The Dragon Of Harrenhal - H.S.

Love and duty

"Are you well, princess?" He could hear the grave tone of ser Harwin Strong asking.

"I am... Well, Harwin." The princess responded, her voice sounding even younger but already lacking the child-like quality it used to have a year before. "The tensions are high, however, so I don't feel all that comfortable in my own home anymore."

Otto kept himself hidden from the younger princess and her sworn protector, but still, close enough to the pair to able to hear them as they conversed. Otto had been hearing rumors about princess Daella and ser Harwin Strong for months now, but nothing that could incriminate either of them. They were close, of course, the maids and servants around the castle would say. They enjoyed each other's company, but that could be due to the fact that they had, in their own way, grown up together.

For what he knew, ser Harwin had been knighted at the tender age of seventeen after showing his prowess and - ironically - exceptional strength at a tourney held by the Tyrells at Highgarden. After that, ser Harwin had been trained to be a skilled fighter back at his father's seat and it wasn't until lord Lyonel Strong had been called upon by the King to take his seat as Master of Laws almost four years prior, that ser Harwin accompanied his father to the Keep. By then, the princess was a girl of barely eleven and the King had decided she needed a guard of her own. He had been the one to name ser Harwin to the post and ser Harwin, an honorable man and exceedingly skilled knight for his eighteen years of age, had taken upon it gratefully.

Otto knew, just as everyone else in the castle, that after that, the princess and her sworn shield had only grown closer during the next four years, often being seen whispering to each other during their walks around the castle or even caught during one of Daella's many lessons with ser Harwin where they sat at the library where she would spend hours upon hours teaching him some simple High Valyrian words. And then, again, Otto knew it could be a very close friendship blossoming between the pair - after all, unlike Rhaenyra, Daella had never been so close to Alicent as to spend some of her free time with her - and up until the heir's tournament, Otto did not want to assume. But when he saw the way the princess' eyes never left her knight as he jousted and how she held her breath tightly whenever he was fighting, he knew his suspicions had been right.

Whatever had been happening between the princess and ser Harwin, was not just friendship. And when asked, Alicent promptly provided her father with the information that neither she nor Rhaenyra thought so either.

"They seem pretty fond of each other." Alicent had told him once, a dreamy quality to her tone that almost made Otto want to roll his eyes. "I think they might be in love, father. Or if not, mayhaps someday."

And as Otto watched the way ser Harwin tried to get the princess to laugh while they talked that afternoon - clearly trying to get her mind off of the tensions that broke through the castle after the king had communicated his desire to marry Alicent -, he knew he had to act. If he wanted to assure Daella's loyalty to his cause, he needed to be fast.

"Rhaenyra is still upset." Otto caught the princess saying. "She barely spends time with me anymore, choosing the solitude of the skies, taking flight upon Syrax more often than not."

Rhaenyra was a wildfire, a flame so bright it was almost impossible to tame. It only grew stronger when her father named her heir and, as much as Otto had first planned to use Rhaenyra to complete his plans, he knew now that would not be happening. At least, not with her. Daella, however? A much more malleable soul and with a stronger sense of duty than her reckless sister seemed to have. She was loyal to Rhaenyra of course, that much was plain to be seen, but should she marry someone... Should she marry a Hightower, Otto supposed there could come a time in which Daella Targaryen, forced to choose between love and duty, would choose to stand by her husband and father of her children instead of her sister.

That was the plan now. Get Daella to marry Gwayne. Send her off to Oldtown. Have him lock her down there with heirs of their own while Otto secured their power on the Keep with Alicent and whatever heirs to the king she managed to produce once married. That was the plan. But for that to happen, first he would need to get rid of ser Harwin Strong.

And as Otto watched the interaction between the knight and his princess, he knew he wouldn't even need to do much to plant the seed of unsease upon the king. One well placed whisper around the castle about the inappropriateness with which both Daella and ser Harwin treated one another was bound to reach the king in no time, Otto knew. And with that a single whisper from him in his ear were definitely enough to do the trick.