https://www.tumblr.com/writingsofwesteros/769242641279926272/hotd
Lady Alyrie Hightower (née Florent) was no one’s fool, and she knew exactly the sort of man her husband Otto was when she married him and she loved him for it. She loved that even as he was being claimed by his illness he had their sweet little daughter whisper to the Old King that her mother would be such a good Hand, an honor to his Good Queen. All were stunned by the announcement, but Lady Alyrie did not let the whispers cow her.
Prince Viserys and Prince Daemon did her the honor of attending her husband’s funeral, although Daemon it seemed was there to taunt her. “The Tower of the Hand can be lonely, My Lady Hand. Do call on me… at any hour.”
She knew the man well enough to know what he wanted, a sting of the queen bee or the honey she guarded viciously. “I’m so grateful for your thoughtfulness, My Prince.”
She had surprised him, but she saw she had chosen right: he would follow her into the Seven Hells just to believe he had stolen her husband’s sweet wife.
He was not a patient man, too used to whores who spread their legs as soon as coin or status was proffered. It was easy to feign piety, the guilt of a woman conflicted by her soft heart and the weakness of needing comfort. The Prince ever sought to touch her, and ever she turned him away with a pained: “My Prince, I cannot.”
Close to a year of teasing came before she ‘allowed’ herself to be seduced, to have the Prince strip her enough to claim her breasts with sweet kisses, but as his hand slid up her thigh she grew frightened.
“I am sorry, My Prince, I am sorry.” She pulled away, covering herself and trembling with a fear she had never had even as a maiden. “You are married. It is a sin.”
He tried to convince her, but she remained firm. He did not want to take her, he wanted to steal away her husband’s prized wife willingly.
“Would that I could set aside my Lady Wife. She is no beauty and I have never desired to claim her as I do you, My Lady.”
She feigned hesitance again. This would need to be done carefully. “You… have not lain with her?”
“It… it could be set aside…”
She watched his eyes, filled with triumph, but also hunger for her and a desperate need to have what her husband had.
The annulment was a trivial raven to the Starry Sept, the wedding modest as her year of mourning had barely ended. Poor Alicent was too young to understand, barely ten, sad and hurt, but Alyrie cooed over her and told her this was what ladies did: strengthen their husband’s houses, or their father’s houses.
She played the whore on her wedding night, every touch a revelation, he was so big, he was so deep, it was so good, while she thought of long and lean fingers and a man who actually knew how to use his cock for a woman’s pleasure. She got what she wanted from him: his seed, she was not yet thirty, and she had always quickened easily.
Alyrie suffered him only long enough to bear an heir, a spare, and a daughter. Her second husband sadly passed, stabbed by some back alley whore arranged by the White Worm. The Queen passed tragically as well, and by then her daughter knew how to pleasure herself and fake her ardor, and she knew how to take her moon tea without argument.
When he grew weakened, the King (with her sage guidance) named her boy Gaemon, rider of Vermathor, as his heir, her daughter Daenys, rider of Silverwing, to be his betrothed and future queen.
It was a simple matter to see his hippocras well-sweetened with lead.
After the coronation of her son, she wandered the halls of the Great Sept, going down to the tomb she often visited in secret.
“Mother?” Gaemon was still touch young, he still needed his mother and regent. “Who is this?”
She placed a hand on the grave. “My first Lord Husband, Alicent and Gwayne’s father. He was Hand before me, Otto Hightower. He was quite a wise man. You remember his house words?”
“We Light the Way!” Gaemon answered with clear pride at his good memory.
“I will do the same for you, my darling.”
ADORE THIS SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!
No, seriously, we all should have been writing this show !
She is so good at manipulating the rogue Prince, whispering the words he desired to hear so well and acted so good for him.
