The Fire That Burns Within US - Aemond Targaryen

The Queen We Would Choose

138 - Harrenhal

Taking Harrenhal had been easy; being so underman, the few soldiers there gladly turned against their crippled lord. Visenya had heard about the stories of Harrenhal and how the once grand castle was cursed, but unlike the Lords that once held this castle, she would not allow herself to have the same fate.

Even if the men had surrendered their heads on sticks on spikes lining the walls of Harrenhal. This is war, and Visenya doesn't care if they surrender. Their Lord had chosen their side. Visenya had let the servants and townspeople live, even keeping a certain Strong Bastard alive and safe within the walls of the ruined castle.

To Visenya, this was the place where her family stopped being the greatest house when her grandmother ripped off her birthright because she was a woman.

"Visenya?" Rob whispers to Visenya, gaining her attention away from her children, who play close to the table. She no longer let them out of her sight unless they were with Ben or Rob. She would not allow anything to happen to them so long as the air was in her lungs.

Visenya had heard the news of what had happened in the capital, how Prince Jaehaerys had been killed in front of his mother. Visenya knows that the prince's killing and the attempt on her son are connected. That had been the last straw for her, and once she heard the Daemon had been the one to send Blood and Cheese to kill the prince, she knew that he, too, was the one to send the men to kill her son.

Visenya looks to the Lords around the table, who all start back at her, all of them there because of her. Visenya swallows the lump in her throat and looks at Rob.

"I'm sorry, please repeat what you said," Visenya tells Rob as she picks at the wooden table.

"House Tyrell and the Houses of the Reach have pledged loyalty," Rob repeats his words and Visenya nods, feeling a weight lifted off her at the news.

She is glad she wouldn't have to travel to the Reach to convince Lord Tyrell to support them. Even with the news, Visenya can't help but think it wouldn't be enough to win against the Greens or if she would even want to help her mother win back the throne.

She, Ben, and Rob had agreed to let the man live, keeping him locked away until he needed to give his account of what happened. The other man who had died had his head removed and his body burned. Visenya would need his head for what she is going to do.

"That is good news. We will send word to my mother about this. We now have support from 5 of the Seven Kingdoms," Visenya says as she looks at their war table. She can hear the whispers in her head telling her to defect and pull her support.

"They are not pleading support for your mother," Ben tells Visenya, who sighs. All the Riverland Lords were here, and she knows she would not be able just to demise their ideas this time.

"The Riverlands, the Iron Islands, and the Reach have all pledged loyalty to you," Rob tells Visenya. He had at first thought that the idea of making their own side was silly and he wouldn't want to be an oath breaker, but once Rhaenyra had sent assassins to kill her own grandson, he had lost all repeat and honour towards the so-called Queen.

"Rhaenyra hasn't given a fuck about us until this war has started. To her, we are just swords. You have fought for us, and we follow you," Lord Mallister speaks up from his side of the table. "My son and heir would be dead if it wasn't for what you did in the Iron Islands,"

"My uncle fought with you beyond the wall. You made a deal with the Wildlings to stop the fighting, and he came home safe," Lord Flint tells Visenya, who just shakes her head at their words. Not because she disagrees with them but because, unlike before they had brought them up, she was considering them.