Fire and Blood

Chapter 49: Opposing Viewpoints

Red Keep ― Maegor's Holdfast...

Alicent and Rhaenyra searched through the halls in search of their respective sons; word soon reached them of the recent prank their children had pulled on Prince Aemond and was quick to begin the search before any of the queen's henchmen could find them. If one of the Caltrops catches one of them, neither mother could imagine the kind of punishment that Beatrice would recommend for Aegon the Younger, Viserys, Daeron, Jacaerys, or Lucerys if she got her claws on them. With their maternal instincts shifting into overdrive, Alicent and Rhaenyra were escorted by some of the castle's soldiers.

"Why do I get the feeling those three going to be the death of me?" Alicent grumbled.

"It's bad enough that the boys had to stir things up again," Rhaenyra murmured, "but out of all people, they're old enough to understand how relations between them and the queen are."

"They should not have gotten involved in the first place."

"Agreed. Whether they're children or not, there are lines we simply shouldn't cross."

"Then we'd best hope to find them before Her Grace, or her ilk do."

Searching room to room, hall through the hall, there were many places for the children to hide. Mischievous pranksters the lot of them; individually, each of them was a mere headache; but when they work cooperatively, the consequences of their actions could be insurmountable if one of their 'fun time activities' went a little too far. This, as it turns out, was one of them. As the search party continued, Alicent and Rhaenyra faintly heard the distinctive sounds of rapid footsteps, indicating a small group of people was running.

"Hey, you! Stop!"

"Wait!"

Alicent and Rhaenyra picked up their pace to see Aegon, Viserys, Daeron, Jacaerys, and Lucerys giggling like madmen while fleeing from a pursuing Jaehaerys and Aemma. The young prince was closing in on them, but they somehow kept persisting in making last-minute turns to throw him off their trail. Deciding this was going nowhere, Jaehaerys quickly picked up enough momentum to leap on the side of the walls, running alongside them before performing an aerial cartwheel and landing directly in front of his younger brothers and cousins to block their path with Aemma finally catching up from behind.

"I said enough!" Jaehaerys said firmly. Upon catching his breath, he composed himself. "Do any of you have the slightest inclination of what you've just done?" he panted between breaths.

"Come on, Jay, you got to admit it was a little funny," Jacaerys jested.

"Nothing about it was funny, Jace."

"Why not?" Lucerys asked.

"Because now the queen knows what you all did to Aemond," Aemma pointed out.

Daeron rolled his eyes. "Pffft! What's she going to do to us?" he dared. "Grandpa will protect us. He always does."

"Beatrice is still the queen," Jaehaerys pointed out. "The structure in the social hierarchy goes up, not down." His eyes caught the slightest glance of Alicent and Rhaenyra. "Oh, mother. Aunt Rhaenyra," he acknowledged.

"M-Mother?"

"A-Aunt Rhaenyra?"

Aegon, Viserys, Daeron, Jacaerys, and Lucerys all turned to face their mothers who by that point had arrived.

"Jace, Luke, what have you done?" Rhaenyra scolded.

"Five times now," Alicent reprimanded her sons. "This is the fifth time in less than a week you've been up to mischief. Every day, I get new complaints about you. Just when I thought you were all on your best behavior, we find out you did it again."