"It's nice to see you all together again." With a slight smile on her lips, Queen Alicent addressed these words to her four children, her father and daughter-in-law, who were seated around the table.

"Thank you, for your kind invitation." Princess Edith replied, also with a smile.

It was the day after the many preparations and the family had met for lunch together at the request of the Queen. Alicent wanted to see her family at one table before the coronation, because she was also very afraid of the day.

It was as if she had been waiting for this day all her life and yet she felt unprepared and pushed to do something - pushed away. Alicent would then no longer be queen, but only the mother of the new king and queen. Her father Otto Hightower, on the other hand, would remain the hand of the king.

Aegon kept his head down, for he dared not look into the eyes of his family. It could be the last time he heard his mother's voice or watched the banter between his two younger brothers.

But it could also be the last time he sat next to Helaena and he could never again put his hand on her leg when she was nervous. Aegon might not have been a good husband to her, but he had cared for her all his life. Who would take care of her when he couldn't anymore? Who would reach out to her and tell her that everything was going to be okay?

In fact, it had cost him a lot to let Helaena in on the plan as well. Aemond did not want more people to know about it, but Aegon did not want Helaena to suffer from his supposed death.

Finally he was allowed to tell her, but the young woman did not seem surprised. Helaena seemed as if she had already seen it - probably in one of her daydreams.

Aegon would have liked to hear her opinion, but she had not given it to him and had accepted the decision of her brothers and her close friend.

Then he had said goodbye to his children, with whom, unfortunately, he had never been able to form a real connection, something he now regretted. The children were not at the dinner today at Helaena's request, she didn't want them to witness it.

And then there was Edith, with her beautiful face, brownish hair, and the most attractive and infectious laugh in all of Westeros. Aegon wanted so much to hear her laugh one last time and kiss her.

Alicent's desire to have lunch together played perfectly into the blue's cards, because that way everyone would be present when they went through with their plan. And fortunately, there were no servants present.

It was in the middle of eating when Edith then suddenly got up and went to a nearby table to take another drink. Her hands trembled as she poured water into her cup, whereupon she spilled some.

Just at that moment Aegon had dared to lift his head and had watched her. Then he looked at Aemond, who was sitting opposite him, and noticed that he was already looking at him.

Encouragingly, Aemond winked at him and then pointed slightly with his head to Edith. Only hesitantly did Aegon get up from his seat when he understood the gesture. It was time.

With his heart pounding loudly, he stood next to Edith and placed his cup next to Edith's. "I'll gladly have some more of that wine." Said Aegon so loudly that everyone could hear him. But no one listened to him or followed the two, for everyone was deep in conversation.

Hesitantly, Edith nodded and briefly turned her head to Aemond, but he didn't look at her. "What wine?" she asked Aegon nervously as she already placed his goblet right in front of her. They both stood with their backs to the rest of the family, so no one could look at the table.

"Your favorite wine." He answered, trying to sound cocky, but failing at that.

Sadly, Edith smiled at him before taking the wine bottle with her favorite wine. "Are you really sure about this? It... It might be too strong." she asked covertly.

Aegon nodded. "I'll take it." Lightly, he nudged her against the arm with his elbows.

Edith had to smile because of the gesture. Then she carefully took the vial of sleeping potion from the pocket in her dress, after looking around again cautiously. When she was sure that still no one was watching her, she poured three drops of the liquid into Aegon's cup, then quickly put the vial away and refilled the cup with wine.

"You'd better sit down, Aegon." She advised him anxiously. She didn't want him to stand and fall over when he finished the cup. He shouldn't hurt himself, after all. "Before you're too drunk to walk." She added, playfully joking.

They both sat back down in their seats after that. Otto was telling some story he had heard from a servant, but Edith was only slightly interested.

For guilt rose in Edith every time Aegon put his cup to his lips. She felt like she was separating him from his family by trying to get rid of him, and somehow she did.

Seeking help, she reached for Aemond's hand under the table and clung nervously to her husband. His hand was cold, but that didn't bother her because it was comfortable as her own hand was warm and slightly sweaty.

