Chapter Text
Chapter One
For Lucerys, death had been as swift as falling asleep.
There had been a brief moment of peace, as Arrax crested up over the clouds, guiding them out of the storm, and another moment where Lucerys just breathed. His eyes had moved upwards, towards the stars above trying to find a set he knew by heart to guide him. Back to his mother, his brothers, his stepfather.
He never saw Vhagar. He never saw his Uncle Aemond reaching for him, he didn’t see Arrax ripped to shreds underneath him, he never saw the teeth of the oldest dragon in the world bearing down on him.
The last thing he saw was the stars, merrily twinkling as they showed him the way home.
His awakening was anything but, his nose was filled with sulfur and ash, coarse sand dug its way in under his cloak, frigid sea water lapped at his feet.
Sight was the last thing to return to him, the stars above slowly fading into existence as he sucked in a deep breath of stinging air. Everything on him aches something fierce, like he had been run through with a million tiny swords.
“Ah, the little dragon has finally woken.”
The deep lilting voice startled him from his star gazing, jolting him into motion as the world turned on its side.
When he finally had his bearings about him again Lucerys was greeted by the sight of a man cloaked in dark armor. He looked like his grandsire but at the same time nothing like him. His hair was Valyrian white yet his features were wrong.
“Am I dead?” He asked.
The man smiled, his teeth glinting in the sunlight. Just a little too long. A little too sharp, like Arrax’s teeth after a feast. “You are for now, soon you will not be.”
He didn’t seem to intend to say anything else. Instead his violet gaze drifted to the sea, behind Lucerys, lost in thought. Suddenly, instead of his grandsire, Lucerys could only see his Aunt Helaena staring past him from the man’s face and he could almost hear her soft voice on the wind rambling about things only she could comprehend.
The thought made him ache for home.
“Why?” The man turned to him, a raised eyebrow morphing him into something like his stepfather, “Why won’t I be dead for long? Aren’t people supposed to stay dead when they die?”
“Seeing you come to me should have been a catharsis, Lucerys, as it always is.”
“But it wasn’t?”
He hummed, like Jace when he asked a question that stumped him, “No, it wasn’t. Destruction was not what I intended for you, though it seems as though it is what happens to all those who follow in my wake.” He stood from his perch on a blackened rock, and beckoned Lucerys to follow him.
The two of them walked along the beach in silence for what felt like an eternity to Lucerys but even as his nerves ate away at his stomach, he couldn’t bring himself to voice any more questions. The sand soon gave way to larger peddles, and then to craggly rocks, before finally turning to slick black stone at the edge of the water.
“I cannot show you what came after you perished,” His eyes were still focused on the sea, hauntingly dark as storm clouds brewed at the edge of the horizon, “But I can tell you it was more death, and destruction. The death of your family as you knew it, and it set into motion the death of all those who would come after them.”
“All of them, everyone? Jace, Joff, Baela, Rheana, Moth -”
“It was a slow decline, sweet boy,” It felt like ice had gripped his heart. His mothers eyes stared back at him, and he wanted so badly to go to her, to cower in her skirts once again, “But it was still a decline, and in the end the magic of Valyria was whittled down, and the dragons of the world perished entirely.” He sighed and it was a woman, one he never met but who looked so much like his mother that it ached, who faced Lucerys now. “If I could, I would let you rest among the rest of us, among all those you’ve come to love and those that you have yet to meet, but it is not just me who is able to pull at the strings of fate, and our magic must prevail.”
“It can’t be me,” Lucerys stuttered, the same overwhelming terror that had taken over him when he saw Vhagar’s huge form lurking in the darkness beyond Storm’s end, the same fear that had shaken him to his core when Arrax disobeyed him lodging in his throat, “I couldn’t even deliver a message to a bannerman when I was close to home, I can’t save anyone, let alone everyone.”
The man smiled with his father’s mouth and reached for him as he knelt at the waters edge, “It will be you, Lucerys, or it will be no one. Now come here, sweetling.”
The scent of salt water and ash flooded his nose as the world started to tunnel in once again, a thousand soft voices murmuring that the water would take better care of him into his mind.
His mother’s eyes drew him in, and his grandmother’s, his brother’s, his stepfather’s, his uncle's hands all grasped at him, taking him ever so gently into his arms as the man petted through his hair and down his neck, to his back. “Let me melt your wings, little dragon,” The Sea Snake’s voice whispered against his hair as his eyes slipped closed, the stars above Driftmark filling his vision behind his eyelids, “I’ll give you enough fire to light your way, to help me guide you, but this time you’ll belong to the sea.”
End Chapter One
Chapter 2
Notes:
I'm a little bit unhappy with this chapter, but im unhappy with most things I write, so I figure I might as well post this before I go completely changing it XD
Chapter Text
Chapter 2
When he next awoke he was burning.
Everywhere from the strands of his hair to the tips of his toes, there were flaming tongues lashing over him.
“I’ve given you just enough dragon’s blood to thrive, sweet boy, but not enough to burn,” the words were whispered into his ear, like a balm, rubbed into the blistering skin above his heart, “use your holy water this time, not your hellfire.”
He tried to move, to get away, but heaviness weighed him down from every side, dragging him further into the flames. Every movement hurt but no matter how much he tried he couldn’t get his mouth to open, to beg to be let go, he couldn’t even open his eyes.
Distantly he thought he could hear someone calling his name.
Then finally salvation came, two hands wrapped themselves around his upper arms like manacles and ripped him back into existence. The world opened back up before him and now he could hear yelling.
“What in the seven hells were you three thinking?!” The Sea Snake’s voice boomed in his ear as he was pulled up and out of the water, onto the docks. The tang of salt water danced on his tongue as he coughed up a lungful and spit it over the edge with a sob.
Beside them were his uncles and his brother, but where there should have been only three, six were standing. Old, young, half blending into each other. An Aemond with one eye and one with both stared back at him, the taller one sneering. “There is a debt to be paid, my Lord Strong,” boomed through his head like the crack of thunder.
Two of Jace watched him with varying degrees of emotion, one terrified and the other angry, and as Lucerys blinked the salt from his eyes he thought he could see his mother and several guards running down the beach.
“We were just playing,” his uncle Aegon answered. A siren’s song chimed in liar liar liar.
Lucerys barely managed to roll himself away from his grandfather’s coat as the world tilted, the sight of the dragon pit during their foolish pink dread prank flashed, and he vomited up the rest of the water. For a moment all he could see was the waves crashing against the cliffs below Storm's End, Arrax’s pearl wings beating desperately in the air before the vision faded.
“We weren’t even playing that close to the edge, grandfather, I swear.”
His brother’s voice caught his attention and Lucerys reached for him with a whimper, he didn’t care that all he could see was the view of his brother knocking him into the sand, trying to prepare him for a war he wasn’t ready to fight. Jacaerys’ warmth was nearly sizzling when he touched him but he didn’t push him away, he had just died, he wanted his brother’s arms around him - gods how he wanted to hide behind his mother’s skirts - and he didn’t care how much it hurt.
“You shouldn’t have been playing near the ocean at all -”
“Luke!” Rhaenyra swept up the dock, nearly knocking her half brothers to the side as she dove towards he and Jacaerys and wrapped them both up in her arms. “Jace, Luke, what happened?”
He was suffocating, his mother and brother boiling him alive between them. “I don’t know…”
“We were playing by the docks, Uncle Aegon said he was going to show us something, and then Luke fell in the water!”
Their mother pressed a searing hand to his head, guiding his face into her neck yet Lucerys only felt a phantom kiss against his temple, “He’ll be honored to host a prince of the realm,” ringing in his ears. The world blurred and she was no longer holding him, instead she was dressed in white, blood staining the gown between her legs. Then she was back, using her other hand to gather Jace against her as well.
She turned to face her half brothers, looking at the two of them with a stern eye before focusing on Aegon, “Is this true, Aegon?”
Aegon glared back at her, a petulant pout already forming on his thin lips. “I didn’t think he’d fall into the sea.” He toed at a bit of rock caught between the boards of the dock and then huffed. Luke could see the older version staring daggers into him as they bent and warped together, “It’s not my fault he doesn’t know how to swim!”
His mother didn’t get the chance to dignify that with a response as a set of royal guards led by none other than the Queen’s protector, Criston Cole, filed in behind the Targaryen guards that had come with his mother. Lucerys watched them circle the entrance to the dock with a heart full of dread. It felt like he couldn’t breathe. There were so many of them, they’d never stand a chance, he had died only to come home and die again.
“Is everything alright, princes?”
Where was Syrax? Vermax? His stepfather and Ceraxes? Why would his family come here without protection, they should all be on Dragonstone, why were they all firmly rooted in this vipers den -
“Everything is fine, Ser Cole.” Rhaenyra said coldly. “There was an incident while the boys were playing, and now we will take our leave.”
Her hands cupped Lucerys under his thighs, scalding like a branding iron as she swept him up onto her hip, Jace and Corlys standing with her. His grandfather’s hand settled on the small of his back, and the younger Jace stared up at him with worry in his eyes.
As they stalked past the royal guards back towards the Red Keep, Lucerys took a glance at himself in the reflection of the sea water. His own face, just as terrified as he had been at Storm's end, looked back at him for a brief moment before his vision swam with the sea. Mousey brown was replaced with ashen white curls, deep brown eyes gave way to dark violet.
The heat surrounding him finally came to a head as his vision started to fade, leaving him weary and exhausted with his head on one of his mother’s shoulders, he wasn’t even sure which one it was; the Queen who had sent him from Dragonstone to meet his end, or the mother that had loved him his whole life.
He realized just a little to late that it had not been the face of a four and ten year old boy staring back at him from the water, but the face of a child.
Chapter 3: Chapter 3
Chapter Text
Chapter Three:
Endless scenes swirled through his head, all vying and clawing at him for attention, a cacophony of voices shrieking at him. It hurt, it hurt so much, it hurt more than him dying had.
It almost made him crave death. To be pulled into the Stranger’s grasp peacefully once again, his last glimpse being the stars ahead, or to be back on that beach surrounded by a man who was everyone and no one all at once. At least there he had felt nice, he was at peace, he could see his mother’s smile, feel her hands on his skin without burning himself alive to do it.
Instead he’s being inundated with flames heating him from every side, and visions plaguing what little awareness the flames had left him. But even in this he didn’t want to beg, to go out with some kind of coward’s death. He was the blood of old Valyria, surely he could take a little heat…?
“And yet Valyria was swallowed by flame,” Something chanted right in his ear, ever out of reach, “Cosigned to death by their own stubbornness.”
Unbidden, he was hit with another vision. A grandiose city - bigger, more stunning that the reconstruction his grandsire Viserys had created - built near the sea yet also nestled near a volcano like Dragonstone. It was beautiful, haunting again like Dragonstone, but still beautiful as only a long lost home could be.
Then there was a thunderous boom.
Lucerys knew he wasn’t there, that this had to be well over a hundred years ago, but the sound still struck a fear into his heart. He knew what he was seeing was going to be the doom of Valyria, it's the only thing it could be.
The earth shook and he was right.
Mere seconds after the boom, the volcano that lay before the city began gurgling god only knows what into the sky. It was noxious and thick, Lucerys could taste ash and sulfur and metal on his tongue even from his vantage point of the vision. The giant plume lumbered down the side of the volcano heading straight for the city and as it did the volcano boomed once again.
He could only watch as what looked like liquid fire spewed from the crest of the mount, giant heavy rocks hurled out along with it. A truly terrifying sight. Even the dragons, which he hadn’t noticed previously inhabiting the mountain side, began to try and flee only to be hit by the rocks, or drowned by the liquid fire. It burned everything it touched, sizzling and hissing as it set the trees and houses alight.
It felt like hours as the fire spread further and further into the city, the destruction compounded by multiple explosions throwing out more liquid and more rocks. At some point the volcano let out another massive sound, and part of the mount caved in on itself, the ground around it following suit as what looked like a sea’s worth of fire poured out.
The sight washed away from his eyes, setting him back adrift in the unending flames.
“Why would you show me that?” He croaked.
The sirens hummed against his face, their breath a cool reprieve from the heat, “When we control the visions they keep you with us, and we must keep you awake, lest you slip into an eternal sleep, sweet Prince.”
“If I fall asleep, I’ll die?” The poignant ‘I’ll die again’ was left unsaid.
“Unfortunately, there are more forces than just us at work, Lucerys,” And suddenly he was back on that beach, the sea breeze rolling over his boiling skin, the man from before kneeling over him, “If you sleep right now, it will be them and not me guiding the hands of fate.”
He didn’t know what that meant, but it certainly didn’t sound like anything good. “And that would be…bad?”
“There are some who believe the future should be left as it was, those who believe I am forcing fate’s hands too far with my meddling.” The man’s warm - thank the gods they were only warm - hands cupped the side of his face, a calloused thumb traced over his cheek, “They simply enjoy how fate laid for them the first time and do not wish to see it change.”
“But you want it to be changed?”
“It needs to be changed, the magic of Valyria needs to be preserved.” He answered with a smile. “There is a fight to come and unless Valryia’s magic is strong, even the dragons won’t be able to answer its call.”
With that his face turned away from Lucerys, though his hands did stay, instead moving to face the sirens he knew to be just out of sight.
“It is R’Hllor that has him, is it not?” They sang.
The man nodded, “That pesky Lord of Light has our Prince in his grasp. I fear it was he who deigned to try and show Lucerys what came after his death, though I was able to block most of it, only bits and pieces slunk through my traps.”
“And it is he who burns him so, seeking to force our hands.”
“Yes.”
A thousand sirens songs murmured among themselves, nearly too inaudible for Lucerys to make out anything other than that they were singing. It soothed some of the flames that were still licking at him along with the hand constantly stroking over his forehead. The sounds were enchanting to listen too, and he could almost feel himself drifting off to sleep.
“We cannot send him back like this, he will not last,” one whispered, “It is the connection to what once would have come to pass that lets the Lord entangle him in his grasp,” another chorused. “If we sever his connections, we risk the others trying to guide him down their paths.” They all hummed.
“I can burn away that which connects him to what would have come to pass.” The man said thoughtfully. Lucerys opened his eyes to see bright violets staring down at him. “It will lessen my connection to him, but still leave room for the sea. I’ll still be able to reach him through all of you, and that of my blood that he has left.”
“And the Others?”
“Lessening the connection will allow my magic to hold R’Hllor at bay, the others will have a much harder time trying to push against the tides than they would walking through my flames.” His hand shifted to cup itself under Lucerys neck, letting him lift himself up just barely off the sands. “I’m sorry my little Prince, but this is going to hurt. At least when it’s all over you will not remember any of this.”
The man’s hands tightened around his chest and neck as he leaned down to press a kiss to his forehead, and then all he knew was the sound of the Doom echoing through his mind and liquid fire racing through his very being as easily as it had raced through Old Valyria.
“When will he wake?”
“The fever is still burning hot, Princess, it will take time to wane.” The Maester finished wringing out a wet cloth and then draped it over sweat soaked curls. “It would seem the young prince has caught a cold from being in the sea.”
“But he’ll be alright?” Rhaenyra asked desperately, “The fever will break?”
“I’m afraid only time will tell. If you’ll excuse me, princess, I’m afraid I have other duties to attend…”
She waved him away, not even waiting to hear the door close before she turned to run her hands over Luke’s flushed cheeks. They burned beneath her fingertips and she found herself biting back a sob as she truly looked at her son, her sweet boy, laying quiet and still in his sickbed. Jace lay fast asleep next to him, not sick but unwilling to leave his brother’s side.
“I’ve never seen a chill from the sea set in so fast, nor burn so hot.” Corlys said after the maester left. He poured two goblets of wine from a carafe on the side table and handed one to Rhaenyra as he took a seat. “He was barely in the water for more than a few minutes.”
“How did this happen?”
Corlys took a hearty fortifying sip of his wine and stared at the boys. “I didn’t see the beginning, Princess, I was on the other side of the gates, it was only when I heard the princes start yelling that I saw Lucerys in the water.” He reached a hand out to settle over Lucerys’ chest and sighed.
The boy looked absolutely bloodless against the bedsheets. Even his usually dark hair had taken on an ashen quality when compared to the waning color of his skin. It was easy for anyone to see that they had nearly lost the boy to the sea. Perhaps they still would if the fever refused to break.
“Did none of the boys try to help him? Did they just leave him in the water?” The goblet weighed heavy between her hands and she clutched it hard enough to whiten her hands to keep it from falling to the ground. It left a harshly sour taste on her tongue and her stomach curdled as it hit her belly.
The Sea Snake held her gaze.
“You think it was an accident, then? An honest mistake?”
“If you are asking if I believe this to have been intentional,” He paused, waiting for the princess to look at him again, “I don’t believe it was, Prince Aegon is well into his cups more often than not and, while distant, Prince Aemond has never outright tried to harm our boys by my count, and certainly Jace would have had no part in this, he was nearly inconsolable as I pulled Luke from the water.”
Rhaenyra choked around a watery laugh and took in a gulp of wine before setting the goblet on the table and instead grabbed the cool cloth - which had now grown just as sweltering as her son’s skin - to dip it back in the basin. She mulled over her thoughts as her hands mulled over the fabric, wringing the water out until it was just slightly damp.
“He could have died.” She said finally, “He could have drowned and where would we have been? Even if it was truly an accident, this serves as a light shining on my failings. If they had truly been trying to kill him they could have, if The Queen wanted my sons dead they would have been and nary a guard could have stopped them. If an accident nearly took him from me, what is stopping intention from completing the act?”
Behind them, the door to the room burst open and a harried, windswept Laenor rushed in. His eyes frantically searched around the room before gracing him with the sight of his sons on the sickbed, Rhaenyra and his father next to them. “Rhaenyra, what in the god’s name happened?” He crossed the room in moments and hissed as soon as his hand touched Lucerys skin. It felt like he had touched an open flame, “When did he get sick? He was fine when I left this morning!”
“He fell into the sea.”
“Fell into the-” Leanor stared at Rhaenyra exasperated and then turned to see his father with the same look, “How did he fall into the sea, he should have been in the Red Keep!”
A stiff silence hung in the air.
“Did the Queen do this? Is she truly so callous as to try and kill one of our sons?” He whirled back towards Rhaenyra only for his father’s hand to land on his shoulder and push him forcefully into a seat.
The Sea Snake glared at him, “We will not have talk of treason here, not so blatantly and not where the walls have ears, my son. As I was telling Princess Rhaenyra, I believe it was nothing more than an accident, born most likely out of the oldest Prince being too far into his cups while playing with his nephews.”
The three of them sat in silence after that, all too focused on staring at the two boys on the bed, watching intently for each rise and fall of Luke’s chest. It was an unusual type of torment to watch the normally energetic and lively little Luke lay so still.
It made Rhaenyra sick to see it.
It also made her sick to think that her sons had been left so vulnerable, without even a guard near them to sound the alarm if something had happened, intentional or not.
She had been so close by, talking to Lord Caswell about normal comings and goings within the keep and hadn’t noticed a single thing. It wasn’t until she had heard Jace’s shouts, and the commotion of Corlys pulling Lucerys from the sea that she realized something was wrong, and even then had her Father-in-law not been there she would have been too late. She had known well the dangers of King’s Landing, especially those treading in the wake of two young sons in line for the throne, but she had not anticipated any accidents. Even then, even disregarding the possible accidents of youth, she had done nothing to ensure they would be safe.
She had gotten too lax with her protections of them, lulled into a sense of security by the protections she herself had as the crown Princess, as her father’s heir. That was something she would need to remedy going forwards. If her siblings had guards with them at all times, to prevent happenings like this, then so would her own sons. They were part of the royal family just as she was, and she had always had at least one guard with her at all times.
Perhaps they wouldn’t have the Kingsguard with them, not when she couldn’t absolutely secure their loyalty with Otto Hightowers sticking his fingers into every crevice of this game, but they would have guards.
“We will need to get them more guards.” She said out loud. “I want each of them to have their own personal guard at the very least. It may not prevent accidents in the future, but had they had guards with them at the very least Luke would have been pulled from the water immediately.”
She turned to Laenor, knowing full well that there was fire burning in her eyes, and was delighted to see for the first time that it was reflected back in her husband's eyes. “They will need to be loyal. To both your house and mine, husband.”
He gave a curt nod. “Of course, we can pick them from our household guards, surely you wouldn’t mind us taking a few of the guards from Driftmark, would you Father?”
“We could give the boys guards, princess, or even an entire retinue if you see fit.” Lord Corlys answered. “I would not have them left defenseless.”
“It’ll be done then, they’ll each have two guards of their own, one from Dragonstone and one from Driftmark, and possibly others to come.”
End of Chapter Three
Notes:
Now, im not saying that Dany's dragons weren't good but maybe if they hadn't of been potentially turned to stone by time and had a smaller connection to Valyrian magic...maybe Balerion the Black Dread could have actually burned the Night's King and it wouldn't have been a Northern girl with a knife that killed him. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Chapter 4
Summary:
Laenor and Rhaenyra lament over their son's fever.
Notes:
Man this chapter really didn't want to end for me. I didn't anticipate Laenor taking me by the hand and shoving himself into the story so much. Poor guy is trying to be a good day but he doesn't know how
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Chapter Four
For seven days and six nights Rhaenyra had toiled by the bedside of her youngest. Had watched as he tossed and turned and writhed. Not once had his fever broken, nor had it waned. Her little boy was burning alive, scorching to the touch even through his clothing.
The maesters had become frantic over the young prince, her father had sent Grand Maester Mellos to join in Gerardys’s attempts to cool her son, Lord Corlys had sent for his own maester from Driftmark and yet there was no improvement. They had tried poultices, elixirs, herbs, even a bath of ice water had not lowered his temperature, and already there was talk of the fever possibly taking its toll on her baby’s mind and organs.
Both the King and Queen had come to visit on the fourth day of Luke’s fever.
The Queen to offer her half-hearted sympathies and a thinly veiled slight towards her son's oddly lightening hair and her father to sit with her and keep watch over Lucerys after she had cried her worries about him passing in the night. For once Laenor remained steadfast by her side, always seated on the other side of the bed, watching and waiting for every movement like it would herald in the Stranger himself. Even her goodmother, the Princess Rhaenys, had come to sit vigil by Luke’s side, having escorted Driftmark’s Maester to the keep; Silent, stoic, pitying.
They all acted as if her boy was already dead and her heart ached at just the thought.
Harwin had begun to mourn in his own way, going out to brutalize the criminals of the city during the night and keeping watch by the halls of her apartments during the day.
Seven days; she had prayed - to the gods of Valyria, to the old gods of the First Men, to the Seven - she had begged and bartered and pleaded with whatever deities were out there to return her son to her and still there was nothing. Her son remained still and hot, his skin and hair a sickeningly white against the sheets of his sickbed, barely clinging onto life.
“Mother…?”
Rhaenyra nearly leapt out of her chair at the harried little voice and her heart soared. Only for a moment though, as she realized that it was the sound of Jace, and not Luke that had beckoned her. She turned to face her eldest and attempted to muster up a smile.
“Hello, sweet boy, have your lessons ended already?”
Jace merely gave her a nod, before climbing up onto the bed next to his brother. He still scrambled into bed with Luke each and every time he was allowed into the room, but he no longer curled up against him. Luke was too hot, and the maesters had advised that no one was to crowd him, and no blankets were to be placed with him, for fear of the extra heat tipping his fever over the edge.
Her sweet prince placed three seashells by his brother’s head, and then laid on his side to just stare at him. “Is Luke going to die?”
Somewhere on the other side of the bed Laenor sobbed.
“Why would you -” her voice cracked. “Why would you think that, Jaecerys?”
“The Septon told me to pray to the mother for his safe passage, and Aunt…aunt Helaena told me that there was a dragon to mourn and the black prince would soon be one with the sea…” He looked up at her with a look of utter devastation that echoed in her own heart, “Ser Cole allowed me to leave sword practice early and even Uncle Aegon looked gutted when Luke didn’t join us for our dragon lessons.”
“I don't want him to die, mother…I didn’t mean to let him fall into the sea!” He cried. Great, big, heart wrenching sobs racked his little frame and he nearly threw himself off the bed to get into her arms.
Each whimper was like a dagger straight to her heart, and the dam that had been closed off since her mother had passed finally broke open. Horrid salty tears cascaded down her face, dripping to stain her son’s dark curls.
“Please, mother, he’s the only brother I have! I swear I'll take better care of him, I’ll protect him, I won’t ever let him be put in danger again, please don’t take him away!”
There was nothing she could do but pull him closer to her, tuck him away from the world and into her chest as the three of them all wept.
“Has there been any change?”
Laenor didn’t even bother looking up as his mother and father entered the room. He couldn’t. He could barely find the strength to keep himself sitting upright so that he didn’t collapse on top of his son, let alone find the strength to lift his head.
His son lay dying before him and once again he was failing.
He should have been there. He should have been there watching the boys, making sure they didn’t get themselves into trouble, he should have been there the entire time. Instead he had spent all his time in the bowels of King’s Landing, gallivanting around with Qarl and being merry about fighting his way through war.
Only now that Lucerys was shaking apart right in front of him had he come to the realization. He had squandered the time he had with his sons away. He had been given a precious gift of two sons and he had just left them to drink and flirt and fight.
“No.” His voice was barely more than a croak, having gone hoarse during the hours he had mourned for his boy. “He has not woken, he has scarcely made even a noise.” Already he could feel tears well up in his eyes, even though he had surely cried all the tears he had. “I don't know what to do.”
Laenor dropped his head into his hands and let the sobs overtake him once again. “My son is dying, and I don’t know what to do!”
“He is not dying.” Corlys hissed, but underneath the indignation Laenor could hear the despair. “He’ll pull through, he’s the blood of Old Valyria, our blood runs through his veins.”
His father dropped a consoling hand on his shoulder, a stalwart strong presence against his side. It only made him cry harder. Here he was, selfishly seeking comfort when it should be him doing the comforting. He should be comforting his wife, his eldest son, taking care of his youngest as he lay sick. Yet he was a weak man.
A truly weak man, doing nothing more than sniveling as he leaned on his mother’s shoulder.
“Don't fret, my son, there is still a chance he may recover.” His mother soothed. Her deft hands undid the tie holding his hair up, allowing it to fall freely near his shoulders so she could run her fingers over his scalp. A soothing trick she had used all throughout his youth that had not yet lost its sway. It chased away the worst of his tears as it always had, allowing her comfort to settle in enough that it felt like he could finally take a deep breath.
Just like that the topic was dropped for the moment as they all sat, gathering comfort from one another. It felt terribly like they were just waiting for the other shoe to drop, for Lucerys to take his last breath.
The blankets tossed to the side of the bed rustled as his father leaned near the head board, gently brushing the now ashen white curls from Luke’s sweat drenched face. “When was the last time he was bathed?”
“A day or so ago, the maids helped wash him while Rhaenyra took Jace to the yard to train, he wouldn't leave without her.”
Corlys nodded and left the room, presumably to go fetch some servants to draw a bath. Normally there would have been servants lingering just outside the door to Rhaenyra’s chambers, but she had sent them away to the outer apartments a few days into Luke’s fever in the midst of a rage. While the servants hadn’t been the source of her ire - that honor had gone to their ever lovely Queen who instead of offering comfort to her old friend had merely made snide remarks about their son’s hair of all things - they had quickly understood to stay out of the Princess’s way.
It took quite a while for father to come back even though the servants had scurried in well before him, carrying a big wooden tub on casters and buckets of lukewarm water. The maesters had long since drilled the importance of the water being as cool as possible without being ice cold into all of those who were assisting with Luke’s care.
Even just a few moments in too hot of water could be enough of a shock to his system and be the final nail in his coffin, yet being put in too cold of water would lead him to the same fate.
But there his lord father was, coming back into the room with…a bucket full of water? “Father?”
“It’s sea water.”
Laenor couldn’t even stop the exasperated sigh that passed his lips, “Father…sea water isn’t going to help hi-”
Dark eyes stared at him as the sea water sloshed into the tub along with the rest of the buckets, “He’s a Velaryon, my son, a little salt will always help. Besides, he is sweating all the salt and water out of his body, every man worth their weight knows that both need to be replaced.” He dunked his hand down into the bath, making sure it was of an appropriate temperature before he rolled up both his sleeves and turned towards the bed.
Lucerys didn’t do anything when Corlys scooped him up and into his arms. The sight was unsettling to say the least, the child’s head lolled limply against his grandfather’s arm as he was relieved of the paltry clothing they had dressed him in to preserve his dignity.
He looked absolutely tiny against the bulk of the Sea Snake, and his skin looked as pale as the pure snow of the north where it laid against the lord’s dark skin. Even Corlys’s own white hair and dark skin didn’t have nearly as much contrast between them.
He laid completely still as he was dipped down into the bath, the only movement from the boy being the shallow, rapid rise and fall of his chest. The water lapped at his shoulders, washing away the layers of sweat sticking all over him with each gentle stroke of a wetted cloth.
“Perhaps we should have one of the guards bring in his egg. He is a Targaryen after all, he might draw comfort from it.” Laenor said lightly. The white and red egg that had been nestled in the hearth of Luke’s room came unbidden into his mind. “Whenever I am sick, Seasmoke always brightens my spirits, it may do the same for him even if his egg hasn’t hatched yet.”
His mother immediately shook her head, nudging at him until he rose up off of her shoulder, “The dragon masters would need the egg in the hearth to keep it from going cold, and you know as well as I that the maesters believe a lit hearth would only make him worse.”
“I need to do something, Mother.”
“You do,” She agreed easily, “But that something is not putting a dragon in bed with a babe dying of a fever.” Her fingers traced over his face, smoothing away his frown.
“He is not dying.”
“Corlys -”
The gentle motions of the water stopped as the Sea Snake glared up at them. For once Laenor could actually see how his father was able to easily strike fear into the hearts of men he faced when he had a glare so fierce. “He is not dying. I will hear no more of that talk in my presence, my wife.” With that he turned back to Luke and began running the wet cloth over his skin again.
They all sat in a tense silence, the only noise in the room the whispers of the water against the tub. It could have been hours or it could have been mere moments, it was hard to tell when all anyone was focused on was the boy in the tub and counting each little puff of breath.
Yet, somehow, all three of them managed to miss the sight of Lucerys blinking his eyes open, and lolling his head along the edge of the tub, too focused instead on the rise and fall of his chest.
Lucerys tried to wet his lips with a parched tongue, and whimpered when all it did was catch and pull at his aching skin. He tried to blink away the blinding candle light, but even that hurt, drawing another whimper from him.
Instantly three figures were nearly on top of him, all of them talking at once, trying to reach for him. The noise hurt his ears something fierce and the candle light glinted off his grandmother’s jewelry so brightly that he could swear someone was piercing him with knives of pure light.
There was a moment where he could see something clearly just beyond the edges of the tub, crackling with the strength a great flame but as quickly as it came it was gone, the fire hissing and dimming while salt water doused its embers. He tried to pull it back, grasping desperately at the image of a beach, a siren and fire but whatever it was had already fled. Leaving him shivering and confused as he felt his memories start to slip away from him, like sand through his fingers, the pain and heat slipping with them until there was nothing left of the dead dragon that he once was.
All that was left in his place was a child, soothed and coddled by the ocean itself.
He blinked as the skin of his back ached between his shoulder blades, burning for something lost to his little mind but his heart sang when a hand laid itself upon his shoulder. The touch soothed something within him, the water in the tub rushing around his body cooled his heated skin, and a siren’s song urged him to reach out for the man in front of him that had taken the place of the flame.
“Grandfather.” The sirens supplied.
“...Grandfather?” He didn’t remember what the word meant but it felt nice on his tongue. Like it was right. “You are safe,” the water sang, “You are home, and the world is changed.”
The man - his Grandfather - plucked him out of the water and wrapped him in a sea green cloak holding him firmly against his chest while a woman Luke couldn’t place fled from the room shouting for someone. Another man sat by their side and wept.
Luke felt compelled to reach out to the sobbing man and when he did his hand felt nice against his cheek. It felt warm and comfortable and like being held by his grandfather except it was all in his hand.
“Is he my grandfather too?” He asked the water. Immediately he knew he was wrong, his face scrunching as the man’s breath caught underneath his palm.
“L - Luke? Lucerys?”
Father. “Why are you crying father?” He’s hurt. Luke tried to pat his cheek, to make the feeling of being right come back. That feeling had been nice and he wanted it back. He didn’t like the confused, wounded noises his father was making now and neither did the water.
But his grandfather tugged him away and instead turned him around. He was a big man, bigger than he had looked when Luke was in the tub, with dark eyes and pretty hair. Luke reached out to grab a piece of it as he turned, delighting in the way it felt in his hand and how it matched his skin. Words were starting to trickle back into his mind, like drops of water into a crevice as he took in the world around him.
“You have pretty hair, grandfather!”
“What’s wrong with him? Father, what’s happening?”
Luke frowned. “He’s grandfather.” He said with the type of certainty that only a child could have, “You’re father. You have pretty hair too.” He tugged on the lock of hair in his hand, knowing that would somehow prove his point, and the water running through his veins staunchly agreed.
Whether it was agreeing about the hair or about the names was not a distinction Luke needed.
The water swiftly reached out to further remind him of life, whispering in his ears about family and blood and love and sea water. It caressed him with the sight of himself in the water, people - mother, father, brother - crying, and a fever.
“I’m hurt?” “You were, you are not any longer”, it whispered back.
He could feel his father's sadness pressing in against him, urging him to soothe it like the water had done for him. “I’m sorry, father, I didn’t mean to be hurt.”
Over his head, Laenor and Corlys stared at each other in bewilderment as they watched Lucerys have a conversation….with himself. The boy was staring back at the bath he had been pulled from, his now orchid colored eyes glazed over and empty. He babbled incoherently, something about the sea and heat, and then seemingly snapped back to reality.
His head swiveled towards Laenor. Vacant purple eyes stared up at him, flaying him alive, digging into his very soul, and an apology for being injured spilled from Luke's lips completely tonelessly.
It was terrifying.
“Is - is this from the fever?” He asked, still utterly confused as those eyes seemed to shift instantly, brightening as Lucerys turned from him like he wasn’t even there and latched his hand back onto Corlys’s hair. Once again lamenting at how pretty it was. His voice was vibrant and happy this time but it sounded less like a boy of three and more like a babe just beginning to talk.
Thankfully at least his father looked just as confused as he was, so this lack of understanding wasn’t some failing of his.
“It could be, the maester’s were quite worried about how the heat may rack his mind, but I’ve never seen anything quite like this.” His father shook his head as he pried Lucerys’ fingers away from his hair, redirecting the questing hands with one of his many seahorse shaped pins instead. “Then again, I had never seen a chill from the sea set in so fast as it did with Lucerys, nor a fever burn so hot and for so long because of it. Your mother should return with the maesters soon, with hope they should be able to tell us what is happening.”
He watched Luke play with the pin, turning it over and over in his hands before shoving it back near his father’s face, his voice shouting cheerfully that the pin was him. That he was a little water horse too.
Emboldened by the childish display, he reached his arms out. “Give him to me.” He needed to hold him, to feel his child back in his arms again. He needed to keep Lucerys in his own grasp if he wished to keep him out of the Stranger’s.
This was his second chance to do right by his children, by his wife, he had prayed and prayed and the gods had actually answered him. Little Luke was back, clearly missing some faculties, yes, but he was back. Cheerful and sweet as he had been before the fever took him, and when his eyes turned to him they may be orchid now but they were back to the same eyes that had stared up at him from the swaddling blankets after his birth.
Luke happily clambered over into his lap and wrapped one of his hands around the length of his hair, giving it a firm tug as he chattered on about how soft Laenor’s tunic was.
He would not squander this blessing of a child twice.
End of Chapter Four
Notes:
The gods sending their favorite child back: we'll have to remove his memories so that the other gods can't take hold of him too, and so that he isn't saddled with the pain of the past
The gods when they accidentally take all of Luke's memories, including those of the simplest things: Fuck fuck fuck put some back, quick before people think he's brain dead!
Chapter 5: Chapter 5
Summary:
Rhaenyra and Jace finally hear of Luke's recovery.
Notes:
I somehow managed to get this chapter out before Christmas was over, so consider this your Christmas present!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Chapter 5
Rhaenyra watched from the gallery above the courtyard as Jace and her brothers trained. Though in truth it was more of Aegon and Aemond training while Jace stood on the sidelines, too focused on keeping her within his sights to do much of anything else.
It stung, to have her own son so terrified of her. Deep down she knew it wasn’t Jace’s fault - if anyone it was that stupid fucking septon to blame, telling her poor boy to pray to the Mother to take his own brother away - and he had simply misunderstood what had been meant. She nor Laenor had ever been particularly taken with the faith of the seven, and neither of them had felt a true need to pass the meaning or worship of the Seven onto their boys when they both held more staunchly to the gods of Old Valyria. That now meant that all Jace knew was that according to the Septons the Mother had been the one who was trying to take Luke away from him and the only mother he knew was his own.
But even the knowledge of it being a misunderstanding didn’t comfort her, because it was still her that Jace flinched from, it was still her that Jace was convinced was going to take his baby brother away from him if he so much as let her out of his sight. Despite countless days of her and Laenor and Harwin working together to get him to understand she would never kill her own son.
Everyone had been fooled into believing that her taking her leave of Luke’s room alongside Jace had been a desperate attempt to comfort her eldest, when in truth it was because Jace refused to leave unless she came with him. Her son had stood at the end of Luke’s bed crying and tantruming, clinging onto the bedpost so hard his fingers had bled, because he thought that if he left his own mother alone with his brother she’d kill him.
His lessons with his maester, the gods be damned prayers with the septons, and his sparring with Harwin had all been taken with her by his side. Even his dragon lessons had been attended by her, and the wariness of Vermax, the way the pup sized dragon had sneakily placed himself between her and the exit of the pits, had not been lost on her. Her son’s dragon had never nipped, screeched, or spit flames at her, not once, but he hadn’t needed to. She could feel the innate urge to get rid of a rider’s source of distress just as easily as she felt it when she was with Syrax.
A feeling that had always calmed her, something so precious as a dragon's love for their rider, now brought her nothing but dread.
She knew not how to fix this growing rift between herself and her eldest, she didn’t even know where to attempt to begin. A foolish naive part of her hoped and believed that when Luke woke and recovered Jace’s fear of her might abate by itself, but Luke hasn’t recovered, hasn’t woken. And if anything, Jace being unable to hold his brother in his arms, being unable to cuddle and sleep next to him, help feed him his meals at the table, had only served to further widen their divide.
Jace was folding in on himself right in front of her and much like with Luke burning there was nothing for her to do.
Rhaenyra was trying to hold herself together, for Luke, for Laenor, for Jace, but she just didn’t know what to do. She was on the precipice of losing not one but possibly both of her sons, and yet there was no clear path for her to tread. She wasn’t able to access her normal source of comfort - being on dragonback, riding the sky atop of Syrax - for fear that in her absence her son would pass.
Her father had done his best to give her comfort, far more than he ever had after the loss of her mother. He had sat with her, taken her and Jace down into the lower levels of the Red Keep, to the skull and bones of Balerion the Black Dread and prayed with the two of them to the fourteen flames and the gods of their dragons. Lord Corlys and Princess Rhaenys had continued their own attempts to console her. Her goodfather had talked just that morning of beseeching the Merling King that the sailors of House Velaryon favored, of attempting to take Lucerys to the sea in the hopes that somehow it would make his fever relent.
Still, she wasn’t sure how much more her family could take. How many more nights would Luke burn with fever before his body finally gave in? How many more suspicious grief stricken glances of terror would she suffer from Jace before he fled from her love entirely? How much more loss could Laenor take, would he be able to come back from Luke’s loss, fractured but still alive like he had when Joffrey had died, or would this break him? How much could she herself take, the loss of her mother, her barely brother, the loss of her freedom and her best friend, and now the loss of her own son?
They were all terrifying thoughts swarming through her head just as they had been for the past few days.
“Princess Rhaenys of House Targaryen!” The announcement of her goodmother’s name drew her from her misery, and the sight of the Queen Who Never Was striding into the courtyard looking more harried than Rhaenyra had ever seen her, with a firm set to her shoulders, had fear curling around her throat.
The Princess had come to tell her of her son’s passing. There was no other reason for her to have traveled all the way out to the training yard, not unless Laenor was so stricken with grief that he couldn’t relay the news to her himself. She couldn’t bring herself to walk down to meet Rhaenys, even if staying in the gallery as the older woman collected Jace and led him to the stairs was only delaying the inevitable, she just couldn’t take it. She couldn’t force her feet to move, to carry her closer to the news that would surely end her.
Footsteps echoed up the gallery stairwell as her eldest son, possibly her only one now, threw himself at her knees clutching at her skirts in pure panic, with her good mother coming to stand still just an arms breadth away. Rhaenyra immediately turned herself away. She didn’t want to see the pity in her eyes, or have her hands reach out for her, she didn’t want to hear the words.
In the courtyard below Cole caught her eyes as she avoided Rhaenys’ and turned, silently ushering her half-brothers into the castle and ordering the guards and servants away. It made her fear burn even worse to know a man who considered her an enemy pitied her enough to ensure only she and her son heard this devastating news.
“Rhaenyra.”
“Please,” She begged. Tears were already pricking at her eyes, and she could feel Syrax’s worry flaring in her chest, inflaming the fear around her heart tenfold, her fingers clutched onto Jace’s tunic so tightly that several of the stitches popped. “Please, don’t say it.”
Saddle calloused hands laid themselves on her shoulders and - “Luke’s alive, Rhaenyra,” she collapsed against the balcony. Sharp cold stone digging into her hips even through her dress, and Jace fell with her, confused and sniveling.
The words didn’t seem real, it couldn’t be real. “What?”
“He’s alive,” Rhaenys coaxed her up from the wall, a hand on her shoulder and one on her waist.There was look on her face that was entirely too soft and motherly for what she knew of the forgotten queen, one Rhaenyra had only ever seen when she looked at Laenor and Laena, “He’s alive, he’s awake and he needs his family.”
The stone back under her feet was all she needed, and as soon as she was fully standing she took off.
Rhaenyra raced through the halls of the keep, not giving a single thought to the impropriety of a Princess running past everyone, not even pausing long enough to let their hasty greetings grace her ears. Jace was somehow several steps ahead of her, sending servants and guards alike scrambling to get out of his way lest he barrel straight into and through their legs. He was every ounce the sight of a true dragon, single mindedly determined to get his hands on his prize.
Behind them Princess Rhaenys followed at a more sedate pace, though only slightly so. They were all too focused on the sole task of getting back to Lucerys.
Her baby was alive and awake waiting for her and Jace.
Hope pulled at her heartstrings, but she dampened it immediately. She wanted so badly to believe what Rhaenys had said, but she needed to see Luke for herself before she truly allowed her heart to flourish again.
After rounding a corner Luke’s chambers were finally within reach. There was a considerable buzz in the hallway, several servants and some of the maester’s acolytes rushing in and out of the room carrying varying things. Jace nearly threw one of them into the wall in his haste to get inside.
“Luke!”
Finally, her baby was within her sights. Rhaenyra almost joined the floor once again at the sight of Luke curled up in Laenor’s arms, swaddled in an aquamarine cloak with a little seahorse pin dangling from his fingers. Jace beat her to the bedside by scarcely more than a moment and launched himself at his brother.
Dark orchid eyes turned towards them, nearly startling her out of her chanting her thanks to the gods with shock at the change, but then her sweet boy’s face lit up with a smile and it was clear it was her Luke sitting on the bed.
It was her Luke that reached for her with a delighted noise, shouting for…
“Moon!” His hand latched right onto the braid of her hair that fell over her shoulder and tugged at it none too gently. “Moon!”
She sent a confused look over his shoulder as he climbed up into her lap, questioning Laenor silently while cuddling Luke close to her chest. Her husband stared back at her, his eyes light and she could see her own confusion and concern reflected in them, but he didn’t give her any kind of explanation for their son’s odd behavior.
Jace climbed right up into her lap as well, butting his way in between Luke and her stomach, and wrapped himself right around his baby brother. Luke didn’t greet him with the same odd words as he had her, instead he kept his one hand in her hair, and used the other to shove the end of the seahorse pin through the lapel of Jace's shirt, seating it right beside the embroidered three headed dragon. Neither brother seemed to care about the lack of formal greeting. All Jace seemed to care about was pressing kisses to Luke’s white curls while Luke was intent on stroking the symbols of their two houses.
“Husband.” Rhaenyra called hoarsely, tightening her arms around both her boys, “Is everything alright?” She didn’t want to further drive Jace away from her by alluding to something being wrong, but she needed to know what was happening. Clearly something was happening to her baby. “Have the maesters been in to see him yet?”
Her husband and her goodfather shared a look. “Maester Gerardys was in when he first woke, then he sent for Grand Maester Mellos.”
“And?”
Lord Corlys cleared his throat. “It’s too early to tell if there has been damage, Princess, they both said that his behavior could be the fever still waning, or it could be that the heat injured his mind.” His hand reached out to stroke over the cloak wrapped around Luke, who immediately reached back for him and yanked on one of his locs.
“He didn’t remember me at first. He thought I was his grandfather, not his father.” Laenor said, as if that would somehow ease her worries. It most certainly did not.
Behind them Princess Rhaenys coughed into her cup.
“The maesters said anyone who wishes to stay with him will need to remain isolated for at the very least a week, preferably here in your apartments given that Luke has been here for the duration of his fever, though they said the surrounding quarters would work as well, to ensure that his fever is truly gone and to limit the risk of exposing him to anything else.” Corlys continued. “If you would allow it, myself and Rhaenys would like to stay with the four of you. I am aware that it’s quite a big imposition, but we would like to be with our grandson.”
“Yes, father, there’s no need to even ask. Luke needs his grandparents and…” Laenor looked at her with desperate eyes, all but begging her to agree, shame clear on his face, “We could use your and mother’s help.”
“Laenor’s right, Lord Corlys, there’s no need to ask, all of us would be happy to have you here,” She agreed. She shifted Jace and Luke on her lap, pointedly ignoring the icy glare Jace gave her, and then even more pointedly ignoring the questioning one Laenor sent her way. “Now, tell me what it was the maesters did to lower his fever. As far as I was last aware they hadn’t found any new treatments.”
“My foolish husband went to the sea and brought up a bucket of salt water.”
Corlys snorted. “You call me foolish, wife, yet my grandson woke mere minutes after being set in the bath.”
“A salt water bath woke him?” Rhaenyra looked around, waiting for one of them to jump up and claim that it was nothing more than a jest. That Gerardys or Mellos had found some obscure cure hidden away in the Keep, or had brought something from across the narrow sea. Not…sea water. “Surely you jest.”
“It’s true, Rhaenyra, he put a single bucket of salt water in with the fresh, and started soaking him with it, and Luke woke soon after.”
“My grandson is a true Velaryon, there is no more proof than that! It is salt water that runs thick through his veins, and salt water that brought him back from the Stranger’s arms.”
A salt water bath. For a boy that both she and Laenor had been certain was fathered by Harwin. Rhaenyra thought back to the period before Luke’s birth, to before she had even been aware she was carrying him. She and Laenor had attempted for a heir of true Velaryon descent, of course they had at least tried to do their duty to both their fathers and the realm, but after no child had quickened her womb until she laid with Harwin, they had been certain that Laenor must have been impotent.
They had tried for nearly a year straight before one night with Harwin had begotten her Jace, and they tried sporadically in the three years between Jace and Luke with no success. But they had made one last attempt right before she laid with Harwin the second time without moon tea, barely even a day or two before…
Rhaenyra looked up and saw the moment that Laenor came to the same conclusion as she did.
There was a possibility that Luke was a trueborn son.
She swallowed, her mouth as dry as the Dornish desert, this should be glorious news. As Lord Corlys had said, there was no greater proof of her son’s parentage than the fact that salt water had brought him back.
Luke had bright white curls now, and a darling pair of orchid eyes, had been saved by his grandfather, The Great Sea Snake, drawing him a bath of seawater and washing him with a cloth adorned with a seahorse. It was something out of a story book, a song begging to be written and sung in every great hall.
But where would that leave Jace?
Would House Velaryon and the realm wish to see something similar in Jace? Would they ask why his hair and eyes had not changed?
End of Chapter 5
Notes:
Hope you guys enjoyed this, I have most of chap 6 written, it just needs some touch ups, so we'll be seeing another chapter soon.
Chapter 6: Chapter 6
Summary:
We get to see more of Luke and the Velaryons, and a surprise green guest!
Notes:
Hope you guys enjoy this new chapter, let me know!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Chapter 6
Laenor watched silently as Luke ran his hands over a big map laid out on the table in front of them. It had been barely an entire day since Luke had woken from his fever, and the six of them were isolating within Rhaenyra’s wing of the Red Keep. The King had visited them briefly, right before they officially closed the doors, to get an update on Lucerys and to ensure they’d have everything they’d need while they were alone. He had passed on a small toy, a carved wooden seahorse that he had apparently commissioned for Luke during his fever, glazed with red and black and adorned with two tiny amethyst eyes. It was a beautiful gift and Luke had taken to it instantly.
He hadn’t let go of it since it had been given to him, even now it was still sitting clutched in his hand while he played with the maps. His grandfather had been the one to bring out the maps, saying that being able to see names and places might help Luke start remembering things, and Maester Gerardys had agreed, though he had also warned them not to try and force Luke to remember things too quickly.
That everything would most likely return with time, and that forcing him to remember things right now, exhausting his mind with an excessive amount of information, might only prove detrimental to him in the future. They were trying to keep it easy, and so far they had managed to get him to say a few names and speak in choppy broken sentences.
But it was…a struggle.
If Laenor were honest with himself - something he often wasn’t - it hurt. To see his previously intelligent and quick witted little son barely able to comprehend anything other than that his grandfather was his grandfather.
Luke was no dimmer for it, he was still bright and bubbly and happy to see anyone and everyone. He still played and liked to be held. He just couldn’t remember anyone’s name beyond a few minutes.
It was clear he was trying.
He’d listen to them saying their name, had even asked for their names, and he’d be able to repeat them once or twice but when asked again even just a short bit later, he’d have forgotten them. The only one he could reliably say was Corlys’s, and even then he wasn’t usually saying his actual name, he mostly referred to him as ‘Grandfather’. He seemed to find it much easier to call them by their familial ties - Grandfather, Mother, Father, Brother - than to actually say their names.
Gerardys believed that it was just harder for a fever-ridden child to say their given names, compared to the relative ease of the pronunciation of their titles.
“Father?”
Laenor stood to attention, all the eyes in the room on him as Luke looked up to him. “Can name?”
They had figured out - after hours of thinking he was asking if they wanted him to try naming them again and constantly responding with yes only to be met with a look of pure confusion from Luke - that that was his way of asking them to repeat their own names for him.
“My name is Laenor.”
“Laenor.” His son parroted back, a pensive look scrunching his face as he repeated it several more times. Finally, Luke shook his head, waving around his seahorse before pointing it straight at him. “Horse!”
The declaration pulled a laugh out of him, the worries falling away for now as his son kept calling him a horse, even when Corlys tried to correct him to say seahorse. The correction didn’t seem to work. Instead, Luke just kept repeating horse, going so far as to push the seahorse carving towards his grandfather’s face, emphasizing how Laenor was, in fact, a horse.
“Can I see your scales?” Luke’s big eyes watched her from under the arm of the chair, focused on the dark red pattern of her skirts.
“What was that, child?”
He stared. “Can I see scales?”
Rhaenys set aside her book with a sigh, her poor grandson had made fairly good progress with trying to talk in full sentences, but he was still unable to manage them most of the time. If he was upset, excited, or had already repeated his sentence more than once he’d start forgetting the words as he was saying them. While his fever had reduced drastically, it hadn’t fully abated.
She laid the back of her hand along his forehead. It wasn’t too warm, about as warm as her own fire heated skin, but it was still warmer than a child should be.
“Scales pretty, like fire when you fly.”
She raised an eyebrow, giving Luke a scrutinizing glance. While the warmth of his forehead wasn’t truly fever hot it was obvious that he must still be out of it. Why else would he be insistent about scales? “I don’t have any scales, just a dress.”
His hand touched just the barest edge of her dress, tugging gently at the edge of her flared sleeve. It was thankfully a much gentler touch than she had seen him use on her husband and son’s hair. Even Rhaenyra had fallen victim to the vicious tugging when she allowed him in too close.
She supposed it was only fair she take her turn at the mercy of the boy’s hands. With a half-hearted smile she beckoned him closer, letting him duck under her arm close enough that she could pick him up without rising, and deposited him in her lap. He felt considerably warmer in her arms than he had standing beside her, but he didn’t show any signs of outright discomfort.
Immediately one of his hands found its way to her dress neckline and grabbed ahold of it, mushing it around in his little fist. She merely let him do as he wished - he wasn’t grabbing her hair and tugging on it at least. The dress could just be pressed by one of the servants and it would be as good as new. Provided she even wanted to wear it again, it was quite a rough fabric, rougher than she had thought it would be when she had originally picked it out.
Luke hummed against her chest, caressing the shoulder adornments reverently, “Why isn’t there pink?”
“It’s a red dress, there doesn’t need to be pink.”
“But wings are pink?”
Interesting. “I don’t have wings, or scales, I have a dress, my dear.”
“Yes,” Luke said with a shake of his head. He lifted himself just far enough to look at her face and pouted, “Red scales, pink wings, sun tips. Pretty and big and prettier in the sun.” Seemingly happy with his explanation, Luke put his head back on her chest and continued his stroking, talking even more brokenly about how fast she was and how pretty she shined and how much she liked fresh clouds compared to goats. How she didn’t enjoy being in the pits but was willing to suffer to make her rider happy.
Interesting indeed, her grandson seemed to be describing Meleys.
Which was a feat in and of itself, given that she hadn’t spent much time around the boy since his birth - a regrettable decision, truly, her grandson was proving a joy to be around even with his limitations, and it stung to know she had given up her chance to know him as he had been - and she couldn’t actually remember a time she had been around him with Meleys. The Red Queen preferred to be on Driftmark where she could nest more easily than in the pits, and given Rhaenys’s own propensity for not spending much time with her son’s children, there wasn’t much opportunity for Luke to have seen Meleys, even when she was in King’s Landing or from a distance.
And she knew for a fact she had never taken Luke atop Meleys. While it was normal for a dragonrider to take their own children for flights atop their bonded dragons when they were young, it was less common for grandparents or other relatives to do so if the child had parents that could.
It certainly wasn’t unheard of, but there was always a risk that either the dragon wouldn’t allow the child on their saddle, or the child would grow used to being on dragonback and believe they could ride their family’s dragons without them. There had been more than a few incidents of young riders getting injured trying to ride someone else’s dragon.
So that begs the question, when had Luke been around to see Meleys? And when had he learned that her dragon preferred sheep to goat, something that even the dragon masters had taken a while to discern.
“And when have you seen Meleys, hmm?” She asked, infinitely curious.
Luke tugged on the small chain of her necklace hanging over her chest and merely hummed, like that explained anything.
That answer wouldn’t do. “My dear?” Rhaenys called, though she wasn’t entirely sure he was capable of hearing her anymore, “When have you been to see Meleys? It is quite dangerous to go visit another’s dragon unattended.”
“I’ve seen you fly, scales are pretty when you fly.” He answered dreamily. His hand kept petting her, running over the necklace again and again like he was trying to memorize it.
His eyes had turned empty, an unreadable expression on his face, something that she, Corlys and Laenor had seen several times in the past day since he had awoken. The first few times it had happened Laenor had been near unconsolable, thinking that the boy had lapsed back into his fever and was mere moments away from passing. But Maester Gerardys had assured them that it was just his mind trying to catch up with the time he had missed while unconscious.
Rhaenys personally thought that it looked more like the expressions that men come back from war would sometimes get. Their faces distant and lifeless, stuck in their past.
She didn’t like the look of it on anyone, let alone on the face of her own grandson, a grandson who she was only just letting herself love. “Look at me.” She jostled him as gently as she could, not wanting to startle the boy too much. She wanted to get him out of his own head, not terrify him. “When did you go see Meleys?”
“I see you all the time.”
A sigh left her, “I’m not talking about me, I’m talking about -” Rhaenys paused, thinking back to what Laenor had said when she and Rhaenyra had first returned to Luke’s room, how he had forgotten who his own father was and had confused him for his grandfather. A laughable mistake, for all her son did have similar features to his father, he and Corlys did not look enough alike to be mistaken. And to the time they had spent trying to get him to remember their names, how he could only recognize them for the barest moment. “...Child, do you know who I am?”
Luke nodded against her chest. “Meleys.”
The boy thought her an actual dragon. At least that somewhat explained him believing her dress to be scales, the dark red of the fabric did have a similar color to her dragon, but it still didn’t tell her when he had somehow been around to see Meleys. Or how he had seen her so much that he remembered her but not people who have been spending days with him. He remembered her scales, the color of her wing membranes, even that she preferred sheep over goat, but he didn’t remember his own brother’s name?
She just couldn’t resist digging for more. This was more intriguing than anything at court had been since her cousin married that green serpent and named his daughter as his heir. “And when have you seen me fly?”
“Before I died, you flew to us.” He breathed.
Rhaenys nearly dropped the poor boy in her shock, the declaration sending a surprising amount of dread straight to her heart. She knew what he said wasn’t true, that was obvious by the fact that he was here in her lap and not dead in a watery grave, but to hear her grandson talk about death with such a surprising certainty in his voice made her stomach curdle. His words since he woke had been hesitant and dreamy, barely making sense and said as if he wasn’t even truly awake, but those words had been firm. Cognizant.
Her hand flew to the back of his head, cradling it just to remind herself that he was there and he was in fact alive. His own hands had moved to reach towards her throat, clutching at the ruby on her necklace with a grip far too fierce for a fever addled toddler. “And you believe you died?”
“I died.” He echoed back at her, voice completely and utterly vacant, yet steadier than she had ever heard it. “Mother sent me away. I was scared and burning. Fell into the sea. I died.”
“Rhaenys?”
She jumped at the sound of Corlys’s voice, and this time she did accidentally unseat Luke from her lap, though by the grace of her years of dragon training her reflexes allowed her to catch him before he tumbled to the floor. The boy didn’t seem to notice the fall, instead he merely clung to her arms and called for his grandfather.
Lucerys came alive at the sight of Corlys, dropping her necklace and whining for him, holding his arms out for the older man to pick him up. Corlys obliged, grabbing him under his arms and lifting him into his arms easily. He hugged Luke to his chest and then moved to walk around the set of chairs Rhaenys had been sitting on. Luke seemed like a different child in his arms, happy and patting at his seahorse sigil, the distant eyed faint child that had been in her arms completely gone.
Yet the words he had said still rang in her ears.
It could simply be the ramblings of an ill child but something was niggling at her insides, telling her that there was more than what she understood going on.
“How has he been? He feels warmer than when I left.” Her husband asked her as he took his seat.
“Strange.” She answered. The ruby on its chain felt like it was burning a hole through her neck.
Luke wandered around the stone hallways, clutching his seahorse to his chest with one hand and a cup of water in the other. He should be sleeping, grandfather had tucked him into bed beside…beside the boy who loved him, whose name he couldn’t remember yet, and then had left the room.
He should have been sleeping, but he couldn't, all day his water had been unsettled, aching and cold in his veins ever since he had played with the dragon’s necklace.
Then the water had woken him up, whispering at him from the cup on the bedside table, beckoning him out of bed and out of the room. It had led him through the hallways telling him that he needed to go somewhere. He didn’t like having to duck into tiny spaces to stop the guards from seeing him and he didn’t like the way he only got colder as he walked.
But he kept walking, the water soothing the worst of his fears even as the walls around him kept turning darker and darker. Eventually he walked far enough that there weren’t any guards to sneak around, and there weren't any servants bustling and filling the halls with noise, it was just dark damp stone walls surrounding him.
He didn't know where he was and now he was cold and shivering from the chill of the stone soaking into his bare feet, but the water was humming to him that he was almost to his destination. He just needed to go a little further and then the water would be happy, someone would make him warm again and he could go back to bed.
“Nephew?”
Luke looked up from his seahorse and saw a boy crumpled against the wall staring at him through squinted eyes. The boy looked like him, with white hair and purple eyes and pale skin. He also looked kind of…scary. It wasn’t anything Luke had the words to understand but the boy just seemed off.
“What the hell are you doing down here in the middle of the night?” He slurred at Luke, heaving himself onto his side and then stumbling his way to his feet. “Aren’t you supposed to be isolating or something?”
The water urged him to hand the cup to him, and out of the need to keep the boy from getting too close, he shoved the cup forward. “Cup.”
The boy blinked. “Yeah, that’s a cup, what in the seven hells are you doing down here?”
He shifted on his feet, trying to think of the right words to say but they wouldn’t come. All he could think of was giving the boy water to drink. Your water will save him, his water purred, we need to save everyone.
Drink, drink, drink, the siren’s song chanted from the cup.
“Drink!” He shoved the cup forward, till it was touching the boy’s chest and then he kept pushing it forward until the boy grabbed it.
He stared down at the cup uncomprehendingly.
“Drink.”
The boy tried to set the cup down on the floor and Luke was pretty sure he was going to grab him instead. “Come on, you need to go back to where they are keeping you.”
Luke picked the cup back up off the floor and pushed it back in his hands again. “No, drink!” He needed him to drink the water and feel better and then they’d be safe. He even shoved the cup near the boy’s lips, only for the boy to snatch his wrist and nearly lift him off the floor in shock.
“Have you gone fucking mad?” He didn’t actually seem angry with Luke, just confused and concerned. Kind of like Grandfather when he first woke up in the bath.
He needs to drink, we need to keep him away from the wine. “You need drink,” He stuttered out, trying to piece together the words that the water was telling him to say. The water is safe, the wine will kill him. It’s tainted, he needs to drink! They were too fast for him to hear all of them. “It help, make you safe.”
“Make me safe? What are you talking about? I’m a prince, a goblet of water isn’t going to make me safe!”
The wine is tainted! Poisoned, tainted! The voices chorused, and he felt flames lick along his arms, heard a child crying out in terror as something roared, the warm heat leaving his head buzzing and aching. “Wine poison!”
The boy blinked and looked back at the cup that he had had beside him before Lucerys came. “You can’t possibly know that.”
We know! The dragon has been poisoned since his birth! “It’s poison, drink,” Luke tugged on his sleeve, pressing the cup back into his hands and pulling on him until the boy finally brought it to his lips with a groan and took a sip.
The water settled instantly, the prickling feeling receding with it after the boy took his sip. Luke fisted his hand in the boy’s belt to keep himself from falling to the ground as his strength fled with the water. The world tilted around him, and his water tried to rush back in, to fill the gaps it had left but it was too late.
He felt like he was set adrift as the boy picked him up, the water went silent in his veins and it was warmth, little licks of flame from the torches on the walls and the dragons on the boy's tunic that sent him floating along the clouds, the world falling away.
Aegon blinked awake. His head was pounding, probably from the half a city’s worth of wine he had drunken after he fled from the Keep. Yes, he had privately told himself that he wouldn’t drink anymore after the…incident by the bay - and his father had made him swear on the new gods and the old that he’d never touch another cup in the presence of his nephews again, which had probably been the most words King Viserys had ever spoken to him consecutively - but when he had been refused entry to his half-sisters section of the Keep, he had found himself craving the deadening effect of a good goblet or twelve of arbor gold.
He hadn’t even wanted to see his youngest nephew, he had just wanted to ask someone what was going on with him, and yet they had refused him entry. The guards that his half sister had brought in specially from Dragonstone hadn’t let him pass the front room adjoining her apartments, nor had they allowed him to ask any of the people traveling in and out about Lucerys’s illness. All he knew was that Lucerys had fallen sick after the incident in the bay and he had been locked up tight in the princess’s quarters ever since.
Not that he was worried about him. He wasn’t.
He didn’t even feel guilty about taking his brother and nephews down to the bay with the promise of showing them something knowing full well he merely intended to leave them there to go find better company at a pleasure house. He hadn’t felt a single ounce of guilt, he just wanted to make sure that whatever Lucerys had caught wasn’t contagious or something. He was the eldest prince in the Red Keep, he couldn’t afford to be laid out with some sickness, that was all.
Especially when it had been over an entire week since the incident happened and he had seen neither hide nor hair of Lucerys around the castle, and his mother had been complaining the entire time about how his father had forbade her, the Queen, from visiting the boy. She had visited with father once, several days after his nephew had been taken away by Lord Velaryon and fallen ill, and not one of them had been allowed in to see what was going on since.
Not that Aegon had tried before this morning, or gone several times when he knew the guards were changing in the hopes that he might slip by them.
He was simply trying to find out what Lucerys was sick with to ease his mother’s worries. She was biting her fingers raw every time father came back from his nephew’s chambers looking grimmer and grimmer each time, and even Grand Maester Mellos had apparently been instructed not to let word of Prince Lucerys condition slip passed the walls of Rhaenyra’s apartments, according to his mother.
By his count three Maesters, Mellos, Gerardys and the Maester from Driftmark, were assisting in Lucerys’ care, and it irked him. How bad must his nephew's condition be that they had not one but three Maesters overseeing him.
He wasn’t concerned though, and he most certainly hadn’t been concerned enough to try and weasel information out of Jacaerys during their dragon lessons only to be rebuffed by his half-sister, either. He was just intrigued by the level of attention his nephew was receiving, surely the boy didn’t need three Maesters for a simple fever.
Perhaps it wasn’t just a simple fever and he had - albeit unintentionally - led the boy to his death by taking him down to the bay.
He just wanted to know something but instead he had been turned away, and just like every other time he had been turned away, he had sought out the two things that never refused him. Wine and Whores.
The whole day had been spent in Flea Bottom, drinking as much wine as his stomach could handle - and some extra on top of that - and fucking two of his favorite Lysene whores. He had been making his way back into the Red Keep through some of the lesser used ‘secret’ tunnels when the dizziness from the wine finally consumed him.
He must have just slumped against that wall and fell asleep, and something had woken him up. Probably a rat skittering across his legs or maybe running around further down the hall.
The last thing he expected was for some boy - and after a moment of spectacular confusion he realized that the white haired, purple eyed boy was Lucerys, the source of his anxiety - to come around the corner. The second last thing he expected was Lucerys to round the corner, see him, and immediately draw attention to the fact that he was carrying a cup full of water. The brat was out for a random jaunt through the secret halls of the Keep - sporting new hair and a new set of eyes?? - after being squirreled away from the world for over a week, and he chooses to bring a cup of water with him?
Still, he couldn’t resist the urge to reach out and assure himself that Lucerys was actually real and in front of him, and not just some wine induced delusion conjured up to satisfy his ‘curiosity’ about the boy’s illness. The hair and the eyes really leant him towards delusion. The boy had had the most boring brown hair and pretty but boring brown eyes last he saw him.
And as if the delusion wasn’t already bad enough, his - definitely not real - nephew had the sheer audacity to flinch away from him as he got up and asked him what he was doing, only to surge forward and shove the cup of water into his chest right afterwards. Then he just stood there, announcing the identity of a cup like Aegon didn’t have two mint condition eyes and a working brain!
Aegon blinked, “Yeah, that’s a cup, what in the seven hells are you doing down here?”
Clearly whatever ailment the boy had was still running rampant, because he didn’t answer Aegon’s perfectly reasonable question and instead shoved the cup into his chest again until he took it and told him to drink. As if Aegon was actually going to drink out of a cup that Lucerys had been carrying around for gods only knew how long.
Where had he even gotten the cup from? For all he knew Lucerys could have stolen a cup from some idiot’s chambers and it could be full of spit!
He wasn’t going to drink out of some random cup, and he needed to make sure that Luke got back to wherever they had been keeping him. He placed the cup on the floor next to his old half full goblet of wine and went to grab his nephew.
“Come on, you need to go back to where they are keeping you.” Instead of being normal and letting him take his hand, his nephew grabbed the cup and held it up to him, the water sloshing around and almost wetting his lips. In his shock at the movement, Aegon lashed out and yanked his hand away, practically lifting the boy off the floor and only letting him go when he let out a soft whimper. “Have you gone fucking mad?”
His answer came in the form of a broken answer, “You need drink,” his nephew stuttered, “It help, make you safe.”
Make him safe? What the fuck did that mean? “Make me safe? What are you talking about? I’m a prince, a goblet of water isn’t going to make me safe!”
He watched in confusion as Luke’s face showcased a myriad of emotions before finally turning on sheer terror. “Wine poison!”
Aegon sputtered at the declaration. He’d have known if his wine was poisoned, seven hells, he’d be dead already if his wine was poisoned. He would have collapsed against the wall and just never woke up and died alone in the bowels of the Keep probably never to be found except for by the rats. Or maybe by that creeper Larys. “You can’t possibly know that.” He settled on.
But Lucerys refused to be reasonable, shouting “It’s poison, drink,” and once again pressing the cup back into his hand and tugging on him until Aegon finally gave in, just so that the boy would stop and he could take him back to the safety of his half-sisters chambers, and drank out of the cup with a groan. He didn’t even think about how the shout could possibly be that Lucerys meant the water was poisoned and not the wine, not until after he had swallowed.
Just one sip - it thankfully tasted like normal water, and didn’t have anything that would confirm it might have been spat in - seemed to be enough to appease his nephew, because he stopped accosting Aegon with his incessant tugging and dropped his hand to Aegon’s belt instead.
He took a moment to let his confusion reign, thinking about the broken way Lucerys spoke, the panic when he tried to put down the cup, the insistence that his wine was poisoned, the hair and eyes. He only was able to think about it for a moment though, because as he was contemplating everything he was also scrutinizing Luke, and he finally managed to take in the fact that his nephew was barefoot in nothing but a nightdress and he was shivering.
Violently shivering.
The kid was recovering from a fever and he was out in the damp dank hallways of the Red Keep barefoot with a nightdress on.
Aegon felt panic curl up in his throat.
“We’re going back to your room, you idiot!” He didn’t give Lucerys a chance to dart away from him, or try to grab the cup, he picked him right up and started carrying him back through the hallways. If nothing else Luke needed to be somewhere warm so that he didn’t end up catching another fever. “All those guards Rhaenyra brought in and they couldn’t even keep you inside.”
Thankfully for him, Luke didn’t feel the need to try and get away from him or squirm around in his arms. He just let him carry him away - and his nephew could have literally been scooped up by any nutcase with a vendetta against the crown and no one would have known had he not stumbled upon Aegon before anyone else. Some whore house seeker or just some man with too much wine in his belly who didn’t notice this was a prince could have snatched him up. And with those eyes? And that hair? He would have been easy pickings for a pleasure house. Someone could have killed him, or worse.
What kind of lackluster, horrid guards was his sister employing. A three year old out in the bowels of the keep and nary a guard in sight! The boy was almost drowned in the bay and no one saw that, and now he was out wandering alone!
Aegon would have been a better guard for his nephew than the pieces of shit she hired. Put him and the kid in a room together, have Sunfyre on standby in the pits and everything would be fine. There would be no late night walks with a cup of water if it were him.
“Corlys!”
“What?” The cogs in Aegon’s brain took a sudden turn, screeching to a halt and then reversing to try and figure out why now after nearly an entire hour - it must be the hour of the wolf at the very least - of walking his nephew decided to randomly blurt out Lord Velaryon’s name. He whirled around, just to make sure the Lord wasn’t actually somehow behind them, and then hurried along the hallways.
Sure, he was still half drunk and he was a prince of House Targaryen, but he didn’t want to be caught carrying Lucerys around in the middle of the night. When he’s half drunk and the kid is half out of his damn mind. With his luck his half sister would immediately assume he had grabbed the kid from his room and was making off with him for nefarious purposes.
He was just returning what his half-sister had allowed to get lost in the bowels of the Keep. Nothing more.
“Corlys!” The little weasel shouted as Aegon got them past the outer guards and into the first set of hallways that lead back to Rhaenyra’s apartments. “Grandfather!”
What. the. Fuck. Was his nephew trying to get them caught?
“Shhh!” He hissed, cupping his hand over the suddenly energetic kids mouth, “I am trying to take you home and you repay me by alerting half the damn Keep?!”
Further down, maybe a hall or two away, he heard the sound of footsteps stomping their way, followed by the slamming of doors and the clanking of armor.
“Seven hells.” Quickly he put Luke back on his own two feet, turning him so that he was facing the halls that led to his mother, and then gave the kid a little shove forward. Not too hard, he was barefoot and cold and sick, but just hard enough to get him going. “Go back to your mother.” He whispered as he looked for somewhere he could hide.
There! A little alcove that he knew he could fit through and hide for a while. He strode towards it, only to whip around one last time. “Do not tell anyone I was here, or that you saw me!”
“Grandfather!” How the kid could look at him, a prince, and think he was Lord Corlys Velaryon was not something he even wanted to be able to comprehend.
Fevers did weird things. Thank the gods he hadn’t been allowed into the kid’s room during any of his attempts - not that he made any attempts! - and caught whatever brain rotting disease the boy had.
End of Chapter 6
Notes:
A/N:
Me: Jace is the captain of the Lucerys protection squad
Also me: Aegon is going to come to a swift and horrible realization that Luke is both his blood and uhhhh he’s very easy to kill and he doesn’t like that.Aegon: I have the Urge™ to be a Protective Big Brother, something I have never felt before and this isnt even one of my siblings.
Chapter 7: Chapter 7
Summary:
Allllllrighty ladies and gentleman, we are at the last chapter of Luke's actual fever/isolation period!
Notes:
From here on out we're gonna be seeing some more characters and having some more fun and adventures! We won't be seeing Daemon/Laena/Baela or Rhaena in this chapter but they are on their way, and we will be seeing some Alicent next chapter as well.
I'm considering also posting a lil intermission chapter of like 2-4 of the scenes I originally cut that would have gone before this chapter (particularly the scene of Alicent questioning Luke's hair) so let me know if that might be something you guys would like.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Chapter 7
After the initial shock of being startled awake by Lucerys calling out for his Lord Grandfather in the middle of the night, things had thankfully settled down within the Crown Princess’s apartments. It was still unknown how Luke had gotten out of bed and away from his chambers without notice, but it hadn’t happened again, much to everyone’s relief.
Lucerys continued to be unerringly attached to his family, but he remained by his grandfather’s side the most. His little arms would lift up, begging to be held whenever Corlys came near, he had taken to curling up by his side quietly when the lord would sit and tend to his letters from Driftmark, even when he was conversing with his son or King Viserys by the antechamber, talking of boring dull things, Lucerys would be firm in sitting right at his knees.
The prince seemed desperate for knowledge, hanging onto the Sea Snake’s every word as he regalled him with tales of his seafaring. Everyday they would find a spot on one of the balconies attached to Princess Rhaenyra’s apartments that overlooked Blackwater Bay so that Corlys could point out each of the ships and the houses they belonged to.
Of course they could have traveled down to the bay itself, but even nearly a week after his terrible fever had abated, none dared to allow Luke out of the apartments, let alone anywhere near the sea. It was hard enough to forget the terror their houses had been stricken with when the young prince had been ill, seeing him in the same waters that had sickened him was a step no one had the courage to take.
He had also taken to his grandmother’s side as well. He had, quite shyly, climbed up by the princess’s hip one night while she braided her hair by the candle light and asked if she would teach him too. It had taken him nearly an entire day to be able to make a passable braid in his grandmother’s hair, but once he had, Princess Rhaenys had praised his handiwork and combed his curls out of his face before pressing a kiss to his head.
She had braided his curls back and appeared back at her son and gooddaughter’s apartment with Luke perched on her hip and a gold three headed dragon locket twisting between his hands. The night after that, Rhaenyra had come to find her sweet boy fast asleep tucked between his two grandparents as Rhaenys sat by the hearth reading aloud.
Which led them to where they were now, all of them gathered together in the apartments and waiting for GrandMaester Mellos to give them the final say that Lucerys was in fact alright. That he was healing, and they need not keep worrying over whether or not he’d be suddenly stricken with fever again. They had all tirelessly done their parts in following every instruction the maesters had given them to keep the fever from returning, and all three Maesters had advised them that they would need to wait a full week before they could even consider declaring Luke’s illness a thing of the past.
An entire week of waiting, watching, ensuring Luke was well rested and well guarded.
Not even the Queen herself had been allowed into their little pod of isolation, though not for lack of trying, for fear that she or the other princes may accidentally pass something on to Lucerys. The King had remained outside of the apartments in the antechamber for the last few nights of Luke's isolation, talking to them through the door, and had only recently joined them inside once the Maester’s were prepared to give their verdict on his health.
“Your Grace, Princesses, it is my opinion that the boy has managed to beat his illness. Though there have been some worries over his mind, it would seem that the lack of awareness was merely him being stunned by the sudden abatement of his fever. It’s quite often observed that mental abilities are lacking in the hours or even days after such a high fever.” Maester Mellos waited for the cacophony of sighs of relief to die down before he ushered the King and the two princesses to the seats at the other side of the room, away from the little prince. “His faculties seem to be coming back slowly. With some need for prompting, yes, but they have begun to fall back in line with that expected of his age and he seems to have retained most of his mind even with the fever.”
Rhaenyra staunchly resisted the urge to wring her hands as she took her seat. Her eyes drifted across the room, to where Lucerys was playing with Jace, Corlys and Laenor, excitedly reciting to his enraptured audience the great houses of the seven kingdoms and the way their sigils looked. “So you don’t think his behavior has been…strange? It is nothing of concern?”
“His behavior has most certainly been strange, Princess, however I believe that he has merely tuned further into an innate curiosity that was previously dampened by his shyness. While I will say that the…occurrence of his lapses in attention are something that should be continually observed, I don’t think these instances bring him any harm. Yes, there has been a dip in his capacity to comprehend certain things, but he clearly still has the joy of life within him, and he does not show any other signs of his mind being warped by the fever. He plays with his brother, can recite the great houses of the kingdom, he reads and counts sums with his father. He simply needs time and attention to fully recover.”
There was a terse silence that followed his answer, and it didn’t take a genius to know what weighed heavy on the minds of the royalty in the room. It was quite the elephant in the room, and had been since the prince’s appearance had started to turn, though no one had had the courage to bring it up. Or, at least, no one but the Queen.
But the question was coming, it was only a matter of who might be the one to have it deaden their tongue.
“And what of his hair and eyes, Maester?” Princess Rhaenys asked though she did have the decency to appear uneasy with asking the question.
Unfortunately, her unease did not spare her Rhaenyra or Viserys’ glares. Nor did it appear to spare her her own son’s ire either, as Ser Laenor had gotten up at the first mention of Lucerys’ hair, and had come to stand beside Princess Rhaenyra, an agitated barb no doubt perched on the tip of his tongue in disbelief at his own mother.
The Princess held out her hand in surrender. “I do not ask this as an insult, truly. I merely wish to know if Is it usual for such a drastic change in appearance to occur so suddenly. Lucerys is my grandson, and if something resulting from this could possibly harm him, I wish to know just as I would wish to know if it happened to my other grandchildren.”
The explanation did seem to do something to quell the building tension, and Maester Mellos took the opening for what it was. Gods knew he did not want to be caught in between several dueling dragons.
He breathed his own sigh of relief, “It actually is not as uncommon as one might believe, Princess Rhaenys. There have been well documented cases within the citadel of children’s hair and eye color changing as late as six years of age. Lightening from a darker to a lighter shade perhaps isn’t as common as darkening, but it isn’t unheard of either. I think it more a coincidence than anything else that it just so happened to occur while he was sick, rather than at some other time.”
“That is good to hear,” The King cut in with a gracious smile, clearly rejoicing in the answer, “and you are absolutely certain that my grandson is alright? That there won’t be a resurgence of his fever.”
“Yes, your grace, there is no reason to believe that his fever will return at this point, though if it would help put your minds at ease, myself of Maester Gerardys would not be adverse to administering a small cognitive test of sorts, just to settle any worries.”
The crown princess stared at him, “What kind of cognitive test?”
“Nothing too out of sorts, Princess,” He reassured, “It will be little more than a game to him, to test his memory and comprehension.”
When the three royals nodded their assent, Maester Mellos gestured for Gerardys to go over to the young prince and lead him through the test.
“Hello, my prince.”
Luke beamed up at the nice looking man, and shoved out his carved seahorse for him to see, as he did with anyone who came close to him. His father told him he held his seahorse out to people as if it were a shield, whatever that was. “Hello!”
Gerardys couldn’t help but chuckle at the childish display, obediently taking hold of the seahorse and making quite a show of inspecting it and being awed by its craftsmanship before handing it back over to the prince. “A wonderfully made toy, my prince, now, would you like to play a game?”
“Can I have your name?” Luke asked when he got his seahorse back. Of course he wanted to play a game, he loves games, but he also wanted a name. Everyone just called him ‘my prince’, ‘sweet boy’, ‘brother’, even ‘little one’, and those names felt nice but they didn’t make the water in his blood sing with the feeling of being right.
So instead he had taken to asking if he could have someone else’s name and he just hoped that it would feel right when he got it. No one seemed to mind him trying to take their names anyway, so it must not be bad. He had already taken mother, father, and brother’s names, even grandfather’s name, but none of them fit right. They felt true on his tongue when he said them, yet sounded wrong when he tried to think of himself with them, and in the end he had just given them back.
Except for grandfather’s. He kept his Grandfather’s name in the back of his mind. Luke was tempted to give the name to his seahorse since it wasn’t right for him but he worried that Grandfather wouldn’t like that…and he didn’t want to not be able to say Grandfather’s name if he gave it away to his horsie! It was a nice name and he liked to say ‘Corlys’ whenever he was hit with sadness to cheer himself up.
Saying it always made grandfather come to him and hug him and wrap him up in his cloak and twice now he’d gotten to spend the entire day with Grandfather and Grandmother after saying it enough. When he had said it after his walk with the strange man in the hidden tunnels his grandfather had come and swept him away back into his rooms, and it was nice to be held between them, warm and happy and welcomed.
“...Prince?”
Luke looked up from his seahorse and saw the looks of concern on everyone’s faces. “Yes?”
The maester stared at him patiently before seeming to realize that the boy knew not what he had asked. “I said my name was Maester Gerardys, and asked if we could play a game together. Perhaps we could even attempt to involve your family?”
Gerardys. “The name of a kind, healing man. Loyal, like your little horse,” the water whispered.
“I like that name, thank you,” It wouldn’t fit him, but it sounded perfect for his seahorse. Quickly, before the name could flee his mind, he held up the carving and repeated the name again and again, letting it linger in the air until it felt right when he looked at his toy. “Now I would like to play the game!”
The adults in the room looked puzzled, probably lost in the excitement of having been graced with such a good name for his horsie just as he had been.
He clutched Gerardys to his chest and turned himself to face the other Gerardys, his glee at finding his seahorse a name funneling into excitement to play a game. “What game is it? Is it the one with the big pieces?” Grandfather had set him on his lap that morning and played a moving game with him. He had moved tons of big carvings along a piece of paper, reciting the names of the houses the carvings belonged to and asking him to repeat it back when he was done.
Luke had accidentally cheated, just a little bit, because the water had whispered all the answers he didn’t remember to him from its place in his grandfather’s cup.
Gerardys, however, was back to talking to him, so he tried his best to focus on his words instead of the water, “I suppose it might be somewhat similar, my prince. I’m going to point to someone,” He gestured around the room to the adults that were gathered - Luke’s family, the water trickled into his mind, “And I would like it if you could name each of them for me.”
Luke nodded along with the instructions. He could do that, it was the same game as the one grandfather had played, just with pointing instead of carved pieces. “Okay.”
He began by pointing at his mother, then his father, with Luke dutifully naming them as such, and he only needed a single prod from his water to remember that his father was in fact his father and not grandfather. He finished easily by blurting out a happy, “Grandfather Corlys!”, when Gerardys’s finger pointed towards the Sea Snake.
A quick glance at the water in Grandfather’s cup was enough to send his own water in his veins rushing around, letting him know that everyone was pleased, and that he was very clearly winning the game. It was a nice feeling.
“Very good, and who is that?” His finger pointed straight towards his grandmother, and everyone was smiling when he called out to her, and they all smiled even brighter when he looked towards his brother and called him the right name as well. His brother was a hard one to remember, because it felt nearly right to think of his own face with his brother’s name, and part of him selfishly wanted to keep the name for himself, but the water always beckoned him away from those thoughts. “Wonderful, and lastly, who is this?”
He was pointing at the smiling man next to his mother, who Luke was nudged to know was also part of his family, though he seemed to stand just slightly apart from everyone else. Like there was a bubble around him that kept him separated but the water said he was still happy to be with the rest of them, even if he was apart.
Luke hesitated even after a ripple from the water gave him a name. The name rang true in his head but his heart supplied him with something else. A giant black thing, dwarfing the ground and setting the sky alight with flame, a beach with a man who looked like no one and everyone at the same time. Smiling eyes and a boisterous laugh whispering along a pit even when it truly wished to ring along the winds. A short flight circling a city three times.
It looked majestic behind his eyes and he could already feel how happy the smiling man would be to be called by his heart’s name. The water gave in quite quickly, acquiescing to the name in his heart with a soft sigh. “Balerion.” He shouted, the name tumbling joyously from his lips, ringing out with truth and happiness.
Even as all the smiles in the room were wiped off everyone’s face, replaced with shock, the truth still chimed free.
A series of wide eyes fell upon him, each one bigger than the last, and his water lamented him not using the name Viserys instead of Balerion. Yet Viserys, while it sounded right, didn’t feel right.
In the corner of the room the lit hearth let out a hysterical little wheeze at his thoughts and he felt a warmth pet against the top of his head, but it quickly fled when his water lashed at the flames with a groan.
He held out his hand, pointing at Balerion with his seahorse to make sure everyone knew who he meant and said, “He’s Balerion! My grandsire!”
His father, not his grandfather and certainly not Balerion, stood at his words, already attempting to usher him out of his chair before he even made it over to him. “Come, Lucerys, we should get you back to your room, I think it’s time to rest -”
In an instant Luke was up off the chair, dashing forward to wind his little arms around his father’s knees and jumping for joy. His name! That was it! Lucerys.
“My name!” He cheered, his hand fisted in the rough breeches, tugging and tugging in time with the beat of the singing that had taken up in his heart, his entire being rejoicing at the feeling of being whole again. He could feel the words, the meanings of blood and family and love finally settling deep down inside of him even without the water gently lacing them throughout his thoughts. “That’s my name! It’s so pretty, father, say it again, please, please, please!”
Father gaped down at him, completely at a loss for words as his request finally hit him, and the request hit him just as the little carved seahorse hit him as well, because Lucerys was knocking against his hip with the toy to try and get him to say his name again.
The water had already named the question in his father’s eyes; had Lucerys not known his own name this whole time, and in fact he had not known his name but now he did! It was a nice name, and he and Gerardys wanted to hear it again! Luke was just about to use Gerardys to remind him to say it, when his mother flew in to scoop him up and gently pry his seahorse out of his hand.
“Lucerys,” Yes, it still sounded just as nice as the first time he heard it, even nicer coming from his mother’s lips if he was honest, “Your father is right, it’s time for you to rest.”
“I want to hear my name again.” He complained. He didn’t want to rest, he wanted to hear his pretty name from everyone and figure out who said it the nicest - he just knew it’d be the nicest coming from his grandfather - and he wanted to keep repeating it until he memorized it! There were so many things slotting firmly into place in his mind, concepts that suddenly had a true meaning that he wanted to explore!
“We can say your name as much as you’d like once you’ve had a chance to rest, sweet boy, I promise.” The water agreed with her promise, babbling like a brook in his ear to start lulling him into a calm as she carried him towards the door. He could explore his new wellspring of knowledge when he was alone in his room, the water would guide him towards even more new horizons.
The door hadn’t even fully shut behind them when the sound of yelling rang through the room.
End of Chapter 7
Notes:
Thanks for reading guys! I hope you enjoyed this chapter (even though it was a little late) let me know in the comments!
A/N: the sirens: you were supposed to take his memories of the past, not literally everything he has. He doesn’t even know his own name! We had to whisper House Stark’s name from a CUP.
Balerion: yeah, that’s my bad, im working on it.
Chapter 8: Chapter 8
Summary:
Lucerys 'any time I want to leave a situation I'll just call grandpa Corlys' Velaryon and Jacaerys 'you touch my brother and you'll catch these hands' Velaryon have some things to say.
Notes:
😮💨 as much as I wanted to have her appear, Alicent is unfortunately only mentioned in this chapter. I meant for her to be there, but Jace really took the chapter by the balls and decided he was gonna kick up a fuss in front of everyone, so the two scenes I had with other characters got pushed back to next chapter
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
BEGINNING OF CHAPTER 8
Chapter 8
As soon as the door clanked closed behind Rhaenyra, all Seven Hells broke loose inside the chamber. A cacophony of shouted questions rang out, each more incredulous and more incensed than the last.
“Does the boy not knowing his own name seem mentally sound to you, Maester?”
“You swore to me that he retained all of his mental faculties!”
“How did no one notice he didn’t know his own name?!”
Maester Gerardys watched as the King and Lord Corlys backed GrandMaester Mellos into a corner, continuing to shout their displeasure while Ser Laenor was shell shocked, still standing by the edge of the table. Prince Jacaerys seemed just as confused by the sudden turn of events as his father.
The remaining Princess Rhaenys looked as if she was contemplating every conversation she had had in the past week, which to be fair, was exactly what Gerardys himself was currently doing given that Maester Mellos was taking most of the heat for the two of them. Looking back on what he knew of the past week, he had not in fact heard anyone, even himself or Mellos, say the young prince’s name.
It was truly an anomaly.
Perhaps it could be excused for the two of them, as the boy was a prince, and it was quite customary for a Maester in the royal service to address their patients by their rank rather than by name. But for the boy’s own family to never address him by his given name? An anomaly, indeed. It was even stranger yet when looking in addition at the boy’s lapses in attention, which Mellos had easily dismissed as simply him recovering from the fever.
“Princess Rhaenys?” Gerardys called out softly, wanting to sate his curiosity about this oddity without the risk of drawing the ire of the King and the Sea Snake. Princess Rhaenys seemed to be the calmest bet for getting his questions answered. “If I may impose, could I ask a few questions?”
The question seemed to shake her out of her own thoughts, and she turned to face him with a sigh, “Of course, Maester, ask away.”
“Barring the lapses in attention and the lack of knowledge of his own name, have you witnessed any other oddities in Prince Lucerys’ behavior over the last few days?”
“The only thing I witnessed was him believing me to be my bonded dragon, Meleys, much as he recognized my cousin to be his bonded dragon.”
