Work Text:
"I have decided to wed the Lady Alicent Hightower," Viserys said, then paused for what he told himself was dramatic effect. "To my daughter, the Princess Rhaenyra."
Otto abruptly stopped looking smug. Everyone else merely looked stunned, which was good. Viserys could work with stunned.
Of course, Corlys chose that exact moment to get un-stunned, looking actively offended instead. "This is an absurdity."
As absurd as my cousin telling her daughter she need not bed me until she turned fourteen? Viserys knew that he was not a good man. Perhaps he was not even a good king.
But he tried. Surely that had to count for something.
"You forget yourself, Lord Corlys," Otto said.
"It is unconventional, to be certain," Beesbury said. "And yet, not altogether unheard of."
Corlys scowled. "And what does our Master of Law have to say on this matter?"
"His Grace the King is within the law," Lyonel said. His expression suggested that he was not altogether happy about this, which was a little bit disappointing but ultimately also not Viserys's problem.
Viserys mustered up a smile. "Surely, Lord Corlys, you of all people should see the benefits of such a union."
"I, of all people?" Corlys repeated. Compared to Corlys, Lyonel looked positively joyous. "Would Your Grace care to explain what you mean by that?"
Otto once again stepped in, which was quite good of him, Viserys thought. He might almost start to feel guilty about passing up on Alicent himself: she was undoubtedly comely, and warm, and she would have made a wonderful wife and queen.
Unfortunately, she was also very clearly much more interested in having Rhaenyra put her head in her lap than she was in listening to Viserys yammer on about Old Valyria.
That hadn't been the most pleasant of truths to swallow. Yet swallow it he had, and watching the smile on Rhaenyra's face now assured him he had done the right thing.
"Why, Lord Corlys, your own son ... " Otto said, then coughed.
Corlys looked thunderous and about five heartbeats away from walking out of the room. Which might not be the worst of outcomes, Viserys thought. No doubt Corlys would seek out Rhaenys, who would find calming him much more easy than Viserys would. "Laenor is well aware of his duty towards his House."
Duty, Viserys thought. He had married Aemma for duty, and yet, when he had bedded her, there had been love. She had been a woman grown, then, not the girl he had sworn himself to. He had been lucky - they both had been lucky.
"Nobody here doubts young Laenor's sense of duty and honor, Lord Corlys," Viserys said. "I would merely point out to you that thus far, his affections seem more easily and indeed exclusively engaged by men rather than women."
"He'll outgrow it," Corlys said. To Viserys, he didn't sound quite as confident as he might have. "As I myself did."
Lyonel looked like he wished he were somewhere else. Beesbury merely blinked a few times.
"As, I dare say, many men in this very room did," Corlys said, sounding slightly more confident as he looked around.
Lyonel was frowning now. Otto looked inscrutable. Beesbury looked uncomfortable.
"Well!" Viserys said, trying for cheerful. "Since we are among friends, I feel comfortable admitting that I may have cast a lascivious eye on my brother now and then when I was younger."
Otto's mouth shaped said brother's name, as if to name him was to summon him.
"Naturally, that was before he turned out to be quite so much trouble," Viserys added, hoping to get a few chuckles, at least. It was pretty funny, after all.
Corlys abruptly sat down again. Possibly because he had realized that Alicent marrying Rhaenyra did not, in fact, affect his own position or that of House Velaryon in any way. "May I ask ... ?"
"Not so much as a kiss," Viserys said, deliberately misunderstanding.
Rhaenyra, he was delighted to see, hid a smile. Alicent looked like she hadn't moved since the announcement,which was slightly worrying but then, undoubtedly Rhaenyra would be able to snap her out of it.
Corlys coughed. "I meant to ask, has Your Grace given any more thought to your own marriage?"
"Is that a proposal?" Viserys almost asked, just to see how aghast he could get everyone to look. Instead, he settled for, "It is a weighty matter, and one I must consider carefully."
"His Grace will not be rushed," Otto said, and in that moment, Viserys felt he might have kissed him. In a non-lascivious manner, of course.
"Quite," he said. "For the moment, therefore, let us rejoice in the union of my daughter and the young woman who has captured her heart so thoroughly."
"Hear, hear," Beesbury (of all people) said, while Otto started smiling again, and Viserys told himself that perhaps this would all work out after all.