Chapter 5: A Feast

103 AC

The Hightower, Oldtown

"To King Viserys, May the light of the Seven shine upon him and may the Seven grant him a long and prosperous life, may his reign be more plentiful and peaceful than even his grandsire's." Lord Hobert Hightower toasted. Mercifully his was the last toast after a long line of toasts.

Everyone raised their cups and drank. Those who could anyway.

"Why do you bother being polite with such cunts?" Daemon asked me as he eyed the Hightowers.

"Appearances must be maintained, not all of us can insult everyone and everything and live life as if it doesn't affect us, I won't be surprised if one day all this comes to bite you in the arse," I replied as I drank.

"What concerns a Dragon with the opinions of the sheep?" Daemon scoffed.

"That is exactly what Maegor thought," I dryly responded.

Daemon had no reply to that because how could he?

For a while, Daemon did nothing but pick at the roast chicken on his plate and I left him at that then after a while he asked, "How is the wife hunt going? Isn't it supposed to end tonight?"

I nodded, "Yes, the hunt has now whittled down to the last two, Dacey Blackwood and Myrielle Lannister."

"I thought you weren't going for the girls from the Riverlands," Daemon asked.

"I thought the same but Rhaenys pressed upon me the need to have Riverlords in my corner willingly instead of simply intimidating them into obedience," I responded thinking about my conversation with her on the issue.

Flashback:

"It doesn't matter how big of a dragon you have, Aegon, you need to have allies in the Riverlands, allies whose fortunes are tied to yours, and the best way for that is marriage, your friendship with Lord Strong isn't enough." Rhaenys began.

"You are surrounded by the most powerful Riverlords on all sides, if you don't have any allies amongst them then there is a very good chance that when trouble strikes you will be left all alone to face the storm." She continued cutting me off before I could say anything.

"If I marry a Blackwood then my ability to remain impartial in any matters regarding them is hampered," I replied, Plus I am jittery about having a possible Bloodraven. Or maybe a Bloodraven might just be needed for the possible Dance.

"Then send all Blackwood-related problems to King's Landing, not that it is any different now." She waved it off.

"What if the Blackwoods go out of their way to make trouble?" I then asked,

"It's your job to ensure sure that they don't." She replied evenly, "Isn't that the entire point of giving you the Blue Fork and Fairmarket, to mediate between the Riverlords and to help establish Targaryen dominance over the Riverlands." She continued.

"Looks like the reason behind my presence in the Riverlands is public knowledge," I remarked upon hearing the last part.

"Everyone with half a brain knows that." She responded with a scoff. "It's the same reason why Daemon was married off to his Bronze Heiress, not that it worked." 

Back to Present:

"And the Lannister?" Daemon asked pulling me out of my flashback.

"She is Viserys' choice for me, he wants to reward the Lannisters for their support during the Great Council," I said with a sigh.

While the Lannister of the Dance era is not the Lannisters of the GoT era, I am still hesitant when it comes to them. They are still the pompous and insufferable cunts that happen when you live on top of a gold mine. Their arrogance and wealth are only matched by House Hightower.

Myrielle Lannister is not Cersei Lannister in any sense but I still have this nagging feeling in the back of my head to stay away from Lannisters, must be from years of watching Cersei go off the deep end and all the Lannister hate fics.

"So who is your choice?" Daemon asked as he took a refill of his cup.

"No idea," I answered as I took a bite of the pork sausage.

"Are you in any need of money that the Lannister dowry might help with?" He asked,

I shook my head, "No, I have more money than I need, when I first got the town I agreed with Grandfather that for ten years three-fifths of all the taxes from the Riverlands will be used for the development of Fairmarket, even Otto is smart enough not to interfere with that."

Daemon chuckles, "Yes, he knows that if he interfered with that, you would take his head."

"Not to mention, the construction on the wharves is complete, trade has taken off and it will only increase with each passing day." I continued.

"Good, so you don't need the Lannisters then," Daemon said nodding.

"Seems that way, are you asking me to marry the Blackwood girl," I asked him curiously.

After a few seconds, he nodded and turned to me, and asked, "Do you know why none of our aunts were ever betrothed to a Lannister or anyone from the Westerlands for that matter?"

"Because our grandfather didn't like them," I answered shrugging.

"Yes, he didn't like them, and more specifically he didn't trust them one bit, It goes back to his sister, Queen Rhaena," Daemon answered and that's when it hit me.

"Those pretentious cunts were under the assumption that dragons could be mastered like a horse, that if you had a dragon egg you could hatch them and breed them to be your hunting dogs," Daemon said with poison.

"Unlike the Riverlords who for all their quirks, understand the fact that they are less than us which is why they grovel before you, they have Harrenhal to remind them of the power of the dragon, Hell the Reachmen haven't forgotten the Field of Fire yet the Westermen have."

"Perhaps, it has to do with the fact that most of the losses at the Field of Fire were Reachmen," I said thinking back to the history lessons.

"Mayhaps." Daemon nodded.

"Well, I will keep that in mind." I said to him as I got up, "I will be joining the dance, hope to see you there brother."

As I made my way to the dance floor, I thought about Daemon's marriage, he got the whole package that any other Prince in his position would be hard-pressed to find. An heiress from one of the most powerful and ancient Houses of Westeros, the second most powerful and one of the richest Houses in the Vale, and finally a fucking Valyrian Steel Sword.

What more does a guy need?

All the while I had to start from the ground up in Fairmarket surrounded by people who saw me as a Tyrant.

All Daemon had to do was to fuck Rhea to get a son or daughter only for that plan to fall out of the window when the two of them can barely stand to look each other in the eye or be in the same room much less have sex.

And why does Daemon hate Rhea? Because she is one of the few women in this world, who don't take Daemon's shit. And that is blasphemy in Daemon's world.

I searched for both Myrielle and Dacey and I found Dacey waiting for a partner while Myrielle was dancing with another man.

Dacey was a tall and pretty girl, her black hair was a mane of curls, and her face was framed with two curly bangs and laughing dark brown eyes. With a small nose, red lips, and a slender figure, she was quite a looker.

I walked over to Dacey with all eyes of the Feast Hall on me, I gave out my hand to her and I said with a smile,

"My Lady, would you care for a dance."

"I would love to my Prince," She said with a smile of her own as she took my hand.