The yelling completely fell silent around them, and Gerardys looked up to see the King staring directly at them. “You think Luke mistook me for Balerion the Black Dread, Rhaenys?”
She scoffed, “He called you Balerion, cousin, what other Balerion did you believe he meant?”
“The god of Death!” Both the King and Lord Corlys yelled. “Are you sure that Luke mistook you for your dragon and not the goddess Meleys?” Viserys added after a short pause.
“He talked at length about how pretty my scales and wing membranes were, and how fast I was in flight. Somehow I doubt that it was about a goddess and not my dragon.” The Princess gestured towards the door Luke had been taken out of, “I’m sure you can ask once he wakes from his nap whether he meant your dragon or not.”
“Why didn’t he see all of us as our dragons?”
Gerardys hummed in contemplation at the question from Prince Jacaerys. It was a good, thoughtful question. If the young prince did in fact see his grandparents as their respective dragons, why did he not see his own parents nor his brother as their dragons as well. “I take it he has not called you by your dragon’s name, my prince?” When the boy shook his head, Gerardys turned to the only other dragon rider left in the room, “Ser Laenor? Did Prince Lucerys call you by your name, or your dragon’s name?”
“Neither,” He answered quietly, “He’s called me father and mistaken me for his grandfather, but he’s never truly called me by my name except to repeat it, and he hasn’t mentioned Seasmoke at all.”
“He hasn’t called Princess Rhaenyra by her dragon’s name either, as far as I’m aware.” Lord Corlys said, and everyone in the room nodded along with him, all of them silently contemplating these new found revelations. They would simply have to wait until the Prince woke before they could get any actual answers.
After his nap, Lucerys was taken to a big room full of his family and Maester Gerardys, with everyone sitting at a long table waiting for him. The sleep had been quite nice, and his water had shown him plenty of fun new things, including the concept of extended family, none of whom he remembered despite the water’s attempt to show him the stranger from his tunnel adventure as part of his family. He could remember the boy’s face and the water tried to tell him that the boy’s name was Aegon but that sounded just as off as calling Balerion Viserys.
Aegon sounded like too big of a name for the sad poisoned boy he had met in the tunnels.
When he and mother entered the room, Lucerys happily let himself be picked up and placed in his grandsire’s lap. Balerion was happy to see him, he could feel it even without the water telling him.
“Balerion!”
“Hello,” He said, and Luke couldn’t resist grinning up at him as he held out his seahorse, “Are you happy with your toy?”
“I love him!”
“I’m glad to hear that, my boy, and how was your rest?”
Luke shifted around, trying to get comfortable. “The water put me to sleep so I could learn things.”
“The…water…put you to sleep?” Balerion asked, as if the answer wasn’t obvious. There were cups all around the table and the water was a constant chorus, quite literally singing about all the new things that Luke had learned in his sleep. Including his name!
Which his mother had promised he’d be able to hear again when he woke.
“Name!” He wanted to hear it again, and Balerion hadn’t said it yet, he’s sure it would sound nice coming from him. Balerion had a very happy voice and his name sounded happy too.
“Yes, names, we need to discuss names.” He said, but he still didn’t say Lucerys’ name, “You called me Balerion before -”
Luke nodded, trying to hurry this along so that he could hear his name again, “Your name is Balerion, because you’re a dragon, and my name is Luc…Lukarys.” It didn’t sound right anymore, not coming from his own lips. “You’re Balerion and I’m…”
“Lucerys.”
“Lucerys!” That was it! And it sounded pretty just like he thought it would! It made him feel all warm inside to hear it coming from Balerion’s lips, and once again he felt that strange warmth pet over his hair, like Balerion was stroking his hair. “Again!”
Balerion looked to him with a blinding smile, “Lucerys, Lucerys, Lucerys,” he said again and again, and Luke started saying it with him, the two of them chanting it louder and louder until they were both left in a fit of giggles and out of breath. Everyone around the room was watching them, happy and chuckling and Luke could feel how happy and warm they all were.
The room was alight with happiness and it warmed him from the inside out.
“Luke,” His mother cut in, coming to stand beside him and Balerion with a soft smile, and the name she said sounded nice and right but not as pretty as Lucerys. But she was warm enough with the happy feelings that he didn’t care. “Can you tell us more about why you call your grandsire Balerion?”
“Yes, my boy, please elaborate on that.”
He’s a dragon, like Meleys. “He’s a dragon, like Meleys!” He chirped and then pointed towards his grandmother across the table, “Meleys has pretty red wings and pink underneath and her claws are orange.” He looked up at Balerion and squinted, trying to remember what his wings looked like when the water had shown him his true name. “Balerion’s all black, but he’s still pretty too!”
Lucerys grabbed a hold of Balerion’s arm and held it up so that his mother could see the black scales. “See! His scales are black!”
His water sloshed around under his skin, whispering again that the name Visery might sound nice, more so than Balerion, but it didn’t, even in his own mind it didn’t sound as nice. It was like being called Luke instead of Lucerys. It was right but it didn’t sound as nice. He sighed to himself when the water kept trying to draw him further away from Balerion and out among the waves.
He wasn’t going to stop calling him Balerion, because that’s who he was!
To emphasize his point, to everyone in the room and to his water, he pointed to the little wings that were on his shoulders and said, “His wings are black,” and then he pointed to the crown of horns on the top of his head, “and he has horns! He’s a dragon.”
He rested back against Balerion’s chest with a firm nod.
His mother chuckled, a fond look on her face, “Is anyone else a dragon?” She asked, “Or is it just your grandmother and grandsire?”
What a strange question, of course no one else was a dragon, no one else had wings or horns or scales! “No, it's just Meleys and Balerion!” Luke held out Gerardys, pointing it straight at Meleys, and then slowly moving it to point at each person as he recited their names, just like he had when they were playing the game earlier. “Meleys, Grandfather Corlys, Father, Brother, Gerardys, Mother, and Balerion.” As an afterthought he turned Gerardys around in his hand so that he could point at his toy too, “And he’s named Gerardys too!”
She seemed to finally accept his explanation and reached out for him, like she was going to take him off of Balerion’s lap, only for Jace to slip in between them and tug him right off of Grandsire’s lap. The sirens bleated out a warning that Jace was on the verge of boiling, but it was mostly drowned out as he nearly hit the floor. His brother half caught him before he actually met the stone and Lucerys could feel the fire in his brother’s blood searing him through their clothing.
Jace had a fierce glare on his face as he stared down their mother, even as the rest of the room came alight with murmurs.
“Jace…”
“Luke’s getting tired.” Jace said stubbornly. Luke was not, in fact, tired because he had just woken up from his learning nap earlier, but his water urged him to agree with his brother. He wasn’t sure what was making his brother boil yet he could feel it so clearly, and as pretty as the fire in Jace’s eyes was, he didn’t want him to burn up.
“I’m tired,” He nodded and then he turned to the other side of the table and lifted his arms up, calling for his Grandfather. “Corlys!”
His grandfather was there picking him up almost immediately and he latched his hand onto the pretty white snakes of his hair. He tugged on them to try and settle himself while the water whisked away the lingering heat that came from his brother. Corlys was a soothing balm for the heat as well, and his shoulder looked like a very inviting place to lay his head.
“Name?” He asked hopefully once he was settled in, because he still hadn’t heard his grandfather say his name yet.
“Lucerys.”
He was right, his name sounded amazing coming from his grandfather, even as nice as it was to have fun chanting it with Balerion, it still sounded nicer hearing it from grandfather. He wanted to hear it again and again.
So he asked for it again, and while he did say it, Luke could also hear Jace below them telling their grandfather that they should go back to their room because he was tired. He could feel him tugging at Corlys’ outer coats as he tried to pull them both towards the door.
Grandfather shifted him from one hip to the other, not that the change mattered, since Jace merely walked to his other side and grabbed a hold of Luke’s trousers, trying to tug him back down to the ground again. “Jacaerys, stop tugging on him.”
“He’s tired, grandfather, he wants to go back to bed!” Jace snatched at his leg and yanked on him, the fire crackling in his ears as both Mother and Father came over to try and pull Jace away.
“Jace, enough!” His brother danced out of the way of Laenor’s hands, darting around past him to try and grab at Luke again as grandfather moved the two of them away.
The confusion in the room was palpable even to Lucerys as Balerion ordered the other Gerardys and the guards from the room, leaving only their family, while Mother and Father started attempting to grab his brother. His water wasn’t warning him of any danger, so Luke just clung to grandfather’s shoulder and watched the adults dance around the room trying to keep Jace from getting ahold of him. It was funny to see and Luke couldn’t stop himself from giggling as Jace was chased around the room.
Maybe this was a game? Like the moving game they had all played with the carvings!
“Jacaerys, come.”
Jace looked up from trying to grab his brother, frowning when he saw his mother on the other side of the table frowning back at him. As if he was the one doing something wrong. All he wanted to do was get his brother away from their mother to keep him safe.
“Luke said he was tired.”
She let out a sigh, stepping around the table again, trying to hem him in between her and Father, “He just came from a nap, Jace, and your grandparents want to spend time with him,” She held out her hand and beckoned him to come to her instead of following after Lord Corlys. He refused to move, unwilling to stray too far from Luke when he knew that grandfather didn’t know about Mother trying to take Luke away.
When he didn't go to her, she moved even closer and reached for him once again. “The two of you can sleep together tonight, Jace, but you need to let everyone else spend time with Luke too,”
Without a second thought Jace smacked her hand away and used the moment of astonishment that followed to grab Luke and yank him out of grandfather’s arms. He finally had his brother back in his arms, and was already looking for an exit when he was grabbed around the forearms by his grandfather.
“Jace! What in the gods name has gotten into you!” Blood rushed through his ears as Father reached in to pull Luke away from him, to give him to mother.
He broke out of grandfather’s hold with a screech and launched himself at Luke, wrapping around him like a snake even as his brother started sobbing at the noise. It was bad enough that earlier that week he had woken up to Luke not being in their bed, and then heard him calling from outside the room for their grandfather, but now their father was trying to hand Luke to their mother on a silver platter!
Mother had probably tried to take him away in the middle of the night and Luke had just barely gotten away!
He tried to find a way out of the room, but before he could he was back in grandfather's arms, trapped in a grip as strong as iron, keeping him still until he managed to kneel down in front of him and look him straight in the eyes. He just had to watch as father plucked Luke away and deposited his sobbing brother straight into his mother’s arms. “Jace, Jace! Look at me!” Grandfather grabbed his chin, “What is going on with you, why would you hit your mother?”
“You’re trying to give Luke to mother so she can kill him!”
His grandfather looked absolutely flabbergasted. “What? She isn’t trying to hurt Luke, she’s comforting him, Jace!” With a sigh he turned them both towards the corner of the room, where Rhaenyra had Luke in her arms, with their foreheads pressed together and the soothing melody of their nighttime lullaby spilling from her lips. “You scared him by grabbing him like that, you could have hurt him.”
“I’m not hurting him, I'm protecting him! Mother tried to kill him!”
“She wasn’t trying to kill him, she was only talking to him.”
It was his mother’s turn to sigh, “I told you, Jace, that was not what the Septon meant.”
“Rhaenyra?” The King called questioningly, moving to stand at the end of the table and looking back and forth between him and mother.
“When Luke was sick,” She started, at least having the decency to bring his brother closer so that Jace could have him in his arms again while she spouted her lies, “The septon that attended his and my half-brother’s lessons told him to pray to the Mother for - for Luke’s safe passage, and Jace mistook that to mean I was causing Luke to be sick.”
Jace nodded, “Because you were! He warned me that Mother would try to take Luke away!”
“Was anything said to this septon?” Corlys asked, and once he was sure Luke was calm and only sniffling in Jace’s arms he stood from his kneeling and led them both back over to the table, making them sit as Father slid into the seat beside the two of them.
The conversation was hushed but heated, with Mother and Grandfather arguing back and forth, and the King and Grandmother Rhaenys quickly joining the fray as well. Jace could just barely hear snippets about the Queen, and a half hearted explanation that the septon being at their lessons was her doing. Grandsire Viserys looked extremely agitated by the conversation as it went on and he was the first one to break away, coming to stand beside Jace’s chair with a pensive look on his face.
“Jace, I know that you believe your mother is who was making Luke sick,” He began calmly, but Jace could read the irritation in the tense smile on his face. “But that isn’t true.”
“Why would the septon tell me to ask mother to give Luke a peaceful death if she wasn’t the one who was going to take him away!”
“He meant The Mother, a goddess from the faith of the seven, my boy, not your mother. Those who follow the faith routinely pray to the mother when they wish for good health or safe passage for their children, especially when their children are sick.” Viserys tried to explain. “It was a failing on my part to have someone of a faith that you are not being taught trying to teach you, and for that I am sorry, but your mother would never hurt you or your brother.”
It sounded suspicious to him, but grandsire was the King, and if he said something was true then Jace would have to believe it. He didn’t like it but he couldn’t go against him.
“Jace,” Rhaenys started kindly when she recognized the look of typical Targaryen bullheadedness blooming on his face, and pulled him away from the table with one hand while the other pulled Luke from his seat and into her arms, “Why don’t the three of us go for a walk, let your parents and your grandfathers have some time to talk amongst themselves.”
Rhaenyra sent her a look of gratitude over the boy’s heads.
“But -”
“If you are good on the walk, we can go to the pits and show Luke how well you’ve bonded with your dragon.” Instantly the reluctance on her older grandson’s face slid right off, and the boy was practically pulling her from the room before she was even finished her sentence. “Perhaps I could even be persuaded to take the two of you down to meet Meleys if you are really good.” She added slyly.
Privately, she relished in the beaming smile her own son sent her, as well as the cheer of excitement Luke let out at the mention of Meleys. She had already wasted years silently believing that her grandsons were bastards, and shunning them from her life, it was long overdue for her to treat them as the kin they truly were. And giving her cousin and her husband a chance to fully flesh out whatever was going on with this mother business gave her a perfect excuse to show her grandsons her dragon. Something that she should have done well before this if her own ego hadn't gotten in the way.
Not to mention it was her duty as an elder dragonrider to help teach them about their dragons and their heritage. While Laenor and Rhaenyra were both dragonriders in their own right, they were both still young, and Laenor himself hadn’t claimed a dragon until shortly before they had married. It was a severe oversight for her to have let her grandsons go this long without the guidance and teachings of the older generation, and while the dragon masters were a wealth of knowledge, none of them had actual bonds with the dragons.
There were things that only someone who had bonded with a dragon, one who had shared their heart and mind and soul with their dragon, who had flown along the skies with them, could teach. This farce with the septon only showcased the failing of letting someone else teach her grandsons, and there were so many things that she wanted to share with the two of them.
And as foolish and as vain as it was, it was only now that she could physically see that the boys were related to her son that she could allow herself to love them. With Lucerys the change in appearance had opened the gates around her heart, and now that she was looking at Jace through the lens of knowing they were legitimate, she could finally see some familial resemblance.
Jace’s hair was a lighter shade of brown, and his eyes were darker, but his resemblance to Jocelyn was still visible. How Rhaenys could have dismissed the features of her own mother when they were right in front of her she was still unsure, but now that she saw them, she couldn’t stop seeing them. The hair and eyes, the way just one corner of his mouth lifted when he was trying to hold in laughter, the anger that creased the edges of his eyes, all of it was her mother. Jace was just as stubborn and as quick to agitation as any true Baratheon was.
She could even see the shades of Queen Aemma in the fullness of his cheeks and the slope of his nose, something that she could see in Rhaenyra as well.
“How have your lessons been going, Jace?” She asked as they walked through the halls of the Keep, once she was sure Jace had a chance to calm down from the whole ordeal with his mother.
Jace still had a bit of wariness in his eyes when he looked up at her, but she was determined to erase it entirely. “Vermax listens to my commands, but he’s still too small to ride.”
“He most likely will be for quite a while, it usually takes years before a hatchling is capable of taking flight with a rider on their back.”
Jace nodded along with her, so the dragon masters must’ve at least imparted that information on him. “The masters say he’s growing faster than normal, and he’s aggressive towards people he doesn’t like.”
A dragon being aggressive towards people he didn’t like, what a novel concept. “That is typical for most dragons. Meleys doesn’t enjoy spending time around people who annoy me.”
“Lucerys says that Meleys doesn’t -”
“She doesn’t like being in the pits, she likes Driftmark better!” Luke cut in happily, seemingly jolted back into the conversation by the mention of his name. “She has a nest there, and she likes the sheep, they taste better.”
Rhaenys still was unsure how Luke knew such details about a dragon he, as far as she was aware, had never met but he wasn’t wrong. Meleys did enjoy being nested on Driftmark more than being in the pits, and she liked sheep far more than goats.
At this point between his knowledge of Meleys, and Balerion, as well as the strange fever dream he had about his own death, Rhaenys was partially convinced that the boy might suffer from the same portentous dreams their ancestors had been plagued with. It wasn’t outside of the realm of possibility, and she was aware that her cousin believed himself to have had one of those dreams as well.
If that was true it would lend more credence to Luke possibly having them as well.
“Luke is right, she does have a nest on Driftmark and she doesn’t like the pits,” Rhaenys mused out loud, “I have yet to see a dragon that truly enjoys being in the pits, most of them just bear it on behalf of their riders, which is seen in how so many of the dragons tend to nest on Dragonstone or at the Dragonmount after their riders have passed on.”
“They like being near the heat.” Luke agreed, tugging on the braid near the back of her hair.
She winced at the pain but didn’t bother correcting the boy or removing his hand from her hair. Instead she turned back to Jace, “Has Luke seen Vermax before?” Even having to ask made her wince a second time, because it showcased just how negligent she had been towards her grandsons. She should know whether or not Lucerys had met his brother’s dragon before this, and she would have known if she had been a good grandmother.
“He’s met him before, but I don’t know if he remembers him since the fever,” Jace reached up and tugged on Luke’s tunic until he looked down at him, “Do you remember Vermax, Luke?”
Luke shook his head, and thankfully took his fingers out of her hair to stuff them in his mouth.
“How many times has he met him before?”
“A couple of times, we had lessons with the dragon masters together even though his egg hasn’t hatched yet.”
She knew that his egg hadn’t hatched, before she had touted that as just another reasoning towards them being bastards, and even though she had only thought it to herself it still made her stomach curdle to remember her own ugly thoughts. Even if the boys had truly been bastards, they were still Targaryens through their mother and it was terrible to wish being dragonless onto them.
If she found that someone had wished for Laenor or Laena to remain dragonless she would have been furious.
“It’s good that he is still going to the lessons, though his egg hasn’t hatched yet there is still plenty of time for it to hatch,” Rhaenys assured the two of them and herself.
“Mother doesn’t seem worried about him not hatching his egg but what if he never gets a dragon?”
“As I said, there is still plenty of time for him to hatch his egg, there’s no need to worry over it and he can always claim an established dragon as well. Your father didn’t have a hatched egg, nor did your Aunt Laena. Even I didn’t hatch an egg, Meleys had been hatched well before I was born, and Princess Alyssa rode her before I did.”
That seemed to soothe the worst of Jace’s worries, and he looked calmer the longer they walked, just as Rhaenys had hoped. Luke however was quite subdued compared to how he had been when he first woke from his nap. It wasn’t too troubling, given the events of the afternoon. The whole ordeal that Jace caused had been shocking to her and left her feeling exhausted from the emotional whiplash, so she couldn’t fault Luke for being tuckered out.
Hopefully seeing Vermax and Meleys would wake him up a bit, and by time she brought the boys back her cousin should have, at the very least, a plan to reprimand the septon and drag him before Jace so Jace could hear firsthand that the idiot didn’t mean Rhaenyra was going to kill his brother. If her cousin didn’t do it, she most certainly would.
A simple reprimand wouldn’t be nearly enough to correct the entire farce, it would be a start, and it could be a foothold for Rhaenyra to start repairing their relationship.
“Are you excited to see your brother’s dragon, Luke?”
Luke nodded, his breath puffing against her neck, but he didn’t actually answer her. Perhaps there was some veracity to Jace claiming he was tired out, after all.
“Vermax likes Luke, he let him pet him a couple of times the last time we were in lessons together,” Jace said, “I think Luke will like him too even though he doesn’t remember him.”
“Oh, I’m sure he will, you love your brother and Vermax will certainly pick up on that.”
Jace hesitated, clearly mulling over whatever he was about to say, “Do you think Vermax would let Luke ride with me? If he doesn’t hatch his own dragon?” He asked quietly, like he didn’t want his brother to hear that he had doubts about him hatching his own dragon, “Could we just share him, if Luke likes him well enough?”
Rhaenys found herself hesitating to answer as well. It wasn’t unheard of for dragonriders to have others ride on their dragons with them, especially when the second rider was someone they loved…but she had never heard of a dragon being shared between two riders. “I’ve never seen two dragon riders share the same dragon.”
“Well no one saw men riding dragons before Valyria, maybe no one has ever tried!” Jace argued stubbornly, and instantly his irritation from before was back.
A Baratheon through and through.
He did make a fair point, she may not know of any dragonriders that shared a dragon at the same time, but there were plenty of dragon riders she knew nothing about, that no one knew anything about.
“You aren’t….wrong, Jace, I am merely saying it's unprecedented. You could very well be able to share Vermax with Luke, but Luke could just as well claim another dragon or hatch his egg later.”
“Could he claim Vermax and hatch his egg too?” He questioned, “I want to share Vermax with him!”
“I can’t say for sure. It’s possible.”
Jace seemed fine with leaving it at that, because he wandered off ahead of her, though it was clear he was still trying to keep at least one eye on her and his brother.
End of Chapter 8
Notes:
We are absolutely getting some more characters (and some dragons) in the next chapter, and Aegon will be making another appearance because he, much like Jace, has firstborn child syndrome and can't stop from inserting himself where he isn't supposed to be.
Hope you guys enjoyed reading this chapter, let me know if you did!
A/N: Luke: My grandfather is called the Sea Snake and his hair looks like white snakes, i've connected the dots.
Chapter 9: Chapter 9
Summary:
We got some things heating up!!
Notes:
Aegon, Helaena, Daemon and Laena will all appear in the next chapter!
Also Luke has exactly 0 ability to not get into stupid amounts of trouble every where he goes. He's covered in oil running headlong towards a slip n' slide of trouble.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Chapter 9
Rhaenys shifted Luke on her hip as the dragon masters retreated into the pits to get Meleys. It was a calculated choice to bring Meleys out first, given that Luke has met Vermax before but hasn’t met Meleys, but Rhaenys was wary of bringing a young dragon with a young rider around her grandson.
Yes, it was Jace’s dragon and apparently Vermax was comfortable around Luke, she just wanted the control of having her own dragon be the one brought out first. She knew for a fact that Meleys wouldn’t attack Luke or Jace while she was there, she couldn’t say the same for Vermax. Especially when Jace himself admitted that Vermax could be aggressive around people he didn’t know, and Vermax had never met her.
She heard the telltale thumping of her dragon making her way to the main space of the pits and again jostled Luke in her arms, “Luke, would you like to meet Meleys?”
“Dragon?”
“Yes, we’re about to see Meleys.” That seemed to wake Luke up a little bit, because he lifted his head off her shoulder and started to look around, though it was still subdued. For a child who knew so much about her dragon he was very tired out when faced with said dragon. He stretched himself out like he was waking from a nap and tugged on her dress to settle in and watch the entrance to the pits.
Then Meleys finally made her way in front of them, and she could feel Jace clutching at her dress in excitement, while Luke was finally starting to get excited against her shoulder now that she was in front of them. She intended to just slowly walk the two of them to Meleys, and then keep Luke in her arms while she introduced them, leading the two of them into petting and stroking her jowls. But of course nothing seemed to go correctly with Lucerys involved.
Before Meleys even fully came to a stop, Luke was already out of her arms and streaking across the pit to press himself right up against Meleys’ snout with a shout of her name. It nearly stopped her heart to see. But to her utter shock, Meleys allowed the intrusion into her space, and merely shifted her head to sniff at Luke.
She didn’t stop him from pressing his entire body against her or from petting over the scales on her chin. Meleys was being incredibly amicable even for a dragon that was used to being around people.
Rhaenys moved towards them once her shock had faded, pulling Jace along with her, and gently pried her grandson off her dragon so that she could pick him up again. She kept them all near Meleys, allowing Luke to pet Meleys while she coaxed Jace closer to her side. Once he was next to her she grabbed his hand and brought it up to Meleys’ scales.
Jace seemed a little awestruck by her dragon, as he should be, Meleys was a magnificent dragon, barely even stroking her because he was too starstruck. She chuckled at the look on his face. It wasn’t uncommon for people to be stunned by Meleys, but she thought given the boy had Vermax and was training him, he wouldn’t be quite as astonished. Quite honestly she thought Luke would be the one unable to bring himself to move, not Jace. But when she looked over at him Luke was back to basically draping himself over Meleys.
He had his face pressed against the scales right under her eye, and both their eyes were closed, as if they were communicating with each other silently. Meleys didn’t seem to notice when Jace finally built up the courage to actually touch her, Rhaenys wasn't sure Meleys noticed that she was standing beside her, that's how focused Meleys was on her younger grandson.
They stayed like that for several long minutes, until Meleys finally broke away with a low chitter, shaking her head as she pulled away from Lucerys. She seemed calmer than she had when she came in and she had been exceedingly calm when she came out. As an even greater shock, Meleys barely greeted her before making her way back down into the pits without further orders.
The dragon masters were astounded when Meleys stomped past them back into the tunnels. Usually they had to struggle and coax her back into her pit, preferably with sheep or more often with goats, or have Rhaenys lead her back down herself if Meleys was in a particularly agitated mood. It was usually quite the affair to get her into her pit, but not this time.
It took a moment to gather herself enough to tell the dragon masters to go retrieve Vermax.
He was exhausted from meeting the dragons, even though it felt incredibly nice to have their scales underneath his hands the same way it felt nice to stroke their scales when he was being carried. He had shared his thoughts and some of the little fire he had with both Meleys and Vermax, but it was horribly draining to do, and now his water was whispering that he needed to rest and reconnect with his sirens.
It was hard to keep his eyes open with how heavy they were and with how loudly his new dreams were calling for him.
Luke wanted to be back in his grandfather’s arms so he could take another nap, he could feel some kind of dream to do with dragons hinging right on the edge of his mind, and he wanted to tip himself over that hinge so he could see whatever it was. The sirens were quiet, because his brother and Meleys’ fires were sizzling too loudly in his ears but they agreed that he was on the verge of seeing something he’d enjoy.
A dragon’s song that didn’t sound like Meleys or Vermax sounded at the back of his mind, clawing at him and begging for his attention. Desperate for him to make his way back to it, and it sounded almost like the chirps and trills he had heard in his learning dream before when he saw flashes of something gobbling down a goat.
“I want to sleep,” He whined, squirming in Meleys’ arms as he tried to get comfortable. It was futile, because he wanted to sleep, and he couldn’t do that with the constant motion of being moved.
Meleys shushed him and stroked his hair, but it didn’t soothe him like it usually did. If anything it just made him feel overheated. The heat of the dragons and the crackling fire had been nice earlier, it had been soothing to feel the dragon’s warmth in his veins. Now it just made him desperate for the cooling presence of his water.
It was too hot, he felt tingly and scratchy and wrong.
His water tried to crash in to soothe him but the suddenness just made him ache even worse. It pulled him in two directions, fire and water, trying to split him apart and put him back together at the same time, and it was putting him back together wrong.
He shoved himself away from Meleys’ chest with a sob, trying to get away from the crackling of the fire that was overheating him so much, and he nearly toppled backwards. His grandmother scrambled to try and keep him in her arms, to keep him from hitting the stones beneath them.
The pressure of being caught hurt him even worse.
The pressure felt like it would crack him in half, like a pane of heated glass shattering as soon as it was cooled. He kicked against Meley’s stomach and struggled against her arms, fighting to get away from the heat until he finally found himself crashing to the cold ground. The coolness of the stone dampened his pain for a moment but then he was being pulled straight back against the heat as Jacaerys latched onto him.
“Off! Off!” He shrieked, trying to channel the force of his siren’s song into his voice, and thankfully it worked. Almost instantly Jacaerys released him, throwing himself away from him and slapping both hands over his ears.
But the relief was short-lived.
Meleys attempted to grab him again, but he scrambled away, pulling himself up using the wall behind him. “Luke, what’s going on?”
“Rhaenys!” Luke looked up at the yell, and nearly cried in relief when he saw his Grandfather and Father running down the hall towards them, followed by a plethora of guards, Mother, and Balerion.
He ran to his grandfather and practically scaled up his pants to get into his arms, sobbing when the sirens managed to get their voice back and the soothing water in his veins finally began to cool. Grandfather held him close and ran his hands all over him searching for any signs of injury. Father was by his side as well, trying to calm him and figure out what was going on but Luke couldn’t find the words to say anything.
Corlys sat back in his chair with an irritated sigh. This conversation was quickly becoming futile. If it were up to him this Septon would have his tongue ripped out in front of the entirety of court to make sure that no one else was stupid enough to attempt to drive another wedge between Rhaenyra and Jacaerys. Instead his good-daughter was being a voice of excessive reason and argued that the King should merely bring the Septon in front of Jace and have him recant his words and convince the Prince of the fallacy of his belief.
It was nowhere near enough of a punishment for him, nor for Laenor or the King, who were similarly arguing that the man should be adequately punished but somehow Rhaenyra was still winning. Visery had agreed that he would question the Septon and then bring him to Jace to convince him that Rhaenyra wasn’t out to hurt Luke, and the Septon would be barred from having any ability to instruct any of the Princes. Not that he would have been allowed to continue instructing his grandson regardless. There was absolutely no way Corlys would allow that fool to spout his lies around Jace any longer, and certainly he wouldn’t allow him any chances to poison Luke.
Besides, Luke was going to be Lord of the Tides and the Lord of House Velaryon, and House Velaryon has never followed the faith. There was room for argument that Jace would need to know of the Faith given that he’d one day be King and the Faith is the religion of the majority of the realm, Luke however had no need to hear their poisons.
He wanted to convince Rhaenyra to give the Septon true justice but he knew it was a losing battle, and he knew attempting to sway Viserys wouldn’t work either without Rhaenyra already on his side. There was one last avenue he could argue, though.
“And what of the Queen, your Grace?” He started carefully, making sure to keep his voice light, “While she may or may not have had a hand in this incident, you know as well as I that she has been persistent in her insidious attempts to sew doubt about my grandson’s parentage, even going so far as to question it when Lucerys was ill.”
“I will deal with my wife, Lord Corlys, I can assure you of that.”
That was enough for him, it wasn’t much but both the acknowledgement of something being wrong and the lack of reprimand for speaking out against the Queen was enough. It let him know that the King had noticed the same things about her behavior as Corlys himself had seen.
Hopefully his reprimand towards her would be firm enough to actually force her to cease the baseless lies she was disseminating.
With all that nastiness out of the way, perhaps they could turn their attention to better topics. “Princess, I have received a missive from my personal Maester, the guards we requested have finally made it to port and they should be here to meet Luke and Jace by time the boys get back from seeing the dragons.”
Rhaenyra and Laenor both perked up in their seats. “Which guards did you choose, Father?”
“Rhaenys and I both decided it was best to employ Ser Kent and Ser Alisar as the boys' guards.”
His son had a look of fond approval on his face at the names, which fit given that those two guards had been a constant during his childhood and teenage years. Kent had been his own personal guard for most of his childhood and Alisar had watched over Laena. “A wonderful choice,” He turned towards Rhaenyra, “They were my and Laena’s guards when we were young, the boys will be well protected by the two of them.”
She seemed to take the news in stride. “Thank you, Lord Corlys, for bringing them to oversee our sons, and I will say that the guards I have requested from Dragonstone should be on their way fairly soon as well.”
“While we are on the topic of guards, my dear,” Viserys cut in, “The Kingsguard are always at yours and the Princes disposal, any time you should need them.” He gestured towards Ser Harrold and Ser Steffon who were both posted at the door, as they had been since the King had entered the chambers that morning. “They would be more than happy to watch over the boys in addition to the guards you are bringing in as well.”
“Of course, father,” Rhaenyra answered with a smile, “I know myself how capable the Kingsguard is at their job, we just don’t wish to stretch them too thin when they have you, my siblings, and the Queen to protect as well.”
The King looked ready to interject, possibly to say that the Kingsguard was meant to protect her and her children, as the Crown princess and her heirs, just as much as they were meant to protect the Queen and her children, but they were interrupted by an ear splitting scream and the sound of glass shattering.
Instantly the guards were on high alert and running through the doors, with the rest of them hot on their heels. A scream like that meant nothing good.
They all raced through the halls, and found a horrible scene in front of them. Jacaerys was in the middle of the hall clutching his ears in pain, Rheanys was next to him looking absolutely gobsmacked, and Luke was against a wall crying as he tried to pull himself up. Several of the windows were shattered, with stained glass littering the halls. Confused, he called out for his wife, and Luke’s head snapped up to look at him.
His grandson threw himself at him the moment he came close enough, climbing up his trousers until Corlys regathered his wits enough to pull him into his arms. He couldn’t see any injuries on him, and he couldn’t feel anything when he patted him down, but Jace was clearly in pain on the other side of the hall, and Luke was nearly inconsolable. Something must've happened to the two of them on the way back from the pits.
“Luke, look at me,” He gently turned Luke’s head towards him with a hand on his cheek, trying to get the boy to pull his head away from his shoulder. “What happened?”
“Too hot.” Was all he whimpered before he pressed himself as close as he could to Corlys’s body. Corlys immediately raised his hand to press it against his forehead, and sure enough he was overly warm compared to how he had been that morning.
He turned to his son, grabbing him by the arm and gesturing towards the maids that had gathered near the end of the hall at the commotion. ”Get them to draw a cool bath, he’s overheated.”
Around him everyone panicked at the assertion. The maids scattered without Laenor even going to them, presumably going to draw Luke a bath, and Rhaenys, Jacaerys and Rhaenyra came to crowd around him. The crowding agitated Lucerys who started shifting in his arms and whimpering as he tried to move away from everyone else.
Corlys held out an arm to force them to back up and give Luke some room to breathe. “Don’t crowd him, we need to cool him down, not overwhelm him with body heat.” He turned to start walking back to Rhaenyra’s chambers, so they could ease the heat that was consuming him.
Luke clung onto him the whole way, tugging at his hair and mumbling something about snakes and water into his neck.
The bath was thankfully already drawn and ready by time they made it back to the room, and Corlys wasted no time stripping Luke out of his clothes and sinking him into the cool water.
It was like the water brought him back to life, some of the color that had leeched out of his skin came back, and his eyes finally opened again. Luke immediately reached for Corlys again, calling out for him, even though he was just off to the side of the bath and hadn’t moved away.
He kept one hand on his grandson’s back, to keep him from slipping too far into the water as the maids bustled around him, giving him a stool to sit on and a cloth to soak in the water. “It’s alright Lucerys, I’m right here,” He soothed when the poor boy just kept chanting his name. As he tried to keep Luke calm, he distantly heard King Viserys excusing himself from the room along with his guards, and he could hear Rhaenys giving both Rhaenyra and Laenor a hushed explanation of what had transpired.
Viserys turned to his guard as he stormed from Rhaenyra’s chambers, “Ser Harrold, go get this Septon Elt and have him brought to my chambers at once.”
His flaring temper only seemed to inflame itself as he walked. Lord Corlys had been right, merely questioning and then reprimanding the Septon would not be enough. Intentional or not, this man had possibly irreparably altered his daughter’s relationship with her firstborn. He thought of what he would have done if a Septon had caused something like this between himself and Rhaenyra.
How he would feel if Rhaenyra had been conned into believing that he would harm her so fiercely that she would strike him out of fear alone. If it had been his only child by his beloved Aemma that flinched from him, and feared him capable of killing her potential sibling. It made his blood boil, hotter than it ever had before.
If this had happened between a Septon and his daughter, he would have had the man’s head as soon as he realized what he had done. It was a testament to his daughter’s restraint and temperament that she didn’t ask him to serve this man true justice. She had only requested that the Septon be brought forth in front of Jacaerys so that her son could hear from the man’s own mouth that he had not meant what he said.
It wasn’t nearly enough of a punishment but if it was what Rhaenyra wanted, and if it was enough to sway Jace, that is all he would do. He would spare the Septon so long as he retracted his statement.
He would never allow a Septon to oversee Jacaerys’ lessons again though, not after this. He would make sure that the boy only received training and lessons from trusted Maesters and Knights and Dragon Keepers that he had personally vetted, and he would do the same for Luke when he was well enough to return to getting lessons. Perhaps if he shifted some of his duties onto Lyonel, he might even be able to participate in their lessons himself, as he used to do with Rhaenyra.
The more he thought it over, the more he could see the fallacy in having a Septon attend Jace’s lessons. Rhaenyra had never followed the Faith, neither had he nor his wife beyond the courtesy they had paid to the Faith to keep the good will that King Jaehaerys had wrought, there was no reason for Jacaerys to learn from a Septon. Any knowledge the boy needed of the Faith for when he became King could easily be supplied by a Maester.
He had been stupid to allow Alicent to convince him that all the Princes needed the teachings of a Septon.
Without hesitation, he turned from his course to his chambers and instead headed towards his Queen’s chambers. In the end, all of this stemmed from Alicent and her insistence that all the children were taught the faith, and if he was going to confront the Septon, he needed to confront her as well.
He thought that he had solved this when he reprimanded her after her comments about Luke, but clearly he had not.
“Alicent!” He called as he entered the room and much to his surprise he was met with not just his Queen, but Larys Strong as well. It was quite odd to see his Hand’s younger son in his wife’s chambers. But his agitation at the situation with Jace was enough for him to simply dismiss the man without thinking twice about it. “We need to talk.”
“Of course, my love -”
“Do you know what I learned this afternoon?” He cut her off waspishly.
Alicent’s mouth immediately snapped shut, and to her credit she did look quite confused at his question, “No, what is it that you learned?”
He tried, briefly, to reign in his anger once again but it refused to be tamed, “I learned that your Septon, the one you convinced me to send to Prince Jacaerys’ lessons, has convinced him that his own mother was planning to kill Lucerys.” When he saw how quickly Alicent’s face closed off and she turned away to lean against the table, his temper flared once again. “Did you know anything about this?”
She rocked herself against the table, a habit he knew was a sign of her nervousness. “No, Viserys!”
It sounded like nothing more than lies. Gods only knew why his wife might feel the need to lie about something like this, but it made him burn even more inside. He just prayed that his wife hadn’t somehow set this up from the beginning. He knew very well that her and Rhaenyra’s friendship had been strained by him marrying her, but he hadn’t thought it had fractured this badly.
Alicent would not be so malicious as to try and ruin Rhaenyra’s relationship with her son, surely.
Ruining a parent’s connection with their child was anathema, and his wife was a godly woman, she had to see this as an affront against her own gods, it was nothing less than a clear affront to The Mother herself!
“I don't believe you.” He said. “You were insistent about having a Septon attend Jacaerys’ lessons, the second I mentioned that I’d be overseeing his lessons while Rhaenyra watched over Luke, you were whispering in my ear about how he should have the additional teachings of a Septon so he’d know of the faith.” It was admittedly a clever ploy that he hadn’t even noticed at the time, enticing him in by saying that Jacaerys would need to know the faith for when he was King. But now he saw it for what it was and in conjunction with her comments about Lucerys…it was all too damning. “You told that Septon what to say to Jacaerys, didn’t you.”
It wasn’t a question, it was an accusation.
An accusation that Alicent did not take well. “Viserys, I would never do anything like that, I swear.”
“You walked into a room with a dying boy and instead of offering sympathies to a fellow mother who was fearing that her child would die at any moment, all you offered was criticisms over his hair.”
“Because it is strange!” She yelled back at him, bug eyed and desperate. “Her boys looked nothing like Ser Laenor and now all of a sudden Lucerys has white hair and purple eyes?”
His rage flared even worse at the age-old accusation. His wife never outright stated she believed his grandchild illegitimate before this but she had insinuated it in every way under the sun that wasn’t outright stating it. He had never even considered the thought of them being anything other than legitimate, and if anything Lucerys’ appearance change just proved their legitimacy. “My daughter’s sons are legitimate, to insinuate otherwise is treason. I may have allowed you to have a loose tongue previously on account of your standing as my wife, but clearly that has been a grievous mistake on my part.”
He took a step closer to Alicent, making sure both his anger and his intentions were clear. “I will not continue that mistake any longer. If I hear even a veiled question of their legitimacy, I will treat it as the slight it is. My daughter is my heir, she will be Queen after I have passed, and I will not tolerate any question against her future rule, just as it would not be tolerated for a male heir. Do you understand me?”
‘Husband…”
“It is a yes or a no.” He hissed, and when Alicent opened her mouth, clearly gearing up for an argument, most likely the same one they had had again and again, he pointed a stern finger at her to stop her before she could build any momentum. “There is no argument here, Alicent. Rhaenyra is my heir, and I will do whatever necessary to ensure that she is able to ascend to her rightful throne, and ensure the stability of the realm thereafter.” Viserys stared her down until she finally averted her eyes, “You may be Queen but my word is law. You will not voice your mistaken beliefs about my daughter’s sons ever again, if I hear even so much as a whisper about you spouting off to anyone, there will be consequences. Now, have I made myself clear.”
“Yes, my king.” She said after a pause. “I will not speak of this again.”
The fact that it seemed to take some of the light out of her eyes just to say that she wouldn’t commit treason against her future Queen was not lost on him. “You as a mother should be able to see just how horrible what that Septon did was, Alicent, for him to irreparably alter her son’s view of her…imagine if Rhaenyra had done that to you.” He implored, leaning into how emotional he knew his wife could be. Hopefully he could get her to see the errors of her ways by angling it to appeal to her motherly love towards her own children. “Imagine Aegon believing that you would kill Aemond the second he let you out of his presence, how devastating that would be, that is what this Septon did to Rhaenyra.”
He let that hang in the air between them, and was astonished by the fact that Alicent didn’t appear to be at all torn up by the thought of Aegon worrying over her killing Aemond. In fact, she had been more emotional and distraught over the thought of Jace and Luke being illegitimate than she was about her own children.
It was an oddity. “You know, I have half a mind to have Rhaenyra oversee our children’s daily activities, just to show you how it feels to have your children stripped from you, though it wouldn't be the same as what happened to my daughter. The only thing stopping me is the knowledge that Rhaenyra is busy tending to her own children instead of dallying in ridiculous notions, so she doesn't have the time to oversee them so closely.”
That managed to bring a devastated and fearful look to her face, finally showing him the emotion he had expected to see previously. It was still strange to know that it was the mention of Rhaenyra having a modicum of control over their children that brought it to her face, rather than the thought of Aegon fearing her, but at least he could see the humanity within his wife once again.
“You can’t be serious, Viserys, you can’t just give our children over to Rhaenyra.”
“As I said, she does not have the time to oversee them so closely, but it is something that I highly contemplated, given your actions and the actions of someone who was supposedly teaching them. Perhaps they would benefit from more time with their half-sister and their nephews, rather than spending so much time with the Faith.” He left it at that, turning and exiting the room to leave his wife to stew on that possibility.
He had a Septon to question.
Luke was trying to play, to draw on the maps Grandfather had given him after he came out of his bath, when the men came in. He tried to pay them no mind, Grandfather didn’t seem to be scared by them so Luke didn’t think he needed to be scared either, but these two stayed standing by the door instead of talking to grandfather and leaving.
His grandfather just reached over to ruffle his and Jace’s hair, telling them to continue playing, before he got up to usher the two men over to a corner of the room.
“Do you want a different map to color, Luke?” Jace asked when he stopped coloring. Luke ignored the question and climbed over the chairs to get closer to his brother instead. His water wasn’t telling him to be worried about the men, but he didn’t like grandfather being so far away. He was still shaken from his earlier ordeal and he didn’t want Corlys to leave his side.
He wanted to be around as much water as possible.
Jace immediately cuddled closer to him as well, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and resting his chin on Luke’s head. “It’s okay, Luke, it's just guards from grandfather’s retinue. Mother told us we’d both be getting two guards to stay with us, remember?” He kissed Luke’s curls, making the water in his blood shiver with the sudden suffusion of warmth that always came with his brother touching him. It gave him a flash of the heat from earlier but he ignored it. “Grandfather wouldn’t let anyone in to hurt us.”
Luke believed that, but still he shoved two fingers in his mouth to chew on them nervously even as Jace hugged him and slid his seahorse close enough for him to grab it.
“This is Ser Kent, Luke,” Grandfather said as he brought a man with fun armor in front of them. He looked strange, completely covered in metal but the water still wasn’t giving him any warnings. “He’s a knight from Driftmark, and he used to protect your father when he was young, now he’s going to protect you.”
Lucerys nodded, not bothering to take the fingers out of his mouth to say a proper greeting. Instead he used his unchewed hand to hold out Gerardys and watched as grandfather passed the toy to the other man. His family had managed to realize at some point that giving Gerardys to guests was the quickest easiest way to get Lucerys used to new people. The knight turned it around and around in his hands, the water in the glaze on the toy sinking into his fingers, giving Luke a glimpse into how his own child had had a similar toy…a daughter that had been lost at sea during a storm…the water whispered that he’d do well with the protection of his new friend.
His toy was handed back to him by a misty-eyed Ser Kent, and Luke moved forward, out of his brother’s arms, to cling onto the man’s legs in a vicious hug. He could feel cold water rushing through the man’s veins to meet his, and it felt quite nice. “He’s a shield?”
“Yes, Luke,” Grandfather agreed with a chuckle, “He is now going to be your shield.” He then turned to Jace and repeated the process, gesturing to the big dark skinned man that was standing next to Ser Kent, who bowed to his brother and introduced himself as Ser Alisar. Luke could feel the nearly uncontrollable urge to give the man Gerardys too, so that the water could whisper in his ear about the man, but he was brother’s shield, not his and he vaguely remembered a lesson about not playing with someone else’s things.
He didn’t want to upset his brother by forcing his water through the man’s veins when brother probably wanted to use his own fire instead to burn out any mean things.
“Now, if you are feeling alright, Lucerys, would you like to go down to the bay? Perhaps playing in the sea will make you feel even better.”
Luke felt himself brighten at the prospect of being able to be in the sea. His siren’s seemed happy with the prospect as well, humming their agreement to the suggestion and directing him to nod. He nodded along and held out Gerardys to show that he wanted to go spend time in the sea.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea, father?” His father asked, “He’s only just recovering from being overheated, surely it would be better to leave him be for a day or two.”
“No, I want the sea!”
“Luke…”
He turned to his grandfather with pleading eyes. It would be cruel to call to his blood with the possibility of getting to meet with the sea again only to just rip it right out from under him. “Please!”
His mother decided to come to his rescue, “We can take him down to the beach, just for a little bit Laenor, we’ll all just have to keep a keen eye on him.”
Father still looked hesitant but Luke could already see his resolve wavering, and he latched onto that. He grabbed onto his father’s belt and looked up at him. “Please, Seahorse?”
Behind them Corlys huffed out a laugh, “Well, at least he remembered that you’re a seahorse and didn’t just call you Horse.”
Bolstered by the happiness of his grandfather he continued to beg his father until finally he gave in and agreed that they could all go down to the bay, even if he only agreed to go to the bay for an hour at most.
Rhaenys pulled Rhaenyra aside as they walked down to the beach, “Whenever you and Laenor decide to take him to Seasmoke and Syrax, make sure you keep a firm hold of him.” Rhaenyra gave her a questioning look, “He threw himself out of my arms to get to Meleys when he met her.”
Rhaenyra could imagine that. Luke was very easily excited at the best of times even before the fever, and after the fever he was still excitable but now he’d go from sleepy to excited in mere moments. “How did Meleys react to that?”
“She was surprisingly sociable, Luke ran right up to her before I could take him over and he practically laid himself on her snout. It gave me quite the scare but she barely reacted to him beyond sniffing him.”
Now that was shocking, dragons were temperamental, especially when around new people. Her father had constantly drilled into her as a child not to think that just because someone is a family member their dragon would tolerate their family around them. Daemon had spent plenty of time before he introduced her to Ceraxes when she was a girl making sure she understood she could not under any circumstances try to visit Ceraxes or the other dragons without their riders there.
To hear that her son ran straight up to Meleys, one of the bigger dragons in the world, without Rhaenys taking him up to her sent fear down her spine. Of course it was good that Meleys hadn’t reacted badly but that might also set a precedent to Luke. If he got it in his head that he can just run up to any dragon and hug them without their rider, that would be a huge risk in the future.
“Vermax was also very agreeable too, despite Jace telling me that he is a fairly aggressive dragon, and Jace seems to think that both he and Luke can claim Vermax in the event that Luke’s egg doesn’t hatch.”
Rhaenyra sighed, immediately thinking back to how Vermax had acted around her during her time overseeing Jace’s dragon lessons. Jace had been saying for days that he wanted to have Luke claim Vermax along with him so that they could fly together when Vermax got big enough. She and Laenor had both attempted to tell him that that wouldn’t happen, but he refused to listen and she was fairly certain that Jace’s fear of her and Luke’s illness was only compounding his want to have Luke claim his dragon.
Never, anywhere, had it been seen that one dragon had multiple bonded riders, she had even gone and consulted her father about it. Nothing in his personal library had mentioned multiple riders trying to claim the same dragon, let alone suceeding. She had heavily cautioned Jace against saying anything to Luke, not that her requests had had much effect on him lately, and doing so had only gotten her the most heart wrenching look she had received yet.
“He’s mentioned it to me as well,“ She said slowly, her gaze moving to where Jace was currently buzzing around Laenor and asking Luke whether he wanted to play in the water or not when they got to the beach, “I tried to tell him that it wasn’t going to happen, but he is very -”
“Stubborn. He’s very stubborn.” Rhaenys looked incredibly fond as she cut her off and her gaze too wandered to Jace and Luke. Though Rhaenyra could clearly see that she was focused more on Jace than Luke this time. “It’s the Baratheon blood he has, my mother was much the same way, once she latched onto a particular thought she’d never let it go no matter how much opposition she ran into.” She finished wistfully.
The statement left her speechless. She knew that Corlys believed both of her sons to be legitimate, but she had always thought that Rhaenys believed, albeit silently, that both of them were illegitimate. Sure, it would make sense that she now believed Luke was a trueborn son, given his appearance, but she had never even dreamed that Luke’s appearance would somehow change Rhaenys’ opinion of Jace.
She thought it would make Rhaenys more likely to dig in about Jace being illegitimate since he didn’t share any Valyrian features with his brother or her and Laenor. Had Luke alone really changed her opinion completely?
If Rhaenys had been swayed, were her worries about House Velaryon and others questioning Jace possibly unfounded?
This was something she’d have to bring up to Laenor. If Rhaenys believed that Jace was a trueborn son and that he simply had Baratheon features and behaviors, they could lean into it and have Rhaenys fully on their side should any questions arise. No one, at least no one in their right mind, would try to claim ‘The Queen Who Never Was’ was lying about similarities to her own mother.
She looked at Jace a little more closely, and sure enough she could see some resemblance to Jocelyn Baratheon. It wasn’t much, his hair was too light to be Baratheon Black, and his eyes were very dark. But she could see it, and what little she couldn’t see, might be able to be waved off as Jace looking similar to her own mother’s family. House Arryn quite often had straight brown hair and darker eyes.
It lightened her heart to know that there were more people on her son’s side than she previously believed, and it made her feel even better to know that Rhaenys would defend Jace as her grandson if needed.
“He’s very stubborn,” She agreed with a laugh, “I supposed that’s what we get when you add Baratheon, Targaryen, and Arryn blood. All of them are stubborn and proud.”
“Isn’t that the truth.”
End of Chapter 9
Notes:
Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Let me know in the comments if you did.
Chapter 10: Chapter 10
Summary:
Ayyyy, we get to see more characters! And more Aegon!
Notes:
Luke manages to keep confusing people, like normal, and people continue to draw the wrong conclusions.
Also, we'll be getting to see Harwin for the first time next chapter, and then things will really be heating up as we get to chapter 12-13. Aemond's also gonna start becoming a more concrete character at Chapter 12, for everyone who is desperately clinging onto the Lucemond tag.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Chapter 10
Aegon sighed as he stared out at the waves in front of him. It wasn’t usual for him to go sit by the bay, but he knew that neither his mother nor his guards would come looking for him here. They’d be scouring the Keep, the wine rooms and some of the nearby taverns in Flea Bottom, which suited him just fine because he didn’t want to deal with his mother after the disaster that happened earlier.
He hadn’t even done anything today, and yet his mother had stormed into their lessons and ordered both the guards and their maester away so that she could scream at all of them for the better part of an hour. Well beyond their normal lessons ending, at the very least. Her anger had been nearly incomprehensible but from what little he could parse, she was yelling about his half sister taking them away, and the King renouncing the faith.
He had spent a fair amount of time at court afterwards before he made his escape, and his father hadn’t mentioned the faith even once, the only thing that could have been construed as him repudiating the faith was him dragging their former Septon in front of the court and publicly dismissing him back to the Citadel. It had been a shock, especially given that the King hadn’t given the reason for the Septon’s dismissal, just that he was being dismissed.
Aegon didn’t care about the damn Septon though, he was an asshole who only wished to see everyone repenting just for breathing slightly the wrong way because it might ‘offend the Gods’. All he cared about was his mother hitting him and Aemond - a first, his brother usually managed to stay in their mother’s good graces - in her rage. And of course, her assertion that they would be ‘given to Rhaenyra’ if they didn’t wisen their acts up and behave like proper Princes.
He didn’t want to risk running into his mother again until she had the chance to calm down, so he had come out to the bay. It was surprisingly peaceful and he hadn’t seen many people wandering around on this section of the beach, certainly not any of the Kingsguard or any Hightower guards.
Of course his nephews had to come trampling down the beach towards the water right beside him and ruin that peace. They were both laughing as they walked along the shore, stooping down to collect the seashells that dotted the wet sand. It didn’t seem that either of them had noticed him yet, tucked up among the rocks as he was.
Part of him wanted to just hide further among the rocks so that they didn’t see him, but before he could make a decision, Luke caught sight of him and lit up. “Stranger!”
Obviously his nephew’s brain rotting illness had gotten worse.
Jace looked dumbfounded for a moment, before he whirled around to try and find what had caught his brother’s attention and his eyes settled on Aegon. “Luke, that’s uncle Aegon, not The Stranger.”
“He’s from the tunnels!”
“What? From what tunnels?”
Well that was certainly enough of that, Aegon scrambled down the rocks, effectively cutting off Lucerys’ no doubt extremely biased recounting of their meeting down in the bowels of the castle. Though it did confirm that his nephew hadn’t blabbed to all of House Velaryon about their little meeting if Jace didn’t know about it. “Nephews, how delightful to see you!” He said as he made his way to them. He was only half being snarky, because it was just a tiny bit relieving to see Luke out and about, and he noticed this time it was sans the rogue cup of water he had been touting before. “And it’s Aegon, dear nephew, Ae-gon.” He pronounced condescendingly.
Luke stared at him long enough for him to start feeling squeamish, and he was almost about to retract his snarkiness, but Luke beat him to it with a tilt of his head and a proclamation of, “Egg!”
The smirk dropped right off his face. “No, no. It’s Aegon, not Egg.”
“Uncle Egg.”
“Uncle. Aegon.”
“Uncle Egg.”
“Aeg-on. Come, say it with me, A-e-g-o-n.”
“Uncle Egg.”
He truly had the worst nephews in history. Even Maegor the Cruel would have done him the courtesy of just murdering him where he stood and not calling him such an embarrassing name as Egg and in front of Jace, who he knew would never let this go, no less!
To make matters worse, Jace was watching the back and forth looking like his nameday had come early.
But on the other hand, Lucerys did have a brain rotting disease ruining his ability to do literally anything, so perhaps Aegon would be kind and allow him this one concession. Just this once. For his poor brain dead little nephew.
Aegon sighed dramatically. “I suppose since you are still clearly suffering from your brain rotting illness, I’ll allow you to call me Uncle Egg. But only when no one is around.” He reached out to grab Luke’s shoulder and pulled him into his side at a dizzying speed, “I’ll expect you to call me Sunfyre when in public, though, it’s the least you could do, given that you call my father Balerion.” His mother had lamented over his youngest nephew’s stupidity in mistaking a grown man - the King - for a dead dragon.
Jace huffed. “I like Uncle Egg better, Luke, you should call him that all the time.”
“No, don’t do that!”
Luke looked back and forth between the two of them, but didn’t respond any further, instead he grabbed Aegon’s hand and started dragging him towards the ocean, saying something about wanting to get more seashells for his mother’s necklace. Jace ended up following them into the waves, dropping the subject with startling ease as he talked about the seashells and asking Luke if he was happy being at the beach.
He hadn’t been happy about seeing his nephews when they first stumbled upon him, but as they waded almost knee deep into the water and the two of them started grabbing shells out of the water, it was kind of nice. None of them felt the need to do more than just find pretty shells, apparently Luke was dead set on making them into a necklace for his mother, why, Aegon didn’t know. If he wanted to get Rhaenyra a gift, why not just have a servant or a guard go to the markets and buy something instead of spending time and effort picking out shells?
But still, it was nice, and it gave him another thing to focus on instead of thinking back to the dual fear and fury that had been in his own mother’s eyes all day.
Aegon startled at the sound of someone’s throat clearing, and when he looked up he fully expected to be met with his half-sister’s ire. Instead as his eyes met Rhaenyra’s, she smiled at him. A fond, happy smile that was so off kilter from what he expected that it didn’t even look real.
“Brother,” She nodded to him as she stepped closer to the water's edge and, much to his shock, she kicked off her boots and began walking towards them, completely uncaring of the water that was drenching her skirts. “Are the three of you having fun?” She asked, though it was more to Jace and Luke than to him.
His nephews replied with a chorus of giggles and showed the shells that they had been collecting off to their mother. Aegon couldn’t bring himself to do more than stay stock still and stare as Rhaenyra waded out next to them, taking a few of the shells the boys presented to her and cooing over how pretty they were. She seemed happy just to be in the water with her sons, and soon enough the three of them were joined not only by her, but by Lord Corlys and Ser Laenor as well. None of them paid much attention to him, beyond the slight bows and murmurs of ‘my Prince’, all of them too busy marveling over the seashells and helping Luke and Jace find even more.
They acted as if he wasn’t even there, trudging through the waves in a way that was truly unbecoming of any self respecting royals, let alone the Crown Princess and two princes. The five of them nearly dunked themselves in the water every time one of the receding waves revealed a new treasure, and after one particularly big wave drenched his half-sister all the way up to her waist, they started splashing each other!
And then, like the absolute brat he was, Luke turned to him and sent a wave of water towards him and soaked the entire front of his tunic.
Aegon spluttered as the seawater stung his nose, “You. little. Brat!” He gasped, and in a complete abandonment of his mental faculties, Aegon sent his own wave of water towards the boy, soaking him right back.
There was a brief moment of sheer panic when the gravity of his actions hit him, but before he could say anything or even look at the adults in the water with them, Luke let out a peal of laughter and started splashing Ser Laenor and from there everyone dissolved into a mass of splashing water and laughter.
It was utter madness, but every time he tried to wade away, one of them would pull him back into the fold. Luke or Jace or even his half sister would splash at him and laugh, until eventually he found himself giving into the madness and simply allowing himself to splash them back without worry for the consequences. If they intended to get angry and strike him, they would have done it at the first splash, certainly.
He and Jace attempted to gang up on Corlys only for the Lord to snatch Jace up out of the water and hold him aloft with a booming laugh before releasing him right into an oncoming wave. Beside them Rhaenyra and Luke managed to drag Ser Laenor off his feet, the three of them falling backwards into the same wave that overtook Jace and while they came out of the wave gasping they were all still laughing as the water receded.
By time they finally headed back towards the shore the sun had begun to dip low in the sky, signaling that the end of the day was near.
Aegon was out of breath as he collapsed in the sand, Jace and Luke both coming up beside him to drop at his side, but it was a nice breathlessness. He felt lighter than he probably ever had without the help of wine filling his veins, and it was…nice to have spent the afternoon so carefree.
“If you’d like, brother, I’m sure my Husband’s spare tunic should fit you well enough to wear them back to your chambers.” Rhaenyra said as she coaxed her sons from his side, handing a yawning Luke off to Lord Corlys once they were done wringing most of the seawater out of their clothes and gesturing to the servants that were waiting with Princess Rhaenys, who he hadn’t even noticed had been watching their activities.
Sure enough, the servants came to them with several sets of spare outer robes for the men to change into, while Luke and Jace were wrapped in spare cloaks.
The thought of anyone from court seeing him walking around in Ser Laenor’s clothes, and reporting it back to his mother sent a shock of cold fear through him, even more so than the possibility of being seen trudging through the castle in sopping wet clothing. Quickly he shook his head and scrambled to stand up from the ground so that he could smack off the worst of the sand clinging to him.
Before his half-sister could say anything else he simply nodded in her direction and then took off back towards the castle without further comment. Given the time of day, he might be able to make it back to his chambers before court truly let out and all the Lords and Ladies had a chance to see him making a fool of himself in his wet clothes.
He could take a beating for the indecency of tracking water all over, and the shame of being seen a disheveled mess by the courtiers, but Gods only knew what Mother would do to him if she found out he had been shirking his duties to play in the sea with his half-sister and nephews, right after she had had her tirade about said half sister and nephews, no less.
The sound of blunted training sword clashing rang through the air of the courtyard. Cole and Aemond danced back and forth at the far end of the yard, exchanging soft blows as they ran through the new set of moves they were learning for the day. Across the yard, Aegon watched the dance from his perch near the training racks. He should have been right over near the fighting, learning straight from Cole himself instead of just watching, but he was waiting for Jace.
He knew Jace was supposed to be joining them, Cole had said as much earlier in the lesson, though he didn’t bother waiting for Jace to actually get there before he started instructing Aemond on how to parry and block blows from a taller, stronger assailant.
He should be focused on learning a valuable lesson.
But he couldn’t. The scene from the beach kept running around and around in his head, from the relaxed easy way his sister and her children had interacted, to the complete disregard for propriety shown while willingly ruining their clothes in the sea. It had baffled him for the entire night and now into the next day and he knew he would have to get some kind of information from Jace before everything would settle in his mind and allow him to regain his focus.
He definitely didn’t want to hear about Lucerys and make sure he wasn’t affected by playing in the ocean while he was being consumed by brain rot.
And finally, Jace came trotting through the archway into the training yard, with Rhaenyra in tow. The two of them talked at the edge of the training yard in hushed whispers that Aegon couldn’t really hear, but he did hear a few mentions of Luke’s name which caught his attention. Why would they be talking about Luke if something hadn’t happened to him?
He tried to get a little bit closer, to hear the rest of the conversation, but they stopped talking before he could get close enough and said a short goodbye.
“Luke’s alright, isn’t he?” Aegon asked as soon as Rhaenyra slipped out of sight. His voice didn’t sound too concerned - because he wasn’t, at all, concerned. He was just…performatively asking. He didn’t care about the answer, he just wanted to make sure that he kept up appearances.
Yeah. That’s it, he just wanted to make sure everyone in the gallery above was whispering about how concerned he was for his nephew. No one knew about their escapades at the beach - because his mother hadn’t berated him for unprincely behavior, so no one must’ve seen his mad dash back to the castle - so he needed to ask about it so those watching their training would gossip about how wonderful an Uncle he is.
“He hasn’t slipped back into a fever after all that ruckus yesterday?”
“No, he hasn’t,” Jace answered off handedly, trying to focus on the moves he saw Cole teaching Aemond even as Aegon tried to draw his attention. “We went to see Vermax and Meleys yesterday and he was alright, and he was happy after playing in the water, though he was tired out.”
As soon as the words left his mouth Aegon yanked him around to face him with a shocked look on his face, “You took him to go see your dragon?! But he hasn’t been at any of our lessons with the dragon masters!”
“We went yesterday with Grandmother Rhaenys before we went down to the beach.”
“Did he remember Vermax?”
Jace shook his head, “No, it was like he was meeting him for the first time but Vermax loved him.”
“Why didn’t you tell the rest of us?” Aegon asked seriously, and he gestured towards Aemond across the yard and Helaena up in the stands, “We could have shown him Dreamfyre and Sunfyre too if we had known he was going back to lessons!”
Jace just stared at him, like he was out of his mind, because it sounded like he was out of his mind. “I don’t know when he’s going to return to the dragon lessons, Uncle, we went because Grandmother wanted us to meet her dragon and wanted to see my bond with Vermax.”
“Still, he could have met all of our dragons instead of just yours.”
“He’s my brother!”
“And he’s my nephew!”
“Prince Aegon, Prince Jacaerys!” Ser Cole called as he stopped his instruction with Aemond and turned to watch the two of them with a critical eye. “If you two are getting distracted perhaps this would be a good time to have a spar between you all.”
Jace huffed but eventually he stepped away from where he had started going toe to toe with his Uncle and stomped off to join Aemond and Ser Cole. He didn’t bother looking back at Aegon, and Aegon muttered some profanities under his breath but still made his way towards them as well. He didn’t want to get in trouble for not listening to his Mother’s sworn protector, and he didn't want to bring on extra training sessions on top of the ones he already had.
He privately suspected that his mother had told Cole to watch them and report any and everything he saw back to her, so while he may have trusted Cole before, he was wary around the man now.
Perhaps he should have been wary of him before this, after all he was sworn to protect the royal family as a member of the Kingsguard but he had never even attempted to step in when his mother hit him.
Aegon tried once again to focus on the lessons going on in front of him, and he was partially successful. The annoyance of Luke meeting Vermax but not being able to meet Sunfyre or Dreamfyre burned low in his belly, but he was at least able to push it aside enough to mimic some of the moves Cole showed them without drawing the man’s attention too much.
He didn’t know why it annoyed him so much when he hadn’t really cared to show his dragon off to his nephews before. Yet it felt like some form of a slight, like somehow his and Helaena’s dragons weren’t as worthy of being shown off as Vermax and Meleys. It frustrated him throughout the lesson. He tried to rein it in enough to not draw Cole’s attention, though he knew it bled into the way he barely used the defensive moves he was shown and instead relied heavily on offensive moves.
Cole had to have noticed it but he didn’t call it out. Instead he turned his attention from Aegon to Jacaerys and for the first time Aegon could see just how aggressive Cole was with Jace compared to how he was with him and Aemond. It made him pause in his spar with Aemond, and his agitation flared in his chest.
He got a small slash across his upper arm from Aemond in return for his lack of concentration, and before he could try to brush it off, Cole was already letting out a frustrated sigh and dismissing them for the day, storming out of the yards without another word.
“I’m sorry brother,” Aemond said with a small nod towards the slash in his tunic, and Aegon privately lamented the dressing down he was going to receive for letting his clothes get destroyed, “I thought you would have blocked that blow easily.”
“I was distracted.” Aegon huffed. He didn’t bother trying to grab something to stem the bleeding, it was a small enough cut that it would stop by itself fairly quickly, and his sleeve was already stained.
Aemond tilted his head, his gaze drifting to their nephew, “I noticed. So did Cole. Mother isn’t going to be happy about Jacaerys distracting you.” A flash of fear must’ve shown on his face, because his brother’s face tensed up. “I…I can tell her that we had a disagreement this morning?”
The slap he suffered the other day must’ve rattled something in his brain, because Aemond would never lie to their mother nor would he ever offer to lie to her to shield Aegon from her anger. This was an olive branch that his brother had never before offered him, but it wasn’t one he could accept.
He shook his head. “No, don’t bother. You know as well as I that it’ll only make her more incensed. She wants us to present a united front.”
“Brothers.” Helaena drifted into their conversation, one of her disgusting creatures crawling over and over her hands as she walked up to them. She seemed abnormally clear headed with a lazy smile on her face. “Nephew.” She curtsied politely to Jacaerys behind them.
Jace bowed back to her, and for a moment he hesitated, like he wanted to come over to them but he didn’t.
Helaena didn’t allow him to leave though, she stepped forward and beckoned him over, insisting until he finally came over and stood beside her. “Many times the fire has married into the sea,” she started cryptically and Aegon had to physically stop himself from sighing when he realized she was going to go off on one of her riddle rants. “There is both salt and flame, though neither can be seen.”
Aegon had absolutely no idea what that was supposed to mean, he never understood what she meant when she actually decided to use words, but at least Jace also looked completely confused as well. And then, because it's Helaena, as soon as she was done she gave a little nod and then wandered off.
Jace gave him a bewildered look to which Aegon shrugged. This was what he dealt with every single time Helaena opened her mouth and he couldn’t figure out what she meant any other time, and he didn’t know this time.
But now that Jace was standing in front of him again, and Cole was gone, he couldn’t stop himself from pointing his finger in his nephew’s face sternly and saying, “Next time Luke goes to see any dragons I better be informed, so he can go see a proper dragon.”
He didn’t let him have the chance to respond, he just turned and walked out of the training yard. He needed some peace and quiet before he went back on his promise to himself and turned to wine.
Luke woke from his nice dream with a smile on his face, and the echoes of a dragon song dancing in his ears. He could still see the sight of a beautiful white and red colored dragon flying over a dark castle when he closed his eyes. The dragon song settled itself in his mind the same way Balerion and his water had. It beckoned him to come find it, but his water coaxed him away, burbling that he’d find the dragon soon, but not yet.
Balerion echoed that from the hearth, that as much as both he and the dragon wanted it, it just wasn’t time yet to reunite. There was too much between them, the dragon was too far away still. They needed more time.
It made him want to whine because why would they show him something so magnificent just to pull it out of his grasp. It made him ache for his mother or Meleys to comfort him and let him steal some of the warmth that had fled after his dream ended.
“Shield?”
Luke wandered out into the main room of his mother’s apartment and looked around, trying to find the man he knew was lying in wait for him. He managed to find him at his post, standing stock still against the threshold of the door with his spear in one hand and his other resting by his side.
He turned to look at him as he walked over, giving him a smile and kneeling down when he came close. “Yes, my prince?”
“I want mother.”
“I believe your mother and father went to take your brother to his lessons and then attend court.”
He knew that, mother had told him as much before he had been put to bed for his midday nap, and she told him that she might not be back before he awoke, but he still wanted his mother. Meleys would comfort him as well, if they could find her. He didn’t think Ser Kent would want to go find a dragon with just the two of them though, so he didn’t suggest it. He could be persuaded but he knew he would take him to mother without complaint.
He repeated himself, asking for his mother once again, until Kent gave in and said that he’d take him to the court so that they could find his mother. Luke grasped his empty hand instead of trying to climb into his arms - Grandfather had explained to him at length that it would be hard for Kent to carry him and carry his spear at the same time, and he needed to be able to use his weapon at a moment’s notice to protect them - and led them both out of the room.
He had no idea where the court was but he knew that if they wandered about the Keep for long enough he’d find one of his family members. Either the water would guide him to Grandfather, or the torches would lead him to Meleys or Balerion. Maybe he could find Balerion and get to sit in his lap and listen to his happy voice tell him stories about Valyria that were echoed in every hearth and torch in the castle, like he had after his fever.
That sounded like a nice way to spend the day and he’d be warm in Balerion’s arms without getting overheated like he sometimes was by Jace’s raging fire. They could talk and eat the little lemon cakes that the maids always snuck him.
Mother snuck him cakes too, lemon ones and honeyed ones, and Grandfather would give him almond cakes when he thought Meleys wasn’t looking. Jace would break his cakes in half at the evening meal and put half on his plate and made sure that even if he didn’t eat anything else, he ate the cake.
It would be nice to have cakes and stories.
“My prince, I think the court is the other way.”
Luke blinked, coming back from his daydream about cakes, and looked around at the castle halls around them. These halls didn’t really look like any that he remembered, and he realized that Kent was probably right. But there was a nice view out the arches of the bay in the distance.
And there was a dragon out the window, landing near the pits!
It was big and red and pretty like Meleys, except it was a much longer and spindly dragon so he knew it wasn’t Meleys, and Meleys was already in the Keep so it couldn’t have been her anyway.
He wanted to see that dragon, and the torches insisted that it was his father’s dragon and his water reluctantly whispered that Kent wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between one dragon or another. “I see Father’s dragon!” He chirped innocently once the dragon was out of sight by the pits, and he pointed out the window towards the big building.
Kent looked confused, and came to stand right by his back, looking out the window with him to try and see what he was talking about. The dragon was already in the pits, so it couldn’t be seen from the castle anymore. “You saw your father’s dragon?”
Luke nodded and pointed towards the pits again. “Yes.”
“I thought Ser Laenor was supposed to be at court all day…” He muttered under his breath, “You're sure it was your father’s dragon?”
He nodded again and shoved his fingers in his mouth. The torches assured him it was father’s dragon that had landed and that he needed to go meet him, that meeting this dragon would help keep him safe, like how the sirens told him grandfather would protect him. Maybe he was getting another grandfather? He had Corlys, and Balerion was a grandfather too, and they both protected him. Or maybe he was a father and a grandfather and a dragon!
He reached up with the hand not in his mouth and grabbed Kent’s hand to tug on it. The knight still looked apprehensive but again he allowed Luke to lead him astray from their original course and out of the Keep towards the dragon pits.
He wanted to meet his new father grandfather dragon, and hopefully he would have cakes and stories to give.
Daemon let out a soft huff as he walked through the tunnels of the Dragon Pit for the first time since his elopement with Laena. It was just as big, dark, and alive with the sound of dragons as it always had been but the ambience of it filled him with equal measures of excitement and dread. A part of him longed to see his family, his brother and his niece and his cousin Rhaenys, and he knew Laena longed to see her brother and her parents. She wished to be by the sea at Driftmark once again, to have their daughters see her childhood home, and to meet her two nephews. Yet he was still reluctant to return to King’s Landing. His brother voicing his thoughts about Daemon’s supposed lust for his throne still rang clear in his head.
Their nephews, one in particular, had been what had truly brought them back to King’s Landing. Laena had initially wanted to gather their things and fly back as soon as they had gotten the first letter from Corlys about the boy falling gravely ill with a fever. It had been a near constant argument between the two of them, going back to see their nephews, but Daemon had always managed to waylay the inevitable by saying they would have the entirety of the boys childhoods to meet them, they didn’t need to go back and meet them when they were practically babes who wouldn’t even remember the sight of them.
Of course once the second letter had come, this time from Laenor - with shaky lettering practically begging his sister for advice, regalling them the tale of how the boy’s fever had yet to wane even slightly after nearly a week - Laena had refused to take no for an answer and instead threatened to mount both Baela and Rhaena on Vhagar and fly home herself.
The ultimatum was what led him to stand in the midst of the dragon pit, having already sequestered Ceraxes into his own pit and given him several goats to make up for having to be constrained back in the pits after years of freedom.
“Dragon!”
He whirled around at the call. His hand immediately strayed down to Darksister at his side. He knew there weren't any dragons out, as magnificent as they were, they most certainly weren’t stealthy enough for one to have snuck out of the pits without notice, but he was concerned that a human seemed to have snuck up on him. “Who goes there?”
What idiot would think it a good idea to sneak around the dragon pits?
“A dragon!” The voice called again, now behind him. “And a father!”
Daemon scowled in confusion at the darkened tunnels around him and reached to grab one of the torches off the wall, “Show yourself.”
He felt the presence appearing near his leg without hearing a single thing, not even the rasp of boots against the gravel that made the floor of the pits. Whoever it was, a child most likely given that they didn’t stand tall enough to reach his hips, had the sheer audacity to reach out and grab ahold of the edges of his riding armor.
Sure enough his guess of a child was proven right as he brought his torch around, lighting up the tiny figure by his side. Now that he could actually see the child, it was clear that the boy was of Targaryen descent. The moon pale skin, blinding white hair tied back in a shambled braid, and dark purple eyes glinting in the firelight were a dead give away. His eyes were a truly enchanting shade, much darker than the lilac and the violet shades that he had seen before. Even during the brief time he and Laena had spent in Lys before they had the girls, he hadn’t seen a shade quite so dark and haunting.
Either his brother had sired another Hightown whelp, or this was one of his niece’s sons. Given how pretty the boy was, and the fact that he was clutching a seahorse toy in his other fist, Daemon would hazard a guess that this was his darling niece's son. On that assumption alone he’d allow the slight of being accosted to pass, for now, and he’d ignore whatever nonsense this child was spouting.
Though if this truly was his niece’s son, why was he being allowed to wander about the pits alone, with nary a single chaperone in sight? Especially given that one of said sons was supposedly deathly ill. The question was already on the tip of his tongue as he stared down at the boy, when he heard the sound of several sets of footsteps coming towards them.
“Husband, are you ready to go, mother has sent a carriage for the four of us to get to the Keep.” Laena said as she rounded the corner, Baela and Rhaena trailing behind her as they usually did, and all three of them pulled up short as they caught sight of the child by his side. “Oh, you must be Jacaerys!”
The boy, Jacaerys apparently, cocked his head to the side and then shook his head no. He shoved his toy at Daemon, pressing it against the chest plate of his riding armor until he begrudgingly took hold of it. “I’m not Jacaerys, I’m Lucerys!” Then, in the most shocking event of the century, the boy took his toy back with a triumphant nod, and turned to point at Daemon, and exclaimed “and this is Ceraxes, a dragon!”
How the child knew his dragon’s name, let alone that he specifically was Ceraxes’ rider when he had never met him, was beyond him. Though no one would ever hear him complain about being called by his dragon’s name, that much was for sure.
His daughters were looking at their cousin - he was almost certainly sure the boy was one of Rhaenyra’s now, he hadn’t paid too much mind to the letters that had been sent to them, but he knew her two boys had been given Velaryon names - like he had grown a second head, but Leana, the brilliant, quick witted woman she was, took the exclamation in stride.
She waltzed right over to the boy while Daemon was still savoring the pride that came from someone, even if it was just a child, mistaking him for his dragon, and plucked him up off the ground and into her arms. The boy looked quite good on her hip, like he belonged there just as much as Baela and Rhaena had when they were babes.
“You are right, little nephew, he is a dragon, though his name is not Ceraxes.” Laena giggled at the boy as they all walked along the pits, trailing after the two of them like moths drawn to a bright flame. “It is Daemon, and he is your granduncle.”
“You’re a seahorse, like grandfather Corlys,” The boy, Lucerys, chirped back to her. “And Ceraxes is a father.”
“I am, and I’m also a dragon, like -”
“Meleys!” Lucerys’ eyes seemed to light up as he pulled back to actually look at Laena with scrutinizing eyes, and patted her shoulder like he was expecting something other than the bare skin exposed by her shoulder-less dress. “You’re like Meleys, and like Grandfather, but you don’t have the pretty wings and scales.”
Baela scowled up at the boy, and Daemon was sure that had the boy been on the ground he probably would have found a fist heading towards his face, “Our mother is pretty.”
“She is.” Lucerys agreed. “She’s pretty and a dragon and a seahorse.”
This boy was a living contradiction and Baela’s mouth snapped shut.
“Thank you for the compliment, Lucerys,” Laena simply sidestepped the confusion, drawing Lucerys back into a conversation with her by asking about the carved seahorse he was holding.
He latched right on, babbling about ‘Gerardys’ and how ‘Balerion’ had given it to him because he had gotten sick, and as they walked they stumbled upon a huffing knight, leaning against the wall of the pits.
Laena paused as soon as she saw the man, and Daemon was about to draw Darksister once again until he saw that she had a look of recognition on her face as she moved closer. “Ser Kent? What are you doing here?”
“Lady Laena,” He puffed as he stood up from his hunched position, trying to stand at attention and catch his breath. “I was with - My Prince!” The knight hustled over to them when his eyes finally landed on the boy in Laena’s arms. “You can’t run off like that, my prince, you could have gotten hurt!”
Laena let him check Lucerys over for himself, but she kept her nephew in her arms. “You were watching over Prince Lucerys, then?”
“Yes, I’m sorry my Lady, I was called from Driftmark to be Prince Lucerys’ personal guard by your Lord Father.” He explained, “We were heading to find Princess Rhaenyra at court when the Prince saw his father’s dragon out one of the windows and insisted on coming to greet him here.”
The boy had seen Seasmoke outside of the dragon pits? That was impossible, there had been no other dragons out of their pits when Daemon had arrived, though he knew Seasmoke was sequestered within his own pit given that Laenor was in King’s Landing. But he wouldn’t have been anywhere that the boy could have seen him out a window.
Lucerys nodded along with Ser Kent’s description. “I saw Ceraxes.” He then pointed straight at Daemon once again, “He’s big and red like Meleys.”
Had he seen Seasmoke, or had he seen Ceraxes? The two were unmistakably different both in size and appearance, and Daemon had never heard of anyone being foolish enough to mistake the two as the same dragon. Ser Kent had specifically mentioned the Prince had seen his father’s dragon, not just any dragon.
“Lucerys, did you see Ceraxes or Seasmoke?” Laena asked.
“Ceraxes!”
They all turned to look at Ser Kent, and the man did look genuinely confused. “Ah, my apologies, my Lady, I must’ve misunderstood what the Prince said. I thought he meant he saw his father’s dragon and wanted to go meet him, not that he saw Prince Daemon’s dragon and wanted to meet him for the first time.”
Laena smiled at him and waved off the apology, “It’s alright, Ser Kent, I don’t think anyone expects you to know which dragon is which, and Laenor hadn’t even claimed Seasmoke by the time he had grown out of your services.” She got them all walking again, and started Lucerys talking again when she asked him about what he had been doing when he saw Ceraxes and he started ranting about cakes.
He was still talking as they exited the pits and found the carriage Rhaenys had sent, asking and answering questions in equal measure, and passing his seahorse toy to both Baela and Rhaena to let them play with it as he talked. He talked and talked and talked all the way to the Red Keep, until they finally got to the steps before the gate and exited the carriage, only to be met with a harried and anxious looking Velaryon entourage.
Laenor, Rhaenys, and Corlys were there to greet them, as were several of their household guards, which was unsurprising given that Rhaenys had sent them the carriage. But much to Daemon’s surprise both Rhaenyra and Viserys were there as well, looking just as worried as the Velaryons.
The entire retinue surged towards them as soon as they stepped from the carriage, with Rhaenyra managing to get to them first to scoop Lucerys out of Laena’s arms. Daemon hung back from the crowd, letting everyone else converge on top of each other while he took stock of their reactions. Laenor and Corlys both checked on the boy in Rhaenyra’s arms, Corlys even going so far as to take the boy from Rhaenyra and hold him to check him over for himself. Once they were both satisfied with Lucerys’ appearance they let him back into Rhaenyra’s arms and instead turned to greet Laena and the girls.
Rhaenys had gone straight for Laena, Baela and Rhaena, bringing all three into her arms and kissing them, but Daemon could see how even as she busied herself with them, she still glanced over at Lucerys and didn’t settle until Corlys and Laenor were both by her side. Rhaenyra and Viserys were entirely entranced by the little boy, and for the first time Daemon was able to catch a glimpse of what he could only assume was his second grandnephew.
The other boy was as plain as they came. Brown hair with brown eyes and pale skin, completely unremarkable compared to the Valyrian beauty that the other boy had. It was hard to imagine that he was Rhaenyra’s son, let alone Laenor’s. He didn’t look like he had even an ounce of Valyrian blood in him, but he knew from Laena that the older boy had hatched and claimed a dragon hatchling, so he must have some of their blood in him.
There might be some way to argue that the boy had an excess of Baratheon blood, given that if Daemon squinted he could see how he resembled Jocelyn Baratheon, but it was quite a leap. A boy from Rhaenyra and Laenor looking solely like his great grandmother rather than either of his parents or any of his grandparents?
It was a leap.
But the looks of the older boy actually piqued his curiosity just as much as the younger one’s behavior had. Perhaps it was worth it to have come back to King’s Landing when they did.
Daemon kicked off the wall he had leaned against and made his way towards his brother and niece.
“Well, that was quite the event.” Laena started with a sigh as they all settled around the table, finally alone after the long arduous boring afternoon introducing them at court. Her daughters were off washing themselves of the dragon smell that clung to them from riding atop Vhagar and Daemon was catching up with the King, so she and the rest of her family had a golden chance to spend time with each other. Though it had been surprisingly hard to convince her brother to come with them as he had wanted to stay with his sons, their mother had eventually dragged him along. “I am certainly glad to hear that Lucerys has healed. We were quite alarmed by your last letter, brother.”
“It was a miracle he survived the fever, Laena, truly.” Laenor said, “I didn’t think he would, if I’m honest.”
Laena looked around the room, trying to gauge if this morose admission was just her brother being inexperienced with children's illnesses, or if the severity was true. Her mother had a similar haunted look in her eyes, mirroring the look in Laenor’s, while her father had the same stubborn mule look that he sported anytime someone said something he harshly disagreed with. “The situation was that dire?”
“It was. Luke was bedridden with fever for seven days, and nothing the maester’s did would bring it down.”
“What was it that finally made it break?”
Her lord father’s face turned from stubbornness to the biggest shit eating grin she had ever seen lighting up his face, and mentally she took a moment to prepare herself to hear whatever convoluted adventure story was about to be conjured up. “I bathed him in sea water and he woke from his fever.”
It took more than just a few seconds for her mind to process the words she had just been told. Sea water waking a boy from a fever? Truly, her father must be going senile if these are the tales he’s dreamed up. “Father….you can’t be serious?” Another glance around the room showed her nothing.
“It is true, Laena,” Rhaenys said after taking a gulp of wine, “The boy was racked with fever, and then your idiot father went and grabbed a bucket of sea water to put in Luke’s bath and the boy woke.”
“The first words out of Luke’s mouth were him asking for me!” Her father stated proudly. Like a cat that had painstakingly caught a mouse.
If it had just been her father telling her this, she would have chalked it up as another one of his tall tales, but Laenor and Mother both seemed to agree with his version of events. Her mother was looking exasperated and fond, as she usually did when he was regaling her with the adventures she knew to have truly happened, and Laenor had a look of absolute awe on his face, something she didn’t usually see on her brother’s face. When they were children they had looked at their father with awe and loved hearing the stories he told, but this was a level of awe that she didn’t remember seeing on Laenor even as a child.
Which was telling her that this version must be at least in some manner true. Her father had somehow woken an ill boy from a fever with just seawater and sheer will.
Laena huffed out a laugh, if anyone could manage that, it would certainly be her father. “Alright, and how has the boy been since then? He seemed very sweet on the ride to the keep but he was a bit…”
“Strange?” Her mother supplied.
That most certainly fit the boy she had met. “Yes, he was strange. He called Daemon Ceraxes, and told me I was both a seahorse and a dragon ‘like Meleys’.”
Mother somehow didn’t seem surprised by the boy calling Daemon his dragon’s name, nor did she seem shocked by him mentioning Meleys.
“That doesn’t shock me, he believes me to be Meleys and King Viserys to be Balerion the black dread.” She said, as if that was something completely normal for a child to believe.
“You aren’t concerned that a boy of three, who has never met my husband nor his dragon, somehow knew Daemon’s dragon’s name and knew that he was Ceraxes’ rider?”
Rhaenys shook her head, “He knew about Meleys and several of her preferences without having met her, and without me telling him much of her, and he most certainly never met Balerion but knows about him as well.” She took another sip of wine from her goblet. “I believe he might have similar dreams to that of Daenys the Dreamer, though not of that scale.”
That shocked Laena. In all her years, her mother hadn’t put much stock into the prophetic dreams that their ancestors were alleged to have had. She seemed skeptical about most forms of magic beyond that that attached them to their dragons, yet now she seemed to have changed her views.
Perhaps she had missed a lot more during her time abroad than she had realized. “You think he has prophetic dreams?”
“Yes. He knows things he can’t possibly know, he slips into odd mindless states and then returns even stranger than he was before.”
She would have to keep a closer eye on Lucerys then, with this newfound perspective in place. She wanted to know what had seemingly lit the paternal fire within her brother’s heart, and she wanted to know what had convinced her normally pragmatic mother to change her view on things.
End Chapter 10
Notes:
A/N: Balerion: Just tell him you saw your father's dragon, I need you to pull Daemon's attention and his favor
Luke: So he's my father?
Balerion: Yeah, he's your father and a lot more than that, and its not like this guy is gonna know the difference between dragons.
Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, let me know in the comments if you did!!
Chapter 11: Chapter 11
Summary:
Harwin gets
reintroduced to the boys, Laenor tries his absolute best to be a good dadand sort of fails, and Jace and Aegon continue their family feud.
Notes:
Eyyyy, we're finally getting things warming up at least a little bit! Chapter 12 is where we are going to see the bigger plot - and Aemond's beginning of real involvement in the story - develop. This chapter's mainly Jace being an anxious boi and Luke being strange and Aegon making an incredibly stupid move.
And there's a special bit at the end!! Make sure to read it!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Chapter 11
Luke watched from the table as a big man played with Jace and tried to teach him a new sword stance. He wasn’t allowed to train with a sword, or even the sticks that Jace sometimes used, but he was allowed to watch while he tried to finish the grapes and cheese from breaking his fast.
Everyone kept telling him that he’d be able to play with swords later when he was feeling better and could remember things more easily but he didn’t really want to. He didn’t like the noise that the swords made when they hit each other and he didn’t like how the water constantly rang with warning whenever someone brought out a weapon.
The big man had fun armor on though, which was nice to look at, and a bright yellow cloak. He seemed nice enough and Jace seemed to like him, but when he came around to spend time with Jace, or even with Mother, Luke never felt right. His water always hummed right under his skin when this man was around, in a way that Luke hadn’t felt before, and most times he could barely hear Balerion through the torches unless he was right near a fire.
What little he could hear was that the man was watching him, waiting for something. It wasn’t an outright warning about him but the sole fact that the water was different around him set Luke on edge.
Jace and Mother were both at ease, even father hadn’t paused at the man being in the room with all of them the other day before he had gone to talk with grandfather and Meleys.
“Luke?” His mother called when she saw him watching them, “Would you like to come and meet Ser Harwin?”
Luke hesitated before climbing down off his chair and going over to them. He didn’t want to meet the man, but he knew if he denied meeting him again, mother would be sad like she had been every other time he refused to join them and introduce himself. He walked straight past her, instead nudging Jace back until he sat down so he could hoist himself into his lap. He wanted the warm comfort of his brother’s protection singing in his veins. Jace happily let him and just like he wanted Jace’s arms wound around him and pulled him close.
When he was settled in he turned to look at ‘Harwin’ and Mother, both of whom were watching him with hopeful eyes. “Hi.” He said, and he held out Gerardys for the man to take.
Mother must’ve told Harwin about his preferred method of greeting people, because the man eagerly took his toy and held onto it. The water sluggishly bled out of the glaze and through calloused fingers, giving him flashes of a kind man, one who had held him and Jace when they were barely more than hatchlings. He could feel the same love that father had for them swimming in this man’s veins.
