Chapter 154 — Suspicions Toward Varys
"Dragonstone,"
Kevan Lannister answered without hesitation.
"And why are you so certain?"
Cersei Lannister pressed, her tone carrying a hint of challenge as she invited the rest of the council to weigh in.
Kevan glanced around the chamber, then replied with calm confidence,
"Dragonstone is the ancestral seat of House Targaryen—and the most strategic staging ground for an assault on King's Landing. There is no better place for her to land."
He swept his gaze across the assembled councillors.
No one objected.
Cersei followed his line of sight… before settling on one man.
Varys.
"Varys," she said, "have you learned anything about Daenerys's intended landing point?"
Varys, who had been standing with his hands tucked into his sleeves and eyes half-closed, slowly raised his lids. His voice remained smooth and composed.
"I'm afraid such secrets lie beyond the reach of my little birds, Your Grace."
Cersei studied him for a moment… then pressed further.
"Perhaps. But can you explain why it took over twenty days after her departure from Meereen for us to learn she was sailing for Westeros?"
Her dissatisfaction had been building for a long time. Even though the city had been warned three days ago, she still found the delay unacceptable.
Varys did not flinch.
"My birds can only carry messages so fast," he replied evenly. "If we had dragons, I imagine we would have heard much sooner."
The word dragons caught in Cersei's throat, swallowing whatever retort she had prepared.
She had heard the reports—cities burned, armies shattered.
Her fear of Daenerys Targaryen came largely from that.
---
Leaning lazily in his chair, Euron Greyjoy suddenly opened his lone eye at the mention of dragons.
Meereen had cost him dearly.
One eye—gone.
His prized eye.
If not for slipping into a deathlike state after it was destroyed, he might not have survived at all.
He had lived… but not unscathed.
Now came the headaches.
The seizures.
A mind already twisted—made worse.
After fleeing Meereen, he had sought out Cersei—the true power behind the Iron Throne.
She wasn't as young as Daenerys, nor as noble in blood…
But she ruled King's Landing.
And options were few.
So he chose her.
To his satisfaction, Cersei was far easier to work with. Their alliance was simple—mutual benefit, no illusions.
For a time, it eased both his physical wounds and the deeper damage left behind.
But now—
Daenerys was coming.
Too soon.
And with her… that black dragon.
---
Euron's expression darkened.
He had tried to control it—and failed.
The memory still burned.
Yet he was not a man who accepted defeat.
Not when Qyburn was crafting a new weapon—
A massive scorpion, far stronger than the ballistae mounted on his ships.
If the dragon could endure ordinary bolts…
Could it withstand that?
He doubted it.
"Sounds like you admire her dragons quite a bit," Euron sneered suddenly, fixing Varys with his single eye.
"Planning to switch sides, perhaps?"
Cersei, already suspicious, turned her gaze sharply back to Varys.
The room grew quiet.
Varys, however, remained utterly unfazed.
"Do you not find dragons impressive, Lord Euron?" he replied mildly.
"I had heard the eye beneath your patch was… a gift from one."
Euron's jaw tightened.
Only then did he remember—this eunuch knew everything.
Including what had happened in Meereen.
With a cold snort, he said nothing more.
The silence that followed spoke volumes.
Everyone present now had their suspicions confirmed—
Euron's missing eye was indeed the work of Daenerys's dragon.
Cersei broke the silence, turning back to Kevan.
"Uncle… how do you propose we stop her—and her dragons—from landing on Dragonstone?"
Cersei failed to notice anything unusual in Varys's response, and soon steered the discussion back to the original question.
At her inquiry, even the battle-hardened veteran Kevan Lannister frowned slightly.
Against human armies, he could produce several strategies without hesitation.
But against dragons…
He had no reliable answer.
The only thing they could truly depend on was the new weapon being developed by Qyburn—the scorpion.
Though he had heard the reports—of Daenerys's black dragon shrugging off ballista bolts and burning cities like Ghis—Kevan remained skeptical.
Ballistae had always been the most effective weapons against dragons.
Dorne had once proven that.
They had resisted Aegon I Targaryen time and again using giant scorpions—
Even slaying the dragon ridden by his sister Rhaenys Targaryen, bringing both rider and beast crashing from the sky.
Though Aegon and Visenya Targaryen later unleashed relentless dragonfire upon Dorne, the region still refused to submit.
In the end, Dorne remained the only kingdom unconquered by Aegon—brought into the realm only through marriage.
Kevan simply did not believe there could exist a dragon immune to such weapons.
Especially not when, according to Cersei, Qyburn's new scorpion far surpassed the old ballistae in power.
"Dragonstone's fortress is strong and well-defended," Kevan began slowly,
"but it cannot hold many troops. And without sufficient scorpions, it would be nearly impossible to stop dragons from breaching it…"
He trailed off before finishing his thought.
But the meaning was clear.
Abandon Dragonstone.
Concentrate all forces on defending King's Landing.
Daenerys might have a hundred thousand troops—but thirty thousand were raw recruits, and over forty thousand were Dothraki, far more suited to open-field combat than siege warfare.
King's Landing, bolstered by noble levies, could also field close to a hundred thousand.
If they could buy time for Qyburn to complete the scorpions—
Then the dragons would no longer be invincible.
And even if Daenerys chose to attack immediately after landing…
As long as she hesitated to unleash full dragonfire upon the city's population—
Kevan believed the capital could still hold.
"So we're to abandon Dragonstone?"
Cersei Lannister asked sharply.
After Stannis Baratheon had left the island, she had taken it without much effort.
And now—
To hand it back without a fight?
Unacceptable.
When Kevan did not immediately answer, Cersei turned to another man—
Euron Greyjoy, Master of Ships.
She hoped for a different answer.
Something aggressive. Decisive.
But if not for the black dragon, Euron might have proposed ambushing Daenerys's fleet at sea.
Now?
After what he had suffered at Drogon's claws—
That thought had long since died.
Without the scorpions…
He had nothing.
Meeting Cersei's gaze, he remained silent.
That silence was louder than any answer.
Frustration flickered across Cersei's face.
Before the war had even begun—
They were already considering surrendering territory.
For a queen who had only just begun to revel in power…
It was a bitter pill to swallow.