Chapter 19: All men must die

298 AC

Great Sept of Baelor, King's Landing

Death is one thing that is constant in life, from the moment one is born, death follows them as a shadow who knows when it will strike, I had long accepted that but in the end, when death did come for my family, I never imagined that it would come so suddenly and strike the two women in life who have held me up and that too within a week: my mother and my wife. I stood vigil over my mother and my wife in the Great Sept, as did Viserys, Aegon, and Maekar.

Summer fever is what Qyburn called it, he tried whatever he could but Elia's frail health was always a cause of concern, had she stayed in the Water Gardens as I asked her to she might have lived but she returned to King's Landing for the sake of the children. As for my mother, her health had started to fail two years ago which culminated in a simple fever, so much for all of Qyburn's advancements in medicine.

Rhaella and Elia join the list of people who were once close to me and now dead, suddenly I find myself alone, Ser Gerold died of old age as did Jon Darry, one of my best friends and confidants Jon Connington was dead of the pox a year ago, the same pox that Arianne had caught as a child but survived, I was more than shocked but the butterflies didn't stop there for a month later I got the news that Doran was dead, this time a freak accident when he fell off his horse while returning to Dorne from King's Landing. Arianne Martell now rules in his place and fortunately, unlike the OTL, Doran bothered to teach her how to rule.

Arthur, Richard, and Qyburn are the only people left that I trust and soon they will be gone as well, I think that it is time to bring the children into the family business.

My mother would be cremated according to Targaryen traditions at dusk while Elia's body would be sent back to Dorne, Oberyn was yet to arrive from a diplomatic visit to Pentos, his ship might have already departed from Pentos by now.

There was silence in Sept, the Lords and Ladies had come to show their respects and none tried to approach me, they all know that I don't tolerate brown nosers, my policies that have helped centralize the power of the crown to an unprecedented extent have created more than a few malcontents but with the Cannibal all complaints have been silenced.

I stood there for hours, my hand resting on the pommel of Lady Forlorn for so long that my hand fell asleep, I stayed that way even longer until Arthur came by my side and said, "Your Grace, it is time for the cremation of the Dowager Queen."

I nodded and turned to look through the window outside to see the orange tint of sunset, as I left my position so did my brother and sons, as I was about to leave the Sept, Richard approached me and I commanded him, "The Silent Sisters are to escort Elia's bones to Dorne, the entourage of Dornish Lords and Knights in the Capital are to be made ready with all haste for they shall leave at first light," I commanded and he nodded and left to make the arrangements.

"Prince Oberyn will not be happy when he returns from Pentos," Arthur warned me as we walked out of the Sept to where the horses were awaiting us.

"Do I look like I give a shit about Oberyn at this point?" I grunted as I walked up to my stallion and climbed him.

We rode down the street to Red Keep with the Royal Guards surrounding me while I wore mail underneath my clothes, a chance of assassination was not to be taken lightly.

The city was much changed from the time when I first rode into the city during the War of the Pretender. The city had new institutions like its schools, hospitals, and banks, all streets be they new or old were cobbled, the city had new townhouses, new guildhalls, and a new harbor was built by the Iron Gate. The city spilled over the walls and planning for a new set of walls is in the works. The city no longer stank like an unwashed whore but rather like a perfumed whore.

All the schools in King's Landing were brought together into one institution called the Royal Academy which helped supplant the Order of the Maesters from Seagard to Sunspear. Scholars from the Royal Academy were hired to advise Lords in their castles instead of Maesters because the Scholars have my patronage and I made it a prerequisite for any Lord if they wished to seek my favor. All the while the Westerlands, the North, and the Reach are the outcasts in my new world order.

Along with Elia, I fostered my court into a center of learning, where scholars, intellectuals, thinkers, painters, mathematicians, and writers from all over the world came together to share ideas and the Royal Academy was a key part of that. Unlike war-torn Essos, my peaceful reign allowed Westeros across all the Kingdoms to grow rich, plentiful, prosperous, and far more sophisticated than before.

I have ushered in an architectural, artistic, literary, and scientific renaissance. The advancements done in the fifteen years of my reign outpace those of all my predecessors combined. The sextant was invented as was the compass, mathematics, metaphysics, and the remnants of the ancient wisdom of Valyria and Old Ghis were translated and preserved. Under my patronage, the Westerosi world has realized great advancements in science and medicine, and they have built automata machines and clocks that run on water. The scholars in King's Landing soar above their contemporaries in Oldtown, Braavos, Myr, and Volantis be it in astronomy, agronomics, and mathematics.

Now whether this is a Renaissance or the swansong of the Targaryen dynasty is to be decided by my descendants.

My power was at its zenith, not even Jaehaerys I or Viserys I could match my authority for I controlled land from Seagard to Summerhall. After Jon's death, I was named as the executor of his will and as he had no children, I annexed the Stormlands into the Crownlands using that as an excuse, the objections of the Stormlords were dismissed. I gave Lord Gulian Swann a city charter and a generous loan of development for his small town on the mouth of the Slayne river and the power of the Stormlander Lords was broken after that. Storm's End came under my aegis much to Ronnet Connington's consternation though he didn't have the balls to object to my face.

As for the Riverlands, after Walder Frey's 'accidental' death, the Twins were engulfed in a civil war that nearly wiped out the once-large Frey family. Tytos Blackwood tried to mediate but he failed and was treacherously killed by Black Walder who made it into a whole new league in kinslaying, there were too many Freys, too many families involved from the Lannisters with Emmon to Olyvar with Rosby, and by the time I finally got involved after many Riverlords begged me to intervene, the succession and lines of inheritance were to complicated to sort out. So I did the easy option, all male Freys were to be castrated and sent to the wall, except for Black Walder who was killed, all females were sent to the Silent Sisters while I took control of the Twins and the Green Fork. Most Riverlords were happy with it though Tywin Lannister was not as his brother-in-law and nephews were castrated and sent to the Wall.