Yet even with all that love in his veins, Luke’s water was still trying to pull away from him, and the sirens were only singing because Luke was asking them to. He didn’t like that they were so reluctant to sing. Even when Egg had taken his toy while they were on the beach, the water had pressed his ‘real’ name into his mind eagerly, and urged him to help pull the poison from his Uncle’s veins. Here they weren’t telling him there was danger or someone to be avoided, but Harwin’s blood was a spot of murkiness within the water, like gravel underlying a riverbed.
He was just about to reach out to get Gerardys back when another flash hit his mind, though it was less a flash and more of a whisper, of a dual sadness that Lucerys was no longer his but relief that Jace still was.
Luke’s head tilted at the whisper while Balerion used the hearth to huff out annoyed embers.
His brother didn’t belong to this man, as kind as he was. Jace’s blood was storm clouds, howling winds, and a raging fire, it held no hints of this river of a man within it. There wasn’t even much of the sea that made up Father and Grandfather within Jace, though he could feel the same howling winds in their mother, and the same strikes of lightning within Meleys.
Luke nearly voiced it out loud, but the water battered him away from it until he yielded, begging him to say his name and nothing else.
“I’m Luke.” He finally landed on.
“I’m Ser Harwin Strong,” The man answered with a grin.
Mother smiled at him and he felt her warmth light him up inside. He still didn’t like the man, but for Jace and Mother he could at least try to tolerate him. Though part of him couldn’t help but wonder if this man was a river, why didn’t his water rush to meet him the same way it did whenever Grandfather or Father were around? Even his shield’s water had come to greet him through Gerardys.
He may be one with the sea, not the rivers, yet all water inevitably came from the sea, so why was he not connected to this riverman?
He watched silently as Harwin and Mother moved to the other side of the room to whisper to each other.
“Do you want to go finish your food, Luke?” Jace asked as he watched Mother and Ser Harwin flee to the other side of the room. He couldn’t hear what they were saying but he could just tell by the look on the knight’s face that he wasn’t exactly happy with how Luke reacted to being introduced to him.
It was obvious compared to the other people Luke had met that he did not enjoy Harwin’s presence. He had been mostly excited to be introduced to others, and was never reluctant to hand over Gerardys to meet them too. But Mother had asked him three days in a row if he wanted to come over and meet Harwin and each time before this he had just shook his head and remained across the room from them. Jace was pretty sure that Luke had only changed his mind this time because he had seen how upset Mother had been the last time he hadn’t come over to Harwin.
He didn’t understand why Luke was okay with everyone else he had met, and yet he didn’t like Harwin at all.
Luke shook his head, eyes still trained on mother and Harwin.
“Are you sure? You barely ate anything this morning.”
“Not hungry.”
That made Jace frown, Luke had a low appetite ever since he woke from his fever and he had noticed that ever since Ser Harwin started his visits again his appetite had been worse. He had barely eaten more than one or two bites of his breakfast and that wasn’t nearly enough to sustain him through the day. Jace had even snuck him a lemon cake that morning and Luke had only taken a single bite of it.
Jace looked over at the tray that had been brought for Luke and sure enough there wasn’t really any more food missing than there had been when they were eating before Harwin had gotten there. Luke must’ve just been shuffling the food around the plate instead of eating and Jace had been too busy messing around with his training sword to notice.
He needed to get him to eat somehow. “Do you want me to ask mother for something else?” He tried, but Luke just kept shaking his head and outright staring at Harwin, “Do you want to go play, I can find some of the maps Grandfather gave you?”
This time Luke didn’t even bother replying to him, so he pushed them both off the chair, setting Luke down on his feet and taking hold of his hand instead. Both Mother and Harwin looked up at the noise, and when she noticed that they had gotten out of their chair she started walking towards the two of them. “Luke, is everything alright?”
He had to fight to keep himself from flinching back and tucking Luke behind him, but he did actually manage it. He was trying his hardest to rework his thoughts on his mother harming Luke, because his grandsire asked him too and because the Septon had attempted to retract his statement. It was hard, any time she got too close to Luke it set off a primal fear within him, but he was trying.
“I think Luke wants to go play,” He said instead of trying to back away from her, “He doesn’t want to play with his maps and he wants to go somewhere else.”
Rhaenyra’s face fell and Harwin looked absolutely crestfallen when they both looked to Luke and saw how he was half hiding behind him. Rhaenyra sighed, “Your father is out in the training yard, you can go to him if you want but I don’t want the two of you running about the Keep.”
Jace nodded at that, he didn’t want to be wandering around the castle with just the two of them either, especially not after how strange Uncle Aegon had been acting the other day. He acted like he was entitled to Luke’s attention and affection when he hadn’t even been there at all when Luke nearly died. He didn’t want his uncle trying to sway Luke to his side and take his little brother away from him any more than he wanted mother to take Luke away.
“Are you sure you want to go see your father, Luke?” Rhaenyra asked softly before they could start heading towards the door, “There’s plenty of toys you can play with besides your maps, and you’ve barely eaten any of your breakfast, aren’t you hungry?”
“I’m sure one of the guards could go and get you something else from the kitchens,” Harwin added and to his credit Jace could only hear a small hint of desperation in his voice.
Luke shuffled himself even further behind him, until he was almost completely out of sight, and Jace could feel him clutching onto the back of his tunics. “I want Corlys.”
“Your grandfather is in a meeting with your grandsire.”
“Want Corlys.”
Their mother sighed again, kneeling down so that she could coax Luke towards her. Luke barely even moved, his eyes still staring straight at Harwin like he had seen a ghost. “They’re in a meeting, sweet boy, you’ll be able to see Lord Corlys later.”
That didn’t seem to make Luke feel any better, it actually made him look more upset than he had been before. If their mother wasn’t careful, she’d end up sending Luke into a fit.
Jace pushed his way between them, “We’ll go see father, and I’ll ask if he can get something for Luke to eat.”
He didn’t give their mother another chance to try and persuade them. He knew Luke was upset by Harwin’s presence, and he could feel his own fear starting to build, and that was more than enough for him to want to leave. He pulled Luke along with him, calling for Ser Alisar to come to him from his post outside of the door. The man obliged, and Ser Kent was right behind him, and he started stomping towards them when he saw how uncomfortable Luke was.
Kent sent a glare towards Harwin before he bowed to their mother. “Princess, Princes.”
Jace brushed past all of them, letting both guards file in behind him and Luke as they walked out the door, his mind already set on finding his way to the training yard. Hopefully it would just be father and his friend Ser Qarl at the training yard and not either of his uncles. He really didn’t want to deal with Aegon or his sudden interest in Luke, and unlike Ser Harwin, Luke seemed to have genuinely liked Ser Qarl when Laenor had brought him to be introduced.
There had been no hesitation in him handing over Gerardys to the knight, and Luke had eaten half the almond cake the man had given to the two of them. It had been nothing like how Luke was with Harwin, skittish and hesitant. A small part of Jace was kind of glad that Luke didn’t like Harwin, as horrible as it was, because that meant Harwin might spend less time around them and there was less chance that Luke would start to realize that Jace might be a bastard.
But another, bigger, part of him knew that that was a double edged sword. If Luke hated Harwin so much that he didn’t want to be near him, how would he view Jace if he ever heard any of the whispers about his parentage? Would Luke grow hesitant and skittish around him too? Would he be reluctant to even be in the same room as him just because of the possibility that Jace might be Harwin’s son and not Laenor’s?
The thought had been swirling around in his mind ever since Mother had first brought Harwin to their chambers after Luke started recovering, and it had only grown more and more powerful. Fueled by the fear of his baby brother’s reluctance, the sudden attentions of their oldest Uncle, and the introduction of their two cousins who Luke seemed to like - and that were perfect examples of true Velaryon blood just like his brother was, but not him - his anxiety had taken to lodging itself in his throat.
Even now he could feel those tendrils of panic gripping at him, quickening both his breath and his steps as they walked towards the training yards. Jace wasn’t quite sure if seeing Ser Laenor would ease his worries or only inflame them, but surely any place was better than where they were now.
“Jace!” Laenor called as he stepped back into the training yard, Kent and Alisar taking up their normal places at the archway as he dismissed them. Already he could see the tension that they warned him of setting itself upon Jace’s shoulders and he drew up an easy smile to soften the blow of his words, “Luke needs to be resting, not playing. Why don’t you show your brother what you’ve learned by sparring with me? He can sit with your grandmother and watch while we train.”
Instantly he saw the shift in his elder son, his face went rigid in panic as he latched onto Luke’s arm and pulled him up against his side. Rhaenyra had already mentioned Jace’s mounting attachment to Luke, and Laenor had seen his fear first hand in the way Jace held onto Luke’s every move with an iron grip, but this was new. Jace had never acted out his panic in public, in front of people from court no less. While the other princes and Ser Cole had thankfully moved to the other side training yard upon seeing him and Qarl sparring earlier and were hopefully out of hearing range, there were still a few courtiers in the gallery watching who could probably hear them talking.
Usually when they left their apartments, Jace would at least let them move Luke away from him without trouble so long as Luke remained within his sights.
Something must’ve worsened Jace’s fear of losing his brother and Laenor couldn’t for the life of him figure out what it was. Qarl had suggested that it might have something to do with Harwin, but Laenor didn’t think so. Jace had always been at ease around Harwin, which was part of why he and Rhaenyra knew he was Harwin’s son, and it was only Luke who seemed to suddenly be wary around the large knight.
“Please don’t take him away, father,” Jace pleaded, “I promise I won’t train with him, he can just stand with me and watch, please let him stay!”
He took a steadying breath before kneeling down in front of his sons. Luke was looking at him with his normal smile, obviously not comprehending his brother’s distress as he petted his hand over the embroidered seahorse on Laenor’s collar. Jace however was taut as a bowstring and looked to be mere moments from snapping his own spine with how tightly he held himself. Not to mention his grip on his brother’s arm was sure to leave a stark bruise.
“I’m not taking him away, Jacaerys, I promise,” He reached out to ruffle Jace’s hair in a way he had seen both Rhaenyra and Harwin do dozens of times before and tried to make himself as reassuring and unthreatening as possible. “He’s just going to sit with your grandmother, he’ll be right across the yard in the stands, you’ll still be able to see him the entire time and as soon as we are done training you can go to him.”
“Why can’t he just stay down here?”
“Because he’s still recovering and he needs to be resting, Jace. He really shouldn’t be out at the training yards yet.”
Jace’s eyes were darting around the courtyard like he expected the Stranger himself to jump out from behind one of the racks of weapons. “Then I’ll go back to his room with him!” He hadn't even finished his sentence before he was pulling Luke along with him towards the entrance to the courtyard.
Laenor sent an exasperated look up towards Qarl across the yard, and he was met with a look of confusion on his lover’s face, as well as the confused faces of the princes who were now watching them too. He was already treading through unknown waters just by taking over some of Jace’s training from Harwin, but dealing with Jace’s…moods was an even further departure beyond that. But he had promised himself, and his wife, and the gods that he would be a father to both his boys. That he would cherish the time he had with them, train them and teach them just as his own father had done with him. How Rhaenyra’s father had done with her. Though he was still unsure if he’d ever be capable of reaching the level of tenacity that his own father and the King had when holding to their own opinions.
Yet, it was considerably harder to spend time with Jace by virtue of him being so wary of other people being around Luke compared to Luke himself who was so easily affectionate and very rarely tested his parenting capabilities. His younger son quite literally was content with just sitting in his lap and stroking his coats or being read aloud to by a lit hearth.
But he made a promise and he was going to do his absolute best to stand by it.
Even if, here he was, already floundering on what to do. Reduced to just watching along with the other spectators as Jace quite literally dragged his little brother from the training yard. Not that Luke really seemed to mind, as easy going and relaxed as he was. But the grip Jace had on him was absolutely going to hurt him if nothing else.
“Jacaerys.”
Thank the gods, a savior had come to help him. Laenor scrambled to his feet, barely taking the time to dust off his knees as he made his way towards his sons and his mother. Already she was corralling the two of them back into the yard, and coaxing Jace into letting go of Luke’s arm.
His mother truly was a godsend.
“Shouldn’t you be training, grandson?”
“Me and Luke were just going back to our rooms, father said Luke needs to rest.”
“Luke and I, Jace.” His wonderful mother replied, a stern look on her face. She must have caught on to the more likely meaning of his son’s statement. “Luke may need to rest, but you need to train.”
She nudged herself in between the two boys, picking Luke up to sit on her hip and distracting him with her necklace, while gently pushing Jace back towards him. “Go train with your Father and Ser Qarl, I’ll watch Luke and when you are done we can all go down to the bay.” She soothed as she bent down, allowing Jace to press a quick kiss to Luke’s face but not allowing him the chance to grab onto his brother. “I’m sure your brother will enjoy another chance to play by the water, and if your grandfather gets out of his meeting early enough I’m sure I can convince him to give you both a tour of his favorite boat.”
As if the Sea Snake would need any convincing to show off the flagship of House Velaryon’s fleet.
The thought of being able to go play with Luke and make him happy seemed to be enough to finally crack through Jace’s fear, and he finally left his grandmother’s side to walk back near the training racks with a shuddery sigh. Laenor was just about to follow him when his mother’s hand grasped his elbow.
“Parenting comes with practice, my son, it is much like learning to use a lance or a sword, don’t fret if it does not come naturally.”
Laenor took the quiet assurance for what it was, letting it lighten his heart for a moment before turning back to meet up with his son and Qarl who was already talking to Jace about the weapons available on the racks.
Luke finally managed to shake off the strange feeling that had settled over him after meeting Ser Harwin as he curled up in Meleys’ lap. He didn’t want to be in the training yard where all the bad noises of the swords were constantly assaulting him, but he’d rather be here than back in the chambers with Harwin. He’d been able to withstand his presence for a little while, but the gravel under his water had started to abrade him deep inside, raking his mind across a river bed that pulled at him but was also completely silent in the strangest way.
The sirens had eventually urged him to leave when he could feel himself being scraped away by the gravel. He really wanted his grandfather so that he could be surrounded by open non abrasive water, but for some reason no one would allow him to go find Corlys, they just wanted to shuffle him from bad place to bad place. From roughened river beds to burning winds and now to loud battlefields.
And wherever his grandfather was, Balerion was also there, so he could be surrounded by open waters and gently crackling embers and instead he had to sit listening to the sounds of anger ringing out and metal beating itself apart.
“Did you eat this morning?”
Luke turned to look at Meleys, who was watching him with kind happy eyes. They looked a lot like Balerion’s eyes. “I ate grapes.” He didn’t like eating anymore than he liked Harwin, it was easier to eat things that came from the sea though no one seemed to understand that and even then it felt strange to eat when he knew that his water could easily sustain him without it.
“Grapes? That’s all?”
He nodded, they always brought him cheese, fruit and bread for breakfast and he didn’t like any of it. He liked the cakes everyone gave him well enough but he didn’t get cakes for every meal.
Meleys hummed and he could see she wasn’t happy with the answer. No one was ever happy when he didn’t eat whatever it was they put on his plate. “Well, perhaps if you haven’t eaten, then the treats your grandfather left for you won’t spoil your appetite as I first thought.”
Luke perked up at the mention of his grandfather and, even though he knew he wasn’t in the gallery with them, he looked around the room just in case Corlys was hiding somewhere. His grandfather liked to play games with him, maybe he had told everyone to tell him that he was in a meeting so he could sneak up on him. But his glances didn’t reveal his grandfather, much to his disappointment, so he turned his attention back to Meleys. “Treats?”
“They are candies,” She said as she pulled out a handkerchief that was wrapped around something, a box by the looks of it, “They are made from salt water, your grandfather loves them.”
The box was pulled back to reveal little square shaped white candies, Luke didn’t care what they were or what they looked like, all he cared about was that his grandfather liked them, and he had left them for Luke to eat. He picked one out of the box and popped it into his mouth, chewing it, delighting in the taste in a way he never had with food before.
It tasted very good and he can see why his grandfather liked them. He could eat these candies instead of grapes any day.
He chewed his way through several of the candies as the bad noises started to fall away, overshadowed by the sweet taste of the candy and the joy of having another thing that he and grandfather shared. The only thing that would make the candy taste better was if grandfather had been there to share the candy with him instead of him having to eat it all by himself.
Maybe he should save some of the candies so that the two of them could share when grandfather was returned to him. He nodded to himself, deciding that yes, he should save some of them, and stopped eating while there were still ten of them left, that way they could both eat five together.
When he was done he closed the box but kept it in his lap, and then he turned to Meleys to see her smiling down at him. “Did you enjoy them?”
“Yes, can I go see grandfather now?”
Meleys cringed, “Your grandfather is in a council meeting, Luke, you can’t go and visit him right now.”
“But I want to go see him.” He said, his voice taking on a whine. Already he could feel Meleys’ fire attempting to soothe him but he didn’t care for it. Mother’s fire had tried to soothe him too, when he didn’t like the riverman, and he still wanted Grandfather. He pulled his water around his veins to try and soothe his annoyance, and was shocked and confused when the water bubbled a warning that his brother was about to boil over.
The annoyance drained right out of him as he swiveled around in Meleys lap, and sure enough Jace was down in the yard staring down Uncle Egg, his fire flaring so brightly underneath his skin that Luke could almost feel the heat coming off of him. He wasn’t sure how Uncle Egg didn’t see it and know to move away, but he wasn’t going to wait for him to move and risk his brother burning them both. Jace sometimes burned too hot for even Luke to be next to him, and Luke could pull his grandfather or father’s cold water around him to cool himself off.
He pushed his way off of Meleys’ lap and ignored her when she called after him so that he could make his way down to his brother. He’d have to stop Jace from boiling over and keep him from burning Uncle Egg. Uncle Egg was far too weak from his poisoning to heal from a burn.
Laenor watched in confusion as the situation got further and further out of hand. He had looked away from Jace for barely more than a minute, just long enough to talk to Qarl about the way Jace was leaning too far forward whenever he tried to parry a blow, and now Jace and Prince Aegon were standing toe to toe.
Both of them looked incredibly annoyed and Laenor could only assume that the elder prince had said something to piss Jace off when he had come over. The two of them looked only moments away from going straight for each other’s throats.
“Jace!” He called, trying to diffuse the tensions before they actually started a fight, “Come, we need to get back to training.” Distantly he heard his mother’s voice calling Luke’s name up in the gallery, but he was too focused on Jace and getting him away from Aegon to see what was going on up there.
Jace turned to face him, and Laenor nearly sighed in relief when he took a step towards him, only for that breath to catch in his throat as he looked over his son’s shoulder.
The world slowed down around him as his eyes focused both on the exact moment that Aegon decided to throw a punch at Jace, and the moment that Luke skipped across the training yard and put himself right in between the two older princes, straight into the path of Aegon’s fist. Luke hopped in front of Jace and opened his mouth to say something right as the punch landed square on the back of his head.
Luke hit the ground like a sack of potatoes. There was dead silence as all of them took in the scene, even Cole was completely stunned into inaction at the turn of events, and then everyone burst into movement.
Laenor barely managed to grab hold of Jace as he lunged for Aegon at the same time Cole lunged for Aegon and pulled him away. Qarl yanked Jace out of his hands almost instantly, shooting him a desperate look that clearly told him to check on Luke.
Lucerys, however, seemed to have other plans, because he popped up off the ground before Laenor could get over to him and came to stand in front of him as if nothing had even happened. “I want to go sleep.” He chirped.
When everyone in the yard, including Rhaenys who had come down from the gallery, just stared at him like he had grown a second head, Luke repeated his request to go to sleep, starting to sniffle pathetically when he still didn’t get a response. Behind them, Cole used the shock of his request to hustle both a shell-shocked Aegon and a confused Aemond out of the yard.
No one stopped him and still no one answered Luke, so Luke turned from Laenor to Jace.
“I want to sleep.” He repeated for the third time as he tugged on Jace’s sleeve, and finally he got a response he wanted as Jace broke out of Qarl’s hold and turned to storm off without another word to any of them.
Laenor didn’t even follow them.
Qarl moved to stand by his side, watching the two princes exit with Kent and Alisar hot on their tails. “Did…did that just happen?” He asked, sounding just as confused as Laenor felt.
“I don’t know.” It was far too bizarre for it to have happened, wasn’t it? Luke hadn’t even reacted to being punched, maybe Laenor had just imagined the hit actually landing. “Maybe it didn’t?”
He was on the other side of Luke, the punch could have stopped short and Luke could have dropped from the shock of being almost punched, and Aegon could have reacted to almost punching his nephew in the back of his head.
“Laenor!” His mother gestured towards the exit urgently, “Go after your sons, I am going to speak to my cousin about his son punching a child in the back of the head. Make sure you and Rhaenyra call a Maester before he tries to sleep.”
He shook his head, trying to right his own brain that felt like he had somehow taken that punch, and then finally got his feet to work so he could follow after his children. He was trying to be a good father, but he didn’t understand how Rhaenyra and Harwin could make it look so easy, when all of these strange things kept happening.
Rhaenys stormed towards the small council room, uncaring of the way servants and guards alike practically dove out of her path. Her own line of sight had narrowed to just the steps in front of her and she could see nothing else. Her anger flared brightly in her chest as she thought back to what had just happened.
Aegon, a prince who at his age should know better, had punched her grandson. Logically she knew that he had actually been aiming for Jace and Luke had merely been at the wrong place at the wrong time, but it didn’t matter who Aegon had been aiming for. He had raised a hand to strike - he had struck - one of his own nephews both of whom weren’t even half his age. She didn’t know what had caused blows to be thrown, she had been too focused on Luke to hear what Jace and Aegon had been arguing about. The substance of the argument didn’t matter either, Aegon should have been in control of himself enough to not attempt to punch children.
She tried to stay out of her cousin’s affairs, truly. His family were his to control and deal with, just as her children were hers to control but this was getting out of hand. First his wife had interfered in Rhaenyra and Jace’s relationship, to the point where Viserys had had to dismiss the septon in front of the whole court, and now his children were running rampant injuring their own family. Rhaenys didn’t care if she was interrupting a council meeting, or that she was meddling in other people’s affairs, she was going to put a stop to this come hell or high water.
Her cousin would do something about his brood or she’d take her own family back to Driftmark. It wouldn’t be too hard to convince Corlys to take them all back to their home, he would be overjoyed at the mere chance to get to show Luke and Jace the seat of their family. Rhaenyra might put up a fight, but Rhaenys was sure she could convince the younger princess to go back to her own seat of Dragonstone at the least, and have the boys go back and forth between Driftmark and Dragonstone.
The rumor mill would run rampant, and the Queen would be able to spread her lies once again, in their absence but it would be much safer for the children. She didn’t want her grandsons around so much danger, not when Luke seemed to find danger as easily as one breathed air, and now that Laena and her children were there as well she had too much to lose if things weren’t reined in.
However, as she walked and her initial anger began to simmer, she saw the fallacy of that plan. The enemies their family had gained - The Hightowers in particular - were a proactive bunch. As much as she wished to keep her family out of direct danger, removing them from the game entirely would hinder them more than it would help.
The Queen herself had already been attempting to sow doubt on Rhaenyra’s reign for years, and no doubt Otto Hightower was working tirelessly behind the scenes to further instill ill will towards her good-daughter and her grandchildren despite his ousting from the capital. Rhaenys knew Rhaenyra was aware of these plots, but she also knew that Rhaenyra had inherited Viserys lack of foresight and tendency to ignore things in the hopes they would go away.
Rhaenyra’s own inaction would only spell her downfall and in turn it would pull Jacaerys and Lucerys down with her, something that Rhaenys would never allow to happen.
Perhaps she couldn’t use this situation to get a direct jab in at the Queen, not without appearing to be plotting against her directly, but she could use it to weaken Alicent’s staunchest ally. Criston Cole gave her a golden opportunity to attack him when he made the decision, in front of several ladies, to grab Aegon and flee without even checking on Lucerys. She hadn’t focused on it at the time but looking back she had heard Lady Redwyn and her ladies in waiting gossiping about the knight running off without securing the other Princes.
A plan swirled in her mind as she finished the walk to the council chambers, and all it took for her to be allowed inside was a quick explanation of her having urgent matters to bring before her husband and her King.
Her cousin looked up as Ser Arryk announced her arrival, a pensive look on his face, “Ah, cousin, Ser Cole was just informing me of the mishap that occurred in the yards.” The words brought another flare of irritation into her gut.
Any doubts about whether she’d pounce on the opening Cole gave her burned away. Of course he had raced here to spin this incident in Aegon’s favor instead of doing his job.
“A mishap?” She said tersely, sending a glare towards the Queen’s sworn protector. “Is that what you’re calling it, Ser Cole?” The man didn’t answer her, instead he just fell into step with Ser Westerling and Ser Darklyn behind the King. “I would not call Prince Aegon punching his three year old nephew in the head a ‘mishap’.”
Both Corlys and Viserys jolted in their seats, their heads whipping around to stare at Cole as the words left her mouth. “What? Ser Cole?”
“Prince Aegon did not mean to hit Prince Lucerys -”
Rhaenys cut him off, “You’re right, he didn’t mean to strike Luke, he meant to hit Jace and Luke happened to get in between them. He fully intended to punch Prince Jacaerys in front of a gallery full of courtiers and in front of several guards, while Jace was turning to talk to his father.”
Viserys looked absolutely shocked at the information, so whatever tale he had told them to explain away Aegon’s actions must have been far beyond the truth. She didn’t envy the man for having the ire of the King levied at him, but this was the same man who watched Aegon hit Luke and immediately ran off to try and spin a tall tale to the king before anyone else could tell the truth.
A member of the Kingsguard hadn’t even checked on one of his charges after they had been attacked, instead he had ferried the attacker away to safety. If Rhaenys could get her way Cole would be stripped of his place of honor for both failing to protect his charges and for attempting to mislead the king.
She knew it wouldn’t happen immediately, not with the Queen backing the idiot, but she could dream. Perhaps she could leverage keeping the boys in King’s Landing in return for having Cole off the Kingsguard, or she might allow this to just lay the groundwork for him to be dismissed later. It’d be one less person feeding into Alicent’s lies and rumors, and it’d take away a major component of the challenge to Rhaenyra’s rule.
She was just about to voice her grievances but to her immense joy, Daemon beat her to it.
“So, Ser Crispin, you abandoned an injured Prince to what…protect the boy’s attacker and then came all the way up here to lie straight to the King?”
Cole glared right back at the rogue prince, anger plain on his face, “That is not what happened, Prince Daemon,”
“Well, what happened then?” Her cousin asked with a smirk, “Because you came to my brother, The King, and told him that there had been a ‘mishap’ during training, and that no one had been injured.” Daemon leaned back in his chair, looking like a cat that got a canary, “You didn’t mention that it was an attack from one Prince to another, nor that Prince Lucerys had been injured. Would you not consider those discrepancies to be a lie?”
“My King, Prince Aegon didn’t mean to strike Prince Lucerys, and Prince Lucerys was able to get up and go over to his father after the hit. I did not believe him to be injured, so I acted to remove Prince Aegon so that no further incidents occurred between the Princes. For all the Prince’s safety,” Cole sneered at Daemon, ”Not just the safety of Prince Aegon. Prince Jacaerys lunged for your son after Prince Aegon had stepped away from the fight, your Grace.”
Daemon cocked his head and leaned forward, resting his chin on his palm. “Oh it’s a fight now? Before you called it a mere mishap and didn’t at all mention a hit landing on anyone.”
Cole opened his mouth to defend himself, or maybe just to insult Daemon, but Viserys interrupted him. “Enough squabbling! I’ve heard enough. Ser Cole, you are dismissed for the day, I will deal with your part in this later.” He waited until Cole fled from the room, face flushed with shame, and then he turned back to Rhaenys. “Is Luke alright? Has he seen a Maester?”
“He returned back to his room with Laenor and his brother before I had the chance to check on him myself,” She answered, “But my son will have ensured he saw a Maester. If I may, cousin, I have a request in this matter.”
“Of course.”
Rhaenys took a moment to breathe and compose herself, so that she didn’t appear rash or vindictive against Cole or as if she was casting a slight on Prince Aegon. “I would request Prince Aegon be reprimanded for his actions, so that a precedent will not be set that the Prince’s can harm each other to settle any differences they might have, and I would also request that Ser Cole be stripped of his title as a member of the Kingsguard.”
Corlys, unsurprisingly, was nodding along with her requests, though he remained silent, trusting her to advocate for both of their wants and for the safety of their family. Daemon was nodding along as well, most likely waiting for his own chance to get rid of Cole, given how much he despised the man after he bested him in combat.
Like she expected, as soon as she was done making her request, Daemon did in fact throw his own gauntlet into the ring. “Cole clearly plays favorites among the princes, brother, if you let him continue as he is, you’d be risking the safety of the Princes who don’t have his favor. The Kingsguard have sworn to protect the entire royal family, including the sons of your own Heir and he very clearly is either unwilling or unable to uphold that oath.”
Viserys mulled the requests over, but like he always had, and just like she expected him too, he inevitably chose the middle route. “I will reprimand Aegon, and ensure that he does not repeat this incident. I will take your other request under advisement, I wish to talk to Cole himself as well as Aegon and Jace before I make a decision to remove him from his position.” He sighed as he contemplated his next words. “If I have any misgivings on his ability to uphold his oath, I will take the proper steps to remedy that.”
Rhaenys acquiesced to his decision. If he continued to act as she expected, he would put Cole on watch and have most likely either Westerling or Darklyn shadow him for a while and report back on whether or not he truly was playing favorites. She knew enough of men to know that Cole would see this coming, and be on his best behavior for just long enough to pass muster then he would resort to his old ways, as most men did.
She would be prepared for when he went back to his tricks, between herself, Corlys, and Daemon, they’d be able to keep an eye on Cole and show his true self to Viserys, of that she had no doubt.
She may not have gotten exactly what she wanted today but she had laid the groundwork and assembled her allies to win what she wanted later, as any true strategist did.
With her plans set into motion, she gestured for her husband to join her side and bowed to her cousin before making a swift exit so she and Corlys could go check on their grandsons. She would have to make a cursory reprimand to Jace about fighting with his uncle, just to keep up appearances, but she’d soften it with something nice afterwards.
Luke would need to rest, likely for most of the day at least, but she could still make good on her promise to take the two of them to the bay to see the ships.
“You’re sad.” Jace nearly choked on his drink as he was violently pulled from stewing in his own thoughts about everything that had transpired during the day, and the scolding he had received for fighting with Uncle Aegon. The water shoved its way down his throat in the worst way possible as he gasped, and then it immediately forced its way back out like it was being pulled straight out of his throat and he nearly retched with the force of his coughing fit.
Beside him - gods only knew how long his brother had been there instead of in bed like he was supposed to be, silent as he always was when he got into one of his moods - was Lucerys, looking up at him with his sweet orchid doe eyes. Those eyes taunted him. Every time he heard whispers in the training yard, each time he caught people staring at him, comparing him to his brother, his mother, his father, those eyes were there in the back of his mind.
They were a stark symbol of everything he should be, and everything he wasn’t. But gods he loved them. As much as they hurt to look at he couldn’t stop himself. They were his brother’s eyes and no matter how many times his darkest thoughts tried to turn his own disgusting self-hatred against them…he couldn’t help but love them. Not when they were attached to his Lucerys, his beloved baby brother.
Lucerys only ever used them to look at him with love, devotion and kindness, how could he possibly repay that by hating them? He could hate himself, and his own parentage, but he could never hate Luke.
“What?”
“You’re sad,” Luke repeated, “I can feel it. It’s keeping you awake, and you almost boiled over down in the yard.”
Luke shoved one of the chairs away from the table, and then heaved himself up onto it. Somehow he managed to make climbing onto a chair look regal, ever the perfect prince with his soft curls and perfect eyes. When he was settled he pulled his seahorse from his pocket and took Jace’s hand, pressing the wood carving into his palm. “Gerardys will make you feel less sad for a little bit.”
He wasn’t wrong.
Strangely, the carving did make him feel a bit better, because it was Luke that had handed it to him. Another sign of his brother’s love.
He gripped the toy in his fist hard enough to hear the wood creak. “Thanks.”
Two purple eyes stared at him.
“Yes, alright, I’m sad.” He sighed. Luke kept staring at him. Watching. Waiting. “I don’t look like you, okay? I don’t look like you, and that’s what’s making me sad.” The fact that he wasn’t trueborn like Luke was conveniently left unsaid. He was sad and weak, not even a minute had passed with those eyes staring at him and he was already spilling his heart out to his little brother.
“You’re pretty.”
Jace sputtered at that, the statement catching him completely off guard. Something only his brother seemed capable of doing. “What does that have to do with anything?! And I’m a boy, boys are handsome, not pretty!”
A moment slugged on, the silence that followed tense to Jace but he knew that to Luke it probably didn’t even register. Luke was prone to bouts of silence and staring off into cups or candlelight at the strangest of moments. Grandfather jested that it must be him communing with the gods, that others would say their prayers under their breath or in the quiet of the sept, and Luke would just stare off into the distance.
“Anyone can be pretty,” His brother said tonelessly, and when Jace tried to follow his vacant gaze all he could see was his own goblet full of water resting on the table, “Grandfather and Father are pretty.”
“That’s the problem, Luke! Grandfather and Father look alike. You and Mother look alike, you and Grandmother look alike, grandsire even says you look like Grandmother Aemma. I don’t! I don’t look like any of you!” He yelled desperately while tears started welling up in his eyes. The seahorse in his grasp shifted, his own bones groaning at the force of his anger but he couldn’t bring himself to care.
Voicing the source of his hurt only made it feel worse. Like he was making it more real but saying it outloud, by risking someone overhearing his fears. Tears dripped from his chin.
He didn’t look like any of House Targaryen, and he certainly didn’t look like anyone from House Velaryon. Because he wasn’t. His mother may have never said it aloud, or ever allowed anyone else to so much as allude to it in his presence and Grandmother may try to assuage his fears by comparing him to House Baratheon, but he knew. He knew that he was Harwin Strong’s son. Everyday the man all but confirmed it, treating him with the utmost love and care, coming to check up on their mother, even helping with Jace’s training when he saw how hard Cole had been on him before Luke had gotten sick.
It had only gotten more and more apparent as Luke recovered. Instead of splitting time and effort between the two of them like he had before, Harwin had seemingly focused in on Jace, probably because of the way Luke had reacted to being introduced to him. Now he was trying to keep a tenuous hold on the only child he had, and in the process all he did was inflame the rumors running the castle and make Jace’s own fears even worse. Every time Harwin came around Jace would hear the snide remarks about his own appearance and the similarities increase.
And the most damning thing was Jace looked Exactly. Like. Him.
Jace had gotten his mother’s nose and nothing else.
His hair color, his eye color, his skin, everything was Strong. He was a Strong bastard and everyone including him knew it, even if his family pretended they didn’t. The only two who managed to seem completely oblivious to the rumors were Lord Corlys and Lucerys. Lord Corlys because he was so far in denial that Harwin could probably announce it himself and the Sea Snake would reject it, and Lucerys because…well, he was Lucerys. He somehow managed to know nothing at all and yet know everything.
Lucerys, who was grabbing at his hand and pulling it to him, eyes still empty. His little brother traced over his fingers, playing at the ring mother had given him two days ago with a three headed dragon cast into it. “Do you want to look like me?”
“Luke -” Jace fumbled as he tried to find the right words, trying to find some way to explain to his strange little brother that he couldn’t just somehow look like him. Even as the words stung his heart, he didn’t want to hurt Luke’s feelings. “I can’t just look like you, Luke, that’s not how it works.”
“You can,” He said, as if it were truly that simple. Like Jace could just will himself into having white hair and purple eyes and true Velaryon blood like everyone wanted him to have.
He took a deep breath and let it out, the same way he had seen Grandmother Rhaenys do when Laenor said something particularly stupid. He could do this, he just needed to be calm, and reassuring, and gentle. It was just telling his brother that they couldn’t possibly look alike without upsetting him.
Mother said things without upsetting people all the time, it couldn’t be too hard.
“I can make you look like me.” Whatever words he was going to say died on his tongue, each word was like a slap in the face.
Who knew his brother could be so cruel.
“You don’t have enough water for me to use, but the fire can make you look like me!” Gods it felt like Luke had taken a knife and stabbed him right through the heart, but Luke looked absolutely elated, cheerful in a way that no one else could replicate.
Luke slipped from his seat and grabbed his hand, yanking on him so hard he nearly fell right off his chair. He pulled him along behind him for nearly three hallways before Jace finally jolted back to his senses.
He planted his feet on the ground and forced them both to stop. A quick glance around the hallway showed that there weren't any guards or servants nearby, but that still didn’t mean it was good for them to be out here all alone.
The emptiness in Luke’s eyes was gone when he turned around to look at him, thankfully, replaced by a single minded stubbornness that rarely showed itself. “Luke, you know Mother and Father don’t want you running around alone, and we aren’t supposed to go out right now after what happened with Uncle Aegon. You wanted to sleep, remember?.”
‘“But I’m going to make you like me!” Luke whined.
“No - just - look, Luke, I’ll never be like you.” He took Luke by the shoulders and made him look him in the eyes. “You and I are different, and it makes me sad right now,” Just be strong, Jacaerys, for once maybe him being a Strong bastard might come in handy. He felt himself wince at his own thoughts, but forced himself to carry on. “But I’ll get over it eventually. I’m a Targaryen, I’m mother’s son.”
Maybe if he said that enough it’d feel true. “Whatever it is you think you can do, it won’t work. I just need some time, okay, I’ll be fine. I just need to get over the fact that you don’t look like me anymore.”
And there it was. Out in the open, cutting him deeper than the knowledge of being Harwin Strong’s bastard. His baby brother, the one he’s had for three years, the one he was so terrified of losing, didn’t look like him anymore. He was beautiful and sweet and loving and perfect. But he didn’t look like him.
His curly brown hair and his big brown eyes were gone just like Jace’s credibility as a trueborn son. Somehow that hurt worse than being a bastard. He could get over being a bastard, he could masquerade as a trueborn prince for his parents, but his little brother no longer looked like him. He was no longer his in the way he used to be.
It hurt him worse than almost anything else. The only thing that struck more fear and pain into him was the possibility of Luke learning of his bastardry and denouncing him just like everyone who believed the rumors did.
It would kill him to have his brother look at him and know he was no trueborn son, to have Luke look at him with the same reluctance that he looked at Harwin with.
For a split second as the thoughts and distress dug into his mind once again, he considered letting Luke try whatever he thought would change his appearance.
End of Chapter 11
Alright everybody, you get a choice! There's been some comments both for/against Jace's appearance changing, so I wanted to leave the decision up to you guys. Let me know in the comments whether or not you want him to undergo an appearance change!
It won't affect the primary storyline, and I already have a screen for his appearance not changing and one for it changing, so it all just depends on what you guys want, as a little thank you for being so interactive in the comments and for showing your love for this fic so far!!
Notes:
So! Thank you for reading, let me know if you liked the chapter in the comments!
Also, just as an aside - Even though Luke doesn't like Harwin, he's not gonna be thrown aside, and we will still have Joff (and he still will be Harwin's son) later on! So if you're scared im gonna disrespect the Amazing Man that is Harwin, don't worry.
Chapter 12: Chapter 12
Summary:
Things. Heat. Up.
Jace has an adventure, Luke has an adventure, The adults are confused, Magic is discussed, and Someone has been very naughty.
Larys Strong is warning in and of himself, and we are getting into some darker themes now!
Notes:
Soooooo. The votes were overwhelmingly for Jace to change, so that's what we've got. I did try to make it so it took some of the comments about maybe not changing him completely were taken into account, and well as the few comments that talked about wanting to see Jace's emotional struggle, so I tried my best to fit everyone's wants in the best I could.
Also, if this chapter reads a bit weird, its because I had to switch things around plot wise. Originally we were supposed to start Major Conflict #1 in this chapter, but as I was writing I realized I would have to kill off two characters that I need alive for later, so instead I swapped Major Conflict #1 out to be later in the fic, and replaced it with Major Conflict #2. Hopefully its still an enjoyable chapter!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Chapter 12
Jace thought back to that afternoon in the training yard, to what his Aunt had said to him. “Many times the fire has married into the sea. There is both salt and flame, though neither can be seen.” It hadn’t made any sense to him at the time, but now, after what Luke had said to him in the hallway…could she have been talking about him?
Could she have somehow meant that he was, in part, a true Velaryon? That he had the same blood that ran through Grandfather, Laenor, and Luke's veins within him and it just couldn’t be seen?
Luke had said much of the same…that he had water in his veins but there wasn’t enough for him to use it to change Jace’s appearance, that he could use the fire to change him. And Grandmother had recently taken to telling him stories about Jocelyn Baratheon, comparing his behaviors to her and her line.
Maybe he truly was a Velaryon and the Baratheon blood is what had come forward. He wanted to believe that, really he did. He wanted to be a trueborn son, but it sounded too good to be true. If he was a true Velaryon, why did Harwin treat him like he was his son? Why would Mother be so attached to Ser Harwin, let the man guide him and teach him and act like a father behind closed doors if he wasn’t his true father?
He had so many questions and no one to answer them, and no time to contemplate them.
He couldn’t go to Ser Laenor or any of House Velaryon without risking harming his mother, he couldn’t go to mother without risking upsetting her, he certainly couldn’t go to Harwin. Asking Aunt Helaena to elaborate could easily be used against his mother later should anyone overhear it.
The only one he could possibly ask was Luke, but he didn’t want to ask him. What if his brother put two and two together and started realizing that he might be a bastard?
No. He couldn’t risk Luke seeing him differently, and possibly pulling away from him to be with all the true Velaryon’s. Especially now that their cousins were in King’s Landing, he had two prime examples of Velaryon heritage that he could run to and learn to love and replace Jace with.
Baela and Rhaena were both nice and kind and exactly like Luke, while he was nothing like his brother. He was possessive, jealous, and rash, the complete opposite of Luke.
But shouldn’t he at least try whatever Luke wanted to do? It could reveal his true heritage without him risking asking around and ruining his mother’s reputation in the process.
At the same time what if it didn’t work? What if whatever Luke was going to do only gave him false hope and he had bastard’s blood that won out and ruined it for them both? Was it even worth trying when the risk was so high? Was it worth getting his hopes up only to be left wanting?
Jace wanted it. He wanted it desperately, not even to prove himself as a trueborn, but just so that he could be connected to his brother again. So that he could look at Luke and not feel the heart wrenching guilt he suffered through everyday, so that he wouldn’t have to watch his every move and wonder when Luke’s resentment of him being a bastard would come.
It felt like his thoughts were going to tear him in half.
Take the chance that Luke could change him, and also take the risk of confirming his bastard status if his brother couldn’t change him. It was an impossible choice.
He wanted his brother. He would do anything to stay with Luke. If he ignored possibly being trueborn or being bastard born, if he ignored all the risks and focused only on his brother…he’d take any risk if it gave him even a tiny chance to have Luke be connected to him again, for his brother to be irrefutably his again.
He centered himself with a deep breath, letting the hope for being connected to his brother again settle in his bones and then laced his fingers with Luke’s. “Okay,” He said, for once in his life completely at peace with his decision, “If you think you can make me look like you, then we’ll try it.”
Luke beamed back at him, the same way he always did and it made Jace’s heart sing. His brother tugged him forward once again, leading him through the halls in complete and utter silence.
If he hadn’t been so caught up in the dream that he could be fully connected to Luke again, he might have noticed and questioned how easily they were bypassing the plethora of guards that should have been between them and the outside world, but he didn’t. It felt as though the two of them were in their own little world, a bubble with just the two of them inside dodging and weaving through the halls unnoticed by anyone.
He was too focused on thinking about him and Luke to notice where they were going, or how they were getting there, all he saw was his brother. It wasn’t until they actually got outside that he realized just how far away they had gotten from the Keep.
“Luke…” Jace started hesitantly as the Keep disappeared from sight behind them, and the Dragonpit loomed in front. “Where exactly are we going?”
His brother kept tugging him along through the streets, “We’re going to Vermax!”
That sounded like a bad idea. The dragon masters had warned them both since they were babes just learning to walk to not go into the pits alone, that while their bonded dragons might greet them warmly, the other dragons would not take kindly to children trampling through their nesting grounds. Going into the pits alone to grab Vermax and take him for a flight also didn’t sound like a good decision to make either.
“I don’t think we should go flying without telling anyone.”
Luke didn’t stop, but he did look back at him with a look of confusion, “We aren’t going to fly.”
“You said we were going to get Vermax.”
“Yes.” He nodded.
Jace tried to parse the response in his mind, before quickly abandoning the idea of figuring out what Luke meant himself. “If we aren’t going to fly somewhere, what are we going to do with Vermax?”
That finally got Luke to stop and turn to face him with a serious look. “Vermax is going to help.” Jace nodded along, he had gotten that part down himself, “You’re bonded with him and you love me enough that he wants to bond with me,” Jace nodded again, that made sense, and he had told Grandmother that much himself when they had introduced Luke to him. “Vermax will let me help him change you.”
That had him lost once again. Luke was going to change him…through Vermax? Vermax was going to use Luke to change him? …Perhaps it was just better for Jace to wait and see, before he lost his earlier confidence altogether and took them both back to the keep.
Against his better judgment, Jace nodded along a third time instead of voicing his concern. “Okay.”
The acceptance spurred them both back into movement and once again they continued through the streets, no one even looking twice at the two of them brushing past their legs. Until finally they arrived at the edge of the dragonpit. It was just as easy to get inside without alerting any of the dragon masters as it had been to escape the Keep, a feat Jace had previously thought impossible.
Luke led them through the halls and down into the pits with an almost concerning amount of ease, and even when they walked past Ceraxes and then Sunfyre’s pit to get to where Vermax was held, neither dragon reacted.
Vermax, however, did react to their presence. His dragon shook himself awake as they turned the corner into his pit, trilling at both of them and stalking over to meet them when they came to a stop. He nosed at Jace like he usually did, and then did the same to Luke as they both reached out to pet him. Jace had to shush him twice as he groaned and crooned out his pleasure, not wanting him to accidentally alert the masters and get them caught before they could do whatever it was Luke wanted.
“Hello, my friend.” He whispered in Valyrian against the dragon’s snout, happy to see him and still riding on the elation that came from his hope.
Luke gently tugged on his hand, pulling him away from his dragon but only slightly, “We need to stand in front of him.”
They both stood in front of Vermax, who was watching them curiously, though he didn't try to follow them. “Are you going to stand here too?” Jace asked, suddenly worried as he realized that Luke hadn’t stepped away and was still by his side. “Won’t this hurt you?”
“Balerion won’t let the fire hurt me, and neither will Vermax.” Luke said. “I have to be here to help you, they can’t change you if I’m not binding us.”
“So you’ll bond to Vermax like I have and then that’ll change me?”
“Balerion will use the fire in your blood to change you.” Luke started patiently, “Vermax’s flames can make the change, and I’m connecting Vermax and Balerion to you.”
That still didn’t make sense to him but Luke's sheer confidence that ‘Balerion’ would keep him safe was enough for Jace. Luke hadn’t ever lied to him, he didn’t think he would start now.
Luke squeezed his hand. He didn’t say any magic spells, or do anything, or even say a Valryian command to Vermax. He just turned the two of them towards the dragon and looked at Vermax and then they were being engulfed in flame.
It didn’t hurt - thank the gods it didn’t hurt, he didn’t want his brother getting injured - though it did feel strange.
Like something was shifting and moving within him, like the fire his mother claimed to be in his veins was bursting into life. The fire around the two of them roared in tune with whatever was inside of him and he could feel them moving together, moving him together. To his shock, it didn’t feel like he was becoming something new, or changing into something else, it just felt like what he already had been was settling down differently.
The fire died down around them eventually, revealing Luke still standing beside him - completely unburnt except for his clothing which had been burned off - their hands still linked, and Vermax in front of them.
His dragon immediately rushed over to them both, chirping so loudly it hurt his ears. He nosed at them, bumping them around the cave with his snout, and the rough feel of kicked up sand against his bare skin was what made him realize that his own clothes had been burned off as well. The only thing left of what they had entered with was the small dagger that Jace had been gifted by Ser Harwin earlier that day.
It was laying on the ground half covered in sand and glinting in the dying embers of Vermax’s flames. He dove for it and practically ripped it out of its sheath, turning it to catch the light and reveal his reflection.
“It worked…” Jace’s voice trembled as he took in the change. His hair was still darker than Luke and his Uncles, but only by a mere shade or two. It was closer to the gray cast white of Grandfather Corlys and Ser Laenor’s hair, even closer to theirs than Luke’s was. His eyes were a very dark purple that could be mistaken for brown if he hadn’t been near a light, but the purple was there. He was like his brother once again.
Without hesitation he dropped the dagger and grabbed Luke instead, pulling his beloved baby brother into his arms and pressing his face into his hair. “I love you, I love you, I love you so much Luke,” He sobbed out.
“I know,” His brother replied, curling up in his arms and making himself so small that Jace felt like he could hold him tight enough to morph them into one person, “I can feel your love, I love you too.”
The words cracked the barrier around his heart that his fear had built, and he felt it all fall away so that his love could truly shine through.
Vermax crooned out his love too, crawling forward to curl himself around them, his wings shielding them from the rest of the world as he tucked his head under his tail.
That was exactly how the dragon masters and granduncle Daemon found them some time later, sitting naked on the ground with Vermax curled around them.
Alicent paced frantically across the length of her chambers, every second that ticked by only increasing her already mounted anxiety. She wasn’t sure what was going on, not yet, but she knew something had happened. She, Viserys, and their children had been suffering through a tense and silent dinner after the wrongful scolding Viserys had levied at Aegon for supposedly striking his nephew.
She didn’t believe for a single second that it happened however Rhaenys Targaryen alleged it had. It didn’t matter that Aegon had admitted to it himself, there was no way her son would do something so stupid as punch Lucerys Velaryon in the head while others watched on.
In front of several ladies from court, no less. Even her foolish son wouldn’t be so brazen.
If he had punched Lucerys he would have done it without witnesses and surely the boy - or his bastard brother - would have provoked him first, in which case it would be their fault. Or it would have happened during the normal course of training, where boys constantly harmed each other. His actions should have been summarily dismissed and not so harshly reprimanded, given that he was a Prince and the rightful heir to the Iron Throne.
Instead Viserys had given him a verbal lashing in front of their entire brood and forced their sons to promise him they wouldn’t go around harming their nephews. What could have been a normal dinner was ruined by the unsubtle glares Viserys was giving Aegon and to make matters worse, halfway through Ser Westerling had entered the hall and come to whisper something into her husband's ear.
She hadn’t heard what was said, they had spoken too softly, but from the way Viserys had shot up out of his chair and hustled out of the room without even a single word, she knew something bad was happening. Whether it was something bad for her and her family, or something bad for someone else was yet to be seen.
“My Queen.”
Alicent turned around at the sound of Larys’ voice, half relieved that someone who could give her information had arrived and half fretting over the cost she would have to pay to get the information she needed. She never liked having to meet with Larys, but with Cole unable to give her information and the knowledge that Viserys himself would be reluctant, she needed to get it from somewhere.
Larys was an unpleasant but necessary evil.
She forced a smile on her face, “My Lord, thank you for responding to my summons so quickly, there is an urgent matter I wish to discuss,” She gestured to the set of seats occupying the sitting area of her chambers, “Please, sit.”
“Of course, your Grace, I live to serve.” He answered cryptically as he took his usual seat by the hearth, in full view of the small footstool positioned between the two seats. “Which urgent matter do you require information on?”
“Earlier the King made a swift exit alongside Ser Westerling, I don’t suppose you might know what may have required such urgency, would you?”
Larys hummed to himself, staring at the space on the stool where her feet would occupy while he contemplated the request. “I am aware there were some happenings going on near the Dragonpit this afternoon, and I was made aware that Prince Daemon was involved in some capacity, though I don’t know the true meaning behind what happened.”
Alicent felt her face flush with annoyance, “And that’s all you know? That something happened with Daemon and nothing else?” That didn’t help her at all, nor was it worth the price she would have to pay for it. While it made sense that her husband would flee their hall with such urgency if Daemon was involved in something less than savory, it gave her nothing to use against anyone.
Larys was usually a much more in depth well of information that could be used to stave off her enemies, this knowledge was about as helpful as asking a serving maid if she had seen Daemon around the castle lately.
He seemed to sense her dissatisfaction with his answer, “I will find out more information, of course, however given that it only happened mere hours ago and you sent such a swift summons, I was unable to peruse my normal informants.” He frowned, the carefully crafted mask that he always wore slipping for a mere fraction of a second, “I would not be adverse to…delaying payment till after I retrieve a deeper understanding of these events.”
Alicent breathed a sigh of relief and tucked her still socked feet under the edge of the chair she was sitting on. “Thank you, my Lord, I will await your update as soon as you acquire it.” It was a veiled dismissal, and one that thankfully Larys picked up on without further question.
As he was nearing the doors to her chamber however, she thought of another use for the man, one that could pan out far sooner than him digging for information on this supposed incident. It would cost her, but she needed to pool her allies together now that Cole was unable to keep an eye on the children for her, and now that House Velaryon was beginning to assemble their own allies.
If Daemon and Laena had stayed in Essos for longer and if Aegon hadn't been so stupid as to leave Cole vulnerable with his bad behavior she could have just let Larys leave and dealt with him when he got his information. Now she’d need to pay him twice, because of her foolish son.
“Actually, my Lord, I believe I have a different request as well.” She called hesitantly, before he could fully leave.
Larys turned back to her, the curiosity plain on his face as he made his way back to his chair. He didn’t sit this time, he just stood next to the seat and waited for her to elaborate.
“Your father is Hand of the King, is he not?”
“He is,” Larys said easily.
“And you have his ear as his son, do you not?”
That had him stepping around the chair and settling himself into it with an air of satisfaction. “I do, your Grace, however his ear comes with a higher price than mere information does.”
She waved the obvious inquiry away. She knew that asking him to influence the Hand of the King would come at a higher price than just asking him for information. She didn’t like it, nor did she want to have to pay what he would ask, but she had to. Aegon had left her with no other choice. “I assumed as much, and I am willing to pay it. I want you to persuade your father to counsel Viserys to invite my father back to King’s Landing.”
Larys blinked. “That is…quite the request, your Grace. While the true reason behind your father’s dismissal isn’t known to the public, both my father and the King know well why he was dismissed.”
“I know, I know,” She conceded the point, and pushed forward. “However, you are a persuasive man and the King should hopefully have lost some of his anger towards my father by now. Lord Lyonel is persuasive as well, surely between the two of you, you can muster up a simple invitation for my own father.”
Once again Larys silently contemplated the request. She knew how big of a request it was, her father had vastly overplayed his hand and had fallen from the King’s grace as a result. While she believed that her husband could have gotten over the slight in the years since, she also knew that his recent repudiation of her wants might have washed away any good will time might have granted her father.
She needed her father here with her, she needed his counsel to move forward.
Cole was tenuously holding on to his position as a member of the Kingsguard, Lucerys was single handedly erasing the most obvious signs of Rhaenyra’s sins, and now Princess Rhaenys was stepping in to cover for Rhaenyra’s lack of political fortitude.
Rhaenyra was once again being shielded from the consequences of her actions without even lifting a finger herself, and Alicent was once again paying the price for her former friend. House Velaryon and her own Husband were both rallying behind Rhaenyra in a show of support that Alicent herself could never dream of.
It was an affront to the gods themselves.
As much as she hated to admit it, even to herself, she stood no chance against Princess Rhaenys, Lord Corlys and Prince Daemon all working together for the downfall of her family. She had been able to use Rhaenys’ open disdain for her ‘grandsons’ and Daemon’s absence to show people Rhaenyra’s true character before, but now Rhaenys was backing those children as if Lucerys was a carbon copy of Laenor himself.
All of this because Rhaenyra managed to change Lucerys’ hair and eyes. Alicent had given Viserys three trueborn sons and a trueborn daughter, and Rhaenyra still somehow outclassed her with two bastard sons.
Her father might not be able to pull Viserys from his delusions about his grandchildren, but he could at least guide the rest of the realm into seeing those boys for what they truly were.
“I suppose it won’t harm anything to simply make an attempt, though I can’t promise that my father will be willing or even capable of doing what you seek.” He answered eventually. He sounded convinced that he wouldn’t succeed, but an outright refusal to try wouldn’t get him what he wanted. “I will do my best to fulfill this request, your Grace.”
She exhaled and lifted up just the bare edges of her dress so that she could pull her stockings off. “That will have to do.”
She placed her bare feet on the stool as she usually did, and moved to turn herself away so that she wouldn’t have to watch his acts. To her surprise instead of getting it over with, Larys cleared his throat to get her attention.
“If I may, the new price I’d name is for me to…touch.” He breathed reverently, “Just one foot will do, your Grace.”
As if touching one foot was a small ask. Alicent was utterly repulsed by the request, but she had told him she’d pay his price, and she needed her father. Alicent grit her teeth and allowed him to reach down and pick up her left foot to place it in his lap. Bile rose in her throat as his…depravity was pulled out and pressed against the arch of her foot.
This act was absolutely vile and she had to clench her jaw and close her eyes just to get through it. It was for her family, for their safety and their future, and the future of the realm. The realm would be in shambles if she didn’t protect it, if she didn’t keep Rhaenyra from taking the throne. Westeros would eat itself alive if it was ruled by a Queen instead of a King.
She could get through this just as she got through bearing Viserys four children, and just as she got through every time she was slighted by Rhaenyra being propped up as heir over her own children. Alicent could ignore the feeling of Larys spilling his sins over her skin just as she ignored it when Viserys spilled inside of her.
“Mother, I heard Ser Cole -” Aegon stared at the two of them in shock, his mouth dropped open and eyes wider than Alicent had ever seen them. Larys had the decency to shove himself back in his trousers and immediately flee the room without further comment while she covered her feet with her dress and stood.
Her son still stood staring at her. “Aegon, I need you to listen to me.”
“How long have you been whoring yourself?” He whispered, the shock finally giving way to disgust as the scene registered, “You harp at us day in and day out about our half-sister being a whore and giving herself over to Ser Harwin Strong despite her marriage and here you are doing just that with his cripple of a brother!”
Before she could think her arm lashed out, slapping Aegon hard enough to throw him to the ground in front of her as her emotions skyrocketed. Fear, shame, guilt, and disgust warred within her. “I am protecting this family! I have done nothing except my duty, providing the King with true heirs, and you will not talk to me like that. I am your Mother!”
“You’re a whore!” He shouted back, “You accuse Rhaenyra of these same acts and spread those vile rumors just to keep eyes off of your own actions, don’t you?” She watched as understanding dawned across his face, “You are cuckolding the King! Your own actions would get us killed if anyone found out about this, not Rhaenyra killing us to secure the throne!”
He picked himself up off the floor and shoved her away when she tried to offer comfort. “Aegon, you’ve got this wrong, it was not what it looked like!”
“It was exactly what it looked like! You do exactly what you forsake in others, and then portray yourself as a godly woman.” Aegon spat out, looking at her with pure disdain as he turned on his heel and stormed out of her chambers without another word.
The words felt like they were rending her heart in two, echoing so many of the shameful thoughts and feelings that her own mind had thrown at her countless times before. She collapsed back into her chair with a sob, hoping desperately that Aegon at least had enough self preservation to not take this revelation to the King.
If he made the mistake of telling his father about what he saw, they’d all be dead by morning and there’d be no one to stop Rhaenyra from destroying the realm.
Rhaenyra kept holding her hand to Jace’s face, brushing back his hair - his white hair, her eldest boy had white hair now she had to keep telling herself - and checking for fever. “You are sure you feel alright, Jace?” She asked for the umpteenth time. Jace nodded yet again and let her do what she wished, “You don’t feel warm? Faint? Nothing at all?”
“I feel fine, mother, I feel better than I ever have before!” It was the same answer he had given her each time she asked, and it was the same answer he had given to his grandparents and Laenor as well when they asked.
Truthfully he didn’t seem any different than he had been earlier that day but she couldn’t help worrying. The only time she had seen anything like this happen was with Luke, and he had spent seven days waylaid with a near fatal fever and he had come back strange. She didn’t want to risk a repeat performance even if Jace’s change lightened her heart just a fraction.
She kissed his hair, and kissed Luke’s curls before drawing them both closer to her chest, they came towards her easily and curled up against her. Luke was content in her lap, and Jace hadn’t let go of him nor stopped looking at him with unadulterated awe since Daemon had brought the two of them back.
He hadn’t even flinched when she had taken them both in her arms. She prayed to the fourteen flames silently that this was a blessing bestowed upon them by the gods of Old Valyria and not some horrible test like Luke had been.
Maybe Jace could come out of this without any illness or strife. Perhaps this was brought on by his anxiety and fear of losing his brother, perhaps that had been the true test and he had survived it. Luke had been given a near death experience to prove his legitimacy, and…well, Rhaenyra wouldn’t be surprised if all of the hardships Jace had experienced since Luke’s fever were collectively enough to equal near death.
Her son could pretend all he wanted that he was prim and proper, trying to be the perfect prince for her and the realm, but she knew just how much emotion he had simmering under his exterior. It was plain for her to see just how deeply Jace loved his brother and his mounting fear of losing Luke most likely felt like a slow painful death to him.
Luke had nearly been taken by fever and Jace had nearly been taken by emotion.
Rhaenyra could only hope that her future children didn’t have to go through this amount of turmoil just to look like true Targaryens.
Just the two she had were already taking years off her life every time she turned around and found them gone.
“We need to find some way to keep them out of all this trouble.” Rhaenys sighed as she sat down on the lounge next to them. “They shouldn’t have been able to sneak past all the guards we have here.”
That was something Rhaenyra herself had been thinking as well. She, Laenor, Qarl and Harwin had all been in the adjoining room after Luke and Jace had stormed in from the training yards, and Rhaenys and Corlys hadn’t been far off in their own quarters on the other side of her apartments either.
Yet somehow the both of them had slipped out of their room when they should have been sleeping after the maester left. That had been a shock as well, her children had gone out for Jace to train after that disastrous meeting, only for them to return in the middle of her consoling Harwin with a confused Laenor in tow. She was even more shocked to find out that Luke had been punched in the head by her half-brother, appearing perfectly fine and not upset at being hit.
The sun hadn’t even set for the day before the two of them went galavanting off on some adventure.
None of them had even noticed they were gone until Daemon had wandered in with one of them in each arm and his confused daughters trailing in after him.
Her uncle had already been halfway through his explanation of how he had found them curled up underneath Vermax, naked and reluctant to talk or separate from one another, before she realized it was both her boys in his arms.
She could obviously see it was Luke but it took her a moment to register that Jace was actually Jace with white hair and wrapped in Daemon’s cloak. Laenor and Rhaenys had to take a moment as well, it was only Lord Corlys who seemed to have the uncanny ability to just know it was his grandsons. Corlys had stormed straight over to them and marveled at the change, going so far as to compare Jace’s hair to his own, and sure enough the shade was almost exactly the same.
Jace’s eyes were a bit easier to parse, because they still were quite dark. She almost hadn’t noticed they were purple at first until the light from the hearth had flickered across them and the true shade was highlighted. Those who saw him in public in the full light of the sun would notice but those who would be around him in private would still be able to see bits of the old eyes he had been born with.
The most obvious change, even more so than his hair, was within Jace himself. He looked lighter. Each breath seemed to come easier, his shoulders weren’t constantly hunched, he wasn’t grasping onto Luke like he was expecting him to be ripped away. His smiles were calmer and he just seemed happier.
It soothed some of her worst fears, how would her son seem so happy and content if he was hurting, though not all of them disappeared. She could let go of the worries about the rumors of Jace being Harwin’s bastard, because it was much harder to pick out any similarities between them with his hair being as it was. And perhaps it was merely her brain tricking her, but when Jace had laughed at Lord Corlys’ compliments, he had sounded almost exactly like her own father had in her youth; bold and bright and boisterous.
She had to force her mind back to the question at hand. How her sons - Luke, really - seemed to keep slipping away without anyone noticing. Someone should have noticed them wandering around. For them to get all the way to the Dragonpit should not have been possible. “They shouldn’t have been able to, but they did.” She said solemnly. “I don’t know how.”
Part of her wanted to just brush it off as just another strange happening surrounding Luke - and that was a far easier answer to look to - but just brushing things aside now unfortunately wouldn’t help them avoid it in the future.
Rhaenys hummed. “We could bring more guards, but unless we know how they leave, it won’t do much good.” She glanced down at the boys, watching with amused eyes as the boys settled in to sleep, conveniently before they could be questioned on what had caused Jace’s appearance to change. “I haven’t had the chance to talk with you about it, but I believe Luke may be a dreamer, among other things.”
Her eyes nearly bugged out of her head at the admission. Admittedly, she herself had contemplated it briefly. Luke would sometimes just know things that he shouldn’t, like his knowledge about Meleys, and he would suddenly stare off at nothing and he was…strange in a way she couldn’t quite place. Rhaenyra had tried to pinpoint what felt off, but the only thing she could compare it to was the way her half-sister Helaena acted.
Luke having dragon dreams could explain some of his behaviors.
It still didn’t explain how he kept slipping away unnoticed. As far as she was aware dragon dreams showed a possible future, they didn’t obscure a child from view.
“Do you believe that he is getting glimpses of routes to take?” She asked. “The gods are giving him escape routes?”
“I can’t say exactly. Getting a possible route from one place to another would be incredibly myopic for a vision, I believe he has a greater connection to our ancestors' magic than anyone has realized.” Once again she stopped to look at both of her grandsons. “There is much that no one knows about the magic of Valyria. Magic connects us to our dragons and it can give prophetic dreams, we do not know what else it can do.” Rhaenys let the insinuation hang in the air.
That was a terrifying notion. If Luke truly had some unknown magic abilities, gods only knew what could happen in the future, they knew next to nothing about magic, which meant anything could happen. “So you think that Luke may have other abilities?”
Rhaenys shrugged but Rhaenyra could see plain on her face that she believed what she was saying. “I believe so, yes. It would explain quite a lot about him, wouldn’t you agree?”
“It would,” She agreed hesitantly, she didn’t want to agree to it, she didn’t want her sweet boy to have some strange magical abilities or have some destiny greater than just being the heir to House Velaryon. She knew well how big of a burden destiny could be and she didn’t wish that on anyone.
“We’ll have to keep a closer eye on him, and Jace as well.” Rhaenys gestured to the rest of the room, “Not only to see if we can get a glimpse of this magic, but also to protect them. As I’m sure you well know our family has more than a few enemies here in the capital working against your inheritance,” Alicent’s name was left unsaid but Rhaenyra could hear it all the same, along with Otto’s and Ser Cole’s, “Even without the possibility of magic, their safety is being threatened and we need to mitigate those threats.”
Now that Rhaenyra could whole heartedly agree with. She knew, of course, that Alicent had been feeding the rumors of her son’s parentage and that Otto and Cole were firmly on Alicent’s side. Though she had foolishly believed that Cole’s honor would make him uphold his oath to protect all the members of the royal family, her children included, the incident in the training yard very clearly showed the falsity of that line of thought.
He had not only allowed Aegon to attack her sons, but he had abandoned them both to protect the one who attacked them.
Rhaenys continued on, “I did ask for Cole to be stripped of his title due to the incident in the training yard, however, I don’t expect it to happen. But the gauntlet has been laid in that regard and I have no qualms believing that his allies will respond in turn.”
“What do you propose?”
“Nothing drastic for now, like I said we’ll need to keep a sterner eye on both our boys, but as we move forward we’ll need to cement our allies. I’m sure your mother’s house will join us, and House Stark has never forgotten their oaths.” She listed off as Lord Corlys and Laenor came to join them in the sitting area. “I will ensure we have the backing of my own mother’s house. We will have to sway at least some of the houses of the Reach to go against the Hightowers and we need to garner the favor of the houses in the Riverlands.”
Rhaenys and Corlys went back and forth seamlessly, arguing the plans they’d need to lay in the future while Rhaenyra found herself getting lost in the finite details. It sounded exhausting to her, planning so far in advance, but even she knew she couldn’t ignore her mounting enemies any longer.
She and Laenor would both need to stop fleeing from the storm and sail into it head on, for the sake of their sons.
Just as she finished that thought and turned back to join the conversation the door to her chambers opened, revealing Ser Marbrand. He bowed immediately, greeting all of them with their titles before waiting to be called upon to speak.
“Is there something you need, Ser Marbrand?” Rhaenyra asked politely.
“The King has requested your and your son’s presence, Princess.”
Rhaenyra shared a look with Laenor. She wasn’t sure why her father would be requesting their son's presence. “Was there a reason given?”
“I’m sorry Princess, there wasn’t a specific reason given to me, I only know that Prince Daemon came to talk with the King and then your presence and that of your sons was requested.”
That made more sense, Daemon had left shortly after he delivered Jace and Luke to her, he must’ve gone to tell her father about the change in Jace’s appearance and her father must want to see it for himself. “Of course, Ser, you can go ahead and tell my father we are on our way.” He bowed and left, “Laenor, would you pick up Jace and I’ll carry Luke? I don't want to wake them until we absolutely have too.”
Luke wasn’t happy about being awake again. He had been having another nice dream about his dragon, the two of them had been curled up together with Jace and Vermax. Vermax in his dream had been much bigger than the one in the pits, big enough to curl around both him and his dragon and the Jace in the dream still had his dark hair and he was bigger too. There had been another boy and another dragon with them too, Luke couldn’t place the other boy even though his water sang that he was another brother. They had all been curled together and happy.
Jace had been humming a lullaby that mother usually used to put them to sleep, and he had seemed so happy and at peace to have the two of them in his arms. The dream had been working to cement the connection between him and Jace, using his water to soothe the flames that roared through his brother’s veins, and simultaneously warming the cold water that ran through his own.
But he had been rudely shaken out of his dream just to be sat at a table with bread and cheese while Jace was taken to the other side of the room with all of the adults.
As he sat and nudged around his food, he felt the conversation around him begin to dull, fading away to a barely there hush as water sloshed in his ears. His own water sloshed in his veins as well, warning him that there was something he needed to see nearby, and that he needed to leave. He glanced around the room and saw that everyone was still focused on Jace.
Balerion was turning his brother’s head to see the way his eyes reflected the light and marveling over his hair, mother and father were both overcome with joy at the compliments his brother was receiving, while Aunt Laena, Ceraxes, Meleys and Grandfather were having a hushed conversation in the far corner.
All of them were distracted enough that they wouldn’t see him leave.
His water agreed, immediately pushing itself outward to rest on top of his skin and encasing him in his bubble. The world itself fell away as the bubble closed, and he set off. The sirens sang that he’d be out of sight and out of mind but only momentarily, so he set off as quickly as his feet could carry him. He ducked right past the men in their gold armor that had come with Balerion and raced down the hall.
He wasn’t sure what he was looking to find or where he was going to find it but he knew he needed to find something, and his water wouldn’t lead him astray. He heard bits of muffled conversations floating through his bubble, some that the water filtered away as important for later.
His bubble drained away back beneath his skin once he was sure he had slipped away without notice, and he had managed to make it quite a few halls away. He could hear voices he knew, in particular he could hear the sound of Egg shouting at someone, something about mothers but when he tried to turn to check on Egg his water forced him away.
He wanted to make sure Egg wasn’t hurt - he sounded hurt, he sounded as devastated as Jace had been before - but he needed to go find whatever the water wanted him to see. Thankfully the room the water took him to wasn’t far, so maybe he could double back once he was done and make sure Egg was okay.
He was led to a room in the same hall as Egg, just further down near the end of the hall. Luke was pretty sure that it belonged to one of Egg’s siblings, he wasn’t sure which one it was, he knew Egg had a sister and a brother but he didn’t know either of their names.
The door he was led to was closed so he had to stand on his tiptoes to grab the handle and shove it open. He wasn’t expecting anything specific but he most certainly didn’t expect it to reveal Uncle Egg’s brother being held by a man with a knife to his face. He froze in the doorway, and before he could listen to the water telling him to run, he was grabbed by the back of his tunic and shoved further inside the room.
Another man wrapped an arm around his chest and lifted him off the ground, holding him aloft in the air.
“Now where did you come from, huh?” The man growled against his ear, shaking him roughly. “I know damn well I cleared this whole fucking hall.”
“Don’t matter where he came from, just kill him too and throw him with the others.”
Luke struggled at the order, he clawed at the man's arm but it refused to budge. The man pulled a dagger from his belt and Luke could hear the twin rubies on the hilt whispering to him. His water cautioned him against trying to grab it, but the whispers were telling him to grab a hold of the dagger and he’d be free.
He panicked as the dagger swung towards him, his hands slipped all over the knife, and landed on the ruby studded handle that had been calling for him. The world fractured dangerously in front of him, bending and twisting at the seams, offsetting the present and the past with each other as a man made of pure light stared him down. He saw a flash of a cave as blood dribbled into the sand and felt fate shifting around him as the being reached for him.
His water shoved itself out of his skin to bubble between him and the knife, breaking whatever connection had been made with all the swiftness of a crashing wave. Luke wasn’t sure what the scene had meant but he had seen Egg’s brother kneeling in pain bleeding and he knew he couldn’t let it happen. Without hesitation he bit the man holding him, deep enough that he could taste the tang of blood in his mouth and as the man dropped him, he dove for the boy and the other man.
He grabbed the knife pressed against the boy’s face with both hands, wrenching it away as the man cursed and tried to grab him around the neck. He thought he heard Egg’s brother yelp as he hit the ground but he was too focused on the blade in his hands. The blade sliced through his skin with ease and yet he didn’t care, he needed to save Egg’s brother. His water shrieked at him to stop, that he would save the boy but he’d die himself.
It tried to rush out and cover his hands but Luke grabbed it and shoved it towards the man instead of the blade. The man dropped the knife, stumbling away immediately with a strangled gasp as water spewed from between his lips, and then spurted out his nose. He swelled with it, growing more and more bloated and completely unrecognizable until he finally fell to his knees on the ground, silently choking on the water still forcing its way out.
Luke dropped to the floor alongside him, feeling drained and cold and empty, even as the water slowly made its way over to him so it could settle back in his veins.
He whimpered as the blood dripped from his hands, staining the ground beneath him and leaving him feeling colder and colder with each passing second. He couldn’t feel any pain, his water was whisking it away before it could even register but his water couldn’t seal the wounds. It could heal them, it couldn’t seal them.
Balerion was screaming from the torches in the hall - there was no fire in the hearth, no torches in the room, not even a paltry candle - for him to come to him so he could burn the wounds shut. Luke couldn’t make his legs move, no matter how hard he tried, and his water tried to take control but the water rushing through him only made him bleed faster.
He needed to get up, he needed to do something.
“Aemond, get up we need to talk now!” Egg stormed into the room, an incensed look on his face and for the first time Luke could see the flames light up his skin, he could kind of see why the water wanted him to be named Aegon. Backlit by the torches in the hall and anger reigning on his face, he looked like a small version of the sun.
His eyes caught sight of his brother on the ground first, and then they moved to the dead man and finally landed on Luke. His mouth fell open.
“Fuck, fuck oh fuck…” Egg raced over to him, not even noticing the second man slipping out of the room silently after dropping something on the floor, and kneeled beside him, practically ripping his outer coat off his shoulder in his haste to get it off. “Aemond, wake up!’
He grabbed Luke’s hands and wrapped them in his coat with one hand, and used the other to grab his brother’s foot and dragged him closer. “Guards!”
Luke flinched back and cried as the pressure sent shocks of pain up his arms.
“Hey, it’s okay,” Egg soothed, turning away from trying to shake his brother awake to look at him, “I’m sorry, I know it hurts but we have to stop the bleeding.”
He started calling for the guards again more desperately than before. None came and Egg started cursing them out loud.
Egg unwrapped the coat slightly, just enough to see that the wounds underneath and he started cursing the guards even louder. “We need to get you to a maester…” He said, but his eyes were bouncing back and forth between Luke and his brother. “I…”
“Fire.” Luke croaked.
“What? Fire? How is fire going to help anything?”
“Shut wounds.”
Egg was staring at him like he had gone mad, but eventually he moved Luke’s hands so that they were sitting between his own thighs and told him to keep pressure on them while he went and found guards or a fire, whichever came first. Luke could hear the sound of his thundering footsteps fading away and his shouts for guards.
It felt like it took forever for Egg to cmme running back into the room with a torch and no guards. “The guards are dead.” He said hurriedly as he dropped to the floor again, “The guards are dead, we need to get out of here.”
Luke agreed with that, and so did Balerion who was still begging him to stick his hands in the flames so he could help him. He pulled his hands out of the coat and grabbed onto the flame dancing at the top of the torch. Balerion guided the flames against the wounds, coaxing them shut without harming the healthy skin around them. His water immediately rushed to soothe the worst of the wounds once they were closed.
His water couldn’t heal it completely, not with how much he had drained with his bubble and trying to stop the man attacking Egg’s brother, but the water could make them look better than they were.
Egg grabbed his hands to look at the wounds, glancing over them quickly to make sure they were cauterized. He looked like he was about to stand up again, possibly to grab Luke and his brother to go somewhere else.
He didn’t get the chance to because before he could the knights in the nice armor that had come with Balerion to see Jace were rushing into the room, along with two other men that Luke was sure he had seen before. Still, his instant reaction was to curl himself into Egg’s side and try to hide away from the men.
But Egg moved away from him instead of shielding him, yelling at the guards and screaming for them to go get a maester. The oldest one moved towards them, checking on Egg’s brother while two of the others stood at the doors and the last one ran off to go get a maester.
Egg explained to the man that he had used the torch to burn his hands because they were injured and he didn’t know how the injuries happened. The man kept turning back to Luke like he expected him to cut in and say something but he was so tired. His water was drained, Balerion was attempting to soothe him from the torch and he was trying very hard but he wasn’t under his skin like the water was.
A hand patted against his face, making him open his eyes though he didn’t remember closing them, “Luke, you need to stay awake.”
His eyes drifted to Egg and then next to him to the other boy. He was finally starting to wake up, shifting around and groaning loud enough to get everyone’s attention.
“Prince Aemond!” The old man moved to Egg’s brother and helped him sit up, checking the shallow wound above his eye as he did so. “The cut’s small, thank the gods, it’s already stopped bleeding. Do you remember what happened, prince?”
“He saved me.” The boy was staring him down with uncomfortably focused eyes. “I came back to my chambers to get some things, I wanted to go down to the market to get something for Mother, she was upset at dinner…” Luke felt Egg tense up next to him, “But when I came in there were two men waiting for me. One of them hit me in the head and held me down, he was saying something about needing to take my eye. He had the knife against my face when Lucerys came in.”
All three of them turned to Luke and he just nodded along, he barely remembered what he had walked in on at this point, he just wanted to leave. He didn’t want to keep staring at the dead man on the floor that everyone else was ignoring.
“One of the men attacked Lucerys but he broke free. I don’t remember what happened after that, the man holding me dropped me and I hit my head against the floor.”
The old man called the two by the door to them, retelling the story to them, as well as to the extra guards that came pouring into the room. He told them to go find the second attacker after asking Aemond for a description.
Luke shivered as all the people started moving in and out, talking and shouting to each other and making so much noise it hurt his ears. He reached out to tug on Egg's sleeve. “Leave.” His water echoed the request and gave him a vision of the bay. “Wanna leave.”
It wasn’t Egg that answered him, it was the old man. “My Prince, we are securing the area, you need to stay here until your parents arrive and you’ve been seen by a maester.”
He didn’t like that, he wanted to leave!
He wanted to go to the bay and soak in the water to replace what he lost all over the floor.
“Wanna leave.”
“You can’t leave yet, my prince.”
Egg wrapped his arms more firmly around him when he tried to push himself up, “Luke -“
“What is he doing here?”
Luke let out a muffled squeak as he was yanked into Egg’s lap and trapped there by harsh arms as a woman rounded the door frame. She looked absolutely incensed at the sight of him and he could feel Uncle Egg matching her anger.
The woman slithered towards them like an angry snake getting ready to strike, and Egg lifted them both off the floor and stepped back. The old man stepped between them.
“Your Grace, Prince Lucerys and Prince Aemond were both attack-”
The woman snarled. “Why is he in my son’s chambers, he shouldn’t be anywhere near this wing!”
“Mother, he saved my life,” Aemond began, only to be cut off by her immediately.
“He shouldn’t have been anywhere near you!” She stomped towards Egg and him once again, and Luke could hear Balerion raging at her from the torch still burning on its side on the floor.
He watched the torch instead of the woman as she surged towards them, he could hear her and Egg yelling back and forth, and hear the old man trying to calm her, but all he could see was the torch lulling slightly towards the left. Creeping closer and closer to her dress as she moved forward until Balerion made it flare up enough to catch the edge of her dress on fire.
She switched from yelling at Egg to screaming about her dress, but she didn’t actually try to put the fire out; the old man snuffed out the flames quickly by throwing his own cloak on top of the flames and then stamping the torch out.
His water whispered that the only ones who could understand her screeching were the dogs in the kennels.
The old man was trying to urge the woman out of the room without touching her when Gerardys - the man, not his beloved seahorse - ran in, followed by Balerion and Corlys and more guards.
Balerion practically threw the woman out of the way to get to him and Corlys wasn’t far behind. Grandfather took him into his arms while Balerion tugged away the coat still wrapped around his hands, apologizing when he cried out as the cloth ripped off some of the dried blood.
“Maester!” His grandsire called, and Gerardys hustled over to him, observing the jagged cuts to his hands. The fire had done a good job closing them, but all the moving around had reopened them at the edges.
“Your Grace, we need to clean these wounds and stitch them shut immediately,” He pressed the cloth back to the wounds and then turned to the servant who had come with him to usher him forward with a bag. “Do you know how he was injured?” He asked the others in the room.
“Two assassins attacked Prince Aemond, your Grace, we aren’t sure how Prince Lucerys got into the room. He was injured stopping the assassins from killing Prince Aemond.”
“Assassins? Inside the Keep? How in the God’s name did they get all the way into Aemond’s chambers?” Balerion asked incredulously.
The old man seemed to hesitate at that, “I’m not sure, but we will be investigating it. Prince Aemond has provided us with a description of the attacker who ran and Ser Marbrand has already gone to shut the gates to the Keep, and alert the citywatch as well to shut the outer gates until he is found.”
Luke finally had enough when the woman started up her screeching again, wailing about the assassins in the castle and how a three year old couldn’t possibly have stopped the assailants from harming Egg’s brother. Everyone was too hot and too bright and too loud. He didn’t want to hear her, he didn’t want to hear everyone else who started arguing with her, he wanted to leave.
He wanted to go home and get dipped in sea water until his veins were full again, and eat cakes. In a fit of annoyance he reached out, completely uncaring about how much it hurt his hand and how he was pulling his hand away from the stitches that were being put in, and yanked hard enough on Corlys’ shirt that it ripped straight down the neckline, “Wanna leave!”
“Luke!” Multiple people shouted for him as blood started pouring off his hand and all over Corlys’ chest.
His hand was yanked away from grandfather’s shirt and a cloth was pressed against his palm once again by Gerardys, “Your Grace, perhaps we should move him to another room, we need him calm enough to stitch his hands all at once unless we wish to risk him harming himself permanently, and he’s already lost quite a bit of blood.”
“Yes, yes, of course, Corlys, we’ll take him back to his mother’s chambers.” Balerion cleared a path through the still squabbling adults, completely ignoring the wailing woman even when she tried to grab onto him. He brushed her aside without a word, and ordered her Egg and Egg’s brother to be taken to the Queen’s chambers and heavily guarded.
Luke breathed a sigh of relief once they were finally out of the room and away from all the noise, and promptly passed out in Corlys’ arms.
End Chapter 12
Notes:
I sincerely hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, I really tried to fit everyone's wants into how Jace changed! Let me know in the comments if you enjoyed it!
A/n:
Rhaenys: We need to keep a closer eye on Luke so that he can't slip away and get into trouble
The Gods: Yeah, good luck!A/N 2:
Luke: I guess this is the right door? This is what you wanted me to see right?
The Sirens: NO! Wrong door, wrong door!!!!
Chapter 13: Chapter 13
Summary:
Rhaenys isn't having a good time. In fact, no one's having a good time except for Daemon, Daemon gets to have all of the fun.
The working title for this was 'Luke has the worst comedic timing ever, even the gods don't find his timing funny'
Notes:
Holy shit this is two days late and way over the normal word limit. I blame it all on Daemon, he refused to shut up. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter, let me know if you did!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Alt Title: Rhaenys gets lured in a false sense of security, only to have it ripped out from under her. Repeatedly.
“Boys, come, it’s time to break our fast.” Rhaenys reluctantly shook the two of them awake, chuckling softly at the whine and fuss Jace kicked up as he roused. It had been quite a few years since she had any children young enough to allow them to spend the night in bed with her and Corlys.
It was a particularly heartwarming sight to see both her grandsons curled around each other, tucked among the covers, sleeping the morning away so peacefully after the ruckus of the last few days.
However, they both needed to eat, and Jace needed to attend his lessons with his tutors. Luke had been excused from his lessons, at least until his hands had a chance to recover. He could stay in bed longer, she just had no intention of leaving him in the room alone to sleep if she didn’t have to.
Luke had somehow slipped away to thwart an assassination attempt while in a room full of people, and right after she had mentioned they’d need to keep a closer eye on him. Since then she had only allowed him out of her sight when his mother or Laenor had him.
She knew Rhaenyra had left him to sleep in her bed the morning after the whole ordeal without problem, and that she had just left the door open so she could still see him, but she was being overly cautious.
The two of them had spent the first night of Luke’s recovery with their mother, and they had all decided on alternating the boys between Rhaenyra’s chambers and her and Corlys’ chambers. Both so that they could each attend their duties while the others cared for the boys and to hopefully make it harder for any future assassins to know where they’d be staying. They were still being housed in the adjoining apartments to Rhaenyra’s, so it wasn’t too hard to shift the boys back and forth.
Her cousin had taken a surprisingly proactive approach to the attempt on Aemond’s life, he had shut the gates to Maegor’s holdfast, cleared the halls of any servants and guards who had began their duties within the last six moons until they were vetted by him personally, and had ordered all the princes to confined within their parents wings of the castle. While the restrictions meant that none of the princes were able to have their sword or dragon lessons, it did provide at least some higher level of safety for them all. Only those the King personally trusted to bring in supplies and other such needs were allowed through the front gates.
Even court had been temporarily halted until the second assailant had been found. None of them had heard much about Prince Aemond after the fact, but from what Corlys had told her the boy’s injuries had been minor compared to Luke’s and were contained to a small cut above his eye.
Thankfully the second man had been found quickly by the men of the CItywatch as he attempted to flee through the Iron Gate, and Prince Aemond had been able to identify him as his attacker. Rhaenys hadn’t bothered keeping up with what happened to the man, she knew he was taken to the black cells and that Daemon was in charge of extracting any pertinent information, and that had been more than enough for her.
She had no need for the exact details of the torture the man was undergoing so long as it ended with them finding out who had ordered the attack. She knew her cousin to be a very adept interrogator and she knew he’d get the information they needed.
“Can’t we sleep a little longer, Grandmother?” Jace whined as he tried to burrow back under the covers to avoid her tickling hands.
“You both need to eat, and you need to get ready for your lessons,” She said with a smile. Jace huffed but started to climb down the bed to get off, and Luke rolled just close enough for her to pick him up.
Jace stumbled his way through getting dressed while she helped Luke, trying to avoid accidentally jostling his hands too much as she wrestled him into a more sightly shirt. They had taken to dressing Luke in either Corlys’ or Laenor’s older shirts since the much wider opening and the wider sleeves had less of a chance of snagging on his hands.
In the end he looked like he was wearing a very oversized dress, but it was far better than risking him struggling to put on a normal tunic and hurting his hands like he had the first morning. The three of them arrived in the small dining room of her apartments right as the servants began setting food on the table and much to her pleasant surprise, Laena and her granddaughters had come to join them.
She settled Luke into his chair as Jace climbed up onto his, and then went to hug her daughter and kiss her granddaughters. “Good morning, my dears, how did the night treat you?”
“Good morning, I hope you don’t mind us imposing.”
Rhaenys waved that nonsense away, “Our chambers are always open for you and your children, Laena, don’t doubt that.” She sat herself between Laena and Luke and pulled a platter of fruits towards herself, dividing a portion among both her and Luke’s plates. She knew full well that Luke wouldn’t eat an entire portion of anything. “Is there anything you’d like to eat, sweet boy?”
She wasn’t happy about the way he shook his head and just started picking at the food on his plate, but she didn’t bother to say it out loud. Luke didn’t care for food, besides the occasional piece of cake, and her constantly bringing it to attention wouldn’t make him hungrier somehow.
He was at least nibbling on the apple slices she had given him, so that was a minor success.
“Laenor mentioned that he doesn’t eat much, does he truly not like anything?” Laena asked as she served the girls and herself.
“He eats cake but even that is only occasional.” Rhaenys answered, “He eats only a few bites most of the time.”
As if he was showing off exactly what she was talking about, he set the half eaten apple slice down on his plate and started watching the rest of them break their fast. Jace tried to offer him some of his food, which he refused, though Luke did let his brother help him drink out of the goblet. He could do some things by himself like eating small bits of food but he couldn’t hold a full goblet by himself to drink.
Laena looked a bit skeptical. “I’ve never met a child who would refuse cake.”
“That was what your father said as well when I caught him trying to sneak Luke almond cakes when he thought I wasn’t looking.” Rhaenys said with a huff. Her husband had truly thought he was being subtle, slipping Luke the cake bits at a time whenever she turned around. He, of course, hadn’t anticipated being caught out holding the cake when Luke didn't eat it.
They both shared a laugh, it was something that Corlys had done with Laena and Laenor as well throughout their youth, though it was much more effective with Laenor who always gobbled the cakes down immediately.
“Where is father, isn’t the court still prohibited from meeting?”
“He’s at a small council meeting, though I believe he is intending to go join your husband and his new friend once the meeting is through.”
Laena hummed but left it at that, which Rhaenys was grateful for. None of them had attempted to bring up the assassin around Luke for fear that it may scare him.
He hadn’t seemed to be affected emotionally by the whole ordeal any more than he had been affected by being punched by Aegon but she had no intentions of pushing that boundary and finding out what would upset him. Poor Luke had already been through so much, they didn’t need to go dragging him through more just to sate their own curiosity.
