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

Part 23

Chapter 23

JEYNE ARRYN

Life in the Eyrie was mostly monotonous. All the tasks of ruling had always been so effectively delegated by Aegon that she rarely had to worry about anything. Not that her council was ever ignored. On the other hand, Aegon would always force her to attend Council Meetings, and other important negotiations and meetings, directing the people towards her himself as he tried to take a backseat and not infringe upon her powers.

Yet it had become the norm for her to delegate most of the tasks to him, knowing that she could put her trust in him without a second thought. And as he would himself say, it was in the greatest interest of a ruler to delegate the right tasks to the right person, and in a sense, it made her a rather effective ruler that she knew just whom she had to dump all her tasks on.

And so, with Aegon gone and her relationship with Jessamyn growing terse, she found herself in her solar hunched over missives and reports pertaining to all the lands in her dominion. These included reports about the tax collected, the crops farmed, the tolls collected, and so forth.

Tedious tasks that she had no qualms about doing, but she would much prefer not to.

"I cannot do this anymore," she complained childishly as she put down the missive and looked towards the person Aegon had sent her way, expecting this increase in the workload, though that was not the only reason for it.

"I am going to write to Aegon and order him as her Lord Paramount to return at once," she complained as Willam Royce chuckled. He was Aegon's cousin and one of his trusted aides, and when he had heard the news of Arnold Arryn's escape, he had sent him back with two dozen Royce guards to bolster Eyrie's defense.

"I doubt the Princess will let him come so easily," he said, and she had learned that Princess Rhaenyra was quite taken with her cousin and would not let him return so easily even if she was to call for him.

However, she was more interested in the relationship between Aegon and the Princess's famous friend, Lady Alicent Hightower. If Willam's words were to be believed, both of them were quite enamoured with one another while behaving like shy toddlers around one another.

"And what about our Prince's lady friend?" she teased, and Willam raised a brow.

"I doubt she would complain about accompanying Aegon back to the Eyrie, though I doubt the Hand will ever let that happen," and wasn't that a tragedy, for Alicent Hightower was the daughter of Otto Hightower and the animosity between the Hand and Prince Daemon was famous even in the Vale.

She doubted that the man would ever let his daughter marry the son of the Rogue Prince, his greatest political rival.

"Its really a shame. I really want to meet the girl that melted our Aegon's heart," she said as she leaned back in her chair, a pang of sadness gripped her heart at that. She was happy for Aegon and prayed the best for him, and yet imagining him spending his life enamored with another soul did make it seem awkward.

Perhaps because in her head, she had always imagined him by her side, both of them ruling over the Eyrie and living a content life. The fact that Aegon was interested in someone like that had been a surprise, especially when her own love life had been rather tumultuous.

And yet, as soon as this seed of discontent emerged, she quashed it down, for she had no right to demand his heart when she had given her own to Jessamyn. And it had always been his desire, something that he had shared with her many years ago when she had asked him what he would wish from his marriage, and he had given her a most simple reply—Happiness.