Chapter 32: Kings and Thrones
110 AC, King’s Landing
Otto Hightower sat in his solar and looked out of the window, specifically at the docks in the distance, where the loathsome ship was still visible even from so far away. Laenor Velaryon had arrived atop this Galleon, with all of the swagger and arrogance of his father, and the ship alone had been the talk of the city, further fuelling the rage that he felt at the mere sight of it.
Laenor Velaryon, that was all that everyone spoke of since his coming. The Painter Knight, the first Velaryon to ever wield a Valyrian Steel sword, the heir to the Sea Snake, and his coming to King’s Landing was dangerous, perhaps more so than anything else during Otto’s tenure as Hand.
When the boy first came to the Capital, the King had foolishly wanted to greet him, having grown a certain fascination with him after their painting, a very troubling fascination indeed. It took everything that Otto could do to stop him from holding a tourney in the boy’s honour, as if celebrating the son of the woman that once rivalled his claim for the Iron Throne was not a terrible thing. This was one of the few times where all of the Small Council had agreed with him, even Lyonel Strong.
Otto had hoped to curb Viserys’s fascination with the boy by forcing him into a situation that would not have dishonoured himself in some way, or at least appear quite generous. The boy had been greeted briefly, with an invitation to dine with the royal family scheduled for much later than a Velaryon would have been entitled to.
He had expected Laenor to demand an audience with the King, or something of the sort. At the very least, he had expected the boy to get bored and just go to a brothel, or anything that would convince Viserys of his unworthiness.
Alas, the boy seemed as if he had not cared about this, as if he had not come to King’s Landing to do his father’s bidding by seeking the King’s favour. The Sea Snake was likely hoping for a match in Princess Rhaenyra, a match that could set the Seven Kingdoms alight.
According to his spies, Laenor Velaryon had simply… walked around the city during his days outside the Red Keep, mostly near certain renowned shopkeepers and artisans, sometimes buying the usual wares. There was no true pattern, at least not one that the Hand of the King could discern. He sometimes bought jewellery, sometimes some silks, small marble statues of the Seven, some weapons, armour, and even barrels of Dornish wine. It seemed like the boy was spending gold on whatever took his fancy.
During the nights, however, Laenor Velaryon masqueraded as a bard, making men and women alike weep and laugh at his tunes, and what profits he made, he used to buy bread to feed the children of King’s Landing.
It was quite dramatic, of course, but the boy had obviously done it on purpose. For one, he was disguising himself rather badly, though, for apparently, more than a few noblewomen had specifically sought his performances out, and his deeds were whispered around in Court, further proof of Laenor Velaryon’s manipulations.
Aside from this, the only interesting matter was the fact that he seemed to have bought a few shops in the Streets of Steel, which were quickly furnished and were selling glassware and mirrors mostly.
That had been almost expected, since Driftmark was unfortunately currently producing the clearest glass in the Seven Kingdoms, though others were still improving to reach their quality, and so these enterprises were doomed to fail eventually.
Still, what mattered most was the fact that Otto Hightower’s plans had not been fruitful. In fact, they were the complete and utter opposite of that. The Lords of the Realm were now wondering if they had made a mistake by not choosing Rhaenys as their Queen, if her son was so remarkable. He could not allow that to happen. He could not let a promising boy that could have perhaps become King had things differed in the Great Council, marry Rhaenyra Targaryen, not while Aegon was still not declared as his heir.
Otto had tried everything. Subtlety, pressure, concern, disapproval, nothing seemed to faze Viserys Targaryen enough to stop delaying the inevitable, and Otto was quickly becoming quite frustrated with the entire situation. He had almost pressed too hard once, but the realisation that the Sea Snake would easily capitalise on any tensions with the King stopped him, for that was something that he could not risk.
He needed time. He was close; he knew that he was, but all he needed was more time. He only needed to find the right argument to convince Viserys, something that was becoming exceedingly pressing with Laenor Velaryon’s presence in the Capital.
A knock on his door broke him from his thoughts, and one of his guards entered, “Lord Hand, Ser Laenor is here to see you, as you requested.”
