Aegon Snow

-Chapter 174-

-POV Jaime Lannister-

I was heading back to my quarters to sleep before starting my guard duty tonight, but I was intercepted by Ser Vylarr, the captain of Cersei's personal guard. He had been knighted by the emperor at her request so he could ensure her protection as her sworn shield at all times, as she no longer felt safe after the assassination attempt on the emperor.

"The Duchess wishes to see you," said Ser Vylarr.

'First news, most of the time she threw dark looks or little barbs at me, but now she wants to see me,' I thought with amusement, knowing she probably had a favor to ask.

I hesitated for a few moments before nodding, wondering what she could possibly want from me.

As Ser Vylarr showed me the way, I kept asking myself the following question:

What does Cersei want?

And what could she possibly want from me?

'Let's hear what she wants. Anyway, I'm a royal guard, my scope of action is limited and I can't do much,' I thought.

The idea that she might want to reconcile with me crossed my mind but vanished instantly when I remembered Bellegere's decapitated head.

'Not to mention the resentment she feels because I acknowledged the bastardy of our children. If I were to reconcile with Cersei, even though she's not his wife, the Emperor would have us all beheaded and make everyone forget the Lannister name.'

While I kept questioning myself, we finally arrived in front of Cersei's quarters, which were to my great surprise right next to those of the Emperor.

Vylarr knocked on the door, and then Cersei's voice came from inside, asking us to enter.

Inside the room, Cersei was sitting on a chair, playing with her son.

'Hers, not ours,' I thought strangely, seeing Prince Maegor, Cersei's only living child, of whom I was not the father.

"Thank you, Ser Vylarr," said Cersei, giving him the implicit order to leave us alone.

'She has changed; before she would have given the order for the man to leave,' I thought, looking at my sister who seemed more tranquil and peaceful than ever.

The contrast with the person she was at Robert's death and Aegon's coronation was evident; she no longer had that crazed look.

'Naturally, since she has practically everything she wanted by giving birth to the only child now capable of inheriting his father's throne,' I thought, looking at my nephew, the heir to the Iron Throne, the heir to the empire, the heir to the whole continent, and surely a future dragon rider.

"You must surely have an idea of why I had you summoned, my dear brother?"

"I don't know," I said, not wanting to play my sister's game.

She raised an eyebrow and then said, "I know you know."

I remained silent after that because this conversation was starting to seriously annoy me.

"Very well, since you're forcing me to ask, I need your help to convince Aegon to make my son his heir and me his empress," said Cersei, looking me straight in the eyes in a tone that sounded more like someone giving an order than someone asking for help.

I rolled my eyes and turned to leave, thinking disdainfully: 'Does she really think Aegon will make her his empress?'

"I did not give you permission to leave this room."

"You are no longer queen, you have no power over me, Cersei."

"You would betray your own family, your own children."

"First of all, Maegor is not my son, he is my nephew," I said, glaring at Cersei because I never liked her way of trying to guilt-trip me whenever we disagreed on a subject, whatever it was.

"Maegor is certainly my prince, but let me remind you that he is already the Emperor's heir, so don't try to manipulate me; it no longer works on me," I said, turning away because I had heard enough.

'As always, she pretends to care about her children to climb the social ladder,' I thought, reaching out to turn the door handle.

"Did he say that Maegor was his heir, the heir to the imperial throne of Westeros?" said Cersei, making me freeze for a few seconds.

I turned back to her and then said, "He doesn't need to say it; Maegor is his eldest son, he legitimized Maegor from birth, no one can say he was born a bastard."

"But the fact remains that I am not his wife, I am his mistress, and although he treats me well, it will always be a stain when the time comes for Maegor to become Emperor," said Cersei with a worried look.

"You think that's why the emperor hasn't announced it publicly?" I asked my sister.

"I'm sure that's why, or at least one of the biggest reasons he hasn't publicly named Maegor as his successor yet," said Cersei.

'That makes sense, said like that, but I can't get drawn into...'

My thoughts suddenly stopped when I heard the door open, and I quickly stood at attention, seeing the emperor enter.

"Jaime."

"Your Majesty," I said, placing a hand on the hilt of my sword while staring at the horizon.

'I hope he didn't hear what Cersei was saying.'

---

-POV MC-

Looking at Jaime, who avoided my gaze by staring at a point on the horizon, I slightly smiled before taking my son, who was already of size, from Cersei's arms, and then I said:

"Maegor will be my heir if he is worthy of my crown, but if I were to suddenly disappear, then yes, he will be the Emperor."

"Your Majesty, we didn't..."

"I know what you were doing, and although it's not treason to think about the future, I'd like us to think more about the present than my death. Must I remind you that I am only 17 years old and far from preparing my succession?"

Neither said anything, and then I said: "I have already updated my will, which has been signed by my uncle Benjen and by my blood brothers Bryan and Connor."

I kissed my son's head, who was already the size of a one-year-old child, before handing him back to his mother, who didn't dare look in my direction, and then I left, leaving them both stunned.

'Unfortunately for you, my senses are also heightened and the walls are thin.'

---

-POV Jaime Lannister-

"I hate you," I spat, looking at Cersei.

"I couldn't know he would hear our discussion," said Cersei, trying to whisper.

"Your discussion… I wasn't involved, stop dragging me into your harebrained schemes," I said before leaving and slamming the door violently.

'She will get me beheaded one of these days.'

---

-16th day of the 10th moon, 300 AC-

-POV Gendry Baratheon-

The red lady who had asked me to follow her brought me to the island of Dragonstone, but the king did not accept any visit from her and made us wait an entire day before finally agreeing to see us.

Anxious, I couldn't sleep, so when a guard entered my quarters to tell me to get dressed and follow him, I immediately stood up with difficulty and followed him without protest.

