Hugh Hammer (ASOIF/SI)

 It had snowed during the afternoon, and rather heavily for all that it

 was brief enough, clouds replacing the cold but clear weather of the

 past few weeks, as Daemon sat at his desk in the King's solar,

 relaxing and with only a small amount of actual work still to do for the

 rest of the day. Not that he was actually relaxing as such, oh no, for

 he who sat atop the Iron Throne could not afford to relax for one

 second, least they be toppled from that position by jealous rivals.

 That was the truth of existence, for the higher one reached, the more

 precarious one's position became, and the more effort one had to

 expend in staying both in that position and alive.

 A pity his dear wife Rhaenyra had not listened enough to him and his

 advice, mayhaps she might still be alive, but alas, she was not, such

 a shame that she had fallen asleep one night to never awake again.

 And what good work by Lady Misery that had been, though he had to

 deal with some fractious afters that he had not anticipated. No, that

 was untrue, he had anticipated them, just miscalculated the speed

 and strength of the reactions to the demise of his dearly beloved wife

 that had caused him to stumble slightly.

 And he did not like making such mistakes, or more importantly to be

 seen to make those kinds of mistakes, especially now of all times.

 Well, at any time he mused, for mistakes such as these could be

 fatal. He put the past from his head, for he much preferred to focus

 on the future, his and that of the realm, but mainly his, for was he

 and the realm not the same now? As Lord Protector he was King in

 all but name, and he had a good few years yet to retain this position.

 And after Aegon attained his majority, why the Handship of course,

 Corlys Velaryon would be long gone from his role as Hand to the

 King by then, of that he was certain. By accident or by his design, he

was determined to get rid of the Sea Snake, for he was far, far too

 powerful, and he owned the Iron Throne in reality. It was his coin that

 kept the Iron Throne afloat, that allowed it to pay its way, to pay its

 staff, to pay sellswords,, to pay for the armies and navies that served

 directly under its banner, and for all the myriad of mundane and not

 so mundane expenses that came with the Iron Throne.

 And in return for all this coin to the Iron Throne, tax exemptions

 running now in decades, along with exclusive import licenses on a

 swathe of goods, upgraded royal charters for Hull and Spicetown,

 and on and on and on. The wily Lord of the Tides had gouged the

 Iron Throne something fierce, and Daemon was determined to

 recoup most, if not all of the largess that his fool of a former wife had

 given House Velaryon.

 And the best way to do that was to accuse the old bastard of

 treason, and with that eliminate the Iron Thrones debts to House

 Velaryon at a stroke. But the difficult thing was in actually finding

 enough evidence, or planting evidence of sufficient quality.

 Thankfully Lady Misery seemed to have found something of piquant

 interest on dear old Corlys, but it was as of yet insufficient for his

 needs. The Sea Snake was definitely in contact with a party or

 parties unknown, of that the Mistress of Whispers had established,

 but as yet the identity of these were a mystery. Oh, he knew it was

 the Greens, he just lacked the damming evidence of this, but Lady

 Misery was working diligently on this matter, and it would only be a

 matter of time he knew.

 And if she could not come up with what he wanted he would just

 have to fabricate what he needed, and then regrettably dispense

 with the services of the Lady Misery on a permanent basis.

 The old Sea Snake was still silently furious about Rhaena being

 married to Hugh, his desire for her to marry his son Aegon as

 obvious as he was never going to allow this to happen. And if it

 soured relations between Hugh, the Sea Snake and that old fucker's

 bastard son Addam, so much the better as far as he was concerned.

As to the war, it was going well, but slower than expected, for the

 Greens were stubbornly reluctant to recognize the hopelessness of

 their position, and he was beginning to lose patience with this whole

 war business. And that blustering fool Borros Baratheon still sat on

 his fat arse in the Kings Wood, threatening Kings Landing but doing

 absolutely nothing, seemingly content to wave his swords at him. He

 had sat there long enough for Daemon to discount the idiot, if he had

 not struck by now he never would, hence why he had allowed

 Addam and Hugh to deploy their dragons with Lord Stark's forces

 and trust to him and Caraxes to defend Kings Landing.

