A/N: Axel feels a certain sort of way about everything he just learned.
-x-X-x-
The moment he's out of the room; Axel moves with blazing speed to the nearest balcony before shooting up into the sky. To be honest, he does all of his thinking in the air these days. Floating hundreds of feet over the city with an amazing view in every direction makes for the best contemplation in Axel's experience.
… He's not angry or disappointed, even if he knows he probably should be. He's not even really afraid. No, the reason Axel needed to take a moment to himself is because he doesn't want the others to know what he's really feeling in this moment. He doesn't want them to know that everything the they just got done telling him had left him feeling one thing and one thing only.
Excitement.
Axel knows it's wrong. He shouldn't be fucking excited by the prospect of a King Beyond the Wall and an army of savage wildlings invading the homeland of one of his Queens and threatening her birth family. He DEFINITELY shouldn't be excited by the thought of Daenerys Targaryen and three dragons all the size of Balerion the Black Dread either!
He should be horrified! He should be terrified! Not for himself, but for those who are weaker than him. The wildlings were a danger to the men and women of the North. They were a threat to House Stark and all of their bannermen that couldn't be ignored! And Daenerys… Daenerys could burn the whole of King's Landing down with her dragons if Axel wasn't there to stop her.
Even if he was, what if he wasn't fast enough to deal with all three dragons? One could destroy the Red Keep while the other two kept him occupied, if they were strong enough…
If they were strong enough. That was the problem, wasn't it? The thought of testing himself against such creatures brings the twitches of an involuntary smile to Axel's face. It makes the blood pump in his veins and roar in his ears alongside the sound of his racing heartbeat.
Clenching his hands into fists at his side, Axel slowly turns in a smooth circle, letting his eyes move over his lands in every direction. Eventually though, he comes to a stop and looks to the North. He can't see the Wall from this far away, but he can easily imagine it.
… From the sound of things, the wildling threat is not fully realized just yet.
The savages have a King Beyond the Wall and are moving south in greater and greater numbers, but if they really were about to assault the Wall at any point, then Axel is confident Lord Stark wouldn't have wasted time with sending his bastard down to King's Landing to ask for aid in person.
Turning again, this time Axel orients himself towards the East. Daenerys too, was a distant problem. Slaver's Bay, where she was apparently slaughtering the ruling caste of slavemasters and sacrificing them to fuel her ascension, was halfway across the known world. And she was still collecting ships as well, even building what she couldn't find.
It sounded like she was dead set on bringing an entire army over to Westeros, really. If Axel were in her shoes, he wouldn't want to leave a single one of her foreign warriors behind, from the look of things. Axel's nostrils flare as he considers what little he knows of Unsullied Warriors. They were supposedly the best of the best, but he had to admit… just knowing that they were slaves left his opinion of them low.
How could a slave ever compare to a free man? And more than that, the Unsullied were said to be eunuchs as well. Axel knows it's not entirely accurate, but he still can't help imagining an entire army of soft, doughy Varys in his mind's eye. Thousands of the bald, overweight man wearing ill-fitted armor instead of his silk robes and wielding spears in one hand and shields too small for their immense bulk in the other.
It's enough to make Axel finally lose the battle against his smile, his lips curling up and spreading open to reveal his pearly whites as he lets out a chuckle at the mental image. It really is quite amusing, isn't it? Only… shaking his head ruefully, Axel lets out a rough sigh.
… He'd fucked up. All those months ago, when he'd gotten back from killing Euron and setting the Iron Islands to rights, he and Stannis had talked about replacing Varys… and Axel had pretty much blown it off entirely. Hell, he didn't even bother following up with Davos about whether the former smuggler might know any qualified individuals.
To be fair, Stannis had put Davos in charge of ruling Dragonstone for him soon after Axel's wedding. Lord Seaworth and his entire family had been watching over Dragonstone and the surrounding area for months now. Along with his work with the Royal Fleet as Master of Ships, Davos had more than enough on his plate without hunting down a new Master of Whispers for Axel.
Or at least, that was the excuse Axel had told himself for why he didn't follow up. But really, he hadn't gone out of his way to try to find anyone else either. He'd left the Master of Whispers position empty all these months because… because he hadn't thought it necessary.
He'd been feeling downright unstoppable after killing Euron's Kraken and laying waste to most of the Ironborn Fleet. To say nothing of his message to the Drowned God and how that had gone. He had truly felt… unassailable.
