Fatebringer | Viserys Targaryen

Chapter 7

This seemed to make him unhappy, which was the last thing she'd wanted.

"It does matter," he argued. "You cannot force yourself into something and neglect your happiness. After all the work you've done and will continue to do, shouldn't you reap a reward?"

Ysira sighed, facing him properly, hands against the table. "I've already told you, I don't even wish to go back to Westeros. I only want my revenge and to see you both have what was taken from you. The good life your mother deserved, Elia deserved, her children deserved. I can focus on what I want once there."

"Then don't offer yourself up to be married," said Viserys "As your King, I can make it my command. You're my Hand, you're too valuable for me to lose."

"You cannot make that a command," said Ysira, shaking her head. "As your Hand, you have to allow me to do things carefully, and it includes planning ahead the alliances we will need. This is our opening, Viserys, and I'll have to get ahead of the game and prepare our marriages swiftly. As soon as your claim is sent, the idea will be planted in the heads of those who read those letters that their children can marry into the new Targaryen dynasty. Eventually, we'll have proposals flooding in. If we establish who we will each marry for our cause's benefit... it can prevent any uncertainty later down the line."

"I still don't want to marry any of those you have offered as an option," said Viserys, a bit more impatiently. "Nor do I want you to marry Edmure Tully or the others on the list."

"Why does it bother you so much?" she asked, temper rising. "I thought we were at a place where you were trying to understand my choices, where I could proceed in peace without worrying you'd attack me for every decision."

"This is different from everything. You've just been telling me how your feelings no longer matter, how can I allow you to give up your freedom?"

"You'll allow it because you're going to be King–"

He pressed his fist hard into the table, "I'll be King and you'll be miserable and it will be my fault. My fault you're doing any of this, my fault you'll be setting aside what you feel for the rest of your life in service of my family. Your revenge would take you seconds once we have that throne, yet you will still be committed and suffering. Suffering the way we did when we were on the streets– weren't we just looking forward to the end of that?"

"It's the unfortunate reality of this entire game, Viserys," she insisted. "I have to be ready to do whatever it takes to get us back. Doesn't matter if it's cruel. I have to be ruthless, I have to be willing to– to– perform black magic to give us weapons, send out assassins to get rid of people who might be a problem later on, and marry us all off to people who command armies. We might come across the Golden Company in Qohor and I have to be prepared to persuade them even if we cannot currently afford their help." She struggled to say it plainly, but the way he raised his brows irritated her enough to admit, "I have to be willing to toy with the emotions of their captain general if we can't easily acquire them."

"No," he said instantly. "No. I know you, Ysira, I know you don't trust people easily, and I know that you do not open yourself like that to just anyone. You cannot honestly be telling me you're going to set aside your discomfort to try and seduce a man because it might help us. I won't let you do it. I won't let you entertain the idea that you'll be a terrible person if you don't do it, because I know that if you do, you'll never be at peace. You'll hate yourself, you'll feel even more out of control than you do now. You'd abandon your sense of safety for our cause and it is madness."

"I am a woman," she said sharply. "Everywhere I go, I will be underestimated. Some days, the way I twist my spear in a fight and flick my tongue in an argument will be enough to grant us what we want. Other days, I will need to resort to using my femininity as a weapon. No, I don't like it, but I may have to do it to get us where we need to be. No matter where we go from here, I will be questioned, I will be doubted, everything I do will be heavily scrutinized. I'm advising you, you are the face of our movement, but I still exist, and because of it, the choices I make affect their perception of you."