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“Hail, hail Aegon the Conqueror-Babe, Second of His Name! Here's to His Grace on his second name day!”
He feels an anger so great that it threatens to drown him as grief has been doing for so long. Feels as if his blood will boil and burn whoever comes near him.
He looks to his grandsire, or is it father now?, only to be met with his indifference. ‘Tis no wonder they usurped her throne if King Viserys has let go of such infractions with no punishment.
Daemon would have had Hightower’s tongue or even his head for that. Jace would have his tongue for that if he was King.
Alas, the King is a man who ignores treason and the snakes around him. Not his uncle, who Jace feels would have made a better King, even if blood-thirsty. Or him, who would never live that long.
And certainly not his mother, who would have made an excellent Queen if she wasn't met with treachery and loss one after the other. She's stronger than her father but has the restraint that Daemon doesn't possess.
Princess Rhaenys would certainly have been a better ruler than his grandsire. What does it matter that he loves his daughter if he is the one nurturing her enemies?
This must certainly be a punishment by the Gods for defying his Queen and mother. He had thought that at first, but behaving as he wanted has only brought judgement upon himself. Everyone behaves as if this is normal and Jace is the mad one for saying that he's dead.
He has stopped for fear of his mother being called mad even in this false world.
Why would Jace wake up in his mother's body if not to be punished with every indignity and hurt she was forced to endure? Surely the Gods must have thought his decision to lock his mother in her rooms only to leave her with a dead son and dragon the most grievous of sins. Mayhaps the worst betrayal was his, for the trust his mother had in him even if she did not listen to him.
He can barely keep his hands from strangling the usurper, even if he's only a babe. If mother were cruel, as they called her, she would have done so and ascended the throne with no opposition.
If none of what is happening is real, can't he do that? Should he not do that? Is it not his right to take vengeance on his mother's killer?
Will the Gods punish him more for choosing to be a kinslayer and babe killer when he should simply accept his punishment to understand how hard mother's life was?
What then, will he marry his father and have children with his other father?
Gods. No, if there is one thing he won't do, it is to damn any children to that fate. He wants Luke back, he wants Joff and Egg and Vis back but he can't do that, he can't have them only for them to be killed.
Why should they, his innocent brothers, suffer for Jace's punishment?
Could they not have punished him by simply making him watch his family's death over and over again? Why must they feel the pain of death for Jace to be punished? They are only innocents.
And then there is the question of Jace. What of Jacaerys Velaryon? What of Rhaenyra Targaryen? Will Jace be born? Where is his mother?
He glances at Ser Harwin from the corner of his eyes. He had taken a party for himself, no matter how condescending everyone was to his mother when he said he would ride to hunt, and Ser Harwin joined them along with Ser Steffon and Lord Celtigar’s nephew. He's glad, really, Criston’s eyes on his back makes him want to crawl out of his skin.
And what if,
What if this is all as real as everyone around him keeps pretending?
It does not matter, he decides. Watching the king of the forest appear before his lady mother, or her body at the least, he makes the decision that it does not matter. He will have his mother crowned. He will see it done and if the Gods are angry at him, they can punish him more. He won't stand around just to watch his mother's life, her throne be taken.
He won't stand by and watch the dragons dance and die.
He certainly won't allow the Hightowers to have the throne.
Rhaenyra Targaryen does not have experience in archery, but she is a dragon rider. She has strength in her arms and upper body that all those useless men wished they had. She has a seat better than the most renowned rider. So it is no trouble at all for Jace to aim and take a shot at the white stag.
He knows, without a doubt, that his mother would have let the stag go to live his life. Mayhaps that was the problem, his mother could not afford to be as kind as she was as the first ruling queen. Certainly not with half brothers.
No matter, Jace will protect her claim.
An impossible shot, he thinks. An accident. Jace is good, but not that good. But it is good for his mother.
“Princess.” Ser Criston said, awe in his voice.
He is going to kill that traitor.
Otto Hightower's face when he saw Jace bring the White Stag makes him feel so satisfied that for a moment he truly doubts if the Gods are punishing him. But he remembers his previous decision that it does not matter.
Aegon the conqueror babe, was it? He scoffs inwardly, he has never seen anyone less deserving of the name.
If what he dreamt before he woke in his mother's body is true, then it is his brother Aegon who holds that title.
He is Aegon, Second of his name. Who would even recognise the usurper as a king? His brother must have changed it later in his reign. As horrible as his brother's fate was, he can sleep better knowing that it is his mother's blood who sits the throne, not the Hightower's.
Mayhaps he can get Aegon back, he knows when Egg was born, he can try if it's possible to end up with Daemon. And Viserys. And Visenya. She could live this time.
If he married Ser Harwin, could he get Luke and Joff back?? He knows when they were born as well, he will simply wait until that time.
If there weren't two kingsguards claiming that Princess Rhaenyra took the shot herself, he doubts anyone would have believed it. Even if one of them is a disgrace to all knights.