But for all that Axel was invulnerable to pretty much all forms of harm that he knew about at this point, everyone around him was not. He might be unkillable, but his pregnant Queens certainly weren't. And everyone else too was… so very fragile.
Going without a Spymaster all these months was something like his father would have done in his general laziness and unwillingness to properly rule. Hell, if Varys hadn't survived the Sack of King's Landing back at the end of Robert's Rebellion, Axel could easily imagine a world where his father DID go without a Master of Whispers, leaving the position empty for years on end if not indefinitely.
The thing was, Axel was supposed to be better than his father. He was supposed to be cleaning up the mess that Robert left behind so that he could build something new on steady, fresh foundations. Instead, he was only now finding out about threats to his Kingdoms that he probably could have known about ages ago.
Fortunately, it wasn't too late to fix his mistakes. Far from it, in fact. And doubly fortunately… he had three women down below him in the Red Keep all too eager to help.
Smiling a bit more fondly, Axel finally starts to drop from the sky, descending back to the balcony that he'd exited the Red Keep from. As his feet hit the ground, he takes sure steps back down the hallway, reaching the room where he'd left Margaery, her grandmother, and Tyene in no time at all.
Stepping back into the room, Axel claps his hands together, making sure not to do so too hard, and grins as he looks at the three women, all still seated right where he left them.
"Alright then. Looks to me like we have ourselves a few problems, but nothing that can't still be fixed, no? Lady Olenna, Margaery… the problem north of the Wall… is it at the point that I should fly up there immediately and lay waste to this wildling army right this moment?"
The Tyrell women exchange glances at that. Axel takes note of Olenna's ever so slight nod that prompts Margaery to take the lead and speak up for the both of them.
"We… do not believe so, Your Grace. It would probably be best to let Jon Snow's ship arrive here in King's Landing so that he might be able to tell you more about the situation himself. Our sources tell us that he was an eyewitness to what's really going on north of the Wall, which is why he's being sent in the first place. He'll know more and you should have the time to hear him out and make an informed decision."
Very good. Axel nods, giving Margaery an approving smile that makes her blush.
"Alright then, thank you very much Margaery."
That makes her swell with pride and even sees her shooting a smug smirk over at her perceived rival Tyene. Not that the rivalry seems to go both ways. In fact, Tyene is as serene as ever, even as Axel turns to her next.
"Tyene, what of Daenerys and her dragons? Should I fly over to Meereen right now and slaughter them all before she can make it to Westeros?"
Tilting her head to the side, Tyene thinks about it… and thinks about it. Axel raises an eyebrow, just about to ask if she's alright, when she finally shakes her head.
"… No, I don't think that would be for the best, Your Grace. Your Might should be witnessed by all of Westeros… and more specifically, your best bet would be to defeat her in Dorne, so that my people can see just how powerful you truly are."
Axel furrows his brow at that, not quite following on that last part.
"Explain."
Tyene dips her head.
"While my father and the Dornish Spearmen that accompanied him to the Iron Islands all witnessed your majesty, the rest of Dorne did not… and they are so used to lying and deceiving one another that many of them still don't fully believe everything that they've been told about you."
Here, Tyene glances over to Margaery with a smile that causes the other woman to narrow her eyes.
"I imagine that much is true of those up at the Wall and beyond it as well. Despite your enemies constantly being sent there, I would not be surprised if when Jon Snow arrives, he doesn't fully understand the depths of your power, Your Grace."
Huh. Interesting… but he still didn't understand what she was getting at. Luckily, Tyene isn't done.
"Therefore, we can kill two birds with one stone. On your orders, my father and uncle can reach out to Daenerys Targaryen and offer her a place to land in Dorne, pretending like they wish to swear to her instead and betray you. In truth, when she and her fleet arrives, they will find nothing but your majestic self waiting for them, backed by the Dornish Armies."
Tyene's serene smile has returned, her hands clasped together almost in prayer as she outlines how it will all happen.
"Together, you will destroy the so-called Dragon Queen and her Unsullied, as well as her dragons. Not only will the threat never even come close to King's Landing, but all of Dorne will know you for who you really are, having seen your power firsthand with their own eyes."
Axel frowns.
"But… I've married a Dornish Princess. Surely they'll see right through such a gambit, no?"
But Tyene shakes her head.
"Rumors abound about you over in Essos, Your Grace. There are even some who would claim that your Queens are not happy with being forced to share their titles. Some call you a tyrant and say that you forced the issue. My father and uncle will lean on this rumor and claim that you have done terrible things to Arianne, explaining why they would want a change in rulership."