Ah, yes, the very object of his conundrum, Laenor Velaryon. Otto had come to the decision to take the measure of the boy himself and see if he was truly the threat that he thought he was, that his blood was. And, if Otto had to take… unsavoury actions to ensure that the realm would not go up in flames of the ambition of the Sea Snake, then he would do as he must.
He gave the guard a stern nod, “Very well. Let him in.”
The boy had come, looking every bit the Valyrian that he was, and gave him an assessing look. Otto barely granted the man any attention, something that he had once done with Daemon, to the Rogue Prince’s unending rage, and finished writing his letter.
Laenor Velaryon did not sit down; in fact, he walked around, as if he was not in the Tower of the Hand. He walked up and looked out of the window, while humming a tune that Otto didn’t recognise beneath his breath.
The Hand of the King found very little to go on about, before eventually, the boy spoke up, still looking at the sky, “I suppose congratulations are in order, though perhaps my words are quite late. Princess Helaena was born only a few moons ago, after all.”
Otto did not say anything and let Ser Laenor continue, “Though I hear that the queen is with child again. Though I am no Maester, I must say that this is certainly a… risky choice, getting pregnant so quickly after birth. Quite dangerous for the mother, though I am sure that Queen Alicent would shoulder this burden as gracefully as she does everything else.”
Otto immediately stopped writing as he registered the young knight’s words, his quill frozen in his hand. He did not know what to make of them, for it was a strange way to start a conversation, casually talking about his daughter’s possible mortality.
After all, it was true Alicent had recently birthed a daughter, Helaena, a rather quiet babe, compared to Aegon’s rather loud nature, and was currently with child. Was the boy threatening him with her life?
Having realised that the boy had gained his attention, he set down his quill and turned to the young knight, “It has come to my attention that you have been busy, as of late.”
“King’s Landing does seem like a city where one would be bored in, doesn’t it? There is much that I do not like about it, of course, and the lack of a proper sewage solution is certainly starting to cause some problems, all of which would not be getting better anytime soon. You should probably look into that, as the Hand of the King. I can help you with that, if you would like.”
Otto wondered why the boy had turned the conversation to sewage of all things, and so he simply raised an eyebrow, while continuing, “I have heard of your work in Castle Driftmark and its surrounding town. It is quite impressive given what I know.”
The Hand of the King stopped himself from rolling his eyes at the gleam of pride in the boy’s eyes. Even a commoner would know that this was the Sea Snake spending gold to create a second fortress.
Otto did not know why the man thought that this was needed, but it could easily be as vain as having his heir have a fortress of his own, much like the princes of House Targaryens often have dominion over the Isle of Dragonstone.
The boy smiled at his compliment, “I shall take the compliment, Lord Hand, for I have the utmost regard for your talents, and your… influence over the Crown. It is nice to meet you. Officially, that is.”
Otto paused for a moment, “If you regard me so greatly as you claim you do, then you know that I do not believe that the Sea Snake sent you to King’s Landing to inspect how it handles its waste.”
Laenor Velaryon, who had been looking through the window earlier, finally turned to Otto. “And I do not believe that you have asked to meet with me just to watch you write letters, especially after you spend so much time observing me while limiting any interactions I might have with the royal family. So, let us dispense of the pleasantries, Ser Otto, and get to the matter at hand, shall we? We both know why I am here, do we not? I find that there is no reason why we could not come to an arrangement of a sort.”
The Hand of the King raised an eyebrow at that, and asked with incredulity tainting his voice, “Are you claiming that the Sea Snake has abandoned his ambitions for the throne?”
Laenor Velaryon’s visit to King’s Landing was obviously a way for the Sea Snake to showcase himself to the realm as a match with the Realm’s Delight. The arrogant man would tear the realm apart, for a chance of his blood on the Iron Throne. Then again, most lords would, if they had the chance.
The boy snorted at that, “Oh, he has not, else he would have been the one negotiating here, not me.”
