-Chapter 159-
-7th day of the 7th moon of the year 121 AC-
-POV Alicent Hightower-
I entered the dark dungeons of the Red Keep, defeated and desperate, endlessly questioning myself about what I could say to Father once I was face to face with him.
'The last words we will exchange,' I thought anxiously, because once we were done, they would take him out of his cell and bring him to a square that had been specially prepared for this event for moons now.
'The family had abandoned us to avoid as many prosecutions as possible that Prince Aemon might launch in the future, and Viserys didn't seem inclined to intervene on our behalf.'
The only one who could still decide to stop the execution was Prince Aemon, but he didn't seem willing to make that decision — quite the opposite, in fact.
Since the end of the trial, he had grown much closer to the Stark, Lannister, and Greyjoy Houses, which directly isolated us from any possible alliance with three Great Houses.
'And the others will follow in time,' I thought.
"Alicent," said my father, snapping me out of my thoughts with the raspy sound of his voice.
"Father," I said, unable to hold back the flood of tears since I had seen him on his knees in the Dragonpit.
"What are you doing here?" he asked me.
"The Prince allowed me to pay you one last visit," I said.
"Only you?" he asked, surprised.
I nodded and then said bitterly:
"He said it was my privilege as queen."
Father laughed mockingly before sighing, his gaze fixed on the wall opposite him.
"You shouldn't have come," he managed to say before bursting into a coughing fit.
"Bring water for my father," I said to the gold cloak guarding the area.
I frowned when I saw them standing still like statues and said more firmly:
"I order you, as Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, to fetch me a glass of water."
To my surprise, although I could see a flicker of hesitation in their eyes, they did not move.
"I…"
"Let it go," Father said after managing to control his cough. "They're Aemon's men. They won't obey you, no matter what cloak or sigil they wear."
'This is a scandal,' I thought angrily, seeing those peasants refuse to obey a queen they had all sworn to protect.
'If only the knights of the Kingsguard were here, I would not have suffered such humiliation,' I thought, turning away from the City Watch soldiers to focus on my father, who was motioning for me to come closer.
He brought his mouth to my ear and quickly whispered:
"Daeron and Aemond must claim adult dragons and be betrothed to influential lords across various regions. Aemon doesn't want the crown — if he did, he would have taken it already. He also doesn't want to back one claimant or the other, otherwise he would have come after you, not me. Don't forget the pact you made with him. Remind him once Helaena is of age to marry, or even before. Offer her in marriage to his eldest. Forget my death. Forget your brothers' deaths and distance yourself from House Hightower. Act like a queen, like the queen you are meant to be, and raise your sons so that you never again have to watch a member of your family die powerless — because the next ones will be your children."
"That's enough. It's time," said the captain of the guards, signaling for me to step back.
I turned my head toward him, furious, as he was about to lay a hand on me, and said:
"Lay a finger on me and it's your head that will roll."
"I am only following orders, Your Grace," he said more humbly, though no less determined to carry out the task entrusted to him.
"Alicent," said my father, giving me a meaningful glance.
I held back the tears that once again threatened to fall and silently watched the guards open the door of his cell before dragging him out so that he could begin the March.
---
-POV Hugh Hammer-
"Hugh, come here," said Ulf, a bottle in hand, struggling to stay upright.
"What do you want from me at this hour?" I asked grumpily, because lately, I'd had to deal with plenty of young nobles coming from all over the realm, thinking they could impress the new Hand of the King and enter his service by making a splash at the Hand's Tournament.
'As if he gave a fuck about that bunch of pathetic little shits,' I thought, never forgetting the way most of them had mocked me on sight.
'Especially one group in particular,' I thought.
—Flashback—
"He almost looks like a real dragon," said one of them, looking at me with disdain.
"Hmm, you're right, but if he works as a blacksmith, it's because his mother was a whore," said another, not paying me any attention beyond his comment about my mother.
"And a pretty one too," added another, wearing a banner I recognized instantly, with a smug smile.
