OF BASTARDS & DRAGONS || Aenar Targaryen [1]

105 • TRAITORS, VICTIMS & SUSPECTS

Upon initial inspection, the room looked to be perfectly ordinary as Silent Sisters prepared her body, no different to how Alicent remembered it.

Dressed in red and black, Queen Cersei stood with regal charisma, sad with pitiful expression.

Proceeding to the corpse, Queen Alicent's first steps over the threshold were nervous, her eyes scanning the surroundings warily. There was something amiss, something that she was missing.

Alicent began to sob, dropping to the floor to join her broken handmaid. Mira's skin was ugly, sickly and pale, but didn't compare to the awful wound across her neck. The blood had dried by now, though Alicent would have clutched the young woman tightly regardless.

Mira's body was limp and cold, her gorgeous chestnut hair dirtied by the vicious attack. Alicent had always been perturbed by the girl's childhood, but she would have given anything to hear just one more tale.

She thought back to what had turned out to be their final conversation together. Mira had spoken about adultery. At the time, Alicent had safely assumed that she was referring to the night-time arrival of Francesa catching her with Aenar years ago and the secret love affair that had ensued.

But had the girl somehow been looking further ahead? Who killed her? Had she known something in the process? Had she known that she would die as a result?

Not too long King Aenar arrived. Shocked to see Mira's body being covered.

With red, tearful eyes, Alicent looked up at Aenar, who'd busied himself with barking orders at the soldiers who'd followed him to find whoever did this.

Perhaps he'd called for Criston. Perhaps he'd just been shouting senselessly, attempting to wrap his mind around the scene. Alicent struggled to hear anything other than the heavy ringing in her head.

She met the gaze of her husband "I want whoever did this dead. I want them dead." She declares.

Little did she know that Cersei and Daemon were giving her a bombastic side eye, wishing to pounce on her and rip her throat off her body without dithering nor mercy. They hated Alicent for her audacity and piousness, just as much as they hated Aenar Targaryen for taking her to wife.

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Few days later, Lady Mira's funeral was held, her body was burned and her ash was sent to Riverlands, received by her brother Oscar Tully.

Nonetheless, life went on and investigation was been carried out. Howbeit, the King had an audience in the Council chamber.

How many times had he sat at this precise table? Aenar might have expected the council table of the Red Keep to have changed during his absence, seeing as his opponents had been so quick to remove all other traces of what had come before them.

The green banners were already casted down and burned to ashes, in replacement of the original sigils of House Targaryen: three headed dragons in red and black.

But it looked just the same. Just the same as the one she'd sat by on countless occasions, usually drumming her fingers against the surface. All those times, Aenar had envisaged himself being seated at the head of the table.