It was part of the reason Viserys hadn’t called upon them to bring Luke to confirm the second attacker and had instead just settled for Aemond’s identification. He had asked initially after the man had been caught, but both her and Rhaenyra had refused to take Luke down to the black cells to get a glimpse of the man. She had also refused because she hadn’t wanted to give Luke a chance to get into more trouble.
The boy had run off when they took him with them so Viserys could see Jace, she didn’t even want to think about what he would get into if they took him down to the black cells. With their luck he’d slip right out of someone’s arms unnoticed and go find a live dragon hiding beneath the base boards.
“What are the three of you planning for the day?”
“We were intending to go see the gardens,” Laena said, “However, with the King ordering everyone but the guards to remain in place, that is off the table.”
“I suppose that is true, there isn’t much to do when you are confined to your apartments.” Rhaenys turned to her granddaughters with a smile, “Have the two of you been practicing embroidery? Your grandfather brought me a book of Essosi embroidery patterns that I would be more than happy to share to pass the time.”
Rhaena took to the suggestion like a fish to water, talking about all the different patterns she had seen during their time in Pentos, and the different fabrics she had compiled to embroider on that weren’t readily available in Westeros. She pulled out a few of her pieces to show them off after some encouragement from her mother, and Rhaenys complimented the intricate designs she had created.
Some of them outpaced even what Rhaenys herself was capable of making. She took them in hand and let the boys see them as well, though she made sure not to put them too close to Luke lest he try to grab the very enticing colored threads and accidentally ruin the work. Both boys marveled at the pretty flowers and the songbirds, and Luke correctly identified the stag in one of them.
They talked for some time, about Rhaena’s embroidery and about Daemon training Baela to use a bow, and about their time in Essos. Luke and Jace were completely enamored by the tales of the beautiful cities and landscapes across the narrow sea, given how sheltered the two of them had been within the Red Keep since their birth. One of the maps Luke had colored on was pulled out so that the girls could go through and point out which places they had been, with Luke dutifully instructing Jace to draw random squiggles and unknown symbols alongside each place.
Eventually Jace’s tutor arrived, taking him into the other smaller sitting room so that he wouldn’t be distracted from his studies by Luke, with Baela eagerly trailing behind them after she learned that Jace would be studying the history of the Conquest.
Rhaenys watched the two of them fondly as they disappeared out of sight, still yammering on to each other about the differences between King’s Landing and the city of Bravos. “I’m glad to see them getting along.”
Laena hummed, watching the door just as she was, with a fond smile on her face. “I’m surprised, Baela can be somewhat prickly until she gets to know people, and she is usually…too much for most boys her age.”
That didn’t surprise Rhaenys at all, most girls who did anything other than sit demurely in a chair and force out babies every year were ‘too much’ for most men. “Jace is a fairly amicable boy, the only people he doesn’t seem to like are those who have at one point or another upset Luke.” Rhaenys contemplated her own statement, “In fact, I’d say Jace is quite like you in your youth. You used to pick fights with anyone who had the audacity to make a slight against Laenor once you were old enough to realize that words could hurt worse than fists.”
The comparison drew a laugh from her daughter. “Yes, that I did, I remember making one of the squires for Uncle Vaemond cry when he tried to say Laenor would never get knighted.” She sighed as the memory hung in the air, but her face eventually grew serious and much to Rhaenys’ surprise she dismissed Rhaena, telling her to go attend the lesson with Jace and Baela. “Speaking of Jacaerys, I wish to talk to you about him.”
“Of course, my dear, what would you like to know about your nephew?”
Laena’s eyes dropped to Luke, and Rhaenys felt her hold involuntarily tighten. He had been dozing on and off in her arms since Jace had gone to his lessons, and she knew from the way his breath had evened out that he was fast asleep. “I believe this might be a conversation better had without children present, perhaps we should put Lucerys to bed and then continue.”
“He’s sleeping, it’s not like he’ll overhear anything.”
“Mother, he’ll just be in the other room.” Laena said patiently, “There’s only one door from your bedroom, he’ll have to go right by us to get out anywhere.”
Rhaenys sighed heavily. She knew that herself, but she couldn’t help hesitating to put him in a different room. There was only one door for him to get out of, that much was true, and he’d have to get around both of them to do so but he had done it before. There had only been one door between him and escape when he had gone out to find an assassin in his Uncle’s room.
He was a very sneaky little boy and while she’d like to say she was astute enough to catch him fleeing, did she really wish to take the risk of him slipping by her?
“Mother.”
She sighed again, carefully rearranging Luke in her arms to keep him from being jostled as she stood. “Give me a moment, I’ll put him to bed and get the book I told Rhaena about.” She did just that, tucking him into her and Corlys’ bed with a copious amount of blankets bundled around him before grabbing the embroidery patterns.
When she walked back out Laena was looking at her expectantly. “Laenor and Princess Rhaenyra both were happy to just gloss over this change when we visited last night, but I must admit I am curious that no one has truly asked Jacaerys or Lucerys what happened to prompt it.”
“Jace was unharmed by whatever went on before your husband found them both in the pit, and given the situation with an assassin attempting to murder Prince Aemond, there just wasn’t any time to question them.”
Laena raised a skeptical eyebrow. “You don’t believe it prudent to figure out what cause his appearance to shift? You’ve said yourself that Lucerys’ appearance changed during a near death experience, yet finding out what experience could be equivalent to that isn’t concerning?”
Rhaenys knew that had she been on the other side of this situation she would be asking the exact same questions. She’d be infinitely curious about the changes Jace had undergone and what had caused it, as she had been when Luke had initially changed. In the moment, and even now with the perspective she had, the change in Jace just seemed to pale in comparison with everything else.
Yes, her grandson had been found in the Dragonpit, looking different than when he had left, but Luke had thwarted an assassination attempt after pulling a disappearing act that even a mummer would be envious of. Quite truthfully Luke’s changes had set somewhat of a precedent in her mind for Jace's change to be normal. What was a change in appearance compared to a boy managing to vanish seemingly into thin air.
If anything she wished to question Luke on how he managed to get himself and Jace to the dragonpit unseen. She hadn’t had the chance to, given everything else that had happened since then. “It is a concern, yes, but neither of them were injured, and Jace has had no ill effects. Luke was sickened for over a week, and has had lasting effects since then, I believe we were all more concerned with ensuring that Jace wouldn’t get sick rather than asking for particulars.”
“Still, even if he hasn’t had any problems, it would make sense to at least ask.”
Rhaenys could at least agree with that, and thankfully nothing had happened yet that day involving Luke, so now would be the best time to ask Jace what had happened. “Once they are done with their lesson, we can ask Jace to sate both our curiosities.”
She was surprised to see that Laena’s minor confusion didn’t fade at the acquiescence, but she did let the topic drop for now and instead moved on to talking about all of the fumbles she and Daemon had with raising their daughters across the Narrow Sea and filling her in on what she had missed of the girl’s childhood while they waited for Jace’s lessons to be over.
Daemon hummed as he flipped the dagger in his hand, letting just the blade balance on the edge of his finger tip. It was an extremely well crafted weapon. Balanced, paper thin and flexible, clearly it was made for delicate work. Sliding between joints, slipping between bones, it was almost similar to a fileting knife for fish except just slightly thicker at the hilt.
It was far too well made for just a run of the mill assassin, and with the rubies studded along the hilt and silver accents, it was also too expensive for a hired killer. No smart assassin would risk using a blade this identifiable in a killing on the off chance they may fail their mission and have it be traced to them, or have it be lost while they fled. There was a possibility that it was a form of payment instead of the weapon to be used in the attack, but if it was payment for the deed, why bring it to the killing?
So many questions. “Who sent you to kill Prince Aemond?” He asked, thumbing the rubies on the hilt as he finally looked at the idiot he had tied to a chair.
The man was practically projecting his nervousness. Usually assassins had a calmness about them until they were well into being tortured. This guy had been shaking and on the verge of tears from the moment Daemon had walked into the room, before he had even said anything, and now he looked positively panicked.
“I don't know.”
“Really? You don’t remember who hired you to kill a Prince?”
He took a deep breath and made like he was about to get up off of his chair and go get one of the many things he had in the room to extract information from the more unhelpful friends he had, and just the sight of him getting ready to move seemed to spur the man into remembering.
His eyes nearly bulged out of his skull - not unlike the same bug eyed look that the green serpent his brother married always got - as he hurried to spit out his words. “It was a woman!”
“A woman?” He repeated curiously. There was only one woman he could think of who would have such a vendetta against one of the princes to risk an attempted assassination, and that one woman was not someone he’d expect to send an assassin after her own son.
Alicent Hightower surely wasn’t heartless enough to have sent an assassin after her own son, and she certainly wasn’t smart enough to do it to frame someone else for the murder. She would have sent an assassin directly after one of Rhaenyra’s boys. There was, however, a chance that she was stupid enough to have told her minions to kill a white haired purple-eyed young prince, and the assassins just chose the wrong one to attack.
Aemond and Lucerys were quite far apart in both age and size, but the assassins were so incompetent that a three year old had thwarted them, so it was possible.
“And who was this woman?”
“I don’t know.”
Daemon sat the dagger on the table, making a show of choosing what weapon to take. He settled on a morningstar, it seemed fitting to be using the favored weapon of Ser Crispy to rend the name of that treacherous bitch out of this idiot.
The chain clinked merrily in the silence as he turned around. He let it dangle against his leg, tapping the handle on the edge of his leathers. “You don’t know? Nothing at all?” He took a few slow steps towards the man. “Not even a description?”
“It-It was dark…she came to us under the cover of night, I could barely see her.”
“Where did she meet you?”
The man sucked in a few unsteady breaths, watching the morningstar as it came closer and closer to him. “By the royal stables, a man led her there. He took some money talked to her for a bit and then left. She handed me that dagger and told me and Jon to cut out a Prince’s eye and keep the dagger as our payment.”
He paused right in front of the man, his head tilted to the side. What a strange request. It was very specific, taking out a boy’s eye, yet ‘a prince’ was a very vague target considering there were currently five princes housed within the Red Keep. “Which Prince did they want killed.”
“No! No, no, we weren’t supposed to kill him, I swear!” The idiot whimpered. “She didn’t give us a name, just that it was a white haired prince. She said that he’d be with his mother, but we couldn’t find any of the princes with a woman. There was one going into the Dragonpit with another boy but I told Jon there was no way in seven hells I was gonna fight a dragon just to take out a kid’s eye.”
He stopped there, swallowing convulsively as he tried to catch his breath. Daemon watched him and though he hated it, it seemed the idiot was telling the truth so far. Some brain dead whore had gone and paid two even more brain dead idiots to cut out the eye of whichever prince they could find. He supposed that meant that most likely Prince Aemond had just been the odd one out and not a specific target.
If anything that made the situation worse. It would be much harder to thwart future assassins if they were merely going off the luck of a draw and not based on a particular target. It was also looking less and less like Alicent was the one ordering it. Even she wasn’t dull enough to think that giving an assassin a non-specific target when two of her own sons fit the bill was a good idea.
The likely intended target had been Lucerys, then. Whoever ordered the hit had most likely given a vague description in the hopes of safeguarding themselves if the assassin was caught. The boy fit the description given, and was considerably more vulnerable to attack than Aegon, Aemond, or Daemon himself, and Jacaerys at the time would have still appeared to be a plain faced brown haired boy. Adding in the detail of the prince in question being with his mother, the only one who fit would have been Lucerys.
Aegon and Aemond were rarely seen with their own mother except during court and public appearances, but Rhaenyra was almost always seen with one or both of her sons.
“How was it you chose Prince Aemond to attack, then, if you had such a vague description?”
“He was the only one we could get too.” The idiot answered, and Daemon could see the hope building on his face. As if talking would possibly get him out of this alive. “Jon waited outside of the pit but the two princes that came out were being carried…they were being carried by you, so we left. We heard Prince Aegon shouting at someone, we didn’t try to go after him, but then we overheard Prince Aemond talking to Princess Helaena about going down to the markets to get something for his mother, so we followed him into his rooms.” He looked up with pleading eyes, “Jon was the one who attacked the Prince, I swear, I just grabbed the one that found them and when he got away from me I left.”
“And that’s all you did? Grabbed a prince to stop him from interfering in his Uncle’s murder and then left?” That was a laughable excuse, yet somehow not the worst one he had ever heard trying to excuse away horrid actions.
“The little guy came out of nowhere!” He shouted and to his credit he did look genuinely confused as to how Lucerys foiled their plot, that part did ring true. “I cleared the entire fucking hallway and circled back and he was just standing in the room!”
It certainly sounded in line with Lucerys, from what Daemon had seen. The boy had snuck up on him in the Dragonpit on his arrival, and none of the dragon masters had known that Jace and Luke were in the pits until Daemon had found them. If anything Luke should consider being an assassin by trade when he is older.
Part of him wanted a chance to train the boy and hone the talent he had for getting around unseen and unheard, he would be a very deadly warrior if he had a chance to train him.
“So you plotted to severely injure a randomly chosen Prince, failed to do so because of a toddler, and now you’re here, unable to give me any information that's actually helpful.” Daemon listed as he ticked off his fingers. It was truly an abysmal showing for an assassin, especially one that was paid so handsomely with that knife.
The assassin was back to looking panicked again, finally realizing that his attempts at excuses weren’t landing. “I - all I know is she had dark hair, pale skin. I only saw a bit of her hair, it could have been dark brown or dark red or black, I don’t know. She gave me the dagger, the description and the ring and left.”
Daemon perked up. “A ring? You didn’t mention that before.”
“She gave me a ring and told me to drop it in the room after we were done.”
“Did you?” Daemon asked.
The idiot nodded, “I dropped it on the floor and left.”
His fingers tapped along the arm of his chair, contemplating the information. He’d have to go talk to his brother and gain access to Prince Aemond’s chambers and find whatever ring was dropped before anyone else did.
It probably wouldn’t give him much information, but it might point him towards whoever this mystery woman wanted framed, and he could go from there.
Daemon rose up out of his seat, throwing the morningstar back on the table as he walked out of the door. He completely ignored the man asking where he was going and if he was going to be let go. The door slammed closed behind him, cutting off the man's yells.
Jace frowned as the tutor let them back into the sitting room and he realized that Luke wasn’t at the table anymore. Instead it was just Aunt Laena and Grandmother talking about the perils of raising children. Luke wasn’t even in the room at all when he looked around. “Where’s Luke?”
He wandered around the room, trying to look under the furniture and pulling up the blankets on the lounges just in case Luke was hiding somewhere, but Grandmother pulled him back over to the table and sat him in one of the chairs.
“He’s taking a nap, Jace, and we need to talk about some things.”
He didn’t like the sound of that, he wanted to see his brother. He looked around the room again, trying to find something that he could use as an excuse to go lay down with Luke, and he silently rejoiced when his eyes landed on Gerardys laying on the table.
He grabbed the toy and immediately shifted to get down off his chair. “He left Gerardys here, I’m gonna take it to him.” His brother would want his toy, he didn’t like to go anywhere without it, and it was what he used as a buffer between himself and the rest of the world - though if he asked, Jace would gladly stand between him and anyone he didn’t like.
Grandmother stopped him before he could get down with a hand on his shoulder to keep him in place. “He’s sleeping, Jace, he doesn’t need his toy.”
“But he always wants Gerardys with him.”
She pulled him back onto the chair again and pulled Gerardys out of his grasp to set him on the table again. “You can give it to him when we are done talking.”
Jace sighed forlornly, staring at the toy. He wanted to go nap with Luke, not talk to his aunt.
Grandmother smiled at him when he finally slumped back in his chair, “We didn’t have the chance to talk about it before, but I want to know about what happened when your appearance changed. Your granduncle Daemon told us he found you in the dragon pit and we didn’t get any farther than that.”
They hadn’t talked about anything else because his baby brother had been attacked by some monster and nearly died defending Uncle Aemond who didn’t even like them and acted like he and Luke were less just because they hadn’t had white hair from birth.
“Luke told me that Vermax could make it so what was hidden in my blood actually showed, and we went down to the Dragonpit to do that.” He pointed towards his hair, forgetting his annoyance at Uncle Aemond in turn for his excitement, grasping at the few white strands that fell around his face. “And it worked! Now my Velaryon blood shows!”
“And how did you two do that?” Aunt Laena asked.
The warm fuzzy feeling that he felt after Vermax set them alight filled him once again. If he tried really hard he could still feel the warmth from when he, Luke and Vermax were curled together on the floor before the dragon masters found them. “We went to the pits and Vermax set us both on fire.”
His Grandmother choked around the breath she took in, and Aunt Laena stared at him in shock. “You what?!”
“We got set on fire by Vermax, and it let my Velaryon blood show through the Baratheon blood I have.”
Baela scrunched up her nose, looking back and forth between him and her mother. “How are you two not dead?”
Rhaenys and Laena both let out a scandalized gasp. “Baela!”
“What?” She asked back, “They set themselves on fire with dragon flame and then Luke went and battled an assassin, how are they not dead after that?”
“Baela, you can’t ask things like that!”
She just shrugged at the two of them. “Well it's the truth, anyone else would be dead from just the dragon fire, so why aren’t they both dead?”
Jace, of course, latched onto something that was the exact opposite of the point, and glared at Baela. “Why do you want Luke to die?” His baby brother had helped him so that they could be connected again and now his cousin was using that show of love to say Luke should have died!
“I don’t want him to die, I just want to know why you didn’t!”
“That’s the same thing!”
“No it’s not!”
“That’s enough!” Grandmother pulled them both apart, pushing Baela towards her mother and tugging him to her side. She knelt down between them, breaking the glaring match they were having. “Both of you, go to separate corners, you can come back when you’ve calmed down.”
Jace pouted. “But -”
“Ah, ah! Corner, now.” His grandmother said sternly, pointing him towards the farthest corner of the room.
He went to the corner of the room, huffing as he did, and sat down facing it with his arms crossed. And, of course, he had been sent to the corner on the other side of the room from where Luke was sleeping in grandfather’s chambers, while Baela was standing in the corner right next to the door. He didn’t understand why he was having to sit in the corner when she was the one saying she wanted his brother dead.
He could hear his grandmother and his aunt having a heated discussion at the table back and forth, but he couldn’t hear exactly what was being said. He didn’t really care anyway, he knew what happened and he knew that his brother had seen him upset and in pain and had immediately done something to make him feel better.
That was all that mattered to him, not whether people believed how it happened. His brother had shown that the love Jace had for him was returned tenfold.
Though his annoyance started to flag the longer he stared at the wall and got distracted by remembering how nice it had been to feel so connected to his brother again. He kept thinking back to how sweet it had been to stare into Luke’s eyes and finally see himself reflected back again.
Eventually they were called out of their corners and he shuffled up to his cousin to apologize for yelling at her.
She apologized too, though it was clearly reluctant. “I didn’t mean I wanted you two to die, I just don’t understand how you didn’t get burned by dragon fire when everyone else gets burned.”
That was close enough to an apology for him, and just like that his earlier anger was gone completely, replaced with the happiness that came from thinking of Luke. He sat down in the chair next to her with a bright smile as he thought of what Luke had said to him right before Vermax set them on fire. “Luke said that I loved him enough that Vermax wouldn’t let him get hurt, and that Vermax wouldn’t let the flames hurt me.”
Baela squinted. “So if a dragon loves their rider enough their flames won’t hurt them?”
Grandmother Rhaenys quickly interrupted them before Jace could affirm that that’s what he meant, “Jace and Luke are an anomaly, my dear, when you eventually claim a dragon, no matter how strong your bond is, I would not suggest following in Jace’s footsteps.” She rushed out when Baela opened her mouth again, and Aunt Laena nodded along with her.
“But if it worked for them -”
“It worked for them, yes,” Aunt Laena said. “But there are plenty of other dragonriders who wouldn’t survive that, and there is no need to go around tempting fate to make you one that doesn’t survive.”
Jace pursed his lips. He didn’t like how they were just dismissing his brother’s abilities, Luke had known without a doubt that Vermax wouldn’t harm them. “Luke knew Vermax wouldn’t harm us, when Baela gets a dragon we can just ask him if they are bonded enough for Baela not to get burnt.”
Both women turned to him, their mouths opening and closing repeatedly as they tried to find the words to refute him, but clearly they couldn’t. Because he knew that Luke would be able to tell and they didn’t know anything about his brother. His cousin seemed excited at the prospect, as she should be. Luke was amazing and everyone should take notice of it.
“Well…I supposed we can cross that bridge when we come to it.”
Luke woke to the sound of a door opening. It wasn’t loud, certainly not loud enough to have woken him from his sleep. Instead it was Balerion hissing from the dying embers in the hearth, warning him of something coming his way that had woken him.
There shouldn’t have been anyone in the room. Meleys had put him back in bed once Jace’s lessons began and his hands had started hurting, but she still should have been in the other room.
As he blinked the sleep from his eyes he could see that it was the door to Corlys’ office that had been opened, not the one that led out to the main sitting room where everyone else was. Now that he was focusing more, he could still hear them all chatting from the other room faintly. No one was supposed to be in grandfather’s office, and he had barred it from the inside with a key only he had so that Jace and him wouldn’t go playing around in his papers.
Luke caught sight of a man limping into the room, quiet as could be. He didn’t look like much but when he turned to face him all Luke could see was a firefly and death.
A roaring fire filled his vision as the hearth in the corner burst to life with Balerion’s anger. The man stumbled back as the flames licked at the stone above the fireplace, Balerion’s rage sending sparks and waves of heat pouring into the room. He nearly threw himself back through the door to grandfather’s office as Luke threw himself out of the bed.
Luke could hear him fumbling around with something in the office, whatever it was clattering on the stone. A man screaming in pain and fear replaced the noise, filling his head so loudly he couldn’t hear anything else.
He had never heard the knight scream, yet the voice in his head sounded so much like Ser Harwin that it hurt.
His breath caught in his throat as smoke billowed out from between his teeth like lives lost in the night. The rough abrading feeling that he felt among his soul whenever he was near Harwin filled his entire being and he knew suddenly that the feeling hadn’t been because of Harwin. It had been warning him of this man. He was the gravel underneath Harwin’s river wearing him thin. A murkiness marring otherwise clear waters.
He didn’t know how he knew the man was related to Ser Harwin, but he did. The texture of the gravel against his very being was unmistakable.
He ran for the door, wanting nothing more than to get as far away from this man as he could, completely uncaring that his hands stung as he tried to grab the handle. He wanted to get out of the stone hall that was only good for trapping lost souls.
No matter how much he tugged, he couldn’t get the door to open, it just thumped uselessly in place as he pulled and pulled on the handle. His panic had worked up into hiccupping sobs by the time the door was pulled open in front of him, and he nearly bowled Rhaena over in his rush to get out of the room.
“Luke? Are you alright?” Rhaena asked as she grabbed his shoulders to hold him back from her stomach. “What’s going on?”
“Leave!” He pushed against her hold, trying to get her to turn around so they could both leave. The only thing that was waiting for them back in that room was a fiery death, and he didn’t want to die and he didn’t want to drag his cousin to her death either. “Need to leave!”
Rhaena let him push against her, backing up until she was past the threshold of the door and Baela appeared right next to them. He grabbed her hand without thinking and dragged her away from the door. “What’s wrong, did something scare you?” She asked again, “Mother and Grandmother are just in the other room with your brother.”
Meleys and her hatchling wouldn’t let them get hurt, they were both fierce dragons, they could fight off a firefly.
The two dragons turned to look at them as he drug his cousins into the room, and they both flew out of their seats as soon as they saw him. The hatchling reached him first and scooped him up into her arms, easing just enough of his fear that he felt like he could breathe through the smoke again.
Aunt Laena rocked him in her arms, shushing him soothingly even as he tried to tell her that they needed to leave before the firefly came back, before he set them all alight. “Rhaena, what happened?”
“We heard the door to grandfather’s room thumping and when we opened it Luke ran out.”
He tried again to tell them about the man, but none of them were listening. Meleys just brushed his hair back out of his face and started talking about how he must’ve had a nightmare.
But it wasn’t a nightmare, it was real! Balerion wouldn’t have had to scare away a nightmare, he had to use his fire because the man was real and in his room. He was real and he was going to kill everyone.
No one listened. They walked back over to the table, the hatchling refusing to let him squirm out of her arms, and they started talking over his head like he wasn’t even there.
Somewhere just out of sight he could hear the firefly tittering, dancing in the darkness like an ever shifting flame.
Above him he could hear Meleys and her hatchling talking about the dragonpit and Vermax and trying to ask him questions, but he didn’t answer them. All he could think about was the firefly. He knew it was lurking, just waiting for something that could be used against them.
The sirens were near silent in his veins, he didn’t have enough water left for them to truly sing, but he could feel the urge to go to the sea and refill his veins building with each passing moment. Balerion assured him that he’d keep the firefly from getting out of grandfather’s office, yet he knew the firefly would just find another way to get whatever it was he wanted.
Luke shouldn’t have slipped away, not so soon after having drained himself so badly, but he needed to go to the bay. No one had let him go to the sea, and no one had understood that when he asked for a bath he wanted sea water, not just warm water. He needed the ocean to seep back into his veins so he could heal and he wasn’t getting that cooped up in his room being fed cakes and grapes.
Especially after the firefly showed up in grandfather’s office. He still wasn’t sure how he got in but it didn’t matter. If he came back and tried to hurt them Luke didn’t have enough water to defend himself or anyone else and Balerion could only do so much when he wasn’t in his veins. His friend couldn’t burn away threats without risking hurting everyone else at the same time.
Meleys and her hatchling hadn’t listened to him when he tried to get them to leave, and now he wasn’t sure they’d even listen to him at all if he told them about the firefly.
Everyone would be upset with him when he got back, though Balerion whispered to him that if no one noticed he was gone they wouldn’t be mad. He could just hurry down to the bay, refill his water and then he’d go straight back to his room and no one would notice.
He had even taken an orange with him so he could eat it along the way because everyone kept telling him he needed to eat. And he had a bucket with him so he could bring extra seawater back just in case he had to drain himself again warding off the firefly. Technically he was doing what they wanted him to do!
It was a lot harder than he thought to get around unnoticed without his bubble, but he was fairly sure he hadn’t been seen. No one had stopped him, or even acknowledged him as he passed by them, and Balerion had been trying his best to conceal him with smoke and flashes of flame from the torches since he didn’t have enough water to hide himself properly. The sirens had lowered themselves to a hushed whisper that was barely even comprehensible in an effort to conserve what little water he had left until he could get refilled, so there just wasn’t enough to make his bubble.
The trip felt a lot longer than he had anticipated though. Looking out his window the sea had seemed so close that he could almost reach out and touch it, and now it felt like it was so far away he’d never get out to it. Every hallway just led to another hallway, and some of them doubled back onto each other and brought him further away from his destination with each corner he turned. He thought it would be easy to just slip by Meleys as she went to give Rhaena a book and then get back before she noticed him gone.
He felt like he was going around in circles trying to find an exit that would take him out of the castle and to the bay. If he didn’t find one soon someone was going to end up seeing him and then he’d have to go back to his room without refilling his water.
He was almost desperate enough to just climb up to one of the windows and jump out of it in the hopes of getting a little bit closer to the water. But there was a trench with spikes along it below every window he found, so he’d only use that as a last resort.
Luke shoved his way through another door and trotted around another corner, only to run face first into someone’s leg.
It was enough to throw him to the floor, and his bucket rudely flew from his hand.
Luke stared up at Ser Harwin, who stared back at him, both of them completely frozen in shock as they watched each other. He wasn’t quite sure what to do, he knew now that the knight wasn’t the source of the gravel that had been hurting him, but he didn’t think the man would want to be around him after he had been so mean the last time they met.
After a long stretch of silence, Luke held out half of the blood orange he had taken from the breakfast table. A peace offering of sorts.
“Orange?”
Finally, after an even longer silence, Harwin reached out and took the offered half, holding it awkwardly in one hand as he sheathed his drawn sword with the other.
Satisfied, Luke pointed towards the empty space on the wall and gestured for him to sit. “Eat.”
“Luke - My Prince, you need to return to your room, you shouldn’t be out here and certainly not alone.” Harwin said hesitantly, still shocked from him coming around the corner.
He shook his head vigorously and pointed at the wall again with all the stubbornness of a child, “You can’t walk and eat an orange, sit!”
“We can walk and eat.”
“No, sit! Eat!”
Harwin seemed to lose his hesitance as Luke insisted and the frown that had been tugging on his mouth started to loosen as he sat down. “The whole castle is locked down to deal with…what happened the other day, my Prince, you can’t be out here.”
He pouted, he was trying to make amends - and go get more water, which he knew Harwin would try to stop him from doing - now that he knew the gravel wasn’t Harwin himself, and now the knight didn’t want to be around him. “I need water.” He said, reaching out to grab his bucket with one stinging hand and holding his half of the orange in the other.
“Lucerys, I am sure there is water in your mother’s chambers, it isn’t safe for you here.”
“But I need seawater!”
The knight sighed, scratching his head with the hand not holding his orange. “I need to take you back to your chambers, your mother is probably worried sick!” He stood up abruptly, placing the orange half down on the wall and moving to grab him with both hands.
Luke knew it was just him reaching to pick him up and take him back to his room, but all of a sudden all he could see was the man that had grabbed him in Egg’s brother’s room, the one that had swung at him with a knife. His water pulsed in his veins, making a valiant but useless attempt to rush to his aid.
There wasn’t enough of it to send towards the attacker, there wasn’t even enough to calm him, but he could feel Balerion settle in his throat in place of his water, urging him to open his mouth. So he did.
A piercing shriek burst from his throat, echoing off the walls the same way the dragon song in his dreams would. He could feel his throat burn as the scream dissipated and he could taste smoke and ash when he tried to breathe. His lungs protested the movement, sending him into a coughing fit that had his vision blurring with tears.
Heavy hands picked him up and set his chin against Harwin’s shoulder and the knight patted his back until the coughing subsided. “It’s alright, baby, just breathe.”
His throat felt raw and rough when he finally stopped coughing.
“That’s it, good boy.”
Each breath still stung but he did feel a little bit better surrounded by Harwin’s arms now that he knew the man wasn’t the one rubbing his soul raw.
Harwin stood up from where he had knelt on the stone, keeping Luke pressed against his shoulder with one arm.
“Bucket.” Luke croaked before he could be taken away from the hall.
The knight paused and stopped to grab the bucket as they walked back around the corner Luke had come from, leaving both of their halves of the orange behind.
He coughed as he was carried, the constant movement jostling his lungs around and shifting whatever had lodged itself in his throat.
Harwin carried him all the way back to his room and as it turned out he hadn’t gotten anywhere near his destination. He had barely gotten three halls away from his chambers even though it had felt like he was walking for hours. There were shouts in the distance, calling his name desperately that he hadn’t noticed before.
Someone must’ve noticed him missing and started searching for him. The noise rang in his ears painfully, reminding him of the screams he had heard before, so he tucked his head against the knight's chest until they got back in his room.
Tears pricked at his eyes as he realized that he had failed. He didn’t get to refill his water, he hurt worse than he had before he snuck past Meleys and now people were going to be mad at him for trying to heal. The only thing he had managed to do was hurt his hands and his throat and run into Ser Harwin.
“‘M sorry.” He started, the tears stuffing up his nose and muffling his voice. “Sorry I was mean…I was scared and I thought you were hurting me, but it wasn’t you, it was the firefly.” Luke felt Harwin’s breath hitch under him, and he held on tighter. “I thought you were the gravel but it was him, you're just a river.”
He came to a stop in the middle of the room and there was a heavy silence that lingered in the air.
The silence made more than just his hands ache, and his tears started dripping down his cheeks. It was more of his water being lost but now that he was crying he couldn’t stop himself. He wanted to make things right so he didn’t have to hear Harwin screaming, he wanted to go get more water, and now he couldn’t figure out a way to do either.
He kept crying until it made him choke around the lump in his throat and he started coughing again. Harwin tried to console him and get him to stop crying but he couldn’t, even Balerion whispering from the hearth couldn’t break through the sobs. He was hurting and he wanted his water to soothe him and take his pain away like it usually did.
Except he had no water to soothe him, because he had thrown it at the man trying to kill him and now he was crying the last bit he had out.
“Luke, it’s alright,” Harwin shushed him, running his free hand through his hair as he bounced him on his hip. “It’s alright, you weren’t mean, you were just scared.” He turned them both around, moving back and forth like he was trying to find something. “Here.”
Gerardys was pressed into his hand. It hurt to hold him, the rough edges pressed painfully into his cuts even with the bandages wrapped thick but it did make him feel a little bit better. He had to press the seahorse against his neck to let the water from the glaze bleed into his skin, since his hands were blocked by the cloth.
Luke could finally hear the sirens singing in his mind again. They were still faint, he could just barely hear what they were singing, yet it was better than the nothing he had had for the past two days. They urged him to go to the sea and refill his veins, just like he expected them too, and they were also urging him to finish what he was trying to tell Harwin before he gave in to his exhaustion.
The momentary connection to the sirens was just enough to help him settle down. He tried to rethink what he wanted to say and how he could say it, so that he could make Harwin really understand, but when he looked back up at the big knight, he could see in his eyes that Harwin already knew.
The understanding was in the slight smile the man gave him, and the way the corners of his eyes eased their crinkles.
“Thank you.” Luke said softly as he pressed his head back into Harwin’s chest, feeling the darkness starting to creep in on his vision.
The knight’s voice rumbled against his whole body, a surprisingly nice feeling. “For what?”
He held Gerardys against the little slip of revealed skin under his gauntlet and let the tiny bit of water he had left bleed through. Just like he thought, the gravel underneath was gone and in its place was a normal riverbed, with gentle, protective undercurrents roving over algae and soft sand. “For protecting us.” He whispered, “You aren’t in our blood, but you're in our hearts.”
Harwin watched as Luke’s eyes slipped closed, shuttering as exhaustion finally overtook him. He looked so much like Rhaenyra when he was asleep, completely peaceful and angelic.
He knew he should take Luke to his bed and then go find Rhaenyra, he just couldn’t bring himself to move. For the first time since he had awoken from his fever Luke was back in his arms, and happily back in his arms. The fear and hesitation from before was gone and it warmed his heart.
Part of him had feared when Luke reacted the way he did to meeting him that he’d never get to see either of the boys again. Rhaenyra had assured him that he’d still get to spend time with Jace even if Luke didn’t want to see him but the words had felt like a falsity. He knew how much Jace loved Luke - it was the same amount of fierce love he felt towards both of the boys and Rhaenyra - and he knew that if Jace thought someone was upsetting his brother, he’d never let them near him.
Thankfully it seems as if his fears were unfounded.
The last thing he had expected was for Luke to offer him an orange and apologize for being upset by his presence. He wasn’t quite sure what he meant about riverbeds, gravel, and fireflies, but whatever it meant, Luke had changed his mind about being scared of him because of it and that was all that mattered to Harwin.
To hear that Luke and Jace both held him in their hearts felt like it took the weight of the world off his chest. He couldn’t have either of them as his sons, at this point he wasn’t even sure that either of them ever were his sons, but even if he could only serve as a protector for the two of them that was more than enough. He would keep them safe from the sidelines.
Luke shivered in his arms and without thinking he grabbed one of the many blankets lining the lounge and tucked it in around his shoulders. He bounced him gently against his hip to soothe him back to sleep the same way he had done when Luke was just a babe, and he settled down almost immediately.
“Harwin?”
“My lord, forgive me, I didn’t hear you come in.” He said quietly, not wanting to disturb the prince in his arms as he slowly turned to face Ser Laenor, cringing when he realized the man probably wouldn’t enjoy seeing him alone in the room with Luke in his arms. “The prince was wandering about the castle, I know I should have-”
Laenor’s eyes dropped to Luke and he rushed over to the two of them, pulling the blanket down just enough to see that Luke was sleeping before he pulled them back up. “Thank the gods you found him, my mother and Jace were panicking when they realized he slipped out again.” He didn’t try to take Luke from him, he merely motioned for Harwin to follow him and held open the door to the boy’s room, “He’ll be more comfortable in bed, if you’d like you can stay with him for a bit until everyone makes their way back here. I’ll tell Ser Kent you and I found him hiding away in one of the other rooms, so prepare for everyone to question you.”
Harwin breathed a small sigh of relief. “Thank you. For letting me stay with him.”
“Of course.” Laenor smiled at him as he stepped away. “I’ll try and find Rhaenyra and send her here first.”
“Ser Laenor!”
Laenor turned back to him, and eyebrow raised in askance as he paused in closing the door.
He hesitated for a moment, knowing that what he was about to say was going to sound crazy. “Luke…when I found him he was trying to get to the bay.”
“The bay?” Laenor repeated incredulously, “What was he trying to go there for?”
“He said he needed water, and when I said Rhaenyra had some in her chambers he said that he needed seawater.”
“Seawater? Oh gods.” The other knight sighed and dropped his head into his hand. “Of course. My father has been talking on and on about how the seawater is what healed his fever. Luke must’ve gotten it into his head that seawater will heal him somehow. He was probably hurting from his hands.” He sighed again, looking both sad and annoyed.
Harwin stroked his hand through Luke’s hair, he couldn’t help but think back to the determined look on the boy’s face when he had tried to get past him to go to the bay. “If it is alright, I’ll take the bucket he had with him once Rhaenyra gets back and go down to the bay and bring him some seawater.”
“There’s really no need, I don’t think it will actually help.”
“Perhaps not, but if he thinks it’ll help he might feel better once he has it.” He shrugged as he placed Luke on the bed. “It won’t hurt him to have a bucket of seawater with him if he wants it.” If Luke was so desperate to have seawater with him that he’d risk wandering around the castle alone to go get it, then Harwin would get it for him. Luke could ask him to rip the stars from the sky and he’d try with all his might. “Is there anything to be done about him running away?”
“My father is assembling a constant guard for him, but at this point I think we’ll just have to keep him in someone’s arms at all times to keep him from slipping away, though I don’t think my mother or Rhaenyra intend to let him out of their hold regardless.”
That sounded a bit extreme. Then again, Luke had managed to slip away unnoticed far too many times already. First to the Dragonpit, then to Prince Aemond’s chambers, and now an attempt to get to the bay. If Harwin didn’t know any better he’d say that the boy had to be getting help from someone in his escapades.
Laenor thanked him for finding Luke again and leaned in to kiss Luke’s forehead before heading out of the room. Harwin pulled up a chair and finished tucking Luke into the copious amounts of blankets he could pilfer from the room.
Luke slept on peacefully, burrowing himself under the blankets until he was nothing but a shivering lump underneath them.
It wasn’t long after that that he heard thundering footsteps heading towards them, and he barely had time to get up from the chair and move to a more appropriate distance before the door was thrown open. To his surprise it wasn’t Rhaenyra that came through the door, but a harried and frantic looking Princess Rhaenys and Lord Corlys.
Laenor wasn’t far behind them, and Jace came flying into the room with tears streaming down his face. Harwin was shocked by the changes to Jace, he had heard from Rhaenyra about his hair changing but he hadn’t been able to imagine it in his mind. Jace practically ripped the blankets off the bed and Laenor had to grab him around the waist to keep him from throwing himself on top of Luke and hurting him.
“Jace!” Jace flailed his arms and nearly whacked Laenor in the face as he tried to restrain him.
The noise woke Luke up, and he jolted up in bed and nearly threw himself off it, only to be grabbed by Lord Corlys. “Everyone calm down!” The Lord shouted, and all movement in the room ceased, even Harwin found himself going still at the man’s shout.
Luke curled himself up in Lord Corlys’ arms, and Jace practically deflated in Laenor’s.
“Now,” The Sea Snake started with a huff, “Someone tell me what happened while I was gone, and why my grandson was missing again.” The question made Luke shrink even further in his grandfather’s arms.
Princess Rhaenys was the one to answer him. “Jace was attending his lessons while Laena and I were talking, Luke was put to bed and then woke from a nightmare. He was with the rest of us for most of the day until Laena was ready to leave. I left him alone for only a moment to walk them to the door and when I came back he was gone.”
Laenor picked up where she left off, “When Mother called the guards, I went to look for him as well and found Ser Harwin on his patrol and enlisted his help as well.” Laenor glanced at him, and then down to Luke, clearly thrown off by having to explain this while Luke was awake instead of having the chance to say his piece while Luke couldn’t refute it. “We found him hiding in one of the other rooms. He was apparently trying to go down to the bay to get a bucket of seawater.”
At the mention of seawater Princess Rhaenys whirled around to glare at her husband. “A bucket of seawater.”
“I need the seawater to heal!” Luke chirped helpfully, thankfully not mentioning Laenor’s lie about how he was found, he seemed much more interested in petitioning for seawater.
Princess Rhaenys looked even more incensed at his declaration. “Luke, if you wanted seawater you should have asked, we would have gotten a servant to go get some for you.”
“I did ask! I asked Grandfather for a bath so I could heal but no one put the right water in.”
Lord Corlys had a sheepish look on his face as he sat Luke down on the edge of the bed and tilted his chin up so he was looking at him. “You can’t go get seawater yourself, my boy, it’s too dangerous. I will have someone go fetch you some once we are done here. You had everyone worried sick that you had been hurt or taken.”
Luke frowned. “I am hurt, that’s why I need water, there’s not enough of it inside of me to heal.”
“Luke,” Princess Rhaenys sighed, sitting on the edge of the bed and pulling Luke into her arms, “Seawater can’t heal you like that, I know your grandfather -”
“It can!” He shouted back. “It healed me before!”
Harwin watched as Luke and Princess Rhaenys argued back and forth about whether or not he could be healed by seawater until Luke devolved into a fit of uncontrollable coughing. The Princess attempted to stop his coughs with a few swift pats to his back, but it didn’t cease till Luke had completely tired himself out and slumped over in her arms, wheezing to catch his breath.
He was concerned with the viciousness of that cough, and he thought back to them being in the hall. He had gone to pick Luke up so he could take him back to Rhaenyra’s rooms, and for a brief second he could have sworn Luke’s throat had started to glow. He hadn’t had a chance to get a good look at it because Luke had screamed so loudly it felt like his ears had been stabbed with a hot iron.
The prince had gone into a coughing fit right afterwards and Harwin had been consumed with trying to stop the fit and help Luke breathe, not with figuring out whether that glow had been a figment of his imagination or not. He had assumed the fit was brought on by the ferocity of the scream he had let out, not something else. He had completely dismissed what he had seen until now, and now he wasn’t sure how to bring it up without drawing too much attention to himself.
It was clear that the Princess and Lord Corlys hadn’t noticed him when they came in, judging by the way Princess Rhaenys picked Luke up and walked right by him to go get a goblet of water, and he didn’t particularly want to draw attention to himself.
He’d have to take Ser Laenor or Rhaenyra aside at some point and tell them what he had seen. One of them would know what it meant and what to do.
Rhaenys held Luke against her chest, stroking his hair as she rocked them both on the chair. He wasn’t quite sleeping, but he was dozing against her while they waited for the servants to come back with his dinner.
They were also waiting for the bucket of seawater that her grandson had requested, though that was less of a concern for her. She was more worried about keeping him constantly in her arms and trying to discern where his cough had come from. He hadn’t been coughing at all the whole day and now after he had run off for a few minutes he had been coughing almost constantly. She and Corlys had both coaxed him into drinking some water and it hadn’t helped at all.
Every single time he slipped away he came back with some new injury or ailment, and it was driving her absolutely mad.
“Rhaenyra?” Her good-daughter glanced up from where she was reading to Jace on the adjoining lounge. “Would you mind handing me another blanket?”
Rhaenyra gently nudged Jace out of her lap, reaching over to grab a thick blanket before getting up to come drape it over Luke’s shoulders. “Is he cold?”
“He’s shivering, not much, but I can feel it.”
“That cough hasn’t gotten better either.” She said, the concern obvious in her voice. She tucked the blanket in tighter and reluctantly went back to sit with Jace, not wanting to crowd Luke. “Did Laenor say how the cough started?”
Rhaenys shook her head. “He did not, nor did Ser Harwin, though they left with Corlys before I could truly ask.”
“We’ll have to bring it up to Maester Gerardys when he comes to rebandage Luke’s hands tonight.”
Hopefully Corlys would bring Maester Gerardys with him on his way back from obtaining the seawater Luke wanted so much. It irked her, how much Luke was attached to the idea of seawater healing him, and it annoyed her that Corlys had accidentally gotten him to buy into the idea, though she knew it hadn’t been on purpose.
At the same time, however, she couldn’t fully discount Luke’s attachment to the sea. After all, it was her that was pushing the belief of Luke having a deeper magical connection than the rest of them, and House Velaryon came from Valyria just as House Targaryen did. It was possible the Velaryons from before the Doom had been connected to the magic of Old Valyria as the Targaryens were, and that it had just been a connection to the sea rather than to dragons.
If it turned out to be true and Luke’s connection to magic favored a connection to the sea, Corlys would never let her hear the end of it. Everyone from the Shadowlands of Asshai to the far coast of Westeros would hear of it from the great Sea Snake.
Still, she just couldn’t parse how her grandson was constantly fleeing unseen. Even if he had magic that was based around the sea, he shouldn’t be able to wander around unseen nor unheard.
She had been watching him all morning, and yet when she had turned her back to the door for mere moments to see Laena and her daughters just to the far end of the apartments he had snuck by her. It was astonishing to know that a boy of three was constantly outwitting her. Never in her life had Rhaenys felt terror quite like when she walked back into the room after Laena had left, only to find Luke completely missing.
Her own mother's passing hadn’t been as traumatic as Luke wandering about the castle after besting two full grown assassins, and all for a bucket of seawater. She was half tempted to just chain him to his bed and refuse to let him go anywhere, and perhaps she would if she wasn’t convinced he’d somehow find his way out of that as well.
And with the luck her grandson had she’d chain him to the bed and he’d immediately be attacked by an assassin.
Luke squirmed in her hold, pulling away from her just slightly. “Water?” He asked hopefully.
“Your grandfather will be back with it soon, my dear.” The poor boy looked terrible, now that she could see his face again. He was pale and drawn, similar to how he had been during his days of fever. While he wasn’t overheated, thank the gods, he most certainly looked ill.
He curled back against her with a dejected noise, coughing and nearly choking as his chest rattled.
It was the third time since Corlys had left that he asked, and at first she had tried to ply him with a goblet full of fresh water, but he wouldn’t have it. Each time he would just press himself back against her and tuck his head under her chin to keep her from pressing the cup to his lips.
His breath evened out again like he was just on the verge of sleep, and so she went back to running over the moment he had snuck by her in her mind.
Corlys eventually made his way back to their rooms, along with several servants carrying both buckets of seawater and trays of food and their son. Ser Harwin was conveniently absent, probably having been called away to his patrols before she could question him.
She would simply have to interrogate Laenor instead.
Luke perked up when he heard Corlys’ voice and while she stood up to take them both over to the dining table, she didn’t let Luke leave her arms. She had learned that lesson the hard way, she wouldn’t be letting him go unless he was going straight into someone else’s hold. Her husband set one of the buckets he was carrying down on the table, on the edge away from where the food was being laid out.
They all sat around the table, Luke in her lap, Corlys to her one side, Rhaenyra to her other side, Jace next to her and lastly Laenor next to Jace. They doled out their own food and she put enough food on her plate for both her and Luke to share since she would be feeding him much like she had that morning.
She had barely even gotten through cutting up the venison loin on her plate before Jace finally decided it was time to say his piece. He was staring straight at his brother with an agitated look on his face. “Why didn’t you tell me you were leaving?!”
“I needed water!” Luke coughed. He squirmed in her arms, and she wasn’t sure if he was trying to get to the bucket on the table or if he wanted to go console Jace for not telling him he was leaving.
“You could have taken me with you! I would have gone and got you water!”
Across the table Rhaenyra massaged her temples, “Jace, that is far from the point, no one should have been going out at all, let alone just for seawater, because we are supposed to be confined to our apartments.”
“But if Luke needed water I would have gotten it for him!”
“No one doubts that, my boy,” Corlys said, “We all know you would do whatever Luke asked, but the problem at hand is that Luke shouldn’t have left at all, with you or not.”
Jace just huffed in response, leaning back in his chair with a pout on his face and his arms crossed. Rhaenys pulled Luke back into her lap when he ‘subtly’ tried to leave, keeping one hand on the middle of his chest to keep him from leaning forward.
“How did he get out again, Rhaenys? Did none of the guards notice him?” Rhaenyra asked as she cut up Jace’s food and tried to coax him into eating instead of pouting at Luke.
“He managed to slip by me while I was walking Laena to the door. I still don’t know how, but I am assuming it is related to what we talked about before.” She answered back. She had no firm evidence yet, but she knew that Luke’s ability to wander off was related to magic. There was no other possible explanation.
Her grandson decided this was the perfect time to interrupt his staredown with his brother. Luke lurched forward in her arms almost enough to unseat himself and this time she could see he was trying to reach for the bucket. She had to rein him back into her lap once again, soothing him with a consoling pat on the shoulder even as he whined.
Corlys patted his head, “We’ll give you a bath and let you soak once you are done with your evening meal, you need to eat first.”
He speared a piece of sausage onto a fork and tried to get Luke to eat it, but he simply ignored the offering and grabbed a goblet instead. “Water!”
He sounded…extremely distressed by not having the water, so Rhaenys gave in, taking the goblet from his hand before he could hurt himself with it and she stood to dip the cup in the bucket. She sat it down right next to him, hoping that having it nearby and maybe dipping his fingers in it would hold him over till they could get him into a bath.
Rhaenys didn’t anticipate Luke snatching the goblet off of the table and downing the entire cup of water in one go. He drank it down with all the desperation of a man dying of thirst. Everyone at the table stared at him, and he looked back at them and held the goblet out again.
“More please.”
She took a moment to compose herself before refilling the goblet and this time helping Luke drink it. He drank six goblets full of water in total that way, looking more and more settled with each cup he drained. If she wasn’t sure it was simply seawater, she’d have thought that it was wine with how much he relaxed drinking it.
Luke settled back against her lap, watching everyone with dazed half closed eyes either uncaring or uncomprehending of the strange looks he was getting. Most likely uncomprehending, given how focused he was on the water.
Rhaenys cleared her throat, gently jostling her grandson in her lap to get his attention. “Do you feel better now?”
He nodded vigorously, holding out his bandaged hands as if they were supposed to prove something, “I’m healing now!”
Her focus immediately honed in on both his words and his hands. She pulled one of his hands towards her, taking it between both of her own and slowly unwinding the bandages. The white cloth fell away to reveal his hand underneath.
She had been expecting something ridiculous, something that would prove her inner thoughts about him having some form of magic, and yet all of her thoughts still didn’t prepare her to see as Luke's hands quite literally healed themselves before her eyes. It wasn’t a drastic, instant healing, but she could see the inflamed red skin at the edges of the wounds lightening, and the worst parts of the cuts growing closer and closer together.
There wasn’t anything that would point towards how he was healing, yet it was clear as day that it was happening. Corlys and Rhaenyra both reached out to take hold of his hand, staring at it with their own looks of shock as they watched it continue healing. It stopped after a minute, leaving his hands more healed than they had been before but still fairly injured.
Of course, she couldn’t see how deep the cuts truly were, so there was a chance that Luke could have healed more unseen to them. The healing on the surface however was absolutely visible.
Corlys was the first one to regain his bearings. “Luke, how did you do that?”
“The water healed it, but I don’t have enough to heal it all at once.”
“So the water you drank went to heal your hands?” She asked, “Does it automatically heal you or do you have to direct it?”
He shook his head. “I can use the water if I want, when I have enough of it, but it can do what it wants too.”
Corlys was never going to let this go. He had already started drafting songs for the bards to sing in halls across the Kingdom about having saved Luke with seawater, and now he would go galavanting across the world talking about how their grandson had water magic. She could already see the shit eating grin building on his face as he took Luke’s hand in his again and ran his fingers over the now smooth edges of the cuts, carefully avoiding the still raw inner parts of the wounds.
A multitude of questions filtered into her mind, but the most prominent was the same question she had had for a while. How was he getting around so easily? She wanted desperately to know if that was because of this water magic he had or if he was somehow just a naturally sneaky child.
“And does the water let you sneak around unseen?”
Rhaenyra picked Luke up out of her arms and placed him into her own lap, taking his hand to let Laenor see it while Jace whined that he wanted to hold Luke. Laenor still looked confused even after seeing the healing on his hand.
“Luke,” She called to get his attention back on her when Jace tried to start arguing with Luke about not taking him with him to get water again. She wanted her questions answered. “Does the water help you get around?”
“I can make a bubble!” He chirped with a nod. “It makes it hard to see and hear stuff but the water guides me to wherever it needs me to be.”
“Can you show us this bubble?”
Luke bit his lip, watching the bucket with wide eyes before eventually turning back to them. “Not now, I don’t have enough water in my veins to use my bubble and ward off the firefly.”
“....ward off the firefly?”
“A firefly came in when I was asleep, he was looking for something.”
Rhaenys felt herself pale, thinking back to when Luke had come barreling out of their bedroom in a panic earlier that day. She had just assumed that it was a nightmare finally showing the emotional toll from dealing with the assassin and when Luke had settled down quickly after she hadn’t thought of it again.
Luke had run off barely more than an hour later, and she had panicked so much over finding him again that she hadn’t remembered the incident at all.
Corlys and Laenor both stood from their chairs abruptly, dual stoney looks on their faces as they stormed towards the bedroom. She could hear them fumbling around in the room, moving things around and slamming things, looking for whatever evidence they could find of this ‘firefly’.
It would seem they didn’t find any evidence because Corlys looked infuriated when he came back out. “He was in the bedroom with you? Was he in there before you were put down for bed?” Corlys asked quickly, taking Luke into his arms and rocking him as he urged Rhaenys and Rhaenyra out of their seats, and pulled Jace to his side. He turned to her while he waited for Luke to answer. “The top and sides of the hearth are scorched, like someone over stoked it.”
Rhaenyra turned to Luke, stroking his face with concern and looked at Corlys, “If someone overstoked the fire he could have breathed in smoke, that could be why he’s coughing.”
That would certainly explain the cough, and there had been a lingering smell of ash and smoke in the room since Luke had been in there.
“It could. Luke, the man you saw, was he in the bedroom with you?” He asked again.
“He came out of your office.”
“The office?” She, Corlys, Laenor and Rhaenyra all chorused. The office only had one way in - through the bedroom. For someone to have been in there they would have had to slip in between all of them waking up and Luke being put down to sleep. That was absolutely impossible. She and Corlys had been in their room almost all day the day before, then had been in there all night, and the door had never been out of her sight the whole day.
Whoever it was would have had to have been hiding in there for over a day.
Even beyond that, she had watched Corlys lock the office door that morning from the outside, and no one had been in the office when he closed it.
“You’re sure he came from the office?”
Luke nodded. “I woke up when he opened the door and came through it.”
All of them walked through the bedroom and to the office door. Laenor reached for the handle while Corlys gave Luke back to Rhaenyra so his hands would be free. The door swung open into the office, unlocked. Rhaenys and Rhaenyra stayed on the other side of the bedroom with the boys while Laenor and Corlys went through the office, overturning some of the furniture, rifling through papers, and trying to find some way a man could have gotten in.
They were both clearly frustrated as they went through the room and turned up with nothing. Luke reached out and grabbed Rhaenys’ braid and gave it a tug.
She winced and turned her attention back to him, “Yes, sweet boy?”
“The wall by the desk.” He whispered to her.
It took her a moment to realize what he meant, but once she realized it, she stepped forward into the office, bypassing both Corlys and Laenor to press a hand against the wall directly behind the desk. It felt like stone just like the rest of the wall at first, until she pressed both her hands against it and pushed. The wall, or rather a small door sized patch, gave under her hands.
The wall shifted just enough to be noticeable.
Corlys was by her side almost instantly, shoving at the false panel of stone until it fully gave way and swung in towards a darkened tunnel behind it. Her husband took a step in, just far enough to see that the false wall was just stone adhered to a sheet of thin wood, kept in place by a latch. It was essentially a door straight into the office, and there was no end to the tunnel in sight.
He stepped back into the room and pulled the false wall shut behind him, shoving the desk and one of the dressers against it to keep anyone from coming back through it and into the office. Corlys ushered everyone out of the room and locked the outer door of the office behind him.
They all wandered back into the main sitting room, unsettled by the sudden knowledge that they could have been intruded on at any time. Rhaenys could feel the pit in her stomach grow even larger as she thought of Luke being alone, asleep and vulnerable, in that room while she and Laena had been carefree and joking.
For all they know the man who Luke had seen was another assassin sent after him that Luke managed to thwart accidentally. Again.
Once the realization settled inside of her she nudged Jace to Rhaenyra’s side and moved to start gathering some of their things.
“We need to pack our things and go to Viserys.” She said firmly as she grabbed Gerardys and handed him to Luke, and gave Jace his knife. “We’ll have to request to be put in another wing of the castle and have it properly searched for any more of these secret passages so they can be blocked before we settle in.”
Her words spurred Corlys and Laenor into motion, and they both moved about the room, filling a few bags with only the most necessary belongings.
“Rhaenys.”
Rhaenys looked up at Rhaenyra, and the fear was plain on her good-daughters face. “Yes?”
Rhaenyra swallowed hard, stroking her son’s hair as she mulled over her words. “Perhaps we should consider leaving the Keep altogether. It would be safer for the boys on Driftmark or at Dragonstone.”
She had thought that herself. Driftmark was considerably tighter-knit than the Red Keep, and it was harder to slip in and out unnoticed with a much smaller household that all knew each other. The Red Keep had hundreds if not thousands of people in and out each day. Jace and Luke would be much safer on either of the islands under the care of their family and well away from the vipers nest of King’s Landing.
“I have considered it myself, but we shouldn’t make rash decisions. They’ll be safer, yes, but it would weaken your own position.” She hated even having to consider politics over the safety of her own grandsons, but it had to be done. If Rhaenyra’s position was weakened as heir to the Throne, the boys would be in more danger than they already were. “Let us just get through tonight and we can revisit this when we have clear heads. If anything we might send Jace and Luke back to Driftmark with Corlys and Laenor and the two of us will deal with the politics.”
She nodded, letting the subject drop as Corlys and Laenor made their way back to them, carrying several bags stuffed to the brim. Neither of the boys seemed to understand what was going on, Jace was staring up at them in confusion, and Luke was completely enamored with Gerardys.
Laenor stepped towards the door, “I’m going to gather the guards and send one of them ahead to request an audience with the King.”
They all stood in place, silently ruminating over this new information as they privately tried to figure out what their next move would be. Rhaenys turned her thoughts to what her next move against Alicent and her allies would be. This had to be some kind of response to her acts towards Cole, it had to be. Perhaps the assassination attempt against Aemond might not have been, she didn’t think even Alicent was capable of killing her own child, but all of these recent events stunk of Hightower meddling.
It may not be Alicent, but Otto had been eerily silent since his dismissal as hand.
She’d need to find Daemon after they were settled in and find out what he had learned from the captured assassin. She and Corlys would need to plan out their next moves carefully, and they’d need a swift strike against Alicent if they wanted to force her into backing off. Otto would be harder to deal with, given he was in Oldtown.
Laenor came back in with their entire retinue of guards and household servants, sans Ser Alisar, and all of them stood up as one to meet him. The servants took hold of the bags that had been packed, and two of them grabbed a few of the buckets of seawater to take along with them.
Rhaenyra let Corlys take Luke out of her arms as they walked along the halls. “Luke, the man that came from the office, do you remember what he looked like?”
Luke looked up from stroking Gerardys with the most vacant blank eyes she had ever seen. “Like Death.”
End of Chapter 13
Notes:
Thanks for reading! Tell me what you did/didn't like, and what you'd like to see in future chapters!
A/N: Rhaenys: We’re going to keep a stern eye on Luke and keep him out of trouble.
Balerion: Good luck, I’m a god and I haven’t been able to do that.A/N : Luke: I can’t get the water I want, so I guess I’m gonna have to get it myself
A/N: Rhaenys and Daemon: We don’t know how Alicent is involved in all of this but we know that bitch is involved and we are gonna attack her for it.
Chapter 14: Chapter 14
Summary:
We get more of the Velaryon Brady Bunch (And some bonus Harwin and Qarl content!)
Notes:
I know I know, this chapter is several days late just like the last one, but unfortunately the national shortage of ADHD meds has finally hit me and uhhh sitting down to write 10k of a fanfic is hard when you can't focus.
However I did manage to hyperfixate on some fun scenes for later in the fic, and my gdoc of all the random little unassigned scenes has now reached a record 56k.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
I’ll burn a bitch, I’ll burn you, I’ll burn God if I have to
Rhaenyra tried to remind herself to breathe as she shifted in her seat, moving Luke to one side so that Jace could settle more comfortably against her side. She probably should have made Jace sit in the chair next to them, but she couldn’t bring herself to tell him to move. She barely wanted to let them leave her arms at this point.
She knew of the secret passages that Maegor had installed in the Red Keep, she herself had used them in her youth, yet seeing the one open up into Lord Corlys and Princess Rhaenys’ chambers had gripped her heart. It was worse to know that someone had actually come through that passage while her sweet boy was alone and asleep in the room.
Even the confirmation that Luke in fact did have some form of magic - that he could heal himself at will and apparently use water to conceal himself - was overshadowed by the reveal of that tunnel. Only the gods knew what that man had been intending to do to Luke, and it was by their grace that Luke had once again escaped the danger that seemed to lurk around every corner.
It hadn’t been like this in her childhood.
Certainly there had been threats and worries, and the Kingsguard had always been just at the edge of almost every room she had been in, but she had never faced anything near this level of danger. The worst she had dealt with was the undercurrent of fear she had when she rode to Dragonstone to confront her uncle after her mother’s death, and that paled in comparison to what her children faced just in the last moon. Princess Rhaenys had shared some of her theories with her on the walk to her father’s solar and all of them had her glancing over her own shoulder every chance she got.
Rhaenyra wasn’t sold on Alicent somehow being behind all of this, but there was most certainly someone plotting against her sons. Or perhaps they were just plotting against Luke, since he was the one at the center of all this. Yet whatever Luke was dragged into Jace would undoubtedly force his way into it as well.
And she hadn’t even been told of all the happenings of the past day yet. She knew of course about Luke scampering off again, and she was there for both the reveal of his magic and when they found out someone had tried to attack him. Somehow that wasn’t all that she had missed. She couldn’t even take a moment to rejoice in the news that Luke had warmed up to Harwin because there was just too much else that needed to be focused on.
Laenor had mentioned that Harwin had something to discuss with the two of them about Luke, Rhaenys had begun to tell her about a conversation with Jace, and she had been planning on going to find Daemon to ask about the assassin when she learned Luke was missing. There was so much happening and it was only in one day!
Now her family was huddled in her Father’s solar waiting for him to arrive so that they could figure out which wing to go to and have the Velaryon household guard and the Kingsguard thoroughly search it before they moved in. Both her boys were absolutely exhausted - as was she - and she wanted nothing more than to just have a safe place to tuck them into bed and not worry about assassins popping up from every corner of the room.
“Ser Westerling says that your father is on his way.” Rhaenys sighed as she sat down next to her. She reached over to pet her hand through both Jace and Luke’s hair, drawing sleepy whines from Jace. “All of the Kingsguard except for Cole and Ser Erryk will be coming with him to search the new set of chambers.”
That brought her a little bit of relief. Not much, not after everything they’ve suffered through, but some. At the very least she knew that Ser Westerling would ensure that the rest of the Kingsguard did a thorough job of searching the new quarters. He took his job extremely seriously, and she knew that there was no chance he was in on whatever Alicent may or may not be planning against her. There was also a subtle dig at Cole that Rhaenyra knew Rhaenys fully intended to be felt.
Her good-mother had nearly as much ill will towards the man as Rhaenyra herself did, if not possibly more. “Do they know which wing we will be housed in?”
“Your father intends to move us into the King’s wing itself.” The words washed away most of the lingering fear she had left. If they were staying within her father’s apartments they would have the protection of most of the Kingsguard in addition to their own guards and surely her father’s apartments were more secure than any place else. Maegor would have wanted his own quarters to be as secure as possible.
It would also allow them to be near her father more often, and he could enjoy more time with his grandsons if they were right near him. However, Rhaenys didn’t seem as happy with it as Rhaenyra felt.
In fact she appeared discontented with it.
“You aren’t happy with that arrangement?”
Rhaenys sighed heavily. “It is a good solution, Viserys’ quarters are the safest place in the castle. They are also the closest to the Queen’s apartments.”
She hadn’t even thought of that. They were practically right down the hall from Alicent’s quarters, yet being so close to Alicent hadn’t even crossed her mind. She had only thought of the safety that being near her father afforded her and the boys, but if Rhaenys was right and Alicent was behind this, she was putting Jace and Luke straight into her clutches.
There was no point in voicing her thoughts, since Rhaenys was clearly thinking several steps ahead of her. She was glad Rhaenys was both on their side and so involved in things, there was no way she’d have thought of this until it was far too late. The older princess had a far greater well of knowledge in both childrearing and politics that was proving to be a great asset.
“I don’t intend for either of our boys to be allowed out of the quarters,” Rhaenys said after a pause, and Rhaenyra found herself nodding along without so much as a second thought. With Alicent so close by she didn’t want them risking Jace or Luke running into her. “Regardless, Corlys is assembling a constant guard for the boys, and now that we know of Luke’s…additional abilities we will hopefully be able to keep him contained more easily.”
Gods, her son had fucking magic. Her sweet baby boy had magic that they barely knew anything about. They knew he could heal himself with saltwater of all things, and he could use that magic to hide himself.
How were they going to keep him from getting into danger when he had magic? How would they even go about figuring out what all he could do with his magic? What if he tried something and harmed himself?
“Rhaenyra.” She looked up from her sons to see Rhaenys watching her with kind eyes. “We’ll deal with this, all of us, together. If things get too out of hand, we’ll send the boys to Dragonstone or Driftmark. For now we need to just get through the night.”
Rhaenyra gave her good-mother a weak smile. It was nice to have someone reassure her, but it wasn’t enough to stop her racing thoughts, not when there was so much to worry over and consider.
Just the possibility of Alicent being involved in all of this was going to haunt her through the night.
Laenor watched Jace hop up into bed, his jaw cracking around a yawn as he and Rhaenyra got the two of them ready for bed. It was strange to be in new chambers all of a sudden after having lived in the same wing of the castle since their marriage, but he was happy that they had been moved.
He thought that Luke’s fever was the scariest thing he had ever dealt with and then finding that tunnel had proved him wrong. His son had been alone in a room with yet another assassin.
He was just glad that Luke had managed to escape again, this time without being injured, and they had thoroughly searched their new accommodations. His father and the guards had spent hours going room by room through the entire wing of the castle, pressing along every section of wall to ensure that there were no secrets hidden. They had found two passages and they had thoroughly blocked them from both ends to make sure no one could use them to get in or out of the wing.
The boys would be safer here than in their old rooms, and the King was only a hall away, so the Kingsguard would be nearby at all times. It was far safer than anywhere else in the Keep, the only downside was that they were also considerably closer to the Queen.
Their old apartments had been clear across the Red Keep from the Queen and her children, and now they were practically next door to them. But Laenor could deal with it to keep his sons safe. He and the rest of the family would just have to be extra vigilant to keep the Queen and any of the children from crossing paths.
He didn’t care that Aegon was a prince or that Luke had saved Aemond’s life, he didn’t want either of them near Jace or Luke. They were too far under Alicent’s thumb and Alicent had some devious plan for their sons. Maybe she wasn’t the one who hired the assassins but Laenor knew she was doing something behind the scenes. There were too many coincidences and too many thinly veiled slights towards the two of them.
She had yet to see Jace’s new appearance, since he hadn’t been near her nor in public since his change, and Laenor could only imagine what horrible mechanisms she’d try to put into play once she found out about it. No doubt the Queen would be incensed when she found out that both of the boys she tried to smear as bastards now looked like the trueborn sons they really were.
Laenor turned his attention back to his sons, a small smile adorning his face when he saw the two of them already curled together, on the verge of sleeping. They both looked so sweet and peaceful together and he couldn’t understand how anyone could look at either of them as they were and wish them dead. He ghosted a hand over the small of Rhaenyra’s back as he passed behind her so he could press a quick kiss to both Jace and Luke’s foreheads, wishing the two of them a good night and doing the same to Rhaenyra before he left to go to his own room.
His own quarters were only across the hall from Rhaenyra’s, so it was a very short walk.
He scrubbed a hand down his face with a sigh, pulling off his coat as he went. He wanted to just collapse in his bed and sleep the night away. He didn’t want to think about assassins or Luke having magic, or the two of them apparently setting themselves on fire with Vermax, according to his mother.
He’d have to deal with it all in the morning but at least for now he could sleep.
“You look like shit.”
His knife was out of its sheath and pressed against an all too familiar throat before he could even truly register who it was that had spoken. “Gods, Qarl, I could have slit your throat!”
Qarl chuckled, pushing at his forearm until he dropped his knife back by his side. “You wouldn’t have.”
“After the day I’ve had?” He said with a shake of his head, “I’m not so sure.”
“How’s Luke? I haven’t gotten to see him, not with all the moving around and checking the rooms, but I heard him coughing and it didn’t sound good.”
It certainly didn’t. Luke sounded like he was hacking up half a lung every time he coughed, and even his apparent seawater healing abilities hadn’t made it cease. Laenor wasn’t sure how magic worked, let alone how healing magic worked, but he supposed that maybe Luke had used up all the magic he had to heal what little bit of his hands he could.
Maybe magic had a daily quota or something. Luke had said that he couldn’t heal himself and use his ‘bubble’ to show them how he concealed himself, so it was possible he couldn’t do two magical things at once.
Just thinking about it made his head hurt even worse, so instead he tugged Qarl along with him towards the bed, shutting up any further conversation with his mouth. It was a risk, meeting with his lover this close to the King himself, and with so many guards present around them, but he just couldn’t resist. He had had a horrible day, and a tumble in the sheets with Qarl was usually how he dealt with rough days.
The boys were safe with Rhaenyra, Harwin was guarding her door along with Kent and Alisar, and his parents were three doors down the hall from her, he could take a break.
“I told you the plan wasn’t to kill him yet.”
Larys went still mid-bite at the hissed words. Slowly, he set his fork and knife down and pushed his plate away, wincing as the movement pulled the burnt flesh of his forearm taut. Perhaps him holding a knife wouldn’t have been taken as a display of aggression towards his new ‘friend’, perhaps it would be. Either way he was not willing to take the chance. “As far as I was aware I haven’t killed Prince Lucerys.”
“Not this time, but you have ruined my plans in your quest for knowledge,” His guest hissed. She didn’t bother leaving her hiding spot, hidden as she was by the shadows the flames cast across the walls. “I will have to change to cover for your fumbling.”
“The Queen wished for me to find information, and unlike you, she pays me very handsomely. If you would like to request my services or lack thereof I would be happy to -” He stopped short as cruel fingers dug their way into his hair, forcing his head back as a blade placed itself along his throat.
Larys felt her breath ghosting over his ear, nearly scorching his face with the heat of it. “The little prince is mine. You and your foolish Queen can do whatever you wish, but if you continue to meddle in my way, intentional or not, you will lose more than whatever payments she may give you.”
The blade slid across his skin just enough to let his blood run free. Not enough to kill him, or even leave a considerable mark, but the message was quite clear regardless. Still, where there was a loophole to press, he would undoubtedly press it. “And Prince Jacaerys? Is he counted in your request to cease my ‘meddling’?”
There was nothing to signal that she had moved across the room, or moved at all, yet her voice was faint and distant when she spoke again. “The players in this game are far greater than you could hope to manipulate, Lord Strong, and the end you have coming is already unkind. Pushing an advantage you don’t actually have will only greet you with a worse fate.”
The ominous words were followed not with the sound of the door to his chambers closing, but by a rush of cold air. It filled the room, chilling his spine and snuffing out the flames in his hearth till not even embers remained.
The creak of bedsprings startled him awake, and by the time he had his knife in his hand, ready to kill whoever dared to sneak into Laenor’s chambers, he was staring straight into dark orchid eyes.
Prince Lucerys blinked at him, coughing weakly into his arm as he crawled up the bed. “Hi.”
Qarl fumbled for something to say back, for some way to explain away why he was caught quite literally undressed in Laenor’s bed, covered only by a flimsy sheet by his lover’s own son. He didn’t know if he should wake Laenor, or scramble out of bed and just hope the prince wouldn’t end up saying anything to anyone about seeing him there.
Rhaenyra knew about his and Laenor’s relationship, but Luke was extremely close to both Princess Rhaenys and Lord Corlys and…he was three. While Qarl may not have much experience with kids, he had been around enough of them to know that they didn’t have a good grasp on what information was appropriate to share and what was better kept hidden.
The prince, however, didn’t stop staring at him, and he even crawled closer to him when he didn’t get an answer to his greeting.
Qarl cleared his throat awkwardly, trying to wake Laenor up without startling him awake and risking getting a knife to the throat for the second time in one night or, gods forbid, have Laenor wake up confused and accidentally attack his own son. “My prince, you shouldn’t be out of bed at this time of night, it's not safe.”
“I’m with father, he has saltwater.” The prince said nonsensically.
He breathed out a noisy sigh and reached over to shake Laenor’s shoulder, using one arm to shake him and the other to keep him partially pinned to the bed until he fully awoke. His lover of course couldn’t just work with him, and instead started trying to pull away without fully waking. When he continued shaking him, Laenor simply shoved back at him with a sleepy whine.
“Qarl, let me fucking sleep, it’s late.”
“Your son wants your attention.”
Laenor was fully awake in an instant, sitting up with a shocked look as he scrambled to keep the sheet from falling past his hips. “Luke!”
Luke crawled closer to the two of them and sat himself right in between them, curling up near Laenor’s side. “I’m tired.”
“If you are tired, why’d you leave your bed to come here?” Laenor asked, hiding his surprise very well as he pulled Luke towards him so he could keep him above the sheets.
“Mother and Jace are too hot,” He choked around a cough. Qarl reached out to gently pat his back, trying to help him catch his breath, like he had seen Laenor do. “I wanted water but I couldn’t get the door to grandfather’s room open.”
Laenor stared at him blankly for a moment before Qarl could see the cogs in his brain start to parse out the confusing words. “You got overheated so you went to sleep with your grandfather and grandmother, and when you couldn’t get in their room you came here instead?”
He nodded, “I came here and I got a cup of water but I’m too tired to go back to Jace.”
He glanced around the room, trying to see what Lucerys might be talking about, and sure enough on the far table there was an empty cup laying on its side next to a bucket of water. How the prince managed to get into the room and get up to the bucket of water and drink from it without waking them was a mystery to him.
The noise from the bedsprings had been what woke him up, but there had to have been plenty of noises before that between Lucerys coming in and getting on the bed. Qarl was finally starting to see what Laenor was talking about when he said that his son was getting in and out of places without being seen or heard. He had assumed that Laenor had been exaggerating at least a bit and now he was unsure.
Laenor leaned to the side of the bed, and Qarl could see that he was grabbing his trousers off the floor so that he could subtly attempt to shimmy them back up his legs without Luke noticing what he was doing. “Why don’t we get you one last cup of water, and then you can stay in bed with me.” He jerked his head off to the side, and Qarl got the hint to take the chance to grab his own pants and pull them on while Laenor took Luke over to the table and distracted him.
He pulled on his shirt while he was at it too, because he was going to have to make a swift exit once the prince was asleep. He hoped that maybe Luke would forget about catching him in Laenor’s bed. According to Laenor he forgot quite a lot of things fairly easily, he could forget that he saw Qarl there and given how dark it was if they were lucky he might not have noticed that they were both unclothed. Or he could just go guard Laenor’s door and pretend that he had been there the whole night and Luke had just mistaken him for being inside the room.
As far as he was aware it was Ser Harwin who had been guarding Princess Rhaenyra’s room, and he wouldn’t contradict either of them if asked whether or not Qarl was at Laenor’s door all night.
He was just about to slip around the bed and towards the door but before he could, Luke snatched the sleeve of his tunic. “You can’t leave.”
“I -” He looked over Lucerys’ shoulder at Laenor with wide eyes.
“Luke, he was just checking in, he needs to go back to his patrol…”
Luke stared at both of them, looking back and forth. “You love Ser Qarl like mother loves Ser Harwin.” He said out of the blue.
Both of their mouths dropped open in shock. Laenor sputtered helplessly as he tried to think of what to say to that. Luke didn’t bother waiting for either of them to respond, he just laid down on the bed in between the spaces they had occupied and tugged Qarl down onto the bed beside him before looking expectantly at his father.
“I guess I’m staying the night?” Laenor reached over Luke to smack him in the head before climbing into bed and rolling himself and Luke over so that his back was facing Qarl.
Luke tugged his newly replenished water around him like a blanket and a pair of socks, letting it muffle the sound of his movements as he shuffled to the end of the bed and slid till his feet were on the ground. He peeked back up over the edge to see that his father and Ser Qarl were still fast asleep and turned to head back to the table.
The sun was just starting to slip in through the windows and he managed to hold in his coughs until he made it up into a chair and got himself a cup of water. It wouldn’t help the cough, not when it had been Balerion and his dragon friend that had caused it when he tried to breathe flames at Ser Harwin, but it would make him feel a little bit better.
Balerion kept assuring him that the cough would work its way out on its own and he just needed to wait. The cough itself wasn’t hurting him that much and he could feel whatever was in his lungs starting to come loose the more he coughed, so it was only a matter of time before it resolved. The real problem was that the coughs kept stealing his breath away when they went on too long even though the water tried its best to soothe them.
He thought about trying to make his way back to Jace, now that he had cooled off and slept his fill or maybe going and trying his hand at getting into Grandfather’s room but he knew the firefly was lurking nearby. From what he could tell it was off buzzing around Ser Harwin, and Ser Harwin was between him and Jace, so he couldn’t get back to his brother without running into the firefly.
Now that he had his water again he could try to get rid of the firefly, though it would be a risk. With the firefly so close to his family the sirens weren’t too eager to launch an attack and he would have to drain himself again to do it which was another risk with the cough trying to steal his breath all the time.
The only plan he really had was to trick the firefly into following him somewhere and getting him to meet Ceraxes but he hadn’t figured out how he would manage that. Balerion was insistent that Ceraxes would defend him as his father and get rid of the firefly for him and that he just needed to get to him.
He just didn’t know how to get there. Ceraxes was somewhere nearby, he could feel him just as easily as he could feel father and grandfather and Jace, but he hadn’t seen him since he and Jace had been in the dragonpit. Once he got around a lit hearth he’d have to ask Balerion how to lead the firefly to Ceraxes, or he could just sneak away and hopefully get the firefly down to Vermax.
His brother’s dragon would certainly deal with the firefly for him, it was just that getting down to him would take a lot of water, and he’d need to stay ahead of the firefly enough to not get caught and yet close enough that the firefly wouldn’t fly off at the first sign of trouble.
Maybe he could bring Vermax to the firefly.
He had more than enough water to get himself to the pits and Vermax could fly on his own, get the firefly, and then fly back and no one would notice.
Going to get Vermax was his best bet, and it was the easier one too. There were plenty of dragons walking around the castle all the time, one more wouldn’t draw any attention, and it shouldn’t send the firefly fluttering off.
“Luke? What are you doing up so early?”
Luke sipped at his water absentmindedly, kicking his feet in the air below his chair as he thought over his options. “Thirsty.” He rasped out, coughing as some of the ash in his lungs came up to coat the inside of his mouth.
He considered asking father if he could use his dragon to get the firefly to leave him alone and as quickly as it came he dismissed the thought. He knew that father had a dragon of his own but he had yet to meet him and he knew Vermax was a very friendly dragon, so it’d be safer to use him instead.
“You could have woken me up and I would have gotten you a cup.” His father said. He slipped out of bed with a yawn and joined him at the table, taking his cup without a word and refilling it with more seawater from the bucket. “You were all tired out last night, I thought you would sleep longer.”
It didn’t sound like a question, but his water whispered that his father was searching for something with his words. He was trying to find out something Luke knew. “I was tired and hot.”
Laenor nodded. “And you came to sleep with me because you were overheated and you wanted water.”
He had come to Father and Ser Qarl because he couldn’t sleep with Grandfather and Meleys, and Mother and Jace were too hot. And because Ser Qarl sometimes gave him cakes though he didn’t have any to give him last night. Luke had even gone through his trouser pockets on the floor before he woke him up just to make sure there weren’t any cakes hidden for him as a surprise.
There was some coins and a piece of parchment but no cakes.
“Luke.” His father was snapping his fingers in front of him, pulling him from his dream of the little salted almond cakes he’d get from Ser Qarl. “You came in last night and slept with just me? Ser Qarl was at the door all night, right?”
His cup told him to say yes. “I slept with you and Ser Qarl.”
“It was just me and you, Ser Qarl was guarding the door.”
“We all slept together.” With a reluctant sigh the sirens coaxed him into drinking from his cup and then used the water coating his mouth to talk for him. “I’ll say he was at the door.” They said with his voice, and then Luke giggled as he took it back. “And then he can stay so you aren’t sad.”
Laenor looked confused at the sudden agreement, but he let it drop with a tense smile and a nod. “Good, good. Why don’t we go to your mother before she wakes up,” He said instead as he stood up and pulled Luke into his arms, “We don’t want to give her or your brother any more stress after the day we all had yesterday.”
Alicent sipped tea as she waited, stewing in her aggravation as she thought over the past few days. She had been locked in her apartments since the night of the attack on Aemond, with no one aside from her maids and her children for interaction all because of Lucerys Velaryon.
All of her attempts to get more information out of Viserys about what had been happening had failed, and Larys hadn’t had a chance to bring her anything new. Her last chance was to get Cole to get information for her while she waited for Larys to get to her.
“Your Grace.” Cole entered behind her with a bow. His armor clanked unpleasantly in her ears as he came around the lounge to stand in front of her as he usually did when they had their meetings.
The knight mirrored her own agitation on his face, and she knew that he felt just as annoyed by the recent turn of events as she was. He had nearly been stripped of his knighthood and had only barely managed to get back onto patrols due to Lucerys’ actions.
She didn’t have any time to mince words, however, she needed to get straight to the point so that they could start moving forward. “You need to do something. I need to know what is happening out there, and you need to have eyes on Rhaenyra and her sons.”
“I am trying, Your Grace.”
Alicent huffed and stood from her chair. “Well you need to try harder.”
She got up to pace around the room, picking her nails raw as she went. The situation was only going from bad to worse with each passing second. First Viserys had stormed away from their dinner only to come back looking enlightened and happier than she had ever seen him with her, Aegon had caught her with Larys, then her son had been attacked and that bastard boy had snuck into his room.
Now three nights later her husband had once again run off at just the slightest mention from Ser Westerling of Rhaenyra and her sons and he had yet to come back. She hadn’t been willing to take the risk - nor pay the price - of meeting with Larys to get information, and she hadn’t been given the chance regardless. No doubt he would have scoured up something about what had happened in the dragon pit, and possibly something about this new happening by now, just so that she’d have to pay him twice.
She just couldn’t take that.
She had spent almost all of the last two days on her knees praying for the Father to guide her down the right path and tell her what she needed to do to fix this and she was given nothing. The lack of a clear path was driving her mad and she was on the verge of calling for Larys and disregarding the risk. There was a much higher chance of her being caught with Larys now that her sons were stuck within her apartments, and with Viserys on high alert.
Cole cleared his throat, watching her with wary eyes when she snapped to turn and look at him. “I am trying, Your Grace, however Ser Darklyn has refused to let me anywhere near any of the children, even your own.” He said heatedly. “He’s had me guarding the front gate of the castle the entire time he’s been watching me.”
“Then you need to convince him to let you go back to actually guarding. That bastard was in my son’s room, Cole. He was there with him, alone, planning to do Gods only knows what!”
“I doubt he could have done anything to Aemond even if he was in there by himself, my Queen, he’s only three. Aemond may still be shaky with a sword but Prince Lucerys has yet to even pick up a blade let alone train with it.”
Alicent felt her blood boil. Yes, Lucerys was only three as everyone kept telling her whenever she tried to make them see reason, but that three year old bastard had slipped into her son’s room unattended and, according to what she had heard of the events, murdered a grown man in cold blood.
Aemond hadn’t remembered much when she asked him about it, mostly that he had been attacked by two men in his room and then when Lucerys came in he had been dropped and hit his head. When he had woken up one of the men attacking him had been dead and Lucerys had been injured. At first she had thought that Aegon must’ve killed the assassin, but according to Aegon - when she had finally forced him to talk to her - the assassin had been dead before he had gotten into the room, and it had just been an unconscious Aemond, an injured Lucerys, and a dead man.
Which could only mean that Lucerys had killed a grown man. Her son had been in a room, unconscious and alone, with a killer.
To make things worse, now Aemond was growing more and more attached to Lucerys even though he wasn’t around him. He hadn’t said anything outright in front of her, but she wasn’t stupid, she could see the way his eyes lit up whenever Lucerys was mentioned. There was a similar awe and light to his eyes when his nephew was mentioned as there was whenever he thought of trying to claim a dragon.
It was disgusting.
“My father is coming back to King’s Landing.” She said suddenly, her heart at least slightly lightened by the knowledge that she’d have someone helping her soon. Cole had been barely useful in recent times, Larys was costing her more than he was giving, but her father would be able to truly help her. “He should be here hopefully within a fortnight.”
Cole jolted in shock, probably because last he knew that she had been using Larys to try and convince Viserys to invite her father back. She had hoped that Larys would be more successful in his endeavors, but she needed this to happen quicker than Larys was moving.
It was a risk, having her father come back unannounced and uninvited by the King himself. An enormous risk, actually, given that if Viserys was still agitated by her father’s slight it would cause Otto to fall even further from his favor. She was hoping, however, that Viserys would allow her the concession of having her father with her.
Rhaenyra got her own father, her good-father and good-mother with her day in and day out, and now she had her uncle and a good-sister as well, surely Viserys wouldn’t begrudge her one person in her corner. Her father could at least help the realm see reason and repudiate her former friend’s bastards for the baseborns they were.
“I thought you were waiting for the King to ask him back to the Red Keep?”
“Larys is taking too long, and at this point every moment lost is another moment gained for Rhaenyra. We need to stop her and her children swiftly, not wait till she has overtaken us all.” Every second was another step in Rhaenyra’s favor and she couldn’t risk her former friend gaining any more leeway than she already had. “And you need to do your part as well. I need to know what is happening with those boys, and I need someone to watch Lucerys.”
Cole avoided her searching gaze. He was hesitant, though about what she did not know. He hated Rhaenyra just as much as she did, and he had always been on board with watching Jacaerys and Lucerys before. “I don’t know if I’ll be allowed back around either of them, my Queen, I have overheard Westerling mentioning that Rhaenyra wants to keep them sequestered away from everyone else.”
Perhaps Rhaenyra realized that her son was a danger to society and decided to keep him away from the rest of the world. “Then convince Westerling to let you be one of the ones guarding them.”
“I…don’t think I can do that.”
“You swore to protect me,” She hissed, the anger she had been keeping tightly leashed in her heart lashing out just a little bit. It felt as if everyone she had to defend her were failing at every turn. “You swore to protect my children, and you can’t manage to keep your eyes on two of our closest enemies?”
“I’ll talk to the other Kingsguard and see if I can convince them to change rotations.” He stood, still avoiding her gaze, and made his way out of the room without another word, leaving her once again to stew in her own thoughts. His reluctance was another blow to her. Cole had been one of her staunchest allies since she had discovered his and Rhaenyra’s…indignities.
Now Rhaenyra had taken even him from her.
Larys was worthless for what she’d have to pay him to get any information, Cole was pulling away from her for no reason at the worst possible time, and her father was still a fortnight away at the very least, provided he could actually bypass the King to get into the Red Keep.
Her world was falling apart and all she had for comfort was her sons and her daughter.
“How is he doing?” Harwin asked quietly as he slipped into the room, his eyes immediately being drawn to Luke sleeping in Laenor’s arms. The prince looked slightly better than he had the last time Harwin had seen him, though he could still hear him coughing and wheezing every so often. “He looks better.”
Rhaenyra smiled at him, as did Laenor, who let him come close to stroke Luke’s hair. “He’s still coughing but he seems to be feeling better. Not much, but it’s better.” She tugged them both to the far edge of the room after Laenor set Luke down on the lounge next to Jace. “Laenor said you had something you needed to discuss with us?”
As they stepped away from the boys he found himself at a loss for how to broach the subject. He had spent the whole night and most of the day going over what he had seen, and he still couldn’t quite settle it in his mind. He was sure that he had seen Luke’s throat glow in the hallway before he screamed.
It didn’t make sense. He knew he had seen it, but he had no explanation for it.
In his mind’s eye it had truly looked like Luke was about to breathe flames, similar to the one and only time he had seen Syrax gearing up to spew dragonfire. Yet Luke was just a boy, not a dragon capable of loosing flames at his enemies.
“I saw something in the hallway when I was bringing him back to your chambers.” As he said it, he thought of the way Luke had described him, calling him a river and saying that he was being hurt by a firefly but he had thought it was Harwin hurting him. It was all so confusing to him. “He also said he thought I was hurting him and that’s why he was scared of me but that it was actually a firefly that was hurting him.”
Rhaenyra shared a look with Laenor; it was an intense look and Harwin could see that there was fear hiding behind it. “He told you a firefly was hurting him?”
The look made him hesitate. There was something he must be missing, why else would Rhaenyra look so fearful at the mention of a firefly. He had been concerned about it, mostly because Luke said that this firefly was why he had been scared of him when he first met him again after his fever, and because he would always be concerned about Luke saying something was hurting him, but Rhaneyra’s look was something much deeper than that. “Yes, he said a firefly was hurting him.”
“And this was yesterday?’
He nodded. “It was yesterday when I brought him back, right after he started coughing.”
That tidbit seemed to catch Laenor’s attention, “He started coughing when he was with you? Not before that?”
“Weren’t the two of you together when you found him?” Both he and Laenor cringed at the slip up. There wasn’t time to worry about it, there were bigger things they needed to deal with rather than the fact that they lied about how Luke was found.
“Harwin found him in the hall by himself, I just didn’t wish to tell my parents that part, I found the two of them in the room after Harwin found him.” Laenor explained quickly, waving it away to focus on the more important things, “That doesn’t matter, Harwin, was he coughing before you found him or did he only start coughing afterwards?”
There was a growing tension in the air that Harwin didn’t like, but they needed to get through this, for Luke’s sake. “That was the other thing I needed to tell you about. When we were in the hall he panicked as I went to pick him up, and I saw his throat glow. He screamed at me then he had a coughing fit. I was too focused on trying to help him breathe again that I didn’t take a second look at his throat, but I saw his throat glow, I swear.”
