Maegor

The afternoon study in the Hand's Tower was quiet, broken only by the scratch of a quill on parchment.

Otto Hightower sat hunched over his desk, signing documents one after another.

When Queen Alicent pushed open the door and entered, Otto did not look up, only raising a hand to bid her wait.

A moment later, Otto finished the last signature, pressed his seal, and then raised his head to look at his daughter.

"Aemond's Name Day—isn't it in a few days?"

Alicent paused slightly, then nodded. "Three days from now. You remembered."

"Of course I remember Aemond's Name Day."

"But next week I'm to meet with the Triarchy's envoys in the Stepstones, so I'm afraid I won't make it back for his celebration."

"Pass along my apologies, if you would."

Lord Hand Otto pointed to a small round table against the far wall of the study. "I've prepared a gift for him, set it right there. You can give it to him for me."

Alicent inclined her head in acknowledgment and walked toward the table.

On it sat only one thing: a deep gray wooden box with no ornamentation.

When Alicent opened the lid and saw what lay inside, she was taken aback.

It was a ring.

The band was a dull gray, set with no jewels, its design rough-hewn almost to the point of crudeness.

But on the face, sharp and clear, were carved words in Old Valyrian: "Blood is fire, son of the true dragon."

"This was a gift from Queen Dowager Visenya to Maegor the Cruel," Otto's voice came from behind her. He had risen from his chair without her noticing and was walking toward his daughter.

"More precisely, it was Maegor's coming-of-age gift. Queen Dowager Visenya commissioned a Qohorik smith to forge it from Valyrian steel into a ring."

Alicent turned, her green eyes fixed on her father. "What is your meaning here?"

"Why use something that once belonged to Maegor the Cruel as a gift?"

Otto did not answer the question. Instead, he asked one of his own.

"Alicent, tell me—who was Visenya Targaryen?"

Alicent thought for a moment, then said.

"She was the founding queen of the Targaryen dynasty. She conquered the Crownlands and the Vale for her husband, Aegon the Conqueror."

"She also established the Kingsguard for Aegon the Conqueror."

"After Queen Rhaenys died, she ruled the Seven Kingdoms alongside Aegon the Conqueror..."

Alicent trailed off hesitantly, looking at Otto.

And Otto said, his voice low:

"But in her later years, Queen Dowager Visenya Targaryen chose to support her only son, Maegor..."

"Even if it meant standing against the entire family and the realm."

"Without Queen Dowager Visenya's backing and endorsement—"

"Without her flying Vhagar across the Seven Kingdoms to show support for Maegor, without her using her prestige to intimidate the wavering lords—"

"Even if Maegor had won the Trial of Seven, he could never have seized the throne from his nephew Aegon."

He paced slowly back to his desk, tapping his fingers on its surface as he looked at his daughter:

"Visenya was the Conqueror's elder sister and wife, the woman who ruled the Seven Kingdoms alongside him."

"But her sister Queen Rhaenys bore the firstborn son, Aenys, while Visenya had only Maegor."

"And her prestige... far outstripped that of Rhaenys's descendants."

"You're referring to Aemond?" Alicent asked softly.

Otto did not answer directly, but continued:

"Queen Dowager Visenya helped her son win the Faith Militant Uprising, forced the High Septon to recognize the legality of Targaryen incest and polygamy."

"The supporters Maegor had in his early days—most houses of the Crownlands, the nobles of the Vale—"

"Were all nobles who had bent the knee to Visenya Targaryen during the Conquest."

He paused.

"Even though Maegor was infamous for his cruelty, even though he killed his own nephews, slaughtered tens of thousands of the Faith of the Seven..."

"As long as Visenya lived, these nobles remained loyal to him."

"Because loyalty to Maegor was loyalty to Visenya."

Alicent picked up the steel ring.

"But after Visenya died?" Otto sighed. "These nobles no longer supported Maegor."

"In the end, Maegor was abandoned by all. Not a single Targaryen or noble stood by his side."

"Maegor killed every possible competitor, and every possible ally as well."

"The lords of the realm ignored this king, paying lip service to his commands while defying them in deed."

"Until the surviving third son of Aenys I... Jaehaerys, raised his banners in the Stormlands."

The study fell silent.

"And when Maegor called his loyalists to arms, scarcely a noble answered."

Otto walked to his daughter, his gaze falling on the ring in her hand. "Even the most loyal Count Harwin knelt before the Iron Throne, weeping as he urged Maegor to abdicate."

Alicent listened in silence.

"Maegor, enraged, beheaded him. And after that night..."

Otto shook his head. "The king was found dead on the Iron Throne, his body pierced by its blades."

"No one knows who did it—perhaps a guard, perhaps an assassin sent by some lord, perhaps the Iron Throne itself rejected its cruel master."

He reached out, took the ring from his daughter's hand, and held it up to the light streaming through the window. The steel glinted coldly.

"Even though Maegor possessed the mightiest dragon, the Black Death Balerion, even though he was acknowledged as the strongest warrior in all the Seven Kingdoms."

"Ballads called him the Warrior incarnate, able to fight a hundred men alone."

"But in the end, he died obscurely on the Iron Throne, with no one by his side."

Otto placed the ring back in the wooden box and closed the lid. The soft click echoed sharply through the silent study.

"Alicent, the Targaryens are only gods when they ride their dragons. Once they touch the ground, they are no different from mortals."

"As long as they are human, they can be wounded, betrayed, and killed."

"Dragonflame can burn castles and terrify the world, but it cannot burn loyalty into men, nor can it forge devotion."

Otto handed the wooden box to his daughter Alicent:

"After Maegor's death, Visenya's line was utterly extinguished."

"Of Conqueror Aegon's two wives—the elder sister Visenya and the younger sister Rhaenys—only Rhaenys's bloodline endures to this day."

"Even someone as mighty as Aegon the Conqueror or Maegor the Cruel could never truly master the entire Seven Kingdoms."

Otto continued, "Do you know why?"

Alicent shook her head.

"Because the Targaryens are outsiders."

Otto said earnestly, "They have little foundation of their own, and their family is sparse in numbers."

"If they do not choose to ally with these noble houses of Westeros, who have endured for millennia, the Targaryens cannot rule the Seven Kingdoms—even with their dragons..."

"They cannot."

Alicent hugged the wooden box and asked hoarsely, "Are you worried that Aemond will be like Maegor... ignoring all rules?"

"He has that potential." Otto sat back in his high-backed chair, rubbing his brow wearily. "He is intelligent, composed, but also arrogant, vengeful, and extreme."

As he spoke, Otto let out a resigned smile and looked at Alicent.

"Every trait the Targaryens possess, he has."

"Aemond doesn't like me. I can feel it."

Otto pointed a finger at Alicent.

"But you and Helaena can influence him."

"What exactly do you want me to do?" Alicent asked.

"Do what you must, Alicent."