"The audacity!" Otto's older brother complained with anger inside the Hightower carriage. "The audacity to do that... and yet you've done nothing at all to put a stopper to it! Only sitting then and there with trembles when you could have counseled the King to take off that bronze boy's head."
"Aside from that brazen attitude to authority... you could have reasoned that the boy's presence brought about a coughing sickness that affected royalty. Or drawn attention towards whatever impropriety that the uncouth youth could have done with Princess already."
"Had you acted like the Hand you are supposed to be... then the persistent trouble with the emboldened bronze could have been over with. Bringing unprecedented relief to our cause."
Otto did not take to just being chastised, however, as he responded. "If you begrudge me for sitting down, brother. Should I applaud for being able to stand up? Even when you have also done none of what you're lecturing me about?"
"I may be Lord of Oldtown but you are Hand of the King for the Gods' sake, Otto!" Hobert Hightower reprimanded. "Good-father of that man as well, but even that is hardly relevant given with what you have not achieved with such identities."
"Aegon is far from being heir despite being two namedays old already. That's two years that you were allotted, but until recently... the option you've presented is to wed the siblings. Yet even that has been rejected." The man continued with complaint. "Such an abominably incestuous line but somehow that man still drew the line from that kind betrothal you proposed. Which speaks volumes of your loosened hold on that disgrace."
"And how dare you say I've done none when I was on the verge of turning that pompous Jason Lannister into our fold. Enduring through his boasts as we shared that same table." Hobert informed but then he also scorned. "The potential King Consort who was stupidly more open to the idea of little Aegon being the King instead."
"Yet all of that also turned moot the moment the Princess paraded out her very bold and very bronze choice, brother." Otto simply said with the reality of it all. "The lion you were coaxing couldn't even let out a yelp. Much less a roar that could've stopped any of what has proceeded."
"We were all caught off guard. All of us." The Hand reasoned some more. "For that Bold Bronze rightfully earned such a moniker. Having a brash intensity and persuasiveness that hit just right for that pliant Viserys to even refuse."
So, Hobert scoffed. "Are you content to leave it as it is then? Years of work undone? For if the Princess weds that Ronan, the rest of the realm will be sated. Accepting of what's to come."
"A woman to rule and us Hightowers will be relegated to second fiddle when we are so close. So close that we can almost touch it, Otto. The hope that many entrusted upon us." He concludingly intoned.
But Otto appeased that. "Not all of that hope is lost, brother. Through Aegon and the babe in the Queen's belly, we shall have access to dragons. Even more so when Alicent births more dragonblood."
"Together with our partnership with the maesters through the Citadel, along with the loyalties of the faithful from the Starry Sept... House Hightower still has a chance."
"For what is a Ronan Royce against the ubiquity of learned men that shaped Houses."
"How would he even fare against the influence of the Faith of the Seven."
"More so against many dragonriders that would be more than even he can handle."
"The Hightower will light its green flames when the time comes... and bronze shall crumble... for what is he against a beacon of the realm that stands atop impenetrable stone." Otto grandly said.
Enumerating with what he considered as assurances.
However, even those were just embellished words to appease his older brother or maybe even calm his good-sister who was also worriedly listening in this private carriage.
Amongst the many in this entourage.
Which were mostly on their way back to the Keep, for the Hunt in Aegon's honor has finished... and the focus firmly back on the neglected heir and her chosen consort-to-be.
And that chosen consort is what worried Otto still.
Of all she could have picked, it just had to be the Bold Bronze.
A boy that developed too fast and a piece in the board that he couldn't actually control at all.
A spawn of Daemon, indeed.
And a still-unrecognized Targaryen that could very well keep the Targaryen dynasty afloat against this invasion that was happening under their noses.
A boy of wonders and knowledge that could very well sway many maesters to his cause, as long as he wills it. Just as what has happened to that renegade maester of Runestone.
With most of the Seven's devouts most likely on their way to turning their opinions as well. When the truth of the prior Stone's legitimacy is bound to be cleared up.
And with that lingering bastard identity officially inconsequential... titles like Blessed by the Smith and Warrior Incarnate are sure to follow.
In spite of the fact that the Royces are of the First Men and the Old Gods. Due to all that he's achieved.
And perhaps those from Old Town's Starry Sept could only follow along as well.
Even Otto's proposed dragonriding grandchildren wouldn't suffice... for aside from being a recognized dragonslayer, what's stopping said dragonslayer from siring dragonriders of his own?
Mayhaps only the threat of kinslaying can stop that Ronan.
But not to a full extent... as the Hightower and the Hightowers themselves were fair game.
With that foundational fused black stone itself perhaps to be broken as well...
After all, the bronze had killed Deep Ones theorized to have made such an immortal stone.
Then again, this was no bleak pessimism from Otto. Just a potentially grim outlook of what might come in this precarious game for the throne.
After all, there are still ways he can turn things around... he just has to think and ruminate on it.
For the Bold Bronze may just be a product of quite a lot of exaggeration.
Granted, there was that other option he's long crossed out.
To use Faceless Men to do the killing deed...
Alas, the House of Black and White said no... a resounding no to anything that involved Ronan Royce.
Which only put emphasis on just how much of an inexplicable monster the young man might be. For even a group rumored to have doomed Valyria didn't want to involve themselves with him.