Neither of them were as surprised by the assertion as he thought they would be, they reacted to him saying Lucerys’ throat was glowing the same way he’d reacted to being told there was a strange man running down the street at night. They should have been as shocked as he was, as confused as he was and there was barely anything.
“What did the glow look like?”
“It looked like Syrax before she breathes flames.” That got their attention.
They both stared at him and then turned to stare at Luke.
“You’re sure that’s what it looked like?” Rhaenyra asked hurriedly, already moving to go to Luke before he even answered her.
She picked Luke up, not even giving him a chance to fully wake from his nap as she took a close look at his throat, though it was very obviously no longer glowing. Luke coughed as she pressed her fingers to his neck, fitfully trying to pull away from her prying fingers and taking small puffing breaths to catch his breath.
He was incredibly disgruntled by being woken up. “Wanna sleep.”
“I know, sweet boy, you can go back to sleep in a moment, I need to ask you something first.” She soothed, “Harwin said that yesterday when you met him something strange happened, that your throat glowed, do you remember anything like that happening?”
Luke went stock still in her arms, staring over Rhaenyra’s shoulder straight at Harwin. There was a horrible wounded look in his eyes, it was so intense that it made Harwin want to take back everything he had told Rhaenyra and Laenor. Either Luke had thought he hadn’t noticed what had happened, or he had thought that Harwin wasn’t going to say anything about it, and both of those options were concerning.
“Luke?” Rhaenyra’s voice was unendingly patient, but Luke just kept watching Harwin with wary eyes. “Did something happen yesterday?”
Harwin could almost see the cogs turning in his mind as he reached out to press his seahorse against Rhaenyra’s neck and held it there. “Yes.” Luke finally settled on, though it was obvious that he was struggling with what to say.
“What happened?”
Luke didn’t answer her a second time. He twitched in her arms, refusing to look at anyone and instead turning his attention to the hearth in the corner of the room. Rhaenyra kept trying to get him to answer her questions but Luke just ignored her.
Laenor tried as well to get him to talk and Luke continued to stare at the hearth. Even when Laenor picked him up and tried to turn him away, he just craned his head so that he could keep staring.
It was unsettling to say the least.
His eyes were glinting in the firelight yet they were completely and utterly vacant.
He was hesitant to break the silence that had settled over the room but something was clearly wrong with Luke. “Should I go get a maester?”
The two of them shared another look. “I don’t think a maester can help. Luke, he has…magic. Whatever this is, it might be a part of that.”
“Don’t you all have magic? Isn’t that what allows you to control your dragons?” Surely they all had magic, how else would they be able to bond to and control their dragons to the extent that they did. They should know what to do if whatever this was, was magic.
“We have ties to magic, but not in the way Luke does.”
“He healed himself,” Laenor said suddenly, bouncing a despondent Luke in his arms and trying to ply him with a cup of water, only for it to go ignored. “He drank salt water and was able to heal himself right in front of us, and whatever magic the rest of us have is based around our dragons, while his is something else entirely. Not that we know much of it, we only learned of it the other day and we haven’t had the chance to figure out more.”
Harwin pushed away the confusion he felt, trying to parse this in his mind and failing miserably. If he understood what had been said, then no one truly knew what was going on with Luke, and they had no solution for what was going on either. “So you don’t know what happened with him in the hallway? You don’t know why he screamed like a dragon or why he looked like he was about to spew flames?”
He couldn’t comprehend how the little boy in Laenor’s arms could possibly summon dragon flame from his own throat, or screech in the ear piercing inhuman way he had heard from the dragons flying over the city, but it was the only possibility.
“No, we don’t know why.”
“My dragon tried to burn him.” Luke said suddenly, blinking himself back to reality with wary eyes. “I thought he was the mean man that cut my hands when he tried to pick me up, and I didn’t have enough water to make him go away, so I had to use fire instead.”
He sucked in a shocked breath, completely missing the panicked next question Rhaenyra asked. He didn’t quite understand the answer - that always seemed to be the case when Luke was involved. But he could easily understand what ‘tried to burn him’ meant, that the glow in his throat had looked like Syrax’s flames because it had been much the same. Luke had been trying to burn him and had failed.
No wonder the boy had been so upset about being ‘mean’ to him, if he had just attempted to burn him alive. Granted, he could understand that Luke hadn’t been trying to burn him, rather he wanted to burn the assassin that had hurt him. That understanding didn’t stop the pit in his stomach from growing, and he could see from the fearful, pained look that Luke was shooting him that the poor child knew about it.
Luke sniffled, gasping around another cough as he tried to reach out over Laenor’s shoulder to get to him, and the tears in his eyes overrode the unease settling inside of Harwin.
He strode across the room to pluck Luke out of Laenor’s arms. “It’s alright, Luke, I know you weren’t trying to hurt me.” He tried to make his voice as soothing as possible, but just like the other day, as soon as he started talking Luke burst into tears.
Rhaenyra came closer and tried to calm Luke with a few strokes to his hair and back. “Luke, you need to calm down.”
“What’s happening?” The three of them whirled around at the sound of Jace’s voice and before they could fully register that he was awake, Jace was already at Harwin’s legs. The older Prince went from confused to cross almost instantly when he realized his brother was crying, and suddenly he was attacking Harwin’s legs with his fists. “Let him go!”
He punched at his legs and used one of the techniques Harwin himself had taught him to try and take his knees out from under him and it was only because Laenor reached out to try and grab him that Harwin didn’t find himself on his knees.
Jace danced out of Laenor’s reach and surged back at him, landing a swift punch to Harwin’s gut that stole his breath away. Part of him was actually proud that Jace had landed a punch, and he couldn’t help but chuckle as he shuffled out of Jace’s way for the next punch.
They ducked out of each other’s way until Rhaenyra finally grabbed a hold of the back of Jace’s tunic. “Jace - stop!”
“He’s hurting Luke!” Jace tried to break away from Rhaenyra’s hold only to get scooped up by Laenor instead.
“He isn’t, Luke is upset because of what happened yesterday and Ser Harwin is comforting him.”
He tried again to get back over to them but he couldn’t get out of Laenor’s arms, though he did manage to use yet another move Harwin had taught him to almost get away by smacking against the vulnerable inside of Laenor’s elbow. “Give him to me, he likes how warm I am, it’ll calm him down!”
Rhaenyra heaved a heavy sigh and pushed both Jace and Laenor farther away from him and Luke. “He’s fine, Jace, he just needs a few moments.” Jace looked fit to argue again, and she had to give him a stern look to make him shut his mouth. “He doesn’t need to be crowded.”
As if to exemplify the point, Luke started up a bone rattling coughing fit that left him struggling for breath and that had Harwin’s own lungs aching in sympathy. He grabbed the discarded cup of water off the table and tried to hold it to Luke’s mouth.
Luke drank greedily once the coughing fit subsided, finishing the goblet in record time. Unfortunately the coughing wasn’t gone for long, only moments after he finished drinking, he started back up again.
This time it was short little wheezes.
Rhaenyra abandoned her place beside Jace. She poured him another goblet of water - fresh water, not the copious buckets of saltwater that were littered around the room - and held it to his lips. It didn’t seem to help at all this time, in fact if anything it made him worse. The wheezes turned from dry to wet and hacking, and Harwin could hear him choking on whatever was causing the cough.
Rhaenyra thumped his back, trying to help him dislodge whatever was stuck in his lungs. “Laenor, go get one of the guards and tell them to get Gerardys!”
Luke retched in his arms.
“Here.” A handkerchief was pressed into his fist right as Luke’s throat crackled, as whatever it was finally started to shake loose. He held it against Luke’s mouth as he retched again and again, choking and gasping as he writhed.
When he finally slumped against his shoulder he pulled the handkerchief away.
The white of her handkerchief was covered in black…gunk.
Rhaenyra nearly threw the goblet back on the table so she could use her free hand to tilt Luke’s chin up so she could see his face. There were still traces of whatever he had coughed up staining his lips and his teeth.
“Laenor!” She yelled out as she kept staring at the substance her son coughed up, and Harwin found himself just as still and concerned. Luke didn’t seem to be in pain or even upset by what was happening but he couldn’t take that for what it was, Luke reacted strangely to almost everything in his life.
Laenor burst back through the door to the main room, confused but completely alert, with a knife already in hand like he expected another assassin to have popped up in the moments he had been out of the room. Right after him two of the guards that were guarding the door to their sitting room burst in as well, probably drawn by her yelling.
“He’s coughing up something, it’s black.” Rhaenyra said, holding out the handkerchief to show Laenor. While the younger knight inspected the cloth and then took Luke’s chin in his hand, Rhaenyra turned to tell the guards to hurry up and get Gerardys, stressing the urgency of the matter.
“When did this start?”
Laenor and Jace both reached for Luke, but Harwin gently pushed Jace’s hands away so he could hand Luke to Laenor, and once Luke was out of his arms, he scooped Jace up. Jace tried to struggle against him but when Luke started coughing again he slumped in his arms.
“It’s alright, Jace, the maester’s are on their way, they’ll help him.” He assured him, though the assurances fell on deaf ears.
Across from them, Luke let out another chest rattling cough, undoubtedly choking on more of whatever he was coughing up. He kept coughing and coughing, barely able to take in a single breath between them, even with Laenor thumping him on the back and Rhaenyra desperately trying to get him to drink more water.
Harwin could only stand back and watch, and try to calm Jace down when he started crying too.
End of Chapter 14
Notes:
Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, as rambling as it was! Let me know if you did, and what you might like to see going forward!
A/N: Luke: I’ll go get Vermax, bring him into the castle, and no one will notice
Sirens: Everyone will fucking noticeA/N 2: Mystery Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Holds a knife to Larys’ throat and ominously talks about his death
Larys: Mark me down as scared and hornyA/N 3: Sirens, watching Luke plan to sneak a dragon into the Red Keep to kill
Larys: We picked the FERALEST child to bestow powers upon, didn’t we?
Balerion: I want a hundred of him.
Chapter 15: Chapter 15
Summary:
Is the world going to give Luke a break? No. Is the world gonna give any of the baby boys a break? Also no.
The only one that gets a break is Daemon because he's an agent of chaos.
Notes:
Am I happy with this chapter? No, cause I know theres a shit ton of rambling in it and probably a ton of typos but hey, I refuse to take longer than a week on each chapter when I was pumping them out every five days before!
Hope you guys enjoy that, let me know if you do!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Luke can’t ever catch a break
“Luke…you need to drink this, please?”
Luke shook his head, pressing his face into his father’s neck to get away from the bottle of disgusting sludge they were trying to make him drink. For hours now he had been passed around from adult to adult, each of them trying to coax him into sipping at the vial other Gerardys had given them.
They kept telling him that it would make him feel better but he felt fine. He was finally starting to cough up the ash that Balerion and his dragon had accidentally left in his lungs and he just wanted to get it all out. He didn’t want some gross drink that smelled horrible and made him want to gag as soon as it came near.
Even Jace had tried to get him to drink it.
Now he had been passed to father for his turn to try and get him to drink and he still didn’t want to. It’d make him throw up and he only needed to cough.
He let out a violent cough, spitting up more of the ash coating his throat. “No.”
“Sweet boy, it will help you, you need to drink it.”
“No!” He shook his head again, and he was tempted to swat the vial right out of his father’s hand when it was pushed against his mouth again. He didn’t, because that would be mean and mother always told him not to be mean to anyone, but he was very tempted.
His father pulled the vial away with a sigh.
The horrible smell finally left his nose. He started coughing again once it left but the coughing brought him more relief than not coughing did. His water coated his throat enough for the coughing not to hurt so much.
Father stroked his hair and took him over to the lounge to sit him next to Jace so he could go talk to Mother and Meleys. Jace curled himself around him as soon as he settled onto the couch, and he didn’t seem to mind it when Luke coughed in between them. His brother’s warmth made the ash flare back into his throat, forcing him to cough even harder to try and get it out.
All the adults turned to them with worried looks and as much as he wanted to keep coughing to get it all out, he didn’t want them to come back over with the vial and make him drink it again, so he stifled the coughs as best as he could. It made his lungs burn with the desperate need to get the ash out but he ignored it.
The bad smelling stuff would make him feel even worse than holding in his coughs would, even though Balerion and the sirens both were urging him to get it out. He wanted to get rid of the ash, he just didn't want to drink that disgusting stuff.
“Luke, can’t you just drink what the Maester brought?” Jace whispered to him when Mother started talking to Father, the two of them arguing heatedly. “It’ll make you feel better.”
“It’s gross.”
“But it’ll help!”
Luke huffed and turned himself away, coughing as he went. Even his brother had turned against him.
More of the ash coated his tunic sleeve, casting the pretty silver fabric in a layer of dark gray. Jace tried to pull him back but Luke shrugged him off so that he could cough without being inhibited.
He coughed harshly until he was picked back up by his father. A hand thumped him on the back, helping bring up some more of the ash into the cloth that was pressed against his mouth. He managed to dislodge a fair amount of the ash, there was still quite a bit left but he had gotten a good bit of it out.
His father patted him on the back and the second he stopped coughing the vial was practically shoved down his throat. The worst taste he ever tasted oozed its way all over his tongue, and as the liquid made its way down his throat he could already feel it trying to come back up.
He gagged and shoved his water through his stomach to chase the taste away and the water, the ash, and the disgusting elixir all mixed together to find its way out. Everything pushed itself upwards into his mouth and then out all over the floor and his father’s shoes.
The sirens revolted. Luke felt his bubble snap around him instantly, shutting him away from the word and dulling the sound of shouting around him. The hands that were holding him fell away and the moment his feet touched the ground he ran straight for the door.
He needed to go find somewhere to wash the taste out of his mouth. Maybe he could get to the bay himself and get some fresh seawater to rinse the taste away. Or he could find some cakes to chase the taste out.
Daemon turned away from the training yard with a roll of his eyes. The showing of young knights was absolutely abhorrent. Half of them could hardly hold a sword let alone swing it properly. No wonder three assassins had managed to get into the Keep and nearly kill two princes, these mongrels couldn’t defend themselves, forget defending anyone else.
The city had truly gone to the dogs in his absence. He’d have to talk to Viserys about letting him take control of the gold cloaks again, he could have them restored to their former glory and keeping the city safe within a fortnight.
With another roll of his eyes he headed towards the small council room. He may not be a small council member, but his brother had never denied him a seat, and it would brighten his day to make snide remarks towards the green serpent. She always turned a hilarious shade of red and got particularly bug-eyed whenever he insulted her straight to her face and Viserys did nothing.
Gods he hoped Ser Crispy would be there too, he had a whole host of new insults to levy at them and Cole’s sour faces were even more hilarious than Alicent’s. The knight hadn’t been around lately, except for trailing after Alicent like a lost puppy, and Daemon hadn’t had the chance to insult him.
He knew that his brother had put the knight on temporary leave and then sent him off to guard the front gates to the Keep, but it annoyed him that he couldn’t go after Cole. He wandered around the halls, debating on whether he wanted to go seek out the serpent and her dog, or if he wanted to go spend time with his new friend and drag more information out of him.
His friend had been stewing for over a day at this point, he probably remembered something new. Or, a potential third option that would be even better was piss Alicent off by forcing his way in Aemond’s room to try and find the ring his new friend had told him of.
A noise caught his ear as he walked, drawing him out of his musings and away from his path.
There didn’t appear to be anyone in the hall with him, and yet he could hear just the slight pitter patter of bare feet hitting the ground. It was very slight and had he not been trained to be hyper aware of his surroundings, he might not have heard it at all.
As the sound got closer and closer, he waited until it sounded like it was right near him and then shifted himself right in front of it. His hunch was proven right as his little grandnephew bounced right off his leg and appeared right in front of him.
Part of him hadn’t actually believed Corlys was telling the truth when he told him and Viserys that Luke was able to keep himself hidden from sight and hearing, even with Rhaenys backing up her husband, but now he had solid proof in the form of big orchid eyes staring up at him.
Luke, to his credit, didn’t seem all that thrown off by the reveal. He coughed raggedly into his sleeve, which was covered in some dark gray substance, and toddled up to him.
Though it did beg the question, if his grandnephew was out running around unseen, where were his parents? He didn’t hear or see any signs of Rhaenyra storming down the halls, so Luke must’ve slipped away without them knowing yet again.
A hand latched onto his trousers and tugged to get his attention.
“I need your help, Ceraxes.” Luke held out a lemon cake in his hand - Daemon couldn’t help but think back to his niece in her youth, offering him her favorite lemon cakes if he’d take her to go see Ceraxes - and stared at him with pleading eyes until he finally took it.
Just as he used to do with Rhaenyra, he took the cake and broke it in half before handing the slightly bigger piece back to his grandnephew. “And what is it that you need help with?”
“I need you to get rid of a firefly.”
The firefly bit sent him for a loop, and Daemon paused with the cake almost in his mouth, parsing over the words before brightening when he realized that, yes, his niece’s little whirlwind child was asking him to kill the assassin that had broken into his room. The boy probably didn't realize he was asking him to end someone’s life, but he was going to take creative liberty and assume that ‘get rid of’ meant kill. “What makes you think that I’d be willing to ‘get rid of’ this firefly for you, hmm?”
He popped his piece of cake into his mouth and watched as Luke did the same with his own. “You took care of the mean man in the basement because he hurt me and Mother asked you to take care of it.”
The sugar of the candied lemon scraped all the way down his throat as he choked on it. He tried to cough it back out and the child just kept on talking. “I can ask Mother to ask you to deal with the firefly if you want that?”
Daemon held up a finger to make him stop while he tried to swallow around the lemon lump in his throat. When he finally got it cleared, he reached out to grab the boy and hoist him into his arms. There was no point in allowing the boy to wander about on his own, and he wanted to know more about his next target.
Strangely, he smelled of ash and soot, but Daemon ignored it for more pressing topics. “And how do you know about the mean man in the basement that I took care of?”
“The water told me not to worry about him because you were getting rid of him.”
The sheer finality of the words, even coming from the mouth of a babe, made him preen. It was nice for someone to finally have complete confidence in him and his capabilities. “Well, the water is clearly very smart.” He said smugly, filing the reference to water away for when he wasn’t so smug and could ask his niece about it, “Now, tell me about this ‘firefly’ you want taken care of.”
Luke settled in against his chest as they walked, launching into a grand recount of when he had seen the firefly. The description he gave of the incident didn’t give much for Daemon to go off of, given that the boy woke up after the man had made his way into the room and then almost immediately fled in fear, but he would make do.
He had found men in need of a swift death with less information before, and he had gotten at least some information out of his friend in the black cells. If he could find - or really, force Alicent to admit that it was her - the mystery woman who had ordered the hit, surely he could then find the assassin she had hired.
Or perhaps he’d find the assassin first and he’d lead him to the woman. Whoever it was - it was absolutely Alicent - had a horrid taste in assassins and it was only a matter of time before this third assassin revealed himself again. Either the assassin would go after Luke again and Luke would catch a better glimpse of him, or he’d go after Luke and someone else would see him.
Regardless of how it happened, someone would screw up and reveal themselves, they always did.
He’d have to try and parse out why Luke associated his assassin with a firefly of all things, but that could come later once he began his hunt.
“And you decided that asking me to take care of the firefly was your only option?”
Luke blinked, stopping himself mid sentence to look up at him as he pulled another lemon cake from his pocket. “I was going to bring Vermax to deal with him, because no one would notice him since he’s a dragon, but I found you first on my way to the pits so I came to ask you.”
Daemon wheezed out a laugh. Ah, the mind of a child, thinking that a literal dragon would somehow go unnoticed inside the Red Keep. Lucerys wouldn’t have even managed to get Vermax out of the pits without people running and screaming. “You thought that no one would notice a dragon walking around the castle?”
“Dragons walk around the castle all the time, why would Vermax not be able to walk?” The words were said with such conviction that Daemon nearly agreed with him, until he remembered that dragons did not, in fact, go walking around the Red Keep all the time.
The Keep would be much safer - if only for the Targaryens who were bonded to the dragons - if that were actually the case.
“I don’t believe there are any dragons wandering around the Keep unattended, my friend.”
Luke looked absolutely befuddled. “There are! You, Meleys, and Balerion walk around the castle everyday!” The boy reached out to pat his shoulders as if that clarified his point.
There wasn’t any point in arguing with him, if he wanted to keep thinking that Daemon himself was an actual dragon, well Daemon didn’t feel the need to correct that. Especially when Luke immediately launched into a very hearty spiel about how amazing he was and how nicely he sang his dragonsong.
For now he would just bask in the compliments Luke was giving him - well he was complimenting Ceraxes on his scales and his fun way of flying - and accept the bit of lemon cake offered while they walked back to the boy’s chambers.
Daemon stared at the cloth suspiciously, something about it bothering him as he watched his cousin and his brother fuss over the newly returned Luke. He reached across the table to grab it, and held it up to his face to sniff. “He coughed this up?”
His niece nodded, turning to him with a look of concern. “Yes, do you know what it is?”
“It smells like ash.”
Everyone turned to him as one. “What?”
“You said that you believe the second assassin, the one that came through the tunnels, stoked the hearth.”
It was Rhaenys that answered him with a contemplative look on her face. He could practically see as she latched onto the same line of thought that he was going down. “If that’s all ash, there’s no way he breathed that much in.” She said slowly.
Daemon tilted his head. “It would have had to have been forced down his throat for him to have this much in his lungs and still be coughing more up.”
“Why would an assassin choose to try and kill him with ash of all things?” His cousin mused aloud. “It is one thing to stoke the flames and hope that they overtake the hearth and set the room alight, it's another thing entirely to try and shovel ash down his throat. Luke would surely have remembered that happening.”
He shrugged, it was true that Luke most likely would have remembered it, but the boy had forgotten more prudent things before from what he had heard. Not to mention that the assassin in the first attack on Aemond had also been unorthodox in their methods as well.
They had chosen a random target out of four available possibilities, they had killed multiple guards and nearly killed Luke when their orders had only been to take his eye, and they had left behind a very noticeable knife that had been their payment.
The entire scenario was so far removed from the normal workings of an assassination. Which meant the assassins were either truly incompetent, or they were missing a key piece of the story. Personally he believed it to be weaponized incompetency. Alicent wasn’t good at choosing her own actions on the best of days, it would stand that she was incapable of choosing proper assassins.
She had also, presumably, gotten her own son attacked by assassins by giving them such a general description of their target that it would have fit four different people. It was a strange situation indeed, and the only person he knew that was foolish enough to cause a comedy of errors on this level was the Green Cunt herself.
Still, Luke was the only one on their side with any solid information about what might be going on. “Have any of you asked Luke what he saw the night the ‘firefly’ came?” He had already asked the boy himself, but perhaps he might’ve told one of the others something in the moment and forgot before he could tell him.
Rhaenys nodded, “He was near inconsolable when it first happened, he managed to tell us about the assassin and how he had come in through the office door. He knew that there was a secret passage in the office and told us about that as well.”
“But he didn’t say anything about what the assassin tried to do to him? Or anything after?”
“He fled the room as soon as he saw the man, and shortly after that he ran off to go get seawater to heal himself.”
So no one truly knew what happened, at least not meaningfully, and Luke most likely didn’t remember anything in a way that could actually be helpful. Otherwise he would have already told him what more he knew when he asked for him to kill the firefly. “And no one else saw anything, neither this firefly or what happened between him fleeing and being found again?”
They all seemed to be catching on to what he was insinuating - namely that they had no inkling of what truly had happened, and in the absence of knowledge, quite literally anything could have happened. The assassin could have shoveled ash down his throat, Luke could have done something himself while trying to get away, with the added facet of magic being involved the possibilities were endless.
It was exciting to say the least.
“Ser Harwin saw something when he was bringing Luke back to the room.”
He hummed, watching as Luke’s attention strayed away from his brother to the bucket on the table. “And that something was?”
“When we asked Luke about it, he said his dragon tried to burn Ser Harwin, and Ser Harwin said he saw Luke’s throat glow.” Laenor said.
He, Viserys, and Rhaenys snapped to look at Rhaenyra and Laenor. “What, you didn’t tell us that!”
“His Dragon tried to burn Ser Harwin?”
“His Dragon egg is still unhatched, is it not? How could his dragon have tried to burn anyone?” Rhaenys and Viserys said at the same time.
Daemon’s attention, however, was drawn by something else entirely. “You said that Ser Harwin saw his throat glow? As if he himself was going to try and burn him?”
The two of them nodded. “He said that Luke’s throat was glowing.” Rhaenyra confirmed, and Laenor started right after, “Luke also let out a, ah, shriek?” They shared a look and then he continued, “Apparently it was quite loud and sounded like the dragonsong Harwin had heard before.”
It certainly piqued Daemon’s interest, and the best way to quell that interest was to go straight to the source. He stood from his seat and made his way towards his two grandnephews. “Luke,” He called, waiting for the boy to break his intense stare down with a bucket of water, “What is it that you did with Ser Harwin the other day?”
Luke looked up at him and Daemon could already see him thinking about what he was about to say. He kept glancing back towards the water in a strange way. “I thought he was the mean man from the basement and my dragon tried to burn him because I didn’t have any water left.”
“Your dragon tried to burn him?” He asked. “The dragon that is still unhatched?” He sent a pointed look towards the yet unhatched dragon egg that was completely visible in the hearth on the other side of the room.
To his surprise, Luke actually nodded at him. “My dragon gave me his fire and his dragonsong to get him away from me.”
Daemon hummed, mulling the information over and taking a seat next to the boy. Again, his eyes traveled to the egg in the hearth. It was incredibly unlikely that his grandnephew had somehow found a different egg, hatched it, and then hidden the dragon from them. It was even less likely considering he had been planning to go get his brother’s dragon to ‘deal with the firefly’. Yet at the same time everything surrounding Luke had been unlikely.
According to his cousin the boy had shown he had a strong connection to magic, Rhaenys had said herself that she saw him use water to heal. He had also seen Luke suddenly appear from thin air in the hallway with his own two eyes.
And he, of course, believed there to be magic in their Targaryen blood, there had to be for them to tame their dragons, and it was what put them above everyone else. It stood to reason that the boy might have some deeper connection to a fire based form of magic instead of just some water magic.
With a deep breath he leaned forward, putting himself at the same height as Luke. “Can you show me that? How your dragon gave you his fire?”
His grandnephew turned his eyes back to the bucket of water on the floor next to them, and seemed to have an internal conversation with the bucket before he finally turned back to him. “I can’t show you that, cause it’s hard for him when he’s so far away, but I can show you fire.”
He was just about to enquire about the difference between ‘his dragon’s fire’ and ‘fire’, when Luke blinked his eyes shut, and the hearth roared to life so violently that the flames jumped passed the grates and scorched the entire height of the wall up to the stone ceiling. The torches flared to life as well, even the ones that had not previously been set aflame, and their fires jumped high enough to reach the ceiling. It sent a thrill through him to see such a show of magic, and a show of power.
A power that was a part of their family and their bloodline.
He soaked in the display as the fire started to die down with an extreme amount of glee. He wanted to see more, and judging by the look on Viserys face, his brother felt the same way he did. The whole room was silent with awe at the display.
His brother beat him to the punch, hustling over to the table with a speed he had been lacking for years. “Can you do anything else with the fire, my boy?” Viserys took a seat next to the two of them. “Rhaenys has already told us of your healing and your bubble, what else can you do?”
“I can sing too but the water says it’d hurt everyone’s ears.”
Again with the strange references to water…Luke spoke as if he could truly communicate with the water and not just use it as he saw fit. He couldn’t wait to see what all he could do, and he was absolutely going to strong arm Corlys into letting him train the boy. Just his ‘bubble’ ability to hide himself from sight and sound would be a stunning advantage in any battle.
He had been jesting before when he thought about training the boy to be an assassin, but not now. Luke would be an asset to any army, if not a guaranteed win in any battle. Singing probably wasn’t something they could use in a battle but everything else so far had a use.
“Maybe we could take him somewhere open and have him ‘sing’. Just to see what it's like, of course.” Daemon suggested, it wouldn’t hurt to at least see whatever this singing was. He didn’t think it could possibly have a use, but it was better to know what he could do rather than just hope it wouldn't come up later.
Unfortunately his niece didn’t seem to enjoy the idea as much as he did, and neither did his cousin. They both immediately shut them down, “There are assassins afoot, Uncle, the last thing we need is to be taking Luke around the castle and drawing attention to him. We should focus on figuring out who this firefly is and who hired him, then we can explore his magic.”
He couldn’t really argue with that, doing anything in the open would draw attention to the boy, and a display of magic would be even more noticeable.
It gave him more incentive to try and find this assassin, if not to secure his grandnephew’s safety, then to give him a chance to see what all Luke could do with his magic.
With that he stood, beckoning both his brother and his cousin over to him. “We should go, there's some things better left discussed away from the ears of children.” He said pointedly as Jace’s loud voice filled the room with praise.
His cousin nodded, “Corlys is back in the old wing Rhaenyra and the boys were in, checking for any more clues as to who this firefly is. We can go bring him up to speed.”
A grand idea, any clues Corlys managed to scrounge up would undoubtedly help Daemon in his hunt, and the quicker he hunted his target the quicker he could see what other feats of magic Luke was capable of.
The three of them left the room just as Jace’s tutor and Maester Gerardys arrived.
Jace tucked his chin on top of Luke’s head, curling a little closer to him when he felt his brother shivering in his arms. Mother, Ser Harwin and father were just across the room, talking amongst themselves and every once in a while glancing over at them.
It was nice, having Luke in his arms and having their parents so close by, and the peacefulness of them getting ready for a nap was much better compared to the franticness of the morning trying to get Luke to stop coughing.
Mother had convinced Luke to drink another vial of whatever it was Maester Gerardys had brought up for him after Grandmother, Grandsire and Granduncle Daemon had all left, and Luke had been dozing with him on and off through the morning since. His coughing had gotten better too since he finally drank the elixir.
Ser Harwin had officially been assigned to help guard them, a royal decree by Grandsire as he had left the room earlier, and one that both their parents had seemed relieved by. Jace was glad Luke had warmed up to the knight, truly. He had been so worried that Luke would hate Harwin forever and that had fed into his worry about his own status, but now that he knew for certain he was a trueborn son it was much easier to be around Harwin and not feel the shame and guilt he had felt before.
It was like they had gone back to what they were before he had heard the first whispers of him being a bastard.
Ser Qarl had joined them a few times as well, usually switching out patrol of the halls with Harwin, though they did manage to all four be in the room at once. Everyone was happier when they all were able to get together, so Jace guessed they must all be good friends and had missed spending time around each other.
The only thing he didn’t like was that they were now closer than ever to their uncles and the Queen. They were also closer to Grandsire too, which he liked, but that was vastly outweighed by the Queen. He and Luke were kept out of the worst of it, since they weren’t supposed to be leaving their room at all, but he could sometimes hear the Queen pitching a fit in the halls near them.
He had heard Uncle Aegon yelling too, though he couldn’t hear what he said, and it made Jace even more reluctant to even just leave their bedroom. He didn’t want Luke running into Aegon or the Queen.
The last time Aegon was around he had punched his brother in the head and the Queen was always so hateful. He’d much rather spend the entire day in bed with his brother well away from where they could hear the yelling.
“Luke?”
His brother snuffled against his neck, blinking himself awake and looking at him owlishly. “Jace?”
“Does the water talk to you like I talk to you?”
“Sometimes,” Luke said softly as he wiggled around to get himself comfortable, “Most of the time I just feel what it wants.”
Jace tried to imagine that, just feeling and instinctively knowing what was needed. He couldn’t imagine water feeling like anything, but he knew that sometimes when he was around Vermax he felt like he just knew what his dragon was thinking and what he wanted. “Is it like how I feel with Vermax?”
Luke nodded. “It’s like that, and like how I can feel my dragon even though he’s not here yet.”
“Can you tell me about him? Your dragon?” He heard Luke mention him to Granduncle Daemon, and he had heard him say that apparently Luke’s dragon had lent him his flame and his voice to defend himself. It made sense. Vermax was quite protective of him, and he was sure if he had magic of his own Vermax would lend him his fire any time he wanted it.
He felt Luke smile against his shoulder. “He’s pretty, with white scales and red membranes, like bone and blood.”
His brother’s dragon certainly sounded pretty, and already Jace could imagine how beautiful his brother would look seated on the back of a dragon like that. He would look better behind Jace on Vermax where Jace could protect him, of course, but if his brother was going to get a dragon of his own he’d never want to take that away from him. Besides, even when Luke hatched his dragon it would take years for it to grow big enough for him to ride, and they could just ride Vermax together in the meantime.
Vermax would be big enough to hold him soon if the dragon masters were to be believed, and Luke was small enough that Jace could hold him up off the ground, so Vermax should be able to carry them both. They could learn how to ride dragons together atop his beloved friend and then Luke would be ready to take to the skies with him when they found his dragon.
They could go find Luke’s dragon with Vermax if he wasn’t able to hatch his egg soon, or try to have Vermax bathe the egg in dragonfire to make it hatch. Their eggs were both from the same clutch that Syrax had laid, surely Vermax could wake his brother-dragon from his egg.
“Do you know his name?”
“No, the water says it’s not time for me to know yet.” The mournful tone in Luke’s voice made his chest hurt, and he couldn’t resist pulling his brother even closer.
He knew it wouldn’t make Luke feel the absence of his dragon any less, but Luke told him often about how warm his blood was and how it would heat Luke up when he held him, so maybe his heat could make up what Luke couldn’t feel from his dragon.
Luke stuffed his fingers in his mouth, looking back and forth around the hall as he tried to remember where he was. His mind had been fuzzy ever since he had been convinced to drink a third vial of the disgusting sludge. It had been a struggle to keep it down when it smelled and tasted so terrible, and he had only agreed because father promised that he’d take him down to the bay for an afternoon if he did.
His water hadn’t washed the elixir away this time, since most of the ash was gone and the sirens said the elixir should help with his stomach hurting. But now that it had started making him tired, he couldn’t remember where he was. He was pretty sure he had been planning to have lunch with mother while Jace got to go to the pits and spend time with Vermax and all the other adults talked together.
Vaguely he remembered that he had been trying to find Meleys’ pit to ask if her hatchling and his cousins wanted to join them, but he couldn’t figure out how to get there. He had gotten off the chair while Mother went to talk to the other Gerardys after he had been given his drink, and used his bubble to get past Ser Qarl at the door.
Maybe he had gone through the wrong door? Or he had gone through the right door but went too far? It was starting to hurt his head just to think about where he might be, and he couldn’t find anyone to ask where he was or how to get back to his mother.
And now he was almost tired enough to want to fall asleep.
He’d have to find someone to take him back to his room, and fast. He tried again to swish his water around and try to come up with an idea of where he was, but the soft drip through his veins made him more tired.
It gave him just the slightest hint of someone nearby, someone whispering about Mother, so he followed the whispers until he came to a door. There wasn’t anything blocking it, or keeping him from opening it, and it swung open to reveal the woman he had heard on her knees in front of a tapestry of a star.
She didn’t sound happy as she continued her strange chant, and she sounded even less happy when he pushed the door further open to try and talk to her. He called out to her, asking if she had seen his mother, and instantly she was up off the floor and heading towards.
She hissed out something as she surged towards him, latching onto his arm like a snake onto prey. Luke whimpered as her nails dug into him. He could already feel his blood welling up around her fingertips, shrieking its displeasure but unable to do anything when she was still digging into him.
The woman felt just as agitated as she sounded, her own blood swam through her veins at a dizzying pace. “I asked you what you think you are doing here.” She hissed, digging into him even more and almost lifting him off the floor in her anger. “You shouldn’t be anywhere near this wing of the castle.”
“I want my mother.”
The words only made her angrier. “Rhaenyra lives on the other side of the castle, this is the King’s wing, not hers.” Before he could try and explain that they had been moved here because of the firefly, the woman started dragging him down the hall by his arm. She muttered under her breath to herself as she marched them away. He wasn’t sure where he was but he knew this wasn’t the way to Mother’s room. “First, she steals my son’s birthright, and now she’s trying to claim the whole keep as her own.”
The words made something twist in his gut and his water urged him to remember them. That he would need them later.
He didn’t know why he would need them later, because they sounded hateful and angry and his water usually whisked those feelings from his mind instead of letting them linger. The woman didn’t acknowledge him at all as he tried to explain again and again that Balerion had told them to come live in their new room instead of their old ones.
She scoffed when he said Balerion’s name but she wouldn’t even look at him otherwise.
Luke wasn’t even sure where she was dragging them too, the halls looked vaguely familiar but almost all of the halls in the Keep looked the same to him. The tapestries reminded him of the green that had lined the halls leading to Egg and his brother’s room. He couldn’t be sure it was the same hall though because the woman was pulling him along too quickly for his memories to wash into his mind and try to line up with what he had seen before.
“Mother?” The woman stopped dead in her tracks as they turned the corner, and when they turned, it was Egg’s brother that called for them. He looked just as confused by their appearance as Luke felt at being dragged around. “What’s going on, why is Luke here?”
The sight of the other boy let him fight through the pain in his head to remember that this was indeed the hallway he had been down before. It was the same one that he had heard Egg yelling in, and the one where he had gotten hurt by the mean man.
Was Egg’s brother getting attacked by another mean man? Is that why this woman was dragging him around, because she wanted him to save the boy again? He was fairly sure she had been there when he had saved Egg’s brother the first time, maybe she needed him to do it again.
He had enough water to defend himself and the boy if he needed to, but his stomach and his head hurt, and he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to deal with another mean man the way he had last time.
“It’s nothing, Aemond, he was galavanting around where he shouldn’t belong.” She hissed, looking down at him with so much disdain that Luke could almost taste it on his tongue. It tasted a lot like the horrible sludge he had been fed earlier. “I’m taking him to your father so he can be reprimanded for sneaking around and taken back to wherever his mother is.”
“I can take him back to her room, it’s right down the hall!”
Once again the words made her angrier instead of settling her down. Luke didn’t understand why, if she wanted him to go to Balerion and then back to Mother, then she should be happy that Egg’s brother was willing to take him there. He was about to open his mouth again, to tell her that he wanted to go home and he didn’t mind the other egg taking him, but they were interrupted by another person.
The man from the training yard went stock still when he looked at the woman, and then his eyes bulged when he saw the boy and him. Before anyone could say anything, or explain what was going on he was all the way down the hall and pulling the woman away from him and Egg’s brother.
He pushed them to the other side of the hall and bodily put himself between them. “My Princes, you need to head along to your lessons.”
“But -”
“Go to your lessons.” He hissed at Egg’s brother, looking more and more worried with each passing second. He kept glancing towards either end of the hall, like he expected someone to come around the corner at any moment.
Perhaps he had run into the firefly on his way to them? But Luke’s water wasn’t whispering that the firefly was near, the sirens only told him to hurry back to his mother and drink water.
Egg’s brother - Aemond, the sirens chuffed, so softly he almost missed it - snapped his mouth shut but he didn’t turn to leave. “But Luke doesn’t have lessons, Mother dragged him here.”
The man closed his eyes for a moment and when he reopened them there was a fire in his eyes. The fire was nothing like Jace’s or Mother’s or Meleys’, but there was a fire. It seeped with annoyance and a small hint of terror, and the man gave Egg’s brother yet another nudge as he turned back towards the woman.
“Prince Aemond, please take your nephew back to his rooms, your mother’s presence is required elsewhere.” He cut the woman off before she could say anything else with a glare. “And the Queen would request that you not mention anything about this.” He said pointedly. “Either of you.”
Egg’s brother conceded with a nod, and simply turned to grab Luke, though he immediately dropped his arm when Luke cried out. The nail marks on his forearm stung, and both the man and Egg’s brother looked at his arm with shock.
The man grabbed the woman and yanked her down the hallway without another word. Luke could hear her start shrieking as soon as they turned the corner, but Egg’s brother tugged him away using his uninjured arm.
The sirens weren’t happy with the sudden turn of events, again urging him to go back to mother and drink. They did settle a bit once the woman was away from him, and they hummed that Egg’s brother wouldn’t harm him, so Luke trailed along with him all the way back to Mother’s room.
His water ran over the cuts on his arm and washed them away, healing his skin back to normal. The cuts weren’t too deep, so he didn’t have to force too much water into them, which was nice because he didn’t think he’d get back to the sea soon and his head hurt. Grandfather had mentioned taking him down to see his favorite boat, and to let him play in the water for a bit, but he had been gone to chase the firefly that morning and hadn’t returned.
He was hoping grandfather would come back soon, maybe after he and mother had finished their lunch and they could all go down to the bay and play. As tired as he was he knew the bay would make him feel better.
“Are you alright, Lucerys?”
Luke looked up as he pushed his way through the door to Mother’s chambers and suddenly remembered that Uncle Egg’s brother was still with him. “I’m okay.”
“Are you sure? There were marks on your arm in the hallway.”
He held out his newly healed arm, climbing up into his chair at the table as he did so. His mother must’ve gone to try and find him, because the food for their lunch was already sitting out and it was still steaming, but his mother wasn’t in the room. He couldn’t see any water for him to drink among the food -unless he counted a fourth vial of sludge, which he didn't - so maybe she had gone to get a bucket of seawater for him. “It’s barely anything, see?”
The skin around the cuts was still indented and red, but the actual cuts themselves were healed over and the blood that had welled up was back in its proper place under his skin. The water had done a very good job at healing the wounds if Luke did say so himself and Luke was so distracted in praising his water for a job well done that he didn’t even have time to look up before a necklace was shoved right under his nose.
When he traced the hand back to its owner, he was faced with Egg’s brother holding the necklace. He was very clearly avoiding his eyes with a fierce blush all over his face and neck, it looked like someone had set fire to his face.
Egg’s brother held the necklace out again, the trembling of his hand making the jewels rattle against each other.
He reached out to take it, turning it over in his hand slowly. It was a very pretty necklace, with little aquamarine jewels surrounded by a very dazzling line of pearls. “Thank you?”
“It’s a gift.” The boy said hesitantly. “As a thank you for saving me.”
“Oh, it's pretty.”
“Do you want me to help you put it on?” He asked as he held out his hand for the necklace.
Luke let him take it back, and turned to face away like he had seen his mother do when Ser Harwin would put necklaces on her when they thought he and Jace were still sleeping.
“What are you doing?”
The necklace nearly choked him as Aemond jumped away, thankfully it fell forward onto his lap instead of stealing his breath away. His mother stalked closer to the two of them, giving the boy an unnaturally cool look, and his water whispered that she wasn’t happy with him standing so close to him.
Which was strange, because she had never seemed upset when she saw him with Egg or his brother before.
Aemond shrank away from the two of them, “I was gifting Luke a necklace, since he saved me...”
Luke could feel that she was still very annoyed at the events she had walked in on, but she also seemed to notice the fear that Aemond had of her. “That is very nice brother,” She pulled a brittle smile onto her face, “I merely overreacted, it looked…strange to see you standing behind Luke with your hands around his neck. I’m sure you can understand after all we’ve been through lately that it startled me.”
They all paused, the words hanging in the air until Aemond finally nodded and slowly made his way back towards the two of them. He took the necklace in his hands again and this time managed to actually put it around his neck. The aquamarines and pearls sat in a delicate line across his collarbones, and Luke reached up to touch the jewels with a smile.
The jewels hummed happily as his fingers traced over them and the pearls sang in tune, albeit quietly, with his sirens.
“It’s a very beautiful necklace, Aemond, you did well picking it out.” His mother said as she laid her hand on his shoulder, pulling the necklace slightly so that she could look at it closer.
Aemond shuffled his feet. “I picked it because it's the Velaryon House colors.”
When she smiled this time it was a true smile. Her lips ticked up at the corner and Luke could feel what little annoyance she had before completely drain away. “It’s a very good choice.” She reached out to stroke her hand over Aemond’s hair the same way she usually did with Jace, and gestured to the seat next to Luke at the table. “Why don’t we all sit down, Luke and I were just about to have lunch, we can all eat together.”
Aemond took a seat next to them, shyly smiling at him as his mother filled all of their plates with food, and she set a small cup of saltwater in front of him too.
The water managed to push away the worst of the feeling in his head, yet when he was forced to drink the last vial of sludge it all but erased the relief his seawater had given him.
“Now, why don’t you tell me where you wandered off too and found your uncle, Luke.”
Aegon didn’t have even a moment to fully wake from his nap before their mother came bustling into the room, dragging a blushing Aemond along behind her.
She was clutching her chain like it was a lifeline, ranting and raving something about Rhaenyra stealing them away. He might not be able to understand half of what she was yelling but her doing anything with her fake Septon’s chain was bound to be bad for him.
“Not a single one of you are to leave this room without me!” Why in the seven’s name she was upset about them leaving was a mystery to him. Even right after the assassins attacked Aemond she hadn’t forbidden them from leaving her apartments. Their father had told them to stay in their rooms, but she hadn’t said a thing about it, and none of them had actually stopped leaving.
She stomped around the room, glaring at both him and Aemond even though he had been within their chambers for the entire day. Aemond was the one who had snuck out to go get lunch and then just never came back. For the first time in his life he had actually done what he was told and he was still getting yelled at!
Helaena, no doubt upset by the yelling as she always was, slowly slipped her way out of the room without their mother noticing, retreating into the adjacent sitting room.
“I don’t care what is happening, none of you are to leave.” She repeated, “If you want something you must ask the servants, and your lessons will be taken here. I don’t want anyone around that whore and her bastards.”
Aegon couldn’t hold in his scoff nor could he stop himself from rolling his eyes. There was the problem. She must’ve gone out - probably to rendezvous with her own whore - and either run into his sister or maybe she had tried to start more rumors about Rhaenyra and Ser Harwin only to get overtaken by her own guilt.
It was unlikely in his eyes, if there was any justice the seven would have afflicted his mother with some horrid blight to show the world her true character. Maybe she tried to meet with Larys and had been denied. Whatever the reason, he knew he’d be getting the brunt of her anger, as he always did.
“Listen to me!” Alicent shouted, grabbing both of their chins and digging her nails in. “No one is going anywhere near Rhaenyra or her children, do you understand me?”
Aegon didn’t bother responding to her - not that he truly could with how harshly she was digging her fingers into his cheeks - he knew well that she didn’t care about his actual answer. She wanted, and expected, him to unequivocally agree with everything she asked them to do. If he hadn't seen what he saw between her and Larys Strong he would have agreed just to get her away from him.
He heard Aemond give a soft affirmation and rolled his eyes again. Of course. Aemond had always been their mother’s loyal son, willing to do whatever she asked without question. It didn’t matter that Aemond was the one that had gone to Rhaenyra’s chambers and done whatever had made their mother mad, it didn’t matter that he was the one who initially drew their mother’s ire, he would always fall to her will and get away with whatever he wanted.
Their mother had barely even noticed that he had been injured during the attack, instead she had focused on wailing about Luke, and yet Aemond still acted as if she hung the moon. Her hand dropped from Aemond’s face once he agreed with her but Aegon refused to look at her.
She didn’t deserve the satisfaction of having any control over him, so he just pulled his face away. He didn’t even care that her half-bitten nails scratched along his cheeks. For once his mother didn’t try to keep coming after him until he agreed, she just huffed and walked away.
Probably going back to her chambers to invite Larys in so she could whore herself out again, or maybe she was going to get Cole to take her to the Sept to pray away her own sins.
Aegon ignored the strange look Aemond was giving him and stormed over to the other side of the room. His annoyance and frustration were starting to flare up and he needed to leave before he showed his hand and said something he regretted.
He didn’t bother grabbing anything, he just turned to flee.
“Where are you going, mother told us to stay here.”
Aegon fought to keep himself from slapping Aemond across his stupid gullible face as the idiot stepped in front of him. “I’m leaving.”
“Mother said -”
“I don’t give a fuck what mother said!” He roared, taking two menacing steps towards Aemond before he managed to rein himself in.
He needed to leave, it didn’t matter where he went, he just needed to get away from Aemond and his mother. Maybe he could sneak down to the wine cellars, he hadn’t been down there in quite a while.
Aegon stopped at the edge of the room, thinking for a moment before turning back to the table and pouring a goblet full of water.
“Why are you taking a cup of water?”
Luke had brought a cup of water when he was worried that Aegon was being poisoned through his wine. As much as he wanted to drown his sorrows, he had promised himself he wouldn’t and his nephew sounded like the perfect distraction.
Besides, Aemond had already managed to go visit Luke if his mother’s mutterings were to be believed, he couldn't let himself be upstaged by his mother’s favorite. He still had yet to apologize for punching Luke in the training yard, he could use that as an excuse if need be. The image of Luke’s shredded hands from the assassin’s attack also settled in his mind and he filled the goblet all the way to the lip.
It seemed fitting to bring a cup to him when he wanted him to heal. “It’s none of your business.” Aemond looked at him like he had gone mad but he didn’t try to stop him as he turned tail and fled the room.
Luke looked up from his half hearted attempts at map coloring as his water whispered that he should go open the door. The sirens were quieter than they usually were, and the pain in his head had steadily gotten worse as the day wore on, but he hadn’t been able to sleep.
He had tried earlier after Egg’s brother had left, and Jace had curled up next to him on the bed when he returned from spending time with Vermax. It hadn’t worked. Laying down had only made his stomach ache more and more, until he couldn’t force himself to lay still. He had asked Mother to go find grandfather, or even his father, and he hoped they would be back soon.
What they would do that the water couldn’t, he wasn't sure, but he wanted them near. He ached with a chill that even Jace couldn’t chase away, and he wanted his Corlys.
When he tried to tug his water around him, it didn’t give him any clue of what might be behind the door, but they weren’t singing about danger, so it couldn’t be anything bad. He turned towards Ser Kent and Ser Alisar, both who were guarding the doors while Mother was away.
Ser Alisar was at the door to the adjoining room where Jace and his tutor were, while Ser Kent was right at the door to their chambers. He hopped down from his chair, making sure not to pull his bubble around him because grandfather had said it was rude to use it and run off, and walked to the door.
The knight stood at attention as he came near but he didn’t move out of his way. “My Prince.”
“I need to open the door.”
Kent blinked, staring down at him with confusion before realizing what he said. “I’m sorry, Prince Lucerys, but your mother ordered me not to allow you out of the room.”
“I don’t need to leave,” He said, mirroring his shield’s confusion with his own. He hadn’t asked to leave, he would have used his bubble for that, he just needed to open the door. “I need to open the door. There’s someone waiting.”
The new information didn’t seem to clear up the man’s confusion but he did end up stepping aside enough that he could grab the door handle and let it swing open. He kept his hand on his spear, and shifted himself to keep Luke half-hidden behind his leg.
Outside of the room, with his hand positioned to knock, was Uncle Egg. He looked a bit shocked at the door opening, though he recovered quickly, stepping towards the threshold and shooting a look at Ser Kent when he didn’t immediately move.
“Prince Aegon.” His shield bowed and moved aside, letting Egg into the room and closing the door behind him.
“I brought you a little gift.” Uncle Egg said as he fully stepped into the room, and Luke brightened a little when he pulled a goblet full of water from behind his back. It wasn’t saltwater but it was water and it was a gift! Maybe freshwater would make him feel better where the saltwater hadn’t!
He went to grab the goblet his water had urged him to fill and not drink earlier. He brought it back to Egg, holding it out with one hand while the other hand reached out to take his gifted cup. Egg hesitated - maybe he wanted to make sure it wasn’t salt water, since no one else liked to drink salt water like Luke did - but eventually he took the cup.
Their arms ended up linked together as they traded cups, and from what little he could hear, the sirens were giggling in his ears so he didn’t bother unlinking them. He just drank all of the water in one go. It didn’t make the ache in his head or his stomach go away like he had hoped, but it made him feel a bit better. “Thank you Uncle Egg!”
“Aegon, what are you doing here?” Egg broke apart from him, just as Aemon had earlier, as mother and father both came into the room, and Luke watched a livid expression flit across his face before it dropped to fear.
His mother surged towards them from the doorway. “What did you just give him?” She snatched the goblet off the table to inspect it.
“He gave me water!” Something urged him not to mention that he thought it would make him feel better, it didn’t sound quite like his water, but he didn’t know what else it could be. “And I gave him water too!”
She ignored him, continuing to look at the cup, though she calmed after a moment and turned back to the two of them. “You should be in your room, Aegon, it's too dangerous for anyone to be out in the castle, and your brother was already walking about by himself earlier.”
She settled back into her own skin much like she had with Aemond after he gifted him the necklace, but Uncle Egg still felt strange.
Luke reached out to grab at her sleeves, pulling her back towards him when he realized that Egg was cracking under her stare. His uncle was a fragile egg, and his shell was only growing thinner and thinner each time Luke saw him, he didn’t want his mother to accidentally crack him.
It must be the poison in the wine again. He hadn’t been able to see Egg since that day with the mean men, they could have poisoned him while Luke was being kept away! Now that Luke was actually paying attention, he could see Egg’s shell was extremely thin, and it felt like just a small breath the wrong way would make him shatter
Fear dug its way into his heart, he had been drained of his water, Aemond had been hurt by those mean men, and he hadn’t even thought of them going after Egg! He should have realized it - Egg had been in the room with them, he had seen what happened, the firefly must’ve tried to get him too!
He had been so caught up with worrying about the firefly burning Harwin in the stone hall that he hadn’t considered him going after anyone else.
He let go of his mother so he could latch himself onto Egg’s leg, ignoring the way the pain in his head flared at the movement. “Poison?” He asked, desperately, if Egg had been poisoned maybe the salt water they had would be able to heal him. He tried to tug his uncle over to the table so that he could get his favorite bucket of seawater.
“What?” Mother hissed, grabbing the cup again as Father sucked in a breath and tried to grab the two of them.
Egg made to pull away from him, and away from Mother when she too went to grab them, “No, I wasn’t poisoned, I haven’t even had any wine lately.”
“Sure?” He patted at Egg’s leg, trying to get his water to soak through his trousers and into his blood. It drained him, more than usual, to do so, but his water called back that there thankfully wasn’t any poison in his blood, which let him settle a little bit.
He still worried over his uncle Egg, and over Aemond. Neither of them had the safety of his water or Balerion talking to them, if the firefly tried to come after them there would be no way for him to defend them or warn them.
His mother and father both seemed to share his fear of Uncle Egg and Aemond getting hurt, because they both were tense. “Aegon…were you poisoned recently?” His mother asked.
Egg tried to wave the question away but Luke wasn’t going to let him just brush things aside. He tugged on his trousers until he conceded with a sigh. “Luke thought someone was poisoning my wine, but I’m fine.”
“Someone poisoned his cups! I found him in one of the tunnels and it felt like he was barely there!” The thing that wasn’t his water shifted in agitated waves under his skin as he tugged at it, rushing back to the memories of how Uncle Egg had been slurring and all wobbly in the tunnels when he found him. He probably felt the same way Luke did now, or maybe even worse!
“When was this?”
“Back when I first woke up, before I knew my name, I found him when I went wandering at night.”
Father squinted, before he brightened, “Was this when you suddenly started calling out for your grandfather in the middle of the night?”
Luke nodded, someone was finally understanding what he was saying. He didn’t know how to say what he wanted to say, but at least his father understood it. His father was a very smart man, like grandfather.
“If he was being poisoned back then, then the assassins might have been attacking long before when they went after Aemond.” His mother whispered, and when Father nodded along, she heaved a sigh. She didn’t sound happy but she wasn’t angry either. “We need to go to my father, he’s going to need to make sure Aegon, Aemond, and Helaena all have more guards and are taken care of too.”
“I think Daemon, and my mother and father are still talking with him in his chambers, we could go now while they are together.”
Egg’s shell vibrated against the edge of his water, it hurt his ears and when he looked up Egg’s fear was plain on his face. He felt like he was about to shake apart right under his hand. “I don’t want to go back to my mother's chambers.”
Both his parents turned to him, though it was his father that spoke first. “Why not?”
“I wasn’t supposed to leave, she just told us to stay in the apartments, but I wanted to see Luke and make sure he was alright.” Egg hesitated, his shell vibrating even more violently. “She won’t be happy with me.”
His mother’s blood flashed with heat for a moment, scorching his skin. “We’ll talk to our father first, and depending on what he says we’ll worry about your mother then, alright?”
Mother picked him up, and the pain in his head skyrocketed at the movement, his vision dulled right at the edges before clawing its way back. By time he could see again Jace was in the room with them, and father was leading Egg and Jace out of the room with him and Mother trailing after them.
His stomach mutinied as they walked, gurgling violently. It felt like he was going to throw up again, and the pain in his head was blistering and only growing stronger each time they passed by a window. He tried to hide his face in Mother’s neck and clutched his new necklace. The pearls sang to him softly but they were just as quiet as the sirens and his water were.
It wasn’t a good feeling and thankfully it was a short walk to Balerion’s chambers and Corlys came to grab him as soon as they walked in. To his shock, being in his grandfather’s arms didn’t help him any more than the seawater had before.
He thought he could hear everyone talking, but it was all jumbled together and he couldn’t make sense of any of the words being said. Hands stroked over his shoulders, playing with his hair, and he tried to blink himself awake yet still he slipped further and further down.
He felt his water drip down his face. The sirens were singing, calling him to the ocean and Balerion was bellowing out his own tune as well, pulling him towards the flames, and now there were so many others grabbing at him too.
Red leaves tried to stain his hands with sap and blood, scales and antlers and sharp teeth tried to latch onto him, void nameless things tried to worm their way under his skin and steal his face. Cold claws dug into his bones, chilling him to the core. They were all vying for him, sinking their claws in and trying to pull him apart like he was a toy.
And then finally he heard the desperate beating of wings, and the cry of dragon song in his ears over everything else.
End of Chapter 15
Notes:
As always, I hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter, if you did let me know in the comments and let me know what you guys might like to see in the future chapters!
A/N: Luke, after being force fed an elixir thats definitely not been poisoned: Fuck This Shit I’m Out™
A/N: Rhaenyra: Cue Simple Plan song How could this happen to me? I've made my mistakes. Got nowhere to run. The night goes on as I'm fading away~~
A/N: Luke: Oh my god Egg might be poisoned!
Also Luke: I’m just gonna drink this cup that Egg brought me.A/N: Balerion: Can everyone stop going after my magical son for FIVE FUCKING MINUTES HE'S JUST A BABY
Chapter 16: Chapter 16
Summary:
Arrax has arrived, and for the third chapter in a row no one has any fun. Also, we get a surprise guest star for all of like a single line in this chapter!
Notes:
Woooo finally got this chapter out, I swear to god this has been sitting done since Friday of last week and I just couldn't get five minutes to edit and post it. Regardless, its up now, so let me know if you enjoyed it, and what you might want to see in the future!
We will be getting some fluff for a good bit after Arrax solves all of Luke's problems, and it'll be a little bit before we get more Big Stuff going on.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Chapter 16
Alicent stood at the steps, nearly sobbing as she watched what could only be her father slowly making his way past the small hall and towards the Royal Sept. She could almost see her little Daeron in tow, mostly concealed by her father’s oversized cloak. She had thought she saw Tessarion flying overhead earlier in the day but between finding Lucerys in her wing of the castle, having Cole find Aemond walking with Rhaenyra, and Aegon’s foolishness, she had brushed it off as her mind tricking her.
She hadn’t wanted to give herself false hope that help had truly arrived. It wasn’t until one of the servants, one of the few that was loyal to her and her family, came to tell her that her father was there that she let herself believe it.
Finally she would have someone on her side again.
Her father would be more helpful than Cole and Larys combined, the two of them had done nothing in the last few days, and Cole had actively hindered her when she tried to take Luke to get reprimanded for wandering about in the King’s wing. Her father was here considerably faster than she had anticipated but perhaps the gods had heard her prayers and hastened his journey to King’s Landing.
Oldtown was quite a ways away from King’s Landing, it should have taken him near a fortnight to get there. She didn’t care about the logistics however, she just wanted to see her father and her youngest son.
She made her way down the steps as quickly as she could without running. Cole had already cleared most everyone away from the courtyard so she was free to meet her father as he came upon the Royal Sept. They could spend some time together there, she could spend time with her son and show him the beauty of the sept and once they were done she could talk to her father.
The thought of having Daeron back by her side, the only child she had that wasn’t within the sights of Lucerys Velaryon, sent butterflies throughout her stomach. If she was quick enough she might be able to get both of them from the Sept into her quarters without anyone knowing that they were there.
Viserys was too busy doting on Rhaenyra and her bastards, he wouldn’t notice her father or their son staying with her, and when he finally did she could just explain it away as a visit. She could simper about how she hadn’t wanted to pester him with just a simple visit from her father, and if she had to she could bite her tongue and say she knew how hectic his affairs had been trying to help Rhaenyra.
“Father!” She yelled, though she tried to keep her voice quiet, as she came upon them. The stench of dragon clinging to Daeron soured her stomach but she didn’t let it stop her from grabbing onto her father.
A sob worked its way out of her throat before she could stop it, and once she started crying the anxiety and exhaustion of the last moon took its toll. Her father, the brilliant man he was, ushered the four of them into the Sept and through the first hall to a quiet, empty room.
He sat her down on one of the few pews within the room, right under the seven pointed star, and the scent of the lit candles soothed her until her tears subsided. Soft footsteps trailed across the room, Daeron must have started wandering around looking at sept in all its glory, and she knew that Cole would have placed himself outside of the door as he always did when she would cry.
She tried to take a moment to collect herself, gingerly dabbing at her eyes with a handkerchief to wipe the tears away.
“Has the situation changed any since your letter, Alicent?” Otto asked as he took a seat across from her, his keen eyes keeping track of her son as Daeron continued his exploration.
She shook her head. To be truthful, she didn’t know what was going on in her own home. Viserys had refused to tell her anything about what was happening with the bastards, and while Lucerys had walked in on her praying, that was the most she knew.
There was the incident involving Daemon in the dragonpit that Larys had yet to update her on, and the attack on Aemond, other than that she was clueless. She just knew her sons were now obsessed with Lucerys and things were always happening around the boy.
Which was part of why she needed her father with her, so that someone could figure out what in the gods name was happening and tell her. As the Queen she should be informed of all the happenings going on in the Keep, but Viserys was tight lipped and reluctant to talk to her at all when he was in the room, and he was rarely alone with her lately.
Her sons had been around the boy, and presumably Jacaerys as well, and she could ask them what was going on, though she knew Aegon wouldn’t tell her anything. Speaking of Aegon she would need to tell her father about him distancing himself from her. With the way he had been acting lately she wasn’t sure if putting him on the throne would be a good thing for the longevity of the realm. His behavior as of late had been erratic at best, and downright strange at its worst, and he had been disappearing more and more often lately.
She should have been able to trust her sons to give her information, just as she should be able to trust Cole, and they all had failed her.
“I’m not aware of anything changing, besides Lucerys being allowed to roam all over the castle as he pleases,” She answered, letting her irritation color her voice for once. Seeing the boy wandering about in the King’s wing of all places had angered her to no end, and then to have him try to convince her that he was allowed to be there…the audacity of the boy was boundless. He was truly his mother’s son, that was clear. “There was an incident in the Dragonpit involving Daemon as I told you in my letter, but nothing has been discussed with me since the attack in Aemond’s room, and Viserys has had everyone contained within their apartments since then.”
Otto raised an eyebrow, “Everyone is meant to be contained, yet Prince Lucerys is allowed to wander about?”
She hadn’t even thought of that. Viserys had explicitly said for everyone to remain within their respective dwellings, and the boy had been galavanting all over unattended. He could have been getting up to anything, he could have been wandering around plotting his next cold blooded killing!
Her hand rose to her face, shielding her gasp behind it as terror beset her. That boy could have killed someone and been trying to hide before someone found the body for all she knew. The room she used as her personal prayer room when she couldn’t go down to the sept was just a small side room off the King’s wing, there was no reason for Lucerys to be anywhere near it unless he was trying to hide from something!
“He must’ve been up to something! I was praying and he walked in on me. I was trying to question him and take him to Viserys to get reprimanded, but Cole stopped me before I could.”
“Cole stopped you?” Her father echoed, his curious tone only making her more anxious as her eyes darted towards the door. Cole was her sworn sword, but at one time he had held faith with Rhaenyra, perhaps his strange behavior was him returning to her favor. She couldn’t put it past her friend to have somehow seduced him back to her side. “Why would he stop you from taking a child back to where he came from?”
“I dont know…” She breathed out. Gods, what if Cole had already turned against her? He had stonewalled her whenever she tried to wring information out of him, and he had been reluctant to try and get himself reassigned to guard Rhaenyra’s sons. “He’s been acting strange ever since Aemond got attacked. He’s refused to give me any information on the boys.”
“Well, we will have to keep our eyes on him, then. There’s no point in discounting him just yet, not when he could still have useful information, but I will watch him. What of Larys? Has he not given you anything new either?”
Larys’ name sent a shudder through her. The last thing she wanted, especially within the walls of the Sept, was a reminder of her transgressions with Larys Strong. “I haven’t had the chance to speak with him.” The anxiety of the situation forced her to stand and pace, all of her allies were failing her and Rhaenyra was gaining more and more ground.
The presence of her father relieved some of her tensions, but the way he just laid out what was going on around her, and brought forth her own lack of knowledge was setting her on edge just as it always did. She hadn’t even recognized the extent of her lack of knowledge.
She knew nothing of what was going on with either of Rhaenyra’s sons, or even Rhaenyra herself. The last solid piece of information she had was that of the night Aemond had been attacked, that knowledge being that Lucerys had been injured, and that was days ago. Since then there had been nothing but silence from everyone around her. Court had yet to be held while they chased after the remaining assassin, so she knew nothing of the happening of the rest of House Velaryon either.
Viserys had been in and out of his chambers, barely speaking to her when he was around and coming back happy but quiet each time he left. She knew that Daemon and Princess Rhaenys had had an audience with him in his chambers two nights after the attempt on her son’s life though she knew not what it was about.
Beyond that all she knew was that Lucerys had been walking the halls by himself and that her foolish second son had gone and had lunch with the very people who would want him dead once Rhaenyra and her bastards ascended the throne. It also irked her, now that she could see how blind she had been in the past few days, that she had heard nothing about nor seen any signs of Prince Jacaerys. The last she knew of him was when Aegon had been scolded for attempting to punch him and allegedly hitting Lucerys instead.
He could have been killed by the assassin that attacked Aemond, or killed at the hands of his own blood thirsty brother and she wouldn’t know about it. It was horrifying how much was being kept from her and she was the Queen.
The sharp twinges of pain from her fingernails ripping off her own skin brought her out of her anxieties and back to the stern gaze of her father. “I haven’t had the chance to talk to anyone but Cole and my own sons in days, Father.”
Her father scoffed instead of offering sympathy, “That’s nonsense, you are the Queen, Alicent, surely you could acquire gossip from your ladies at the very least.” He was glaring at her, silently ordering both her and Daeron to sit down, “You should also be getting information straight from the King himself, are you telling me you haven’t talked to your own husband in days?”
“He refuses to speak to me!” She cried, picking at her fingers even more now that she couldn’t pace, “Viserys won’t tell me anything about Rhaenyra, he keeps leaving and won’t talk to me at all, let alone tell me what he is doing, and he forbade me from being near Rhaenyra or her children.”
“And you haven’t challenged this ridiculousness?” The incredulousness in his voice made her want to shrink in on herself. It reminded her far too much of her childhood.
He was right though, she was the queen. She should be the second most powerful person in Westeros, right behind the King himself, and she was too powerless to leave her room. “I’m sorry, father.”
“Can we get something to eat?’
Alicent nearly jumped out of her skin, Daeron’s voice startling her with its suddenness. She had been so consumed in her talk with her father that she had forgotten her son entirely.
He was probably tired from his journey, and she did need to find some way to sneak them all the way into the Keep and up to her chambers. Her plan had relied heavily on Cole being able to sneak them back, but now she wasn’t entirely sure she could trust the knight.
“Yes, your mother will get you something to eat, and then the two of you will retire to her apartments.” Otto stood from his pew, ushering the two of them out, and practically shoved her over to Cole. “Ser Cole, please see to it that the Queen and the Prince make it to her chambers unaccosted.”
When he didn’t follow them out of the sept, she tried to turn back towards him, only for her father to wave her away, “Go on, I’ll make my way to your chambers myself. I have business to see to before I retire for the night.”
“Father, we need to talk.” Her father turned as she entered the room, stepping away from Rhaenys and Daemon to come over to her. Corlys met her first, however, and took Luke from her arms easily.
Her goodfather gave Aegon a curious look, as did Rhaenys and Daemon, but they were all more interested in Luke.
Luke had gone silent on the way over, his coughing finally abating entirely, which she considered a good thing, and at this point her focus was on Aegon and the fact that he might have been getting poisoned as early as when Luke got sick. If Luke wanted to nap for the rest of the day that was alright with her.
“Of course, my dear, what’s going on?”
Rhaenyra nudged Aegon forward with a tap to his shoulder. She expected him to start talking, to explain what Luke had mentioned about his cups being poisoned, but he didn’t say anything. If anything her brother looked even more downtrodden in front of their father than he had in her room.
She cleared her throat, and let a tense smile grace her face. “I believe these assassins might have been attacking us long before they went after Aemond and Luke. Apparently Aegon was poisoned back when Luke was sick with his fever.”
The admission drew the attention of everyone in the room, but especially her father and her uncle. “What? Do we have any evidence of this,” Her father turned to Aegon, “Why would you not tell anyone you had been poisoned? Did you get an antidote from the maesters?”
She could see Aegon getting anxious at all the eyes being on him, so she laid a hand on his shoulder and gave him a tense but encouraging smile. “He was probably scared, Father. It's not exactly a normal occurrence to be poisoned.”
“Of course, of course, but you did see a maester, correct?”
Aegon shuffled his feet, looking down at them as he bit his lip. “I didn’t really believe Luke when he told me I was being poisoned, so I didn’t go see anyone, I just stopped drinking the wine.”
“Luke was the one who told you that you were being poisoned?” Daemon asked, his skepticism obvious.
She shared his confusion, though she didn’t voice it outloud. That was something she herself hadn’t understood. How could someone not notice that they were being poisoned? It was possible with Luke’s connection to magic that he had somehow noticed his uncle being poisoned even when it wasn’t a noticeable level of poisoning, so she couldn’t fault Aegon too much.
It also wouldn’t be the first time that an assassin slowly poisoned someone over time in the hopes of it seeming like a simple decline in health.
Her half-brother simply nodded, but didn’t elaborate any further than that, most likely because he still didn’t believe he had actually been poisoned. Again, she couldn’t truly blame him. Luke may have recognized what was going on far before it came to a head.
“Did you have any symptoms of poisoning or was it just Luke’s word?”
“I didn't feel well that week,” Aegon admitted, “But I didn’t think it was poison.”
“Still, even if it's just a chance he’s being poisoned, we need to check the wine, we need to check everyone who has access to the wine, and we need to make sure my siblings are just as well protected as my sons.” Rhaenyra meant it too; she may not have been close to her siblings but she didn’t want them to be hurt.
She wanted them safe and happy, the same thing she wished for her boys. Even disregarding the poison, she was genuinely concerned about how Aegon reacted to the thought of having to go back to Alicent’s quarters. Something was off with her friend, she was becoming someone that Rhaenyra couldn’t recognize, and if it was affecting her siblings then she needed to nip it in the bud.
They were her blood, children born from her father’s loins just as she was and if her friend couldn’t take proper care of her siblings then she would step in. It shouldn’t have taken this long for the same protectiveness she had felt each time her mother tried for another child to rear its head, but something about the intense sadness and fear she had felt emanating from Aegon, and even the way Aemond had flinched from her was setting her on edge.
Her hands made their way to Aegon’s shoulders, gently tugging him back until he stood right in front of her. “Perhaps we could attempt to house the children altogether?” She asked, ignoring the sharp looks she got from both her husband and Rheanys with a stubborn tilt of her chin. “We planned to keep Jace and Luke together to narrow the chances of another assassination attempt because we all believed that even though it was Aemond that was attacked, Luke was the true target. Now, however, we know that more than just Luke has been targeted.”
No one except her father seemed happy with the request, but truthfully she didn’t care. Seeing Aemond act so sweetly around her son - though the gift of a necklace had startled her with its similarities to her own experiences with her uncle - and seeing Aegon act much the same showed her enough to know that they didn’t mean Luke or Jace any harm.
They deserved to be safe just as much as her own sons did. If they consolidated all of the princes and Helaena into one wing of the castle and kept them under strict guard, there would be hardly any way for an assassin to sneak by them all. They now had knowledge of Luke’s magic, so they would hopefully be able to keep him from wandering on his own, and even just in terms of the boy's lessons it would be easier to have them altogether.
Alicent’s slander hadn’t yet reached Aegon or Aemond if their demeanors were to be believed, so moving them near her sons might keep them away from her lies as well. It sounded like a perfect plan in her mind. Her former friend would be incensed by the change, surely, but these were her siblings just as much as they were Alicent’s children.
“Rhaenyra,” Rhaenys began, looking wearily between her and Aegon, “Perhaps we should discuss this more before we simply jump to rash decisions.”
Her father waved the other Princess away before Rhaenyra herself could, “I don’t believe this decision to be rash at all, cousin, in fact it is something I considered myself.”
That surprised her. While she knew she probably wouldn’t have to do much convincing to get her father on her side, she hadn’t known that he had been considering moving her siblings closer to her.
Viserys cleared his throat and sent a soft look towards both her and Aegon before gesturing for her and Rhaenys to follow him. They didn’t go far, just to the other edge of the room where they wouldn’t be so easily overheard.
When she looked back, Aegon and Jace had moved to flank Lord Corlys, her son as usual vying to try and get Luke’s attention, though even from across the room she could see by how still Luke was that he was sleeping. Her brother looked relieved just to be away from the scrutiny of her father and Rhaenys, something which worried her.
“I have had some…worrisome conversations recently with Alicent, and it has crossed my mind more than once to ask you to assist me in delegating your sibling’s daily activities.” He said with a sigh, “I just haven’t gotten the chance to mention it to you given everything that has happened with Luke.”
“Worrisome conversations?” Princess Rhaenys still didn’t sound swayed to the idea, but she did sound curious.
Rhaenyra was curious as well, though she knew Rhaenys likely cared more about the information and its usefulness in the future, rather than what it would mean for her siblings.
Viserys nodded, “Between the incident with the Septon and her comments about Luke when he was sick, I have been watching her more sternly, and I have noticed that she seems more concerned with my grandsons than her own children.” He held up a hand to silence her before her mouth could even open to ask what he meant. “I haven’t seen anything outright egregious, I just believe that allowing the children to be around one another more often would not only keep them safer, it would foster a better relationship between both halves of this family.”
“Say it plainly, cousin, you’ve seen how hostile the Queen is towards our grandsons and wish to circumvent that by ensuring her sons have a relationship with Rhaenyra’s that will eclipse whatever venom she is spewing.”
Her father didn’t deny the accusations. He shifted uncomfortably and avoided her eyes, but he didn’t deny it.
So Alicent had been feeding her siblings the same lies she fed the courtiers and had been trying to turn them against her. It shouldn’t have surprised her and yet it still did. No wonder both her half-brothers had flinched at the sight of her, gods only knew what Alicent had been telling them.
She was glad they caught it before that same fear had turned towards her sons. “It’s settled then, I will do my best to help guide my siblings alongside my sons.”
Her father brightened, drawing her in for a hug and a kiss to her temple, “Thank you, my dear. You have no idea how much it warms my heart to see you protecting your siblings so fiercely.” He said with a smile. “We’ll begin moving them into my wing on the morrow. Their chambers will be on the other side of mine, of course, so that each of you may have your privacy, and they can have their lessons in the King’s Hall.” With that, he turned to Rhaenys. “My nieces are of course always welcome, as well, cousin. Should Laena and Daemon wish for them to take their lessons with their cousins, the King’s Hall would be more than happy to host them.”
Rhaenys tilted her head, acquiescing to the suggestion, though she still sounded unhappy with the turn of events. “I will extend the offer to Laena, however, I do have a question of my own.”
“Of course.”
“I recognize that this is a delicate situation, cousin. However, given the circumstances I intend to be blunt.” Her tone went steely as her eyes drifted to the corner of the room, “Will the Queen be allowed access to this wing while her children are housed here, or will she be barred as she was when the boys were in Rhaenyra’s old quarters?”
It was an incredibly bold question, especially when it was spoken directly to the King. However, much to Rhaenyra’s surprise, her father took it on the chin without so much as a sigh at the boldness.
Whatever conversations and discordance he had seen with Alicent must’ve shaken him enough that he no longer cared for the appearance of decorum if he was willing to allow Rhaenys the leeway to speak so brazenly about his Queen. Or perhaps it was just how the two of them interacted. Rhaenyra couldn’t truly say, as she hadn’t been close to the older Princess in her youth, and most of her father and his cousin’s interactions always happened behind closed doors.
“I won’t stop my wife from seeing her own children, that would be unnecessarily cruel.” He said. “I will however ensure that she is not allowed into your side of the wing, nor will she be allowed into the hall while the children are having their lessons. If that is not sufficient -”
“It is.” Rhaenys did a half curtsey, taking the concession for what it was.
Rhaenyra did feel better knowing that her siblings and her sons would both be safe, though she did also understand why Rhaenys was so reluctant to have them housed right beside them. Her goodmother had no love for Alicent or her children, and she had been one of the ones to see Aegon punch Luke. But she hadn’t seen the fear in Aegon’s eyes when Laenor had suggested taking him back to Alicent.
Her brother had looked like he was being handed a death sentence, and no child should look like that. There was no way for Rhaenyra to justify seeing that level of terror and not do anything about it. It would haunt her if she knew that Aegon was getting hurt and she did nothing about it.
Now that she was sure her siblings would be okay, she could focus on Luke and Jace and hopefully get Luke to eat something. He had half heartedly nibbled on an apple slice at lunch, and Daemon had mentioned that they shared a lemon cake when Luke found him in the hall, but it wasn’t enough for a growing boy.
She was about to leave and ask the servants to head down to the kitchen and gather dinner for them all, when a squawk from outside the balcony drew her attention. It sounded quite strange for a bird, and by time she and Rhaenys neared the balcony doors, both drawn by the sound, she could feel as whatever it was landed on the roof of the floor above them.
Tiles from the roof clattered onto the balcony in front of them, shattering as they hit the stone, and she could hear a commotion behind her. Laenor pulled both her and Rhaenys away while Daemon grabbed Viserys and put himself between her father and the door.
Ser Westerling and Ser Darklyn both put themselves between all of them and the balcony, swords drawn as they shouted for more guards. The loud, shrill call of an enraged dragon filled the room, echoing off the walls and sending them all scittering back. It wasn’t a dragon call she had ever heard before, even on her visits to Dragonstone and she had heard the calls of all of the wild dragons barring Cannibal.
“That's…that’s a dragon call?” Laenor echoed her thoughts, drawing his own sword though they all knew it would be useless against the anger of whichever dragon was climbing the Keep. “It’s not one I’ve heard before.”
Her uncle agreed, watching the balcony doors with trepidation, “It’s not one I’ve heard either.”
Rhaenys had the same steely look on her face as her uncle did, “Nor I. It’s either a wild dragon or one we haven’t seen.” More guards flooded in behind them as the roof creaked with what had to be another step from the dragon, and she could hear the shouting from further in the castle, sounding the alarm. Rhaenys grabbed a hold of her and took Viserys’ elbow in the other hand, pulling them both towards where Corlys and the boys were all standing right by the door. “Come, Rhaenyra, take the boys and get further into the castle.”
Aegon and Jace both stared at her in fear as she gathered them against her side, flinching violently when the dragon let out another echoing shriek. Each step the dragon took sent more tiles flying onto the balcony, and it sounded as if it was getting closer and closer to them.
She reached out for Luke right as another screech joined the first, this one, however, she knew.
Jace confirmed her thoughts, “Vermax!” Her son brightened and before she could grab him to keep him close, he weaved between the guards towards the balcony. “Vermax, come to me!” He shouted with the few Valyrian words he knew.
Multiple hands reached out to grab him, stopping him from getting to the balcony, and Laenor clapped a hand over his mouth to keep him from shouting again. Vermax still must’ve heard him, because soon enough the thump of something landing on top of the balcony roof came from on top of them.
The two dragons shrieked at each other back and forth, though she didn’t hear any sounds of fighting between them. Her view of the balcony was obscured by all the guards but she could still mostly see as her son’s dragon peeked his head over the edge of the balcony and as Vermax dropped down onto the stone.
The dragon overhead let out another shriek, and Vermax echoed it back, almost as if they were talking to each other. Vermax tilted his head, watching them through the archway for a moment before hopping across the threshold and into the room with a soft trill. His talons clacked on the floor, and he snapped at the guards who tried to nudge him back out of the room with spears, breaking the spear heads off with a single bite.
She watched as Rhaenys and Laenor shared a look, and then Laenor let go of Jace. “Vermax!” Her son yelled, tearing the rest of the way across the room to greet his dragon, who met him with an answering shriek, nearly knocking one of the guards into the wall with his tail as he passed.
“Jace, order him to fly back outside, we can meet him at the front gates and take him back to the pits from there once the other dragon is dealt with.” In the back of her mind she felt at least some relief from the thought that the dragon on the roof couldn’t possibly be Cannibal. If it had been that beast, surely he would have attacked and eaten Vermax before he could get into the room.
Vermax squawked at her orders, snorting heavily and pressing further into the room. His snout lifted to scent the air, and then his big eyes focused right on Luke in her arms. A similar squawk came from the rooftop dragon, and Rhaenyra watched as the tips of white wings appeared over the edge of the balcony roof.
A strange warmth flooded over her chest as the dragon leapt from the roof and finally appeared in front of them, coasting down until its feet landed on the balcony floor. It was a beautiful beast, pearl colored wings and crimson membranes, and it was well past big enough to ride.
To her shock, there was a saddle perched on its back right between its wings. Which meant that this was a tamed dragon, and one that had been ridden previously enough to be able to get a saddle on its back, despite her never having seen it before nor having heard of any of the dragons in the pit having its particular coloring.
It was an even greater shock that the dragon simply trilled as it forced its way through the archway of the balcony, seemingly uncaring of how its saddle crashed against the upper arch and threw stone all around it. The dragon was too focused on shoving its wings in, and squirming until the rest of its hindquarters were in.
Then it simply followed Vermax’s lead, trampling its way past the front of the guards, knocking their spears out of their hands with a twitch of its wings, and sniffing the air. The beast gekkered loudly in the room and locked eyes with her before dropping its gaze to where Luke was pressed against her chest, somehow still sleeping through all the ruckus.
Corlys grabbed her by the arms just as the dragon took its first step towards them, shoving Aegon through the door ahead of her and then putting himself between her, Luke, and the dragon. The sword he had drawn wasn’t going to stop the advancing dragon, especially if it decided to spew flames.
The dragon slammed shoulder first into the door frame, the saddle catching on the top of the door, and it let out another ear piercing shriek that echoed even worse indoors. The door frame creaked and then crumbled away under the pressure, and the dragon surged towards them again. Vermax flew out of the room after it, shrieking as he almost rammed into the far wall, and he just barely managed to turn to fly between the other dragon and the corner of the hall to land in front of it.
His presence made the other dragon stop short with a hiss. Corlys grabbed at her again and shoved open whichever door was next to them, but Vermax grabbed onto the edge of her dress, nipping at her heel until she stopped halfway through the door.
Jace’s dragon shoved himself in between her and Corlys, forcing her back out into the hallway and towards the other dragon with a chitter. She watched as both ends of the hall were flooded with guards, the rest of the Kingsguard came from her left only to be stopped by Vermax’s shriek, and the guards from her father’s solar filed in behind the white dragon.
Her father and Daemon called to her to come to them, and Corlys was doing the same, as was Ser Marbrand, but all of the voices got lost as she came face to face once again with the dragon in front of her. She clutched Luke to her chest, trying as best as she could to shield him with her arms while she backed them against the wall.
It wasn’t until she shifted him to try and press him between her and the wall and her hand slipped that she finally noticed what the heat that had been seeping down her front was. In her fear she had mistaken it for the heat of adrenalin lancing through her, and this whole time it had been blood.
Her baby’s face was covered in blood, her dress was drenched in it from where he had been pressed against her, her hands were covered in it and she could still see it dripping from Luke’s face. She couldn’t see exactly where it was coming from - his eyes, his ears, his mouth, gods only knew - but it was everywhere.
Her heart jumped up into her throat as a heavy buzz filled her ears and the last thing she saw was the white dragon lunging at her and Luke.
There was someone petting his hair when he finally woke.
Whoever it was was curled against him in the snow, and yet he wasn’t cold at all. He could hear the loud groaning huffs of a dragon nearby, and the air around them was heated enough that he could tell the dragon was curled around them.
When he opened his eyes he was met with his brother.
Not the one he had now, the tree they were sheltered under whispered, but one he had lost. It was the same Jace he sometimes saw in his dreams - bigger and broader with dark hair and eyes, and sadness woven into every line of his face. His hair was longer this time, and shaggier, tied low behind his ears and now that he could see the ivy green scales around him, he knew it was Vermax that was keeping them warm.
“Jace?” He called, confused as he tried to move but his limbs were too heavy to lift.
His brother smiled down at him and pulled him further onto his lap, his body heat chasing away what little cold still lingered near them. He combed a hand through his hair and Vermax, bigger than Luke had ever seen the pretty bronze and green dragon, shifted so that his snout fully surrounded them. His breath filled the air with warmth, though it didn’t make his limbs any less heavy. “It’s alright, Luke, I’m right here.”
“Where are we?”
“Somewhere no one can get to us.” He answered softly.
That didn’t make sense, the only time he’d been where no one could find him, he had been with the sirens and Balerion, and he couldn’t hear either wherever they were.
“They couldn’t help you this time.” Jace said without even waiting for him to ask the question. Luke liked this Jace, he was colder than his own Jace, but he was still a gentle burning fire that could keep him warm, and he could hear his thoughts without him needing to speak. “Whatever was slipped into that elixir allowed more than just Balerion and the Merling King’s daughters to connect to you. They couldn’t break you away from everyone else without breaking their bonds with you, so I had to grab you.”
It sounded like it made sense to him, but without his water rushing through his veins, and the ever present voices of his friends in his head, he wasn’t sure. The absence of what had always been in his mind ached just as badly as his body did.
“Are they gone?” He whimpered. He didn’t want to lose his friends! “Will I never hear them again?”
A warm hand ran through his hair, pressing gently over the soreness of the spot where his friends usually remained at the back of his mind, “They aren’t gone forever.” His brother sighed, “They had to cut themselves away to save you, but they’ll be back.” He promised. “I can give you back to them once they are ready.”
“Why aren’t you with them?”
He leaned them both back against the tree, and Luke watched as the branches shifted, yawning and waving at him the same way Balerion’s flames usually did. “An old friend of mine tried to tie me to him shortly after I lost you the first time, to keep me from going mad in my grief. We didn’t think it worked but when I died I was tied to this tree and his gods.” A slight smile quirked at the corner of his lips, and Luke couldn’t stop himself from smiling back. “I thought it a curse to never be able to rest with our family, but I guess it worked out in our favor. After all, if I had rested within the fourteen flames or in the sea with everyone else I wouldn’t have been able to grab you and pull you to me before R’hllor or the Others got a firm hold on you.”
Being stuck alone in a tree without their family sounded awful. How could his brother have lived without the soothing song of the ocean outside his window and the crackling of flames next to his bed? Luke didn’t want to try and imagine a fate like that.
Though his brother did have Vermax wherever they were, so at least he hadn’t been too lonely before Luke came.
Again, even without him voicing it aloud, Jace seemed to know what he was thinking as he chuckled down at him. “It’s not such a bad fate, truly, my friend and his family have kept me company.” His head tilted to the side and the amusement of his thoughts pushed itself into the air so vividly Luke swore he could taste it.
It tasted a lot like lemon cakes.
“You are a strange one, brother mine.” Luke licked his lips, trying to chase the taste of his favorite treats from the air. “I’ve never heard someone think of tasting emotions.”
“Have you tried to taste thoughts?” He asked, his inane curiosity getting the best of him, “Do you see a lot of people here?”
Jace shook his head. “I can’t say I’ve ever tried it, though I mostly only see House Stark and their constituents, and none of them have particularly intense emotions.”
“And they are all under this tree?” His eyes traced what little he could see over Vermax’s body as he tried his best to sit up. Jace helped up, pulling him up until he had his back against the tree. He still couldn’t see anyone else that Jace may have spent time with under the tree.
“No, most of them live in Winterfell or by heart trees across the North, I usually only see them when they first pass on and they come here before heading to their final resting place.”
Luke squinted. “So they’re all dead?”
He nodded. “Yes.”
“Are we dead?”
“I am, and you are as good as dead for now.”
That didn’t sound good, how was he going to be able to get Balerion and the sirens back if he was dead? And he hadn’t even gotten to meet his dragon yet! How could he be dead when he still had a dragon to meet, and so many visions from his dreams to fulfill?
Maybe that was why he hadn’t been feeling well before he fell asleep after talking with Uncle Egg. He vaguely remembered his water dripping down his face as things went on around him, but he couldn’t remember what had been happening.
The sirens and Balerion had gotten quieter and quieter as his day had gone on, and he hadn’t felt well at all, so he could have died without knowing it. He thought something like death would be…more noticeable.
“Your body isn’t dead, it's still clinging onto life thankfully,” Jace said, and Vermax huffed his own agreement. “I’m keeping you with me until Balerion has chased away the other gods fighting over your body, and then I’ll have to send you back to the living.”
He hoped that Balerion dealt with the other gods quickly. He could have sworn he heard his dragon’s song in the real world and not in his head right before he wound up here and he wanted to meet his dragon.
The visions of him had been nice, and Luke loved Vermax, but he wanted his own dragon to play with!
“You’ll get your dragon, Luke, you just have to be patient.” Vermax chuffed and nudged him with his nose until Luke started petting him.
“Rhaenyra?” Someone shook her shoulders, rustling her head around. A hand smacked against her cheek. “Rhaenyra!”
The smell of blood was the first thing that finally came to her, and soon after came the last sight she remembered, of that white dragon lunging towards her. Had someone managed to kill the beast before it got to her and Luke?
“Luke!” Her son wasn’t in her arms. There was the scent of blood wafting up from her dress, and her son wasn’t in her arms! “Where is he!”
She tried to shove herself up to go find her baby, but a multitude of hands stopped her from moving. The mattress dipped beside her, and finally her father’s face came into view. “You hit your head when you fell, Rhaenyra, you shouldn’t be moving so suddenly.”
