Of Bastards & Dragons || Aenar Targaryen

84 • GREEN PANTY DROPPER

"If you mean to question whether I plan to kill the the Hand…my own father…then I can entertain your delusions. But it's not going to be as interesting an answer as you'd like."

Lancelot smirked, though Alicent didn't see that as a good thing. She was doing her best to look intimidating, the sort of demeanour that would have sent most people running away.

But the clubfoot stayed put, and it had nothing to do with the fact that he physically couldn't scarper. He was enjoying the conversation, revelling in the performance she was giving, and any pretence of wanting to check up on her had been left in the past.

"You mentioned facing the Regent's mercy just a moment ago," he commented. "I wonder whether you're preoccupied by that due to your own actions."

"And what actions are they?"

"I hear such intriguing rumours as part of my job, as you might expect. There was one recently, however, that I just simply couldn't make sense of. One of my whisperers swore on their life that they spotted Aenar Targaryen in King's Landing, departing the Keep at the break of dawn under the protection of one of his knights."

Alicent was sure that her heart stopped beating. It was a small triumph that her face didn't fall, nor did it show any sign of recognition.

She wasn't going to make this easy for Lancelot from the way he was acting, he'd already come to his own conclusions and was now waiting for the admission on her part. She'd make it say out loud first, as if that would absolve her of the guilt. But that didn't stop her fingers from itching to be scratched, the bad habit since her childhood resurfacing at the sign of confrontation.

"A ludicrous notion," the Queen Dowager argued. "Aenar wouldn't be foolish enough to expose himself like that, unless he arrived on dragonback."

"Quite. It's why I quickly dismissed the whisperer and branded him as a liar, despite his ardent protestations. His loss will be a detriment, yes, but I have plenty of other people begging to fill the gap." Lancelot chided.

"A wise man such as yourself wouldn't fall for tall tales like that would you Lord Lancelot." Alicent stood tall in spiteful green.

"Flattery? That isn't normally your weapon of choice." Lancelot counters mischievously.

Her face hardened.

"I have an expansive repertoire. My spiders do not deceive me."

"Believe it or no. Aenar was never here." Alicent denies the allegation.

"Indeed an outlandish as the idea first sounded, I couldn't help but ponder the possibility. If Aenar was to come to the Red Keep…seemingly on his own…then what would be the purpose? Slaying Aegon whilst he slept? Killing every challenger to his throne? Destroying the castle from within so that he can start anew? Or…meeting the mother of his bastards to marry him?"

Alicent bleached. He caught her red-handed.

Lancelot said it, which was technically what he'd been looking for, though she didn't feel too jubilant about it now. He'd laid the accusation out in front of her and now it was just a matter of how she was going to react.

The smart choice would have been to deny it, the only way she was going to survive to see the next sunrise.

The impassioned decision, fuelled by that new fire within her, was to accept the charges brazenly, as if it would prove to Otto and the Green council that they'd been wrong to overlook her, for she could cause untold damage in a heartbeat.

"What did you discuss whilst he was here?" Lancelot asked.

Maybe Alicent didn't need to answer at all, seeing as the lord had apparently made his mind up. Alicent couldn't tell whether that made things easier. It certainly only gave her one path to go down, meaning the pain of indecision had been taken away.