Kings Landing, 282 AC
About a week after the Battle of Dragonstone.
The air in the small council's room was thick as the new king, Robert Baratheon, watched his younger brother report the news of his failure to capture the last dragonspawn, as he called them.
- POV Robert Baratheon
I knew you were useless, I said after what felt like an eternity.
I gave one order!
One fucking order!!!
And it was to take a fucking island, an island governed by a boy!!
A boy!! Stannis, a boy!!!
Not Aegon the Conqueror!!
Not Daemon Targaryen!!!!
But a boy!!!!
Had I sent Stark, that cursed island would be burned down by now!!
Arryn didn't let me down!
Stark didn't let me down!
Lannister didn't let me down!
Tully didn't let me down!
Hell! Even the Tyrells didn't let me down!
Nobody else let me down but my brother!! My blood!!!
I thought I made the right choice by sending you, my brother! My blood!!
I gave you one order!! One fucking order!!!
Take one fucking island, an island that has less than three thousand men!!
And what did you do!!!? Tell me, what did you do!!!!?
- POV Stannis Baratheon
I failed.
Is that what you want me to say!!!?
I fucking failed!!!!
While you were crowning yourself on the corpse of a mother and her children!!!!
I was doing my duty!!
When my brother, my wife, and hundreds of loyal men were starved for nearly a year in our own home because you started a damned rebellion, I did as you ordered!!!
I did my duty!!
I ate horses and dogs and rats, and I would have eaten the dead too had you fallen in the Trident!!
I did as you ordered when you said to sail with the very man who feasted within the sight of my walls!!! While I was starving!!!
And I failed not because I was useless but because I was starved for nearly a year!!!
So do as you wish, kill me if you wish!!
But do not call me useless!!!
With those words, I walked out of the small council's room.
I could still hear the shouts and curses of Robert in my head as I was walking out.
- POV Viserys Targaryen
My prince, these two are Lord Tygett Lannister and Daxter Redwyne!! said Ser Willam as we were walking on the shores of Dragonstone.
You don't say.
It is, my prince; I have seen them many times in the past.
Good. When we leave the island, remind me of it. I will be keeping the Lannister head, I said.
As you wish, my prince.
Ser Willam, you have served me and my family faithfully for many years, and I shall not be denied your service in the future, I said.
And I will continue to do so, my prince, for you are the rightful heir to the Iron Throne, and…
But I interrupted him mid-sentence.
I am in need of someone who can help me to make a sellsword company, and I don't trust anyone else except you, Ser Willam.
You are going to cut off from the main fleet with our seven hundred men and sail to disputed lands.
But the world will not know that I ordered you to do so.
Because if they do, you will not be able to make it.
Ser Willam, you are from this day a traitor to me and my family.
My prince!!!
That's what the world needs to know.
I will give you about five hundred thousand gold dragons.
And more when it's needed.
I need you to do this, my friend. There's no one else I can trust with this mission, I said to the knight.
As you command, my prince, said the knight after wiping away some of his tears.
Good. You are to cut all ties with me and my family,
And if anyone asks you why you are doing so,
Say that I abandoned you and your men.
Say I was a horrible person and a madman.
As you say, my prince.
Good, go and get yourself some rest; you will need it, I said to the knight.
As you wish.
LET US HOPE HE DOES NOT TRULY THINK YOU ABANDONED HIM.
He will not! He is loyal to our family, unlike you.