Do Not Presume to Know The Damned (Jacaerys x Helaena)

Jacaerys III

King Viserys Targaryen I was raging. He usually slumped the Iron Throne during court, but today the king leaned forward, using his dragon-headed cane for support. His crown caught the evening light filtering in through the panes of glass behind The Iron Throne, glinting off the golden peaks and valleys of his circlet. It was almost difficult to look at him as beams of sunlight caught Jace in the eyes as he tried to peek to the side. Jace's mother sometimes wore her princess's face, all curtesy and false smiles. Today Viserys Targaryen wore a king's face.

"I should have your heads!" roared King Viserys, banging his cane down on the stone below his throne with a crack that snapped all in attendance to attention. All but the two Kingsguard who knelt at the bottom of the dais's steps. Ser Criston Cole and Lord Commander Harrold Westerling both kept their heads bowed. Their sworn brothers, the Cargyll twins, stood either side of them with hands on their sword hilts.

"Your Grace, you have our sincerest apologies," Ser Harrold said. "We had no way of knowing what awaited us within the Guildhall." The Lord Commander did not raise his eyes to meet the king's burning gaze. Shame made him small.

"I don't recall divination being included in your vows, Ser." Viserys' eyes gleamed with fury. "Swearing to spill your own blood for mine, and to carry out my commands? Now those were a part of the oath you both swore to me." The king's expression could curdle milk. "In this, you have failed. Utterly."

Ser Harrold had the good sense to remain silent. Cole did not. The knight's head might have been bent, but that dark gaze never left the king.

"With all due respect, Your Grace, we focused on getting as much of your family out as possible. The princes-" A single look from Queen Alicent quelled the Kingsguard knight. Only Aemond's sudden coughing drew her glare away.

"You left my daughter to die." Jace thought Viserys might rise from the throne with the force of his wrath. Sweat beaded on his age-spotted brow and in his wisps of white hair.

The queen, standing on the other side of Jace and Rhaenyra, half stepped towards the throne, but caught herself. Her sons flanked her sides, Aemond's hand clasped in her own. Her face flashed with concern as Viserys flushed redder and redder. Rhaenyra moved too and when the king saw her, he took a breath and sat back on the throne.

"Were it up to me, I'd have you both shipped to the wall or executed for leaving Princess Helaena." Jace twisted in Rhaenyra's arms to look at her. He didn't want Cole or Ser Harrold to die. "As it is, my wife and daughter have requested I grant you both clemency." Rhaenyra didn't meet Jace's eyes, or Ser Harrold's as he gaped at her. The princess just watched her father intently. "You have the princess and queen to thank for your heads, Sers." He shook his head with ill-concealed disgust. "Leave my sight. You will both aid the excavation at the Guildhall with the City Watch."

Both men stood, though Ser Harrold was much slower in the rising. With a deep bow to the king, queen, and princess, the knights started to walk away. Cole, cloak still grimy from the night before, spun about on his heel.

"If I may, My King," Cole said, voice loud enough to carry over the mumbling of the crowd. "No one has told me; how is the princess?"

"If you were so concerned, you would be abed with burns, not Ser Qarl Correy." The king's snarl was brutal. "I will not be so forgiving of your next failure. Now get out."

"The mummer, Maraq," the Hand of the King, Lord Lyonel Strong, announced as the two acquitted Kingsguard walked free. "The grand master of the Alchemist's Guild, Olyvar."

The Cargylls dragged two more men before the deep shadows cast by his grandsire's throne. One Jace recognised as the alchemist his father had spoken to before the doomed performance. He'd been annoying, but unremarkable. It surprised Jace to see him brought for judgement. The other was unfamiliar, but his colouring and clothes marked him as Myrish and his expression marked him as furious.