Aegon Snow

-Chapter 167-

-POV Cersei Lannister-

Sitting on my bed, I watched Aegon play on the floor with Maegor, but he seemed distracted, a habit he had when something was bothering him.

I hesitated for a few seconds before asking, "Do you want to talk about it?"

He raised an eyebrow, not understanding what I was referring to.

'Or he's pretending not to understand to avoid answering,' I thought, observing him.

"What's bothering you," I insisted.

Since the coronation, a certain distance had grown between us.

Having been the queen for so long, I found it extremely difficult to question myself.

But as father had very clearly told me before he died, I was no longer the queen and I had to learn to bow my head to him, even if it hurt my pride.

'What matters is the future.'

He turned his attention back to Maegor, who was trying to stick his little fingers into his father's mouth: "It's nothing."

'They look so much alike, it's troubling. Given that his other children resemble a mix of Stark and Martell, he might develop a preference for Maegor,' I noted.

"Very well," I said, slightly vexed but hiding it.

'You prefer to tell your Dornish whore everything, suit yourself,' I thought.

A few seconds of silence passed before he said, "I didn't exile your brother."

I furrowed my brow, furious, but I let him continue because I knew by now that he didn't like it when I got angry, especially about Tyrion.

'Even after all the problems that dwarf has caused us,' I thought, gritting my teeth to keep my cool.

He raised an eyebrow seeing me control my fury and continued speaking:

"I sent him to infiltrate my aunt's council."

"To help you kill her?" I asked, thinking it was actually a brilliant idea.

'Letting that dwarf do the dirty work, I'm jealous I didn't think of it myself.'

"No, just to have eyes and ears there," said Aegon.

"Oh, and so?" I asked, disappointed.

"Astapor has fallen," he said, genuinely troubled by the news, while I wondered how those useless slavers had managed to survive so long against an army of several thousand Unsullied and a dragon.

"Predictable," I replied.

He nodded and said, "But premature."

"Are you worried something is slipping out of your control?" I asked, because I couldn't see any other cause for concern.

'He has an army of several hundred thousand soldiers and three dragons. What is he afraid of?' I thought.

"Not really, I know my aunt's power perfectly. What worries me is her awakening thirst for power and the increasing number of supporters she's rallying," he said, quite relaxed about the matter.

"You're afraid of losing to her," I asked, losing hope of finding what was really bothering him.

Aegon looked at me as if I were stupid and then said:

"Lose to her? You're dreaming. I don't see how anyone could stop me with the power I can deploy. No, what really worries me is that Tyrion may have betrayed me and that I don't know Daenerys' movements as precisely and quickly as I would like."

"Why don't you just kill her? You take your dragon, fly to Essos, land in her palace and burn her and everyone who follows her," I said, not understanding why he allowed her to continue growing stronger until she could become a real threat to his crown.

Aegon shook his head and said, "I never planned to confront her. I simply keep her as a sword of Damocles over the heads of all those damn slavers so they keep investing in Westeros and wagging their tails without me having to intimidate them."

'It's not stupid because in aunt Genna's last letter, the number of merchants departing for Essos from Lannisport has been steadily increasing since the investiture ceremony.'

"And also so that the empire, no, your empire becomes invincible even without the help of your dragons," I said, having known his true goal for quite some time.

Aegon nodded and then said, "That's not all. I fear Daenerys has a spy hidden at court."

"Can't you ask your two hunting dogs to take care of it?" I asked.

"They're not my hunting dogs, they're my friends. And to answer your question, no, I can't. I gave Connor a break so he could take care of his wife and unborn child," said Aegon, unhappy that I had referred to his two former brothers-in-law as hunting dogs.

'They're just commoners, they're not much different.'

"And the other brother?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

Aegon replied, "He manages all my intelligence and assassination network. I can't simply take that task away from him to find a rat hiding in my own court. If he hasn't found it already, it's because this rat is taking many precautions and is very close to me."

"A rat can cause many problems and breed many other rats if not dealt with properly and in time," I said, warning him to get rid of it quickly.

