Hugh Hammer (ASOIF/SI)

"You are sure?"

 "I am your Grace" the woman know a Lady Misery replied, bowing

 her head slightly "Prince Daemon and the bastard Ser Hugh are

 dining at the Sapphire."

 "Dining?" she asked, one eyebrow arching of its own accord.

 "Yes, but dining also includes the services of whores, and Prince

 Daemon has long patronised the Sapphire."

 "I see" came her frosty reply.

 She supposed that it would have been too much to ask her husband

 to keep to the vows he made her, especially when such temptation

 was right there before him. On Dragonstone Daemon's appetites had

 been curtailed by the lack of available sources to quench them, and

 he at least had the good grace to be discrete when he indulged.

 But now that they were back in Kings Landing? No, the Rogue

 Prince would indulge himself to his heats content, of that she was

 certain.

 But she would not bar him from her bed, despite her cold fury, no,

 Daemon was too skilled a lover, too valuable an ally and he was the

 father of two of her sons. And he was loyal to her, the only person

 she could, really, really trust, in this nest of vipers that they called

 Kings Landing.

 And that was the truly most terrible thing that she knew, that of all the

 people she knew, it was Daemon whom she could trust the most, if

 only as far has his ambitions wanted to reach. The sooner Jacaerys

 and Baela were married the better, and with Jacaerys as her heir this

should go some way towards placating Daemon's unquenchable lust

 for the Iron Throne. But her husband required watching, of that she

 was certain. Hence why she had appointed this Lady Misery, a

 former whore as her unofficial 'Mistress of Whispers', oh she knew

 that Daemon and this one were former lovers, the whore had

 admitted it plainly, but had also admitted that Daemon had scorned

 her on his return from Kings Landing for other, younger and more

 comely whores.

 Ah, so like Daemon she mused, always thinking with that rather well

proportioned pillar of his. But still, her husband had been right all

 along about the ambition of Alicent and her sons, and the ambitions

 of her father and other members of the Small Council. And maybe if

 she had listened to Daemon on Dragonstone all those times down

 the years when he had pleaded with her to turn the war of words and

 position between her and the Greens into one of knives in the dark.

 Then maybe, maybe sweet Luke would still be alive, and she would

 not be in a war with that bitch Alicent's usurping spawn!

 Ah but did she not have Alicent prisoner now, along with her cunt of

 a daughter Helaena. They also had Aegon prisoner, though he was

 so badly burned and injured from the battle over Rooks Rest that he

 was bedbound and incoherent most of the time. Helaena's children

 Jaehaera and Maelor were also enjoying captivity with their mother,

 whose mind appeared to have been broken by the ordeal of losing

 her son Jaehaerys. Grand Maester Orwyle also languished in

 captivity, despite the protests of the Citadel, as if she would listen to

 the bleating of those who hailed from Oldtown of all places! She had

 wanted Maester Gerardys to replace Orwyle, and she had draped

 the chain of Orwyle around Gerardys's neck, but the Lord Protector

 had persuaded her that Gerardys should remain on Dragonstone for

 the time being. They were using the services of several Maesters

 from loyal Crownlander houses in the stead of Gerardys, whose

 elevation to the title she had bestowed upon him the Citadel had

 refused to sanction, because of course they had….

And the more she pondered on those that had attempted to steal her

 birth right, the more she became resolved to visit Fire and Blood

 upon them. Mercy was all well and good, and forgiveness was the

 coin that redemption was paid with, but she struggled with this,

 struggled with wanting to offer mercy to her enemies. Daemon of

 course wanted to sweep all their enemies away in a tide of fire and

 blood, an elegantly simple proposition that was not unattractive, and

 to uproot almost the entire structure of the Seven Kingdoms in the

 process.

 Her husband was fond of these dramatic gestures she knew, and he

 had made a compelling case for what he wanted to do, to strengthen

 House Targaryen massively versus its Vassals. And to do this

 Daemon proposed to expand the Crownlands significantly,

 encroaching on territory held by House Baratheon, House Tyrell and

 House Lannister. And on top of that Daemon wanted to redraw web

 of vassal alliances within the Reach to hamstring several of the

 major supporters of the Greens, specifically House Hightower.

 Daemon even wanted to attain a whole swath of Houses for treason

 and hand over their lands to his supporters, scummy sellswords,

 minor Lords and Hedge Knights mostly.

 Which led her to the thorny issue of the dragonseeds - her house

 was fatally dependent upon these now for their power, hostage to

 their demands, whatever they might be. Daemon had wanted to

 replace House Lannister and House Baratheon with two of them, the

 two smallfolk from Dragonstone, an idea which if she had not heard

 it from Daemon's own mouth she would have laughed off as

 hysterical. The strident opposition from several of her Lords to this,

 notably Lord Corlys, had swayed Daemon from this course of action,

 but still he persisted in attempting the raising of this Ulf and Hugh to

 heights scandalously above their station.

 Not that they should not be rewarded for their service, they had been

 Knighted as a first step, but by Lord Corlys himself and given land on

 Driftmark, something she was not pleased with at all. Did Lord Corlys

 think that she would let dragonriders exist as his vassals? No, never!

Dragonriders, and their dragons, were going to be the sole preserve

 of the royal family, and she was working on laws to solidify the Iron

 Thrones control over the dragons and their riders.