Otto hummed at that. It was certainly a possibility to use the boy against his father. He was still young, able to be manipulated, and having an alliance with the heir to Driftmark could put at bay much of his worries regarding the Sea Snake.
That was if he could trust the boy to give up the chance at marrying the Realm’s Delight and even possibly being King.
Unfortunately, Otto found this to be something that was quite hard to do. Then again, he asked the boy, out of curiosity more than anything and taking the measure of a possible divide in House Velaryon, “Then what would you want in exchange for your… restraint in the matter?”
“The penalties that seem to find Driftmark with remarkable consistency,” Laenor Velaryon answered seriously, revealing the Sea Snake’s plan.
The penalties that the boy spoke of were a series of increases in taxes for luxury goods that are sold in places without a City Charter. What made something a luxury good was something that the Crown could decide on and thus could target House Velaryon as much as they could. As most trading hubs were cities, only Driftmark, Duskendale, and to a lesser extent, Fairmarket had been affected by it. Otto had rectified this by giving Steffon Darklyn a position as a Kingsguard, and Otto ensured that Fairmarket’s goods would not be targeted, instead focusing on silks and spices from the East.
And that was aside from the mandate to contribute to the royal fleet after the war in the Stepstones as well. It was obvious that the Sea Snake wished to use his son’s possible betrothal with the princess to pressure Otto to remove these sanctions.
Otto could have considered the proposition, if it were not for the fact that should the sanctions be removed, there was no guarantee that Laenor Velaryon would still not go through with the marriage with the Realm’s Delight, and he would still be a threat to Otto.
No, he needed to be more forceful, which is what he had planned since inviting the boy into his solar. “I understand that you have come with some companions with you, including your sister, did you not? Eight and ten and still unmarried. I must admit that young Laena has been quite the topic for the Small Council recently. We rarely do concern ourselves with the affairs of the houses across the realm, but the possibility of another House obtaining dragons is certainly a worry of a sort.”
The young knight’s eyes immediately sharpened, though Otto ignored them and continued, “The current solution to this… dilemma is to marry her to the only male Targaryen of suitable age. It would certainly mend a rift in House Targaryen, for the Rogue Prince to return to the fold, bringing the Stepstones with him.”
Otto carefully observed the boy’s reaction, and it had been quite different from earlier. He had gone entirely still, his eyes piercing. The Hand of the King had learned from his spies in Driftmark that the boy cared for his sister greatly.
He did not know if it was in the same disturbing way members of House Targaryen cared for their siblings, but he knew enough that he would not be glad to see her married to someone like Daemon Targaryen.
The boy’s voice when he answered Otto’s unspoken threat was disturbingly calm. “Is this how you truly wish to play this game, Ser Otto?”
Otto did not answer and simply stared at the young man expectantly. “Very well, then. You truly should not have brought Laena into this. I wish for you to remember this moment, in the end our little game, when you look back and wonder where exactly it all began. In any case, I should thank you.”
Despite himself, the Hand of the King asked, “For what?”
“For showing me your place on the board. It makes the game considerably easier to play. Good luck, Otto Hightower, and farewell.”
And so, Laenor Velaryon left Otto’s solar, without saying any other word, leaving the Hand of the King feeling pensive, confused, and perhaps, very slightly shaken.
AN: This story is still relatively new, so if you'd like me to continue it, please let me know in the comments what you think of the rewrite so far.
This chapter was harder to write than I expected. This was probably the first time Laenor and Otto speak to one another, and I wanted to convey a bit of the dismissiveness that Otto has about Laenor, mostly that he's essentially a pawn to his father, and the lengths he would go to just to secure Aegon's claim to the throne, enough to bring Daemon back to King's Landing, if he needed to. There is a lot of misdirection on both parties here, especially Laenor, since he doesn't actually want to marry Rhaenyra, as well as some nuggets of information that I tried to add a bit of foreshadowing for the future.
As I said before, I am planning on uploading more of this story (outside of normal uploads). I have a bit of a backlog of chapter drafts for this story that I’ll try to go through when I can. As usual, I don’t mind rewriting this chapter depending on your feedback, so please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions.