HOTD SI: The Bloody Prince (OC x Rhaenyra)(OC x Alicent)

Part 22

Chapter 22

CORLYS VELARYON

With Aegon Targaryen's arrival at court, he had thought that he was set to gain an ally for himself, that the young Prince would be easily swayed to his side, after finding himself alone at court given that neither his father's faction nor Otto Hightower's faction had any love for the boy.

And given their past correspondence and the boy's apparent respect for him and his mercantile endeavors, he thought that he would be easily swayed to his side. Yet the boy had surprised him, for he had joined neither faction, standing alone at a court where he had few friends. It was a respectable option, one that had not won him many friends, though it would all change rather quickly now that the boy was second in line to the throne.

Aegon had spoken against open warfare in Stepstones, something that he desired, for he believed it his destiny to bring those tumultuous isles to heel and add them to his kingdom, to add to his pedigree, and yet he had not denied the need for it as Otto Hightower did.

He had opted to speak for a third option, one of prolonged warfare—an idea inspired by his own campaign against the Mountain clansmen of the Vale. A sound idea, in his own mind, that made it clear to everyone at the council how he was his own man.

And now it was upto him to make that a reality. Open contact between the Crown and the Triarchy could not be seen to happen, for it would alert their enemies, so Corlys joined one of his trade vessels as they made port at Lys so that he could talk to Lys's rising star.

Lysandro Rogare, the head of the Rogare family, was one of Lys's most powerful magisters. He was the one who had set the foundation of the Rogare bank, a financial institution that was growing rather rapidly and beginning to threaten the hegemony of the Iron Bank of Braavos.

"I have always desired to meet the famous Sea Snake," the man complimented him as they dined in his manse, and it was a display of opulence and wealth where white marble gleamed in the walls, with golden utensils, all held by scantily dressed servants and slaves.

There was a reason Lys was called the tear of Valyria. It was a kingdom famous for the pleasures of flesh, and the Rogares claimed lineage from one of the forty of Old Valyria, though their claim was rubbished by many before they had obtained all their wealth.

"I am honored," he said as he sipped his wine. Lysandro Rogare was a short and broad man, not afraid of showing his flesh. He wore a white silken toga that barely covered him as he sat on his sofa. Two maidens sat beside him, their arms and legs wound around him, feeding him grapes and apples.

"So, you wish to make me turn on my dear friends from Myr and Tyrosh," he asked as the smell of sweat and perfume gripped the air, and Corlys shook his head.

"I am afraid that is not quite how I will put it," he began, knowing that this would not be easy.

"I am here to help you make more friends, better friends," he offered, for that was the only reason Lys would ever betray Myr and Tyrosh.

"Myr and Tyrosh have been good friends to Lys, to me. They have filled my coffers; they have shared my wine, my bread, even my women," the man finished as he took a group from the mouth of one of his servants.

"So why should I need more friends, or as you say, better friends?" he said as he picked up his wine. There was the man they called the First Magister. The truth was that a covenant of magisters ruled over Lys, and yet it was well known that one person truly held all the power.

Him—Lysandro Rogare, the First Magister of Lys.

"You say all that, and yet only one in a tenth of all that this so-called 'Crab Feeder' comes to your coffers, while Myr, Lys, and Tyrosh each pay an equal amount of Gold as tribute to the man," he said as he leaned back and his information seemed to shock Lysandro Rogare.