A hit to the head explained the splitting headache she had, and the way bile had rose in her throat when she tried to sit up, but it didn’t explain the lack of her son in her arms. “Luke.” She said firmly, shoving her father’s hands away so she could actually sit up this time. “Where is he?”
“He’s in the other room, Jace is with him.”
Something didn’t seem right about the explanation. Her father refused to meet her eyes as he said it, and now that she was sitting up, she could see that Aegon and Corlys were in the room with them as well and neither of them could look her in the eyes either. “Is he alright? Has he seen a maester, he was bleeding!”
Still, none of them looked at her.
“Father?”
“The dragon didn’t hurt him, I swear to you,” Her heart stopped in her chest and a harsh wave of dizziness nearly overtook her as she jolted to her feet. “It picked him up after you collapsed and forced its way back into one of the rooms. Vermax and Jace both followed it, but now neither dragon will let anyone near enough to see the boys let alone get to them.”
He tried to reach out to her, to console her, and she just slapped his hands away. She needed to get out of here and find her sons, not sit on a lounge getting coddled like a child who had a nightmare.
“Rhaenyra!” Her father and Corlys both tried to grab at her, and she just pushed past them.
Ser Marbrand tried to stop her at the door as well, but a nasty glare sent him shuffling out of her way. The clank of his armor and the thundering of three sets of footsteps told her that they were all trailing after her.
Her mind was dead set on her sons, and the men trailing after her were nothing compared to the need to find both of her children. Luke had been bleeding all over her before she fainted, and now he was stuck with an unknown dragon doing god knew what to him.
She followed the trail of guards as she went, until she found the hallway the dragon had cornered her in, and heard the whispers of the guards stationed outside of one of the doors. The door was practically caved in, the walls dented around it and the ceiling above the frame shoved inwards.
The guards at the door tried to stop her, just as everyone else had, and without a second thought she shoved one of them out of the way and bared her teeth at the other. They both moved without question.
A quick push had the door swinging wide open with a clang.
Rhaenys, Daemon and her husband were in the room, all of them standing off to one side well away from the two dragons curled over top of each other. The white dragon lifted its head long enough to see it was her and then it went back to resting with a heavy breath, as if it hadn’t stolen her sons from her.
Rhaenys was the first to try and talk to her, intercepting her halfway towards the dragon. “Rhaenyra, Luke is alright.” It was enough to shake her out of her warpath, just barely. “I’ve only caught sight of him once, when they were first settling on the bed, but he’s still breathing and the bleeding seems to have stopped.”
The words only served to hurt her heart worse instead of reassuring her. She wanted her son back in her arms, not have him laying on a bed covered in bed with a dragon over top of him. “Have you managed to get close to them? Have you tried to get the dragon away from him?”
“Every time we get too close the white one starts getting aggressive, and given how close it is to Jace and Luke, we haven’t wanted to tempt its ire.” Rhaenys said softly.
Her only consolation was that they all seemed to share her fear. “You said Jace was with him?” Rhaenys and Laenor both nodded. “What about calling to him and asking him to bring Luke to us, have you tried that?”
Her uncle scoffed, “Of course we have, we aren’t fools, Rhaenyra. He either doesn’t hear us or he doesn’t want to come out.”
Rhaenyra ripped her arm from his hold, the flippant tone relighting her agitation from before. “Jace!” She called, turning to storm towards the bed only for the white dragon to rear back and release a shriek so loud that her ears rang even after its mouth closed. It sent her stumbling back into Laenor’s arms clutching her head.
Her head felt like it was splitting apart. “That’s exactly why we haven’t been approaching.” For the first time she truly wanted to throttle her uncle.
“Maybe I could go get Seasmoke?” Laenor suggested quietly - or perhaps she just couldn’t hear him over the ringing in her ears - as he led her back over to the corner of the room.
“And what? Add a third dragon to the mix?”
The two men glared at each other. “Seasmoke is bigger than that dragon, he might scare him off!”
“Scare him off to where, further into the castle with your son clutched in his jaw, or scare him into killing the children in front of all of us?”
“Arguing isn’t helping anyone!” Rhaenys yelled, shoving the two of them apart. She smacked her hand over Laenor’s chest until he stormed away over to where the guards were circling. “No one is bringing any more dragons into this, we are not risking Jace and Luke's lives on the hope that another dragon may scare that one off.” She said firmly. “As far as we can see Luke is still alive, Jace wouldn’t be so quiet if he was gone. All we can do is wait.”
Daemon groaned, scrubbing a hand over his face aggressively as he paced, looking more like a caged lion than a man. “Wait for what! The dragon isn’t just going to get up and leave!”
“I don’t see you making any suggestions, Daemon.”
“Because there is nothing to suggest!” Vermax gekkered at the sound of his raised voice, and they all shuffled as far away as they could without losing sight of the dragons. “We can’t attack the dragon, we can’t just leave the boys here, there are no good options!” His arm lashed out, striking the wall with a sickening crack.
She cast another look at the dragons, and she still couldn’t see either of her sons. “Jace? Luke?” She called desperately. “Boys?”
Nothing. Her only answer was the sound of the two dragons breathing.
“So am I still alive at home?”
Jace hummed, ruffling his hair again as he laid back against the wall. They had moved from the cold place they were at before, and instead they were in the godswood in the Red Keep. It was nice to be somewhere he knew and he liked being with the other Jace and Vermax.
It was calmer and quieter than it was normally at his home and it was nice.
“You are, just barely.”
A warm wind blew across the two of them, caressing Luke’s face with the scent of the sea. It almost felt like his water was enticing him back to the ocean like it had before. “Do they think I’m dead?”
He pursed his lips, squinting up at the sun as it peeked from behind the clouds. “You aren’t actually dead, the sirens were able to wash away enough poison to keep it from killing you before they had to cut their connection. You’re body’s still alive, you just aren’t in it.”
He hoped no one thought he was truly dead. He’d never seen the funeral rites that Jace’s tutor sometimes talked about, but he didn’t want his family to think he was really dead and destroy his body.
Or bury him in the stone rooms filled with bones, that would be worse than having a dragon burn him. Though he and Jace had been burned by Vermax and not gotten hurt, so maybe he just wouldn’t burn from dragonfire at all? He had Balerion with him that time, if he didn’t have a connection to Balerion would he still be able to survive the flame?
There were so many questions he had. His friends would usually be the ones to answer them as soon as he thought of them, but none of them were here to guide him.
“No one is going to bury you alive.” His brother gave him an amused look before he helped him down from the wall, walking him over to the heart tree instead. “Targaryens never bury their dead, nor do Velaryons and you are both.”
“So they’d try to return me to the sea if they thought I was dead?”
The world around them shifted, morphing itself into a giant grove of heart trees that waved at them with their leaves. It was a place Luke had never been before, like the snowy place, but it was even more beautiful. There was white bark and deep red leaves as far as his eyes could see and it made him think of the pearl and crimson dragon he knew was waiting for him at home.
Maybe he and Jace could fly here on his dragon and Vermax once he was back in his body. It looked like a nice place to sit and eat lemon cakes.
His brother laughed at the thought, and Luke could taste the sugary lemon flavor of his amusement permeating the air again. “It would be a nice place to have lunch,” He agreed, “Though unfortunately we can’t eat here, not as you are at least.”
“There’s no food in the afterlife?” With his earlier question completely forgotten, that sounded sort of nice to him, if there was no food for anyone to eat then there would be no bad tasting food for people to try and coax him into eating.
He’d need his water back to go without food, but Jace had already said that he’d get his water back eventually. He just needed to be patient.
“There is, you just aren’t in the afterlife because you aren’t dead.”
“I’m not dead, I’m just with you.” He confirmed, trying to wrap his head around it all. He wondered if the afterlife was a lot different in the real afterlife, or if it was all like this.
Jace nodded. “Yes, you are here with me, but this isn’t the afterlife. You’re hanging on the cusp between life and death, same as you were when Balerion and the sirens first grabbed onto you.”
The beach! He remembered the beach, at least somewhat, and sometimes he’d have dreams about it with the black rocks and Balerion. It was a very nice beach and the water was always crystal clear. During one of the dreams he had swam in the water for a while with the sirens and the fish.
There was water here on the little island they were on, maybe he and dream Jace could go swimming with Vermax.
“Vermax can’t swim, brother.”
“Why not?” He pouted, this was a strange place between life and death, why couldn’t his brother’s dragon swim here? They had gone from place to place instantly, and Jace’s feelings tasted like things, what made a dragon swimming not possible. “Has he tried?”
Jace ran a hand through his hair, scrubbing it roughly until bits of it came out of his bun and sighed. “When we were alive he drowned trying to get me close enough to the boats that I could survive the battle we were in…he’s never really gotten over that.”
Luke turned to the big green dragon with a frown. That sounded like a sad way to go, perhaps not to him because sinking into the sea felt like coming home to him, but to a dragon it must’ve been horrible. Vermax let out a little groan as Luke flopped himself over his snout to press a kiss to his scales. “I’m sorry you died that way, but thank you for trying to save Jace.”
His huge eyes stared back at Luke, full of the same love that darkened Jace’s eyes whenever he looked at him. A chirp rumbled up through his belly as Vermax shuffled his head around on the ground, wanting to lick at him but not wanting to throw him off.
He let himself slide backwards off his snout, landing softly on his feet at the foot of one of the trees and giggling when Vermax immediately turned his head to lick a stripe up his entire side. His tongue tickled his face, warm and scratchy in a way that strangely made his aching feel better.
The dragon chased him around the tree, licking him each time he managed to catch him, and Jace watched them with a bright smile on his face. Around and around they went, ducking in and out of the trees till they managed to cajole Jace into joining their fun and Luke led both of them on a wild chase.
They must've circled the entire island at least ten times before Jace finally managed to grab him around the waist. He lifted him up into the air, swinging them around in a big circle until they were both too dizzy to stay standing.
The two of them collapsed into the grass, Luke laying on top of Jace with his arms wrapped around him, and Luke could stay here. He liked the nice trees, he loved Vermax and dream Jace, and no one was forcing him to eat nasty food. “Can I stay with you?”
“As much as I would love to keep you here, you have to go back eventually.” His brother said, staring up at the sky. “The gods need you, and so does our family.” Jace cuddled him closer and kissed his curls again and again, “I wish I could keep you with me forever but I can’t.”
Luke wished he could stay with Jace. He’d miss his family and his own Jace, but there were no mean men here and there were no nasty drinks that tried to kill him, even though he couldn’t go to the sea because Jace couldn’t stray too far from the trees.
He wouldn’t be able to call for Corlys, or pet Meleys’ scales, or tug on father’s hair again if he stayed here. Though he wouldn’t have to worry about the firefly if he didn’t go back. But he didn’t want to leave the world of the living without saying goodbye and without meeting his dragon either!
“I should have protected you better.” Jace whispered after a while and Luke could feel how upset he was underneath him. His arms tightened around them almost to the point of making him ache and when he looked up Jace’s jaw was clenched so tightly it must’ve hurt. “I should have told Mother to send Grandmother to Storm’s End and you could have gone somewhere else.”
The words didn’t make any sense to him, he didn’t know where Storm’s End was or why he would have gone there, or how Jace could have protected him better than he already had. He had saved him from being grabbed by the other gods, hadn’t he?
What else could he have done beyond that? “You did save, you kept me from the other gods?”
He shook his head, letting out a harsh breath. “None of this would have happened in the first place if I had been better. If I was a better brother you wouldn’t have died at all, and the gods wouldn’t have interfered, my failings led us to where we all are now.”
He still didn’t know what failings Jace was talking about, but he knew without a doubt that Jace hadn’t done anything wrong. His brother was always protective of him, in his real life and in his dreams, so there was no way Jace could have failed him.
Jace always took care of him. “You haven’t failed!” He swore and he shifted around so that he could reach up and pat Jace on his cheek. “You love me and you keep me safe, you’ve never failed.”
His brother still didn’t look like he believed him. There was a darkness lingering in his eyes, one that wasn’t the same shade as the darkness that his love took on. It masked the love he knew was hidden underneath and he didn’t like it.
Luke sat all the way up, steadying his hands on the grass and looking his brother straight in the eyes. “You didn’t fail anyone, you did what you could just like everyone else does!”
Vermax echoed his words with a trill. The dragon slithered over to them, curling around them as he had been when Luke awoke.
“I didn’t do everything I could have.”
“Yes, you did!”
Jace’s face twitched. “You don’t know that.”
“I do!” Luke shouted back, wishing not for the first time that he had Gerardys with him so he could bonk some sense into his brother like he did when people weren’t listening to him. “I know you did everything you could because that’s what you always do.”
There was a moment of silence, and then Jace reached over to ruffle his hair roughly, hard enough to knock him side to side. The darkness in his eyes was still there but it wasn’t anywhere near as dark, and Luke counted that as a win.
“Alright, Luke, you win.”
Chapter 16
Notes:
Thanks for reading! Let me know in in the comments if you enjoyed it!
A/N: Arrax meeting Vermax from the past: Hey have you seen a little dragonrider around here?
Vermax: Yeah there two of them, they’re both mine.A/N: Arrax, after bursting into the room like the koolaid man: Yes, hi, hello, where the Fuck is my tiny human, I have flown all the way from the past to find him.
A/N: Everyone listening to a dragon walking around on the roof: Is this what everyone else feels like around our dragons? Because this is terrifying.
Chapter 17: Chapter 17
Summary:
Is there a word thats more intense than pure hatred, because I need a new word for how Alicent makes me feel in this fic
Notes:
You know part was highly tempted to just have Arrax haul off and start eating people who annoy him but then I'd only have one chapter left in the story.
Shhhh don't look at the fact that I accidentally posted this chapter the first time with only the author's notes and none of the actual chapter content
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Chapter 17
Viserys watched as Aemond and Helaena trailed into the room after Ser Westerling. Aegon was already sitting still beside him, having not talked or moved at all since they had returned to his chambers. He hadn’t wanted to leave Rhaenyra or the boys alone with the dragon that had invaded the Keep, but his eldest had been insistent that he worry about his other children first.
As much as he didn’t like it, he knew it was the right decision to focus on getting the three of them fully moved into the King’s wing. There was nothing he could do that would help oust the dragon from the castle and he had long since learned that crowding Rhaenyra when she was agitated wouldn’t lead to anything good.
An incredibly awkward silence fell over the room as his three children looked to him, waiting for him to announce what he had called them there for so late in the day. Aegon, of course, already knew that they were being moved to his wing of the castle, he had been there for the decision being made.
Viserys sighed and gestured for the two of them to sit at the table next to Aegon. “I’m sorry to disturb the two of you so late, but things are going to be changing around the castle.” He paused to let them interject with their questions and looked up when he heard nary a peep from them.
None of them were looking at him. Aegon was entranced by the table, Helaena was staring off into nowhere as she usually did, and Aemond was pointedly not looking at his face.
“The three of you will be moving into rooms in my apartments from the foreseeable future.” Viserys continued once he realized they weren’t going to ask anything. “I know it will be a considerable shift from being in your mother’s apartments, however, I wish for all of you to have a chance to be closer to your nephews and your older sister. You’ll be taking your lessons in the King’s hall from now on as well, and you’ll be joined by Jace and Luke as well as your cousins Baela and Rhaena.”
The mention of Jace and Luke at least seemed to catch their attention. Aemond sat at attention as soon as Luke’s name left his lips - unsurprising given how Luke had saved his life - and while the other two didn’t have such an outwardly obvious reaction, he could still see that they were more interested in the news than they had been before.
“We’ll get to spend more time with Luke?” Aemond asked.
He found himself smiling at the enthusiasm in his son’s voice. He had toiled over the thought that Alicent had been poisoning them with her apparent distaste towards Rhaenyra, but between Aemond’s attitude and Aegon’s actions, he had been proven wrong. Whatever things Alicent might be insinuating hadn’t made it to his son's ears, thank the gods. “Yes, all three of you will be taking your lessons with both Jace and Luke, once Luke has fully recovered from his ordeal. Of course, you may also spend time with them outside of your lessons if you wish.”
Aemond perked up even further, and Viserys saw the beginnings of a smile blooming on Helaena’s face.
“Will Mother be with us in your apartments?”
His eyes drifted to Aegon. The boy hadn’t stopped staring at the table and the lack of reaction was starting to get concerning. “She will still be housed within her own apartments, but she will be allowed to visit you in your chambers once you are done with your lessons.”
All three of his children stilled in their seats, looking between each other. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that their reaction was linked to Alicent.
For the first time he - very briefly - considered that perhaps Alicent’s failings didn’t just lie in an emotional disconnect with their children. He had assumed that the three of them would have shown some form of emotion at being taken away from their mother. They had lived their whole lives with her, in her wing of the castle, under her tutelage and care and yet they didn’t care that they were moving away from her.
Aemond had shown more care for whether or not he’d be near his nephews than for the fact that he was being pulled from his mother. Viserys knew for a fact that if he tried to take Jace or Luke away from Rhaenyra they would both be confused, upset, most likely scared. They wouldn’t be sitting in front of him calm and unconcerned.
This was a concerning development, though it was one he would have to save for investigating later. For now he needed to focus on getting the children moved into their new chambers, and then figure out how he’d break the news to Alicent without making her feel as if he was stealing the children away.
Once they were settled in and he was updated on Jace and Luke he’d go talk to Alicent, or perhaps he would wait till morning and the children were already moved in. That sounded like a much better plan. He could bring up their children's behaviors with her and get to the bottom of things without having the three of them overhear any nastiness that might come forth.
“Well,” He cleared his throat to regain their focus and stood from his chair. “You’ll be moved into your new chambers in the morning, and given that I’m upsetting your living arrangements, I will give the three of you free reign on choosing which rooms you would like to take. Though you will be limited to the rooms on the west side of the wing, as Rhaenyra and the Velaryons are roomed in the east side.”
They gave him no further comments and simply filed out of the room behind Ser Westerling, leaving him feeling quite confused and unsettled.
“Have you been able to see either of them?”
The mournful set of Laenor’s face told her the answer without words.
Rhaenyra slumped against the wall, letting herself slide all the way down till she was sitting on the floor next to her husband. She couldn’t help but feel like she had been here before, toiling by her sick son’s beside unable to do anything to help him.
This was somehow worse - and she truly thought nothing could be worse than Luke’s fever - than before. At least when Luke had been bedridden with fever she was allowed near him. She had taken care of him then, and she couldn’t take care of him now. The dragon that had flattened itself over her sons refused to leave, and while none of them had been harmed by the great beast, they hadn’t been able to catch more than a bare glimpse of either boy. They had made several attempts each time Vermax had come and gone, only to be rebuffed by the white dragon.
She couldn’t see past them enough to know if her sons were awake or not but she had to believe that they weren’t. If Jace had been awake he would have answered her calls at the very least, or brought Luke to her if he was seriously hurt. Instead there had been nothing but silence from the bed they were on, even when the white dragon had eased off its perch and started tearing the bed apart.
It had shredded the bed to bits, nosing the feathers and wool into a giant pile reminiscent of a nest with them in the middle and settled back down over the two of them. She had seen similar behaviors before, when she had caught Dreamfyre nesting in the pits before she laid a clutch yet she couldn’t wrap her head around why this dragon was doing it around her children. From what little she was able to discern the white dragon was male, not a she dragon that might have a propensity to nest to protect eggs and her children weren’t eggs or hatchlings.
Rhaenyra had never seen a dragon that was so intensely focused on children, at least not one that seemed almost protective of them rather than hungering for a meal or in the midst of a rage. The only explanation she could come up with was that the dragon was in fact trying to protect Jace and Luke, she just didn’t know why.
She had said as much to Laenor and Rhaenys earlier, both of whom had been skeptical at first, much as she had been skeptical when the thought first came to her mind. But it made considerably more sense when they took the actions of the dragon and looked at it as protective rather than aggressive.
It had come into the room and stared straight at her and Luke, it had followed them out of the room without harming anyone, and it had - according to everyone else - plucked her son from her arms, taken him back into the room it had came from and laid him on top of the bed. None of those actions spoke to an angry or aggressive dragon, now that she could actually see things rationally. If the dragon had just wanted to kill people there were plenty of opportunities, both outside and inside the Keep, and it had only stayed with her sons in the time since it got there.
Had something like this happened between her and Syrax she would have written it off as just the two of them having a significant bond, but her son didn’t have a bond with this dragon. As far as she was aware her son had never met this dragon. Still, the thought of this being the result of a strong bond was stuck in her mind.
“It could be a bond.” She said half-heartedly into the air, rolling her head against the wall to look over at Laenor.
“He’s never met this dragon, how could they possibly have a bond?”
Her eyes drifted back to the bed. The dragon hadn’t even looked up when they started talking and it seemed as though both it and Vermax were sleeping the day away. “I don’t know, but I do know that Luke has done some very strange things and he has magic. Maybe he managed to bond with a dragon he’s never met.”
“That is true.” The two of them shared a look. “Didn’t Luke say that his dragon was what gave him the fire that made his throat glow?”
She sat up immediately, thinking back to what her son had told them about the incident with Harwin, and then to the conversation Daemon had had with Luke about his magic. He had mentioned his dragon twice, and with Daemon he had said that he couldn’t show them his dragon’s fire because his dragon was too far away and it was too draining. Of course they had assumed that he meant his dragon as in the egg that rested in the hearth, and not some other dragon they had never seen.
The reference to his dragon being far away, despite his egg being across the room in the hearth, hadn’t caught her attention before but it did now.
The dragon twitched, lifting its head to turn and watch them as if he could hear her thoughts. Maybe he could, he was a dragon bonded to her son who had magic, gods only knew what could happen. The realization floored her and at the same time it made perfect sense. Nothing in her son’s life was normal, so why would he bond with a dragon the normal way. Where this dragon had come from was still a mystery, unless someone had stolen an egg and taken it away to be hatched outside of the pits.
Laenor shoved himself off the ground and pulled her to stand next to him. It took them a moment to compose themselves enough to be willing to approach the same dragon that had snapped at them, but when they did the dragon just watched their approach wearily.
There was no snapping, no shrieks, it just let them make a slow approach like it knew that they had figured out what was going on. When they finally stepped near the edge of what remained of the bed the dragon simply let out a clicking noise and laid its head down while still looking at them, and Vermax didn’t react to their appearance at all.
They stood next to the head of the dragon, both unsure of what to do next, when it reached its head out to thump against her thigh as if he was encouraging her to pet him. The suddenness startled her but she did her best to hold herself still. She had been around dragons her whole life, she had hatched Syrax in her cradle, showing any kind of hesitation would only inflame the interaction and get them back to square one.
“Hello,” She whispered to him. The dragon blinked at her and chuffed, the hot air ruffling the edges of her skirts. In a moment of boldness she reached out her hand to place it on the side of the dragon’s head.
The air stilled around them as she held her breath, and then the dragon trilled, pressing his head into her hand. Her breath whooshed out of her, and she could hear Laenor next to her breathing heavily. Being able to touch this dragon’s snout without getting attacked was as good as a confirmation in her mind.
This was her son’s dragon, no matter how odd the circumstances were.
After a quick glance sideways she tilted her head towards Laenor. He got the message and reached a shaky hand across in front of her to lay it right beside hers on the dragon’s snout, getting a similar trill once he was settled.
They still couldn’t see the boys, even as close as they were, but they were closer than they had been in the last day of attempted approaches. If they could just coax the dragon into moving its wings a little bit they would be able to see Jace and Luke.
Rhaenyra stroked the scales beneath her fingers. As much as she wanted to try and nudge the dragon aside to get to her children, she knew she needed to take it slow. Losing the dragon’s trust when they had just gotten it would be disastrous regardless of whether it was bonded to Luke or not. The longer she could keep the dragon calm while she was next to it, the greater her chances at seeing their sons became.
The dragon was content to let her keep petting it, so she slowly turned her attention to taking in the smaller details of the beast. It was a beautiful dragon now that her vision wasn’t clouded by fear and panic, the pearlescent shade of its wings almost matched the shade of Luke’s hair, and its red membranes were a stark yet stunning contrast to the rest of the dragon’s coloring. The saddle perched on its back was fairly simple in design, one that she had often seen on the smaller dragons that still had quite a bit of growing to do.
What drew her attention the most however, was the two sigils branded into the leather above the swell of the saddle. One was the standard Targaryen sigil that was burned into saddles for dragons belonging to the royal family, while the other was the crest of the dragonmaster who had crafted the saddle. Each dragonmaster had a different crest they used to distinguish their work, and the one on her son’s dragon was from the head of the dragonmasters. She knew it like the back of her own hand, having seen it throughout her whole life burned into the swell of Syrax’s saddles.
That meant that somehow her son’s dragon had been in the pits long enough for the dragonmasters to craft a saddle for it, and yet she had never seen nor heard about this dragon before. It took, at the very least, five moons for a proper saddle to be measured, crafted, fitted, and then mounted well enough for any dragonmaster to let a rider climb atop it.
“Laenor,” Rhaenyra gestured slowly to the sigils on the saddle with her free hand and moved the hand petting the dragon slightly closer to the markings. “Do you see what I see?”
He moved a single step closer and squinted. “That’s the royal sigil and the head dragonmasters mark, is it not?”
“It is.” Once again she was left with more questions than she had answers for. A dragonmasters mark and the royal sigil on this dragon’s saddle made no sense when none of them had commissioned it.
“Why would the dragonmasters not tell us that Luke had claimed a dragon?” Laenor’s hands traced over the edge of the mark, and even though she couldn’t trace it herself, she knew just by sight that it was a true mark.
The dragonmasters were incredibly diligent when it came to saddling the dragons, they knew that the difference between a well crafted, well fitted saddle and a poorly made saddle was the difference between life and death for a rider. None of them would risk their own reputations or the safety of any of the dragon riders by allowing anyone else to craft the saddle and then just branding their own mark onto it.
So either one of them kept her son’s dragon a secret from all of them and made a saddle for it, or someone had stolen a master’s mark and created this saddle for Luke’s dragon. She had grown up being taught by most of the dragonmasters that resided at the Red Keep, and she had no reasons to believe that they would keep her son claiming a dragon from her.
They had taken excellent care of Luke’s unhatched egg through the entirety of his life, they had taken the utmost care with Vermax after he hatched, and they updated her constantly on Jace’s dragon lessons, and on Luke’s when he had been well enough to take them. It wouldn’t make sense for them to suddenly decide to hide a dragon from them.
That left only one option - that someone had stolen the dragonmasters mark and burned it into a saddle and somehow seated it upon Luke’s dragon. There was no possible gain that she could discern from doing it, but no other explanation made sense. “Someone else must’ve made this saddle and branded the master’s mark into it.”
Her husband snapped to look at her. She knew it sounded ludacris, even to her own ears. “Why? What would making a saddle and passing it off as a dragonmaster’s saddle get them? Luke’s never ridden this dragon, if they made a faulty saddle in an attempt to have it throw him from his dragon’s back they would have waited until after he had claimed his dragon.”
She didn’t know, there was no rhyme or reason for it, but it was the only thing she could come up with. The dragonmasters wouldn’t keep something of this magnitude from her or any of the royal family, which could only mean that someone was trying to pass their own work off as a royal saddle. “I don’t know, I don’t know why any of this is happening, Laenor!” Frustration swelled within her, she knew nothing of what was going on, and it felt like at every turn she was being driven further and further from the truth. “I don’t know how his dragon has a royal saddle when he hasn’t truly claimed it yet, or how he claimed a dragon without us knowing, or how he has magic!”
Vermax reared up at the raising of her voice, though the other dragon just trumpeted like he was agreeing with her. Rhaenyra shifted her weight so that she could adjust her hand and stroke over the crest of the dragon’s head until Vermax settled back down on the nest.
Once he was settled she lowered her voice and spoke again. “We don’t know anything, we don’t even know if the dragonmasters have ever seen this dragon let alone crafted a saddle for it.”
“When my mother gets back we’ll go down and talk to them, surely they will remember making a saddle for this dragon, he doesn’t look like any of the others.”
Rhaenyra took a quick glance at the dragon again, desperate for a change in subject so she didn’t vent her frustrations and upset the dragons again. “If the red of his membranes was lighter and he had longer horns, he would look quite like Seasmoke.”
“...I suppose you are right.” Laenor said slowly, giving the dragon a once over of his own. “He does look a lot like Seasmoke.”
The dragon shifted at the name of Laenor’s dragon, and the second she felt him moving she took the chance to nudge him further. He gave her a disgruntled look but allowed her to lead his head upwards. Her free hand slipped along the side of its neck until she could grab the horn of the saddle and give it a good tug. A huff met her efforts though the dragon did move along with the motion.
Another push had the dragon shifting enough that she could finally see her babies and once she caught sight of them she couldn’t stop herself from ducking under the dragon’s neck to throw herself on the nest. Surprisingly the dragon didn’t attack her this time, it moved to the side just enough that it didn’t crush her when it turned.
Luke looked like death had warmed over.
He looked worse than she had seen him even during his fever, his face was ghostly white, and were it not for just the tiniest struggle laden puffs of his chest moving under her hands she would have believed him to be dead. Rhaenyra dropped to her knees in the feather with a sob, pulling Luke as close to her chest as could. The blood that had doused his face was gone but dried blood was crusted all over his tunic and the trousers he had been wearing.
She didn’t bother trying to leave the nest the dragon had made, instead she just turned to check on Jace. Vermax hissed at her when her hand went to him, and he took a step closer like he was about to snap but a quick snap from Luke’s dragon made him retreat with a squawk. Jace, thank the gods, just appeared to be sleeping. His heart was strong under her fingertips, and he was taking normal deep breaths.
One of his hands was wrapped around Luke’s wrist so tightly that it was a wonder there wasn’t a bruise blooming. “Laenor,” She called, trying to meet his eyes over the wings of the dragon as it shifted around her. It nosed at Luke in her arms and for a second she worried that it would try and pull him away, instead it just nipped at the front of Jace’s tunic and lifted him closer to her. “Go get Rhaenys and Maester Gerardys, if he’s let me this close he may let us check Luke over.”
Laenor turned away, heading towards the door before turning back to her, “Are you sure? What if he hurts yo-”
“Go! He hasn’t let us get this close, Luke needs a maester.”
He looked back and forth between her and the dragon and only once the dragon nestled in around her did she hear his footsteps retreat from the room.
Rhaenyra shifted among the feathers and fluff until she was leaning with her back against the wall and her sons were on and around her lap. Neither of them so much as twitched when she moved them around and she hadn’t seen Jace move at all when the dragon had moved him over to her. The lack of movement concerned her the most. Jace was a heavy sleeper at the best of times but he usually woke when he was being moved.
Had whatever made Luke fall ill spread to him?
She tried to wake him while she waited and none of her attempts made any difference. Calling his name, jostling him with her hand, nothing got Jace to do anything more than lay there and breathe. It must be a truly deep - unnatural - sleep that gripped him.
The only thing she could do was sit and wait till either the boys woke or Laenor returned with Gerardys.
Servants and guards alike practically threw themselves against the walls as Rhaenys dashed through the halls, Gerardys and Laenor hot on her heels. Rhaenys didn’t care for the impropriety of a princess of her stature running through the halls. She cared about seeing her grandsons as soon as she could after over a day of trying to get them out from under that dragon.
Laenor hadn’t been exact on the details of how they got the boys from beneath the dragon, and even if he had said it she wouldn’t have paid attention. The moment the words left his lips it was all she was focused on. It wasn’t a long distance from her chambers to Viserys’ solar yet it felt like she was running across the entirety of the kingdom.
The door to the solar was still hanging off its hinges when she turned the corner, and while the dragon was still laying over the mound of fluff that used to be a bed, she could see Rhaenyra pressed against the far wall. Luke was in her arms to Rhaenys’ immense relief, and even Jace was strewn across her lap. The only downside was that the dragon’s head was right next to the boys, far too close for it to truly be safe. She had hoped that the boys had been truly removed from the two dragons, rather than just Rhaenyra joining the pile.
Her instincts from being raised around dragons were the only thing that let her to stop herself near the door. She took a moment to compose herself and shake off the worst of her adrenaline. Only once she was sure she was calm again did she start making her way to her grandchildren. The dragon lifted its head long enough to snort her way but it didn’t stop her advancing.
They had all endured the shrieks and near misses with this dragon snapping at them, she could take him snorting at her if that was all he did. “Rhaenyra,” She called, taking step after step towards her and the boys till she was close enough to see that Luke was pale and twitching in Rhaenyra’s arms with spittle foaming at the corners of his mouth. “Are they alright? What do you need?”
The sight of Luke made her stomach turn with fear and despite the fact that she hadn’t gotten over to them herself she still beckoned Gerardys to her side. Whatever was wrong with Luke he needed a maester and he needed one now. Gerardys hesitated at her gesturing but Laenor nudged him forward until he started walking. When he caught sight of Luke the hesitation he had drained away and he nearly pushed her aside to get closer.
“How long has he been like that, Princess.”
Rhaenyra looked at the two of them and pressed against the side of the dragon's head with her knee until he moved off of her. “Not long, he wasn’t doing it when I first saw him and he was worse right before you came in.”
“Worse?” The maester asked. “Worse in what way?”
“He was jerking and shaking in my arms, he’s settled down now.”
His face was grim and Rhaenys had to force herself to resist the urge to hurry them both along. Rushing would only waste time in the end by upsetting the two dragons that were being far more amicable than they had in the past. “Is he warm to the touch? Are his muscles tense or lax? Has he vomited at all?” He asked rapid fire.
Rhaenyra just shook her head as she tried to shimmy the three of them across the makeshift bed. “He’s cold, tense and I don’t think he has anything in his stomach to vomit up.”
Of course he didn’t have anything in his stomach, the boy barely ate on a good day, and he had gone at least a day without food.
They were close enough to the dragon now that Rhaenys could reach out and grab Luke if she wanted to, though she cast away the thought immediately and instead put herself between the dragon and Gerardys. She calmly placed her hand over the massive muscle on the dragon’s jowls and started petting him as she had seen Rhaenyra doing. The maester got the hint and practically dove for Rhaenyra and the boys while the dragon was distracted with her.
It earned her an agitated trumpet, she just kept her hands where they were and continued petting him. She moved along with him when he tried to walk after them, and Laenor joined her in petting the dragon and trying to keep him from leaving the nest.
“Rhaenys, he won’t harm anyone, just let him follow us.”
That sounded like a monumentally bad idea. They were trying to get Luke away from the dragon so that Gerardys could check him over, letting the dragon follow them across the room would undo that. “We’ve been trying to get him away from this dragon for over a day, Rhaenyra.” The dragon pushed at her and she could see his back muscles shifting like he was about to rear himself up.
“Luke is out from under him, mother, if it keeps him calm to be near Luke then we should allow it.”
The rational part of her mind knew it made sense, the dragon needed to be kept calm so it wouldn’t run off with Luke again. With a frustrated breath she let her hands fall away and she stepped back. The dragon thumped its way to Gerardys and Rhaenyra with nothing more than another loud snort.
Maester Gerardys, the poor man, was shaking as the dragon came upon them, to his credit he stayed firm and kept himself right near Luke. “I’ll have to assume he’s been doing this since he collapsed yesterday, since no one was able to see him in the interim.” He said under his breath, more to himself than to any of them, “and he was bleeding from one or more orifices…” he went still as he ran through the options in his mind, and then he whirled around to stare at all of them with panicked eyes. “What was the last thing he consumed before he started bleeding?”
“He had a cup of water and the elixir for his cough.”
Gerardys handed Luke back to Rhaenyra and skirted around both her and the dragon. “He’s been poisoned, Princess, with a poison that is believed to originate in Volantis.”
Instantly the room was filled with raucous shouts of horror, but Gerardys held out his hands, forcing them to cease their questions. “With how long it’s been in his system it should have killed him, I don’t know how it didn’t. What I do know is that I need to go get the antidote we have for it now .” He pushed his way past them to get to the door. “I will explain more when I return!” He called back to them.
Rhaenys watched him flee with a heavy heart. Thoughts swarmed through her mind, if this had been her with Laenor or Laena she would have carried them to the maesters quarters along with him, so they would get the antidote as soon as possible. But doing so in this case would risk them dragging a dragon all throughout the castle along with them. “Ser Kent!” The knight stood at attention by the door. “Go, clear his path!”
Once he was gone she went to Rhaenyra and the boys. She pulled Jace into her arms as she took the seat next to Rhaenyra, careful not to twist or prod him overly much as she did so. Vermax was already unsettled enough as it was, snorting and hissing each time she shifted jace in her hold.
Jace was just as limp as Luke looked to be, but he acted more like he was just asleep. His breathing seemed fine, he wasn’t trembling or coughing up foam like his brother. Still, it hurt her heart to see him limp and unresponsive in her arms. She couldn’t even imagine how this must feel for Rhaenyra when it was hurting her so much.
“What do you think all that noise was?” Alicent whimpered, pacing back and forth at the door to her chambers. She had barely slept at all during the night between her father being in the room, Daeron whining about not being able to go anywhere, and the noises that had gone on. There had been some ruckus within the Keep in the afternoon, exactly where she didn’t know, but it was somewhere close by.
It had felt like the roof had been about to come down on top of them, and she knew she had heard several dragons screeching from somewhere nearby. No one had come to tell her of what had happened, she was entirely in the dark - not an unusual feeling for her, as she was always left in the dark and uninformed. Three of the household guards had knocked at her chambers and told her to stay inside her rooms and not to leave for any reason, and that had been her only source of knowledge about the incident.
The guards hadn’t been members of the Kingsguard, which set her on edge at first but Cole had come by later to reiterate their orders. Her attempts at getting answers from him failed, the only thing he had been willing to disclose was that there was a situation with two dragons and no one was to traverse the Keep unless they were a guard or a maester. She had been tempted to call him into the room and let her father question him but the household guards had still remained outside of her door and she was unwilling to risk them noticing Daeron and her father.
They had barely made it back to her chambers unseen and with everything going on she was unwilling to risk anyone knowing about her visitors. Part of her worried that perhaps Daeron’s dragon had left her hideout in the caves by the bay and gotten into it with one of the other dragons, or that someone had found her and tried to bring her to the pits and she escaped.
Alicent didn’t know the first thing about dragons, Tessarion could have escaped the caves and seen someone messing about in the pigsty and decided to go hunting within the keep.
She had believed that by the morning the situation would be resolved but Cole had again told her to stay in her quarters under Viserys orders. Her plan had been to reunite Daeron with his siblings in the morning, and even that had been ruined by whatever debacle Rhaenyra had cooked up in the night.
Though she would have only shown him to Helaena after the stern cautioning her father had given her in regards to her revealing him to Aegon and Aemond. There had been much talk between the two of them through the night about whether or not they should reveal Daeron’s presence to the other children. She wanted to at first, of course she had; they were Daeron’s siblings and none of them had seen him in years, but her father had gotten her to see the fallacy of that idea.
Her relationship with Aegon was tenuous at best and Aemond was obsessed with Lucerys, telling the two of them about Daeron being in the Keep would risk them telling Viserys or gods forbid they tell Lucerys and the little monster told his mother. Letting one of them in on this secret would bring Rhaenyra straight down on their heads and Alicent had no doubt in her mind now that Rhaenyra would use it to poison Viserys against her. It would be better for all of them if she just kept Daeron and her father a secret until she could come up with a good enough reason to have invited them to the Keep without the King’s leave, and then tell Viserys in private to divert any worries he might have about Otto being back in King’s Landing.
“If I had to guess, Rhaenyra or that first born of hers pulled some foolish stunt with their dragons.” Otto answered her without looking up from the parchment he had been reading. He had been glancing between the three different sheets of parchment all night and into the morning, and she knew not what was on them.
Hopefully it was some kind of answer to all the questions she had. Or perhaps he was gathering information to reveal Rhaenyra’s true nature, either would work for her. “If it was one of their dragons would it not have been solved in the night?” Rhaenyra was wanton in her regards for rules but even she wouldn’t allow her own dragon to go trampling about on the castle all night long.
“The noises have stopped, Alicent, they must have gotten it under control.”
She whirled to face him. “But if it was under control why are we still sequestered? We would be allowed to move about the castle if it were solved.”
Her father glared at her and set down his papers finally, though now that his full attention was on her, her anxiety only skyrocketed. “Alicent, sit down.”
The table shook as she forced herself into her chair. She grabbed the small cup of wine she had set out with their breakfast and sipped at it to cool her nerves. She was walking a dangerous line tempting her own father’s ire when she had so few allies but her anxiety felt as if it was about to burst out of her chest. For weeks - the entire time since Lucerys had fallen ill - she had been left wanting.
Left wanting for information, for the attention of her husband and her children, for people who could actually see the rule flouting miscreant that Rhaenyra had become. She was desperate for something to change and for it to change for the better.
She wanted someone to give her something that she could take to Viserys and finally get him to see his daughter for who she truly was. She wanted Viserys to repudiate her and her sons so that the true heirs of his lineage could take their rightful place instead of being supplanted by a whore and two bastards. She wanted acknowledgement; of her sacrifices, of how she had done her duty, and of the four trueborn heirs that she had given Viserys.
Instead of what she wanted, however, all she got was constant orders to remain sequestered every time something happened to Lucerys as if the boy was some gift from the gods that the world needed to stop for.
“The guards are most likely keeping you here to keep you safe until the dragons are contained and any damage caused by them can be fixed, given that you are the Queen. Your safety is paramount in their eyes and the easiest way to keep you and your children safe is to keep you all in one place.” Otto’s voice was calm but she could hear the irritation lying underneath. She was pushing him to his wits end. “This is good for the three of us, no one will question you staying in your chambers and taking no visitors if you are not supposed to be out of your quarters.”
Perhaps it was good for making it easier to hide them, it was just infuriating to not be told anything. Still, if they were taking this whole ordeal as something to shelter in place over, then the guards should have brought all her children to her. The three of them were probably in their own quarters within the wing just two halls away but she wouldn’t risk exposing her father and Daeron to go get them. If something was wrong with them, the guards would have told her.
One of the tea spoons on the table clinked against her father’s cup as he stood. “Stay in your chambers, I will be back before midday meal.”
She stood up with him, utterly confused by the sudden change. Hadn’t he just said that it was good for them to be contained within her chambers? “Where are you going, you just said we should remain here?”
He reached over the table to press her back into her seat, leveling a glare at her, “The two of you must remain here, I have business to attend to. Things are in a horrid state of disarray since my absence and they must be righted.” He glanced over to Daeron who still had yet to leave his makeshift bed on her lounge. “Wake him up and get something to eat. Don’t leave the room and don’t talk to anyone who might see him. If everyone else has decided to keep secrets, we shall have a few of our own.”
The room echoed around him with the clinking of glass and the loud bangs of cauldrons and pots rustling about. He knew the antidote to the Volantene poison was somewhere within the laboratory afforded to him by the crown while he was in King’s Landing, and yet here he was unable to find it.
It had only just been brewed within the last week after the Maesters from the citadel had sent the recipe they deemed able to counteract the poison. The fact that it had been brewed so recently was the only reason he had been able to identify the prince’s symptoms so quickly, given that he had spent the last week reading all of the missives he could find about the poison. He still had a plethora of the ingredients needed to prepare the antidote if it was truly needed, but Prince Lucerys was seizing as it was and the boy might not have enough time left for him to brew a new batch.
“Robert!” His shout carried across the laboratory easily, and his acolyte popped his head out of the auxiliary storage room. “Go to Grand Maester Mellos and ask him for a vial of the Volantene poison antidote.”
“Did we not just finish brewing that?” The broad man walked all the way into the lab, shutting the door behind him. “I transferred it to the pint jars and put it beside the jars of Wolf’s bane.”
Gerardys rose from his crouch, jostling several rows of parchment. He had been certain it was with the Sweetsleep and the poppy flowers they had inventoried. “Show me.”
Robert led him into the storage room, where he gently swept aside the plethora of fragile glass jars and vials, and sure enough the antidote was nestled among the two jars of wolf’s bane they had confiscated from a Flea Bottom brothel. It was well concealed between the two gallon jars despite the near glimmering silver-ish tint the liquid had to it.
He grabbed one of the small jars and carefully poured half a vial’s worth of liquid into another vessel. The antidote would need to be diluted with water, and he was taking considerably more than he would actually need, but he’d rather have too much of the antidote than risk going back with not enough.
He had only just capped the vial when the door to his lab was thrown open, and in strode Prince Daemon. “Maester, what a wonder it is to have found you, there are things we need to discuss.”
The Prince looked very very unhappy, which Gerardys could understand, given that it was his grandnephew who’s life was in danger. “Of course, my Prince, however I’m afraid it will have to wait.” He said hurriedly as he shoved the jar back into its rightful place and slid the vial into his pocket. “I must be on my way.”
Daemon gave him an affronted look. “Surely, you could spare a moment for a Prince.”
Gerardys brushed past the man as quickly as he could without knocking the Prince aside. “Prince Lucerys’ life is on the line, my Prince, I really must go.”
That spurred the Prince into motion, and suddenly instead of standing in front of him, Prince Daemon had grasped his upper arm and was pulling him from the room. Having the Prince, as well as the guard Princess Rhaenys has sent along to clear his path, turned out to be quite the blessing. People moved out of the Prince’s way like a hot knife cutting through butter, and they made it back across the Castle to the King’s solar in record time.
The scene they walked into however was not a blessing. It was complete and utter chaos. Princesses Rhaenys and Rhaenyra were struggling with the two young princes, and Ser Laenor was - from what Gerardys could see - attempting to corral the two dragons and not succeeding.
Prince Lucerys was seizing in his mother’s arms, and Prince Jacaerys appeared to be struggling violently in Princess Rhaenys’. For the briefest moment he worried that Prince Jacaerys was having a fit of his own, but the boy was yelling coherently rather than just making strange noises as was indicative of a seizure. He skirted around Ser Laenor and the dragons as best as he could to get closer to the boys, and thankfully Prince Daemon put himself between him and the dragons.
Gerardys grabbed one of the many cups of water dotted around the room and dribbled just three drops of the antidote into it and swirled it around to mix it. He’d need to wait for the seizure to abate before he could give it to the boy so that he didn’t choke on it. “Princess!” He hurried over to her and set the cup down on the table beside her so he could take the Prince into his arms. “How long -”
“Barely more than a minute, he was fine for a while and then it started again.” She said desperately before he could even finish.
The boy’s muscles were taut and trembling as he cradled him, and he could hear just the slightest sound of him choking on his own spittle. He turned Lucerys over in his arms so that his chin was pressed against his upper arm and started patting his back to help him spit up the excess foam. There had been no red tinge to the foam that he could see, which he considered a good sign.
Gerardys just hoped that the seizure abated quickly, the poison had already coursed through his veins for nearly two days. It was a miracle for Lucerys to have lived this long with such a quick acting, deadly poison. Whoever had poisoned him must’ve either drastically underestimated the amount of the poison they’d need, or Lucerys hadn’t consumed an entire dose of it.
Rhaenyra fluttered about around them, stroking the prince’s hair and cheeks, and acting as a small barrier between them and the chaos going on in the rest of the room. “You have the antidote, yes?”
“Yes, princess, we just have to wait for the fit to subside so we can give it to him.” The seizure seemed to be slowing down. Lucerys’ muscles were relaxing bit by bit and he could feel his throat and jaw relaxing against his arm. “Bring me that cup, please.”
The prince went fully limp in his arms as Rhaenyra brought him the cup and he very carefully turned the boy over so he could see his face once again. He was still deathly pale, unsurprising given that he was poisoned, and there was still no signs of any blood anywhere. Gerardys gingerly wiped his mouth of the foam with the edge of his robes and accepted the cup to press it against his lips.
A few drops spilled from the corners of his mouth as the water dribbled forth. “Can you come around and hold his head up?”
With his head held higher the rest of the water made it down his throat without any spillage. It would take hours for the antidote to work enough for them to see the visible effects of the poison starting to subside but at least the administration would stop any more damage from occurring.
“Will that stop the fits?” Rhaenyra asked, watching her son with desperate eyes.
Gerardys handed Lucerys back to her, laying him across her arms and leading her back to the chair she had been in before. “Hopefully it will as the poison is counteracted. He may still have a few in the coming hours, only time will tell.” Once the prince was out of his arms he turned to greet the chaos behind him. The last thing he expected was to come face to face with the white dragon that had stolen Lucerys away.
It was staring him straight in the eyes barely more than half a step away from him, though it didn’t appear agitated. Those big eyes held some intelligence in them, and he could almost believe that the dragon understood he was only there to help the prince rather than hurting him. The thought was only bolstered when the dragon simply moved past him and over to Lucerys and Rhaenyra.
The other smaller dragon, that he knew to be bonded with Prince Jacaerys, was on the other side of the room with the older prince. He hesitated as he watched the royal family struggle against each other. Jacaerys was thrashing in Ser Laenor’s arms, with his dragon snapping and tugging at the man’s leg and both Prince Daemon and Princess Rhaenys were occupied trying to insert themselves between Laenor and the dragon. He should intervene, to check and assure that Prince Jacaerys didn’t require his assistance as well, but he didn’t wish to face the snappy dragon.
“Princess Rhaenyra, was there any signs of ailments with Prince Jacaerys?”
She glanced up from stroking Lucerys’ face. “From what I could see he was asleep the entire time they were with the dragons, but when we pulled his hand away from Luke he jolted awake and started ranting and raving at the same time that Luke had his fit.”
“And it was only when they were pulled away from one another that Prince Jacaerys awoke?”
Rhaenyra nodded.
That complicated things. There was a possibility that the poison Lucerys had consumed was transferable through bodily fluids, as some particularly potent poisons were. None of the missives sent from the Citadel had mentioned it, but they had been searching for symptoms of the poison and the possible cures that could be made, not for the mode of transfer. It still didn’t explain why removing the two boys from each other would somehow awaken Jacaerys from his own affliction.
However, that was something he could research more later. For now he had two charges to worry over, one of which had been poisoned and the other possibly poisoned.
The Princess caught onto what path he was thinking of, “Laenor, bring Jace here, Gerardys believes he may have been poisoned as well.”
Ser Laenor struggled against the dragon that was attempting to bite him and glared over at the two of them. “I’m a bit preoccupied, Rhaenyra!”
It was a miracle that the prince’s dragon had only been biting at the man and not trying to spew flames at them, though Gerardys absolutely did not wish for the dragon to change its tactics. Burns were nasty things, and none of them needed to be treated for close range burns from dragonfire while they were attempting to assist the little princes.
Much to Gerardys’ astonishment, however, it was not any of the princes nor the princesses that managed to corral the smaller dragon, rather it was the bigger dragon. The white dragon that had taken up post by Princess Rhaenyra and Prince Lucerys let out an ear piercing roar followed by a much softer gekker that startled Jacaerys’ dragon into releasing Ser Laenor. No one moved for a moment, too stunned by the suddenness of the roar, until Ser Laenor finally grabbed Prince Jacaerys under his arms and carried him over to the other side of the room.
Jacaerys bolted from his father’s arms the second his feet were on the ground, and he was over to them nearly in an instant, shrieking something about a tether being broken and how they were killing Luke. It was quite a bizarre sight, but Gerardys had seen worse from those who had been struck by poisons. Depending on the particular poison rants and raves were common, and oft expected as the poison progressed through the body, though it didn’t bode well if the prince truly had been poisoned.
He wasn't as bad off as his brother was but with each passing second listening to the delirious rambling, Gerardys was getting more and more convinced that Jacaerys had been infected by at least some trace amount of the Volantene poison. As he poured another goblet full of water he found himself immensely glad now that he had the forethought to bring more than just one dose of the antidote. “Here, he needs to drink the entire goblet.”
He handed the goblet to Ser Laenor and allowed him to give it to the boy - mostly so that he could avoid getting caught between them all should Jacaerys’ dragon decide that the warning hadn’t been enough and wanted to have another go at Ser Laenor. Laenor and Prince Daemon had to restrain the boy to be able to get him to drink the whole cup, and as soon as they let him go again he threw himself onto his mother’s lap to latch onto his brother.
Over the next few minutes the prince calmed considerably until he finally seemed to be back to his normal behavior. His dragon calmed alongside him, and Gerardys found himself surrounded by two dragons as well as the royal family. He turned his attention towards Prince Lucerys as his brother calmed down and was glad to see that some of the color had started to come back into his face.
While the boy was still far too pale and still for his liking, it was better than him having the fits he was having before. The antidote shouldn’t have affected him quite so quickly but Gerardys wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. If the prince’s body wanted to shed itself of the poison quicker than normal, that was a blessing in itself. Perhaps the poison had already been working its way out of his system naturally. That would make sense, Lucerys hadn’t received a large enough dose to kill him, his body had been attempting to work through it while he was unconscious, and the antidote had merely given his body the boost it needed to start recovering.
He needed to watch both boys as closely as possible in the coming days to investigate the effectiveness of the antidote and the long lasting effects of the poison so that he could report his findings back to the Citadel.
However, with the two of them out of immediate danger he pulled his mind away from the situation at hand and thought back to what he knew about the incident. The citadel had written that the poison wasn’t as quick acting as poisons like some others, which meant that Lucerys had ingested it the same day it had started to affect him. He knew from complaints that House Velaryon had voiced that the boy ate barely anything, and what little he did eat was off of others plates making the odds of the poison having been in his food small, since no one who ate with him had gotten sick.
That left the only mode of ingestion to be something Lucerys had drunk. The rest of the family had undoubtedly shared the same water source, leaving the only possible source for the poison to have been the one thing Prince Lucerys had ingested that no one else had.
The elixir.
He had delegated the brewing of the Prince’s elixir to the acolytes the crown had in their employment while he had personally sought to check in on the boy himself, foolishly leaving his charge open to this ordeal. It was a tremendous misstep on his part, and something that he would have to rectify immediately.
He needed to find which monster had thought it brilliant to poison one of his charges and bring them to justice. “Prince Daemon, you said earlier you had something to discuss with me.”
The prince looked at him with a raised eyebrow, clearly not anticipating him bringing up his earlier words. “I did.”
“If you would give me your assistance in finding the acolyte that decided to poison Prince Lucerys, I would be more than willing to help you in your own endeavors.” All the eyes in the room turned to him, lit up by the internal fire that he had seen quite often in his Targaryen charges.
The two of them were back to playing when he heard his sirens start to call for him, faintly at first, then growing louder with each passing second until they were a chorus in his mind. They beckoned him to follow them, to come back home and rejoin the sea as he was meant to.
He wanted to, at least part of him did because he loved his friends and his family, but part of him also wanted to stay with dream Jace. It would be lonely here in the grove of heart trees and Jace was all by himself with only Vermax to keep him company, while Luke’s family all had each other to lean on and take care of. Maybe he could stay just a little longer and play with Jace for a bit more so that he’d have nice times to remember while he was alone in his strange world.
A warm hand landed on his shoulder, and when Jace looked at him his eyes were light. Lighter than they had been even when Luke had first gotten here, and while they were mournful they were still happy. “It’s time for you to leave, little brother.”
“Are you going to be alright when I go back?” It hurt him to think that he’d be leaving this version of his brother feeling so horrible. He didn’t want him to hurt, he wanted him to be happy, he wanted to see the joy on his face that he had glimpsed in his dreams.
“I’ll have to be, don’t I?” The tears in his eyes soured the jest before it even left his lips, but Luke did his best to put a bright smile on his face. “I can’t keep you with me forever, no matter how I wish to.”
The almond-y taste of sorrow wafted through the air faintly, just enough to twinge on his tongue. “Can’t your version of me come stay with you? I can hear the sirens again, maybe they can bring your Luke here and the two of you can play together!”
His brother’s face nearly broke at the suggestion, which hadn’t been his intention at all and the almond taste in the air turned sour. “You are the only Lucerys Velaryon there is, you never truly died, and so there isn’t another version of you as there is me.” Jace glanced away from him, out towards the shore of their island of trees.
The silence between them was overwhelming and it rang in his ears even over the singing of his water. Vermax shifted behind them, crooning out a mournful tune as he came over to nose at his back. “Maybe I can come back and play with you again?”
“I hope not, I don’t want anything to happen to you that almost kills you.” Jace cleared his throat and knelt down before him. “Luke, I need you to promise me one thing.” He nodded, he would promise anything if it washed the horrible look off his brother’s face. “Don’t stick your head where it shouldn’t be, you are in enough danger as it is, you don’t need to go searching it out.”
Luke wasn’t sure he had ever stuck his head somewhere that it wasn’t supposed to be, but he nodded along regardless. He could keep his head where it belonged.
The sirens started up their singing again, pushing out the silence and insisting that he let them take him back home. They gave him a vision of his father and grandfather, and his Jace to entice him. It tugged at him again, hot and sharp at the center of his belly, undoubtedly noticing his resolve weakening at the sight of his family waiting for him. He launched himself at Jace before they could fully grab onto him, so he could hug his brother as tight as he could one last time.
The thought of leaving dream Jace forever haunted him. His brother had already lost the Luke that he had known, and now Luke was leaving him again to go home to a place that Jace would never be able to see again. “I wish I could have you with me, like I have Balerion and the sirens.” He whispered as the water started to pull him away.
Jace laughed around a sob and gripped him tight enough to make his bones creak. “You have me with you, you always will,” His voice broke, and Luke could see the tears dripping down his face even as his vision began to fade, the sirens finally tightening their hold enough to pull him away. “I’m in your heart and your blood no matter what time you're from, or what you look like. I love you so much, Luke.” The last thing he felt as he drained away from the tree was the soft press of Jace’s lips to his curls.
Larys hesitated just before he turned past the bend in the tunnel. The soft sound of footfalls hovered on the edge of his hearing, muffled by the thick walls of the tunnels Maegor the Cruel had built throughout the keep. It was quite a shock to know that someone else had found the tunnel he was in, given that it was one of the two that had been built in the floor underneath the King’s wing.
He surmised that it was meant to be an escape route into the rest of the Keep, hidden and hard to reach as it was. There was only one entrance to each of the winding tunnels and only one point of convergence between them before it separated into two again. Whoever was down here with him was a particularly crafty adversary and he had a sneaking suspicion of who it was. While he hadn’t received another visit from the mysterious woman trying to kill Prince Lucerys, he knew she still lurked within the castle somewhere.
Several times he had heard her voice, whispering to several servant boys, coaxing them into giving her information but she always managed to flee before he could catch sight of her. It was clear she was here for information, most likely an explanation for the sudden orders to stay within their rooms and not walk about the castle.
The guards had been lenient with seeing him limp around near the Tower of the Hand, lulled into complacency by his facade of lameness, though once he had breached the Keep the guards had gotten far less lenient. It had taken him an entire night to find his way back into the Keep after being ousted and even longer to skirt around the plethora of guards, household and Kingsguard alike, that lined almost every hall from the front entrance to the King’s wing. He had been forced to hide the day away in the walls of Queen Alicent’s antechamber after ducking out of the sight of the cityguard.
He had caught a glimpse of Lord Hightower squirreled away in the Queen’s bedchambers along with the youngest of her sons, so he supposed the day hadn’t been entirely a waste. Though now that he knew Otto was here, he did fully intend to seek the payment for his efforts in getting the Lord back to the city. While they had been fruitless, he had still risked his standing with his father and the suspicion of his brother in his attempts.
Still, he had new matters at hand. Whatever information his opponent sought, it must be valuable for her to risk getting caught within the Keep when all the guards were on high alert. If someone were to reveal her location she would be caught directly beneath the King’s solar no less, and if something happened to any of the royal family she would be a prime suspect.
Briefly, he contemplated revealing her position just so that he could get her out of the game, it was a foolish notion he locked away almost immediately, but the thought was there. This mystery woman had threatened him, after all, and she had impeded his attempts to further his Queen’s goals at several turns. Each step she took from him was one rung of power wrenched straight out of his hand and he could already see he was falling from Alicent’s favor. That was shown by the Queen smuggling her father into the city instead of waiting for him to grant the man safe passage.
It was a very tempting play, however what little credibility he could gain from revealing her would not be worth the scrutiny he would face for not only knowing where she was, but knowing about the secret passageways beneath the King’s apartments. It would also take the passageways out of his grasp as well. If the royal family knew of them, they would undoubtedly seal them off much as they had when they discovered the passage to Lord Corlys’ solar and the passages near the Princess' new quarters. The risks greatly outweighed the rewards of thwarting her plans this early on.
With his mind made up, he took a slow step forward, keeping his hand firmly on the tunnel wall to support himself since he had left his cane behind. As he came to the edge of the corner, he pulled out his set of mirrors, an extraordinary device he had bought off some sailor that allowed him to easily see around corners. It was invaluable to his spying, allowing him to stay out of sight until he knew his targets were well past being able to see him lumbering after them.
It had only failed him once, when Prince Lucerys had appeared out of nowhere on the bed while he was going to frame Princess Rhaenys, and he had been exceedingly careful to not allow that to happen again. The tunnel beyond the corner was clear as far as the mirror allowed him to see, and he knew that there was another bend further down that the woman had gone around. He could no longer hear her footsteps, and the next bend would lead straight towards King’s solar, as well as the King’s Hall passed that. If his hearing and the gossip from the guards had been correct, the King’s solar was the location of all the noise and ruckus that had happened late in the afternoon the other day.
The location cemented his theory of the woman wanting to find out why the castle was being sequestered, though he also knew that Princess Rhaenyra and both her sons frequented the King’s solar. She could be trying to kill two birds with one stone; getting information on the ruckus, and finding a new way to attack the Prince.
He crept around the corner and down the tunnel, stopping each step so that he could listen for more of the woman’s footsteps, or perhaps catch any snippets of conversation from above them. The floorboards above the tunnel creaked and groaned, straining under the weight of something as it moved around in one of the rooms, and only when the sounds died down did he continue on. The next bend was clear as well, though he could smell just the barest hint of lavender oil that let him know he was going the right way.
There was only one place left for the woman to have fled too, the merging point of the two tunnels. It was a small circular cavern that housed both the entrances to the first halves of the tunnels and the exits to the second halves of the tunnels, and the cavern laid right beneath the middle of the King’s solar. She would be out in the open spying from within the cavern or moved on to either the further tunnels or gone upwards into the King’s solar using the footholds and the trap door carved into the wall of the tunnel.
Larys didn’t believe she would take the risk of going upwards. The solar had no places to hide that wouldn’t be easily discovered, and if an incident had originated in the room it would be swarmed with guards.
His hunch was proven right as he once again drew out his mirrors and set them around the corner. The woman was still well hidden beneath her robes, but he had no doubt that it was the same woman who had threatened him. He could glimpse only the tiniest end of a dark brown curl leaning out over her shoulder as she leaned up to press her face to a peephole driven into the solar floor. It was nothing near enough to identify her and in the darkness of the tunnels he most likely wouldn’t gleen anything else.
She stood at the peephole for several minutes, not making a sound and simply listening to the creak of the floorboards and the faintest of whispers that drifted down from the room, she stood there for so long that he almost considered limping back the way he came.
Just as he was contemplating the risk of leaving without getting the information he sought against the reward of staying in a cramped tunnel in the hopes of hearing something, he finally heard the sound of footsteps approaching. They were so muffled he might not have heard them if it weren’t for the silence around them. A figure in a black cloak similar to the woman’s own cloak appeared from the tunnel opposite to his. Judging solely on the height and width of the cloak he would assume the figure was male.
She didn’t pull away from her perch. “You are late, we were to meet nearly half an hour ago.”
“You’ll have to forgive me, it was quite the hassle to make my way down here given the current circumstances,” He answered her drolly. “As it were I believed three of us to be meeting here, not two.”
“Our plans cannot be cast aside or delayed simply because it is a hassle to fulfill them.” Larys tilted his head curiously, using the sound of her voice to mask his shuffling footsteps as he drew closer to the cavern. The diversion from the man’s question was easy to spot.
“And what of your other accomplice, my Lady?” The man asked as he leant back against the wall. Even from his new vantage point, there was nothing of his face to be seen beneath his heavy cloak, and his accent gave nothing away either, in fact the man spoke with barely any accent at all.
“He has his agenda, I have mine, we diverged in our plans the moment the first attempt failed, and I have already heard the whispers of him setting his own plans into motion.” She said cryptically, not bothering to take her eye away from the hole in the floor. “Perhaps he was smart, it would appear as though your acolyte failed.”
The man agreed with a slow incline of his hood. “He did. Prince Lucerys withstood the poison long enough for the maester to figure out what had been done and now we have a dragon to contend with.” He gestured towards the hole the woman was staring through and huffed. “As well as you losing your assassin and my loss of the acolyte.”
“The dragon is of no consequence nor are our losses, they were both expendable.” They certainly were unconcerned by the possibility of their caught fellow ratting them out, and a dragon being of no consequence seemed far fetched to Larys. Dragons were what made House Targaryen as formidable as they were, if one were to take the dragons out of the equation they would be nothing more than their fellow man.
He was surprised to hear that the Prince had hatched his egg. Something of that magnitude was on par with the announcement of a royal pregnancy, and for it to have been kept a secret was strange. A new dragon being brought into the world had always been a cause for celebration, especially during King Viserys’ reign. It would, however, explain the commotion that had gone on. If Lucerys had hatched an egg it would have no doubt been a spectacle, and Larys had thought he heard dragonsong within the castle walls. It wasn’t something that would get the entire castle sequestered, but the man had mentioned the prince being poisoned as well.
Much like the assassination attempt on Prince Aemond, a poisoning would certainly call for the castle to be secured, two assassination attempts in such quick succession could have closed off the entire city.
“It will be considerably harder to get to him with a dragon in the way.”
She turned from her watch, though her face remained covered by her hood. “It will be, but we will find a way. ” She said heatedly. “If I have to set him alight with the fire of fate myself, I will. Prince Lucerys must die, one way or another, and I will not stop until he does.” Without another word she fled the cavern into the furthest tunnel and after only a moment the man kicked off his wall, casting just the barest glance towards where she had stood and then entered the second tunnel to disappear into the shadows.
The conversation echoed in his mind as their footsteps faded into nothing. He had known, of course, that the woman had wanted Prince Lucerys dead, that much was shown by her attempted assassination and her threats to him, but her agitation was quite intense.
What had a young prince of barely three summers done to draw so much ire from this mystery woman? Queen Alicent’s anger he could understand, her trueborn sons were being passed over for Princess Rhaenyra and her children. The young Queen had foolishly thought that her husband would choose her over his own daughter and was only now seeing the falsity in that belief. A man’s duty rarely ever outweighed his love, and King Viserys had loved his first wife and his only daughter by her, while Alicent had only ever been part of his duty to the realm.
But Prince Lucerys had lived an incredibly mundane life before his illness and near death, one that shouldn’t have resulted in such a voracious quest for his death. While children were often the targets of those looking to get back at their parents, this woman had not once mentioned Princess Rhaenyra nor the succession of the crown. She had said nothing of Prince Jacaerys nor made any references that might show the source of her ire being Lucerys’ place as third in line for the crown after his mother and brother.
Perhaps her contention was not with the Iron Throne, rather that of the Driftwood throne? Lucerys would be heir to House Velaryon after Lord Corlys and Ser Laenor and his children would presumably be the ones to continue on the Velaryon lineage, she could have some relation to Lord Corlys’ brother or someone else in line to inherit. Yet this woman had made no mention of Driftmark or even House Velaryon either.
Her motives had no true sense behind them that he could discern. Not with the sparse information he had at least, and Larys could admit that he had troublingly little information. There were no clues to who the woman was or why she was so intent on attacking the prince, all he knew was that she had at least two accomplices, both male and seemingly unconnected to each other and that she had attacked twice and was planning a third strike.
Given the vitriol in her voice she wasn’t planning on stalling that third attempt for long.
He had no intentions of stopping her plans, he had no great love for any of the royals beyond what they could do for him after all, but he could use her plans to his advantage. If he could find out where and what her next attempt on Lucerys’ life would be there was a chance it would allow for some of his own problems to be solved. His brother was starting to grow suspicious of his efforts to convince their father to bring Lord Hightower back and Larys knew it was only a matter of time before Lucerys would blabber to his mother or Harwin about seeing him coming into Princess Rhaenys’ chambers.
As far as he was aware the child hadn’t had enough of a moment to breathe between incidents let alone tell anyone of what he had seen, if he had Harwin would have already come down on his head, and Larys intended to keep him from telling anyone. This woman killing Lucerys would work in his favor. If he played his cards right and figured out her plans he might even be able to do away with the woman, Prince Lucerys and his brother.
Depending on her mode of killing the boy and where she did the deed, he might be able to lead his brother to her plot, get him killed along with Lucerys in the process, and reveal his mysterious adversary all at the same time. It would be quite the endeavor but he had never backed down from a chance at gaining power.
If Harwin was out of the way he’d be the sole heir to House Strong and Harrenhall, and plenty of accidents could befall his father without his brother to protect the soft hearted fool. He would be able to bypass using Alicent to gain titles altogether, though if he was a Lord in his own right he could certainly leverage it to set a higher asking price for his invaluable assets.
With his plan set in place and the absence of the woman and her accomplice, he stepped out of the tunnel and into the cavern to catch a glimpse of what she had been looking at. There wasn’t much to look at, the vantage point of the hole was nearly nonexistent and could have only been useful as a listening point. He saw bits of fluff from what must’ve been a bed or a lounge floating by the opening and nothing else.
A small skittering noise further down the tunnel, back the way he had come rather than towards the exits, drew his focus as the floorboards above him creaked once again. He held his breath and waited, releasing it once he registered that it wasn’t the sound of footsteps.
When the noise didn’t come again he reluctantly brushed it off and turned his attention back to the spy hole in the floor he had been looking through. He was not expecting the bright amber eye of a dragon to be staring down at him.
The sight startled him so sharply that he could do nothing but stumble back from the hole, wrenching his club foot painfully as he fell against the far wall of the tunnel. The dragon in the solar growled at the space he had left and he could feel as it stepped closer. Little specks of gravel and dust rained down on top of him as it pressed its snout against the hole.
It sniffed and snorted before letting out a shriek, and Larys didn’t waste time waiting to see what it would do. Instead he pulled himself off the ground as quickly as he could and began limping back down the way he had come.
He fully intended to use the woman’s assassination attempt to further his own goals, but he would not be facing a dragon in her stead. He heard the faint voice of Ser Laenor Velaryon drifting along the tunnel, calling after the dragon as it roared once again and he didn’t turn back.
As his vision cleared once again, Luke found himself back on the beach. From what he could see it wasn't the same beach that he had met the sirens on before, the sand was too bright and the rocks weren’t black like the ones from Balerion’s beach.
Truthfully, Luke wished to go back to Jace and the tree, where everything was safe and soft and happy, but he knew he had to press forward. The sirens and Balerion were once again calling to him, finally back in his mind where they used to be.
He could hear the sound of beating wings in his mind as well right next to the rest of his friends, and the sound of dragonsong drew him along. With a mournful look back at where he came from, he stuck his fingers in his mouth and toddled off to try and find his friends and his dragon.
The sand he landed on was warm and fine beneath his feet, even finer than the sands of the bay, and he quickly made his way towards the cliff side lining the beach.
The first cave he came across didn’t hold much of interest. It had some crabs, a few shiny rocks that Luke pocketed, and he swiftly moved on to the next cave. The moment he stepped in he heard the voices kick up in to a noisy chorus in his head. He hesitated just for a moment, thinking back to the promise that he had made to Jace, about how he wouldn’t go sticking his head into places he didn’t belong…but the sirens were insistent.
They urged him deeper into the cave, till the light from the sun was so dampened he could barely see in front of him. He didn’t need sight though, he could feel the edge of the cave and used it to guide him. He wasn’t sure just how far he needed to go but he knew the voices would tell him when it was time to stop.
Further and further he went until the cave finally opened up into a cavern with a pool of steaming water in the middle, and stalactites on the ceiling. The crystals shimmered at him happily, and the voices cajoled him to turn around and see Balerion from his dreams sitting on the rocks.
The man gave him a jaunty little wave and a smirk like Ceraxes, “Hello, little one.”
“Hi.” His fingers immediately found their way back into his mouth.
“I’m sorry this took so long, but I know you were enjoying your time with your brother and he was very lonely,” He stood from his perch and before Luke could blink he was right in front of him, one hand threading through his bright white curls, “I have a gift for you, Lucerys.”
He glanced around the man, further into the cave, trying to see this ‘gift’, and he couldn’t see anything.
“We need to go a little further into the cavern, on the other side, and then your gift will come to you,” He chuckled. “I wanted you to meet him before you find your way back to your body. He’s already there waiting for you.”
A soft snort came from the other side of the cave.
The snorting grew louder as they neared the cavern, until he could hear the sound of talons clicking on the stone, and a beast lumbered out from the darkness. A big beautiful beast. A Dragon.
Bright pearlescent scales, light red membranes, beautiful crimson ridges along the back of its neck. It was the same dragon he would see in his dreams, except in person he was even more amazing, even bigger than he had ever seen him, and Luke couldn’t have stopped himself from reaching out to touch its snout even if he had wanted to.
The dragon pressed back against his fingertips, trilling for more pets as he stepped out from under the man’s hands and scratched his fingers along the ridge at the back of its head. Wings ghosted over his shoulders and then the beast’s head was brushing gently against his own, touching their foreheads together.
Luke stared at the dragon in front of him and it stared back at him with knowing eyes. It felt like he could see the dragon's mind within his own, cooing and beckoning him home, the same way he could feel the water in his veins and hear his friend when he was near flames.
“You may not know him, not yet, but he is and always has been yours. He’s been waiting quite a long time to bond and protect you again,” Balerion’s voice said as he took a seat once more on the blackened rock, “he is smaller than most of the others yet, but he is world weary in a way they are not.”
“He’s mine?” Luke whispered, “What about the egg my brother picked for me?” His dragon chirped at him, nuzzling against his head while his mind nestled itself among Balerion and the sirens.
Briefly he could see the world through his dragon’s eyes, he could see his own eyes staring back at him with wonder and love, before the two views collided back to his own vision. His dragon’s warmth still lingered within him, emanating from a spot deep in his mind.
“He is. The egg in your crib will never hatch, not while he still lives.”
His dragon nudged at him with his nose, shoving him back towards his side and Luke got the faintest sense his dragon wanted him on his back. A saddle laid between his wings, and without thinking Luke grabbed at the handles and heaved himself up. His hands roamed over the dragon's back scales, he leaned himself forward until he could press a kiss right above the edge of the saddle. It felt warm and safe, like being wrapped in grandfather’s cloak or having father tuck him into bed.
The dragon purred and chirped in response, muscles jumping beneath him, and Luke could hear his own heart singing as the dragon reared up and let out a loud echoing roar. He could see the faint impression of memories behind his eyes. The two of them flying together, his dragon eating sheep Luke brought to him, both of them learning Valyrian commands. It was so beautiful.
Then he saw the sea, images of his dragon diving beneath the waves but not drowning filled his mind, and the water inside of his veins echoed the delight from his dragon. The two of them lurched forward as one and Luke barely had his mind about him enough to look back at the now empty space behind him and shout, “What’s his name?”
“You named him Arrax,” The empty space thundered back, and then the two of them were bursting free from the cave back into the blinding sunlight.
End Chapter 17
Notes:
I hope you guys enjoyed this new chapter, let me know if you did, and what you might like to see in future chapters! Also stay tuned for next week's chapter because I will be having another comment poll to decide a fairly major plot point further down in the fic similar to what I did with deciding Jace's appearance change.
A/N: Arrax with Luke: Yes, yes, this is my small baby rider, I will treat him like a nice little egg so he doesn't break
Also Arrax: shreds the entire bed to make a nest and just straight up licks the blood off Luke's face to keep him clean Perfect.A/N: Larys: Well, I'm certainly glad I stayed to hear Mystery Pixie Dream Girl's evil plan turns around to stare directly into the eye of a dragon What the FUCK
A/N: Past Jace: Please don't get in trouble, I love you, I don't want you to risk getting hurt
Luke: Don't worry I won't! instantly walks into an unknown dream cave
A/N: Everyone: Oh my god, Jace must've gotten a contact poison from laying with Luke!
Jace: NO, you assholes, I was keeping him alive!!!!
Chapter 18: Chapter 18
Summary:
So uh, hi. Sorry for the week long delay, I literally had this chapter done and ready to post as usual and then I got in a car accident and fucked everything up.
😭 I wrote this damn chapter 3 times, the original time, once when dumbass concussed me went and rewrote it and deleted the original, and then a third time.I honestly could have posted the second version of the chapter, but I promised you guys fluff and concussed me wrote an entire 26k of basically angst. It was like Captain Crunch 'Oops all berries!' except 'Oops all Angst!'
Notes:
I'm not the happiest with this chapter, but I didn't want to delay it any longer trying to rewrite it again.
Let me know if you guys enjoyed it!
Also if some things don't make sense I blame the concussion
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Everybody Hates Laenor
Rhaenys woke slowly, the softest of noises and lightest of touches rousing her from her dream just enough to crack her eyes open. When she blinked the sleep away, she stared down into the orchid eyes of her youngest grandchild. He was watching her warily and it didn’t take her long to realize he must be in pain.
He had just been poisoned after all.
A quick glance showed that Corlys was still asleep but on the verge of waking and Jace was fast asleep with his head tucked under his pillow. She leveraged herself up and gently pulled Luke into her arms, he came easily and she stood to take them both to the main room. Another quick glance, this time out onto their balcony, showed Luke’s dragon still resting, blanketing the entire balcony with his bulk and nearly glowing in the moonlight.
The dragon had followed them to their chambers after Gerardys had finished administering his antidotes and thankfully it had chosen to remain outside instead of trying to force its way into their chamber as it had in her cousin’s solar. She was sure Vermax was lingering somewhere nearby as well, either perched on one of the other balconies or perhaps nestled somewhere among the white dragon’s scales.
Luke shivered in her arms. “Are you alright, sweet boy?” As she walked to her sitting room she grabbed a throw blanket off the back of the lounge and wrapped it around his shoulders. “How do you feel?”
“Hur’s…”
The croakiness of his voice made her own throat sore in sympathy. Rhaenys poured him a goblet of water - saltwater, because she knew her grandson’s magic required it - and mixed some of the tonic Gerardys had left them just in case either boy woke up in pain, and held it to his lips. He drank greedily, finishing the whole goblet in barely more than a couple gulps.
She poured him more, and each time he drank the water till it was gone. “Do you feel better?”
He nodded, curling in closer to her chest. The tonic dulled his eyes until they started to close once again, it was unsurprising, given that Gerardys had warned them all that Luke would more than likely need several days to recover before he’d start acting normal. It could be even longer than that, just like with his fever there was no way to know what damage had been done by the poison until Luke himself was able to tell them how he felt.
Hopefully, given how quickly he bounced back once he came out of his fever, he would come out of this with the same swiftness and exuberance.
His skin was still quite chilly to her own, but as she reached for another blanket to pile on top of him, she thought of another way to warm him. Luke barely even moved as they walked to the balcony doors, and his dragon roused with a hearty groan at the click of the door opening.
The white beast met her halfway, nudging at Luke’s side with his snout. The night time wind breezed over the three of them, though the dragon’s breath chased away any chill.
“Arrax?”
Rhaenys sucked in a sharp breath at the whispered name. Her grandson’s tiny hand peaked out from underneath the blanket she had around him, falling onto the crest of the dragon’s head. It seemed to fit almost naturally along the curve of its small horns, stroking and scratching at pearl scales until the dragon hunched down with a low, happy trill.
“Is that his name, Luke?” The name was quite fitting. An old Valyrian god and a magical little boy. Luke and Arrax. “That’s a beautiful name.”
“He loves me.” Luke whispered against her skin.
She was sure he did. If she was sure about anything that was going on in Luke’s life, it was that this dragon loved him. In all her years she had never seen a dragon so focused on their rider, so bonded to each other when they had - as far as she was aware - never previously met. Part of her believed it must be because of Luke’s magic.
That his magic had brought a suitable dragon to him in his time of need, and bonded them together before they had seen each other. Perhaps that was how it was before the Doom, maybe dragons and their riders were drawn to each other via the magic that ran rampant in Old Valyria, and it had just dulled over time as they were taken further and further from their roots until riders had to seek their dragons out.
None, not even Aegon the Conquered showed as much magic as her grandson was gifted with. There were the rumors of dark magic used by Queen Visenya - leading to Maegor the Cruel - and some quieter, more obscure rumors of Queen Rhaenys using magic, but there was nothing concrete besides their ability to tame their dragons. Luke has magic.
He was able to heal himself with seawater, he was able to control flames, and though they had yet to actually see it in action, he could apparently summon a bubble to shield himself when he wanted to remain unseen. Those were all unmistakeable feats of magic. Things the world could witness and awe over, not just petty whispers on the wind.
Rhaenys pressed a kiss to Luke’s crown of curls and, against all things proper, lowered herself down till she was sitting on the cool stone of the balcony with Luke still safely held in her arms. “Of course he loves you, sweet boy, he’s part of you.”
The white dragon - Arrax, she reminded herself - encircled them, letting his hot breath fan over the two of them as he shielded them from the wind.
“Mother?” Laenor did a double take, almost dropping the tray in his hands, as he let himself into his parents quarters. There, out on the balcony, half covered up by Luke’s dragon, was his mother. “Mother!”
He threw himself at the door, yanking the closest one open unceremoniously, much to the anger of the dragon resting over top of them. Thankfully his mother jolted in place at the noise, quashing the horrible fear of her having been attacked and killed by Luke’s dragon.
A fear which, admittedly, seemed quite unfounded now that he was actually looking at his mother. She was entirely uninjured, there was no blood on her or Luke, she didn’t even seem annoyed at his sudden appearance. Still, the sight of them outside in the early morning sun had shocked his heart before his mind could comprehend the scene.
It couldn’t be helped, after the past few days - an entire moon, truly, ever since Luke had first fallen ill with fever - he was on edge. Every shadow, every noise, every odd out of place happening made his heart race and his mind fog over with fear.
“Laenor, if you wouldn’t mind not being so loud,” Rhaenys started, leveling a cool stare his way until he backed up back over the threshold so she could pull herself off the floor, “It's barely passed sunrise, most of the castle is still asleep.”
He sputtered, helplessly gesturing between her and the dragon lounging on the balcony. “I - I thought you were injured!” His hand followed his train of thought, pointing back out the door again as if it would suddenly make things make sense. “You were laying on the balcony, half under a dragon, what was I supposed to think?” The words caught in his mouth. “Did you sleep on the balcony all night?”
“It wasn’t all night,” The dragon snorted as they moved, nearly tripping Laenor when it yanked its tail from under the toe of his boot. “Luke woke in the middle of the night and I brought him out of the room to get a drink and try to give him a tonic.”
“He woke up?!” Despite knowing Luke was currently asleep, his gaze still dropped to rove over his son’s face. Luke looked better. He took in the pink hue of his skin, no longer dampened to a ghostly grey by the poison he had been fed, and the steady breaths he was pulling in.
Rhaenys hummed. “Only for a few minutes, I was able to learn that he was in pain and that his dragon is named Arrax, but he fell back asleep before I could ask about anything else.”
“Arrax?” That was a good name for a dragon, though he did wonder when Luke had a chance to think up a name for his dragon. Had he dreamed of names for the dragon that would have hatched from his egg? Or had he simply picked out the name of one of the gods of Old Valyria, as Rhaenyra and Jace had done?
The dragon having a name would certainly make things easier, he could stop referring to it as ‘the white beast’ and ‘the white dragon’. And if the dragonmasters knew of him, it would be by the name Arrax. The dragonmasters were sticklers for records, especially when it came to dragon eggs and new hatchlings, if one of them knew of Arrax and made a saddle for him, they would have noted down the name Luke had chosen as well as the clutch he had come from.
Though…Arrax wasn’t a small dragon, and definitely not a new hatchling, so perhaps he might’ve been known under a different name?
That was a different question for a different day, whenever he had a spare moment to get down to the pits and check on who had made that saddle. For now he wanted to focus on his son.
“That’s a good name.” He said softly as he reached for Luke. His son was unsurprisingly light in his arms, and not for the first time Laenor found himself thinking of how his son never seemed to eat. There were two trays laden with food that he had brought with him, so maybe today would be the day that Luke actually sat down and ate a full meal.
It was unlikely given that Luke was still asleep and even after being passed between the two of them, he still hadn’t moved let alone woken, but Laenor could hope.
His mother left, drifting back into her bedroom to wake father and Jace, no doubt. Which left him alone with his son.
Well. His son and the dragon - Arrax - that was staring at him through the glass pane of the balcony door. Arrax wasn’t trying to bust his way in, thank the gods. He considered opening the door, his mother had had it open all night and it had remained unbroken by the dragon, yet something made him hesitate.
Those red eyes were watching every move he made with wariness but Arrax still somehow seemed to be at peace. Maybe he was guarding the balcony, keeping an eye on his rider and was content with just seeing him for now.
Luke certainly felt peaceful, compared to how he had been before. The ragged, raspy and weak breaths he had struggled with during his seizures were evened out and every so often Laenor could feel as his hands shifted and gripped at his tunic.
“I don’t suppose you would know how to wake him up, huh?” The words left his mouth before he could think better of them, and to his shock Arrax’s head tilted as if he knew what had been said.
Right in front of his eyes, the dragon slowly reared up, until its upper body was off the balcony, and one of his wings lowered. The clawed tip scratched along the glass, the high pitched whine filling his ears as the claw gained purchase on one of the handles.
It pressed down slowly and the door pushed itself open.
“...Mother!” Laenor called, forcing himself to stay in his chair even as Arrax used his head to open the second door. He couldn’t let himself panic, he knew that Arrax wouldn’t hurt him or Luke, and he had just asked the dragon if he knew how to wake Luke up. He had brought this on himself and yet a small tendril of fear still slid its way up his spine.
His mother stepped out of her bedroom, confusion plain on her face, and stopped short at the sight of Arrax opening the second door to her balcony. Jace, still half asleep, bumped into the back of her legs.
“Luke’s dragon can open doors.”
“Come again?”
He flitted his eyes to the approaching dragon, and then down to the open doors with scratch marks glimmering in the sunlight. “Arrax.” He said slowly. “The dragon.” It felt like his heart was about to beat out of his chest. “Can open doors.”
Never in his life had he seen such a shocked look over take his mother’s face, but sure enough there she stood. Stock still in confusion, unable to do anything but watch as Arrax knocked aside an end table with his tail, rattling the entire room with his steps, until he was standing face to face with them.
To his credit the dragon did stop well in front of them and the table and besides the one table he managed to make it to them without the level of destruction he had wrought in the King’s solar. Hot breath skittered across Laenor’s face as Arrax leaned down to press just the edge of his snout against Luke’s hair.
He snuffled and snorted against the back of Luke’s, trying to worm his way near his face until Laenor finally got the message and turned Luke towards him. His son’s head lolled back onto his shoulder and Arrax lent even closer to press their foreheads together.
His heart stuttered in place, and then Luke jolted in his arms. He came alive with a sharp gasp that devolved into a cough, blinking his big orchid eyes open.
“Luke!” He shouted, or maybe it had been his mother, or his father, or even Jace. Regardless, the room echoed with the shouts of Luke’s name followed by the happiest sounding trill he had ever heard from a dragon.
Instantly hands were all over the two of them, poking and prodding at Luke, trying to get him to talk to them while he just stared at them in a daze. He looked confused - Laenor couldn’t blame him, he had just been woken up by a dragon touching foreheads with him. Laenor was full of confusion and Arrax hadn’t even touched him - at all the fuss.
Jace clambered up into his lap alongside his brother, and Laenor saw as Luke reached around him to pat at the crest of Arrax’s head. The dragon was quelled by the touch. He leaned into it with a soft chirp and then left to head back out onto the balcony, as if he had completed what he had come for.
His wings caught the stiff breeze that rolled along the castle, and Arrax disappeared out of sight.
“You’re awake!” Jace wrapped himself around Luke so tightly that Laenor was worried he’d choke him. He kept one of his hands between them, just to make sure Jace didn’t get overzealous.
Luke owlishly blinked up at them, squinting against the sun shining in from the open doors. “I’m awake.” He didn’t sound happy to be awake. His voice was crackly with disuse and he wound up coughing until they got him to drink a goblet of water. “I’m tired.”
Jace stared at him, pulling back from the hug just enough that they could look at each other eye to eye. “You can’t go back to sleep, you just woke up!”
“Jace,” His mother scolded, “Don’t yell, he’s tired and in pain.”
“But -”
“No buts, give Luke some room to breathe.”
How Jace managed to actually hold Rhaenys’ stare for more than a few seconds, Laenor didn’t know. He did eventually listen, and when he did he was rewarded with an almond cake being pressed into his hand. But still, his son was braver than he was staring straight into her eyes like that.
The air around them remained unsettled even as Rhaenys and Corlys took their own seats at the table. There were so many questions - namely about Arrax - that he wanted to ask Luke now that he was awake and yet none of them left his lips. Something strange and oppressive kept all of their mouths closed.
Maybe it was the way Luke was staring off into space, awake but seemingly unaware of the world around him, or maybe he was still shocked from the newfound knowledge that dragon’s could open doors. Could all dragons open doors, or was it just Arrax?
None of the other dragons had ever ventured into the Keep far enough to encounter a closed door, as far as he was aware, so perhaps all the dragons were capable of it. He’ll have to add the question to the ever growing list that he’d take with him to confront the dragonmasters.
Aegon watched as Aemond moved back and forth through the same three doorways for the third time. He and Helaena had long since chosen their own rooms in their father’s wing, it was only Aemond who remained indecisive. He didn’t know what in the seven hells was making his brother take so long to choose, the rooms were all essentially the same. Each had a small sitting room and a single bedroom attached and the layout of the areas only had minute differences.
“Is there a problem with the rooms, my prince?” His eyes snapped to look at Cole.
The knight was still standing at attention against the hall, as he had been for the last…three? Four? Hours that they had been waiting for Aemond to choose. It didn’t take a genius to see that he was getting more and more annoyed with each passing moment. As if he had better things to do than guard his charges as a member of the Kingsguard.
Maybe he was supposed to be going and meeting Alicent to get his cock wet.
Aegon didn’t trust the man anymore - not that he truly trusted him before, how could he when Cole was sworn to protect them yet still allowed their own mother to strike them. He had been squirrely ever since Viserys had announced they’d be moving into the King’s wing, constantly watching over his shoulders, darting his eyes around the room as if he was waiting for something to pop out of the shadows.
If Aegon were stupider he could have believed that it was just the knight doing his job, that he was hypervigilant due to Luke being poisoned and the sight of a dragon within the castle walls - and what a beautiful dragon it had been, once he was away from the seen and had settled enough to really comprehend the sight. It was a fitting dragon for his nephew, and one that nearly rivaled Sunfyre in its glory. Still, he knew well that Cole’s sudden fear wasn’t caused by anything that had happened with Luke, or Rhaenyra, or any of the other half of their family that he was also sworn to protect.
