SEE HOW IT SHINES

xi

Supper is, as Viserra could've predicted, a tense affair. She almost wishes that the king isn't in such good spirits; he insists that the entire family dine together each evening, but when he is too unwell to join, the queen and crown princess permit their families to spend their nights separately. Alas—

"Viserra, my dear!" Viserys calls to the end of the table around a bite of lamb. For the first time in days, the king's cheeks are flush with color, his thin and trembling lips pulled back from his rotting teeth in a wide smile. It is good to see him smiling, laughing, engaging even the youngest of his grandchildren in conversation. She just...well, perhaps her true wish is that someone else would be indisposed tonight instead of her grandsire. Someone seated directly opposite her at the long table, who refuses to meet her eye but casts a furtive, cold, one-eyed glance in her direction every five seconds. "Viserra, darling girl, I have not seen you all week. I do hope you have recovered from that nasty business in the city?"

She feels her heart sink, and notices her mother's bright expression falter at the corner of her vision, but fixes a warm smile on her face all the same. "Indeed, Your Grace. I am feeling much better." Only yesterday, she sat with him for hours, playing her harp and singing the songs he once sung to her. Today, he has no memory of it whatsoever. It's troubling to see his mind fail him as well as his body; he's been ill all her life, she knows, but the rapid deterioration of his condition can no longer be disguised, even to children. Next to her, Joffrey flinches when Viserys's gilded mask slips slightly, revealing the stained bandages around his eye.

"Good, good," the king nods, chewing loudly. Alicent closes her eyes wearily. "And young Lucerys, how well you look! Strong and healthy as a man grown on this, the eve of your sixteenth nameday."

At the other end of the table, Aegon snorts, burying his laughter in the rim of his cup. Aemond clenches his jaw, as though trying to resist the urge to smack his brother. Viserra glowers at both of them in turn (as do Helaena, Alicent, Baela, Rhaena, and Rhaenyra, a combination of withering glares that no one should like to find themselves on the receiving end of) but Aegon makes no effort to correct himself, and Aemond only returns her harsh look. Otto coughs awkwardly, and Daemon drapes an arm over the back of Luke's chair, the ease of his pose merely masking that he's prepared to strike if needed.

A terribly tense affair.

Whatever madness struck Viserra and Aemond earlier seems to have disrupted everyone else's peace, too; all of the fickle, precarious friendships that have been steadily rebuilt over the past two moons are on quaking ground at present. It reminds Viserra of the time a group of mummers from Lys built a tower from playing cards so high it seemed to touch the rafters of Dragonstone's hall, but so fragile that even the slightest shift in the breeze made it sway and tremble. Lucerys and Aegon got into an argument yesterday at the tourney grounds; Rhaenyra and Alicent are back to staring past one another and engaging in only the most strained small talk; even Gaemon and young Aegon, according to Joffrey, no longer wish to play together. They all played their parts for as long as they could, but the House Targaryen is not a happy one, and a charade can only be kept up for a short while before the cracks begin to show once more.

The silence stretches as Viserys looks around the table, perplexed by the sudden discomfort that takes over his family. Viserra gently nudges her brother with her elbow. Luke sits up a bit straighter and clears his throat. "Uh, yes, thank you, Grandsire. I have been spending quite a bit of time in the training yard, preparing for your tourney."

"Just like your father when he was your age, if I remember correctly," Viserys hums, unknowingly worsening the situation.

Aegon stifles another giggle. "Which one?" His eyes are bloodshot but cold and unforgiving as they burn into Luke's; it seems his cruel streak is on display for all the family to see tonight.