 Daemon had been making suggestions about how to reward the

 dragonseeds, Addam Velaryon had been legitimised, mayhaps an

 advantageous marriage might be arranged for the lad. Rhaena was

 available but Daemon was being very coy about his daughter's hand,

 refusing to be drawn on a new betrothal for the girl. Nettles seemed

 to care for nothing beyond riding her dragon and staying away from

 everyone, a shame really as the girl was to all intents a good

 dragonrider. And if cleaned up and taught a little manners and

 courtesy she would be a reasonable catch, but again any betrothals

 for her would have to be managed very carefully.

 The pair from Dragonstone were more problematical, she knew they

 had to be rewarded further and at the same time brought more fully

 under the Iron Throne's control. Lands and titles would have to be

 bestowed upon them, and advantageous marriages arranged for

 them, a likely easier task for the Blacksmith lad than for the former

 Man at Arms fellow.

 Hugh seemed to be the calmer and more level-headed of the two,

 and seemed to have a natural affinity for dragons, and he was

 something of a friend to both Jacaerys and Addam. There was a time

 when she would have been swift to put an end to such a friendship

 between her son and heir and a smallfolk blacksmith. But now, given

 who Hugh was and how he had behaved, not so much, and Hugh

 was an easy enough fellow on the eye it had to be said. He

 reminded her of her beloved Harwin in his size and height, and she

 was not blind or deaf to the blushes and tittering's of the maids and

 ladies in waiting of the court.

 Which meant arranging a betrothal for Hugh was a priority, the eldest

 Baratheon girl was a possibility, for she would not be attaining House

 Baratheon, no matter what Daemon wanted to do. A betrothal to

 Hugh of Lord Borros's eldest to Hugh would be an insult and

 something of a sop to House Baratheon, and Hugh could be given

some of the lands to be taken from the control of House Baratheon.

 There were some likely maidens in the Westerlands also, notably in

 House Lannister, and a smattering of others across the Reach, both

 in loyal and rebel houses.

 But she suspected that Daemon was up to something with regard to

 Ulf and Hugh, no she did not suspect it, she knew it, and this

 meeting in a whorehouse only confirmed her suspicions.

 "Will you be able to report what was said?" she asked of the whore.

 "Maybe, it depends, but Daemon is careful enough when he wants to

 be" shrugged the whore.

 Only a handful of candles provided illumination for the Small Council

 chamber, Rhaenyra preferring it this way, she had become more

 accustomed to the dark these last few moons. The lustre and joy of

 taking of Kings Landing and the bulk of her enemies in one fell

 swoop had rapidly faded and left her with the crushing realities of

 ruling during a war. And not just any war either, a war for her and her

 children's very survival, and a war brought on by the fact that oaths it

 seemed were just words, and words were just wind.

 "Well keep an eye on my husband, the Lord Protector of the Realm,

 and report anything interesting. Do you have anything else to report

 to me?"

 "I am positive that Lord Larys Strong is still present in Kings Landing,

 he has not fled the city."

 "Oh? What makes you so sure of that?"

 "The way certain of his agents are acting, the way certain people are

 now behaving."

 "Hrmmm, I see" she replied, when she did not see at all, but she was

 content to not press the whore further on the mater. Content might

 have been too strong a word. Hah! 'strong', and this man a brother of

Harwin…..She trusted the whore about as much as she trusted

 Daemon, which was to say little, but the whore seemed competent

 and had been instrumental in their capture of Kings Landing. And so

 far, the whore had not disappointed her with regard to whispers she

 had brought to Rhaenyra's attention.

 The whores network gave her reasonable coverage in Kings

 Landing, and she knew that Lady Misery, she would not use the

 whores name, preferring this to her actual name, was working hard

 to build a network of spies across the rest of the realms. Most likely

 using whores, but that troubled Rhaenyra not one whit, so long as

 the whispers that reached her ears were accurate, she cared not

 how they came to her.

 "Will he be a problem?" she asked, already suspecting what the

 answer would be.

 "Yes, he will be a problem, of that I am certain."

 "Very well, should you discover him, do not try and capture him, its

 better if he dies than escapes. Here…." at this Rhaenyra grabbed a

 parchment and wrote upon it the death warrant for Lord Larys

 Strong, she included all the necessary language and crimes he was

 guilty of, there could be no doubting this document. Signing and

 sealing it she handed it to Lady Misery "….this is your royal warrant

 for the death of Lord Larys Strong, traitor to his Queen."

 The whore gave her a small bow at this, and the rolled-up parchment

 disappeared into the depths of the woman's hooded cloak.

 "This Janas Barner fellow, has he sung yet?" she asked, hoping that

 the man had decided to swap torture for revealing all that he knew.

 "Not yet, but he is close, I can tell."

 "Good, inform me the moment he spills his secrets, I want to know.

 Daemon may have been content to watch this fool, but I am not. I

 know what he was about, even without pulling his secrets from him

with hot pincers, he was trying to turn the dragonseeds away from

 us!"

 "If you are sure of this your Grace, should you not have them

 arrested?"

 "No, not yet dear Lady Misery, not yet. I want this Barner fellows'

 confession first before I act, and if he confirms the treason of the

 dragonseeds then I'll have their heads, but not before."

 Despite all the thoughts of betrothals and lordships she would not

 hesitate to act in the defence of her and her children, she had stayed

 her hands during the long years that cunt Alicent had pupped

 usurper after usurper to her throne. And look where it had gotten

 her? No, if she discovered treason she would act, and act swiftly.