Chapter 27.1- The Seadragon's Roar

He hadn’t even been dead for a few hours, and he looked so different already. I knew it wasn’t anything physical. It was just like I had seen with Corlys. His animated expressions, his life, it wasn’t there, and it made all the difference. Daemon Targaryen, the Rogue Prince, was dead. And it had happened at the hands of a bastard from the Iron Islands of all people. With poison of all tools. The question then became, what would we do now? We had to tell Viserys. We had to. But then what were the chances that Otto wouldn’t whisper something in his ears.

Hightower had hated Daemon more than anyone else, but he would still use his death to secure our doom if he could. But then what choice did we have? I’d considered destroying the body and saying he’d gone, but for one thing, Caraxes was still here. Caraxes who had been roaring and growling all night according to Laena. He knew his rider was dead, and even if we forced him back to Westeros, he would still know.

“My Lord” Bernard greeted as he walked in. I looked at him.

“What can you tell me about the poison Pate used, Maester”

“It was some version of the strangler. Made from mixing two local ingredients, both of them different strains of sea moss that call this Island home”

“And you’ve got samples?” I asked. Did I even need to? Of course he did. He wheeled them out, long rolls of green.

“He was careful to clean his room, but he had samples on the ship he intended to escape with.”

“How interesting. Did he intend to eat the poison?” I asked.

Bernard looked at me for a second before reaching down to one and pinching it before popping it in his mouth. Ser Ben, my ever present shadow made to stop him, but I just watched curious.

“Either of them are edible on their own. Only by combining them can you get that effect” He said.

“And Pate just happened to know this? A bastard from the Iron Islands?”

“He was clearly somewhat educated. His writing is rudimentary but still good enough that I can tell he had the privilege of a Maester’s tutelage at some point. My theory is that someone here— one of the crewmates maybe, consumed both at once and died from it. It is not unusual for sailors to build an understanding of poisons in their vicinity in that manner” He said. Okay, that made some amount of sense. Yet, it all rubbed me the wrong way.

“Can you answer my own question then, my Lord?” Bernard spoke.

“Shoot” I waved him on.

“His journal indicates a desire to poison you both, and as we can see here, he clearly succeeded somewhat. So how was he able to kill Prince Daemon with his poison, but not you”

“I retired early last night. Nerves around war, you know” I said. That was the story Laena had said we were going with, so I stuck to it.