Aemond keenly caught the change in his mother's expression. He immediately rose, raised his cup toward Lucerys, who was tearing into a roasted pigeon, and said, "Nephew, you truly fought bravely on the Stone Road. You displayed"—he deliberately bit out the next few words—"the might of the Targaryen family. This toast is to you all. And to your brave knight, Uncle Valar."
At the same time, he signaled with his eyes for Aegon to do something quickly and not let their mother ruin things. Alicent, however, heard her son using such polite words to toast Rhaenyra's bastard, and her gaze snapped back like a blade.
Daemon, meanwhile, somewhat regretfully pounded his thigh, and his look toward Aemond gained a layer of meaning. Jacaerys, too, gravely looked at the uncles across from him and his own knight.
Lonzell, however, maintained his smile throughout. He merely watched his stiff younger brother escape Lyra Celtigar's embrace as though pardoned, then take a cup from Lonzell's table in response to Prince Aemond's toast.
Aegon also rose with his cup and sidled up beside Lonzell and Valar. In a hushed voice, he said, "Uncle, I heard you're engaged to a girl from the Tully family. What's she like? Let me tell you—" Before he could finish, Alicent noticed the rather abnormal smile on her eldest son's face and turned her attention toward him again. She glared at him in frustration, but in such a setting, she could not exactly go over and twist his ear.
Before he could finish, Lonzell clinked his cup against the prince's and said quietly, "Prince, mind the occasion. I'll hold a tourney at my wedding. You'll be coming, won't you?"
"Uh..." Aegon looked into Lonzell's deep violet eyes and suddenly felt a chill run down his back. Guiltily, he swallowed