Aemond held her hand, but otherwise he showed no reaction. He talked quietly with his mother and paid little attention to his older brother, for he did not know if he was ready to see his brother fall over. It had been his own suggestion and Aegon would survive it, but the reproaches did not disappear from his mind either.

The meal dragged on as nothing happened. Edith already feared that she had put too little in his cup, although she had followed Arwin's exact instructions for quantity. At the same time, Aegon was taking his time finishing the drink and dragging everything out even more.

When everyone had finished eating, Helaena and Edith put the plates together on another table so that they would have more room on the dining table. Aegon also got up and was about to get another wine when it happened.

His cup fell out of his hand and fell loudly to the floor as his body began to shake. He had been cold and a little dizzy the whole time, but he had blamed it on the wine - apparently the drops did have an effect.

Aegon's skin was almost as pale as his hair, and he had to hold onto the table to keep from falling over. He was also finding it harder and harder to breathe, and he could barely keep his eyes open.

"Aegon, what's wrong?" Alicent immediately noticed that something was wrong with her eldest son. She thought at first that he was drunk again, but he was acting very differently this time. This time it was serious.

Alicent's concerned voice demanded everyone's attention in the room and they all looked to the mother who was walking towards her son. "Aegon, sit down. Get him some water!"

The queen tried to support him as his limbs grew heavier and he could barely stand. Aemond rushed to Aegon's other side and helped his mother lay his brother on the floor so he could breathe better.

Edith woke up from her rigidity and took a cup of water and quickly went to Aegon, not paying attention to whose cup it was. She knelt down in front of Aegon's head and put his head on her lap so that his head was a little higher and he could take a drink. But Aegon couldn't get a sip down and looked at Edith in panic from his violet eyes.

Her heart broke at this sight, because she knew that she had done this to him. She had put the drops in his wine and now he was lying in front of her, visibly struggling with his life. Arwin had promised her that Aegon would not feel anything and would only fall asleep, but this was not the case.

"Daeron! Helaena. You must get a maester, quickly!" ordered Alicent in shock. She too knelt beside Aegon and tried to keep him awake.

"Get Maester Arwin!" added Edith, looking urgently at Helaena, for she was the only one in the room besides Aegon and Aemond who knew. "Please."

Since Aegon couldn't drink anything through his shortness of breath, Edith put the cup back down and buried her hands in his silver hair instead. She tried to calm him and asked him to breathe, tears welling up in her eyes as Alicent did, shaking her son desperately.

Edith had never seen such a reaction from Alicent towards Aegon. She was visibly worried about her son and this was something quite new for everyone in the room.

An eternity passed before the two siblings returned with Maester Arwin, who had deliberately stayed near the dining room with his bag, pretending to be on his way to an appointment.

Aemond stood up to make room for Arwin, who now knelt with his bag next to the prince and looked at him. Aegon seemed to have a reaction to the potion, but his airways were clear and didn't seem to be causing any problems, and then the maester realized that Aegon was panicking and couldn't breathe because of it.

"My prince, you need to calm down. Take a deep breath and slowly exhale, okay? Breathe in deeply and out slowly. Come do it with me." Commanded the young maester. He put Aegon's hand on his own chest and modeled it for him to breathe so he could calm down.

Aegon's head was still resting on Edith's lap as he seemed to slowly calm down. She was still gently stroking his hair, her own hands shaking almost as much as Aegon's.

"Aegon, my son. Look at me." Asked Alicent desperately, turning his head slightly in her direction as she stroked his cheeks. "It's going to be okay, you just need to calm down. We're all with you."

It's going to be okay. We're all with you.

Such simple words with so much meaning, with so much love and devotion. All his life he had wanted such loving words from his mother. Why did he have to be dying before he could hear them?

By now, he was convinced he was dying, of course. Falling asleep felt different - not as hard as a battle.

Aegon's breathing returned to normal with the breathing assistance from the maester, until he became calmer and calmer, and his violet eyes closed until his breathing stopped completely.

