TO LOVE A KING || Maegor II Targaryen [SLOW UPDATES]

088▪️LOVE IS FICKLE

One month later...

Preparations for the royal wedding had reached their final stages. The Great Sept was swept clean each dawn and adorned with white roses and dragon banners by dusk.

Minstrels practiced their ballads in the halls, cooks roasted boars in the castle kitchens, and tailors stitched the final threads of ceremonial gowns.

Lady Alicent Hightower, the soon-to-be Queen, had taken residence in the late Queen Mellario’s apartments, now restored to their former elegance.

The walls bore fresh coats of green and gold, the Hightower colors, though Maegor had insisted on leaving the red and black Targaryen tapestry above the hearth, a sign that the blood of the dragon still ruled. Dresses, jewelry, and fine accessories that once belonged to Queen Mellario now belonged to Alicent, though she refused to touch the oil painting she’d once gifted Mellario. It remained hanging above a chaise lounge, untouched.

Every morning, Alicent met with High Septa Septa Mallow to study the customs of Old Valyria and the responsibilities of a queen. She had taken up the duties of Mistress of the Royal Orphanage, overseeing the welfare of court-bred children. Wherever she walked, she walked like a Queen. There was awe, envy, reverence, and whispers.

Some said the King should have married Charlotte, not her. Others said Alicent carried herself like someone born for the crown. In court, she held her spine tall, her chin high, and her voice even. She wore her silence like a blade.

Maegor noticed. Each time their eyes met across the throne room, across a feast, or through candlelit halls, he saw not just a Hightower girl, but a Queen becoming. And it pleased him.

Otto Hightower had presented the bride price the week before. Gold, spices, silks from Yi Ti and fine Dornish stallions. Maegor tripled the sum, silencing any murmur of insult. That same week, Charlotte was formally betrothed to Euron Greyjoy.

Euron, ever grinning like a cat before a bowl of blood, was pleased. He'd wanted Charlotte since their youthful dalliances. And Otto, knowing Alicent was too critical and calculating to be paired with the Ironborn, offered Charlotte instead. It was final. Charlotte would be married by the turn of spring, after Alicent’s wedding.

Still, Charlotte grieved privately, bitterly. She had once dreamed of Jason Lannister, not a Kraken. She loathed her father for denying her that match. But Otto Hightower never broke his word.

Since her betrothal was announced, Charlotte had severed all contact with Alicent. She no longer dined with them. When Naiomi and Alicent shared bread with their father, Charlotte’s seat remained empty. Pride became her only companion. Her only solace now was Rhaenyra.

Rhaenyra and Charlotte had grown close. Too close. They shared meals, laughter, even a bedchamber at times. But Alicent knew what this meant. Charlotte, clever and scorned, whispered in Rhaenyra’s ears. Poison dripped with every secret shared, every joke at her expense, every story shaded in betrayal. Alicent could feel the air between them shifting, like summer turning to frost.