67 -Chapter 62-

-Chapter 62-

-POV Viserys-

I regained my senses little by little when suddenly I remembered that I was suffocating and I sat up abruptly to search for air with deep breaths, mouth open.

"Hey, easy, it's alright now, breathe in and breathe out slowly," said a voice I instantly recognized.

"Bronn, he tried to kill me, he tried to kill me," I said, panicked, recalling the indifference with which my nephew had choked me.

Bronn burst out laughing and then said, "He didn't try to kill you, fool, he just brought you down from your high horse. I don't know if you realize, but he would kill anyone else for doing what you did, even his brother."

I touched my throat, still a bit panicked, and said, "Does he think I would actually settle for a puppet role?"

"We're all his puppets; he's the king, and he's powerful."

He nodded towards my dragon placed in a cage and said, "Don't think your little lizard gives you any power over him because even I could take it down with an arrow."

"So what am I supposed to do, just play my role and wait to be supplanted by his son?"

"Stop chasing something you'll never have because you might end up losing everything," he said.

"Before meeting him, you were nobody, a begging king."

"I won't allow you to speak to me that way."

"I'm just telling the truth, but if you want, I'll keep quiet; after all, you're not the one paying me," he said.

I mulled over for a few seconds and then said, "Since you've started, finish and say what you have to say."

Bronn observed me for a few seconds before saying, "What I wanted to tell you was that you shouldn't listen to Connington's words because he's trying to get you killed so the Prince can get your dragon."

"He can't kill me, I'm the crown prince."

"Yes, he can't kill you, but..."

"I can," said a third voice that made me jump.

I saw Aegon now dressed in his usual leather armor, carrying on his left flank Lightbringer, his Valyrian steel sword that he had retrieved from the corpse of Stannis. In his hand, he held another sword by the scabbard, which he tossed onto the bed with an annoyed gesture.

He said nothing, and I picked up the sword and slowly drew it.

My breath caught for a moment as I observed the gray blade with a smoky aspect that made it almost black, its pommel featuring a golden dragon biting a red diamond.

I looked up, confused by this present and its meaning.

"This blade was meant to be a gift to celebrate your 23rd name day but also a legacy for your future children and heirs, the Targaryens of Riverrun," he said.

I looked up, shocked, and he said, "My uncle, I have a lot of patience with you because you have lived through events that would have broken more than one man, but never forget how I won my crown, no one, not even you, will become an obstacle to my reign. Have I made myself clear?"

His icy gaze froze me for a second before I quickly nodded, remembering the sensation of suffocation earlier.

He nodded and said, "Good, I've named this blade Loyal; I hope you like it."

I nodded again, and then he said, "Let no one make you doubt my trust in you, you are someone cruel, scornful, proud, ambitious, quick-tempered, and greedy, but fortunately, these are all qualities to become my armed hand. From today, listen to Bronn, he may seem like a rat in your eyes, but he has always survived. He will be able to show you the way to follow and inform you of the manipulations our enemies might try to subject you to."

"I'm sorry for speaking to you that way," I said.

"It's fine, you behaved badly, and I punished you for it. Now we put the past behind us and move forward united as the House of the Dragon should always be. Your mother would surely agree."

For a brief moment, I allowed myself to be carried away by the too rare happy memories I shared with my mother, and then I said, "You're right, that dog Connington won't get what he wants."

"I'm glad to hear it. Rest well."

He was about to leave but stopped, his back still turned, and said, "I want to clarify something before I go, the reason I didn't invite you to that meeting is because you have not yet been educated in military politics and that Viserion is not yet capable of making a real difference on the battlefield."

I nodded and said with a bit of hope, "Once my training is complete, may I attend the Royal Council meetings?"

"No," he said in a tone that completely discouraged me.

I felt a budding sense of resentment crushed by his next sentence, "Starting tomorrow, you will accompany me to each of the Council meetings."

He closed the door as he left, and my gaze remained fixed on the blade he had gifted me, unable to understand how things had gotten to this point.

I heard Bronn's voice say, "He's really too kind, in his place, I would have killed you a long time ago."

'Me too,' I thought inwardly, forced to acknowledge that in reversed positions, I would have killed him long ago just for the lack of respect he had...that I had shown.