The Mad King and the sweet mother
[ 280 AC, Red Keep ]
[ Viserys pov ]
The day of the wedding came and, as expected, I was not allowed to attend.
I wondered if perhaps Rhaegar was angry at father for sending no one from the family to it, but I dismissed the thought rather quickly. To be honest, I didn't particularly care about what Rhaegar thought.
"How is the food?" asked my mother from the other side of the table, trying to make conversation, however what followed was an awkward silence.
"I don't know." I replied with a bored face, pointing in the direction of the maid that was tasting everything in my plates and cups. "She still hasn't finished tasting everything so I can't begin to eat."
I could tell my words weren't enjoyed by the expression of fear that appeared on the maid.
"I a-am almost done, my prince..." said the girl, though it came out as a desperate whisper instead of a proper sentence.
For a second I was confused by her reaction, however I quickly remembered who I had for a father. To be honest he probably would be happy to burn her alive for taking too long tasting my food, perhaps he would see that as an 'act of treason' or something that 'his enemies' would do, I wasn't exactly sure which one he used more.
"Whatever, just let me know once you are done." I said, waving my hand and dismissing her concerns.
Mother stared at me for a moment and sighed. "I know you don't enjoy this things, but he does it to protect you..." she muttered in defence of my father, though I could see in her eyes she did it more because it was what she should do as a wife rather than because she actually cared about him.
"I know..." I said with a sigh as well. "I am just acting petty because I wanted to go to the wedding."
She chuckled slightly at my words while a smile grew on her face. "Did you perhaps want to support your brother? Or did you simply want to eat the cake?"
"Hmph, of course I want to support brother." I replied with a slight pout, though her expression showed she didn't really belief me. "Sigh, alright I just wanted to go out of the castle and eat cake..." I muttered, accepting defeat at being found out.
"That's better..." chuckled my mother. "Honesty is important, my sweet dragon."
'What a terrible thing to say to your children in a world that is run by lies.' I thought as I stared at her, however I didn't tell her that, instead I simply smiled and nodded in agreement.
Eventually the maid finished tasting everything and so I began to eat in silence.
My mind kept going back to my father, the Mad king. There were many things I was curious about, like for example why I saw so little of him.
The first year after I was born he showed up rather often, making sure I was fine and everything was alright around me, however the visits grew more and more rare until we got to the current point, were I hadn't even seen his face in perhaps 5 moons or so.
Raising my eyes, I stared at Rhaella for a moment. I knew she had something to do with it, most likely she was keeping me away from him during his 'mad episodes' even while I was a baby, and by now, since he was mostly in a mad state all the time, she probably makes him direct his anger elsewhere.
There was something sad about the situation, since I knew his anger was most likely directed at the servants or at her, but still I couldn't help but feel warm. Twice I had been born to madmen, but only this time around did my mother care enough about me to actually protect me from him.
Thinking about the Mad King I had for a father made me think about my past life as well. Was I perhaps written down in history as Azula, the Mad Fire Lord? Or was I perhaps regarded as another genocidal maniac of history like Ozai, Azulon and Sozin before being forgotten?
I grew to see the similarities between Aerys and I, however I didn't enjoy them. His methods were inefficient, unlike mine, and his rule was destined to fail because of his madness, which brought another topic that had me worried.... how would the madness affect me?
If I am not mistaken, the only person in our family that wasn't affected by the madness of the Targaryens was my mother, though perhaps she simply didn't have a chance to display it.
"What are you thinking so deeply about?" asked my mother, pulling me out of my thoughts.
"Hmm, just thinking about the lessons with Pycelle." I replied.
"Really now?" she asked back with a raised eyebrow.
She knew I didn't like the old man, he was creepy and not at all trustworthy, however that didn't mean that he wasn't useful at all. As the grandmaester it was he who was in charge of teaching me and, while I didn't receive that many classes because father didn't want me to be alone with anyone for too long, I had enough time with the old man to know the history of Westeros pretty well despite beginning not long ago, except for the massive holes and contradictions of course.
"Yes." I replied. "Apparently there is a house called House Velaryon near Dragonstone, and they have features similar to our own."
Mother nodded in agreement. "Indeed, they live in one of the islands near Dragonstone."
"Hey mother..." I muttered. "When can I go see Dragonstone?"
She remained silent for a moment while bringing her hand to her chin, a thoughtful expression appearing on her face. "Perhaps we can go for your next nameday." she said, though her tone didn't hold much confidence.
I didn't comment on it, knowing very well that by my next nameday the Tourney of Harrenhal should come to pass, and with it the sparks of war will come as well.
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Author note: Sorry for the recent lack of updates. It's not that I came upon a writer's block or whatever its called, but rather that I saw a genuinely interesting idea. Someone commented that all Viserys fanfics went the same route through Essos and all that (which is actually what I planned to do), and said how he wold love for something different to happen, like the mc working with Tywin or whatever. Well... I actually think there are far more interesting routes to go down as well, so I am re-writting the over 30 chapters I had stacked. But yeah, I won't be going down the Essos route.