"No... NO! Do something!" Alicent screamed hysterically at the Maester, quickly brushing the tears from her cheek, because no one was supposed to see her cry. "Maester!"

Maester Arwin did his best, at least that's what it should appear to the ignorant in the room. He checked heart tones and breathing, then turned pale with fright by himself. "Your Grace...the prince.... the prince is dead." He announced in a shaky voice.

Helplessly, Edith looked at her husband Aemond, who had the same expression in his one eye. Both of them regretted very much at that moment to have taken this step. They felt selfish and guilty. How could they think that everything would go well? Nothing ever goes well.

They had both killed Aegon.

"He can't be dead!" Alicent shook her son desperately, but he did not move. "Aegon, stop it, stop it! Open your eyes, Aegon!" she cried desperately, until two hands came to rest on her shoulder and gently pulled her away from the corpse.

Ser Adrik was now kneeling on the ground and had one arm around the queen, who was leaning against his shoulder, her eyes widened in shock. It was Daeron who had fetched Ser Adrik, while Helaena had fetched Arwin when it started.

In fact, Aemond tried to do likewise, but Edith shook off his hands. She did not want to let go of Aegon, since she could not let him go.

In her head she had already understood the consequences of her plan, but her aching heart could not accept it. After all, Edith only wanted Aegon's safety and now she was the reason for his early death.

It was an unbearable pain and she could not hold back the tears now either. So she let them run hotly down her cheeks as she leaned forward and rested her forehead against Aegon's. "I'm so sorry." She whimpered gently, though he couldn't hear her anymore.

He would never be able to hear her again.

Quietly, Maester Arwin packed his things into his bag next to the two grieving women and, along with two guards, fetched a stretcher. Then, when he came back, he put a hand on Edith's shoulder, pushing his glasses properly back on his nose with his free hand.

"We'll take him to my treatment room now, Princess. Please let him go now." He asked them urgently.

Only with difficulty Edith could break away from Aegon and could only watch how the two guards put the lifeless body on the stretcher and left the room with him and Arwin afterwards.

Otto Hightower, who had been standing there the whole time without reacting, now also left the room silently. He now had a lot to do, because of the actual upcoming coronation.

Only when the doors closed did she look up at Aemond. He had a pale face and looked visibly uncomfortable, for he too was guilty of Aegon's death. Aemond was so wracked with guilt that he didn't even care how close Edith and Aegon were before his death.

Aemond held out a hand to Edith and then helped her to stand up again, after which he protectively put his arms around her. Both felt so sick that they thought they would have to throw up their lunch again.

Together they watched as Alicent also got up and fled the room. Ser Adrik immediately ran after her, closely followed by Daeron.

"Was it worth it?"

Startled, Edith turned her gaze to Helaena, who was also still in the room. She had been quiet all the while and had neither moved nor, said anything and Edith had, assumed that she had also left the room.

But she hadn't. With tears in her eyes, she looked at Aemond and Edith, and the anger behind it was like another stab in her heart. "Was it worth it?" she repeated in a shaky voice.

"Helaena..." began Edith, but the other princess gave her no chance to explain herself, for Helaena stormed out of the room, leaving the couple alone in the room.

"I'm going to check on mother." Said Aemond after a while of silence, slowly detaching himself from his wife, who had clung to him in search of help.

Edith nodded in agreement. "Can you please check on Helaena afterwards? I don't want her to hate us..." Her voice almost broke and as she spoke she began to cry again.

That Helaena could hate her now caused her a great fear, because she didn't want and she couldn't lose her friend.

"She could never hate you...we just have to give her time." Replied Aemond in sympathy, though he wasn't sure himself. He had never seen his sister like that before.

Mindlessly, Edith nodded and wiped away her tears with the sleeve of her dress. "Thank you... I'll go find Ser Colin and tell him we're abandoning the plan...after that, I'll check on Maester Arwin. I'm sure he's in a bad state too."

"Good idea... No need for another innocent to die today." Replied Aemond, before the two now also left the room and parted ways.