 Their once impressive advantage in dragon numbers was no more,

 but he was confident that the three dragons that they had remaining

 were more than enough to deal with Vhagar and the Greens.

 Especially as the great beast was squatting in the Reach and doing

 nothing, apparently injured from its foray into the Vale.

 He was considering actioning the death warrants for Alicent and her

 spawn that were still languishing in their captivity, along with Otto

 Hightower and Tyland Lannister. Well actually not killing all of them,

 his wish to see Alicent and her daughter degraded first was still

 uppermost in his mind, so his plans to whore them out still held, as

 did his intention to make sure Otto Hightower knew of it…..No, better

 yet he would make sure that Otto Hightower would see with his own

 eyes his daughter and granddaughter being used as whores, before

 he killed the old bastard as slowly and as degradingly as possible…

 Oh, why yes, and why had he not thought of that before! After Lord

 Otto Hightower had witnessed his Alicent and dear Helaena being

 raped to death he would whisk the former Hand off to one of the

 Brothels that specialized in… sword swallowing, and have Otto

 strapped down, and he would let the patrons bugger Otto for free, no

 he tittered, he would pay the patrons and anyone else who wanted to

 fuck that old prick up the arse!

 Yes, and would that not be a grand thing to leave the high and

 mighty Lord Otto Hightower being buggered senseless like a penny

 rent boy! Oh, and yes, that was a good idea as images flashed

across his mind's eye - some sort of stocks for Otto to be placed in,

 yes, that was better than having the old cunt strapped down, and

 mayhaps even having his mouth and throat used at the same time

 as his arse? Delightful, just delightful! He would spare Alicent and

 Helaena that indignity though, not out of any compassion, no, he

 wanted to listen to that pairs cries as they were used like the whores

 they were, to the sweet music of their denials and horror. Needless

 to say, none of the three were expected to survive their ordeal, and

 thus none would.

 Of course he could do something different with sweet Helaena,

 spare her that particular indignity altogether and marry the chit,

 subjecting her an entirely different indignity….It was something to

 definitely consider, and it would definitely consolidate his hold on the

 Iron Throne, he would no doubt pup a few more heirs out of

 Helaena, even if the chit was lacking in most of her wits after the

 Blood and Cheese incident.

 Even though he was loathe to do it he was determined that Princess

 Jaehaera would marry Aegon, thereby re-uniting the two factions of

 House Targaryen, despite his personal feeling on the matter it made

 the most sense politically.

 On that pleasurable note Daemon returned to work, disposing of

 what little business he wanted to, nothing overly important or taxing

 and he indicated to his guards that he would take his evening meal.

 Moving out of his Solar he went to the King's private dining room

 when he was informed that the food was ready, pouring himself a

 glass of wine he waited for his guest to arrive.

 This she did after he had drunk a glass of wine, his daughter the

 Princess Rhaena giving him a respectful curtsy before she seated

 herself at the table.

 Once the servants had attended to them Daemon bid them leave,

 along with their guards, and Daemon regarded his surviving

daughter in the low light of the candles that provided the illumination

 in the room.

 She had much of her mother in her, in her long, coltish leanness, and

 in the planes of her face and the shape and size of her eyes.

 Beautiful she was, no stunning and sure to grow even lovelier as she

 grew into her womanhood. A catch indeed, a rare, Valyrian beauty,

 and a priceless asset to him and his plans.

 He was aware that Rhaena was becoming increasingly

 uncomfortable under his scrutiny, but he did not relent, she was his

 daughter and even after Hugh draped his cloak around her

 shoulders she was still his daughter, and she would still be a

 Targaryen.

 Noticing that Rhaena had stopped eating he decided it was time "My

 dear daughter, you are to be married in a few short days, and I

 thought we should meet, and have a talk about all that."