Entering the throne room, I was immediately suffocated by the pressure of the gazes from all the high nobility. I had already served as a blacksmith for half of the gathered nobles here when I still worked for my master Tobho Mott, the only blacksmith capable of reforging Valyrian steel and the best blacksmith in the empire.

"Gendry Baratheon, last living legitimate son of Robert Baratheon, usurper and murderer of my father, come forward, don't just stand there, we're not going to eat you," said the emperor from his throne, wearing a Valyrian steel crown encrusted with rubies, with a slight mocking smile.

'Wedding gift from Prince Doran Martell of Dorne.'

I swallowed hard, facing the emperor's address and the gathered nobles all scrutinizing me, then I stepped forward.

Once a few meters from the throne, I stopped, then knelt on one knee and waited. The Kingslayer smiled and said:

"In front of the Emperor, commoners must kneel on both knees."

I frowned and then said: "His Majesty honored me by legitimizing me; I am a Baratheon."

"Which still makes you a commoner, because House Baratheon has been erased from the nobility of the empire," said the king's uncle, Benjen, who didn't seem to like me much.

'With the revelations that Princess Lyanna Stark was not raped, he must surely resent his brother as well as my father,' I thought, bending my second knee.

"Melisandre, come forward," said the emperor to the red lady, who was accompanied by another red lady I had never seen.

"Melisandre, you requested an audience with me and I'd like to know why?" he asked.

"I saw in the flames that this man will fight for you during the long night, so I brought him to you," said Melisandre, bowing deeply, revealing through the wide neckline of her beautiful red dress a paradisiacal view before the emperor, who seemed completely immune as his gaze turned cold in the next second.

He then said in a low, cold tone that I would even call dangerous:

"Hmm, and you didn't see in your lord's flames that I

 was attacked by assassins or of the plot aiming to eradicate my lineage, did you?"

Melisandre said nothing, but once she raised her head, I saw the look she gave the emperor.

'That's not the look one gives to their sovereign,' I thought, seeing the indifferent look she had in the face of the emperor's reprimands.

"You may leave," said the emperor before turning to me.

"Gendry, my dear friend, it's been some time since I've seen you," he said.

I nodded without saying anything, and then he said:

"I've heard that you wanted to ask me a favor, so I'm listening."

"I'd like to accept your offer," I said in the most solemn tone I could muster.

"My offer?" said the emperor, looking confused.

"The offer you made me to reclaim Storm's End and the ancestral heritage of my family," I said, trying to remind him of the offer he made to me more than two years ago.

Emperor Aegon I looked at me with a strange expression, then he said, trying to control his facial expression, which didn't work for everyone as I heard a few snickers in the crowd, including that bastard Horas Redwyne:

"I asked you to swear loyalty to me as the lord of House Baratheon, which you refused to do, if I remember correctly."

"Yes, and I humbly ask your forgiveness, but I..." I said.

"I believe you don't really grasp the difference between today and the moment I offered you the opportunity to become the Lord of Storm's End and thus the Duke of House Baratheon."

I frowned, not understanding, and he said: "At that time, you could have rallied the houses of the Stormlands so I could nip in the bud the ridiculous claims of the two degenerate Baratheon brothers, but by refusing your allegiance, you forced me to fight on three fronts."

The emperor sighed for a moment, saying: "First, I had to fight the Tully alliance supported by almost all the Lords of the Riverlands and the Lords of the Vale of Arryn, then I had to fight against that Kinslayer dog."

I noticed the trembling of Ser Loras's Hand, who rumors in the capital said was the lover of Lord Renly Baratheon, then I said: "But you told me that..."

"I know very well what I told you, but all the territories I incorporated into the imperial domains are territories I conquered and especially that I won. In exchange for what should I give you lands for which my soldiers, my knights, my vassals shed their blood... your loyalty?"

I found myself unable to say anything under the pressure of all those gazes and the imposing pressure of the emperor, who looked at me and waited for a response.

"Your Majesty, if my lord..."

"I don't care what your lord shows you in his flames, Melisandre, I will not give a kingdom to a man who refused to swear allegiance to me simply because you suggest it. If you don't like it, go whisper in another sovereign's ear," said Emperor Aegon, interrupting the red lady.

I frowned and then said:

"Give me a chance to prove that I am worthy of this honor."

"It's not a matter of worthiness, it's a matter of usefulness and above all humility. You believe the world owes you more than what it has given you, that I owe you more than what I've given you, even though you are of no use to me. You only know how to forge like the thousands of blacksmiths in the imperial forges. I might take some time to think about it if you knew how to reforge Valyrian steel, but you didn't pursue your apprenticeship to that point. You are neither an exceptional fighter nor a competent administrator. The harsh and cruel truth is that I made you the offer that every commoner would dream of having in ten lifetimes, and you rejected my proposal."

"You probably rejected my proposal out of regard for your late father while you were searching for identity, and I completely understand, but the fact remains that you did it, and unfortunately for you, that offer was the only and unique offer you would have to climb all the ranks of nobility at once."

I was left stunned by his decision until he motioned for his bodyguards to drag me out of the room, then I said in a determined and much louder tone than I would have liked:

"What do I have to do to become noble?"

"What do you have to do?" said the emperor, raising an eyebrow before thinking for a few seconds.

"If you want to become noble, you will have to fight for it. I will soon send a fleet to conquer the Summer Isles. If you serve as a soldier and manage to earn a knighthood, you can already gain a foothold in the empire's minor nobility," he said before motioning for his guards to take me out.

'Fight, if that's the only thing to do, I will fight. I will come back as a hero and reclaim everything that once belonged to House Baratheon,' I thought as I let myself be led away.