'If that silver-haired whore ever lands on our shores and dismantles the empire, we'll all suffer.'

"I know, I have an idea of who the rat is but I don't want to accuse wrongly, it would hurt Arianne," said Aegon with a tangled expression.

"It's the bastard," I said, understanding that the betrayal of the only person who could hurt Arianne in the capital was likely Tyene.

Aegon gave me a warning look implying that I should keep my mouth shut, and I nodded, feeling a sense of anticipation.

'If the rat turns out to be that little Sand whore, it will prove that the Dornish are not people Aegon can trust. If I play my cards right, I could even destabilize the position of empress held by his slutty cousin because unlike them, I will prove to be useful, reliable, and loyal,' I thought, smiling.

"I shouldn't have told you," said Aegon, seeing me smile.

"But you did it for a reason," I said, getting up and lying down next to him on the floor.

"Yes, because I need to externalize my emotions," he said nonchalantly.

"And your thoughts so they are clearer, otherwise they keep circling in your head," I said, resting my head on his shoulder and running a hand over our son's back who was growing much too quickly for my liking.

He looks like a child of more than a year while he's not even...

He raised his eyebrows, surprised, and said, "Am I dreaming or are you observing and studying me to better manipulate me?"

I smiled and then said, "I'm a woman full of surprises."

"I see that and I commend you," he said before closing his eyes, just like our son who was sleeping on his father's chest.

---

-POV MC-

As I closed my eyes to sleep, I heard bells ringing. I didn't immediately understand what it was before finally hearing armored men running everywhere outside Cersei's quarters.

I reopened my eyes, as did Cersei who looked at me, worried.

I handed her our son while activating my magical sense.

Everything within 100 meters of me was scanned, regardless of walls and floors, and I could see that fights had started all over the Red Keep.

"Fuck, how is this possible?"

"What? What's happening?"

"Assassins, lots of assassins."

'This isn't normal, something's wrong.'

By consuming my mana faster, I forced my detection zone to expand until it encompassed the entire Red Keep, and I realized that no one had infiltrated the castle itself, but they were trying to force their way through the underground.

'This is a well-prepared simultaneous attack. They're attacking 19 points at the same time with teams of 20 assassins.'

'They've already eliminated nearly half of the guards supposed to watch the underground, over 190 dragon guards.'

"They're fast, decisive, and organized. This is the cream of the crop of assassins," I said, grabbing Illumination.

BOOOOOM BOOOOOM BOOOOOM

BOOOOOM BOOOOOM BOOOOOM

BOOOOOM BOOOOOM BOOOOOM

A sudden and violent explosion sounded, and I sensed that the 19 teams, realizing they wouldn't overcome the Dragon Guard reinforcements, all blew themselves up one after the other.

BOOOOOM BOOOOOM

BOOOOOM BOOOOOM

BOOOOOM BOOOOOM

BOOOOOM BOOOOOM

BOOOOOM BOOOOOM

"Aegon!" Cersei screamed as she saw the chandelier falling on her.

I had already sensed the chandelier falling and used my magical telekinesis to stop it in midair.

"Follow me," I said, looking at the mother of my son.

'I need to find Benjen, Arianne, Aemon, and Visenya,' I thought, growing more worried by the second because I didn't understand the purpose of this attack. While some damage could be done, the impact wouldn't be too significant.

The door opened, and Ser Barristan entered, followed by Jaime.

"Get out of the castle, go to the gardens and protect her and my son with your life if necessary. I'll go find Arianne and the twins."

"Your majesty..." Jaime started, probably trying to make me abandon the idea of running through the castle without an escort.

"That's an order," I said in a tone that wouldn't accept any negative response.

"At your command," replied Ser Barristan directly, preventing Jaime from continuing.

As soon as he said that, I rushed toward my personal quarters while continuing to scan the castle with my mana sense that detected nothing unusual.

'This is too strange, I can't grasp the objective of this attack. If they wanted to kill me, they should have attacked during the night.'