The Realm's Delight

Chapter 17

In an ideal world, I would have had my cake and eaten it too. But the world was sadly unfair.

Larys would have been a good addition to my ranks, but he was not someone I was willing to trust with my bigger secrets and plans. But he was in a position where he would be able to find those secrets, and who knows how long before he was using them against me? So his purpose became slightly different, but in my favour nonetheless.

I had made it a public spectacle, Larys' execution. Gossip spread like wildfire and the people that gathered to witness were cursing the man's name as he was brought to the Dragonpit.

Larys was executed by dragon fire, his charred remains left to turn to ashes in the wind when Vhagar took flight after the deed was done. She did not eat humans, or at the very least had not eaten humans in the duration I was her rider.

The child and his mother that had helped me rid of Larys and Otto were under my protection now, working in the stables while his mother worked as a handmaiden for me, all the servants did that had testified against Larys. They had helped me, so it was only right I looked after them. And if one of them were to get overwhelmed by guilt and try to confess, I'd have her close by to talk her out of it or deal with it in other ways.

My work with Mysaria continued, except now she had become the unofficial Mistress of Whispers for the crown. She was offered the seat by Father as a way to thank her for bringing the truth forward and supplying them with information that routed a traitor and one possible traitor. She had declined, going back to her duties in the pleasure dens. But she still worked for me in the shadows, getting me the information I needed to go about my business.

As for the rest, I had to put up a mummer's show. I was not a good actor and was afraid I'd be caught in my lies. But my acting surprised me greatly. The tears I cried, the emotions in my voice, all of it sounded so genuine that even I was confused whether the whole plan was a setup by me or did it all naturally happen and I found out.

I had to continue from there. I accusations I threw around, they were not things that could be forgotten so easily. So I had kept my distance, been cold with them. Any conversation that they started with me was kept short and to the point. I had to get a point across, that they had insulted e and I did not take insults lightly. Plus it would also reinforce the thought that they'd think twice before accusing me of something and approach me about the rumours they hear, which would give me time to cover up in case those rumours turned out to be true.

So the time was spent with me practising swordsmanship with Ser Criston and riding on Vhagar to visit Dragonstone and check in on how things were going there. I hadn't personally been there in a while and felt as if I should drop by.

Uncle Daemon stuck around as well. Now that he thought he was a part of my inner circle, he wanted to see just how I played my games. He was especially grateful when the news of his wife's demise reached him one fine day. He did not care for Lady Rhea Royce in the slightest, so her death meant little to him. At my signal, he began his courtship of Laena, and from the looks of it, things were going smoothly. Daemon was the Lord of the Stepstones now, a series of Islands that were once pirate-infested but now completely free of them. He was already earning quite a purse from the tolls collected from trading routes, though the tolls were kept to an understandable minimum. Lord Corlys would not mind Daemon marrying his daughter, and if he did not mind then Aunt Rhaenys would not vocalize her thoughts.

I had initially planned on keeping Lady Rhea alive. She was a good woman and an honourable one at that. But there was no way I found to nullify her marriage to my uncle. So she was an unfortunate sacrifice.

Eventually, though, I did speak with the others. But that was only a week before my marriage to Jason Lannister.

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