OF BASTARDS & DRAGONS || Aenar Targaryen [1]

98 • THE QUEEN & THE QUEEN DOWAGER

Princess Daenerys scoffs. "Bend the knee or no. We cannot trust this woman, she is a pious pretender under the disguise of holiness, since my father married her, our family has fallen apart. A green snake under the green grass in a green dress. My stepmother should be bound in chains and be kept a prisoner, until she's executed."

Aenar sighs.

"She's not suited to be your Queen, Uncle! She doesn't have the right to speak before this council." Daenerys spoke up. "Not after she murdered my father...."

Instantly Alicent exclaimed in defiance. "I DID NOT KILL YOUR FATHER! YOU MAY STILL HARBOUR HATRED TOWARDS ME, BUT VISERYS WAS MY HUSBAND AND I FULFILLED MY DUTIES TOWARDS HIM AND TO THE REALM!"

"But you visited him in his chambers, did you not? After my mother died, did you not offer him comfort?" Rheanyra blurts out.

Alicent felt embarrassed and weak. "YES I DID! BECAUSE THE BOTH OF YOU TOILED WITH YOUR POSITIONS! NONE OF YOU CARED ABOUT HIS FEELINGS. HE GRIEVED YOUR MOTHER, AND YET, NOT ONCE DID YOU SHOW HIM EMPATHY!"

"Don't try to act a saint Queen Dowager." Daenerys snapped.

"I SPEAK THE TRUTH! AND YOU KNOW IT! AS QUEEN I TOOK CARE OF YOUR FATHER DESPITE HOW HE TREATED ME, I ENDURED IT ALL. WHILE YOU BROKE THE RULES, AND FLOUTED YOUR PRIVILEGES, I TOOK THE BLAME AND UPHELD THE KINGDOM, THE FAMILY, AND THE LAW!" Alicent defends her station.

"Yet you murdered him for your own ambitions." Rheanyra retorts.

"THE ARROGANCE OF ACCUSING ME OF MURDER, LIKE HE DIDN'T DO IT YOUR MOTHER WHEN SHE BORE BAELON!" Alicent snapped.

The twins clenched their jaws, bitter with rage

"YES HE CHOSE AENAR AS HIS HEIR, BUT THE NIGHT I SAW HIM LAST, HE TOLD ME HE WISHED FOR AEGON TO BE KING! VISERYS ONLY GAVE ME HIS FINALLY WORDS AND I ACTED ON IT!" Alicent raised her voice, even louder, commanding the aura of a royalty.

"Yet you distarblized and divided the realm." Rheanys points out the skeleton in her sleeves.

The room still remained quiet, no one said a word, but stared at the Green Queen with distraught.

Alicent blinked, pursuing her lips. "VISERYS DIED IN HIS SLEEP, THE LEPROSY, AND BLINDNESS TOOK A HUG TOLL HIM, AND I THOUGHT THE ONLY WAY TO HONOUR HIM..."

"Was to starve the small folk to death? force loyalty? Take my husband and children into captive? Have Maekar and Elissa murdered in their sleep?" Rheanyra interrupts her abruptly.

"TIS WAS NOT MY DOING. I DIDN'T KILL ANYONE! YES I ADMIT I URSUPED THE THRONE, BECAUSE AEGON IS THE KING'S FIRSTBORN SON, I DID WHAT I HAD TO DO IN RETRIBUTION FOR MY AMBITIONS, A FAULT OF MINE, I UTTERLY REGRET, AND WILL DO ANYTHING TO REMEDY THAT MISTAKE!"

"Like we give a damn of your remorseful nature. Perhaps cutting your sharp tongue would be the only solution to end your misery. A blood bath I'd venture would be best to remedy your mistakes." Cersei spat viciously.

"Read that bitch." Laena murmurs beside her brother.

"You think you can rub shoulders with me?" Alicent scoffs at the lioness audacity.

"I don't see why I shouldn't make a spectacle of you." Cersei retorts.

"ENOUGH!!!" Aenar snapped.

Alicent sighs heavily, her chest rattling and falling as she stared dangerously at Cersei, the competition had already began as they were now entangled with King Aenar Targaryen.