The man hated Rhaenyra and her sons just as much as Mother did. There was something else that had set the knight on edge. He assumed it had something to do with Alicent.
It had to be her. None of them had seen hide nor hair of her since the day Luke had gotten poisoned, and even after they were allowed to move about the castle again, they still hadn’t seen her. Aegon didn’t want to see his whore of a mother - he’d much rather go see his nephews - but it still rankled him that they hadn’t seen her. The threat of the royal family being poisoned apparently wasn’t enough to warrant a visit from the Queen.
At least their father had come to check on them twice, once in the night after he told them about their quarters changing, and another early in the morning to ensure that they and their belongings had arrived safely to their new wing. It was strange, seeing Father hovering about, trying to make conversation with them, asking after their lessons and fussing over whether or not they would find the new maester overseeing their future lessons in King’s hall satisfactory. He hadn’t stayed long, not with a small council meeting on the horizon, but in the moments he had been there Aegon saw the shades of a good father.
It was not enough to make up for the years that he had spent distant from them, yet it was still better than the complete silence their own mother was giving them.
And as much as he hated thinking about it, his mind couldn’t help but draw a line between Luke being poisoned and his mother suddenly doing a disappearing act and staying in her quarters. Aemond had mentioned that he had only gotten to spend time with Luke because he had heard mother berating Luke in the hall and Cole had separated them, urging Aemond to take Luke back to Rhaenyra’s chambers.
The asshole had also told Aemond not to mention the incident as well.
His mother had gotten ahold of Luke, with no one around, and then later that same day Luke wound up poisoned? It was far too big of a coincidence to just brush aside. Especially when it was combined with his mother’s lies about Rhaenyra and his nephews, and her sudden seclusion. Just a moon ago the prospect wouldn’t have even entered his mind, and now it lingered, niggling at the tail end of his thoughts and growing louder.
“Ser Cole?” Helaena’s voice startled him right out of his thoughts, and it seemed to do the same to Cole, who nearly jumped off the wall. “Perhaps you could go fetch a servant and send for mid-day meal? It appears that Aemond will take a bit longer in choosing his room.”
The knight just stared at her for a moment - most likely confused at her talking to him. She rarely talked at all when it wasn’t just the three of them or her handmaids in the room, and she talked less when it was Cole that was near them. It was even rarer for her to actually issue any kind of orders. “Of course, Princess.”
A silence settled among them until the clank of Cole’s armor faded off into nothing, and then Helaena let loose a small smile and turned to Aemond. “The third door is the one you are looking for, brother.”
“How do you know which one he wants?”
Her smile turned sly, and when he looked at Aemond, his little brother had gone beat red all the way down to the collar of his shirt. “He wants the room he thinks Lucerys will like the best, so that our nephews might visit him more often.”
Aemond sputtered, immediately giving away that their sister was right. He probably should have figured it out himself, after all, Aemond had been getting increasingly more and more obsessed with Luke since he had thwarted the assassins. Getting a necklace made for their nephew, trying to find reasons for him to be near their half-sisters chambers, and half of everything he did seemed to point towards their nephew. He had even tried once to convince Ser Darklyn that he had some urgent parchment that needed to be delivered straight to Rhaenyra in the hopes of getting in to see Luke, only for the knight to take the parchment to her himself.
His brother was a lovesick fool, of course he thought that somehow his room choice would affect whether or not their nephews came for a visit.
Really, all he needed to do was either ask outright to see them, or sneak into their rooms. Or, if he was feeling adventurous, get piss drunk and stumble off to one of the secret tunnels and just wait. Luke managed to find him every time he tried to escape in Maegor’s tunnels, surely the same thing would work for Aemond.
“You wasted all this time trying to pick out a room that Luke would like?”
Aemond scuffed his boot against the stone floor, dropping his chin to his chest with a barely audible sigh. “Well if he doesn’t like the chambers he won’t want to come see me!”
“He’d come if you’d ask or you could just go to him, idiot!” He didn’t put much heat into the insult, though he did mean it. His brother was an absolute lovestruck idiot. It wasn’t as if Luke was some standoffish, horrible person, he practically threw his toy at everyone in his haste to meet them. There was no reason to believe he’d push Aemond away. “I feel like I have to ask, why is the third door the one Luke would like the most?”
Helaena, cryptic as always, simply opened the door to the third room and let the light of the mid-day sun wash over the hall. As if opening the door was enough to explain why Luke would like this room over all the others. A steady breeze billowed through the hall along with the sunlight, blowing in the scent of fresh air and seawater from beyond the open balcony door.
Something jolted in his mind. “The ocean? That’s why Luke would like it?” It made sense in a strange way, Luke did like water. He carried around random cups full of it and he had been ridiculously excited at the prospect of Aegon bringing him a cup of water as a ‘gift’.
He loved it so much that Aegon had thought it would be a legitimate gift, and he had been right.
Helaena led them inside, and Aegon found himself taking back his earlier incredulousness. Luke would definitely like the room. It had a clear line of sight down to the bay from the balcony, and while it was far enough to one side of the castle that the stink from the city didn’t linger in the air, it was still able to draw in a pleasant breeze. If only they could find some way to boost Aemond’s confidence enough that he’d actually try to spend time with literally anyone besides the two of them, then he might be able to see their nephew instead of just dreaming about it.
“It’s the only room with a clear view of the bay and our nephew belongs to the sea.”
Luke belonged to the sea because he was a trueborn son of their half-sister and her lawful husband, because he wasn’t some bastard born as their mother claimed. The thought shoved its way into his mind before he could stop himself, and it rekindled the flare of annoyance he had felt earlier. He couldn’t help but want to blurt out what he knew about their mother to his siblings. The knowledge of her lies and her own whorish ways was a constant weight on his shoulders.
He had kept silent this long only because he knew there was no way the knowledge would help any of them. Several times he had contemplated just walking into their father’s chambers and telling him of Alicent’s adultery, or telling his half-sister, or whispering it as he wandered about the crowds of Flea Bottom to get the same rumor mills his mother had levied against Rhaenyra to start carrying the secret far and wide. Yet each time he had bitten his tongue.
Even when the possibility of Alicent having poisoned Luke consumed him, when they had been alone with their father learning that they’d be moving, he had bitten his tongue till it bled. Not out of any love for their mother, or out of fear for her - he desperately wanted her to face the consequences of her actions, for her to have to answer for what she had done the same way she always called for everyone else to be held accountable.
It was because he knew that it wouldn’t only be her who was ruined by her actions. Aemond, Helaena, himself, little Daeron in Oldtown, they would all suffer right beside her. None of them had known of her proclivities and yet they’d be persecuted along with her. If she had broken her vows to her husband with one man, who was to say she hadn’t done it with another? With ten, with twenty, with a hundred men! She had used her body to get something - what it was, information, love, favors, Aegon didn’t know - from Larys Strong, and if she was willing to sell herself for one thing she’d be willing to sell herself for another.
The halls of the Keep would echo with her indecencies even if she was executed for adultery, or exiled from the Kingdom, and with those echoes would come whispers. It wasn’t hard to think up the rumors that would catch like wildfire.
There were dragonseeds within the Kingdoms, particularly within King’s Landing. The gossipers would murmur that she wouldn’t have had to go far to find a man with white hair and purple eyes and she would have only needed one. Everyone in the seven Kingdoms would wonder if he and his siblings were truly children of the King and once that stained them, they’d never wash it away.
Of course that was if they weren’t executed or exiled alongside their mother. The King already had his heir, he had had her for years and not once had he wavered from Rhaenyra ascending to the throne, and Rhaenyra had two legitimate sons. Perhaps their father wouldn’t take the risk of them not being his blood and would just send them away without a second thought.
Aegon plopped himself into one of the chairs in the sitting room, and found himself staring out at the sea. For just the briefest moment as the breeze rolled in and ruffled across his face, he contemplated telling just his siblings. Not the world, not the King, not Rhaenyra. Just Aemond and Helaena.
Sharing his burdens with his siblings, letting them help him. He’d seen the way Jace and Luke clung to each other and part of him desperately wanted that sort of bond with his own siblings.
But as quickly as it came, the urge was gone. While it’d take some of the weight of her deeds off his shoulders, it wouldn’t make it disappear. He’d only be forcing it onto them as well.
If he told them what Alicent had done, it’d be the same as whispering all the horrible rumors he could think up into their ears.
Even worse, he knew the first thing Aemond would latch onto wasn’t their mother’s lies or her sins, it would be his inability to claim or hatch a dragon. Aemond had tried and tried and failed to gain himself a dragon, for years now. If there was a single whisper that made him believe he wasn’t truly the son of Viserys, Aegon knew his foolish brother would set it into his mind like it was a missing puzzle piece. To him it would appear as the answer - a horrible, disgusting, wrong answer - to the ever present question of why he couldn’t claim a dragon.
The inference alone would tear him apart from the inside out.
Aegon knew he wasn’t a kind brother, he and Aemond rarely saw eye to eye on anything, but he didn’t want Aemond to suffer just for him to have a moment of righteous satisfaction from their mother getting exposed.
Maybe he would say it aloud when they were older. When Rhaenyra’s reign was secured enough that neither he nor his siblings could threaten it, and no one would harm them for their mother’s actions. Maybe he could announce it on Alicent’s death bed, so that she would die with her shame fully on display for everyone to see, their false images of her as a godly woman and a doting wife ruined with no chance for her to redeem it.
Several servants and Cole filed back into the room, their hands full of trays laden with food. He watched on as Helaena pulled out her latest embroidery - a strange tree with wings that left her fingers trembling each time she touched it - and Aemond grabbed an apple off one of the plates. He watched them draw each other into their little nonsensical conversations, about bugs, about Aemond’s new obsession with orchids.
He watched them and kept his lips sealed.
Her goodmother’s chambers were calm and quiet when she entered them. She already knew that Corlys had been called away by her uncle earlier in the day, and that Rhaenys and Laena had wrestled Jace away so that he could attend lessons with Baela and Rhaena, so the only ones that should be in the room was her husband and Luke.
“Are you tired, sweet boy?” Rhaenyra asked softly as soon as she came upon the two of them. Her poor son was held in Laenor’s arms, his eyes barely open. He looked absolutely worn out, and he most likely hadn’t been out any further than the sitting room. “Perhaps we should put him down for a nap.”
Laenor shook his head, shooting a concerned glance towards their son. “I tried to put him down earlier, he’s been too cold to sleep alone.”
It didn’t surprise her, Luke had been shivering the entire time since he had woken up that morning according to her goodmother. “Is his dragon still on the balcony?” Normally she wouldn’t consider trying to use a dragon as some kind of mobile furnace, but Luke’s dragon did seem to breathe life into her son whenever they were together.
“He’s been out by the bay, I’ve seen him dive into the water to catch fish. I think Vermax is down there as well, though I can’t be sure.”
He wasn’t, it had taken quite a bit of cajoling from some of the lesser dragonmasters to get Jace’s dragon to abandon the makeshift nest they had built, but he had followed them down earlier that morning. Unless the dragon had somehow gone and broken Vermax out of the pit, he should still be there. She had never met a dragon that was so attached to the taste of fish, yet it was the only thing Luke’s dragon hunted.
Again and again he coasted down to the bay and dove into the water to catch fish along the surface. Not only was he the only dragon she knew of the preferred fish to any other meat, he was the only one daring enough to repeatedly risk submerging himself among the waves. “The dragon masters haven’t had any luck coaxing him into the pits?”
“None at all, this morning they weren’t even able to get in the room before he started hissing. It would seem that he doesn’t want to leave Luke’s side for too long, he goes and hunts and that’s it.”
She didn’t blame him. This dragon and her son clearly had a strong bond despite only being together for mere days, and if she had been poisoned she was sure Syrax would be just as incensed and clingy. Her dragon may not have broken into the Keep like Luke’s had, because she had only ever been kept in the pits, but Luke’s dragon had grown out in the wild for at least a little while. Wild dragons tended to be unruly, and they were even less willing to be penned in than bonded dragons.
Rhaenyra gently took Luke from Laenor and tucked the blanket tighter around his shoulders to try and keep the chill of the room away. Her son didn’t react much to the change of guard, he just snuffled against her neck and settled into her arms. After a moment of hesitation she laid him down on the lounge near the hearth. It was more comfortable than her arms, and she needed to ask about subjects that didn’t quite wish for her son, sleeping or not, to overhear.
A quick wave of her hand had them both stepping into the bedroom. “Have we heard anything from Gerardys?”
“Father said he and Daemon found the poison, it was soaked into the herbs that he was using to soothe Luke’s throat. When they steeped them for the elixir the poison seeped out and tainted the entire batch.”
“And the culprit?”
Laenor scoffed, leaning back against the wall near the door with his arms folded. “Daemon went through six acolytes this morning until he found one that broke and confessed. Apparently a woman fitting the same description given by the captured assassin gave him the poison and paid him twelve gold dragons.”
Anger flared low in her belly. Twelve gold dragons. That was what that monster had paid to try and kill her baby.
As if twelve gold dragons were all that her son’s life was worth. “Has the acolyte been sentenced yet?”
Her husband shook his head. “He’s in the cells for now, so that my Father and Daemon can have their chance to get more information,” A very soft way to say that the two men were going to torture the acolyte within an inch of his life. It made some of her anger dampen to know that her uncle and her goodfather would be ensuring the would-be assassin had a horrid last few days of his life. The man deserved far worse than even the cruelest torture for going after her baby, but she supposed she’d have to settle.
If her sons didn’t require her full attention she might have even joined them, if only for a few bare minutes. Violence was not an option she usually condoned…but this man had taken a measly twelve gold dragons to kill her sweet boy, and for what? Why would anyone want Luke dead?
Luke had never harmed a single person in his life, he was only three years old! Foolishly she had thought that Jace would be the one more often in danger, since he was to be King after her and her Father, it was why she had been stricter on him than she was on Luke, yet everyone was going after her youngest.
“When they are done the King will deal with him.” Laenor said.
“I’ll have to speak to my father beforehand.”
The suggestion seemed to stun Laenor, because he stared at her in shock before moving closer. “You wish to plead for mercy for the man who tried to murder our son?”
“No.” She said firmly. “I intend to plead to have him face the Dragon’s Justice instead of letting a headsman kill him.” Death by dragonfire hadn’t been used since the days of Maegor the Cruel, and yet it was what she craved. She wanted to see the fool burn, and she wanted it done by her own dragon’s flame.
Forget not condoning violence, her son was a prince, she was the heir to the Seven Kingdoms, and she needed to make it known that this would not be tolerated. It was needed to protect her siblings too, Aegon had been poisoned as well - thank the gods it had been mild enough that he had barely even noticed it - and if these assassins realized they could get off lightly for poisoning two princes, she’d have to show them otherwise.
Anyone thinking that they might jump on the bandwagon and take twelve fucking gold dragons to kill her baby would think twice when they knew they would face Syrax.
And while she thought of her siblings, she knew she’d need to go visit them soon. Harwin had mentioned that he saw them moving into the west section of the King’s Wing during his patrols that morning. They wouldn’t begin their lessons with her sons and her nieces for a couple more days yet, while her father vetted their new set of tutors.
She wanted to make sure that everyone was getting along and happy with the new arrangements, preferably before they all started attending lessons together, and she found herself just wanting to check on her siblings. Luke had preoccupied her mind for the last several days, but the protectiveness she had felt over Aegon still simmered beneath it and she knew it wouldn’t die down until she had seen them all for herself.
Rhaenyra hummed in thought, running over her options. A dinner with their whole family would be nice, and it would be a good way to introduce Baela and Rhaena to her siblings, since the girls would be learning alongside them. They could have a small feast, maybe some music. “Laenor, if you wouldn’t mind, the next time you see Laena ask when she would like to have dinner with us.”
Judging by the confused tilt of his head, Laenor probably hadn’t been expecting her to jump from calling for the acolyte to face her dragon to asking his sister over for dinner. “I wish to have all the children spend some time together before they start their lessons.” She clarified.
“Is that truly a good idea, Rhaenyra? I doubt having the whole family round for dinner and not inviting the Queen would look very good.”
That was something she hadn’t thought of, and now she was kicking herself for it. Laenor was right, of course. If she invited their family and her father and her siblings, it would look…devious at best to anyone who caught wind of it. The last thing she wanted to do was invite Alicent in around her children when all she did was insult them, but she wanted her siblings to be able to spend time with them.
“We’ll deal with that when we come to it.” She said eventually as she turned to open the door. They had already talked for a bit longer than she originally intended, and Rhaenyra didn’t want Luke finding his way into trouble while they weren’t looking. He was asleep, yes, but she didn’t doubt that he’d somehow find something to get up to even in his dreams.
The sight of Luke sitting at the table, drenched in blood, as she stepped over the threshold nearly stopped her heart. It took only a single second for her to notice that the blood wasn’t coming from him, but rather from the array of…fish remains that were scattered across the table in front of him, and she noticed Arrax next. The dragon was at the edge of the table, his entire body curled around it with the tail end of a small fish disappearing down his throat.
Her husband must’ve left the balcony doors open, though she didn’t remember them being open when she came in. Still the fiend had apparently decided that it wasn’t enough to go out and hunt for himself, he had to bring his meal back and eat it over top of Luke.
That tiny tendril of fear, coupled with her agitation at an assassin being paid twelve gold to kill her son finally bubbled over and despite her better judgment she found herself stomping up to the dragon.
He barely paid her any attention. Not until she knocked him on the neck with the flat of her hand. His head shot up but he didn’t attack her, or even make a noise. He just watched her as if she were the one doing something strange!
“Shoo!” Rhaenyra thumped her hand against him again. “Go on.” If the dragon wanted to eat then he could at least have the decency to eat it outside like a normal dragon instead of spewing blood and guts all over the room and her son.
Rhaenys would be absolutely livid when she got back to find their quarters looking more like a slaughterhouse than a living space.
“Mother, don’t hit him, he’s eating!” Luke grabbed at her hands with a surprising amount of strength for how listless and worn out he had been just minutes ago.
It shocked her just enough to stop her assault on his dragon - and gave her a moment of pause to realize just how rash and dangerous the decision to walk up to an eating dragon and hit them was. Still, she pressed on. The dragon couldn’t eat its meal inside and get it all over her son.
Luke was still recovering from poison, the last thing he needed was to be covered in blood and viscera and parasites from uncleaned and uncooked fish. “He can’t eat in here, Luke, it's unsanitary!”
“He brought food in for us to eat!” Her son pleaded with his big eyes, and she could already see the tears building up within them. His hand pointed to some of the dead fish on the table, and sure enough a few of them were untouched. Well, nearly untouched, they did have just the barest indents of the dragon’s teeth from when he caught them.
There were also a few that had tiny bites taken out of them, much smaller than Arrax’s own jaws, but she brushed that aside in favor of picking Luke up. They’d have to give him a bath before he caught something from the fish, she could worry about everything else later. “He needs to leave Luke, at least out onto the balcony.” She glanced down at all the blood drenching the front of his clothing, “And you need a bath.”
Luke pouted at her, and eventually he reached down to stroke Arrax’s head, and pressed a kiss to the ridge of his snout. His dragon returned the gesture, licking half the blood off her son’s face with a single swipe of his tongue. “Mother says you have to eat outside, but you can come back in when you’re done!”
That…was not what she meant at all, but as long as it got the dragon out of the room so they could clean Luke up and clean the room before Rhaenys and Corlys got back, she was willing to allow it. “Fine, yes, we’ll open the doors when he is done eating so he can come back in.”
“Don’t worry, he’ll let himself in!”
Rhaenyra paused halfway through closing the balcony doors behind her, “Dragon’s can’t open doors, sweet boy. I’ll let him in once you are done with your bath.”
Laenor scratched his head, looking between the dragon on the balcony, the fish carcasses, and their now exuberant son with a sheepish smile. “Ah, I forgot to tell you that Arrax can open doors, didn’t I?”
Had he lost his mind in the few moments they had been distracted? A dragon opening doors? The notion was absolutely absurd. Her son at least had the excuse of youth and not having been around many dragons before, Laenor however should know it was impossible. Luke’s dragon was incredibly smart, that was true, but he was still a beast in the end.
“Laenor, dragons can’t open doors.”
“Luke’s can!” He said, and he somehow managed to find an emotion between terrified and impressed to display on his face. “He opened the balcony doors this morning while I was staring straight at him.”
Luke giggled between them, and as she shut the balcony doors and called in one of the servants - pointedly ignoring the way the servant gasped in horror at the sight of the table - to draw up a bath, she was regalled with the story of Laenor asking Arrax if he knew how to wake Luke up, and the dragon finding its way into Rhaenys’s quarters to do just that.
“How,” Rhaenys started as she took in the absolute carnage that covered what used to be her quarters. The main section of the sitting room was primarily untouched, having been spared from whatever bloodbath had taken place. But the secondary section that led back to their bedroom - separated from the rest by both the back of the lounge and a long table - was a mess of blood, bones and guts. “In the gods name did this happen?”
Even Daemon behind her sounded astonished at the strangeness of the scene they stumbled upon. There was fish all over. Some of them were half torn apart, some had guts strewn about. A few disembodied heads dripped blood in streaks across the floor.
What had happened to make this kind of mess?
As if he was summoned by her irritation, Laenor came stumbling out of the bedroom with the sleeves of his tunic rolled up to his elbows, and water dripping from his hands. Spatters of blood littered the front of the tunic, staining the blue fabric a dark purple.
His tunic all but confirmed her suspicions.
“Laenor, I left you alone for six hours and you’ve filled the place with dead fish?!”
Her son had the audacity to look shocked, sputtering as if he hadn’t been in the room when this whole mess had taken place. He was the only one, besides Luke and she knew that her grandson didn’t somehow have a part in making a mess of this size, to be in the room except for Rhaenyra. And much like Luke, Rhaenys had no reason to believe that Rhaenyra would cause this.
No, the only possible culprit was her fool of a son. If she had to guess he must’ve thought it a grand idea to try and show Luke how to gut a fish at the table. His father had done the same thing with him at the tender age of five, a whole tubs worth of trout had littered their dining table by the time she came back from her flight with Meleys and the hall had stunk of fish for weeks. She could already hear him justifying it in her mind, saying that he thought a lesson in fish butchery might somehow help Luke feel better.
It would be the first excuse out of his mouth, she could feel it in her bones, her son was about to give her some half baked hair brained scheme.
“It wasn’t me, it was Arrax!”
“Really,” She huffed, exasperated. A grown man, with two children of his own and still he hadn’t figured out that the excuse of an animal causing a mess wouldn’t work. “Your son’s dragon brought a bunch of fish inside, butchered them instead of eating them, and conveniently left the carcasses all over the dining table.” Her hands found their way to her hips. “Did Arrax get blood all over your tunic too?”
Rhaenys pointedly ignored the cackles coming from her cousin behind her.
Even the sight of Luke barrelling out of the bedroom, excited and shockingly animated compared to that morning, wasn’t enough to erase her annoyance. A dragon making a mess of their room with fish. Honestly, she didn’t understand how Laenor was still so horrible at lying. His father was at least capable of dreaming up some realistic excuse to cover his schemes and she had learned how to lie to people’s faces with nary a single hair out of place by the time she could walk, yet here was their son trying to blame a dragon.
Daemon ceased his cackling for only the briefest moment, just to open his mouth and annoy her even more. “How did his dragon get in, the doors are closed, my friend.”
A quick glance as she reached down to pick her grandson up revealed that the doors were, in fact, closed. Even more damning was the fact that the balcony itself was empty, with no signs of Arrax resting on the stone.
“Arrax opened them, and they are closed because we closed them after he left!” Laenor looked at her with desperate eyes, practically begging her to believe him, but she knew those eyes. They were the same eyes he used to try and convince her that the gulls on the beach ripped apart the parchment he had been using to practice his sums on so that he wouldn’t have to turn them in to his tutors.
She knew Arrax could open the doors, she had seen it that morning herself, but everything else had to be some story Laenor drew up. It was by and far the worst excuse he had come up with.
Luke tugged on her hair until she looked down at him. “Arrax came and ate dinner with me!”
She and Daemon both paused, but Luke stared up at her with his big eyes. His big doe eyes that were brighter than they had been in days. Did Laenor really think that having Luke unknowingly repeat his lie would make it appear more believable? That was nearly as foolish as the lie itself.
The audacity.
He truly was his father’s son.
He was saved from getting the verbal lashing of his life by Rhaenyra stepping out of the bedroom, surprisingly in a similar state to Laenor. Water streaked up her arms and darkened the sleeves of her dress, which had even worse blood stains on it than Laenor’s tunic. She looked up as she crossed the threshold and cringed at the mess.
It was clear she had seen it - she had to unless she had been in the bedroom with Luke the entire time - from the embarrassed twist to her lips. “Princess Rhaenys, I was hoping that we’d have enough time to clean this all up before you got back.” Her gaze drifted to Luke. “Bathing Luke took quite a bit longer than I thought it would.”
“Perhaps you can inform us on how the mess came to happen, as I’m a bit at a loss.”
“Yes, please tell us, I can’t wait to hear this.” Daemon rose up to stand by her side, his glee - if she knew her cousin he was soaking in the chance to watch someone else be scolded instead of having it directed at him - shining so bright she could feel it radiating off of him.
Rhaenyra sighed and before she could get a word out, Luke started up his tugging again, stealing her attention away until she looked at him. “Arrax brought the fish so we could eat and it made me feel better, and then Mother and Father gave me a bath and that made me feel even more better.” He patted his hand against her shoulder and gave a little nod, as if that settled the whole thing.
“Even better, my dear.” She corrected with a fond smile. It didn’t make her believe a bit of this ridiculous lie, but some of her annoyance did fade in the light of her grandson's cuteness. She’d have to keep a firm eye on Laenor in the future, if he was going to use Luke to back up his falsities, one of these days he might actually manage to slip something by her. “I’m glad to hear you are feeling so well, you had me worried this morning.”
Rhaenyra cleared her throat, giving Luke her own smile aas she came forward to stroke the loose curls still dampened from his bath back from his face. “Yes, well, unfortunately Arrax managed to get in through the balcony while we were distracted, and he brought some fish in with him, leaving quite a mess.”
What little ground Laenor gained with Luke instantly disappeared. “You convinced both your wife and your son to peddle this, Laenor, really?” It was an unprecedented amount of effort put into the lie, she had to admit. Usually Laenor was cowed by a single stern glare from her and told the truth immediately. Sometimes he wasn’t even able to say it with a straight face and he’d give up the game before a lie passed his lips.
Laenor threw his hands up, “It’s the truth!” He was saying it with conviction, at least. “Arrax spent all day gathering fish and while Rhaenyra and I were talking he brought them in and started eating.”
Rhaenyra and Luke were both nodding along with him, and despite her misgivings, she did find herself starting to believe Laenor. Just a tiny bit. It was still outlandish and ridiculous, and something she’d never fully believe without seeing it with her own eyes.
Partially believing his version of events didn’t take away the problem she was now saddled with, however. Dead fish still littered the room, stinking up the place. It was unusable as a livingspace.
“Corlys and I will have to find another set of chambers for the night, till the servants can clean this, at least.” She saw the gleam of a scheme lighting up Daemon’s eyes as soon as the words left her mouth.
“Luke can stay the night with Laena and I.”
Laenor did a double take, “He’ll sleep with me or Rhaenyra.”
“Nonsense,” Daemon said with a dismissive wave. “Jace is already in our chambers, and all of you have been harping on about wanting the children to get along! Not to mention we wouldn’t want Luke staying in a room full of dead fish.”
“Our chambers don’t have fish in them, it's just mother’s quarters!”
Rhaenys sighed, already knowing where this was going. Of course her cousin couldn’t miss an opportunity to cause a ruckus. Daemon had a love for dramatics. “Daemon, now is not the time -” Her cousin snatched her grandson out of her arms before she could finish.
“Well, it's settled then, we’ll see all of you in the morning!” Daemon ducked out of the way of Rhaenys’ hands and kicked the door shut behind him, cutting off the shouts of protest. There was no doubt in his mind that he’d have Rhaenys and Rhaenyra at his door probably before he could even get to his chambers himself, but he just couldn’t resist the chance to cause a little chaos.
His day had already been filled with annoyance from trying to interrogate the pest they had found hiding among Gerardys’ acolytes, the least the world could do is give him some time with his favorite grandnephew.
With Luke awake and aware he’d have a good chance at getting the boy to reveal some more of his magic.
Neither his cousin nor his niece would be happy with him, but for now he’d just enjoy making off with his spoils of war. If his luck held, Rhaenys would take just long enough to finish scolding her son that he could get to his door and bar it behind him.
“Wife!” He called out, shoving open the door to their chambers with a flare of dramatics that was absolutely not just his; in his arms he heard Luke’s insidious giggling, the excitement of a child exploring a new place having washed away what was left of the boy’s earlier tiredness. Both of his daughters continued on with their projects, long since used to his antics. “I have the gift of a son for you!”
Jace watched him from the table with wide eyes, much quieter than he had been on the way over to their chambers that morning. The sound of Laena’s laugh traveled out from further in their apartment.
She must be finishing her nightly bath then. Shame, if he had weaseled Luke away from his parents a little quicker he could have left the boys with his daughters to entertain themselves and joined her. “And where did you acquire this son? Does he happen to match the one we received this morning?”
“I found him wandering about through the Keep all on his lonesome, getting pestered at every turn by the naggiest of people, I swear.”
“Ah, so you stole my brother’s other son.” She said as she came out of their bedroom, her hair still slightly wet from her bath. Her eyes roved over the two boys as he set Luke in the chair beside Rhaena while Jace climbed up onto the one next to Luke. “I’m glad to see you are awake, nephew, we were all worried for you though I must admit seeing you out of your chambers so soon after your ordeal is quite the shock.”
“He’s had quite the day, my ladies.” He leant across the table with a conspiratorial smirk and whispered, “A dragon found its way into your grandmother’s quarters and made a mess of the place with a bunch of fish.”
“Oh? Did that dragon happen to look like my brother trying to teach his son how to butcher fish?”
A firm knock on the door, followed by Rhaenys shouting his name interrupted his perfectly crafted retelling of the events he had witnessed. Laena breathed out a sigh and stood, shooting him a not quite heated glare as she went to open the door. Rhaenys and Rhaenyra flooded into the room, nearly bowling her over in their haste.
“Mother, Rhaenyra, how wonderful to see you.”
Her greeting went entirely ignored, the two of them were most likely too incensed and focused on him to even notice Laena was there. “Cousin, you will return Luke at once-”
Baela perked up, glancing back and forth between the four of them. “Are we all having a sleepover? Are Grandfather and Uncle Laenor going to join us?”
“Can we have a sleepover, Mother? Please!” The boy was practically bouncing in his seat at the possibility of sleeping in someone else's chambers. He must’ve been utterly stifled, cooped up in Rhaenyra’s rooms, like a dragon forced to a life of confinement in the pits with no rider to ever take them out to roam amongst the skies.
Not that Daemon blamed them for trying to keep him locked away. Luke was a treasure trove of magic, and seemed to attract danger at every turn.
There was no chance for either of them to argue against it, for as soon as Baela and Luke started cheering for a sleepover, Jace and Rhaena joined them, filling the room with excitement. With a sly smirk he knew he had won. The children practically formed a small mob around Rhaenys’ legs, tugging on her skirts and begging her to let them sleep together.
His cousin was a very strong woman, but her own children - and by extension her grandchildren - had always been her one and only weak point. Well. The children and occasionally Corlys when he went long enough without doing something she considered stupid, which wasn’t very often. Just as he thought she would, she swiftly gave into their demands.
Rhaenyra still had a frown on her face, but she too acquiesced eventually, after cajoling from both her children and from some hushed whisper Laena hid behind the curtain of her hair. “I suppose we can all spend the night, though this won’t be happening every night.”
“Wonderful, and since my husband was kind enough to open our chambers up to everyone, I’m sure he’ll be kind enough to sleep out here on the lounge so that the rest of us can fit on the bed.” His protest was shut down just as swiftly as it came, with a second glare. Perhaps the first one hadn’t been quite as cool as he first thought.
Still, this was technically a win for him. He may have been delegated to the couch in the process, but Luke was here and surely he would find some time in the next day to explore whatever magic laid underneath his skin.
Daemon held his cup up with a tilt of his head. “Of course. It would only be polite.”
Rhaenyra slowly let out a sigh as she began to rouse. The sunlight of a new day shone in from the balcony, and all the little bodies huddled around her shifted with a chorus of whines and cries to stay in bed for longer. If it had just been her, or her and her boys, she would have tucked them all back under the covers and slept for a few more hours.
But she knew Rhaenys was up and awake, probably having already requested the morning meal for them to consume. She had also probably gone out and scolded Daemon for his antics the other day. At least moving rooms seemed to help Luke, now that the night had passed them by, she couldn’t find fault in letting the boys stay with their cousins.
The night had gone well, her nieces and her sons had gotten along nicely, and some of her worries were dampened by the happy atmosphere and the sounds of her children’s joy. Baela and Jace seemed to get along extremely well, having found a common love of geography, which had been the conversation overtaking the dinner table for most of the evening. Daemon and Rhaenys had both managed to coax Luke into eating some small bits of sausage and fruit.
It was almost enough that she could brush off the strangeness of yesterday. She would have to learn at some point, she supposed, every waking moment Luke had seemed to bring another harrowing event or strange occurrence. Maybe that was just what happened with magic, and she would need to steel herself against her sheer terror to allow it to become normal.
“And how are the children this morning?” Rhaenys, prim and polished as ever, walked back through the door to Laena’s bedroom. She swept across the bedside, coming to stand near Laena and the girls so she could give them each a kiss to hasten their waking. Jace and Luke got a kiss as well, and much to Rhaenyra’s surprise, even her own forehead was blessed with a kiss from the Queen Who Never Was.
The older Princess was obviously in a very good mood, a complete shift for how she had been the days before. She must’ve already gotten through her scolding of Daemon, then. Or maybe the servants and Laenor had spent the whole night cleaning her quarters.
“Good morn, grandmother!” The bed dipped under the weight of Baela, Rhaena and Jace clambering off of it, the three of them no longer held down by their sleepiness. Luke was the only one still subdued.
He stared up at them from his place tucked under the covers, smacking his lips around a yawn before burrowing his head back under Laena’s arm.
Rhaenyra watched as her friend tried to coax her son awake only for his rarely seen stubbornness to finally rear its head. Luke ducked even further under the covers, squirreling himself away until only a few wisps of his hair were uncovered. “If it’s alright with you, sister, we could let him sleep a while longer, provided you wouldn’t miss the use of your bed.”
“Yes,” Rhaenys agreed, already ushering the excited trio past her legs and out the door to get their morning meal, “Let him sleep, he’s had quite a harrowing few days. I’ve already spoken to Gerardys and he said to allow him to sleep as he wishes.”
With a smile, Laena tucked the covers tighter around his little body and stood from the bed herself. “I suppose we should join the children in breaking our fast then, before they eat everything.” She cast a wistful look to the balcony doors. “Perhaps we could leave the balcony doors open? He might wake faster with a breeze rolling.”
The quiet noises of Rhaenys gathering up a set of dressing gowns stopped. “Ah, unless you enjoy the stink of dragon all over your sheets, I wouldn’t recommend opening the balcony.”
The implication took a moment to lodge in her mind, but once it did, Rhaenyra found herself drawn to the balcony doors. Sure enough when she peeked around the edge of the threshold, Luke’s dragon - Arrax, she reminded herself - was napping on the stone. Or perhaps baking was a more appropriate term.
His scales gleamed a brilliant white in the morning sun, looking more like a dazzling pile of jewels than a dragon. He must have arrived at some point during the night. She was surprised he hadn’t forced his way into the room as he had in her Rhaenys’ chambers but then again the balcony doors on Laena’s apartments were considerably smaller than the ones in the solar and even the ones in Rhaenys and Corlys’ apartments.
Laena came to stand by her side, handing her a brilliant blue dressing gown as she did. “Is this Luke’s dragon, then? He’s absolutely stunning.”
That he was. The beast had terrified her at first with his sudden appearance and his territorialness, but now that she knew he was bonded to Luke, she was able to see him for what he was. A protective and loving dragon, not unlike her own Syrax or Jace’s Vermax. And he was truly stunning.
The muted candle light and the sun peeking in through windows didn’t do his beauty justice. The white of his scales and the deep crimson of his membranes were a beautiful contrast to each other, and he was quite a good shape for a dragon. His neck was stouter than other dragons she had seen, though that would most likely change with age. There hadn’t been any chances to get him down to the pits and ask the dragonmasters about where he had come from or who had hatched him, nor about the well crafted saddle that sat upon his back but she or Laenor would have to make time soon.
She trusted Arrax himself, given how sweet he was to Luke, she just didn’t trust that saddle. Not when it would be the only thing keeping her sweet boy from plummeting to his death during flight.
As if sensing her thoughts, Rhaenys hummed her own worry. “He is stunning, yes, but we have no idea where he’s come from, nor when or how he hatched.”
“Did Luke not hatch him?”
“No.” Rhaenyra answered. “Or at least not that we know of.”
Rhaenys shook her head as well. “There hasn’t been any chances for him to go off and hatch a dragon, and his egg is still whole in the hearth. Even if he had hatched an egg, Arrax is at the very least a decade old to be as big as he is.”
She hadn’t thought of that. Of course it made sense, dragons came out of their eggs as hatchlings, not anywhere near big enough to ride, and Arrax was grown to where an adult could ride him comfortably. Yet that left her son having gone out and found a wild dragon to bond too, and somehow get him back to the pits to be saddled.
It was mind boggling, as everything with Luke seemed to be.
“He must be extraordinary to have claimed a wild dragon at the age of only three.” Laena said with a smile and a gentle hand on her shoulder. The look on her face was almost one of pride, and Rhaenyra knew her friend enough to understand that she was happy her brother’s son was achieving such a great feat. “I am surprised that a saddle was made so quickly. From what I understood it takes quite a bit of time for a new saddle to be made.”
“Several moons, at the least, for a proper saddle.”
“And he’s already gotten one made?” She asked, turning from the balcony. “I didn’t know he had a dragon before we arrived, and we didn’t see Arrax in the pits at all.”
Rhaenyra turned away as well, shrugging on the dressing gown over her small clothes as she went. “He didn’t. Arrax only appeared once he had been poisoned, and he already had a saddle on.”
Her goodsister glanced between her and Rhaenys, and she must’ve picked up on the strange tension over the subject, because her jaw tightened. Almost imperceivably, but enough for Rhaenyra to notice it. “Which master made the saddle then?”
“I’ve sent Corlys and Laenor down to the pits already to question the dragonmasters. They’ll ask after both the saddle’s maker and Arrax himself.” Rhaenys said in lieu of a proper answer. “In all my years I haven’t seen nor heard of a dragon fitting Arrax’s description. It’s possible, of course, that an egg was stolen and hatched elsewhere, though it's unlikely. Or perhaps one of the dragons at the dragonmount laid a clutch and one hatched.”
“But if that’s what happened, how did Luke come to claim Arrax?”
They all looked back at the small lump on the bed, wondering the same thing. It was still a mystery.
“We can ask him when he wakes, for now we should check in on the others before they really do eat all the food.”
The three of them let the subject drop, instead heading out into the main room of Laena and Daemon’s apartments, where they were greeted by not only their three children sitting at the table wolfing food down, but a petulant looking Daemon. He had the same pout on his face as he had when she confronted him on Dragonstone over Baelon’s egg. If she had to guess it must have something to do with the fact that Corlys and Laenor both were sitting at the table as well, looking utterly cross.
Not often did she see Laenor agitated, in fact she wasn’t sure if she ever saw him anything other than cheery. “Husband, Corlys.” She greeted as she took her seat at the table next to Jace. She pointedly didn’t greet her uncle. “Rhaenys mentioned that you both would be down in the pits this morn.”
Laenor shifted in his seat, his agitation only increasing. “We just returned. The dragonmasters had no recollection of a dragon named Arrax, or any dragon fitting Arrax’s description.”
“Did they know of any eggs that may have previously been stolen?” Laena asked. “Mother was just saying that someone might have stolen an egg in the years past and hatched it elsewhere.”
“The dragonmasters kept meticulous records of all the clutches laid since the building of the pits, including those in the dragonmount. Any eggs laid by Meleys, Dreamfyre, Syrax and even Silverwing were accounted for and those that haven’t hatched are still accounted for.”
So once again they were at a dead end. All their questions remained unanswered, with no true path to find the truth. It was getting to be an unending game, chasing down all these mysteries that felt like they had no true resolution.
No wonder her husband was agitated. The news perturbed her too. And even more ridiculously they were once again left to wait for Luke to come out of another catastrophic event in the hopes that he could finally give them some answers. Rhaenyra didn’t have high hopes for him being able to tell them what had happened.
Her youngest was cryptic at best and completely silent at worst. Half the time she almost swore that Luke would somehow knock himself out when he wanted to avoid dealing with something. There was no evidence to back that suspicion up - not that there was evidence of anything when it came to Luke, they still didn’t even know how Luke’s magic worked - it was merely based on how he conveniently conked out each time things got out of sorts.
Him passing out from blood loss after the assassins attack, and being knocked unconscious as poison ravaged his body made sense. But beyond that, she had witnessed several times where it looked as if he just decided to fall asleep.
And if he wasn’t sleeping, he was sneaking out using his magic - they still hadn’t managed to get him to show them this ‘bubble’ he used to get around. Daemon had seen it in the hall once, but no one else had seen it - and getting into all sorts of trouble. Each time they waited for him to tell them what had happened, something else incapacitated him.
Maybe the gods had cursed him. He received too much power in the form of his magic and they were cutting him at the knees with devious plots and attacks to keep him from reaching his full potential.
“Arrax is the dragon from Luke’s egg, that’s why his egg won’t hatch, because Arrax is already out of it.” Jace said matter of factly, between bites of sausage, as if he wasn’t claiming that Luke somehow hatched an egg without actually hatching it.
Rhaenyra blinked, trying desperately to parse the words in her mind. “What? Jace, what are you talking about?”
“I saw it when Luke was poisoned, he was in a cave somewhere and he claimed Arrax. It was a dream, I think, but I heard something tell him that the egg wouldn’t hatch because his dragon was already alive.” It was said with such confidence, and Jace looked up to face her with a smile that told her it was the truth. Or, at the very least, what Jace believed to be the truth.
How could it be the truth - her son had magic, she really needed to stop thinking things couldn’t happen - when they still had a fully intact egg in the hearth? How could Jace have seen into Luke’s dragon dream?
The boys had been pressed against each other the entire time Luke was poisoned. Jace had jolted awake screaming of them breaking his tether to Luke when they pulled the two of them apart…
Gerardys had thought that Jace was poisoned by the contact with his brother, but what if he hadn’t been? What if he actually had been tethering Luke to him somehow, keeping the poison from killing his brother? Was it Luke’s magic that had seeped into Jace instead of the poison like they thought?
Gods, she didn’t think she could handle both of her sons having magic. “So you saw Luke claim Arrax? In this…dream while the two of you were poisoned?”
Everyone stared at her as if she was insane, but Jace just nodded along.
“I didn’t see all of it because you broke us apart, I just know it was Luke and Arrax in the cave and I saw some of it again right when you pulled me from him.”
A knock at the door interrupted her next question, though Laena was quick to get up and greet the unexpected quest.
Ser Marbrand stood outside the door, an uncharacteristically cold look etched across his face. He nodded at Laena, greeting her with a quick utterance of her title before coming to stand at attention in front of them. “Princess Rhaenyra.”
“What is it, Ser Marbrand?”
“I’m afraid The King has received some troubling news, Princess, he has requested your presence, along with the presences of Princess Rhaenys, Prince Daemon and Lord Corlys.”
End of Chapter 18
Notes:
Well that's it for this week folks, let me know in the comments if you enjoyed this chapter, what'd you like to see in the future, etc!
We'll be getting some more kiddie interactions in the next chapter, so that's something to look forward too.
A/N: Baby Laenor: Mother, the seagulls ate my homework.
A/N: Laenor: Why is everyone blaming me??? I haven’t even done anything! I got jumpscared by a dragon opening a door right in front of me, and then the same dragon trolled me by bringing in a bunch of dead fish!
A/N: Arrax The Dragon: Part-Time serial killer in a horror movie, Part-Time Troll
A/N: Arrax: Here you go friend, I brought you fish to eat
Rhaenyra: I see that Luke absolutely took some bites out of those fish, but my brain refuses to accept that as a possibility, so I'm gonna erase it from my memoryI’m sorry, I headcanon Laenor getting hardcore bullied by seagulls as a kid and constantly going to his mother because the damn gulls attacked him and stole his homework again, and Rhaenys doesn’t believe a single word out of his mouth.
Chapter 19: Chapter 19
Summary:
We have more fluff!! Finally! And some more plot!
Notes:
So, uh, long time no see guys. If you are wondering why this chapter was delayed by nearly an entire month, well there’s two reasons. 1. I was hit by Concussed Me Part 2: Revenge of my own stupidity. And 2. I made the grand mistake of sending my writings to a beta reader for like the first time in forever.
The beta reader made me doubt my entire existence and had me about three seconds from apologizing for every thing wrong in the world including original sin as well as up to and including the fall of the holy roman empire.
Concussed me really fucked me over on the rewrite of chapter 18 because as I was rereading the final draft for this chapter - contemplating adding in a third sneak reference to both Harry Potter and Teen Wolf despite not a single soul talking about the first two - I realized two things. One) Concussed me removed the second reference of HP and TW and Two) Concussed me removed EVERY SINGLE IOTA of my convoluted 'Luke accidentally mind melds himself to Daemon' plotline from chapter 18. I have spent the last near month waffling between trying to shoehorn that in a whole chapter late or just take it out altogether.
And guess what, concussed me robbed us of Mind melded Daemon and Luke, so most of this time was spent taking out all the references back to plotline in future chapters and also rewriting the entirety of Larys' death plotline because that all banked on the mind meld!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Is it really a Red Herring if you are wearing rose colored glasses?
Corlys looked over the reports in his hands with a growing sense of unease. Each report unsettled him more than the last, and when he glanced around the table, he found his own grim expression mirrored back at him.
The reports were fairly scarce in detail, to the point of almost appearing mundane if they were read in solitude, but read together and with the previous knowledge he had, they painted a much different story.
Merchants being threatened away from trading with the Seven Kingdoms, Westerosi ships being raided and capsized with no survivors, ships disappearing entirely in the middle of the Narrow Sea. It all stunk of some coordinated attack slowly building to a crescendo, and the newest reports from spies the crown had throughout Essos only furthered that thought. Yet at the same time something didn’t sit quite right with him. The latest missive spoke of a possible resurgence from the Triarchy and he would have expected those reports to come from along the Stepstones, as they had the last time.
The Triarchy had gathered along the Disputed Lands previously, and their forces had converged on the islands of the Stepstones closest to Tyrosh once their fleet had gained enough ships. They had waded their way closer and closer to the mainland, from the Stepstones to Grey Gallows, then to the Broken Arm, and they only settled in the caves once they realized they couldn’t breach the Arm into Dorne and the Stormlands.
This time it seemed their fleet sightings and the attacks were largely in the waters off Westeros’ coast, with the initial sightings being dotted along the length of the Flatlands, some going so far North as Pentos, and the disappearing ships had last been seen departing from Tarth, Stonedance, and Sharp Point. That particular set of locations almost appeared like they were mounting a direct path towards Shipbreaker Bay or the Gullet. The reports put their possible locations closer and closer to the mainland each time, with the latest disappearance being a ship departing from Massey’s Hook.
One or two disappearing ships wasn’t a huge concern; weather, inexperienced crewmen or faulty navigation could explain away a few ships every moon or so, more so when they came out of Shipbreaker Bay, but twenty missing ships in two moons and another twenty beyond that having been raided and destroyed? The only cause for that was something nefarious. The proximity of the missing and raided ships to Blackwater Bay made him even warier.
Still, as much as his intuition led him to believe that this may be signs of an impending attack, the reports were scarce. While he was distantly aware of the rumors spreading along the trade routes from Essos - unrest among the Three Daughters, whispers of a fleet gathering along the coasts - the vastness of what was occurring had been lost in the sea of worry for his grandchildren.
Perhaps he was just over reacting, he was on edge and looking for beasts in every shadow ever since Luke had been poisoned, and while they had caught the acolyte who committed that atrocity, they were no closer to finding the one who hired him or how he had gotten the poison in the first place. Every step forward they took seemed to end in a dead end or in them having to take three steps back. Daemon and Rhaenys both disclosed their belief that Alicent had to be behind at least some of the incidents, and before this news he had agreed wholeheartedly. Now he wasn’t so firm in his conviction but his reluctance to pin the blame fully on the Queen was also resulting in a similar reluctance to put this fully on the Triarchy.
Just like with the assassinations there was no true evidence that pointed towards one static perpetrator. It was a mass of shadowy figures acting from an assortment of unknown locations.
With a frustrated sigh he set the reports back down on the table, placing them carefully to the side so it didn’t obscure the laid out maps. “I agree, your Grace, these are extremely troubling.” He started, trying to choose his words carefully. From how urgent the King had been about showing them these reports he knew that the man took them just as seriously as he was. But they did need to have some form of caution. If this was truly some big coincidence and not the Triarchy rebuilding itself, sending a whole fleet worth of ships to investigate might incite their enemies in Essos to react rather than dissuade them from attacking. “However, there isn’t much to go off of.”
“I’m aware of how little there is, Lord Corlys,” Viserys waved his concerns away, watching them all with apprehensive eyes. “And normally I would have dismissed it as pirate activity, if it weren’t for the fact that a ship was found abandoned off the coast of Tarth nearly a fortnight ago.”
Corlys cocked his head, thoroughly confused by the pointed look he sent towards both him and Daemon. “What was found aboard the ship?” He hadn’t heard of an abandoned ship on Tarth, nor had one appeared in the reports he just read, and while he wasn’t putting his full focus into his normal maritime activities, if there had been some grand development his sailors would have brought it to his attention. House Velaryon had ears in almost every port across the western coast of the seven Kingdoms.
“It was a small vessel, and judging by the state of disrepair, it had been run ashore for quite a bit. But what was most concerning were these.” A small stack of mismatched papers was thrust in front of him. “Those papers were found in a locked chest, and the chest was so mundane that Lord Tarth initially passed it over, until just a week ago when they started compiling everything they had for those reports.”
He pulled the pages apart with a hefty dose of apprehension, skimming over them until he found what had Viserys’ feathers so ruffled. “Your Grace, these are -”
“They are the writings of a spy, yes.” Viserys said gravely. “Whoever it was must’ve either died or gotten captured, given that both the chest and the boat were abandoned, but Lord Tarth believes that they had been on their way back to Essos to deliver those papers.”
Daemon snatched the parchment from his hands before he could even finish looking all of them over, not that he would have been able to comprehend them regardless. His mind had ground to a halt after the first few pages. From what he had seen, the stack consisted of the exact information an enemy fleet would need to plot an attack. A catalog of ship movements in and out of Shipbreaker Bay, Blackwater Bay, and Cape Wrath. Logs of each ship; merchant vessels, warships, passenger vessels. How many ships came in and out of the bays each day, how long they stayed out, rough descriptions of their paths, which houses they belonged to, what goods or passengers they carried.
Page after page on each of the major castles along the coast, from Rain House to Gulltown, their battlements, their strengths and their weaknesses. A detailed list of the easiest and clearest paths from Massey’s Hook across the Kingswood and straight into King’s Landing. There was even a list of the dragons the spy had seen coming in and out of King’s Landing.
Descriptions of Ceraxes, Vhagar, Syrax, Seasmoke and Meleys. Strangely there was no mention of the younger dragons housed within the pits, nor of Dreamfyre or Sunfyre, so the spy must not have been willing to brave the pits.
It was a…horrifying discovery to say the least. The only silver lining he could see was that the documents had never made their way back to Essos. Still, it spoke of dark things ahead of them. There was a spy in their midst, feeding their enemies information about their movements, and they hadn’t known about it until now. For all they knew this could be only the tip of the iceberg. There could be any number of spies lurking in the castle - in every castle. They may have accidentally intercepted this batch of information but there was no telling how many other spies were successfully sneaking out from under their noses.
Those writings, however, made him lean more towards this being the Triarchy resurging and plotting an attack. The logs had a particular focus on both House Velaryon’s ships and Driftmark’s harbors, as well as Daemon and Ceraxes movements within King’s Landing. A whole three pages were dedicated to sightings of the Rogue Prince and his dragon outside of the pits while twenty pages listed the amount of ships in the Velaryon fleet as well as their locations, the most common men manning the ships, and their most common shipments.
Rhaenys grabbed the papers next as he went over everything in his head, flipping through them almost too fast to read while Daemon sat cursing next to her, no doubt pissed to the nines that someone had been tailing him and he hadn’t noticed.
Corlys was kicking himself inside too.
How had he not noticed someone watching all of his ships? He had been hypervigilant due to all the mishaps and danger surrounding Luke yet somehow he hadn’t noticed a spy lurking around them? Someone had gotten close enough to his own house to create such a detailed breakdown of all their movements and he had been none the wiser.
All of a sudden a thought struck him with the strength of a morning star to the face. It all made sense.
Perhaps everything that had happened was linked to the Triarchy and their enemies overseas. It was Luke - who would one day be the Lord of Driftmark - that was poisoned with an obscure poison from Volantis of all places. It was his grandson who had been the primary target of the initial assassins, though the fools had mistakenly gone after Prince Aemond. A spy, one they had seen hide nor hair of since, had snuck into his office and been caught by Luke.
Those monsters must’ve been biding their time since the war had ended, gathering as much information as they could, before deciding to attack the only member of House Velaryon they could get their hands on. Luke was the most vulnerable being a child, he had - at the time of all the attacks - been the only one without a dragon, and Daemon, Laena, and the girls had all been in Pentos when the attacks had first started.
The four of them may have been considerably closer to the Triarchy but both Vhagar and Ceraxes would have been enough of a deterrent to force them towards an easier target. It made considerably more sense than anything else, now that he thought of it. Revenge for the defeat they had been handed at the Stepstones would be a prime motivation for attacking his grandson, and if the spy had either been killed or captured in their attempt to take information back to Essos after the poisoning failed, it would make sense that they hadn’t managed to catch him sneaking around the castle.
The perpetrator hadn’t gone into hiding like they thought, they had been trying to escape after failing their mission. The acolyte could have been paid in advance as a contingency plan if the two assassins that initially attacked didn’t complete their job. Or possibly the acolyte was merely a distraction, a poisoning would serve as a brilliant way to make sure their attention was solely on Luke and not on finding the spy. They had spent two days taking turns trying to get Arrax off of Luke, it was the perfect opportunity for the spy to slip away to the coast and get on a boat with ill gotten knowledge to scurry off back to Essos.
He watched as the rest of the table came to the same realization that he had. “This whole time, all of these attacks, it’s been because of the war in the Stepstones?” He breathed, still stunned by the revelation.
Rhaenyra seemed just as shocked by the news as he was. “Why would they go after Luke for that? He wasn’t even born until after the war ended!”
“Because he’ll eventually be the heir to Driftmark.” Daemon scoffed. “And because he was the only one they could get to, had they gone after Corlys or I, we could have easily killed their assassins, if they had come after Laena or the girls they would have been met with Vhagar. Even Laenor and Seasmoke would have been able to fend off a direct attack.”
It was a gruesome reality but one that made sense. The crabfeeder had been a gruesome man, it was no surprise that his cohorts were of the same ilk. They had gone after a child as revenge for the war they waged, and had tried to shuttle information back to their leaders while they waited for their revenge to be enacted.
The new attacks on the ships, the disappearances, the threats to the merchants, it all lined up now that he could see it for what it was. A continuing escalation of aggression each time one of their plots against Luke was foiled. The reports of gathering ships on the coast of the Flatlands coincided with the first assassination attempt - most likely the Triarchy thought that Luke’s death would rattle both House Velaryon and House Targaryen and they could use that to launch an attack. When that didn’t work they ramped up the raids and started stealing ships, probably to try and smuggle their spies in pretending to be the crews they stole the ships from.
“Still, Luke is just a child!”
“And that makes him an easy target for men willing to do anything in the name of revenge.” His wife had the same venom in her voice that he felt coursing through his own veins. “They had no qualms starting a war, knowing full well it would kill thousands, why would they stop themselves at killing a single child.”
The only thing that stopped him from fleeing the room and sailing across the Narrow Sea to hunt down anyone who had ever been connected with the Triarchy was the lack of knowledge they had.
There was nothing pointing them towards a particular part of the Three Daughters, nor towards any one leader. Unlike with the Crabfeeder there was no man throwing his name behind this charge. His earlier point still stood, if they ran off to attack their enemies with nothing to go off of, all it would do is spark a war before they had a chance to prepare for it. All the reports except for the disappearances were off the coasts out in the Narrow Sea, where a few hours delay in information could wind up sending them on a wild goose chase for a fleet that had already moved on. The ones from over in Essos only pointed them to the merchants that had been threatened and a few sparse sightings, so there was no guarantee the Triarchy would still linger nearby.
Not to mention with how far flung the sightings of the ships were, there was no telling where exactly their fleet was hiding and if they were going to strike them down they needed to hit the majority of their forces all at once. “We’ll have to gather more information than what we have here.” They needed to find a more static point for where the ships were, or at the very least a pinpoint on where the new Triarchy was based. “I’ll send a few ships out, have them scout the coast and the Flatlands,” He said slowly, his eyes roving over the map. Each of the sightings and the attacks plotted themselves along it in his mind. There had to be some rhyme or reason for where they were attacking. “And when they find where they are hiding the rest of the Velaryon fleet will follow.”
The Stepstones had been their last base of operations, and it would seem that they had learned from their last mistakes. It’d be hard to find them and even harder to destroy them if they didn’t make an attempt to run aground somewhere.
With a short look of askance he rose from the table, gathering up the reports and the spy’s catalogs into a neat stack. Once Viserys gave a nod of dismissal he turned and fled from the room without a word more. The crews of his most trusted ships would have copies of the most prudent information by nightfall, and they’d set sail no later than midday tomorrow. He wanted to know where his enemies were hiding and he wanted to know it now. His grandchildren wouldn’t be safe until he slayed every last Triarchy scum, and this time he wouldn’t stop at just running them off the Stepstones.
“Corlys!” Corlys didn’t bother turning around at the sound of Rhaenys’ voice calling to him, though he did slow his steps enough for her to close the gap between them. “You do realize that-”
“That if these reports are correct, our previous plans of asking Rhaenyra to bring the boys to Driftmark would be putting them in more danger? Yes, I am aware.” It frustrated him to no end. His grandchildren were in danger every moment they stayed in King’s Landing, more so now that there was a risk of Triarchy spies being behind every corner, and now they would be in danger if he took them to Driftmark.
He trusted his wife and Meleys, and his son and Seasmoke…but even with them and their dragons defending the island, putting the children there when he knew there was a risk of their home being set upon wasn’t a risk he was willing to consider. The considerable distance between the Gullet and King’s Landing gave a better defense in the event the Triarchy wished to try for a siege or an all out naval war. However it’d still leave his grandchildren in the same peril they had been over the last two moons.
He couldn’t fool himself thinking that Luke would remain their primary target either. With Daemon back in Westeros and having been sighted by the spies, Laena and the girls would be in danger too, and Jace never strayed far from Luke. It was a miracle in itself that the three of them had yet to be injured in this whole debacle.
Once again he was left with no good options. If the Triarchy were behind all of this, the children were marginally safer in King’s Landing, and if the Triarchy weren’t behind the assassination attempts - which certainly was frightening, that not one but two groups might be out to harm his kin - they’d be safer on Driftmark than in the city. There was no way to know which was more dangerous until he investigated further and investigating may in itself spark action sooner than he could prepare for it. The writings of the spy were more than enough to lead him by the ear to the conclusion of the Triarchy causing all his problems.
Yet the feeling of something not lining up hadn’t fully dissipated. There were too many coincidences for it not to be a revenge plot and too much lined up for the Triarchy to not be involved.
So why did he feel as if a piece of the puzzle was still missing?
“We’ll have to wait to see what our best course of action is, at least until the first scouting ships have had a chance to report back with their findings.” The words stung his tongue on their way out, he wanted nothing more than to bundle his grandchildren up and hide them away in the safety of his home, but he couldn’t. Not yet.
“What if we convinced Rhaenyra to take them to Dragonstone instead?” Rhaenys asked. “It’s just as insular as Driftmark and it would still be harder for a spy or any more assassins to get in and out without being caught.”
The suggestion drew a heated groan. “It is insular, yes, but it is open to an attack or an outright siege if the Triarchy gets wind of the children being held there.” The dragons could defend the island, that much was true, but it still was a risk. The Triarchy had more hurdles to jump if they wanted to pass through the Gullet to try and siege King’s Landing compared to being able to just sneak up on Dragonstone in the night with barely any forewarning.
Driftmark, Dragonstone, Sharp Point, Stonedance and all the other keeps and castles along the way could sound the alarm long before a fleet made it to the capitol. Dragonstone itself, however, was easily reachable without warning if the Triarchy sailed their ships from the northern part of the Flatlands.
“We can’t have them stay in King’s Landing, Corlys. There are spies in this castle, gods only know how many, and any of them could turn into would be assassins at the drop of a coin.”
“I know…but there is nowhere we can send them that is safe and close by.” There wasn’t a single soul he’d trust with his grandchildren besides his own family, and he knew that none of them were going to be willing to sit out this fight. Even if they were, there still wasn’t any place to send them away to that he’d trust.
It would need to be insular enough not to worry over a random assassin posing as a servant slipping by the rest of the household, and the house would need to be trustworthy enough that he’d risk sending his own flesh and blood away from his side, as well as being far enough from the coast that he needn’t worry about the castle being set upon by Triarchy ships. The list of houses he considered trustworthy enough to take his grandchildren was glaringly short, and there were even less that fit the bill of being far from where the war could reach them, and none that fit all of his demands.
No, the children would simply have to stay with them until this farce was over.
“I need to copy these reports and get them to the captains.” He said, pushing his dark thoughts away so he could grab his wife’s hands and bring them to his lips instead. “I intend for them to set sail in the afternoon, and I’ll hopefully be back in time for the evening meal.”
Rhaenys returned his affection with a tense smile. “I’ll go and check in on our grandchildren and bring Laena up to speed, ensure that you are back on time, I want them to share our meal with us tonight.”
“Rhaenyra!” Her father called out as she turned to file out of the room, and when she turned back he had a…strange tilt to his lips. It wasn’t as grim as Lord Corlys had been when he left, but she could tell he was struggling with something. “Come, I have one last thing to discuss with you.”
She waved Daemon along without her. “What is it, father?”
The chair creaked under his grasp as he leaned against it, “I am aware of how much strain you are currently under, obviously, given what’s happening with your children and you beginning to help with your siblings.” He sighed. “However with the state of the realm and the threat of the Triarchy once again, I fear we must take more action than we have been.”
“More action, how?” Her head was still spinning from the possibility of the Triarchy being behind the attacks on Luke, what more action could she take?
Corlys was already plotting out the courses of his scouting ships, Daemon was no doubt on his way to find whatever imbecile thought it a brilliant idea to stalk him, and Rhaenys was off to tell Laenor and Laena of the horrid news. Her goodfather and her uncle both agreed they couldn’t just jump into action, not with as little as they knew about what was happening, so they were all stuck waiting.
“You are the heir to the Iron Throne, the entire realm knows this…” Viserys hesitated, drawing himself up until he could look her directly in the eyes. “But we must do more than just call you the Heir, Rhaenyra, we need to prove to the realm that you will be a good Queen. That you know how to rule, that you’ll be fair and just, and that we have a united front. You have a tendency to run from problems,” He held up a hand, silencing her protest before it could even form on her tongue, “You get that from me, and it's no shock that you avoid the worst problems by ignoring them, as that’s what I have done your entire life. That needs to change now.”
It stung to hear her Father talk like this, it was true, but nonetheless it still stung. She liked to think she was more mature, a better woman than she had been a girl, yet her father was right. The two of them both tended to turn their eyes away from problems, hoping they would go away if the light of their eyes no longer shined on them.
Her father had done it with the first war in the Stepstones, he had done it after her mother’s passing, and she herself had done it when the prospect of her own marriage had come about. That night in the Kingswood with the boar still lingered in her mind every once in a blue moon even years later. The only time she had run headlong at a problem like a Queen would have been the time she went after Daemon to get Baelon’s egg back and that had been fueled by her anger and sorrow, not by any righteous need to be a good ruler.
He was right.
They both needed to be better rulers, for the sake of the Realm, for the sake of her children, and for the sake of her siblings. They all needed protection and clearly if the Triarchy thought them so weak willed that they could slip spies and assassins directly into the heart of their Kingdom, they’d need to prove them wrong. Let them think she was weak and blind; she would show them the might of a true Targaryen King when they came knocking at their door.
“You’re right, father.” With a breath she pulled herself together, shaking off the shock from before and willing all the confidence she had to come to the surface. She had a realm and her family to protect, no longer could she dawdle and simper, looking to others for salvation from her problems. “I have been heir in name only for too long.”
It should have been obvious before now, she barely knew anything of how to run the realm, she knew not how to make laws, or how to govern. Her experience was only from that of her lessons with her childhood maesters - nowhere near enough to make her fit to rule a Kingdom, not when everyone had believed her intended to marry into just a great house and not rule in her own right - she knew how to run a household, yes, just not a Kingdom. Minding her children and running Dragonstone were leagues away from minding an entire realm and running the whole Kingdom.
But she could learn. There was still time to acquire all the knowledge she should have taken in over the years, and maybe she could turn it into something more than just doing her duty. Jace would one day be King after she and Laenor abdicated the throne, if she focused herself on becoming the best Queen she could be for the realm, she could bring Jace alongside her and have him learn too. They could have the same bonding that she and her own Father had during her childhood while at the same time preparing Jace for his future in a way she hadn’t been prepared.
If she played her cards right she might even be able to strengthen her bonds with most if not all of her family at the same time. Rhaenys was an incredible wealth of both knowledge and poise when it came to ruling, since there was a time when she had been considered for Queen. Rhaenyra was sure that if she asked her goodmother to help her prepare herself and Jace she’d accept. Laena would be another font of knowledge as well, her friend may not have been raised to take over the Kingdom as Rhaenys had, but she had spent a good portion of her life in Essos, and the knowledge she had of their counterparts overseas would be invaluable. Especially if they did end up in war with the Triarchy once again.
Vhagar would be a boon to war efforts as well, whether offensive or defensive, and Laena and Daemon both would be key if they needed to take the war to Essos’ coast in a preemptive strike rather than waiting for it at their doorstep. And if they didn’t end up in war, Laena could still help teach both her and Jace about Essos to prepare them for peace times. She had all the trappings of a Queen, her blood alone gave her that, she just needed the knowledge and experience to turn those trappings into a reality.
Rhaenyra didn’t know where exactly she needed to start, but she would figure it out. Every King had to start their ascent somewhere and she was no different.
Though if they truly were on the brink of war, perhaps that was where she should start. “I assume you’ll be calling a small council meeting to share this new discovery with them as well, yes?”
Viserys nodded. “Yes, Lord Strong is preparing everything as we speak, I only wished to confirm that someone else saw what I myself believed to be happening before I brought it to the council's attention.”
Admittedly she hadn’t seen what was going on when she first read the reports - they had seemed like gibberish to her. Ships being raided by pirates was a normal occurrence, ships disappearing wasn’t a cause for concern either, but once she had seen the missives from the chest, it had all clicked together albeit slowly. Her father must’ve seen at least some connection with the Triarchy, the same connection Lord Corlys had managed to draw while she was still trying to parse through why they had been summoned in the first place, and the sole fact that they were able to read further into what looked like mundane reports and find evidence of these horrid plots was just another showing of her own lack of knowledge. It spoke of an intuition that she didn’t have.
That kind of intuition was most likely built over years of experience, but she needed to start building hers now if it was to be reliable when she was Queen. “I would like to be at the council meeting. I know it’s unusual for someone without a seat on the council to attend, however -”
“You will have a seat from now on.” Some of the tension melted out of him, and with just a small fraction of glee she realized that he had been waiting for her to suggest that she be included in the meeting. It had been a test of sorts, and one she had passed. “As the heir to the throne you will be part of the small council, and I hope to see you more often at court - within reason of course!” He finished quickly. “As I said, you are already taking on quite a lot assisting me with your siblings, and I am aware you can’t be in multiple places at once. But as often as we can I’d like for you to appear in public; at court, in the council meetings, and some meetings with Lord Lyonel, to allow you to learn of the seat you will be filling one day. And when this all is settled I would enjoy it if you’d consider taking Jace and Luke on a royal progress, to show the realm your heirs just as I did with you.”
The thought of taking her boys - all of them on dragonback, now that Luke had Arrax - across the Seven Kingdoms lightened her heart. Her own royal progress with her parents had been the highlight of her youth and she had delighted in seeing all the different places that their realm encompassed. She knew her sons, as curious as they both were, would jump at the chance to see all of Westeros. She might even be able to take her brothers and her sister along with them if she had her way. As far as she was aware neither Alicent nor her father had taken them on a journey to any places other than a few of the Keeps in the Crownlands. They could all go together, show the realm a united House of the Dragon, and give her siblings and her sons time together to bond outside of the stringent environment of the Red Keep and King’s Landing.
When she had been younger, when her mother was still alive, she had dreamed of taking her siblings across the Kingdom on Syrax’s back. It was a dream that died along with Baelon and her mother, yet now she had four siblings.
Still, something like that was far off in the future. She needed to spin herself into a proper Queen, get rid of her enemies and stabilize the realm before she’d allow herself to daydream about a royal progress with her family.
“Perhaps the boys can all attend these new endeavors with me. Jace will one day be King, and I’m sure Aegon and Aemond would enjoy being able to learn directly at your side just as I once did.” She couldn’t stop her lips from tugging themselves up into a smile. Just the thought of working towards a peaceful realm, one where her family was free to live and prosper and be happy, lit a fire within her. She’d do whatever it took to make sure all of her family thrived. Whatever they needed her to be, she would mold herself to it. “And once we’ve dealt with this farce, we can greet the realm as one family, united and strong.”
Her father grasped onto her with a shaking hand, joy in his eyes and a blinding smile on his face. He looked happier in this one moment - with war on the horizon, with assassination plots uncovered, and spies having breached their shores - than she had seen him in years, ever since her mother had passed on. “Yes. When we are done with all this and we’ve fashioned ourselves into proper rulers, all of us together can show the might of our House.”
Luke peered across the table, watching the shiny blue thread disappear into the square of cloth over and over again as Rhaena delicately weaved it into an outline of a wave. It was only half done and already it was very very pretty, and Luke found himself unable to resist leaving his place on the lounge to go to his cousin.
She stopped for a moment as he approached, but when she looked up her hands went back to weaving the needle through the cloth. “Hello, cousin.”
“Hello.” He stood at the edge of the table, letting his eyes trace the lines of the thread as the outline became a wave crashing into the side of a ship. “Can I see?” Luke pointed to the cloth and waited for Rhaena to tug the thread all the way through and hold it closer to him before he took a step forward. It looked even better up close. “It’s pretty!”
The compliment earned him a bright smile from his cousin, along with a murmured thanks. A small tug from his water, urging him to sit and look at all the bright colored threads laid out on the table, had him pulling a chair up beside Rhaena. “Can I do that?’ He asked softly.
His cousin’s hands threaded a new needle while she looked at him curiously. “Embroidery is a woman's work.”
That didn’t sound right to him. The pretty colored threads, the soft cloths and even the tiny needles on the table were calling out to him, rejoicing in his attention. They all wanted him to sit with Rhaena and weave all his cracks back together. He took another glance at the threads, and sure enough the coiled crimson thread was shining like a beacon, beckoning him forward.
Usually he wasn’t able to hear anything except his water, the sirens and Balerion, but ever since he had woken up almost everything had a voice. Even now, with his water mostly replenished and the worst of his wounds healed, the new loudness lingered. Everything tried to tempt him into listening to it. The world around him was alight with stories, each trying to vie for his attention.
“Please?” Luke tried again, shifting his eyes back and forth between her and the threads. “I’ll ask Jace to let you play with his knife.” He offered.
Rhaena bit her lip, her own gaze drifting to the tutor that was teaching Baela and Jace. He was supposed to be teaching the two of them as well, but as soon as Meleys’ hatchling had left the tutor had drawn away from them, instead focusing on Baela and Jace. Not that he minded, the constant noise of the man’s voice made his head ache.
Meley’s hatchling had made his head ache earlier too, with all her questions. Again and again she had asked him how he had met Arrax, how he had bonded to him, and she hadn’t accepted the truth as an answer. Even when Jace told her the same story it wasn’t enough. Her confusion had lashed against him like waves during a storm, and only once she had left had he been able to truly start thinking again.
Besides, Rhaena had started embroidering as soon as the man looked away from them to roll out his maps and she hadn’t paid him any mind since. The tutor sounded happier teaching just Baela and Jace anyway, every time one of them asked him another question his blood hummed with excitement so loudly that it made Luke’s teeth clatter. He probably hadn’t even looked over at them in the last hour.
She hesitated only a second more. “Could you ask him to let Baela use the knife? I have no fondness for weapons, but she’s always liked to train and she hasn’t had a chance since we came here.”
Luke took the opening for what it was and nodded his head. Jace wouldn’t mind playing with Baela if he asked him too, and he had two knives now that both grandfather and father had gotten him one, so they both could play at the same time.
With that settled, he waited for Rhaena to give him a nod of her own before he pulled one of the blank pieces of fabric towards him. The one he chose was a pale cream color. Already he could see what he needed to make vividly, though he couldn’t name what it was, and the same crimson thread that had pulled at him earlier did it again once he had the fabric in his hand. Rhaena grabbed the threads for him when he pointed to them, along with several small needles and a tiny pair of shears.
They were all set out on the table before him. His cousin helped him set the fabric into a wooden circle and tighten it till the fabric was taut, glancing constantly at the tutor all the while until she was sure he wasn’t going to reprimand them. She picked up one of the needles and the thread next, leading him through pulling the threads apart so that they could slip the end into the eye of the needle. She had to tie the knots at the end for him, but soon enough he had two needles with a piece of thread looped on each of them, one crimson and the other black.
“Now you just have to pull the needle up through the bottom of the fabric until the knot at the end gets caught.” She instructed, showing him how on her own fabric as she switched to a needle of bright yellow. “If you want a thicker line you have to add more threads on the needle, right now you only have one thread each so it’ll be a thin line.”
He copied the motions, pulling his needle through the fabric until he felt it tugging against the underside and then he turned back to her.
Rhaena lifted her needle and brought it barely a nail’s width away from where it had been pulled through and plunged it back into the fabric. Once it was underneath she pushed it up through the middle of the first stitch, splitting the threads in half and creating a small v shape. It looked easy enough, and his fingers fumbled their way through the motions until he had a line of stitches on his own fabric. What little he couldn’t figure out himself, his water made the motions flow.
She hummed as he presented the line to her, praising how quickly he was picking up on the technique, and then they both turned back to their own lines. Silence fell over the two of them, broken only by the hushed sounds of the needle and thread drawing through the cloth.
Luke honed in on the whispering threads, weaving and lacing them into one another as the crimson lines worked themselves up to reflect the image he had inside of him. He leaned into Rhaena’s side as he did so, letting the smooth motions of her arms moving lull him deeper into focus, only breaking away to grab at his second needle full of thread so that he could work the black in alongside the red.
Distantly he could hear the sounds of the tutor talking, and Baela and Jace answering his questions, but soon they quieted to nothing more than a wordless drone in the background. All that mattered was letting the threads guide him to creating what was in his mind.
The thread twisted through the cloth again and again, billowing out into line upon line of vibrant color. Once he was fully entranced, his sirens took over the whispers, turning it into an enchanting song as they helped move his fingers, crooning out about the waves and the tides. They coaxed at him until his body relaxed, cradled in the soothing shifting of the water in his veins, each movement timed perfectly with the song being sung.
The room he was in faded out, giving way to waves lapping at the edges of a great ship carrying it out into uncharted waters, around the world into the unknown. In the distance a town creeped out of the fog rolling over the vast ocean, flanked by tall hauntingly white chalk cliffs on each side. It was barely visible just off the edges of his vision, and when Luke turned his hands to trail his threads closer to it, the boat followed with him.
Mist curled around his fingertips, calling him to the shore and filling him with a driving need for adventure. The ship underneath him bowed to the coaxing of the waves and the haze, floating its way down a shrouded river as more of the cliffside appeared out of the fog, though the town got no bigger even when the bow of the ship turned into a dock.
Salt water soaked boards weeped beneath feet that weren’t his as he made his way up the dock and into a street of shambled buildings. Curious and cold eyes peered at him from every corner, watching his moves with bated breath. There was no road to where he was headed, only a slippery layer of gravel that laid between the buildings along the street, but he didn’t need a road. Luke let the feet draw him along the misshapen streets, he let them weave a delicate path between the watchers on the chalk outcroppings.
Slowly the call of the threads started to dwindle as the lines in his mind strung themselves back together, mending the last of his injuries, leaving only the sirens and the water filling all the cracks his poisoning had left. The tumultuous ripples among his waves fled with it, settling back into its normal tide as his mind was freed from the entanglements of all the other songs he had accidentally collected.
His own song played on, tugging him out beyond the white walls, funneling him down, till he made his way beneath the earth. Whispers sprang from every corner of the damp fog filled tunnels. They spoke of devious things. Revenge, anger, retribution, but most strangely they murmured words of a light, one so bright that it was willing to blind the world so long as it was seen. Luke didn’t hear a name for the light, though he knew it well. It was the same man of light he had seen when he touched the curved dagger that cut his hands.
He had seen it in his dreams too, flickering from the candle light that shone in every one of his nightmares. Balerion’s voice simmered among the chorus of mutters before the light eclipsed too much; haunting and deep enough to rumble along the cavern walls and send the whispers scittering back into the shadows. His friend weaved a different story, one of a burning house soothing its own flames so that it wouldn’t reduce itself to ash. A peaceful song, and one that outshone the man and his light once it rose to full volume.
Creatures danced along the walls of the chalk buildings, moving in tune with the song, leading him along a barely lit set of rock hewn stairs. The stairs billowed out into a city, the buildings were scraped and carved out of the chalk that lined the cavern, but it was inexplicably stunning. Luke’s eyes flitted around the stalls, drawn in by the mystique of all the trinkets on display. More whispers lit up the space, this time from the assortment of wares trying to catch his attention.
Everything scrambled to get his focus, glittering and loud with magic wafting in the air, yet Balerion drew his attention to something else altogether. In one of the stalls, half hidden within a dazzling chest and enveloped in crimson silk were three eggs. Their shells hummed - gold green and black - shimmering with life and when he brushed against them the world burst with color.
Gone were the damp, dark, chalk walls, in its place sat leagues of sand. As far as his eyes could see it was sand, blown about by blustering desert winds and set ablaze by the blinding light of the summer sun. The sound of stomping feet and hoofbeats echoed just over the horizon as Balerion’s song changed.
He could hear it clear as day.
A symphony of what was to come, and what he had to do to bring it to fruition. All the pieces he’d need to coax into place, and the things he’d need to stop along the way. The songs came at him in a speeding blur, one after another almost too fast for him to hear. A barely lit cave filled with screams, a rain wrapped castle on the coast, a boy and a dragon drowning out at sea. Two women, one held up by nothing but spikes, one standing in front of a torrent of dragonflame. A man burning in a stone hall, another burning in a hearth, a third in blackened armor throwing himself from a saddle, and a final one left to rot in a bed with nary a soul to see.
But one stuck out more than the others.
The scene made Balerion’s voice tremble as he crooned a mournful song of revenge. It was a dream of three little hatchlings filled to the brim with the same light that Egg had under his skin. One of them was a little she-dragon that had shrouded lilac eyes that Luke was sure he had seen somewhere before. Her chorus hitched Balerion’s breath and all he could glean from the melody was pain, pain at every turn, sewn directly into every note. From start to finish it was haunting and horrid and his friend’s desperate desire to change this particular song rang inside of him even once it faded to an end.
Balerion’s voice petered out, returning him to the decrepit chalk halls and surrounding him once again with the now dulled wisps of magic.
The eggs he had touched radiated warmth against his fingertips, and their heat melted the threads still dangling from his hands into his skin. Yet when he tried to pick them up, to take them with him so he wouldn’t forget the songs they had shown him, he was pulled away. As sweet as their scaled shells felt in his hands they weren’t the eggs from Balerion’s song, the ones that he needed to save. These would find their way to the right place when the time was right, his friends said.
Luke felt a tug along his navel, urging him to let the feet guide him back to the ship, but he didn’t move with them. Instead he drifted through the underground city, touching whatever caught his eyes. Over and over, around and around, he wandered, until the feet that weren’t his ached straight down to the bone. The cold eyes that peered at him from the darkened corners beckoned him to their stalls.
They tried to coax him into their arms, only for the glinting of their sharp teeth and the razor points of their antlers to drive him away each time. Still, he walked among them, ignoring the peals of warning that his friends were trying to instill. Their magic called to him just like the sirens songs did and his blood rang with an innate curiosity. It was a tempting pull against his mind though he made sure not to listen to their calls for too long and not to let any of them fully drown out his friends.
And just as quickly as they came, all the songs ended at once, just as he reached out to grasp at a man made of scales, and his mind snapped back into itself so quickly that Luke thought he might pass out. All around him his sirens were shrieking, warning him of sickly green ivy attempting to tangle itself around his feet. The room in the Red Keep filtered back into his sights, and he could feel the ivy grasping at him as he jumped down from his chair.
His patch of fabric clattered to the floor alongside him and the entire room - his cousins, the startled tutor, his brother, aunt Laena - fell silent.
“Luke?” Aunt Laena's voice and the feeling of her hands cradling his drew him away from his desperate attempt to see where the ivy was hiding. He spared another quick glance down to let the ringing of the sirens completely wane before he let her stop him from moving. “Is everything alright?”
The floor below creaked. The ivy stopped at the sound of her voice and as quickly as it came it retreated, slinking back into the shadows. “There’s ivy under the floor.” He croaked out finally, it felt like the ivy had wrapped itself around his neck, choking his voice right out of him.
“Ivy?”
“There’s no ivy under the floor, my prince.” The tutor was a mirror image of his aunt’s own confusion, and the two of them stared at him like he had grown a second head.
Had they not seen it? How could they not, it had been right beneath their feet, trying to snuff out their embers.
Aunt Laena didn’t give him a chance to say anything else, instead she tried to placate him with a smile while she moved to pluck his fabric off the floor. “We can worry about that later, what is it you have here?”
“He wanted to learn embroidery, Mother.” Rhaena answered politely, still watching him with worried eyes. “He picked it up quite quickly.”
She asked some other question - one he missed as he tried to trace the lingering green stain across the floor and back to where it had come from - yet she still smiled at the two of them and turned the cloth over in her lap. Her fingers traced over the raised section of needlework as she took in the design. Luke didn’t remember how he had made it other than the barest impression of threads entwining themselves together but he knew it was what had been in his mind.
“It looks quite like Dreamfyre.” She remarked when she finally handed it back to him. “This is absolutely stunning, Luke!”
It was a dragon, he realized as he truly looked at it. A big pale blue dragon crouched over three little eggs, except they weren’t the eggs he had seen in his dream. He remembered those ones, they had been black, green and gold, while these were all green. Each had a different shade but they were all green.
They were cracked where the dream had been whole - one cut clean across the top of the shell, the next full of tiny holes fracturing its sides, and the last was only in bits and pieces. The dragon was different from the one he had seen burning the woman, her mouth open in a silent shriek, devastation written within every line at the loss of the eggs.
“I wasn’t aware the Prince was studying embroidery, however I must agree with you Lady Laena, that is an absolutely remarkable piece.” The tutor added as he looked at it over her shoulder. “I’m sure your mother will love it.”
“It’s not for my mother.” He wasn’t sure who it was meant for, his heart said it was meant for someone, to give her comfort, but he didn’t know who that someone was. Aunt Laena had named the dragon in the embroidery to be Dreamfyre yet it didn’t ring true to him when he looked at his fabric.
“Oh? Who is it for then?”
Dreamfyre was the only name he had for reference, so he supposed it would work for now. Just for now, until he found who it was meant for and learned her true name. “Dreamfyre.”
“Dreamfyre? The dragon?” The tutor let out a startled laugh, his eyes darting between him and Aunt Laena, “My prince, a dragon has no need for embroidery, it’d sooner burn that scrap of fabric than use it, it would be a waste!”
“If Luke wants to give it to Dreamfyre then he can do what he wants!” Jace bullied his way in between the three of them, glaring up at the man he had previously been happy to learn from with fire in his eyes, and soon enough Baela fell in line next to him. “Even if she did burn it, it’s not a waste because Luke made it for her!”
He looked utterly flabbergasted by the sudden turn of events. “No - I - My prince, I simply meant -”
His brother looked fit to burst with all the annoyance thrumming right beneath his surface. It lit up the lines of his blood from the inside out, and Luke could only watch as his fire burned away the last bits of the ivy staining the floor. “You meant what he made was worthless just because you don’t like who he made it for!”
Luke didn’t listen to the rest of the tussle between Jace and the man, he heard their voices getting louder and louder, but once again he focused on trying to memorize the path of the ivy. He needed to see where it came from so he could get Arrax and burn the rest of it away.
Getting under the floor would be a challenge, especially with Arrax following him. His dragon wasn’t big but he wasn’t small either and the space that the ivy had held seemed quite cramped. Could his friend even fit? The sirens murmured that he couldn’t, though their song was faint underneath the veil of their confusion. They seemed just as stunned by Jace’s sudden combativeness as everyone else was and while they had been the ones to warn him of the ivy, their song switched to urging him to comfort his brother.
He reached out to tug on Jace’s sleeve and without thinking he sent some of his water along his brother’s veins. “Jace, I wanna go see Arrax.”
Within an instant Jace was settled once again, the tide of his anger washing away like it had never been there. “He’s probably still in the solar, maybe Vermax is with him.”
“Boys -”
Before anyone could stop them, Jace swept him out of the room, completely ignoring the calls of their names.
Laenor sighed as he corralled Jace to the other end of the room, leaving Luke with Rhaenyra and Arrax. His older son squirmed to be let go the second he stopped moving and Laenor had to grab him by the shoulders to hold him in place so he didn’t go running off back to his brother. Laena had barely been able to inform him of a ‘strange interaction’ between his son and his tutor before Daemon had pulled her away.
“Jace,” He called, directing the boy’s attention away from Luke. “What’s going on? You aren’t usually this angry.”
His only answer was a huff and Jace trying to break free of his hold. “I’m serious, Jace, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing!”
“Nothing? Really?” Jace practically had smoke coming out of his ears from how annoyed he looked, and he expected him to believe that nothing was wrong? “Something is upsetting you, and I can’t help if you don’t tell me.”
“Luke is seeing things.” He finally said after a long pause. His eyes wandered to Luke and even as bad at reading emotions as Laenor was, he could still see how upset the admission made Jace. “Like how he saw things when he was poisoned. He was on the couch embroidering with Rhaena and he started seeing the ocean. I only got little flashes of it but he was someplace strange, and there were things shrieking at him. It got fainter and fainted until I couldn’t see anything anymore and then he jumped off the lounge and started talking about ivy beneath the floor.”
Jace seemed near on the verge of tears, and Laenor found himself struggling to keep his own worry from showing on his face. This development wasn’t entirely a shock, he and Rhaenyra both had shared their worries over whether Jace would continue to feel the effects of Luke’s magic ever since he had admitted to seeing Luke claim Arrax in his dream. Both of his sons being looped in by magic scared him.
Luke got into so much trouble on his own, if Jace started gallivanting around the castle hidden within a magic bubble alongside him…well they might just wake up one day with neither of their sons. That combined with what Rhaenyra had just told them about the Triarchy being behind the assassinations, it was all quite a lot. He had some minimal hope Jace wouldn’t become a target for the Triarchy, since they had yet to attack him so far. If they intended for him to be a target they would have struck while everyone was distracted trying to keep an eye on Luke. But it wasn’t a high hope.
Still, Jace’s tumultuous emotions all on their own were something of concern even if he disregarded what brought them on. Where before Jace had been slow to anger and the voice of reason, as of late he jumped straight to fury the second anyone so much as looked at Luke wrong.
He’d have to worry about Jace’s emotions later - perhaps he could convince his mother to parse through how Jace was acting - for right now he needed to deal with what was upsetting him at this moment. “Do you remember anything else that Luke saw?”
Jace shook his head. “There were a lot of things talking all at once, leading him through a marketplace and showing him things but I couldn’t see much of it.”
“And after that? When he started talking about the ivy beneath the floor?”
His thoughts went back to the day they had finally gotten Luke out from under Arrax. While they had been waiting for the antidote to work and bring Luke back to them, Arrax had been calm and quiet, right up until something shifted beneath the floorboards. He thought it was just the normal noise of the castle but the dragon had reared up and shrieked with such ferocity Laenor had expected to see some monster hiding in the room with them. He hadn’t seen anything when he looked around the room, and he hadn’t heard any other sounds coming from the floor.
Even once he managed to calm Arrax down the dragon still remained unsettled, standing at the edge of the room staring straight down and hissing. It made no sense to him at the time…but what if Arrax had seen something, or sensed it. Maybe something - someone, his mind whispered - was hiding out down there, biding their time, trying to plot their next attack. As far as he was aware there was nothing beneath the floor of the King’s wing and yet everyone in the Kingdoms knew of Maegor’s secret tunnels.
They saw them first hand with the one that opened into his father’s old office. Who was to say that Maegor hadn’t built one right underneath his own wing either to spy on his servants or perhaps use as an escape route out of the castle. Arrax could have smelt or heard someone watching them, and now maybe Luke saw them as well. It was the reference to it being ivy under the floor that was throwing him off.
His son often described things strangely - he referred to his grandparents by their dragons names, he knew the spy only as ‘a firefly’, he insisted that Prince Aegon was an egg - so it was possible that the ivy was meant to describe a person.
Who would the ivy be was the true question he needed answered.
The first thing to pop into his mind was a Hightower, for obvious reasons. Ivy was green, the Hightowers favored green, ivy grew on towers, Alicent - while probably not behind the assassinations apparently - was a menace towards his sons. But besides the connection with the color of ivy, there wasn’t anything that drew him towards the Queen and her house. The firefly was most certainly the same spy that had been funneling information to the Triarchy, yet if it had been that spy Luke had seen, why call him Ivy? Would he not still appear as a firefly to Luke if he saw him a second time?
