'Me?' Aegon retorted. His father walked up to him.
'And you, boy? Where did you hear such calumnies?' Aegon stayed silent. 'Aegon! Tell me the truth of it!'
'We know, Father,' Aegon replied. 'Everyone knows. Just look at them.' Viserys stepped back.
'This interminable infighting must cease!' Viserys exclaimed, bringing the hall to silence once more. 'All of you! We are family! Now make your apologies and show goodwill to one another. Your father, your grandsire, your king demands it!' He turned to walk away, but Alicent spoke.
'That is insufficient. Aemond has been damaged permanently, my King. Goodwill cannot make him whole.' Viserys turned to her.
'I know, Alicent, but I cannot restore his eye.'
'No, because it's been taken.'
'What would you have me do?'
'There is a debt to be paid. I shall have one of her son's eyes in return.' The small crowd in the hall began to murmur and stir, clearly unhappy with the gruesome prospect.
'My dear wife,' Viserys said, stepping towards Alicent.
'He is your son, Viserys. Your blood.'
'Do not - allow your temper to guide your judgement.' He turned to leave again, but she spoke once more.
'If the King will not seek justice, the Queen will.' She turned to Criston. 'Ser Criston, bring me the eye of Lucerys Velaryon.'
'Mother!' I heard one of the boys shout in panic.
'Alicent,' Viserys called out, but she did not hear.
'He can choose which eye to keep, a privilege he did not grant my son,' Alicent spoke sharply.
'You will do no such thing,' Rhaenyra said.
'Stay your hand,' Viserys snapped.
'No, you are sworn to me!' Alicent cried out, and the hall fell silent for the third time that night. Ser Harrold's gaze slid over to Criston once again, and the younger knight shrank back, realising his error.
'As your protector, Your Grace,' he replied.
'Alicent, this matter... is finished. Do you understand?' Viserys asked her. He turned to the crowd in the room. 'And let it be known, anyone whose tongue dares to question the birth of Princess Rhaenyra's sons and daughter should have it removed.' He turned to walk away, and did so, but not before Alicent rushed him, removing the blade that Viserys always carried with him, and storming towards Rhaenyra's sons with a pure fire of revenge in her eyes. There was a large commotion in the room, and above it, Lucerys' scream of pure fear radiated. Daemon went to stop Criston, Viserys and Otto attempted desperately to make Alicent drop the blade, and several of the Kingsguard, as well as Lord Corlys, rushed to protect Rhaenyra and her sons. In the middle of the room, Alicent and Rhaenyra met, and Alicent held her blade steady as it was caught in Rhaenyra's strong grip.
'You've gone too far,' Rhaenyra spoke.
'I?' Alicent snarled through tears. 'What have I done but what was expected of me? Forever upholding the kingdom, the family, the law. While you flout all to do as you please.'
'Alicent, let her go!' Viserys shouted, but the plea fell on deaf ears.
'Where is duty? Where is sacrifice?' Alicent spoke. 'It's trampled under your pretty foot, again.'
'Release the blade, Alicent,' Otto called out, but just like the last plea, Alicent neither turned her head to listen to her father, nor her husband, and she did not drop the blade.
'And now you take my son's eye, and to even that, you feel entitled,' Alicent said.
'Exhausting, wasn't it?' Rhaenyra asked. 'Hiding beneath the cloak of your own righteousness?' She leaned forward ever so slightly to whisper to Alicent. 'But now they see you as you are.' Alicent's hand, holding the blade, came down, and Rhaenyra reeled back, Corlys catching her. Daemon aligned himself next to Rhaenyra, coming up in front of the boys. Rhaenyra and Corlys looked down at her hand, which was dripping blood from a cut on her arm, made by the blade. She let go of the blade, and it clattered to the floor. Aemond, who had been sitting the entire time, stood and made his way over to his mother.
'Do not mourn me, Mother,' Aemond said. 'It was a fair exchange. I may have lost an eye, but I gained a dragon.' He leaned into her, and she numbly wrapped her arm around her youngest son.
'This proceeding is at an end,' Viserys said, and walked away with the aid of his cane.
The next day...
Viserys' household left Driftmark the next day, sailing for Kings' Landing. Along with them came the Princess Eleana, and the four dragons of Viserys' household, which included Eleana's dragon, Silverwing, the old mount of Princess Alysanne. The other three dragons comprised of Sunfyre, Aegon's dragon, Dreamfyre, Heleana's dragon, and Vhagar, Aemond's dragon.
Rhaenyra watched as the ship continued to disappear over the horizon, the dragons flying above the ship. Daemon came to stand next to her.
'Fire is such strange power,' Rhaenyra spoke. 'Everything that House Targaryen possesses is owed to it. Yet it has cost us both what we loved.'
'Perhaps the Velaryons knew the truth of it,' Daemon replied. 'The sea is the better ally.'
'Fire is a prison. The sea offers an escape.'
On the boat...
Alicent looked out on the water, seeing the dragons fly by, including Vhagar. Larys Strong limped up to her with the aid of his cane, and seated himself near the railing of the boat, positioning himself in a way that was looking at her, but not quite at her.
'A perversion of justice,' Larys remarked. 'The young prince... defiled. An outrage.'
'Indeed,' she said, her voice thick with remorse.
'If it's an eye you want, balance the scales, I am your servant.' She looked at him, her face instantly morphing into terror at his statement. She swallowed a lump in her throat.
'That will not be necessary,' Alicent replied. 'But your devotion has not gone unnoticed.'
'These are dangerous times,' Larys spoke. Alicent turned away from him.
'The day will doubtless come when I will require such a friend. With not only skill, but discretion as well.' He inclined his head to her ever so slightly.
'I shall await your call, my Queen,' he replied, giving a sly smile, then turning to face the vast ocean with her.
On the shore...
'I need you, Uncle,' she said. 'I cannot face the greens alone,' she added in High Valyrian. Daemon turned to her. 'Let us bind our blood, as Aegon the Conqueror did with his sisters. With you as my husband and prince consort, my claim would not be so easily challenged. The Velaryons are made of the sea. But you and I... are made of fire. We were always meant to burn together.'
'We could not marry unless Laenor were dead,' Daemon replied, switching back to English. Rhaenyra sighed.
'I know. I will not be a tyrant, and rule through terror.'
'A tyrant rules only through terror,' Daemon replied. 'If the King isn't feared, he is powerless. If you are to be a strong queen, you must cultivate love and respect, yes, but your subjects must fear you.'
'I do love Laenor,' Rhaenyra spoke.
'Then grant him this kindness. Set him free,' Daemon replied.
'This will cost Lord Corlys and Princess Rhaenys their only remaining child. And the realm will whisper that I was somehow responsible.'
'Let them whisper. We will know the truth of it and our enemies won't.'
'They will fear what else we might be capable of.'
The plan was a fake. Daemon and Rhaenyra married as Lord Corlys and Princess Rhaenys grieved the loss of their final child, Ser Laenor Velaryon. But Laenor had found his way to the beaches outside of Driftmark, and set sail for the fighting in the Stepstones with his friend, Qarl Correy. There, he disappeared for good.