Rivers of Fire and Blood

Bronn I

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to the Ice and Fire Novels, Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon TV shows. However, I decided to have a little play around with the characters. I do not earn any money from writing these stories, it is for my entertainment and is something I like to share.

For a house motto to make sense, it had to be from the heart. However for Bronn, he had been told his idea of a house motto for himself was not suitable. Bronn couldn't understand why Fucking, Fighting and Drinking was deemed unsuitable. Eventually it was reduced to The Pleasure is Mine which made sense, but just didn't sound as good in Bronn's mind. When he first got the post of Master of Coin, these were his most important tasks, other than finding revenue. The first easy one was using his money which he'd gotten as a result of becoming Lord Paramount of the Reach, was to open more brothels and inns in Kings Landing. From his perspective, the taxation on brothels and inns was always a high earner. However it wasn't enough. He discovered the Baratheons and Lannisters had bankrupted the country. Tyrion had written off the debt owed to house Lannister, but they were still in debt to the Iron Bank and Bronn's problem was he didn't know how to pay the money back. Not only that, but Kings Landing was almost destroyed by the dragons, and now needed rebuilding. Every time he complained, the King gave him something more, a wife, although he didn't particularly like her, but she had the right blood and was related to a Tyrell, which gave him some authority to claim their lands, homes and riches. They hadn't consummated their marriage as at the age of thirteen, she wasn't old enough in his eyes, but she was still his wife, which meant he'd gotten paid for his job. Not bad for a sellsword. Bronn had needed to pay people to help him with his new role, as he wasn't particularly bright when he came to sums, nor did he have much experience with money, considering he'd never had much of it in the first place, and what he did have had usually been spent in whorehouses and inns. The only thing Bronn had to offer the role was gift of the gab. He could sell ice to the whitewalkers or fire to dragons. This meant he was the one who had to go to Braavos with the idea of the Iron Bank invading the north.

The plan was a win-win for Westeros. Under the current plan, Sansa was Queen in the North and Kings Landing received no tax revenue from anyone north of the Neck. If they weren't repaying the Iron Bank, the money would have been plentiful. The King admitted he allowed Sansa to keep the North because the rest of the country couldn't help with the cost of rebuilding it after the whitewalkers attacked. Surprisingly, Sansa had mastered the rebuild far quicker than the rest of Westeros simply because she had no debt to the Iron Bank as independence had been claimed by Robb Stark before the crown amassed the ridiculous sums of debt, specifically created by Cersei Lannister. The North was now flourishing financially through their trade while Westeros was lagging behind. There was also the minor threat of invasions from abroad, specifically the Unsullied and the Dothraki if Jon Snow ever showed his face south of the wall again. The Ironborn were becoming an irritant once more, although that was nothing new, therefore these matters all needed to be dealt with. The solution had been to battle it out between them. Therefore Bronn had been drawn into a convoluted plan. He was to give the Iron Bank the option of sending in the Unsullied and Dothraki into the north, surround Winterfell to draw out Jon and thus they would be able to enact their revenge for the death of their Queen, to which Bran would not be able to claim responsibility. Once dead, Bran would not interfere with any war, in fact he would offer the support of the Iron Born as they also wanted Jon dead and were spoiling for a good battle. Should Winterfell fall, then it would revert back to the crown of Westeros, however all taxes from the north would be payable to the Iron Bank for the next twenty years, thus not only repaying the Iron Bank, but they would make a significant profit. Bran would allow the Iron Bank to put their own person in charge of Winterfell to ensure the money was repaid. Bran promised he would only send the Iron Born, but he would not wage war with the north and would quietly back them, although he would not be able to openly show support. It would be their choice of what to do with the current Queen in the North. This was why Bran had ensured Sansa was free to marry. Bronn was hoping to take her as his wife as that would mean their children would become Bran's heirs, unless Arya was to have children, which was unlikely.