 "Yes father" she replied, her voice seeming as if it wanted to retreat

 into herself.

 Daemon smiled, good, very good "You are a maid flowered, but I

 fear that your husband to be might not be willing to fully carry out his

 duties with respect to marriage as sanctified in the eyes of Gods and

 men."

 "What, what do you mean father?"

 "Prince Hugh is an honorable man, despite his humble birth, for the

 blood of old Valyria always comes through in the end my dear….But

 I fear he may be too honorable, too honorable to do what is

 necessary as your husband."

 Ah, yes, the rather thorny question of Hugh's so called 'honour', the

 lad was fairly uptight about many things, and seemed to be keeping

 his emotions and desires under the tightest of reigns, similar to his

 words. He rarely talked and never in what Daemon could discern as

an unguarded manner, at least in his presence. In the company of

 Addam and the Sea Snake, Hugh was a little more open his agents

 reported, but still the lad seemed reluctant to discuss certain topics.

 He also seemed loath to assert his privilege and new birthright, still

 acting far too meek for his liking. And that told Daemon that the lad

 was most likely not of his seed, despite what he had claimed when

 he gave him the Targaryen name. Not that he cared one way or the

 other, Hugh had the look of the Old Blood, rode a dragon and was,

 as far as he could tell, loyal to a fault. If the lad was not yet

 comfortable with his elevation, that was a mere question of time was

 it not? The pleasure of his daughters honeyed, maiden cunt, offered

 to him on a plate should help greatly in easing the lads concerns and

 hesitancy, of that he was certain.

 "I, I'm not sure, I'm not sure I understand father?"

 "The bedding my dear, the bedding. Be assured though I will not

 allow a bedding ceremony, I will not let mongrel curs lay their hands

 upon your flesh daughter mine. But the actual act of bedding, the act

 of physical intimacy between a man and his wife. Prince Hugh is

 likely to be reluctant to carry out his duty to you his wife due to your

 age, I know he likely believes you are too young for this."

 When Rhaena did not reply, except for her cheeks to blush a deep

 shade of red Daemon continued "He is probably correct in this

 assumption, at least from the standpoint of you bearing children, for

 you are in all likelihood too young. But the act itself seals the

 marriage before the Gods, without it your marriage to Prince Hugh

 will not be considered fully legal. So, it must be consummated, do

 you understand my dear?"

 "I, I, yes, yes father, I understand."

 "Good, now I am not a cruel man, despite what many say, so I will

 arrange for you to be provided with Moon Tea, starting tomorrow

 morning. You will partake of this draught twice a day for the next year

 or two at least, to prevent Prince Hugh's seed from quickening in

 your womb, this will allay the fears Hugh has in this regard."

"You, you want me to tell, to tell Hugh this?"

 "Oh yes my dear, I want you to tell him this, but only when you are

 alone in your chambers for the first time. You are to tell him that you

 are taking Moon Tea and that you will continue to do so under the

 direct orders of the Lord Protector of the Realm. You will also tell

 your husband Hugh that he is ordered to do his duty by you on your

 wedding night, again by the authority of the Lord Protector of the

 Realm. And you my dear will make sure that Prince Hugh continues

 to do his duty by you as often as possible, no matter his objections,

 do I make myself clear?"

 "Yes, yes…..yes you do father."

 "Good girl…..now don't look so scared, Prince Hugh will make you a

 fine husband, have no fear. And when the time comes you will have

 many children with him, of that I am sure. Oh, and one more

 thing…."

 "Yes father?"

 "You are to ask him to teach you how to pleasure him with your

 mouth, not right away, but maybe after a day or two."

 "I, I, I don't understand father?"

 "Have no worries, Prince Hugh will know what you are talking

 about…."

 All this talk was making him hard, it was just as well he had a whore

 waiting for him afterwards, for it was always good to be prepared,

 was it not?