Hugh Hammer (ASOIF/SI)

 The Tower of the Hand bathed in the wan, winter sunlight, for once

 Kings Landing was not shrouded in cloud or blanketed in drizzle or

 sleet, through the windows of his Solar the sunlight actually held a

 little warmth, which bathed his face. He closed his eyes and relaxed

 for a moment, letting the mild heat from the sunlight as it passed

 through the glass to relax him.

 Not that he could relax much, as the work of the Hand of the King

 was in truth never done, or in this case the Hand of the Regent, of

 you wanted exactitude. The King, Aegon, 2nd of his name was as

 yet only ten namedays old and it would be another six years at least

 before he was of an age to assume his duties as King. Aegon the

 Pretender, as he was known as, was not being given an precedence

 in the order of Targaryen Kings at the direct order of the Lord

 Protector of the Realm, Prince Daemon Targaryen. Which had

 caused some confusion with the necessary documentation

 surrounding rules and promulgations of the previous 'King', a blanket

 delegitimizing of these was ordered, but he had to go through all of

 them and review them as appropriate, several rulings could in truth

 be left in place, but Daemon had refused, insisting that all were

 struck from the records.

 Not that he had expected Daemon to act any other way, the man had

 lusted after the Iron Throne since the day he could understand the

 power and where it came from. And he would never let anything get

 in the way of concentrating all power in his hands.

 All major positions, and most minor ones were filled with Daemon's

 men, and in the case of the Master of Whispers, a Mistress of

 Whispers instead, an ex-whore who was Daemon's creature through

 and through. And who was likely the one that had administered the

poison that had killed Queen Rhaenyra, though he could not be

 absolutely sure on that point.

 And as to the actual death of the Queen, while he was sure Daemon

 was behind it as he was the one who would benefit the most from

 her death, there were still some tantalizing unanswered questions

 that remained to his mind. For a start, Daemon's actions in the

 immediate aftermath of Queen Rhaenyra's death were difficult to

 explain if he knew the Queen was to be assassinated, some of his

 moves looked overly hasty and, well, fumbled if he was honest. Not

 the moves of a practiced player of the Game of Thrones in the act of

 seizing power in a planned coup. It looked more like a rather frantic

 scramble at securing his power, and that troubled him.

 For it did beg the question that Daemon might not have been behind

 the death of the Queen, and if so, then that did open up a whole

 other range of possibilities now did it not?

 Was the Queen's death the result of other plots, and other plotters,

 such as their erstwhile Mistress of Whispers for example? Could the

 Lady Misery have been acting alone, but to the end of enhancing the

 power of her sponsor, Prince Daemon? Or could she have been

 working for a totally different patron, or to a plan all of her own?

 It certainly bore consideration, but to his mind it was unlikely, but still,

 the Mistress of Whispers might have been working for the Greens,

 that was certainly something to consider.

 As were the Greens themselves, for Lord Strong was still at large

 and he was believed to be still in Kings Landing, despite concerted

 efforts to smoke him out. And if there was one thing Colrys knew it

 was not to underestimate Lord Larys Strong, the man was a master

 manipulator and schemer, and capable of pretty much anything

 Corlys feared.

 The oh so tenuous, oh so delicate communications he had

 established with the Greens bore all the hallmarks of Lord Strong, in

 their subtlety, elegance and security.

Like for example the most recent reply he was requested to make to

 indicate he was still interested in keeping open this channel of

 communications, all he had to do was speak up and intervene on

 behalf of a merchant factor who would be bringing a complaint to

 Court. Said merchant factor did some business with Driftmark so he

 could be expected to know something of the man's business and be

 interested in seeing his problems remedied.

 So, he had done just that and a scant hour ago a captain of one of

 his trade ships had visited him and delivered a sealed letter to him,

 stating that he had been paid a Gold Dragon to delivery it to him.

 When asked the captain had revealed that he had been given this

 letter in a dockside tavern and that he did not know the man who had

 given him the missive.

 Said missive was destroyed now, consumed by the flames of a

 candle until it was naught but ash and smoke, but its contents were

 vivid in his mind, and he enjoyed the sun's warmth on his face as he

 reviewed the letter in the safety and security of his own mind.

 The communication was as revealing in what it did not say as in

 what it actually said, the Greens were obviously trying to find a way

 out of the war that let them keep their heads, this was unsaid but

 understood. Equally unsaid was that the greatest obstacles to a

 peaceful resolution of this war were Prince Daemon and Prince

 Aemond, neither of whom would be agreeable to any sort of

 settlement short of the destruction of their enemies.

 So there was a groping, hesitant process underway between the two

 parties to explore if the removal of these two obstacles to their

 mutual benefit was something that they could find common ground

 on. And equally vital a search for sufficient support from among their

 respective factions for such a course of action.

 Unsaid was any notion of trust between the parties, Corlys did not

 trust them, and it was obvious that they did not trust him either. And

 maybe this engagement was a trap of some sort, mayhaps with the

intention of betraying him to Daemon, as a means of weakening the

 Blacks cause.

