The Dragon Queen

III Rhaenys

King's Landing - 118 AC

"Tonight will be quite a tragic day," I murmured to my husband, as we slept side by side on our bad in the Tower of the Hand.

"At least, our children are in Dorne, accompanying the princess and finishing the deals with Dorne for their merchandise to pass through the Stepstones to Essos," my husband replied.

"Daemon is here," I reminded him.

"It worries you," Corlys pointed out.

"He has always had his brother's back, even going as far as to collect an army to back his brother against me," I told him, still bitter about that. "He is loyal. It could throw the whole plan into chaos."

"That he is, at least to those he decides to give his loyalty to," Corlys agreed. "Luckily for us, he gave it to our daughter and his niece. They have his loyalty now, not his brother who never realized who was his greatest ally. Everything will go according to the plan."

"I hope so," I sighed. "We've been working on it for so long."

Ever since Jace's birth to be honest. Ever since I realized what kind of man was my cousin and decided to support Aemma. Each day, we gave him different dosis of poisons. They would get him sick at first, he would be healed easily, but then get sick again and again. Until, one day his frail state will remain. Then ending his life will be seen as a natural occurience. Natural...

That day, would be tonight.

As if they had been summoned, there was a rapid pounding on my door. "Lady Hand, Lord Velaryon, we have grave news!"

"Show on," Corlys whispered, with a dry chuckle. "Come in!"

"My apologies for interrupting your night," the Kingsguard bowed.

"What has you so panicking?" I demanded, though I already knew.

"His Majesty, the King... he passes away on his sleep," the Kingsguard "informed" us.

"My cousin?!" I gasped, putting out my best act. I held into my husband's hands, which were holding into my shoulders. "How did that happen?!"

"The Grand Maester said that it was natural," the Kingsguard told us. "That nothing could have been done. The Healers agreed with his veredict."

"His health has not been the same in a while," Corlys "reminded" me. "This is sad, but now he is resting in peace in the Underworld."

"That he is," I agreed with a soft sigh. "Bring me my robe, I need to tend to the Queen and Daemon. They must be destroyed by this news. Someone needs to send for the princess and the princes."

"I'm on it," Corlys assured me. "I'll even write to the lords and ladies of the realm, informing them the sad news. They will need to be here for the funeral and crowning."

"Of course," I nodded, marching out with one last kiss to my husband. The Kingsguard escorting me, as it was protocol. The king might have passed from "natural" causes, the crown was in a fragil state. "Aemma! Daemon! How are you?"

"My brother is dead!" Daemon raged, throwing a chair against the wall and breaking it. The poor main nearby squeaked in fear. "How do you think we are?!"

"Everyone out!" I ordered and they all rushed outside. "Good acting," I praised Daemon, once I was sure we were on our own.

"It is not acting," Aemma sighed. "My love might have gone cold, replaced with pure hatred from betrayal. But Viserys was still Daemon's brother."

"I'm sorry," I apologized chastited.

"It's fine, by the end everyone hated him to some degree," Daemon sighed, taking a big gulp from his wine. "I never expected that from his reign if I am being honest. He was a weak man since the beginning... but I never thought he would become a hateful one too."

"Power corrupts," Aemma sighed. She's been sighing a lot. I believe that the stress and weight on her shoulders will not be lifted until she sees her daughter crowned queen. "Do you think Rhaenyra will hate us?"

"I think she will be shocked," Daemon, surprisingly, answered. "Whatever she saw in her dreams, after you died, was bad. She's been held back by that fear, begating any desire to rule... but she was born for it."

"Daemon is right," I stopped and raised an eyebrow. "Gods, I never thought I would say that."

"Hey! I can say smart things too!" Daemon protested with a smirk. "When I want to."

"As I was saying," I shook my head in amusement. Kind of morbid, as we had just killed the king. "Daemon is right, this is the catalisis she will need to surprass that fear and come on top." I smirked victoriously. "Soon we will finally have our first queen."

"For now though, we need to prepare a funeral," Aemma sighed, but then smirked. "And I know everything he wanted his funeral to be... let's do the complete opposite!"

"Petty till the end," Daemon snorted, taking another sip from his wine. "I taught you well, good-sister."

"That you have," Aemma chuckled. "Well, Hand of the King, are you ready?"

"I was born ready, Your Grace," I bowed.

We then proceeded to arrange the funeral for the king. Communicating with the different lords and ladies of the realm, making arrangements for them to stay in the Red Keep or in the city, plus discussing the crowning took a lot of our time.

At the moment, we were having a Small Counsil meeting. Lyonel Strong as Master of Laws, Larys Strong as Master of Whispers, Lyman Beesbury as Master of Coins, Harrold Westerling as Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, Daemon as Lord Commander of the City Watch, my husband as Master of Ships, the queen, and I, as Hand of the King, were present.

"How's the commonfolk reacting to the news of the king's passing?" I asked Larys.

"They are sad and sent a prayer, to whatever Gods they beleive in, for his soul," Larys answered, in his usual rare manner. I never understood where Rhaenyra found him, but no matter how weird I find him, he is good at his job. Like many other hidden talents Rhaenyra has found in the last six years and taken into her court. "However, they've been talking about how good the reign of Princess Rhaenyra will be. She is quite loved by the realm."

"But Prince Jacaerys is next in line, not the princess," Lyman frowned.

"The commonfolk would not understand that," Harrold shrugged. "The idea of naming a six name days prince as king, when there's a Targaryen princess who has done so much for them... is foreign."

"Do you think there will be an issue when the prince takes the throne?" Corlys asked, playing his part well. As we all knew that it will be Rhaenyra the one to take the throne.

"Maybe we should name her as queen," Lyonel pointed out, much to all of our surprise. "Prince Jacaerys is quite young, even with a regent in place there's only so much they can do. He will still be next in line if his mother takes the throne. The princess is well beloved by the commonfolk and nobility alike. She will bring stability to the realm, she has already done so with her marriage and betrothal contracts for her two eldest sons."

I withheld the smile that was threatening to spread through my lips. Here I thought that we would need to pave the road before Rhaenyra comes back from Dorne, but she had already done that herself. I danced in my head, as I watched the other members of the Small Counsil voice their agreement.

It was finally happy.

"Then, it's been decided," I stated. "Our next ruler will be Rhaenyra Targaryen, the Dragon Queen."