Of Bastards & Dragons || Aenar Targaryen

83 • ROYAL PRISONER

Afternoon, the bells of the Sept tolled indistinctly across Kingslanding. The Hightower soilders and the gold cloaks were strict and brutal.

"Move along, lass.... You cannot enter." The Gold cloak warns the lady in a red cloak.

"I have an errand...from the Lady Mysaria." Mira Tully whispers.

"I thought she was dead." The gold cloaks widened his eyes.

"Would she die without collecting her due? She serves on King Aenar's council. I hear you bare a mislike for the Hightowers."

"Fuck the Hightowers." The gold cloak grumbles.

"I must see an old friend. Most people want out these days. Grant me passage." Mira pleads.

The gold cloaks sighs. "Be careful." He lets her into the gate. Mira Tully walks into Kingslanding following the directions Mysaria gave to find Dyana, a former servant of King Viserys, and give her a missive.

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Alicent had presumed that the Red Keep couldn't be a lonelier place. But after Otto Hightower's dismissal of her services, she discovered that there was another level to drop to.

It was almost as if everyone else in the castle was too scared of the Otto's wrath to interact with her, his callous words transforming her into a social recluse.

It might have made her laugh if there'd been any positivity left within her, for Otto had claimed that the luxuries of life would still be granted to her. He'd just failed to realise that the luxury of companionship had been stripped from her in the process.

If she hadn't already lost that beforehand.

The issue was that Alicent now hated her father, at least in regards to her current isolation. Because she was doing her best to push people away just as much. She'd taken to dismissing her handmaids out of turn, almost fearful now that they were acting on someone else's orders.

Would any word she spoke be sent back to the Regent, giving him more reason to add to her torment? Or was she just looking for an excuse to punish herself, as if she believed that she now deserved this painful solitude? She had to admit that she'd always favoured such self destructive tendencies.

There was one main reason why she felt she'd forged this dreadful path for herself, and that was down to the fact that she'd had an opportunity to escape.

Alicent's mind would wander to that unexpected night in the Great Sept, and then the later encounter in the very chambers she was now being forced to stay in. Orwyle had given her the chance to run away and to meet Aenar, he'd allowed her to leave with little protest. But she refused his offer.

Perhaps this was an act of the gods, forever reminding her of what she could have had and how she was doomed to pay the price for that cowardice.

When a knock came at the door, she glared at the intrusion as if it had been a personal slight on her honour. It was likely one of the maids begging to wash or dress her, suggesting that a stench was beginning to emanate from her chambers that likely resembled death.

Alicent wasn't going to give them the satisfaction of rushing to the door, proving to them that she sorely desired company, since she knew that would only show that Otto had won over her.

So, going against all instincts, she remained silent for a beat longer than was strictly necessary, making them stew in their own desperation, and then called for their entry.