“I know how the laws of succession work. But Aerys lost your family the right to sit the throne. He had Brandon and Rickard Stark brutally killed. He would have had my uncle Robert and Eddard Stark murdered too, even though they were innocent of any crime and were barely out of boyhood. How could Jon Arryn not go to war against your father when asked to execute two boys who were like sons to him? How could Eddard Stark not fight against the man who had committed such atrocities against his family? And how could uncle Robert not support his dearest friend in that, and work to rescue his betrothed from her kidnapper, your brother Rhaegar?”
Did Viserys even know about any of this? He was so young when all of it happened, younger than Shireen was now. He would have been kept away from it all, and it might be that no one had ever told him about it. The Targaryen supporters who had sheltered him and his sister in their exile wouldn’t have wanted to tell him about the terrible things his father had done. But Viserys must have memories of Aerys, perhaps he remembered that his father could be cruel and violent…
Shireen continued, still speaking softly, gently. “How could any lord serve a king when they knew that he could slaughter them with impunity whenever he wanted? Aerys broke the rules on which the Seven Kingdoms are based- lords serve the king, and in turn, he offers them protection and a guarantee that they’re not going to be executed at the king’s slightest whim. If they don’t keep to those principles, no man can be king and no woman can be queen. Aerys could no longer rightfully rule as king, and could no longer hand down his title to his children.”
Shireen considered. “Negotiation isn’t exactly what I had in mind. It just seems to me that this is the meeting that normally comes at the end of a war of succession. Two claimants come together, face to face, in the throne room of the king or queen’s castle, and their fates are determined…”
He stood in silence as she went over their shared history. He hadn’t been told this version. Only the one skewed by those who wanted to see him on the throne that and from what his young child mind could recall which had gotten hazy over time. He could still recall what kind of man his father was and he barely recalled his brothers taking to the Northern woman. He had been raised by a paranoid abusive man and it hadn’t done him any favors later in life, he knew that much. But he heard the truth in the young girls voice and he grimaced. “I never said my father was a good man or king. He was far from it. My brother did your Uncle wrong. Both parties partook in bloodshed. I will get what it mine with fire and blood but I do not want to be like my father. I do not want to be seen as he was.”
His shoulders dropped, he was already the Begger King, the Khal Raggat. He wouldn’t be the second Mad King. No negotiation? Viserys knew he hadn’t been exactly raised in true Westeros politics but what the Baratheon was saying confused the young man. “By the people? To the death?” Viserys had no idea what the young girl was getting at. If Viserys had gotten here before he and his sister had conquered parts of Essos he’d want to kill the girl and get it over with but he stayed those thoughts knowing how the people he wanted to rule over would see him if he did such a thing, he’d be no better than The Mountain or any of the Usurpers themselves or his men.
He was wrong- Shireen knew her men, and they were loyal and honest and true. “If that was the case, they would want to keep that child on the throne, surely, rather than serve a fully grown man who they can’t manipulate to the same extent? So, they would still support my claim.”
Shireen shook her head sadly. “I am sorry that Aegon and Rhaenys and their mother were killed, my lord, but it was Lannister men who murdered them, not Baratheon.”
Shireen gritted her teeth at his suggestion. “No!” She was a Baratheon, the rightful queen, and she would not be treated like an object to be disposed of at will, just because she was a child. She would never let him marry her off to a Frey, and she would never submit to a life of humiliation and despair, torn down from the position that was justly hers.
She was her father’s daughter- she was made of iron, and would rather break than bend. She would never give in to Viserys, no matter what he said or did. “I am no one’s ward.”
His threat towards her men made Shireen feel sick. She wanted to beg for mercy for them- but not yet. That would be an admission of defeat, and she was not defeated yet.
“I don’t believe this fight will need to be taken onto the battlefield. If there is to be a war, it will take place in this room. This matter can be settled right here, right now, between the two of us.”
She had a point, Viserys couldn’t deny it would be far easier to have a child on the throne. But if she was this self aware, he wondered for a moment how well these men could manipulate her? “Lannister men may have murdered them but the Baratheon sat himself upon the throne that was my right. After Prince Rhaegar’s death, after my father, King Aerys II’s death. I was King. Viserys Targayren, King of the Iron Throne. By right of sucession, I should have been there.” Viserys informed the young girl.
This girl had some determination. Viserys would not go down so easily and his head tilted to one side, trying to understand what she was talking about. “How so?” He asked, his voice losing a bit of it’s harshness. “Are we going to talk this out and draw up papers” He wanted to snort at the idea but if that was the case, he had to admire her, this child who wanted to avoid more death, if he was correct in thinking, would rather negotiate. “Negotiation instead of war?”
“You could, so easily. Just say the words and it’s done.” Viserys had to admit the girl had guts, she was indeed raised by the Stannis Baratheon. He chuckled as she mentioned the word friends and how they were loyal friends. “They are loyal to the claimant on the throne. Using a young child. Weak and bendable to their manipulations.”
Viserys knew the game of thrones well. A child could be easily thrown into a power position but the King (Or Queen in this case) is just another pawn being moved into place until a better move can be made. Viserys noted the hint of fear that she tried to not show when she asked about the dragon.
“I could. But you are a child. No child deserves to die like that. Not in a brutal and horrific way.” His memory flashed back to the night of the rebellion, when it came to Elia Martell and her children…Aegon, just a babe. “I’ll spare you the mercy your kin did not spare mine, Lady Shireen.” Feet edged closer to the woman, eyeing her as he did so.
“You. You will be a ward. Perhaps married off to the lowest of high lords when you are of age, a Frey should do quiet nicely don’t you think?” Viserys had no intention on killing the young girl, not yet at least, but he reviled in knowing this Queen was just as she presented. A scared child playing pretend.
“But- other’s in your court may not be so lucky to find such luck. Rhaellion has been quiet ravenous as of late.” He stated quickly as he eyed the men around her, they too looked frightened by the thought of a dragon being on top of where they stood. “A war, is something I don’t believe your forces can handle, forgive me if i’m ill-informed but…if you went to war against my sister and I, we’d have quite the advantage, even without the dragons.” He’d been told of the wars fought in recent years, the civil war amongst the lords of Westeros.
“Does the stag line of usurpers really think putting yet another child on the throne is a good idea?”
Viserys asked as he confidently strode towards the younger girl. He and his sister had come back to Westeros, an army of Dothraki, Unsullied and a few hundred Yunkai soliders as well as what was left of the Sandsnakes;
Elia, Loreza and Sarella Sand. Not to mention the three dragons they had.
“Your line comes from the bastards of my great line. Perhaps if you agree to let the rightful heir and ruler of Westeros sit where you are, I’ll let you live…at my side.” Viserys spoke, a half smile on his face as he gazed at the teen. Thirteen years his junior and sitting on the throne. Though she was the second eldest of the children rulers to sit on the throne the Stag line had produced.
“You’ve no family left to help you. Uncles and parents dead. Just a handful of bastards the lions couldn’t kill.” Above them he could hear his dragon, Rhaellion descend on top the Red Keep and even Viserys glanced upwards. “Put our families past behind us, Lady Shireen for you sit upon what is rightfully mine, not a childs.”
Goldnwulf 