Axel has to admit… it's not a bad plan so long as he ignores the insinuation that he would EVER hurt one of his wives in such a way. He especially likes the part where they don't risk King's Landing or any of the Crownlands. Not that he would want Arianne's homeland to burn under dragonfire anymore than he wants Sansa's homeland to be pillaged by wildlings, mind you. Still, he would sacrifice both the North and Dorne if it meant keeping his Queens safe here in King's Landing.
Fortunately, it shouldn't come to that. Following Tyene's plan, Axel would destroy Daenerys Targaryen in Dorne and then he would go North and kill as many wildlings as he had to in order to make them turn back from the Wall. Hell, if they were particularly smart, he would only have to kill one… their so-called King Beyond the Wall would hopefully serve as an example to all the others and take the fight out of them.
Admittedly, part of him hated this plan. Sitting tight and letting his enemies continue gathering was… it was a strategy sure, but not one he particularly appreciated. And yet, he'd already made the mistake of sitting blindly for months because he refused to be proactive in finding a new Master of Whispers.
If not for the actions of the women in front of him, he wouldn't even know about the wildlings until Sansa's half-brother arrived. And he wouldn't have heard about Daenerys until she was practically right on top of Westeros, given how slow normal rumors and news seemed to travel across the Narrow Sea.
Letting out a sigh, Axel nods to Tyene as he commits to doing things the smart way.
"Very well. Thank you Tyene, well done to you too."
Tyene just smiles and dips her head.
"It was my pleasure, my King."
He doesn't doubt that it was. The Dornish woman seemed to treat him more like a god than a king most days. She was… reverent and worshipful of Axel in a way only those of the Faith and the Most Devout tended to be at this point. Tyene had truly bought into the mythos that had developed around him by this point, though Arianne had confided that it was at least partly because she'd witnessed Axel during his seven days and seven nights of burning in the Great Sept.
Still, if it were just him, Tyene, and Margaery, they might have 'celebrated' in a carnal fashion right then and there. But of course, they aren't exactly… alone. Something that the Queen of Thorns makes absolutely clear as she draws his attention by clearing her throat indelicately.
"There is still another decision to be made here, Your Grace. The position of your Spymaster remains empty. You must choose a new Master of Whispers… or rather, a new Mistress of Whispers."
Axel smiles, having been expecting her to say something like that. Eyes twinkling, he chuckles as he looks between the three of them.
"But why? Why would I choose… when I can just have you all? Why have only one Mistress of Whispers… when I can have two? Or rather, two and a spare, from the look of things."
Letting his smile grow as they all look at him curiously, Axel just shrugs.
"Varys had nobody to keep him in check. Nobody to second guess him or his work. I'm sure he kept secrets from me and both of my predecessors, but who was here to gainsay him? And look where that got us all… no. I won't continue making the mistakes of my father. I'll have two Spymasters. Two Mistresses of Whispers."
He can see he's shocked the three of them. None of them, not even Tyene, saw this coming. Feeling rather proud of himself, Axel continues on.
"You'll work together and apart at the same time. You will NOT compete with one another, or there will be consequences. Instead, I want you to do your best to complement one another. I want you to make up for each other's blind spots and fill in the blanks when something doesn't make sense. Tyene can stay focused on Essos while Lady Olenna and Margaery focus on Westeros, but more than anything you all should be a team. Do I make myself clear?"
There's a pause before Olenna begrudgingly nods.
"You have more brains than most men I've dealt with throughout my long life, Your Grace."
Axel snorts in amusement, though he suspects that might just be the highest praise he or anyone else will ever get from the Queen of Thorns. As for Margaery and Tyene… Margaery seems like she's just relieved to not have been entirely one-upped by Tyene this time around. And of course, Tyene is Tyene… she's just happy to serve and Axel suspects she always will be.
As all three women signal their agreement and Axel finally fills the last empty spot on his Small Council with not one, not two, but three bodies… he smiles. This was good. This was what ruling was about. And sure, today had been a lesson in how he could and was still making mistakes… but nothing he couldn't fix. Nothing he couldn't recover from.
Daenerys Targaryen and her dragons were in for a bad surprise when they finally made it here to Westeros. He would crush them down in Dorne and show them the futility of trying to take his throne from him.
… And honestly, he could hardly wait to fight those dragons. As big as the Black Dread… and there were three of them! Fuck, that sounded amazing!
-x-X-x-
A/N: Plans are made and Axel is very much looking forward to fighting a dragon or three~ Should be fine so long as everything is kept down in Dorne!
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