How brazenly the Lord hand questions his mother, as if he is not beneath her. Of course, King Viserys allows it, the fool. He too looked surprised.
He feels nothing, as he stands above the usurper’s cradle. The nursemaid is sleeping in her pallet in the corner but she hasn't woken up. He does not know why the royal nursery would be in a chamber with a secret door but he is glad it is. Could be that they do not know of the secret passageways at all.
Daemon said that even he doesn't know all of it and Jace remembers most of what he drew so that they would know how to get out should something happen, but some he has forgotten, especially as he wasn't taught when he had access to the Red Keep.
Conqueror babe. He scoffs with as little sound as he could manage. He's only a babe now but babes grow up into usurpers and kinslayers.
They grow into beasts who throw a feast for another kinslayer for slaying his own nephew.
They grow into monsters who make little boys watch their mother being burnt and eaten alive.
When the screaming starts in the morning and Princess Rhaenyra is blamed for a crime that she could not have possibly committed according to the guards standing outside the nursery and the Princess’s chambers, and the nursemaid on duty, the King apologizes to her personally.
“He is lying. He is in league with her!” Alicent screams.
“Your Grace,” Criston starts while kneeling, “I swear on my white cloak and the Mother that I'm not lying. The Princess had not come out of her rooms once during the night.”
He feels like he must be dreaming witnessing the hateful look Alicent is sending Criston's way. Jace has to put effort into not laughing like a maniac. The resentment towards Alicent on Criston's face when Jace pathetically apologized even when it felt like swallowing nails on behalf of the Queen and for being the reason for the Queen's questioning of his honour was even better.
The king has lost many babes in the cradle, and he certainly won't accuse his own beloved daughter of such a thing, so Princess Rhaenyra graciously accepts the apology on the condition that the queen consort has no authority over the Crown Princess.
She is scared, he tells the King, that someone who thinks she has killed their babe should not get to make decisions for her. She does not want to be even more ostracized in her own home. They're already calling her a kinslayer.
The horrible headache that made him feel like his head was splitting in half must come from the memories of his mother's life.
Even still, he is glad for Baela who challenged him to execute the perfect curtsey and Rhaena for teaching it to him because there is absolutely no world in which he would have been able to do it with just someone else's memories.
He cried for days after he woke, for his mother, his family, but he has learned to keep the grief at bay, if only to hurt the Hightowers.
Alicent looks at him with distrust and he cannot feel anything but glee but he does manage to try to look like a wounded puppy. Why his mother loved that traitor, he does not know. Not even with the new memories. Yes, they were friends, sisters even, but she betrayed mother. Then she abused her in her own home, tried to have her sons killed, succeeded in the same at last after stealing her throne.
Why ever would she believe her?
He did not take it literally when Daemon said Otto whored his own daughter for the crown, just like he did not when he claimed that the greens killed the king and stole his throne. The king looked dead enough the last time they saw him, so it was not some great conspiracy as Daemon thought but mayhaps he would have believed the same if it was his own brother who died afar with only traitors surrounding him and had his throne stolen.
Mother never said anything to cement such an idea either.
Jace has only ever seen Alicent as the Queen with the power to make his mother and father, both dragonriders and grandchildren of King Jahaerys, want to run as far away from the Red Keep as possible.
Oh, he agreed that Otto and Alicent shouldn't have that much power but he did not truly realise how little Alicent should have mattered. She should be married to some landed knight, not the king. If the king had enough sense to marry Aunt Laena and had a boy, he would have given up his throne and left for Dragonstone. He does not want to be anywhere near the viper's nest that was Kingslanding or fight a war against his cousins.
It is not as if every day he does not struggle to motivate himself enough to stay alive without everyone he has ever loved. His grandsire might as well not be there for all the good he does.
But he would rather let Caraxes eat him than let the Hightowers have the throne.
He hated Alicent like he hasn't anyone else since she tried to take his brother's eye and drew blood from his mother. She was the monster of Jace's dreams for so long, especially when he had lost his father as well at the same time.
But now that he knew the exact situation, of the king announcing his intention to marry Alicent with no reason or courting and that too over his Aunt Laena, he knew Daemon was right. He was right when he said Alicent would gladly kill them, that Otto would stop at nothing but having another puppet king so that the crown is essentially his, he was right when he said that Luke should have taken that blade to Aemond’s throat.
He cannot even be angry at Jahaerys’s death anymore. Jace has done worse now.
If nothing else, Jace is glad he did not have to tell Daemon that he was right.
She whored herself for her crown and accused his mother of impropriety.
The hypocrite.
The whore.
Who knows, mayhaps Aegon was a bastard.
It is no wonder why his mother thought treating her heir the way she did during the war was acceptable if this is how she has been treated.
Pouring wine for these traitors when she should be taking her place as Princess of Dragonstone. The shame. Why did the King even make her the heir if he was going to sabotage her?
It does not matter, he thinks, if the lords don't respect him. By the time the king dies, there will be only one heir left to crown. And if they want to crown Daemon because they believe the princess to be a kinslayer? So be it.
