masquerade | house of the dragon

the beginning of the end

A MONTH BEFORE THE DISASTER

"Princess Illythia.", a voice called her while she was walking in the gardens under the early morning sun. No one was awake yet and she was alone, wanting to take a breath before all.

It's been a fortnight since she came here and the plans had changed a little. Apparently, there was another urgent matter that the crown had to deal with so Illythia's wedding with Prince Jacaerys had been delayed and so did the tournament that had been planned in her honour.

In the past fortnight, she struggled a lot. She had never been this bored in her entire life. Jacaerys went to see her only twice and both meetings were like torture. The boy was still a child in her eyes and clearly lacked wisdom. Some of his behaviours were borderline disturbing. He would make sudden gestures, and raise his voice while talking and she could swear that sometimes the boy's eyes shone with madness.

Illythia didn't like him at all. He was younger than her, he was shorter than her. He couldn't speak High Valyrian -the language of his ancestors, let alone Bastard Valyrian -the language that she spokes. He only talked about the weather and food and such. He couldn't answer basic questions she asked, refused to dive into his family, and on one occasion when she said remotely politic he looked at her as if she had two heads.

Prince Daemon was in every corner she looked. He would look at her without blinking, watching her every move. She wasn't sure if he was looking for a mistake or anything remotely suspicious in her actions or if he was just a pervert.

She had heard about the Rogue Prince in Lys and in her travels through the Narrow Sea and Essos with her father and brother. She had heard the rumours that he had killed his first wife in her home and got away with it. She had heard that he basically kidnapped the Sea Snake's only daughter and married her in secret and then didn't allow her to return back home. She had heard that he doesn't care about his daughters and basically disinherited them. She had heard that he groomed the queen when she was nothing but a small child, only to get the throne. She had heard that the queen's son the young Prince Aegon was conceived on the night of the prince's second wife's funeral and this was the reason for their secret marriage.

And of course, she had heard the way he killed her uncle when he was without armour and wasn't looking.

The Queen was weird. She didn't see her that much but she could tell this. She always looked clueless and surprised. As if she didn't bear in the castle, as if this place wasn't her home, as if she wasn't the crown princess for too long and was always supposed to be the queen one day. Her lack and care of in politics gave her headaches to Lysaro. One of the conditions of the marriage was Lysaro's position in the Small Council. They had agreed, well the Rogue Prince agreed, and apparently, he didn't tell the queen or the rest of the council.

In the past two weeks, they had six meetings and Lysaro wasn't invited to any of them. Her brother didn't get angry quickly, nor neither the Rogares, another aspect that they were different from the Targaryens but this situation was starting to get frustrating.

They had expected a strong enemy in the castle. A powerful, ambitious queen who knows what she is doing, a cruel and ruthless prince consort who is behind every plot, and a dangerous and wise crown prince who is hard to manipulate.

They met with a fucking joke. The Queen was an idiot who had no idea about the ruling, the prince consort was nothing but a child groomer who only managed to control young women, and the crown prince was as clueless as a commoner who had zero talent and a brain inside of his head.

Their plan would work with ease.

"Prince Aemond.", she turned to the voice and examined the man in front of him for a short second. "We haven't been introduced properly yet, I believe."