Following that fiasco, the remaining Riverlands were annexed to the Crownlands, completing a process that I thought would take generations, from Summerhall to Seagard I now ruled a new domain. It was a territory not unlike that of the Storm Kings who ruled the Riverlands before the Hoares but unlike them who ruled over a large and unwieldy territory, I ruled over a kingdom that was cemented under my authority from end to end with an effective bureaucracy to run it.

And the key to my centralized power was my Magistrates, they were the Civil servants who reported directly to my Hand, Matthis Rowan, and myself. The new Crownlands was divided into districts, and each district was led by the Magistrate whose primary job was to collect taxes from the nobles residing in said district, and they were to maintain law and order in their districts and keep the peace between the nobles with the Sheriff and Deputies answering to them, it was like Tudor England, feudal but centralized.

The Royal demesne was expanded as well, the entire Kingswood was brought under my control as was the Blackwater river basin, and the lands of Hayford, Rosby, and Stokeworth were appropriated into Royal control using diplomacy, muscle, and a few legal loopholes. Harrenhal was annexed to Royal lands along with the God's Eye basin, with Storm's End and the Twins in this list, from these lands alone I now had a combined income that surpassed the Hightowers. And with the taxes, I was now richer than Tywin Fucking Lannister, no matter how much he shat.

My actions were considered a blatant abuse of Royal authority by virtually everyone but I had a standing army of fifty thousand men, a fleet of three hundred ships that ruled both the Narrow Sea and the Sunset Sea. And most importantly I had a massive dragon and my sons had dragons of their own which were now of fighting size.

Later that Night

King's Solar, Maegor's Holdfast

After Rhaella's cremation, I called my children and siblings to my solar, it was time to teach the kids how to be autocrats. Rhaenys and Daenerys were still red-eyed from crying, Maekar looks uncertain, Viserys looks nonchalant while Aegon looks rather stormy because I haven't allowed him to join his mother's funeral procession, alas ruling waits for no one. After bonding with his dragon Baelarax (Drogon) Aegon's health noticeably improved though certain bouts of sickness were like that of his mother's situation.

I sat down on my chair and began "Alright, first things first, Viserys, you get to have your pick, the Twins, Harrenhal, or Storm's End, I am giving you the choice of whichever one you want."

Originally, Viserys was supposed to be the Lord of Dragon's Den, previously Heart's Home, but I sold it to Yohn Royce as I needed Viserys to rule one of my recently acquired and more strategic holdings in the Riverlands and Stormlands. Viserys knew about and already made his decision, and I would confirm it tomorrow in court.

Viserys looks thoughtful for a while before saying "Well, the Twins are an ideal location, right between North and South and anyone that has a hold on it has a stranglehold on the North, not to mention a profitable spot for taxes and strategic spot for military conquest, and of course, my wife has given birth to our twin girls, so it must be an omen, I will take the Twins, brother."

"Good, the Twins it is," I nodded, Ysilla Royce gave birth to Baela and Naerys Targaryen six months ago, after a spate of miscarriages and stillbirths, at least Rhaella got to see the twin girls.

And then I turned to Maekar and asked, "And you Maekar, Storm's End or Harrenhal?"

"Am I not supposed to be the Prince of Summerhall?" He curiously asks.

"Yes, but Summerhall is our summer palace, a place where we go to escape the stress of court, while I may have fortified it, the lands of Summerhall are not large enough to make a proper administrative center, it may be the starting point of the Boneway but that is it, the best spot to rule the erstwhile Stormlands is from Storm's End or you can have Harrenhal which is not only the largest castle in Westeros but also the main spot for control over the entire Riverlands," I said to him, also Harrenhal happens to be his origin story's starting point, but everyone knew that.

Harrenhal was also the place with the single largest concentration of soldiers of the Royal Army, ten thousand men were stationed in that castle, and General HQ may have been based in the Red Keep but the person who controlled Harrenhal could easily be a Kingmaker in times of internal strife. The same could be said about Dragostone, half the Royal Navy was stationed on that island, the Admiralty may be based in the Red Keep as well but the Prince of Dragonstone lead the Fleet.

"Dragons destroyed Harrenhal and only a dragon will be able to build it back," Maekar then replied, "I will take Harrenhal, Father," Looks like Storm's End will be under the control of the Magistrate for the time being.

Rebuilding Harrenhal is quite a tall order, something that will certainly take more than a hundred years of concerted effort according to my top builders. I had the stone of the walls of Harrenhal quarried and I used them to rebuild the Dragonpit and parts of King's Landing. But despite all the stone taken away, there was still more than enough stone on the walls to be impregnable, the narrowest point in the wall after all the quarrying is more than fifty feet thick while the thickest is three times that.

"Good, but if you are scared of the curse, you can stay in the Red Keep," I japed causing the others to laugh while Maekar turned red.

"I am not scared of any curse, with Jadefyre (Rhaegal) no ghosts will dare touch me," He confidently asserted. He had good reason to be confident for his dragon for his bond with his dragon was the strongest of the three which did explain why despite Baelarax being the largest at their hatching, Jadefyre has grown noticeably bigger than the other two, while Daenerys and Rhaellion (Viserion) were the smallest of the lot, not that Dany minded, she was happy with her dragon as she was.

"I admire your confidence, my son, now that we have decided on where we are going to rule from, I think it is time that I revealed to you all my plans for the future of House Targaryen's dominance in Westeros," I said in a serious tone.