And the only reason I hadn't shattered the jaws of the two squires — clearly drunk and of no real lineage given their lack of manners —
It was clear they were enjoying how I lowered my gaze and bottled my rage in the face of their behavior, even though I was clearly twice their size and could snap their necks with one arm if I felt like it...
"Hugh, I…"
"Oh, looks like he found himself a little lady," said one of the squires before placing a hand on Kat's ass.
"She doesn't look like she's from here," said the second squire.
"A Pentoshi whore, probably," added the first.
I clenched the steel hammer in my hand as tightly as I could and said, my voice full of rage in front of Kat's frightened eyes, "Let her go!"
They smiled, enjoying the moment more and more, unaware that they were one step away from death.
But to my great relief, just as I was about to sign my death sentence, the young man wearing the Rosby sigil noticed the marks my fingers had left on the hammer's grip and said:
"He's going to let her go..."
But his next words forced me to face my powerlessness:
"But you're going to ask nicely, because if you dare raise your hand against a noble, it won't just be you — your wife will die too."
I nodded and said, "Please, let her go."
"That's not how someone like you asks for something," he said before looking at the ground and adding, "On your knees."
Seeing the terror in Kat's eyes and thinking quickly, I realized he was right. Never would a bastard, a stain on the royal house, be spared if I were found guilty of such a crime.
'They'd even make an example of me to appease the grumbling nobility,' I thought, because even though I was a man of the people, illiterate and ignorant, I knew well enough the status we dragonseeds were granted.
'We're worth nothing.'
Powerless, I threw all my pride at the feet of that young man.
All my dignity.
And I knelt to beg.
"Please, let her go."
The young man looked satisfied at first, then turned his head and said:
"That's better, but it's not me you have to ask."
I felt bile rise in my throat, along with a deep sense of injustice as I understood what he wanted me to do. But for Kat's sake, I did it.
I turned toward the two squires and said, looking at the ground to avoid meeting Kat's eyes — or the squire's:
"Please, let her go."
I didn't want to see shame in Kat's eyes for the way I acted, when I had always been confident and strong — nor the triumph in the squire's eyes.
"It's fine, we were just messing with you. Bring us our armor, we've got a tournament to win," he said, letting Kat go.
I swallowed the bile that rose again in my throat and nodded, saying:
"Right away, Ser."
"You see? That's how you deal with these nobodies," said the first squire arrogantly, before adding: "Scare them a little, and they'll call you Ser. That fat oaf probably doesn't even know the difference between a squire and a knight."
—End of Flashback—
'To think they'll be back in five days for the final fittings on their little gang leader's armor,' I thought, forcing myself to move on from that painful memory that had haunted me ever since that day.
"The former Hand of the King is getting executed," said Ulf, before adding: "No way you're missing this — it's the only time we'll get to see one of those rats fall in the mud."
I hesitated, but knowing how disgusted Kat was whenever we went out drinking together, I didn't want to follow him, because I knew exactly how it would end.
'Both of us dead drunk,' I thought.
I was about to decline when suddenly Kat, who was supposed to come home tonight from her job at the new neighborhood piggery, appeared.
"What are you still doing here?" asked Kat, frowning at the sight of Ulf already halfway to ending the night in a ditch.
Even if, by her tone, one might think she despised him, the truth is she was a friend of Ulf's before becoming my wife.
She used to work in a tavern, and that's how we'd built a strong relationship over time.
'She doesn't like the influence he has on me,' I thought.
But as soon as I met her gaze, a flash of memory ran through me, like so many I'd had in recent days.
And in her eyes, I saw that she knew what was going through my mind, and I saw once again what I hated most in her eyes… pity.
I put down the hammer I was holding, then wiped my hands on my apron before saying:
"Actually, I think watching a noble's head roll might do me some good."
I didn't want to hurt her, but I couldn't stand that look anymore — because it reminded me every second of the failure that I was, of the fact that I hadn't been able to protect the person who meant the most in the world to me.
'And maybe a night out drinking with Ulf will help me forget my helplessness and our place in this world,' I thought.