[ he wanted to get married and raise cows in the country. a description that could just as easily been levelled against her husband — that has been, by alicent herself. it adjusts her understanding of embry and ash. had ash been called as viserys was, by an extremity of circumstance, a council’s quorum, another leader who deemed him a worthy successor? it was viserys’ cousin, the princess rhaenys, who was most worthy of rule. she would have made a fine, fierce queen, while visery spent his days with his books and his models. she certainly wouldn’t have invited further questions to the succession by fumbling political marriages and allegiances.

in the context of embry and ash, alicent is less sure of what to make of this revelation. ash knows not why embry rejects him, only that he does, yet he still tries to sway him back. their devotion shared but not mirrored, changed and refracted in different lights. ]

I am. [ a firm counter, lashes low. she would not lie about this, not to embry. she takes another swig of the wine and savours the burn. ] Before the king took me to wife, his daughter and I were inseparable. [ the words flow from her mouth like rainwater. for want of stopping herself, she curls into embry, nosing into his cheek. ] Once, we even kissed in her chambers. [ if only her mother hadn’t seen them and warned her against such dalliances, for how they would threaten her position at court.]

She has made overtures since then, but — ours is a divide that cannot be crossed again. [ her voice aches. ] I know it, even if she does not.

[ she and embry share a keen political understanding. they might have made a fine match, in another life.

that’s why she knows it will be her children or rhaenyra, the crown or death. She has known this since she was a girl and her defence of her former friend cost her father his position. they must choose, and abide the consequences. an eye for an eye, a son for son. ]