ah, my boy, how long has it been?" he said with pride as he squeezed me. Despite all his incompetence, I couldn't deny that Tytos did love his family, including me. Too bad I wasn't the same person. Not that it mattered. The original Tywin had immense disdain for his father, but it was the love Tytos showed him that likely saved his life. If not for that, Tywin would probably have gotten rid of him.
"It has been more than a year. How are you? I hope the journey went well," I said with a deadpan expression. This caused a slight shift in his expression, a moment of reluctance, but he was genuinely happy to see me, which made me less inclined to give him a hard time.
"It was a long journey, but I can't say a bad one with so many friends. We feasted and made merry almost every night. Your mother and I have been having a great time," he said with a goofy smile, and just like that, I could feel my eyebrows wanting to twitch.
Before I could retort, another person stepped out of the carriage and rushed toward me. It was my mother, Lady Jeyne. She hugged me tightly.
"Oh, my baby, how I've missed you. You've gotten so tall," she said as she slowly loosened her embrace and inspected me.
Next was Kevan, but before he could exit, a blonde-haired girl quickly pushed past him and ran toward me, almost tackling me as she threw herself into a hug around my waist.
"Hello, Genna. I take it you missed me too?" I said, stretching my arm around to embrace her. She didn't say anything as she buried her face into my side. I could tell she was going through a range of emotions, so I let her be. I looked at Kevan and flashed him a brief but genuine smile. I had missed my closest companion from Casterly Rock. Following him was a servant holding a toddler—Tygett, who had grown since I last saw him.
Even if I had been changed, I still held the memories of the real Tywin, and despite his behaviour, he too had love for his family. For the first time in a long time, I felt warmth and love while I stood reunited with my family.
"Oh my, such a beautiful family. Perhaps you should paint a portrait of yourselves just like this. Life is so funny; we never know how many moments like this we'll get," came a haughty voice from the side. I didn't need to turn to know who it was. Despite her words, I knew they weren't meant kindly.
Ellyn Reyne, as beautiful as my mother if not slightly more so, exuding charm and grace. She was easily the belle of the ball wherever she went, and that made her dangerous. She knew her strengths and played into them which was how she had managed to marry two Lannister and if she had her way, Tytos would have been next.
The woman was a menace to House Lannister, but one who I was pleased to see. Despite her intentions, she had a part to play in the future that would be of great use to me, she just didn't know it yet, she and her family stood by her side.
Author Note- Hey guys, so exams were a bust. I had some personal matters come up that prevented me from writing my first exam on Saturday morning so, I'll have to try again next year. Aslo, I was moved to a different section at my job so that will take some adjusting as I will be working on an "as-needed basis" which is to say, not on a fixed schedule.
So I'm releasing the chapter that was on backlog, and hope to get back on a regular schedule. Hope, you guys enjoy it. Also check the comments, I will post some art.
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