There's something about Lyonel being locked up after Dunk forces him to yield and he's expecting to either be sent to the Wall or executed for his rebellion. He's fine with it, he's accepted it. He fought for his children (Ormund is his son from his first marriage in my head) and he's ready for death. His sweet and furious girl manages to barge in so she can say goodbye, and he asks her to not be there when the decision is made in the morning. He does not want his Lya to see his head fall off of the block or witness him being stuffed into a freezing wheelhouse to be sent off like a common criminal. He will not have that be the last image his girl has in her mind. Her older half brother will be there to see him off, whichever ending the gods choose for him.
After hugging her goodbye and sending her away, the guards come.
"A decision has been made quicker than I thought," he muses as the kingsguard guide him to the throne room. He isn't keen on being forced to plead for mercy, he'd rather his head be taken right there at the throne. But he isn't dragged, he walks in there with his head held high. The boy he had met at the tender age of eight sits upon the throne, his head surprisingly bare of a crown. The boy, no longer a boy but a man, looks tired and upset. Lyonel supposes that's to be expected.
"I will not have your head," Aegon V tells him. "I wanted too. My anger was quite like yours, my lord."
"What changed your mind?" Lyonel asks softly. "Would you rather I beg?"
Egg shakes his head. "Someone else already did."
"My children should not -"
"Not your children, Lyonel," Egg murmurs softly. He waves the guards away and waits until they are alone before he says it. "My lord commander did."
Ser Duncan? Dunk had begged for his life? Lyonel cannot believe it. He must already be dead, his head has to be in a basket and being carried off to be burned. Right?
"Ser Duncan has been my greatest council for as long as I can remember," Egg admits softly. The image of this king fades away, and is replaced by the bald headed boy that Lyonel had known. "He wished for mercy for you, so who am I to say no?"
"I would have killed him if I had been able," Lyonel blurts out without thinking.
To his surprise, Egg laughs. "No, you would not have."
Another attribute that King Aegon, Fifth of his Name, was always grand in. Knowing when someone else was a lying sack of barley.
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