 That was certainly something to consider, with the withdrawal of

 most of the Vale forces, due to the flimsy and unconvincing excuse

 that with the onset of winter they were needed in the Vale to defend

 against an expected uptick in Mountain Clan raids, House Velaryon

 was providing most of the forces to defend Kings Landing, never

 mind the vast amount of coin his House was providing to prop up the

 Iron Throne, with the attendant large scale future reductions in tax

 that his house was being promised in return for ready coin.

 Corlys smirked to himself, this whole thing might even be an

 elaborate trap conceived by Prince Daemon himself, and not

 involving the Greens at all, designed to eliminate the power and

 influence that he and his House were steadily accruing over the Iron

 Throne.

 He would not put something like this past Daemon Targaryen, in fact

 he fully expected to be stabbed in the back at some stage, a victim

 of Daemon's paranoia and grandiose dreams.

 And speaking of these, Prince Daemon was already looking at the

 Stepstones again with covetous eyes, despite being still embroiled in

 this war and with what promised to be a harsh winter already upon

 the realm. And the Prince's avaricious gaze was also being cast

 upon Dorne, whom he was absolutely committed to conquering,

 despite all attempts to dissuade him from this path of action.

 And to Corlys it looked like Daemon was setting a deliberate trap for

 his son for when he attained his majority and sat upon the Iron

 Throne. Daemon looked to be planning on handing his son at least

 one, and possibly two ongoing wars or conquests when the Rogue

 Prince finally stepped down as Regent. And who would bet against

 Daemon being appointed Hand of the King when he stepped down

 as Regent?

For was he not moulding the boy, insisting that Aegon attend Small

 Council meetings, spend at least one hour a week with each of the

 member of the Small Council to learn their business? The lad himself

 was a quiet sort of a boy, who seemed to be rather passive for a

 future King, and at least to his mind far too impressionable. A

 disaster in the making perhaps….

 And he had to consider that Daemon might not even allow his son to

 ascend to the Iron Throne when the time came, would he bet against

 Aegon suffering from an unfortunate accident before his majority?

 He would not, though that would give Daemon only a further two

 years as Regent before Viserys became King. And might he even

 eliminate his second son in his pursuit of power? For would that not

 technically leave him as King?

 Of this he was not so sure, Aegon maybe, Viserys most likely not, as

 Daemon was obsessed with not only his immediate power, but with

 his legacy, such as it was.

 And speaking of legacy, the upcoming marriage of his granddaughter

 Rhaena to the now Prince Hugh of House Targaryen. By legitimizing

 the former Blacksmith Daemon had placed him in the line of

 succession, and rather too close to the Iron Throne for comfort's

 sake. With both Princes from Daemon's loins boys still and with no

 issue of their own, Hugh was technically in line to the Throne.

 Quite the rise from smallfolk Blacksmith to in line to the Iron Throne

 in what, two years. And what if something was to befall the two

 Princes, then Hugh would be the next king, now would he not? He

 discounted the Targaryen line that had fallen from Alicent's gravid

 and inviting cunt, they would be attained, with perhaps the exception

 of Princess Jaehaera, who might still survive to be wed to King

 Aegon, 2nd of his name.

 Or he could strike now and eliminate Hugh, and then make overtures

 to Daemon that she should wed Aegon instead. This was the option

 that a large part of him felt he should take, that this was the only real

 route he should take, as it would place his grandchildren on the Iron

Throne. A suitable plan to kill Hugh and blame it on the Blacks

 should not be too difficult to arrange, the timing would be tight, and

 he would likely have to have the lad killed in the last few days before

 his wedding. It would be a shame to lose such a dragonrider though,

 and wit the war still not definitively concluded, was it a risk he was

 willing to take? Could he be so sure of the Greens offers if the

 Blacks were down what was arguably their best dragonrider?

 He put the problem of Prince Hugh from his mind and concentrated

 on Daemon and his sons. If Daemon murdered his sons in his lust

 for power would he father more sons to succeed him? Poor Helaena

 might find herself dragged to an alter and wed to the Rogue Prince,

 the girls mind was already shattered enough without being subjected

 to that ignominy. Maybe it was time for the ex-Queen to die from her

 broken mind, passing away peacefully in her sleep?

 But if Deamon did not marry again and and if he failed to clear up the

 succession and Rhaena wed Hugh was she not the next in line of

 succession and were they not currently fighting a war over female

 succession? And how many Lords would back her with a bastard

 husband, dragons or no dragons? Hell's, how many might even back

 her husband over her? Mayhaps not many he mused, the Lords

 would likely trawl far and wide for a suitable King before they would

 bend the knee to a former smallfolk bastard as their monarch.

 And if he could see this, then so could others, both friendly and

 hostile, and he knew that the lives of the two Princes were in even

 greater danger than they had been in before. And he wondered if this

 offer from the Greens hid something else, a deeper plan to

 destabilize the realm and allow them a route back to power?

 Interesting times indeed he mused, and a lot to think on and then a

 few decisions to be made and stuck to come what may.