Jaehaerys felt slightly dizzy, as if he had drunk wine and was becoming intoxicated. He looked at Rhaegar's cup with some suspicion. If he had added poison to it, he would have ended up poisoning himself.
"How interesting," said the prince as he sat down. "Is the cup a magical artifact? Or is it something inherent in you?" he asked.
In the books, Melissandre had played a similar game. Stannis' maester, whose name Jaehaerys couldn't remember, had tried to poison her. The result: the maester died, a victim of his own poison.
"Of course you wouldn't poison me. You're my brother, I trust you," the king said with a smile. As if drinking from the cup were a test of trust and not a murder attempt.
"Oh, no. There was poison in there. But the poison can't harm me," the prince lied. At that moment, he didn't have a new poison purification necklace, which is why he didn't dare to slip on the strangler; Lyanna had already warned him. She had tried to poison Rhaegar, but another one died in his place.
"Sure, brother," the king dismissed it as a joke, doing his best to sound friendly, but Jaehaerys could smell the fear through his clothes.
"When I sent a message about the Ironborn, you ignored it," Jaehaerys said, though he had certainly expected that outcome.
"I discussed it with the council," the lie was as palpable as the air. "We have investigated and found no suspicious behavior," he told him.
"And I also heard that they had begun sinking ships loaded with volcanic ash from Dragonstone." That had been recent; a pirate had begun attacking ships belonging to the royal family.
"That's why... I'm sorry, but I can't maintain supplies to your castle," Rhaegar said guiltily.
"A mere pirate is blocking you, Rhaegar? Everyone is right about you, you know more about prophecies than you do about ruling," Jaehaerys said, mocking his brother.
Rhaegar fell silent, his feigned kind expression gone, replaced by a frown of disappointment.
"I've heard about magic in Argentstone," the king did his best to say the castle's name correctly. "I thought you would understand the power of prophecies better."
"Following a prophecy doesn't mean you should neglect your kingdom. You are too weak to rule. I admired you at first, you know? My older brother, capable of keeping the kingdoms united after The Stag's Rebellion." Jaehaerys said with a hint of truth. "A rebellion you started yourself," he added with contempt. "But... do you really keep them united? No, you don't. It's as if the kingdoms keep you tied down. Unable to do as you wish," Jaehaerys said at last, Rhaegar's face turning purple, as if he had drunk poison.
"I could do things better... but I can't just pressure the lords, I don't have—"
"Dragons," Jaehaerys interrupted. "But I do. I could have used them to maintain your rule. Eventually, the dragon eggs would go to Aegon's children, the family would return to its former glory," he said, not entirely untruthfully. His children and Aegon's could have married; his grandchildren would have dragons, that was what he had thought at first. "But you had to try to steal them, to put your hands where they did not belong," Jaehaerys finished.
"I have lived under the prophecy... living for it, to fulfill it, to protect the kingdom from evil. And the gods mock my efforts," Rhaegar seemed to have completely removed his mask as he spat. "They give you everything on a silver platter... what have you done for the kingdom, Jaehaerys?" he asked rhetorically.
"And you? What have you done? Stole the daughter of a Lord Paramount. You tore the kingdoms apart, you spilled gallons of blood alongside our father," Jaehaerys reproached him.
The war began when Rhaegar kidnapped Lyanna, but it could have stopped there. Men would not go to war over a woman. But then Aerys intervened, believing himself to be a dragon, and ended up burning alive Rickard Stark, then Lord Stark, and his heir, Brandon. Then he demanded the heads of Eddard and Robert. The rest is history, a tragic one.
"Don't compare me to him!" Rhaegar roared. "I've been working to mend all his mistakes. I won and fought a war because of him," he said, justifying his actions.
"You started the war!" Jaehaerys cried. He didn't care about the sound, no one would come that night, "and hid while others fought for you. When you got tired of raping Lyanna, you went to the battlefield," Jaehaerys reminded him. "And... winning? It was Tywin who won the war," Rhaegar stood up abruptly, furious.
"Why do you hate me, brother?" asked the king.