Let Baela be the first Queen Regnant in his mother's stead. He will not complain.
No Hightowers will be anywhere near the throne with Daemon in power but Princess Rhaenyra certainly will be the one who makes most of the decisions.
He does feel a dangerous satisfaction whenever he locks gazes with Otto. He doubts that Jace killed Aegon but has no proof. Alicent went into labour prematurely when it happened, which did not upset Jace at all. They did it to his mother. Unfortunately Alicent and Helaena both survived. He did not intend to kill Helaena but daughters can have sons who can be used against his mother's sons or daughters. It would have been better had she not lived.
He will let Helaena be for now.
He has to learn how to properly manage a lady's household. He has to learn to wear gowns as his grandsire, her father now, will not allow her to be in her riding habit in the castle. Jace should have listened to his mother's plight more. This is insanity.
Lady Elinda is unfortunately not of age and Daemon is at war. His Aunt Laena has been offended when the king married his whore, and he knows Princess Rhaenys was never fond of mother, so he could not simply go to Driftmark.
Jason Lannister is the worst marriage prospect he has gotten that he thinks he will end up marrying his father again. Ser Harwin does not have enough political clout to be a good match for the Princess of Dragonstone, unfortunately.
And he has come to the conclusion that there is no certainty that he will get his brothers back. Even if he married Daemon no matter how distasteful he finds the prospect of marrying any of his fathers, there is no way to ensure he will get his brothers back.
Until the Gods decide to stop his punishment or extend it for his worse sin he will play the game until his mother sits the throne.
Getting tansy and wormwood by the pound is harder than one imagines when one is a princess with no trustworthy servants. He knows better than to trust anyone in the Red Keep especially when Otto is Hand. He doesn't know when Otto was dismissed or why it was done, so he just keeps waiting for it to happen while Alicent is with child again.
Ah. The kinslayer.
As much as he wants to let him live to make it painful, he knows better than to risk such a thing.
The Queen has taken a strict schedule of breaking her fast with a soup with herbs meant for a healthy babe, the king tells her, after praying in the sept all morning.
It is why he is invited to break fast with the king, as the Queen finds his presence distasteful.
Good for Alicent. She knows that Jace is dangerous.
It is entirely by accident he finds the passages to the Queen's rooms. Daemon hadn't told him of them.
But he makes use of them right after his meals with the king to pour the tea he's brewed into her herb concoction before she comes back in, ready to break her fast.
After Viserys was born, he had unfortunately learned of a tea that his mother takes. To not think of why she is drinking that, he asked Maester Gerardys how it was made purely to distract himself. He cannot help but be thankful to the good maester for his many lessons.
And if he has brewed it wrong? Well, the nursery still has a secret entrance, does it not?
He did not brew it wrong.
Alicent is already heavy with child when Daemon comes back. He knew how his mother's progress was, how disrespectful it was to her so he begged the King to postpone it until after he's wed.
Oh, he will go on a royal progress, but not as a prize mare as mother so aptly put it.
Daemon is still married. And father is father, but he knows he will be asked to mend the bridge between the Velaryons and the crown. He is not entirely against the prospect even if it makes him greensick to think of how heirs are produced in context of any of his fathers. But what is he to do, he needs the Velaryons. And he doesn't trust anyone else. If Lady Jeyne was a man, though she would undoubtedly prefer his current gender. Cregan is too young. Ser Elmo is already married.
More importantly, he doesn't want dark haired boys even if they are trueborn. Alicent will use it against him and he knows exactly how it feels to be a dark haired Targaryen. He does wonder if Princess Rhaenys ever felt not enough, or is it entirely too different when no one questions your legitimacy?
It did not matter in the end, for she lost the throne all the same.
It makes him glad that he wasn't born a dark haired girl. Mother was a perfect Valyrian woman. More Targaryen than any of her beastly half brothers but he now knows exactly how hard her life has been, even with the king proclaiming her the heir and no other prospects except Daemon remaining. Were he born a bastard girl, his and mother's position would have been even more precarious. Not that it mattered much, they both died and lost their thrones.
Daeron and Jace were born moons apart. They were milk brothers on the King’s orders. So he knows this child is an unknown. He knows better than to use the same method he used last time.
He does not want to spend his mother's entire life killing Hightower brats as much as he found satisfaction in the kinslayer’s and the usurper's demise.
When Alicent enters the feast to welcome Daemon back clad in a luxurious green gown heavy with child, he knows that any intention of letting the child live so he could turn them to his side was lost.
Jace has been told the story of the green dress. Alicent called war banners on his mother's wedding, no less.
The loss of children must have changed things. Though what Daemon has to do with anything, he does not know.
He's just being a menace.
As if Jace would ever ruin his reputation when he knows what that does to his mother and for Daemon's mad plans.
When the Queen Consort gives birth to a brown haired girl, he laughs until Princess Rhaenyra has tears streaming down her face.