Edith immediately made her way to Maester Ludwig's old treatment room. Since it had burned down a few days ago, this was an unused empty room, which nobody entered anymore. A perfect hiding place for a corpse.

She spotted Colin as she turned into the hallway. He was standing in front of the door, keeping watch as agreed. "Princess." He greeted her politely, nodding at her as if they were meeting by accident. "Everything is prepared. Downstairs as well." He then whispered softly to her as she stopped in front of him.

"Colin." She said breathlessly, bowing her head in shame. "Aegon is dead."

"Was it realistic?" asked Colin excitedly, for he was pleased that the plan had worked.

Exasperated, Edith shook her head, and she felt her cheeks flush again as she understood that Colin was unknowing. Apparently he had not yet spoken to Arwin.

"No, Colin... Prince Aegon is really dead." She whimpered sadly.

The knight's eyes widened in shock and he immediately opened the door behind him, pulling Edith into the room with him, and locked the door again.

Horrified, Edith screamed as she walked into the room and quickly put her hands over her mouth. The room was empty. They hadn't even bothered to clean it and remove the ashes after clearing it out.

But the room was not completely empty, as Edith first thought. In the middle of the room was something large lying on the floor wrapped in a cloth. "What is that, Colin?" she asked, though she could already guess the answer.

"Our victim." He explained the obvious calmly, before remembering her previous words and continuing, shocked. "What do you mean he's dead?"

"Aegon is death. Lifeless, breathless, without a heartbeat. He collapsed and died in my arms." She explained to him. Her cheeks and eyes still burned uncomfortably, but she could control the tears by now. "I failed... I did it just as Arwin told me to do it.... But I failed. I'm so sorry."

"You tried to protect him, you didn't fail." Colin said with a sigh. He didn't know the eldest prince well enough, unfortunately, but his death was still like a slap in the face, because it wasn't planned. "You don't have to apologize."

It only tore Edith's heart even more to talk about why she couldn't do it anymore. There was so much to do now and stop quickly so the plan wouldn't fail.

She didn't know what to do with Harwin now. True, he had no task now, but she had promised his freedom starting today. She couldn't just continue to keep him here and the boat was prepared - at least one was going to have a happy ending.

"We'll have to let Harwin know.... Now that everyone is distracted, there-"

"Breathe, Edith." Colin interrupted the princess.

Immediately the words and the voice of Arwin hold in her mind and she remembered how the Maester had said it to Aegon. The new images in her mind from the tragic death of Aegon she would never forget and were worse than the murder of Ludwig.

"We have to stay calm now and not be conspicuous." Reminded Colin, seeming more like a prince than she was a princess. "Do you still want Harwin's freedom today?"

"Of course...he deserves it and we promised him." She answered with a heavy heart, for she would miss Harwin.

Colin nodded in understanding. "Then I'll go with him until he gets on the boat tonight." He suggested.

"That would be fine. Thank you, Colin." Edith forced a smile and then turned back to the object on the floor. "What's that?"

"Our victim." Replied Colin again. "Prince Aemond found this man in the streets. He was already very sick and, according to eyewitnesses, was going to take his own life. Prince Aemond brought him here, had him bathed properly and eaten well again in exchange for his body.... He then took his own life after eating."

Edith was honestly touched by her husband's actions. That part of the plan had been his job and she was glad to hear that the man was not simply killed, but wanted to die and was even spoiled again. She was touched that Aemond had made the effort and actually searched instead of just kidnapping someone.

She really needed to talk to him about that sometime, but unfortunately the corpse had no use for her now either.

"That sounds like a pleasant ending.... Clean, warm, and with a full belly.... a self-decided death sounds like mercy, because he was able to decide for himself until the end." Replied the princess and the knight nodded in agreement.

A soft knock on the door made them both startle and look to the door as it was slowly opened.

"Princess Edith! Here you are!" An excited, wide-eyed Arwin came into the room and closed the door behind him. "You must come with me immediately, before the queen arrives!"

***
Edith made a big mistake...
Prince Aegon II. is dead.

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See you in the next chapter ♡
xx