"You're a fucking monster. You still have the nerve to ask?" Jaehaerys almost burst out laughing. "How many times have you tried to get rid of me?" he asked, standing up.
Before, in King's Landing, he used to stoop a little so as not to tower over Rhaegar, but now he didn't care. He stood up to his full height, a few inches taller than Rhaegar. He looked down at him.
"It was Lyanna, wasn't it?" Rhaegar pretended not to hear. "That witch has been putting ideas in your head. Rape? The bitch begged me to fuck her," he began to imitate the language of a sailor. Rhaella would be disappointed.
"Did she also beg you to kill Daeron?" asked Jaehaerys. Rhaegar's face fell.
"What are you talking about?" he asked, avoiding his eyes.
"Did Lyanna also ask you to send assassins to my castle?" he asked again. "You know... I had never felt death before," he said thoughtfully. "Every assassin you sent was quickly repelled. Subdued, tortured, and finally discarded. They were a mockery; not even the best could accomplish anything. They never came close to killing me or Dany," he said. Only once did one of them manage to get close to Daenerys, a last desperate attempt, but they failed to touch her.
"I didn't send the Surrowful Men." Rhaegar shook his head in disbelief.
"When did I mention them?" asked Jaehaerys. Rhaegar opened his eyes wide, then began to laugh.
"You're insane," Rhaegar said, walking to the window. Jaehaerys followed him.
"Perhaps. Even though I knew you were sending assassins to my castle, I didn't act. It was more of a sport to hunt them down; they never managed to make me feel in danger," he said to his brother. "But when I saw my daughter's face turn purple. When I saw her suffocating... I felt fear," the prince said in a sincere voice, the most heartfelt he had used since then.
"I didn't touch your daughter," said Rhaegar.
"It doesn't matter... I realized how fragile life is, I need to protect her. That includes getting rid of those who can harm her," said the prince, quickly grabbing Rhaegar by the back of the neck. "Anyone who tries to take something valuable from me..." He planned to go after Tywin next.
"ARTHUR!" the king shouted furiously.
"He won't come," said Jaehaerys. "We haven't exactly been quiet, brother." Jaehaerys had used a runic device to isolate the sound—a prototype he had brought from ArgentStone.
"Brother... I can—"
"Is the king going to beg for his life?" asked Jaehaerys.
Before Rhaegar could answer, they looked into the distance. A fire had started on the docks. Jaehaerys strained his eyes, and in the darkness he could see flags approaching from the sea. Black and gold. From the distance he couldn't see exactly who they were. But the colors... they were Greyjoy's.
"Jaehaerys!" The king turned, panicked, but also with some hope. "We need to go, now. A stupid dispute between us is not more important than this. The Ironborn are coming," said the king.
Jaehaerys clenched his teeth as he watched the flags approach.
"The kingdom will need a good king in times of war," said Jaehaerys.
Rhaegar almost smiled, as if he were saved.
"I promise you—"
"You have already proven yourself inefficient, Rhaegar. I hope Aegon will be better," Jaehaerys grabbed Rhaegar's jaw and, with a quick movement, his head turned.
Jaehaerys held the king's body for a few seconds, feeling its weight on his arm. The heat was slowly leaving him. He looked into his brother's eyes, inert, lifeless. He looked down. There was a cliff below. Jaehaerys twisted Rhaegar's neck again, the skin beginning to tear, then threw him out the window. If people find him, they could think the IronBorn killed him.
Jaehaerys left through a passageway in the room. The crunching sound seemed like background noise in his head. He felt no guilt for killing him, but his mother... oh, he didn't want to face his mother.
Hiiii-hiiii!
Jaehaerys looked at the little rodent. It had been this little creature that had allowed him to enter the castle so easily. He had been exploring Casterly Rock for days through the eyes of the rat. He didn't know all the corridors, but he had a pretty good idea of the castle, enough to find Rhaegar's office.
Jaehaerys looked at his hand, a small drop of blood protruding from his thumb.
He started running. His mansion was quite far from the coast, so his family should be fine.
They should be.