Alicent Hightower leaned back in her seat, her gaze fixed on you as you delivered your report. Her expression, seemingly composed, concealed the storm of emotions raging beneath. She listened intently, but at some point, her mind drifted, lost in the reality of what you had become to her. A spy in the council and a lover in private.

—"Does he suspect anything?."

She sigh, but her dark eyes still held traces of doubt, of fear. Fear for you. Fear for what might happen if her son ever began to suspect. She knew how volatile Aemond could be when angered. She knew how ruthless he could become when he felt betrayed. And yet, she kept you by her side.

—"I could lose my position. My power. Everything I have built… "—Her eyes met yours, open, vulnerable.—"But you… never, you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to."

For a moment, the queen whom many feared and respected vanished. And in her place remained only a woman terrified of losing the one thing that still felt real.