In the tourney stands, Aegon looked up and happened to see Rhaenyra, who was holding him, looking in the direction Ser Harrold Westeros had pointed.
Curious himself about why Rhaenyra, who had been serving as his cushion for half the day, had stayed silent for so long, Aegon followed her gaze.
What he saw gave him quite a shock. In the direction Ser Harrold had pointed and Rhaenyra was watching, Criston Cole unhorsed one of Alicent's cousins with a single thrust of his lance-a man Aegon had met several times.
A deafening cheer erupted from the stands.
But even when Ser Harrold pointed out the other remaining contender, Aegon was no longer in the mood to look.
Angry, he cupped Rhaenyra's face and planted several fierce kisses on it. She froze, blushing instantly. Though she hardly objected, and was even delighted by his affection, there were so many people around.
Watching Rhaenyra sit there in a daze with her hands over her cheeks, Alicent nearly lost her grip on her Silver Goblet. She discreetly nudged Viserys beside her with her elbow, a barely perceptible flicker of jealousy in her eyes. Viserys merely smiled and shook his head, reaching over to ruffle Aegon's messy hair. His voice brimmed with indulgence. "This child grows more unruly by the day."
Despite his words, there was not a trace of reproach on his face.
As someone obsessed with dragon dreams, he had been thoroughly taken in by the "Dreamwalker" identity that the great swindler Aegon had concocted using his knowledge, as a transmigrator, of the original story's future events.
Together with the precocious intelligence Aegon had always shown, it meant that, to exaggerate a little, Viserys now indulged him in almost anything short of openly committing murder or breaking the law.
Of course, Aegon