That itself posed a problem - a big one - given that his Father, Harwin and Laena were all betting on tracking down the ‘firefly’ and then having Luke confirm that it was the man he had seen in the office. If what he looked like changed each time Luke saw him, they’d never manage to find him, or if they did find him, Luke wouldn’t be able to identify him.
“I think I might’ve seen the ivy…” Jace didn’t look too convinced of his own words, though whether it was because he was already anxious or because he truly didn’t know what he saw was unknown.
“You think you saw it, or you did see it?” Laenor was wary of pushing him too hard. He wasn’t good at parenting by any means, and Jace was a particular challenge for him, but Rhaenyra and Harwin both warned him against trying to force things out of Jace. He was as stubborn as his mother when pressed.
Jace bit his lip, and Laenor knew he’d have to take whatever he said next fairly lightly. It was either going to be what Jace thought he wanted to hear, or a version of events that Jace thought was the most believable. “I saw a man. I didn’t really see his face, Luke was scared so I was looking at him more than anything else…”
Well, that was more than he thought he’d get. It still didn’t help, but it might be just enough to…do something. Pull up the floorboards? Go trampling around the castle for hidden passages?
He looked to the other side of the room, where Rhaenyra appeared to be having a heart to heart with Arrax. Maybe they could just send Arrax into the room and whatever happened, happened. If there was a spy down there, they’d know pretty quickly.
The King and any servants who had to clean up the mess Arrax made wouldn’t be happy with him. Surely though if Arrax roasted the spy no would fault him for using whatever methods necessary to ensure the safety of his children.
“Was he doing anything?”
“He was staring at us.” Jace said with a shake of his head.
Laenor nodded along, silently contemplating how likely Daemon would be to let Arrax loose to burn the floor if he told him what Jace saw. The King and the servants wouldn’t forgive him for causing destruction, but they’d look the other way if it was the Rogue Prince that ordered the destruction instead.
Honestly, Luke’s dragon was enough of a menace all on his own, if he just waited long enough Arrax might destroy the floor of his own accord. “And you didn’t see his face?”
“I think I saw him from Luke’s eyes because he just looked green.”
He gently patted Jace’s shoulders before letting him go right as Rhaenyra started calling for them.
Maybe they could just burn the entire keep and build it anew. Without any secret passageways.
Rhaenyra watched Laenor and Jace warily, the two of them practically emanating their joint confusion all the way across the room. She had caught a brief snippet of what Laena had said before the two boys had nearly dragged them both to the solar to visit Arrax.
It was partially a good thing, being in the solar already meant she didn't have to coax them there when the dragonmaster arrived. On the other hand, however, she knew that Luke wasn’t going to be happy about Ser Rodrick trying to get Arrax and his nest out of the room.
The head dragonmaster - punctual as always - gasped as soon as he entered the room. His eyes instantly locked on to Arrax where he was curled around Luke, gently nosing at his rider as he tried to balance a cup on the ridge of his head, egged on by soft clicks and trills. Arrax was indelibly patient with Luke - and Jace - no matter what shenanigans they got up to.
If it weren’t for the impropriety of having a dragon in the Keep at all times, she might have allowed Arrax to come and go as he wished. Unfortunately he had to go to the pits at some point. His nest in the King’s solar needed to be taken down so that the room could be fully repaired and used again, and they couldn’t do that safely if Arrax was able to go in at any time and see them tearing apart his nest. Getting caught tumbling around in a dragon’s nest was just asking for a disaster, even when said dragon was as indulgent as Arrax was.
Barring that, they needed to have the dragonmasters get him into the pits so they had the chance to examine his saddle more carefully. The examination Ser Rodrick was there to do was only a cursory check until he had been moved and if she had her way she wanted the saddle off entirely and a new one made by the dragonmasters she knew and trusted. Most saddles were made with longevity in mind and while the one on Arrax was a style of temporary saddle meant to be used during a dragon’s heaviest growth years, their first few attempts to get it off by themselves had failed, so they’d need him in the pits to try and remove it.
They hadn’t tried recently, but during their attempts Arrax had stood patiently as Daemon tried to break the front chains off, as well as when Corlys and Laenor had tried to take it apart at the shoulder joints. None of the usual catches to disconnect the parts of the saddle would release. It remained steadfast around his neck, stable and unmoving, like a proper saddle should.
Still, she didn’t trust it.
“Oh my…he’s a beauty.”
Rhaenyra pushed aside her distrust to smile at the awe in his voice. Rodrick had been the head of the dragonmasters since before she had been born, and yet each time a new dragon was brought into the world the man never lost his fascination with them. “Luke, come, Ser Rodrick is here to check Arrax’s saddle.”
He pouted at her but eventually he did get up and come to her, and just like she hoped, Arrax came with him - along with the cup still carefully balanced on his head. The brilliant beast stood from his crouch with a huff and came to stand in front of her and Rodrick without needing a single command.
He presented himself as if he knew who Rodrick was and what he was there for, barring his neck and rearing up on his hind legs just enough to show off the front of the saddle holster without blocking access to the shoulder joint clasps.
“Arrax?” Rodrick asked, only half paying attention to her as he started a slow approach.
“That’s his name!” Luke shouted, reaching out to pet along the dragon’s belly with a bright smile. “He likes you already!”
Rodrick smiled back with a little half laugh, “Oh? Does he? He must be an incredibly social dragon if he’s warmed up to me so quickly.”
“He likes people, he thinks they’re fun. As long as they don’t annoy him.”
Rodrick followed Luke’s path, petting along the underside of Arrax’s flanks until he was right underneath his wings and could get a good look at the front of the saddle. “Dragons do quite often reflect their rider, my prince.” His hand traced the first crest, the sigil of House Targaryen, where it rested near the side of the saddle, and when Arrax dropped back down into a crouch, he moved to look at the dragonmaster’s mark near the front of the cantle. “A social rider sometimes leads to a…social…dragon.” He trailed off as he took in what she had seen.
“Do you know who could have made it?”
The look on his face shifted from awed to confused to blank all within the span of a second as his palm traced the mark over and over again. “Ah, you were correct, Princess, this is in fact my mark.”
That was…worrying, to say the least. If he had made the saddle then how did he not know of Arrax? The awe in his eyes had been true when he first stepped into the room, so she had no reason to believe that he was lying about having never met the dragon and he seemed nearly as confused by the turn of events as she felt.
“But you didn’t make it?” She clarified.
Rodrick shook his head, still staring at both dragon and saddle with wonder. “I would have remembered meeting this magnificent beast, I certainly would have remembered making a saddle for him and Prince Lucerys, and I have a record of each saddle I’ve ever made. However, if I were to be entirely honest…this does have all the hallmarks of my style of saddle making.”
Had someone managed to create a saddle so similar to his own works that even he couldn’t tell them apart? It still rang as strange to her. What purpose could imitating a properly made saddle serve? It wasn’t as if it was a knife that could be made to break under the strain of battle, or a goblet laden with poison, it was just a saddle that had - for seemingly no reason at all - been made to imitate a dragonmaster’s saddle.
It was utterly mind boggling. “Is it…faulty?”
“No, quite the opposite, in fact.” He sounded stunned by his own admission, “It’s one of the most well-crafted saddles I’ve ever seen!” His hand stroked over the marks yet again, each fingertip following a different line of the scorched edges. “A near perfect one.”
“Does that mean I can ride Arrax now?” Luke asked with a tug at her skirts. A soft chirrup echoed from in front of them as Arrax shuffled in place, shaking his wings out and nearly throwing the cup across the room as he tossed his head around.
Rhaenyra frowned at the question. It wasn’t the first time Luke had asked, yet she couldn’t bring herself to say yes. The saddle just kept taunting her mind, pulling at her, trying to get her to realize what was off about it. “You’ll be able to ride him soon, sweet boy, I promise.”
Already the dragon was eyeing up the balcony doors like he was readying to scoop Luke up himself and take him for a flight. Perhaps he was, Rhaenyra had seen him nudging at Luke to try and get him to climb atop the saddle on his back at least six different times so far. Dragons did love to fly and she knew Luke was aching to try and fly with him, if they had a bond near as close as she and Syrax did it wouldn’t be a stretch for their dual want to fly to feed off each other.
She felt Syrax’s need to get out of the pits long before she felt her own want to fly most days.
The uncertainty of the saddle still irked her though. Luke’s magic had her grasping at shadows, trying to find some deeper hidden meaning within every move her son made, every word he said, everything he touched. Luke had repeated the story of bonding to Arrax in the cave, he’d even described the cave in great detail, and Arrax’s saddle had been on in the dream but she still couldn’t bring herself to trust it.
Someone had to have made the saddle for Arrax and put it on him for when Luke rode him and they had made it to copy a royal saddle. If it had been some magic that had brought Arrax into being - the way Jace made it sound - then why would Luke’s magic have copied the dragonmaster’s mark? Magic would have just given him a saddle with no markings, surely.
Rhaenyra pulled Luke in against her legs, watching Arrax as he flexed his wings and stalked towards them. The dragon watched her back, his red eyes boring into her with the same mystifying intelligence that Luke’s eyes had. “Where did you get that saddle, my friend?” She asked when he got to her, softly enough that even Luke wouldn’t be able to hear the Valyrian words leaving her lips. “Why does it taunt me so?”
Arrax’s hot breath fanned over her, ghosting across her chest until it reached the Targaryen three headed dragon that rested on the collar of her dress. His eyes stared into her before flickering down to Luke and his little hands petting over white scales.
Something in her mind clicked at the look.
She couldn’t explain it, but something slid into place. Luke had used some magical means to bring Arrax out of his egg without hatching it - if Jace and Luke were to be believed, and she had no reason not to believe them - and if it was Luke’s magic that had brought Arrax to life then the saddle must’ve been something Luke had dreamed up.
Her boy had only ever met Meleys, Vermax, and Syrax, all of whom had royal saddles made by Rodrick. Luke must have created the saddle himself using the only references he had which would have been the other saddles.
The reason it looked so similar to Rodrick’s other saddles was because it was meant to be a copy of the ones he had previously made. Or perhaps it wasn’t some attempt at making a copy - the saddle had the hallmarks of Rodrick’s style but it wasn’t a true copy of any of the others - rather it was an amalgamation of all the other ones Luke had seen.
It felt like someone had removed a veil from her eyes as she looked over the saddle again. Sure enough, she could see it. The slope of the cantle was almost exactly the same as Vermax’s beginners saddle, the seat, the shoulder braces, the pommel were all similar to Syrax’s, and the shape of the stirrups were identical to Meleys’.
The answer had been staring her in the face this whole time and she had merely ignored it in favor of chasing some hidden meaning. All the foiled plots and the reveal of the Triarchy meddling along their coasts must’ve led her astray and once again her sweet boy had tricked them all with his magic. The saddle was his, made for him by his own mind, and it mimicked all of the saddles he had seen before.
Her previous worries suddenly seemed so outlandish. Who would make a saddle just to sabotage it and take on the risk of getting it on an unclaimed dragon? And only in the hopes that Luke would one day climb astride his dragon and end up plummeting to his death? Any number of things could have failed if that had truly been the basis of some assassin’s plot. The saddle could have broken before they even got off the ground, tossing him a harmless few feet, or it may have held fast until Arrax was big enough to require a new saddle.
She felt like a fool; a faulty saddle was a foolhardy way to attempt an assassination, especially in comparison to the other methods that had been employed against her son. She and Laenor had gotten themselves all worked up over nothing when they could have been uncovering the true monsters going after their son. “If you don’t get into trouble in the next few days we’ll all take a day and ride our dragons together.” Her hand stroked through his curls, gently tousling them as she pulled him closer. “Jace can ride with me on Syrax and your father can join us on Seasmoke.”
Instead of the excited look she expected, Luke almost appeared…disappointed. “Can’t Jace ride with me on Arrax?” He asked, “Baela and Rhaena need to come too! And what about Grandfather, who will he ride with?”
A laugh bubbled up in her throat. She should have seen it coming honestly, of course Luke was worried about the rest of their family. There was no way that Lord Corlys would get on one of the dragons, she had never seen him on a dragon and surely if he was willing to climb atop a dragon he would have been on Meleys before. The rest, however, she could convince. “Your cousins can ride with their parents, but I don’t think your grandfather wants to ride a dragon.”
“Grandfather can ride with me and Jace!”
That would be quite the sight to see. It wasn’t possible, Arrax might be bigger than what they expected for Luke to have at this age, but he wasn’t capable of carrying three people on his back. Definitely not a full grown adult like Corlys and two young boys on top of that. “Arrax is still a young dragon, Luke. It’s already a lot to have him carry you and Jace.”
Luke met her with a pout. “He can carry all of us, he’s fine with it.” Luke turned to his dragon, stroking over his chest scales. His face turned neutral in concentration and Arrax answered him with a soft squawk, their eyes shifting back and forth between each other like they were having a silent conversation before it ended with a happy chirp. “See, he can do it!”
She was saved from answering by Ser Rodrick stepping back towards them, “My prince, while he may be capable of carrying three people, the saddle is not. If there were three people on that saddle two of them would be at risk of slipping off.”
The dragonmaster was a godsend, and while Luke’s face did still fall at being told no, he at least accepted it instead of trying to argue with the man. He was a good graceful little boy. A bit of a troublemaker - even if all the trouble was out of his control - but he did listen when it counted.
“Jace can ride with you on Arrax,” She compromised, “And I will ask your Aunt if she and your cousins would like to join us with Vhagar.”
“And Grandfather can ride on Meleys?”
“...I’ll ask if he’d like to join us, but I can’t promise he will.”
Now they just needed to find some way to convince Arrax to head to the pits instead of staying within the Red Keep, so that the servants could repair the room he had been using as his nest. There wasn’t the pressure of needing him there to get the saddle off anymore, but he still needed to go.
Perhaps she could lure him down using Vermax. The two dragons seemed quite close, the two of them took their meals together on the balcony whenever Vermax managed to escape the pits - she had her theories on how he was getting out, and Arrax was most certainly involved in all of them - and they often were seen hunting along the shore together. She had also seen Vermax bringing the sheep the dragonmasters fed him all the way up to the balconies just to eat it while Arrax ate his fish.
If it weren’t for the two of them being male dragons, she’d say they were sweet on one another. Using Vermax wasn’t the worst plan she had ever come up with, and she could couch it within their flight plans. It’d be easy enough to have the boys and Arrax come down to the pits with the excuse of wanting all the dragons to take off from one spot, and when they landed the dragonmasters could let Vermax into the main arena and have him corral Arrax into a pit.
“Speaking of taking the dragons for a flight, Princess,” Rodrick gave her a sheepish glance, pointedly shifting his eyes between her and Arrax. “We’ll need to take some precautions for Prince Lucerys’ first flight, and those will need to be done in the dragonpit.” It was a subtle hint to ask if their earlier plan to try and force Arrax out of the room was still supposed to happen.
With the saddle now identified, however, and a new plan cooking up in her mind, she simply shook her head. “The precautions can be done as we are readying for the flight, there’s no need to start them now.”
Rodrick nodded, seemingly taking the hint as he bowed at the waist and graciously accepted her dismissal. “Of course, Princess.”
When the door shut behind him, she turned to where Laenor and Jace were still talking in hushed whispers. They both had an uneasy look about their faces, and for the first time as they stood face to face so close together, she could actually see some resemblance between them, beyond just their hair color. It was still hard to imagine, especially with how much of Harwin she had always seen in Jace, but the resemblance was there if she hunted for it.
“Jace, Husband, come, we have a few things to discuss.” Namely the fact that she and Laenor had both gotten themselves up in arms about a saddle that was perfectly normal. Well, as normal as a saddle made from magic sitting upon a dragon brought about by magic could be.
For Luke it was as close to normal as it could be.
The unease, much to her surprise, didn’t fade as they made their way over, nor did it fade when Jace wandered over to join Luke in his game with Arrax. “Laenor?” She raised an eyebrow and lowered her voice as he came to stand by her side. “Is something wrong with Jace?”
She had noticed his agitation when they found him and Luke in the hall, and Laena had echoed that when she told them of his altercation with his tutor.
“Not quite.” Laenor certainly didn’t sound as if he believed his own words. “He and Luke apparently saw ‘ivy’ under the floor while they were attending their lessons.”
Ivy? Underneath the floorboards? That made no sense, there wasn’t enough room between the floors for plants to grow, and there wasn’t any light to coax them to life either. “Ivy? Are you sure?”
“It’s another spy, I believe. Jace said it was a man but because he couldn’t make out any features.” He explained. “I don’t know how much of it is true and how much is just imagination, but it reminded me of when Arrax was staring at the floor in the King’s Solar right after Luke woke from the poison…he freaked out as if he was about to attack the floor itself, and this sighting could be related to that incident.”
That she remembered, it had been quite an eventful day and Laenor had spent the better half of it trying to keep Arrax from burning the floor out from underneath them every time the boards so much as creaked. She hadn’t thought at all that it could be related to the spy - or spies, possibly - that was trying to feed information to the Triarchy. “You truly believe that there is a spy lurking beneath our feet?”
He pressed in closer against her, turning them away from the boys just slightly. “You know the rumors as well as I do, Rhaenyra, Maegor supposedly had secret tunnels all over the Red Keep, why would he put them everywhere except within the King’s wing?”
“But under the floor?”
“He could have made them as a way to escape from the wing if the Castle was ever overrun.”
So they were going to have to search the entire wing over again, this time somehow checking in between the floors. A groan left her lips before she could stop it. “I don’t think my father will allow us to take apart the floors to try and find a spy.”
Laenor bit his lip. “I was thinking perhaps we could just…clear out the wing and let Arrax smoke the spy out?”
“Laenor!” Just the thought scandalized her. The Red Keep was the pride of House Targaryen and she knew for a fact that her father would never let any part of it be destroyed, and definitely not so wantonly. Arrax had already wrought enough destruction in the solar alone, who knew how much damage he’d do if he was allowed to chase after some unknown shadowy figure hidden beneath them. “We are not letting a dragon loose to ruin the castle!”
“I’m not saying let him burn everything.”
Arrax wouldn’t stop even if he found the spy immediately. He’d keep burning until he managed to take out the spy himself. Not to mention Arrax was far too big to fit under the floor, if there even was a space under the floor, so he’d just end up tearing the wing to bits if he found something. For all they knew Arrax could have been upset by a rat scurrying around.
“He’s not going to be allowed to burn anything.” She waved away whatever it was Laenor was about to say next and focused back on the task at hand. Arrax and the saddle. “Ser Rodrick said the saddle was in fact marked with his marks, and it has all the hallmarks of his style of saddlemaking.”
“So he did make the saddle? And he didn’t tell us that Luke had claimed a dragon?”
Rhaenyra shook her head. “I think Luke made it himself with his magic.” Both of their eyes drifted to the boys and Arrax, and they watched as the boys danced in and out from under the dragon’s wings, caught up in a game of tag while Arrax just watched them patiently. “It looks like Rodrick’s saddles because those are the only saddles Luke has ever seen, and when I took another look at it, I could clearly see the pieces of our saddles that Luke used as inspiration.”
An awed look eclipsed the uneasy one Laenor had worn before. “We’re idiots, aren’t we?” He asked out loud. “How did we not think of that?” He took a step closer to the boys, looking at the saddle with a critical eye. “I can see it now that you’ve said it.”
“I blame it on the stress of everything else going on in our lives, and before something else takes our attention, I promised Luke that we’d all go flying together.”
“Well, if the saddle isn’t a problem anymore then I don’t see any reason not to go for a flight.” Laenor agreed. “Do you want Jace to fly with you or with me?”
She had to force herself not to smile as she thought about Luke’s request again. They both could use a little levity in their day and she knew Laenor would find the situation just as hilarious as she did. “Luke wants Jace to fly with him on Arrax, and he wants all of us to fly together.” Laenor didn’t seem to catch her drift. “The entire family, Laenor. Your parents, your sister and my uncle, your nieces.” He kept staring at her uncomprehendingly, so she reiterated it again. “He thinks that your Father will be joining us. At first he wanted Corlys and Jace on Arrax with him but I managed to negotiate him down to just Jace with him and asking if Corlys would be willing to ride on Meleys.”
The moment the request finally hit him was obvious, he spluttered, nearly choking himself on his own words. “My father has never ridden on a dragon, not once!”
“I know,” She giggled back, “Can you imagine Lord Corlys, the Sea Snake, on dragonback? Now that would certainly strike fear into the hearts of his enemies.”
“I don’t know if Meleys would allow him to ride on her, she’s a finicky old dragon, and some days she’d snap at Laena and I even when Mother was leading us.”
“I told Luke it likely wouldn’t be possible, but I said I’d ask.”
Laenor scratched his head, back to watching the boys. “Just don’t tell him that Luke offered to take him on Arrax. I know my father, if Meleys won’t accept him, he might try to convince Luke to move Jace onto Seasmoke or Syrax so he can ride with him.”
That would be a sight to behold. Lord Corlys Velaryon atop Arrax with Luke on the saddle in front of him. She could almost see it in her mind, though she knew it wouldn’t happen. It was a stretch to think that Corlys would be willing to ride on a dragon, and if he was, Arrax’s saddle was probably too small to have a grown man of Corlys’ size and Luke on it together. Or at least have them both sitting on it safely.
In a time of peril a saddle of any size could probably hold two people if they were daring enough.
A knock at the door drew both their attention away from the children, and as Ser Darklyn entered, Laenor strayed towards the boys. With the way he traced his hand over Arrax’s neck and the edges of his saddle, she assumed that he was making sure Arrax wouldn’t be affronted by the Kingsguard’s sudden entrance. “Hello, Ser Darklyn.”
“Hello Princess.” He said as he bowed with a flourish. “Your father requested that I come get you, the small council meeting is set to start shortly.”
Ah, duty called. She had hoped that the council meeting might not convene till after the evening meal, but then again the council probably wished to get things over with and go back to their chambers for the evening. “Of course, I’ll be right out.”
As he moved to stand at attention by the door she walked over to Laenor. “The council is convening.” She whispered to him as she pulled the boys against her skirts and leant down to kiss both their heads. “I’ll be back after the evening meal, sweet boys, be good for your father and don’t get into any trouble while I’m gone.”
“Does that mean we can get into trouble when you come back?” Jace asked cheekily as she tousled his hair, his earlier moodiness completely gone.
“No, it does not.”
Laenor gave her a hug as well, and kissed her cheek. “They shouldn’t be able to get up to anything, we’re going to have our meal with my mother and father, and they’ll watch them like hawks.”
“Oh? Have their new quarters been squared away then? I’m sure they’re glad to have a place free of fish.” She jested, dodging out of the way of Laenor’s shoving hands and instead walking backwards towards the door with a gleeful smile. “After all Princess Rhaenys did come back to quite a mess that you left.”
“You know that wasn’t me!” The door shut overtop of his shouted protest, and Rhaenyra found herself chuckling under her breath the whole way to the council room as she regaled Steffon with the tale of her son’s dragon opening doors and strewing fish all about her goodmother’s quarters.
Luke shifted around on the bed, bundling himself further under the covers for a moment and tucking in closer to Grandfather's chest. The movements barely jostled the mound of warm bodies around him, and he used his water to stabilize his cousins and Meleys so that they wouldn’t get woken by his moving. Something had roused him from his slumber, though he wasn’t sure what.
It hovered right under his skin, rustling around and pushing at him to fully wake up and go explore. The need cast itself across the insides of the hearth from the embers of the dying fire, so he assumed it must be coming from Balerion.
When his head popped above the covers he could see that it was still completely dark out the window, the hour of the Wolf if he had to guess - if he could remember the lesson that the tutor had half-heartedly tried to instill in him. He shouldn’t be awake yet and it was unlikely anyone else was awake either. A quick push of his water had it ringing back that there was no danger nearby, only something he needed to see.
With a small stretch, careful not to move anyone around him, Luke slivered his way out of his blanket cocoon and down off the bed. He didn’t get very far though, because right as he was pulling his water around his shoulders like a cloak, a heated hand latched on to the collar of his sleep shirt and stopped him from walking off.
The pressure didn’t let up, not until he was turned to face Jace kneeling on the edge of the bed, watching him with wounded eyes. “Where are you going?”
“There’s something I need to see?”
Jace gave him an even more concerned look, before he released the hand on his shoulder. His eyes only left him long enough to glance at the other occupants of the bed to ensure they were sleeping. Once he was sure they were still asleep, he eased himself off the bed next to Luke and took hold of his hand. “Well then, let’s go find whatever it is. Together though, you can’t just run off and keep leaving me behind.” His hand was warm in his and Luke felt his brother’s love burning in between them. “We aren’t going to find that ivy, are we? I don’t think we should go after him without anyone knowing.”
The feeling he had tugging at him didn’t feel like the ivy and his water hadn’t given him any warning of danger, so he just shook his head. Luke beamed up at him, tucking himself into Jace’s side with a sigh, happy that someone was going to help him find his vision rather than try and keep him from it. The fire hummed its own satisfaction from the hearth, telling him of the hall outside their door.
They barely managed to sneak out the door before they were stopped again, this time by the drowsy forms of both their cousins. The two girls were standing in the doorway, illuminated by the torch light from the hall, hand in hand much like they were. “Where are you guys going, we’re supposed to be sleeping?”
“Luke needs to go see something, it's important.”
Baela’s face scrunched in confusion, her eyes darting back and forth between him and Jace. “In the middle of the night? You can’t wait till morning?”
“Is it because of your magic?” Rhaena asked curiously. Her sister shot her an affronted look, but she tugged them both out into the hallway and squeaked the door closed behind them. She had a little twinkle in her eyes and Luke could practically feel her want for knowledge. “Father said you had magic, but he only told us it was different from the magic that lets us claim dragons.”
“He does! He has water magic and fire magic and he can heal himself.” The twinkle got even brighter, completely eclipsing the sleepiness. Rhaena pulled Baela along with her, coming to stand shoulder to shoulder with him and Jace while Jace continued gushing about what all he could do.
The hum of their voices was pleasant, quiet enough that they didn’t wake anyone up or alert the guards as they walked through the halls, not that anyone waking up was a risk. Balerion was making sure that the torches and candles burning in everyone’s rooms were enough to keep them asleep. Though they still had to duck around a corner to avoid Ser Harwin and his patrol of the wing, it was easy enough to do.
Unlike Ceraxes the knight didn’t know what to look for to guess that he was hiding in his bubble, and so he didn’t know how to step close enough to burst it as he passed by like Ceraxes did. His three companions watched with awe when Harwin just brushed by them without so much as a glance their way.
Baela pressed up against his back to peer around the corner until Harwin was out of sight. “That’s so cool!” They waited till his footsteps faded to leave their spot.
He could have kept his bubble up longer, maybe all the way to their destination since he had gained back enough water to hold it, but he still felt some of the strain of the poison deep in his bones. The torches told him they were close anyway, so keeping it up would have only taken water he didn’t need to use.
Jace and Rhaena started their conversation back up, this time Baela joined in with them, excitedly asking if he could keep people from seeing anyone at any time or if he could only shield others if they were right beside him. It was a good question and it also wasn’t something he knew. The only other time he used the bubble had been to shield him and Jace when they went to visit Vermax and Jace had been touching him the entire time.
Could he shield multiple people at the same time if they weren’t connected to him? Maybe he could try it - once they had seen whatever Balerion was leading them too - later. Maybe he could even shield Arrax! If he could do that then Mother wouldn’t worry about keeping his friend out of the castle because she wouldn’t know he was there!
“I can try it.” He answered as he dripped his water around another corner to make sure the way was clear. “Maybe when I can go outside again we can try.”
“Father can help us!” Rhaena said excitedly, the cheer in her voice thrumming under her skin. His water pulled itself to her for just a moment as it came back to him. Her blood echoed with the same ripples and waves that father had, only slightly heated by the liquid fire that Ceraxes glowed with. “He spent a lot of time in Essos looking for signs of the magic of Valyria, he probably knows how to do stuff like that.” That sounded like a good idea and if he spent time with Ceraxes to work on his bubble, maybe they’d have time to find the firefly that kept buzzing around.
It had been buzzing closer and closer each day, close enough that the buzz and warning from his water woke him during his naps. The firefly didn’t seem to like it when Harwin or Ceraxes were around, and it’d been utterly silent since the ivy had appeared beneath the floorboards.
He’d have to get back to his plan to have Ceraxes get rid of the firefly for him, though now that he had a dragon of his own he might be able to get rid of it himself. The ivy and the firefly both were vulnerable to dragonflame and Arrax was already itching to let loose.
And speaking of his newest friend, the torches took them past the room Arrax was nested in, and his dragon looked up to watch them as they passed by. A slight brush to their bond kept him from abandoning his attempt to restructure his nest and following them. Luke still had no idea where they were being led to, but he knew Arrax wasn’t supposed to come with them.
Whatever they needed to see would be upset at the sight of him. Maybe they were going to find someone? The guards and the servants were always upset and confused when Arrax accompanied him around the apartments, so it would make sense for him not to come if their destination was a person.
No help came from his water, and Balerion just nudged them down the hall again. The nudge came right as Jace tugged on his arm, and truthfully he wasn’t even sure which one he had truly felt.
His brother felt so much like Balerion sometimes. “How much further are we going, Luke?” Jace looked down the hall, it was dimmer than the one they just came from, and it wasn’t one they had been to. “Maybe we should have brought Grandfather or Grandmother with us.”
Baela peered down at it too, squinting in the low light. “Isn’t this the other side of the King’s wing?” She grabbed one of the tapestries on the wall, tugging on it until part of it was cast into the light of the torches. The design was pretty, a bold dragon laying waste to a field full of soldiers. “The princes and Princess Helaena were moved down here, right?”
Jace gave a nod, staring at the fabric. “Grandsire said they moved a couple of days ago.”
Fire lit up the hallway right as Jace finished his sentence, not by much, just enough to light their way and show off the tapestries lining both sides of the hall. Balerion’s satisfaction pinged in the back of his mind, and the firelight glowed hot in front of one of the doors. That must be the door they needed to go to.
Of course, the firelight also revealed an obstacle in their way, in the form of a very grumpy Knight standing in the hall between two of the other doors. His spot was further down the hall, so they could have slipped by him unnoticed.
Except the sudden flare of the torches had caught his attention and now he was standing at attention with his hand on his sword. Even when the fires died down - they already knew which door to go to, there wasn’t any need for it now - he still kept looking around for the source. If Luke remembered right he looked like the same knight that had pulled the shrieking snake away from him before he got poisoned.
He’d been in the same hallway as Egg’s room that time too, maybe he was a shield for Egg like Ser Kent and Alisar were shields for him and Jace.
His brother hissed as he caught sight of him. “Why’s Cole here, he’s supposed to be Queen Alicent’s guard.”
“Maybe the Queen is here to visit her children?”
“But Grandsire said she wouldn’t be here most of the time!”
“She still could be here for a quick visit.” Baela insisted.
“In the middle of the night?”
Luke tuned their whispered bickering out, trying to focus in on the hall around them. They needed to get in that door, and Balerion was sure that the knight was going to stop them. Using the torches to get the knight away might hurt him, and while Luke had his bubble as an option, he felt something hovering on the edge of his mind telling him not to use it.
Heat was emanating from whatever it was and it wasn't Balerion, and it wasn’t his water. It didn’t feel like Arrax either and a nudge to his dragon only got him a different flash of heat. Arrax would just burn the knight if he was called to them. Maybe it was coming from the room they had to go in?
That thing might be what they needed to see, even though Balerion had been satisfied with them thinking it was a person.
They needed a way in.
What else could he do? The fire had drawn the knight’s attention, and Luke needed him to leave the hall rather than just look the other way. If he stayed in the hall and watched them go in, he’d come into the room before they could find anything.
Luke creeped just a tiny bit past the edge of his corner, squinting at the torches further down the hall. There were three from the knight to the next corner, and he could feel at least two more beyond that. With a huff he turned back to his brother. “We need to go to that first door.”
“You want us to run past Cole and go in that door?” He said slowly. “He’s going to come in after us, you know that right?”
“I’m gonna snuff out the torches, if we’re quick and quiet he won’t know we went in by time he gets them relit.”
All their eyes stared back at him uncomprehendingly then the plan finally seemed to register in Baela’s mind, because she flashed with a heat that was identical to Ceraxes’ flames. “We’re gonna sneak into a room that we aren’t supposed to be in?” Rhaena’s own twin fire lit up in tune. “We used to do that kind of stuff all the time with Father. He’d have us sneak around the magistrates' houses for fun! And move their things around if they annoyed him enough.” She added after a beat. “To make them think that they lost something so they’d pay him to find it for them.”
That sounded like fun. Luke almost wished he had been across the sea with them and Ceraxes, after all, his cousins seemed to do everything he did in the Keep, just somewhere else, and he liked wandering around and finding things.
Jace just watched the three of them, eventually frowning. “Is everyone but me in this family able to just sneak around unseen? I step one foot out of mother’s apartments and every guard in the hall knows where I am.”
That much was true, Jace had never made it more than a hall or two away from his guards without someone noticing, unless he was shielded by Luke’s bubble. It was because he was loud. Sometimes his footsteps were so loud they made it into Luke’s dreams, and the anxiety Jace felt every time he did something he thought might be wrong was like a panicked dragon screech echoing through Luke’s head. Even his commands to Vermax during his dragon lessons came back to Luke, but he was pretty sure that was just their bond passing the words along rather than Luke actually hearing them.
“You’re loud.” They all chorused.
Indignation flared in Jace’s chest but he let the comment go. Instead his eyes went to Luke and Luke took it as an acceptance of his plan. It was a good plan, the knight wouldn’t be able to see them if the lights were out and they knew which door to go into.
Luke envisioned the torches being snuffed out, and just like that the hall was cast into complete darkness. They all ran for the door as soon as they heard the knight’s startled gasp. Baela pushed it open, letting Rhaena and Luke duck under her arm with Jace following them right as the door squeaked closed.
“I think this is Uncle Aemond’s room.” Jace said, squinting against the candle light to try and see the figure on the bed. “Uncle Aemond?”
Once they had the door shut behind them it was easy to hear the soft sounds of whimpering coming from Egg’s brother even from across the room, with the near empty room making them echo.
Baela bit her lip next to them. “It sounds like he’s having a nightmare…should we wake him up?”
Luke paid their whispers no mind, too focused on the candle burning on the end table. The candle itself set him on edge, it burned with a line of white flames encasing the orange glow, and the faintest of murmurings were coming from it, ghosting across his ears each time it flickered. The voice wasn’t audible yet it was the same thing that had hovered in his mind trying to stop him from using his bubble. He couldn’t make out the words, he just knew they weren’t anything kind and they were aimed at Egg’s brother.
Without hesitation he pulled at the flames with his mind and the white light was cut from its wick mid whisper.
On the bed Egg’s brother bolted upright. He heaved in a huge gasp and despite the light from the candle being gone, his eyes were illuminated by the moonlight. They were huge and terrified, staring at them like they were a crowd of ghosts at the end of his bed. “What are you doing in my room?!”
“You sounded like you were having a nightmare,” Baela answered, pausing mid-step near his bedside and Rhaena picked up right where she left off, “We were going to wake you up.”
Luke bypassed the table with the candlestick, giving it a wide berth as he made his way to the bed, and Egg’s brother looked fit to faint when he popped up at his headboard. “We came to make you feel better!” That's what he assumed they were there to do, at least. Balerion was silent since the torches were out and there were no embers in the hearth, so unless he relit the candle his friend would remain silent, though Luke knew he still lingered. He was out in the hall, taunting the grumpy knight by letting the torches catch flame for only a single breath and then snuffing them out before the knight’s eyes adjusted.
But why else would Balerion have led them there if it wasn’t to stop the candle from whispering to Egg’s brother, and if that was the purpose then that meant they were there to make Egg’s brother feel better! It made perfect sense.
The other boy sniffled, looking between the four of them desperately. “I was dreaming….of Aegon and Luke getting poisoned.”
Luke heard Baela and Rhaena suck in a breath, and he felt Jace tense up beside him. He didn’t understand why, he and Egg had been poisoned and the three of them knew about it, so it wasn’t anything to be shocked about. “We’re gonna chase the bad dreams away!” His hand grasped at the heavy blankets on the bed and with a heave he yanked himself up onto the mattress. “Jace is really good at burning away mean dreams.” He said softly as he nudged his way along the bed, trying to find a nice divot to worm himself into. “Not as good as Arrax or Vermax, but he’s pretty close.”
“Hey!” Jace glared up at him and made his own way onto the bed. “I’m the best at chasing dreams away!”
The girls followed them up too, and Baela shoved Jace across the mattress until all four of them were along the headboard. They settled into their normal sleeping arrangements without much hassle, though Luke did have to scoot Egg’s brother a little closer to his edge of the bed so they could all fit. “Can you really burn dreams, Jace?”
Egg’s brother’s confusion flitted across the edge of his mind, warm and fuzzy, as he watched the four of them take over his bed. There wasn’t any water in his blood that Luke could sense - it was just hot and green and felt like opening a balcony door first thing in the morning to let a breeze roll in - but despite the lack of water, he did feel nice.
“Aren’t you all going to get in trouble…?” He asked them once they were tucked under the blankets. He looked quite uncomfortable, staring at them with wide eyes, and he wasn’t climbing back under the covers.
His cousins and his brother paused in their debate about whether or not dreams could be burned or if they would just flee before the flames touched them and turned to look at Egg’s brother. “Why would we get in trouble?”
“Because you’re out of bed, and you went wandering the hall without permission.”
Baela waved her hand at the blankets covering them. “We’re in bed.”
He shot her an affronted look, “But it’s not your bed, won’t your mothers be mad you aren’t where you are supposed to be?”
That made no sense. He switched between beds almost every night and Jace followed him most nights, and no one had ever gotten mad at him doing it. Why would their mother be mad just because they went to sleep in a different bed? “We sleep in different beds all the time! Do you just stay in the same bed?” He asked, “What if you get overheated? Or if you want to see someone else's dreams?”
“Or if you need someone else to chase your dreams away!” Rhaena cut in. “Besides, we’ll just go back to our mother's room in the morning.”
His confusion only mounted when Jace and Baela both echoed what they said. “They won’t get mad? At all?”
“They never get mad.” Jace’s jaw cracked around a yawn, and soon enough he, Baela and Rhaena were all yawning too. “They’ll be confused but they won't get mad.” He reached over to pull the covers up a little further over top of all of them - including Egg’s brother, and then he snuggled his face against his pillow. “We should sleep though, it’s late and it took us a while to walk all the way here.”
A chorus of good nights rang through the room, muffled by the shifting of blankets and bodies, but Luke could still hear Egg’s brother give his own baffled goodnight among the rest of the voices.
“We can’t just let the boys stay here if this is true.”
Rhaenyra sighed for what felt like the hundredth time since she had arrived back to her rooms. She knew deep down that Harwin was just trying to help, that he wanted to see Jace and Luke as safe as possible, but the constant talk of what was going on was starting to wear on her. First it was finding out about the Triarchy, then the talk with her father, then the talk with Laenor, and now Harwin was spending what could have been a relaxing night toiling over their options. “I know, Harwin, but there is nowhere to send them.” She said again. “I may have trusted taking them to Dragonstone or Driftmark before but not now. Not when the Triarchy could be on our doorstep in the morn, or by the end of the week, or in a moon. We have no idea where they are.”
For all they knew their fleet might be drifting in the sea just out of sight, waiting for them to move the children somewhere more easily invaded. Taking them all to Dragonstone or Driftmark might play straight into their enemies hands. They could hide anywhere along the Narrow sea, awaiting a missive from a spy telling them what their next move was.
Harwin looked just as frustrated as she felt as he paced the length of her bedchambers, shuffling through the copies of the reports she had brought with her from the small council meeting. It had been a quite uneventful meeting to say the least. A bunch of old men hemming and hawing over the news yet offering nothing by way of solutions. The general consensus of everyone except for Lord Lyonel and her own father had been to just have the Houses whose ships were being stolen or raided deal with the incidents on their own.
Part of her had been glad that it wasn’t just her and her father prone to inaction and ignorance, but a bigger part of her worried over what that kind of attitude meant for the future of their Kingdom. If everyone in power thought it best to wait until there was a war on their doorstep to even think about preparing, then how were they to get anything done? How could they prepare for this war? They all wanted to dawdle and wait for someone else to deal with the problem so that they didn’t have to.
How did they ever decide on anything? On lawmaking, on taxes and tariffs, on trade or foreign affairs? They should be sending ravens to every castle on the coast to report any sightings or strange happenings, and to shore up their defense in case they were besieged, not just brush everything off and assume the individual houses could protect themselves from an enemy they didn’t know existed. Her father and Lyonel had agreed to that concession when she brought it up, at least, and GrandMaester Mellos was to be sending ravens with warnings across the coast in the morning.
They all - herself included - needed to kick themselves into a higher sense of urgency and take the threats they had laid out before them seriously.
“What if we took them to Harrenhal?” Harwin asked, breaking her out of her thoughts. “Dragonstone and Driftmark are too vulnerable, yes. But Harrenhal isn’t and it’s far enough inland that a naval war would be unlikely to reach it; there’s no reason for them to assume the children would be sent there, so they probably haven’t sent any spies or assassins.” He pressed his advantage, stalking over to her bed with desperate eyes locked onto hers. “No one would think to look for them there and I can protect them.”
He had a point. No one would look to Harrenhal as a safe haven for her boys, and they certainly wouldn’t look for Daemon’s daughters there. It could work… “My goodparents would never allow the children to be housed so far away, nor with a household they’ve never met.”
“They’ve met me. They’ve allowed me to be the boy's protector, why would they not trust this?”
That was true, but there was a difference between trusting him to protect the boys and allowing him to take them to his home. “They trust you, Harwin. However, I don’t think they’d trust Harrenhal or the people who staff it. Barring that, I know already that Lord Corlys would never allow them to go anywhere without someone from our family being with them.”
She could practically see the words about to roll off Harwin’s tongue - that he was part of the family, that he was Jace and Luke’s father - before his mouth snapped shut and the same wounded look he had had when she told him of the change to Jace’s appearance settled across his face. It was a sore subject for both of them, the boy's parentage, and they had spent a good deal of effort to not bring it up around one another. But as much as it hurt to even think, she knew that no one besides Harwin himself still thought of her sons as his. Their father was Laenor; their hair, their eyes, their dragons, Luke’s magic and his connection to the sea…it was all Laenor’s and her blood mixed together.
The Velaryons were willing to let Harwin protect the boys because they were certain now that Laenor had fathered them. They wouldn’t be willing to allow him to take the boys all the way to Harrenhal, with Harwin being the only one they knew and trusted.
“Fine, come with us.” He pleaded, “Tell them the children need to be somewhere safe, and that the Hand of the King offered to house them in his keep. I’ll talk to my father in the morning and get him to agree to it.”
“Harwin…I’m only just starting to take up the helm of being the heir to the throne, I can’t just leave now.” It wouldn’t be just her duties as heir that she’d be shirking if she left, either. Just that morning she’d promised that not only would she do better for the realm, and her children, but her siblings as well. There was no way she’d abandon that duty not even a full day after proposing it. “I have the children, the boys and my nieces, along with my siblings that I have to think of. If I run away again I’d be abandoning all of that.”
If she fled King’s Landing now it’d be the same as going up to Aegon’s Hill and declaring herself unfit as the Crown Princess. And she would be unfit to rule if she dodged her duties.
She knew Harwin would understand, perhaps not right now - in the heat of the moment her words most likely seemed callous and hurtful - but once the desperation and worry had a chance to fade he’d agree with her. The boys might very well be safer at Harrenhal with Harwin and yet it was an option she couldn’t consider.
Harwin, the stubborn man, just set his jaw and stared her down. “Then send one of them.” As if it were that easy, like she could just wave a magic wand and send one of her family along with them. “Tell Laenor and Qarl to come along with the boys, or convince Lady Laena to come, there’s enough land around the Castle to house Vhagar, surely.”
“My uncle would never let his wife and daughters go stay in someone else’s castle without him.” There was no way she could ask Rhaenys to go either. The other Princess would need to stay either in King’s Landing to assist them in planning for this war or go to Driftmark to defend it from attack. If she was honest, she’d prefer Laena to stay close by as well.
Corlys wasn’t an option, not when he’d need to be nearby to control the Velaryon fleet and would be waiting to lead his ships into battle at a moment's notice. Laenor…her husband she might be able to convince. It was a longshot, Laenor had participated in the first war in the Stepstones, he was his father’s heir as much as she was, and he’d most likely be intending to set sail with his father as soon as they got the information they needed.
But he also wasn’t the strongest in his convictions. He only got stubborn once he was pushed quite a bit and if he managed to parse out the intentions before his resolve crumpled. There was a chance - a tiny one and one that would grow even smaller if Laenor started delving into war efforts - that she could persuade him not to participate in the war and instead focus on protecting the children. She didn’t like the thought of trying to manipulate Laenor into doing what she wanted, yet having the boys out of King’s Landing and keeping them away from the danger Dragonstone and Driftmark would pose was a good cause.
His parents wouldn’t put up as much of a fight if he was with the boys and Laena - there was no way Daemon would agree to any of this - might be willing to send the girls to Harrenhal if Laenor went.
She sighed, running the possibilities over and over again in her mind. She supposed there was no harm in just asking Laenor. He’d either say yes or no and she’d take the answer to Harwin from there. It’d take the pressure of answering off of her as well, not to mention that Laenor had been trying to take a bigger part in the boys lives, a decision like this should be his to make just as much as it was hers.
“All of us are supposed to go on a flight together in the next few days, I can’t promise that Laenor will say yes, but I will ask.” Rhaenyra answered slowly. If Laenor was completely against the suggestion she wouldn’t try to persuade him, she told herself. He’d get his say and that would be the end of it, whether or not Harwin agreed with the answer. “In the event that he says no, I’m not going to force him into it.”
Harwin settled on the edge of her bed and reached out to grab her around the waist, pulling her in between his legs. The searing kiss he landed on her mouth told her that he accepted the compromise.
End of Chapter 19
Notes:
As always, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, let me know if you did and what you might like to see in the future!
A/N: Everyone, coming to the exact wrong conclusion: We’ve figured it out, we’ve uncovered the devious plot of our enemies, we can now focus on thwarting their plots and stop looking at every shadow.
Balerion, watching them all uncover the wrong plots that aren’t connected in any way to what is actually happening: How are all of my children smart but so stupid at the same time?
The Sirens: They keep inventing problems that aren’t there and ignoring the ones straight in front of their faces. It’s a skill.A/N: Rhaenyra, technically coming to a somewhat right conclusion: I’ve connected the dots
The Gods: How does this keep happening?A/N: Jace, hearing literally any negativity towards Luke: So you’ve chosen death?
A/N: Aemond, watching Luke pop up at his bedside like something out of a horror movie: Oh my god, my plan worked! Having the balcony actually brought Luke!
A/N: Cole, as the torches randomly flare up: Am I about to be possessed?
Cole, as the torches randomly go out: I’m about to get possessed, aren’t I?
Cole, as the torches light and then go out repeatedly: I’m already possessed by the ghosts of Targaryen’s past, arent I? That’s what this is, I’m possessed.Also, alright, I headcanon that canon Luke probably looked at everyone else's saddles and wanted the dragonmaster to make something that had a bit of all his family’s designs worked into it, so fanfic Luke has Arrax's original saddle that was a result of canon Luke just telling the dragonmasters to give him a bit of everything.
Chapter 20: Chapter 20
Notes:
We're finally getting an update!! Admittedly this is a much shorter chapter than usual, mostly because its actually part of a much bigger 26k chapter I had written all the way back in April, but theres 2 scenes that just aren't jiving fully so I was reluctant to post it. Instead I finally just cut the chapter in 3 in order to get *something* posted.
I also definitely didn't get distracted writing a Laenor/Qarl/Rhaenyra/Harwin ficPlease excuse any glaring editing mistakes - I was trying really hard to just get something out to you guys since its been so long
Hopefully you guys enjoy this short little update, let me know if you did!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Chapter 20
A soft chuff left his maw, huffing its way out around the half dead fish caught between his teeth as his talons touched stone. The stone groaned under his weight, inevitably holding fast just as all the other stone outcroppings did. He hadn’t graced this particular stone with his presence before but he could feel his little bonded settling down just inside the walls.
His driving need to be with his bonded urged him towards the flimsy barrier separating them and the scent of his bonded’s tormentor urged him even closer. Yet when he pulled at their mind, to call his beloved out to him, all he got in response was the need for rest. To his astonishment his rider seemed content where he was. It wasn’t the first time he’d felt a sense of ease coming from his rider when around people he was enraged by but it was no less stunning each time it happened.
It also wasn’t the first time his rider put himself around people he wished to reduce to ashes. The foul stench of the dragon that had ended the both of them hung on the clothing of almost everyone his bonded was around. Arrax had yet to pin down which human was currently bonded to Vhagar as none of them held the same scent as the tormentor that had ridden her through the storm, though he knew they were never far from his rider.
But he’d find them eventually. It was only a matter of time before he’d set himself upon those who dared to harm his beloved. The beasts that saw fit for him to exist had plucked him from his death and threw him into a new world; gone was the limited knowledge and instincts of the hatchling he had once been.
In its place was his new mind, filled with both the memories and instincts that he had gained in his first life and the grace of a deeper connection with his beloved little rider. What his rider saw, he saw, what his rider felt, he felt, and what his rider understood, he understood. The small humans that had once been nameless and faceless to him beyond their connections to other dragons now were known in great detail. He knew that his bonded’s ‘mother’ was his own carrier’s - Syrax - rider.
His clutchmate’s rider was the same as his bonded’s brother. There was a plethora of other knowledge he had gained as well though he had barely had time to parse through most of it. Just being brought back into life had been harrowing and as soon as he had regained his bearings he had been bombarded by the pain of his rider nearly dying. It had taken all of his strength to get to the castle to save him and all of his time since had been spent replenishing his bonded’s lifeforce.
He hadn’t had the time to seek out which human was hurting his beloved, nor had he had much time to seek out his clutchmates beyond Vermax, who he had found on his way to his rider.
Vermax had called out to him from the pits when he had coasted over the gates to the city and had eventually led him to his rider. The green sprite that had met him was considerably smaller and less aggressive than he had been towards the end of their past lives but it was still his clutchmate. A hatchling born from the same carrier as he was. Their other clutchmate was absent - Arrax had spent nearly every moment he wasn’t with his beloved rider calling out into the sky and coasting along the sea crooning for his wayward clutchmate and he had gotten nothing in return. His carrier responded to the calls, as did Vermax, it was only his other clutchmate that remained dreadfully silent.
Tyraxes had been dark as night and fearsome, always protective of the small bonded he had obtained when he hatched, much as Vermax and he had been. But he had yet to find any inkling of his clutchmate or the little boy. Vermax didn’t have the same painful wounds where their third clutchmate used to occupy their minds and even their carrier seemed to be unaware of the clutchmate they were missing.
From what little he had gathered they were nowhere in this strange world that he had been dropped into. It was just himself, Vermax, and Syrax weathering the world.
The loss of his clutchmate ached nearly as bad as losing his rider had. Tyraxes had still been young when Vhagar had ripped he and Lucerys from the world but they had still been tethered together. The frayed edges of his mind that had once symbolized Tyraxes pulled at him, urging him to make his clutch’s trio whole once again. Perhaps he could find some other way to produce their third clutchmate. If he didn’t exist yet in the world and he was a product of the same carrier he and Vermax were, there was a chance mating might usher him back to life. His carrier was trapped within the pits, perhaps the she-dragon just hadn’t had the chance to produce a third egg.
Though Arrax himself had rarely been able to be around his clutch’s sire, maybe his carrier and his sire could be hurried along to create his clutchmate if they were given the chance.
With a swift snap of his jaw and a gush of blood, Arrax swallowed his meal. In his mind it was settled, in the light of the sun he’d usher in the creation of his clutchmate, one way or another. He’d set his carrier and his sire free to bring Tyraxes into this new world. He’d make this new world whole, and once Tyraxes had been made his rider would hatch with him; not only would Arrax and his clutchmates be complete, his rider and his own trio of siblings would be whole once again.
Aemond watched with awe as his nephew peered over the edge of the balcony, talking to the beautiful dragon that was perched on the stone ledge. The sight still shocked him so much he couldn’t even get his legs to move so he could get off the bed.
He had truly thought that last night had been a dream; that when he woke he’d be alone in his darkened room, waiting for the sun to rise and Mother to send her maids to take them to their lessons. Instead something he hadn’t dared to dream of met his eyes.
Jacaerys, Lucerys, and his cousins - admittedly, he didn’t remember their names, he knew they had been introduced at court and that they were Prince Daemon’s daughters, but nothing more - still littered his bed as they had during the night. They had all been curled against him, cocooning him in warmth and they hadn’t recoiled when they woke. The four of them had simply woken up to the rising sun shining in from the balcony and greeted each other.
And him.
They all knew his name, they all seemed happy to see him! Jacaerys had asked after him while they all made their way off the bed and towards the pitcher of water on his sitting table. He cared enough about him to question whether or not he had any other nightmares in the night! And once Jacaerys asked, his cousins and Lucerys had clambered to ask after his dreams as well.
It was amazing, and he found himself pinching the skin of his arm as subtly as he could just to make sure that he wasn’t still dreaming. The morning had only continued to surpass his dreams as it went on.
While they were sitting at the table one of the doors to the balcony had slowly swung open, and a dragon peeked its head in. It should have terrified him to have a dragon open a door into his quarters and at first it had, but Lucerys had thrown himself off his chair to hug himself around the dragon’s head with a shout. The dragon hadn’t attacked his nephew, it barely even reacted to having a child dangling from its neck, and instead had stood there crooning and chirping at Lucerys.
He’d never seen this particular dragon down in the pits despite it not being a new hatchling, yet it was obvious that this was Lucerys’ dragon. Any other wouldn’t allow an unbonded rider to hang all over them as he did. An untamed dragon certainly wouldn’t tolerate his nephew kissing them all over their snout, let alone return the affection with a few similarly affectionate licks.
The sight had him yearning for a dragon of his own, one that would come find him in the early morning sun and greet him with such love. But the sight of Lucerys, outlined in vibrant sunlight with a dragon curved around his back was enough to quell the urge, at least temporarily. Or perhaps it didn’t quell the need, but instead replaced it. His nephew looked like something out of one of the tales they used to be told as children; a shining knight come to save a distressed maiden, and Aemond was overwhelmed with the need to keep his eyes on the young boy.
He needed to drink in the sight of his nephew standing in the golden rays with his beautiful dragon so that he could commit it to memory. In case this sight never happened again and this truly all was some sort of dream.
It certainly felt like a dream.
The four of them had shown up in the midst of his nightmare, startling him awake from the terrors that had gripped him and soothed his mind before he had lost himself in his fear.
Just like when Lucerys had come to save him from the assassin.
He barely remembered the night he was attacked - and very rarely did anyone ever mention it around him to prompt the memories - but he remembered Lucerys being there. The attack itself had been so swift there wasn’t a moment to gather his bearings before he had been lifted off the ground, dangling by the front of his tunic with a knife pressed above his eye.
Vaguely he thought he had heard the man attacking him whispering to himself or perhaps someone else. Something about not killing him, only maiming. He hadn’t understood it at the time and Lucerys had pushed his way through the door before he had a chance to listen further.
His nephew, small as he was, had looked like a savior to his eyes. Aemond hadn’t realized it Lucerys at first, not with the white hair and his stunning eyes but as he was thrown to the floor and in the instance before he was knocked out he recognized those eyes staring back at him.
He knew for certain if it hadn’t been for Lucerys showing up when he had, he would be dead. As much as he loved his mother and trusted her guidance this was the one thing in which they disagreed. Even with her insistence that his nephew was out to harm him, to cast him down and steal his rightful royal blood, he knew that Lucerys would never intend to hurt him.
If that were his intentions surely he would have simply let Aemond die instead of making a valiant attempt to save him. His nephew would have turned and fled instead of revealing himself to the assassins. He certainly wouldn’t have latched onto the very blade that had been slicing into Aemond’s flesh. There was no reasoning his mother could use that would lead to Lucerys holding such hatred in his heart for him.
And waking up to find Lucerys still in his bed had only proved that further.
If there was hate in Lucerys’ heart for him - if Lucerys was truly the vicious monster his mother made him out to be - he would have come to kill him, not chase his nightmares away.
“Are you going to come eat, Uncle?” Jacaerys’ question forced him to tear his eyes away from his other nephew. Instead, he turned himself towards the table that held his cousins. The three of them were huddled around the low table, with a few fruits and a carafe of water between them.
One of the servants must’ve come and gone while he was distracted watching Lucerys, as he knew there hadn’t been any fruits left from his evening meal the night before. Their inquisitive looks finally gave him the strength to leave his bed.
He kept himself from straying towards Lucerys - as much as he’d enjoy being around his younger nephew he had been roared at a few too many times to be willing to go towards an already bonded dragon. The older of the two twins shifted her chair to make room for him to take the seat next to her and to his immense surprise she handed him a cut section of tart green apple off her plate.
“Thank you, cousin.” Aemond tried his best to hide the shocked tremble in his hand as he accepted the slice of apple. No one mentioned it so they must not’ve noticed. “Shouldn’t you all be returning to your chambers?” He winced as soon as the words left his lips. He didn’t want them to leave, not truly, but he didn’t want to be the cause of them getting in trouble either. “Your mothers may not be cross that you stayed the night, but I doubt they’d accept you being gone into the morning?”
Jacaerys just shook his head. “We’re breaking our fast, they won’t mind as long as we have a reason.”
“We’re supposed to be attending lessons in the King’s Hall all day, and you and your siblings are supposed to be there anyway, we’ll just tell them we came to get you.” The younger twin added in.
He should correct her, the proper way to address him and his siblings was to refer to them by their titles, but he knew that would only alienate his cousins. And by extension his nephews. “Still, surely they’ll be upset with your absence no matter the excuse.”
“It's not an excuse, it's a reason!” Both of his cousins chirped, pausing in their pursuit of food to stare at him. “That’s what father always says when people tell him to stop making excuses. We came to get you last night, and now we are still here getting you, so that's a reason for our absence this morning.”
If he tried to pull that excuse with his mother he’d be sent to bed without dinner. Then again, if the three of them were so certain that they wouldn’t be punished for their actions, perhaps it wasn’t his place to continue harping on about it. After all, he finally had visitors in his rooms for the first time, he didn’t want to go chasing them away.
Before he could decide whether or not to pursue the subject, Lucerys made his way back to them. Or more accurately he made his way back to Jacaerys, who dutifully made room on his own chair for Lucerys to clamber up beside him. And when he tried to look back over at the balcony to take another glimpse at his nephew’s beautiful dragon, the beast was gone.
The balcony doors were once again shut and there was no trace of the stunning white beast that had been bathing in the sunlight. It was disappointing to say the least but the disappointment was quickly whisked away as he was pulled back into breaking his fast with his cousins and his nephews.
Luke hummed softly under his breath as he pushed the slices of orange Jace had laid out for him around the plate. The conversation at the table had lulled into a nice silence while everyone else dug into the food but he found himself needing something to fill the silence. His sirens were humming right along with him and he could feel Arrax’s annoyance hovering right behind his eyes. Whatever his dragon was doing - breaking Vermax out of his pit, most likely - had him distracted for the moment.
His dragon had been ornery as of the last few days. Flying up and down the coast of the bay and crooning into the open air whenever he wasn’t trying to be right by Luke’s side. There was something he was looking for though what it was exactly escaped Luke’s knowledge. He had seen bits and flashes of a dark dragon soaring over top of a smoking mountain with Vermax and Arrax by his sides but he didn’t know which dragon it was. Admittedly he hadn’t met many - just Vermax, Meleys, Ceraxes and Balerion - he just knew that this one was important to Arrax.
He hoped Arrax found the other dragon. There could never be enough dragons and his own bonded dragon deserved to have his friend with him.
The sound of the door opening, and of his Uncle Egg’s raucous voice, pulled him away from following the wave of Arrax’s thoughts on how to break locks and instead turned him towards the doors. Egg stumbled into the room, followed sluggishly by a girl tracing the shell of a beetle in her hand.
His Uncle stopped short at the sight of the full breakfast table but the girl continued on around him to settle into the seat that had been left vacant by Aemond’s side.
Luke’s head tilted as he struggled to remember the girl’s name. He knew that he had been told her name before but he just couldn't bring it to mind. She was Egg’s sister, that he was sure of, it was just her name that escaped his grasp. Though he guessed that if she was Egg’s sister that made her his aunt.
Thankfully, Egg understood his dilemma and pointed to the girl sitting to his left, “This is my sister Helaena, she’s your aunt. I guess you haven’t seen her since before you got infected with that brain rotting disea -”
“That’s not her name.” Hearing the wrong name out of Egg’s mouth was just enough to jolt the right name into place, like the last bit of a puzzle sliding into place. All of the sirens sighed in unison as the name filtered fully into his mind, and this time they didn’t even bother trying to convince him to use a different one.
Egg stopped mid spiel to stare at him, bewildered for just a moment and then affronted the next, “You better not call her Dreamfyre!”
“Her name’s Daenys.” He said simply. Just like when Aunt Laena had mentioned it before, Dreamfyre didn’t fit the girl in front of him. Dreamfyre was a dragon who ate men when they annoyed her. No, Daenys was a dreamer and the girl in front of him was clearly a dreamer.
Daenys stopped her tracing long enough to smile at him, “I like that name, thank you nephew.”
Egg’s brother looked at them, a confused look passing over his face, “Like Daenys the dreamer?”
“Yes!” Luke nodded, happy that someone understood, “She’s Daenys.”
Both Egg and Aemond turned to look at Daenys, who had gone back to her beetle with a smile on her face. They looked at her as if they were seeing her for the first time. They almost seemed shocked, like they didn’t know their own sister’s name was Daenys.
Ceraxes, Balerion and Meleys all had been shocked at him saying their names as well, so maybe no one in the family knew their own names. It made sense, he hadn’t known his own name for a long time until father had said it to him, and he had been awed by how pretty it was when he first heard it.
Their family really should get better at telling people their names. He didn’t understand how everyone could go through life not knowing their own names, just the days he had gone without his name had been torturous.
“We really should be heading back soon, Grandmother and Grandfather are probably already awake.” Jace said as he piled his dishes back onto the serving tray in the middle of the table, completely ignoring the sputtering their uncle was doing. The sun was finally starting to rise in full, blanketing the whole room in its brilliant white rays, and soon enough the entire castle would be awake and bustling with servants and courtiers alike.
Their grandparents wouldn’t be awake when they got back, since he had asked the sirens to sing them back to sleep if they started to rouse. The sirens would start their journey back to wakefulness once they were close enough to pretend like they hadn’t left the room. “They're still sleeping, if we leave now we’ll get there before they wake.”
The four of them abandoned their seats at the table once they were done cleaning up their share of the mess, and Luke went over to the balcony that Arrax had flown from. His dragon wasn’t likely to be back anytime soon, not when he was so focused on riling up the dragons he had found, but he wanted to make sure that he didn’t scare Egg’s brother when he inevitably came back. He placed a single seashell on the very corner of the balcony and filled it with some of the ringing songs from his sirens. There wasn’t enough of a song to disrupt Aemond when he was in the room, it would just be enough to let Arrax know he was no longer there.
When they were all gathered at the door, yawning and stretching, Jace turned to their Uncles and their Aunt who still remained at the table. “Are you not coming with us?”
Egg looked at them like they had all grown extra heads. “You’re going to see Princess Rhaenys and Lord Velaryon, why would we come with you?”
“Aren’t you supposed to be starting your lessons in the King’s Hall with us this morning?” Rhaena asked. “You might as well come with us so we can all go to our lessons together!”
Daenys - Aunt Helaena, his water tried one last time, but he knew that wasn’t her real name - was the first to move to stand with them at the door. She gathered her beetle alongside a set of threads into a small leather satchel and stood next to Rhaena. “Do you know which lessons we are having?”
“Sums.” Baela groaned loudly with a roll of her eyes. “A whole day is going to waste counting numbers and learning about tariffs and taxes.”
“Sums aren’t that bad. They are a vital piece of any good highborn citizen’s education.”
Uncle Egg led them out of the room, barely pausing his meandering stroll down the hallway to sneer back at his brother, “Gods, of course you like sums, it's one of the most boring subjects!”
“It’s not boring, it's challenging, and sums aren’t the only subject I enjoy,” Aemond sniffed, “Our lessons about philosophy are equally as educational!”
The hall they stepped out into was empty except for a few merrily twinkling torches. It was eerily quiet once Uncle Egg and Aemond stopped their squabbling, even to him. Not a soul in sight, no guards, no servants, not a single ghost of a whisper from further in the castle greeted them while they crossed through the King’s Wing, back towards their grandparents chambers.
He sent his water coasting along some of the cracks in the walls and towards the torches, only for the torches to twist and turn out of its reach. One - further back the way they had come - dulled and fizzled down to smoke before his water had even reached it, and as quickly as it had come the silence was gone.
“Prince Jacaerys!” The group of them stopped at the shouted voice followed by the sharp clanking of heavy armor, and when Luke turned to look he saw his brother’s shield running down the hall. His own shield came around the corner just moments later, but it was Ser Alisar that caught his attention.
The normally placid knight looked absolutely harried. His eyes held a panic that Luke hadn’t seen before though the rest of his face remained nearly blank. They reached them at the same time, with Alisar continuing just far enough to block all of them between the two knights.
Ser Kent was careful not to lay a hand on him even as he gave them a quick once over. “My princes…” His eyes snapped to their uncles and their aunt where the three of them had moved to the side of the hall. “Prince Aegon, Prince Aemond, Princess Helaena, Lady Baela, Lady Rhaena.” He added in hastily with a quick bow. “My princes, you can’t go running off like that! We’ve been searching for you all morning!”
Luke tilted his head, feeling the insistent tendril of fear that was winding its way towards his veins, and when he couldn’t place it he reached out to grab his shield’s hand. The knight took the touch in stride, as he always did, and let him move his water through him without pulling away.
Whatever fear lingered in the air wasn’t from his own shield, then. His blood while steeped in the panic of having lost him and Jace, held only relief at having found them. Which left his brother’s shield as the source of fear. Luke didn’t bother trying to grab the ever elusive man, not when his brother was talking to him and probably using his own fire to smoke out the source of the fear.
Instead he turned back to Ser Kent and tugged on the panel of under armor closest to him. “We went to see Uncle Egg, Aemond and Aunt Daenys!”
Both knights looked between him and his aunt. “Prince Lucerys, that is Princess Helaena.”
He went to open his mouth, to reiterate what his aunt’s true name was, when Jace interrupted him. “Luke likes to call her Daenys, and we need to get back to Grandmother’s room, we’re supposed to be heading to lessons soon.”
Before anyone else could say anything Ser Alisar nodded and began herding them down the hall. The knight very carefully kept from touching any of them - which according to grandfather was just proper for a knight around princes and princesses - but still urged them to move. As he did that tiny tendril of fear wormed its way back under Luke’s skin. Without a second thought Luke ducked under the man’s arm, heading towards the back of their little cluster and tugged on Ser Kent’s under armor again.
His shield picked him almost before he finished his tug. He couldn’t see the expression, but he could feel Ser Kent’s sheepishness as he settled him onto his hip. Luke twisted his head upwards so he could stare into his eyes, “I want Corlys.”
“Ah, of course, my prince - we’ll take you to Lord Corlys.”
“I want Corlys!” The fear squeezed itself around his chest, and while he couldn’t see the torch from down the hall as they turned the corner, he could feel as it relit itself. He heard the soft whoosh of flame as several of the other torches caught the same flame and the soft glow of firelight crept around the corner after them. It kept its distance but the warmth continued to reach for him even as he fisted his hand in the neck of Kent’s under armor.
The heat that danced across the back of his hand felt the same as what had lingered in his mind the night before, and now he could hear the faintest of murmurs building in his ears.
“Yes, my prince, we’re going to see Lord Corlys,” His shield said hurriedly, and sure enough the walls of the keep began to seep back into a shape he knew. The torches kept lighting themselves after they passed, but as their entourage grew closer and closer to his mother’s side of the wing they dimmed back to normal.
None of the fear that caught in his throat died down with the flames though, and it continued to haunt him as Uncle Egg and his siblings meandered into his grandparents sitting room while the rest of them headed for their personal chambers. Without a second thought he pressed his mind towards the buckets of seawater he had left for his grandparents, cutting off the singing of his sirens abruptly.
“Corlys!” He shrieked out, channeling the faint remains of the siren’s song into his own voice. There was no doubt his grandfather would come to him, siren song or no, but he wanted him now. And sure enough before they could even reach the door to their chambers, both Corlys and Meleys were bursting across the threshold.
Both were still in their sleeping gowns, and his grandfather had one of his daggers in hand and a terrifyingly cross look on his face. But the look dropped as soon as he caught sight of Luke reaching out for him.
The last little tendril of fear fled him when he was passed over to his grandfather and his hands tangled in the grayed snakes of his hair. Yet even as his attention turned to his favorite person, Luke couldn’t help but notice that the fear also drained away at the same time that Ser Alisar bowed to excuse himself from the room.
“Go on, Jace, I promise that Luke will join you and the girls later.” Rhaenys did her best to smile at the stubborn boy, despite knowing full well that her words were falling on deaf ears. There was never any getting through to Jace once he had his mind set on something and that something was currently staying with Luke despite the need for him to attend his lessons.
Not that she particularly blamed him. Their family - and Luke in particular - had been at the epicenter of quite a few terrifying mishaps as of late, and this morn had not been a departure from that. It was bad enough to have woken up to Luke screaming for Corlys from the other room; learning that all of her grandchildren had absconded in the middle of the night to go on an adventure certainly hadn’t eased any worries.
Thankfully the adventure itself had been uneventful. Baela and Rhaena had regalled her with the tale of going to find Prince Aemond’s room after Corlys had ushered Luke back into their bedroom. And the presence of her cousin’s younger children in her sitting room proved the tale to be true. Though none of them could tell them what had spooked Luke so fiercely. According to all of the children they had been on their way back to their rooms when Luke had suddenly clung on to Kent and demanded Corlys.
Something had happened though. That much she knew.
While some of Luke’s…fits didn’t seem to have a direct cause, there was always something going on beneath the surface.
Yet without Luke being willing to voice what was happening there wasn’t much to go off of. Which was what led her to where she was now. Trying to get her stubbornly defiant little grandson to attend his lessons instead of holing up in their room with his brother.
Luke at least had some excuse for missing out on his lessons. He was young still and they all knew that trying to force him to pay attention to something during a fit was nigh impossible. But Jace was past his sixth nameday and given that he would be King one day he needed to have a proper education. He had already skipped quite a few lessons on account of Luke’s health, they didn’t need him to fall behind.
Still, she found herself wavering as she stared down at her older grandson.
“I want to stay with Luke, grandmother!”
“I know you do, Jace, but he needs a moment to calm down, not to be smothered.”
Jace turned up his nose, staring up at her with a look he most certainly inherited from his mother. “I won’t smother him, I promise, I’ll just lay down with him.”
The words nearly drew a laugh from her. “You will go to your lessons with your cousins and Luke will join you later.”
She ushered him away from the bedroom door before he could protest any further. Instead she led him out into the main area of the apartments, where her granddaughters and Viserys’ children sat waiting. All of them stood at attention when she walked in the room and they all likewise trailed after her without a single word. Though Jace did make several valiant attempts to change her mind as they walked through the halls.
The tutors that Viserys had gathered for them should already be within the King’s hall and it was her hope that she’d be able to drop the five of them off without any more fuss. Judging by the sun on the horizon there wasn’t much time left before court was set to start and both she and Corlys had a multitude of duties that needed tending to while the children were occupied.
Luke would, most likely, end up with her all day as she went about her courtly duties. She’d have to rearrange most of her schedule - at the very least she’d need to take her meetings in their antechamber rather than out at court. She certainly couldn’t leave him alone in their rooms, and Corlys couldn’t take him to his meeting with Viserys and Daemon.
With Rhaenyra preoccupied by the small council meeting and Laenor out issuing the rest of the scouting fleet’s orders, there was no one but her left to watch over her grandson. And with each adventure he went on, Rhaenys found herself more and more reluctant to let Luke out of her sights.
“Ser Jacin,” She greeted as she pulled herself from her thoughts. As she had hoped, all four of the tutors assigned to the children were already in the hall as they arrived. She knew only Jacin by name, given that he had grown up at court with her, and the others had been chosen and vetted by her cousin. “I must apologize for our tardiness, we had a bit of a late start this morn.”
The gray haired man waved her excuses off with a charming smile, “It’s of no consequence, Princess. We are here to serve and to teach, and knowledge has no time limits.” He ushered all six of the children to their seats around the large table and laid out a set of papers, instructing two of the other tutors to begin the lessons before turning back to her. “Though, if I may ask, I believed Prince Lucerys to be joining the other children as well?”
“Lucerys is under the weather, though I hope for him to join you all later.”
Jacin nodded, catching on quickly. “Of course, Princess.” He walked with her back to the main doors, holding them open as he poked his head out after her. “Hopefully he is well enough to join us, it is always a blessing to teach the members of the royal family.”
She gave one last quick glance towards the doors, ensuring that Ser Alisar was standing stalwart inside the room, before she turned away. Luke had yet to try and sneak away while her husband was tending to him, but she didn’t want to tempt fate.
“How long did you say the scouts would be sailing for?” Rhaenyra asked as she shrugged on the final layer of her dress, the thick fabric bunching up slightly around her waist until she patted it into its proper place. Not for the first time she envied her husband in how simple it was to slip into a shirt and trousers in the morning and be ready for court.
Laenor’s voice was muffled by the changing screen, “They are setting sail at midday and Father wants them to sail for no more than seven days before heading back.”
A fortnight in total then. It would be a fortnight before they had a report - if there turned up anything to report - on how close the Triarchy might be to their home. Though perhaps it would be shorter than that, for all they knew the scouts may sail for a day or two to reach past the horizon and stumble upon an entire fleet waiting to ambush them.
The thought curdled her stomach and Rhaenyra found herself tracing the embroidered dragons along the ribs of her dress. There was no point in dwelling on the possibilities of the future. They already knew almost for certain that the Triarchy was involved, and that war was most likely on its way to the Seven Kingdoms. All she should be focusing on was helping her father prepare the realm for what laid ahead.
“And none of the ships that have sailed in so far have encountered anyone?” She reached out to pull the screen aside, revealing an equally anxious Laenor fiddling with his belt.
“No one nefarious.”
“Nefarious? But they have encountered a foreign ship?”
He nodded. “It was a Braavosi ship. Captain Garon spotted it in one of the groves near Rosby.”
“Did they seize the ship and the crew?” Rosby wasn’t even a full day’s ride away from King’s Landing. If they had managed to send a ship that far into the bay unnoticed -
“They attempted to, it turned out to be Uncle Vaemond.”
“Vaemond?” She knew of her husband’s uncle though she hadn’t met the man more than a handful of times in her entire life. He didn’t come to King’s Landing often unless House Velaryon was there en masse, and he spent most of his time out at sea from what she knew. Truthfully the last time she had seen him was at their wedding. He hadn’t been at court for the announcement of Jace or Luke’s births, nor had he attended the first time they had sailed to Driftmark with the boys for Luke’s first nameday. “I thought he was on a voyage?”
“He was.”
The uncertainty was clear on Laenor’s face and she could tell even without him voicing it aloud that something wasn’t quite adding up. It was most likely paranoia, gods knew that they had all been on edge lately and the ever increasing threats weren’t helping. “What is worrying you, then?”
His jaw clenched, “He told Garon that his ship had capsized during a recent storm - that’s why he had the Braavosi ship…”
“And?”
“His voyage was supposed to take him to Pentos.” Laenor started slowly, “Father wanted him to renegotiate one of our trade routes. Even with a storm shipwrecking him it’s a far cry from Pentos to Braavos.”
That was strange. It was quite a ways to get from Pentos to Braavos, and one would have had to be heading due North out of Blackwater to have washed ashore in Braavos. Still, Vaemond could have been attempting to navigate his way north of a storm only to get caught up in it. Or perhaps he had landed ashore in Pentos and bought a Braavosi ship there. “Could he not have bought a Braavosi ship in Pentos? Did Garon say that he had been to Braavos?”
“Garon didn’t think the crew aboard the ship was from Pentos, in fact he mentioned that they didn’t look like a crew at all.” He said suspiciously. “The one that stood out to him looked like a priest, the others were unremarkable but they had none of the skill that one would see from a ship crew.” His fingers tapped over the hilt of his sword where it was strapped onto his hip. “And docking at Rosby doesn’t make sense either. None of the ships that came from Driftmark had seen him on the island nor did any of the ships already in the bay see him dock near King’s Landing. As far as anyone is aware he came straight from his voyage into the bay and docked in that grove.”
Rhaenyra tried to think of a reason for why Vaemond would need to stop at Rosby and not continue further into the bay, but she found herself drawing up blank. None of the reasons she could think of made sense. There had been no storms within the bay in the last few days that would have shipwrecked him a second time. If there had been then running ashore at Driftmark would have been a safer bet.
It only made sense to dock at Rosby if he had been intending to come all the way to King’s Landing, but if that had been his intention, why stay in the grove? “How long was he docked there?”
“I don’t know - Garon’s ship is the first to enter the bay since Father requested scouting ships and the ones already in King’s Landing have been here for a fortnight if not longer.”
“If he was docked in the grove for a fortnight surely it would have made more sense to simply sail the rest of the way to King’s Landing?”
He nodded again. “That’s exactly what I was thinking. It’s awfully strange for him to have not stopped at Driftmark at all and then to stay docked in such a secluded grove but not alert anyone to his presence.”
Or perhaps he did attempt to alert someone. “Did he not try to contact anyone? We have all been quite preoccupied, perhaps he sent a raven to Corlys or your mother and we just didn’t hear of it.”
“If he was coming to King’s Landing he would have just sailed the rest of the way here. He would have shown up at court, or at my father’s chambers.” Laenor waved away the thought however, and instead came to link their arms together. “Enough speculation, I swear if I think up any more possible conspiracies my head just might end up bursting into flames. I’ll bring it up to my father when I get the chance and I’ll be speaking with Garon later on as well.”
She readily took the out for what it was. She let him lead her from the room and out into the antechamber where Qarl and one of the other household guards were waiting for the two of them. They both bowed and Qarl fell into step with them as they headed for the hall.
It was quite a trek to the small council chambers, and all along the way Rhaenyra couldn’t help but think of the night she and Harwin had shared. Harwin had hidden it fairly well, but she knew underneath his jovial exterior he was still stewing over his request to take the boys to Harrenhall. She had seen it in the morn when he left her chambers more somber than when he had entered them, and now his words burned her tongue.
The promise she had made to ask Laenor was lodged in her throat. She wanted to ask and yet she didn’t want to hear the answer. Truthfully she believed that Laenor wouldn’t agree to it - he had grown more and more attached to the boys as time went on - but he was also easily swayed.
Harrenhall was certainly safer for Jace and Luke and there was no doubt in her mind that Harwin would give his own life to keep them safe.
But the more she thought about it the less she liked the idea. There wasn’t a day in her son’s lives that she hadn’t been with them in some capacity and she dreaded even the thought of not having them by her side. She had been relentless in her pursuit to keep the two of them with her and that need had only grown with each of the catastrophes that surrounded her youngest.
Having Luke be half a day’s flight away from her, if something were to happen…if Harrenhall was to be besieged by an enemy…it was unthinkable to her. There had been no easy way for her to outright say no to Harwin and so she had said yes to asking Laenor, and now that the time had come to ask she couldn’t bring herself to.
“I suppose this is where we break apart,” Laenor said lightly, pulling his arm away from hers. The move startled her straight out of her thoughts and when she looked up she realized that they had traversed the Keep all the way out to the Throne room. “I’ll come find you and the boys once I’ve talked with the scouts and my father, hopefully I’ll have something worthwhile to report.”
“Of course.” She hesitated as Laenor turned away from the steps to the grand hall, wavering back and forth on whether she wanted to bring up what Harwin had suggested. “Actually Laenor…I have something to discuss with you tonight as well.”
His eyebrows furrowed at the admission but thankfully he didn’t press her on it too much further. “Tonight, then.”
End Chapter 20
Notes:
Arrax, with a knife taped to his talons, walking up to Syrax and Ceraxes: You will give me Tyraxes or I will fucking make Tyraxes.
Jace: Uncle Aemond is older than me and yet here I am feeling protective older brother instincts towards him just because he had a nightmare
Alrighty friends. It's been a while, so I have some little polls on where we're going next in the story, please leave your answers in the comments!
First - Do we want some Laenor angst. (in the next couple of chapters, though keep in mind there will be Laenor angst in Act II)
Second - Do we want any level of redemption for Cole or do we just not really care how he turns out.
Third - I want you guys to leave your guesses for the identities of 1. Mystery Manic Pixie Dream Girl, 2. The Cloaked Acolyte (the one in the tunnel in Chp 17 not the one that got caught poisoning Luke) and 3. The Second Accomplice.
I'm not gonna confirm or deny who is who out of those three, I just wanna gauge who you guys think they are so I can see if the hints I've dropped are landing or not. I don't wanna fully ruin the surprise but I also don't want to jump cut and 'Arya kills the Night's King' you guys with the reveal.
Chapter 21: Chapter 21
Notes:
Rhaenys finally cooperated with me and let me finish this damn chapter. She was really fighting me the whole time.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Chapter 21
“Would you like something to eat, Luke?”
He shook his head, tucking his face into Meleys’ scales to try and block out the noise around him. The heat of his grandmother’s blood warmed his core, but the bustling of servants around the room set him on edge. All morning he’d been bombarded by lady after lady, though his grandmother did attempt to keep him away from as many of the people she was entertaining as possible, and he was tired of it. Tired of the constant cooing and awwing over his beauty and people asking after his health while the water whispered that they didn’t truly care for an answer.
He just wanted to go take a nap or see his dragon. Or better yet, take a nap with his dragon. Whatever lingered in the torches from the morning wouldn’t dare go near Arrax and neither would the nagging voices and noises of everyone around him. Only his family bothered to brave his dragon’s ire.
“Are you sure, sweet boy, you haven’t eaten anything yet today.” His grandmother cooed, shifting him from one hip to the other and tucking one of the many blankets on the lounge tighter around his shoulders. “Surely you are hungry for something? We could take a trip down to the kitchens and see if anything catches your eye?”
Again, Luke shook his head. The thought of any food - of bread or cheese or fruit - made his stomach churn. He wasn’t hungry and if he were he would be hungry for the fish that Arrax had taken to bringing him, not the intense flavors and textures of the decadent foods that were always thrust onto him. He wanted the bite of seawater and metallic blood on his tongue.
Meleys stopped in the middle of rearranging the papers on the table and even though he couldn’t see her face, he knew she was upset by the denial. Everyone was always upset when he refused to eat. “Perhaps we should stop and see Maester Gerardys…he did mention wanting to make sure the poison had no long term effects on your health.”
That didn’t sound any better than going to the kitchens, but he’d much rather be around Maester Gerardys than the gaggle of ladies that had been in and out of the sitting room. So he nodded his head and let himself be picked up.
“Hello, my prince, princess.” Maester Gerardys bowed in greeting as the two royals entered the room, a satchel laden heavy with tools warping his shoulders. “It is good to see you again, Prince Lucerys.”
He gave a cursory check over the wounds on his hands, keeping half an ear out for Princess Rhaenys’ concerns, and found that the cuts were barely more than paper thin scars now. They had healed surprisingly well, and swiftly, despite his body having been put through its paces in the time since his injury. It was a feat he’d never seen before, though it was a welcome one, and he had no intentions of looking a gift horse in the mouth. If the boy’s body was capable of healing with such stunning quickness that was fine by him.
The young prince merely watched him with lidded eyes as he went about his work. He was considerably more subdued than Gerardys had seen him in the past. Not to the point of being a significant concern, given the boy had just been poisoned and was still in recovery, but it was of note. At the very least he intended to document all of the prince’s behavior, if just to ensure he could send a comprehensive report back to the Citadel.
The antidote had done its job, ridding Lucerys of the deadliest side effects of the poison. However, due to the miniscule research he had on hand the long term side effects of both the poison and the antidote itself were both primarily unknown. Having proper documentation of the prince's continued condition would be paramount for helping future research about the Volantene poison.
Only five people so far had lived past the first onset of visible symptoms, with Prince Lucerys being the fifth. The fact that they had managed to obtain a workable antidote with so few successes was in itself a miracle.
“Besides the tiredness, and the lack of appetite, has he shown any other symptoms? Or any more fits, Princess?”
Princess Rhaenys shook her head, accepting the boy back into her arms with a tense smile. “He’s been sleeping on and off during the day, Laenor mentioned that he is getting chilled a bit quicker than he did before. Beyond that and a singular fit this morning, he has been the same.”
His fingers drummed against the tabletop. None of the missives mentioned anything about chills or a susceptibility to the cold. It could be a new symptom, or it could be nothing. “Is he running a fever?” Lucerys’ skin had felt normal to the touch when he was holding him, but perhaps he had missed it. “Was he getting chilled before the poison or only after?”
“Only after, he was quick to overheat previously.” Princess Rhaenys offered.
The poison then.
He gave the boy another once over, just in case he had truly missed something, but again the boy appeared fairly healthy all things considered. The scars were healing well, his breathing had none of the crackling sounds he observed right after the antidote was administered, his skin didn’t feel cold to the touch nor was there a blue or gray tinge to it. As much as he hated it, there was nothing more to do for the prince except wait for him to recover and monitor his progress. Or wait for more symptoms to appear.
“I think it would be best to just watch him for now, and should the symptoms not go away, we will revisit it.” Gerardys said kindly as he finished his exam and stood. “Has he mentioned being cold or is it something you have observed?”
“I’ve felt him shivering a few times, mostly after a fit and he does quite often mention how hot or cold others around him are.”
Again, that wasn’t wholly remarkable on its own. Prince Lucerys had been strange ever since his original fever after being submerged in the sea. And if he was continuing to have mild seizures the chill afterwards could easily be his body attempting to regain its equilibrium. Still, he jotted down the presence of the seizures on his parchment, took one last glance at the Prince’s eyes to confirm he was lucid, and then began putting his tools back in their places.
His two charges watched as he packed his things and he could feel the discontent radiating off of the Princess. It didn’t offend him, quite a lot of people found the prospect of simply waiting without an instant cure to their ailments disgruntling. Especially when it was a child that was ill. Though, perhaps given this particular child’s knack for running off and finding trouble there was some suggestion he could give. Something that might help the boy with both his health and his safety in the interim.
He mulled over the thought, privately wishing that it was Princess Rhaenyra standing in front of him rather than Rhaenys - as Rhaenyra would be easier to convince.
“If I may offer a suggestion, Princess?”
Rhaenys inclined her head. “Of course.”
“While I understand the need for limiting Prince Lucerys’ interactions with the rest of the Keep’s population,” He began hesitantly, “I believe he might do well with spending some time outside. He has been sequestered within the castle for nearly the last two moons, some fresh air and time out in the sun may help his condition considerably.”
Instantly the Princess’ expression soured. She pursed her lips, and he could easily read the denial already firm on her tongue.
He brought a hand up in an offering of peace. He knew intimately the dangers that Lucerys was in. The child had been stricken by fever, nearly killed by an assassin, and then poisoned by an interloper in his own set of acolytes after all. But still. Giving him some modicum of freedom may in the end keep him from running off into danger in secret. “As I said, I understand the need for him to be kept close. But he has a propensity for sneaking around unseen which, given the current dangers within the keep, puts him at an extremely high risk for injury. I simply believe that if he is given the opportunity to explore while he is chaperoned, he may not feel the need to run off unchaperoned.”
The Princess merely sighed, though he could already see her resolve weakening. Maybe she too had thought of the same solution and just didn’t want to be the one to give into it. Admittedly it was a risk.
To take the boy out where an assassin could see him and take advantage of a crowd or an open space to attack….
Yet keeping him inside hadn’t truly kept him safe so far either.
“I suppose you are right,” She finally acquiesced, breaking her stare to instead look down at her grandson. “Would you like that Luke? Ser Kent is already with us, I suppose we could gather another few knights and we could go down to visit Meleys, or go out to the bay.”
The suggestion certainly seemed to brighten the boy’s spirit. Lucerys practically bloomed right in front of his face at the prospect of getting out of the castle. “Can we go see the tree?”
“The tree?”
Luke nodded, twisting around in Rhaenys’ arms to point out one of the rookery windows, down towards the Godswood. “The tree!”
Rhaenys appeared just as confused by the suggestion as he was, however if Prince Lucerys wished to go see the Godswood, perhaps that was for the best. It was still within the safety of the Red Keep, while also being fairly secluded and easy to protect by a few well placed guards. It would also serve to get him out into the fresh air and sunlight.
“Well, my prince, I wish you and Princess Rhaenys well on your visit to the heart tree.” He said quietly, nodding to the two of them as the Princess attempted to draw an explanation out of Luke.
The boy didn’t seem keen on explaining his wishes any further, other than mentioning that he had a gift for the heart tree, so the maester contented himself with finishing repacking his tools and watching as his charge was carried out of the room.
“And what is it you want to give to…the tree?” Meleys asked slowly as they settled down against the old roots.
Luke didn’t bother answering her. Instead he reached into his pocket and pulled out the three little almonds and the lemon cake he had taken from his grandmother’s breakfast table. It was a paltry offering but he knew his brother would appreciate him just coming to visit him, let alone bringing him a gift.
He knew from their time together that while they couldn’t eat anything during their time together in the strange tree, Jace could eat things in the afterlife by himself. And since he didn’t have much to offer compared to the afterlife, he could at least give Jace treats that meant something to him.
The roasted almonds to acknowledge the taste of his older brother’s sorrow, three of them to represent Jace, him, and the little brother Arrax dreamed of him having; the lemon cake was for the bitter sweet sting of the time they had spent together within the tree.
Luke brushed his palm over the offerings, letting the low whispers of Balerion’s baritone flow through him until his veins ran hot with liquid heat instead of water. It burned his fingertips, searing them to what felt like his bones, but he didn’t stop pulling the magic through his hand until the smell of acrid burning almonds and browned sugar filled his nose.
The heady scent shrouded the constant tune of his friend’s song just enough to allow him to slip his water into the tiny droplets of sap that resided within the tree without interference. The giant heart tree before him woke with a muted groan and Luke watched, enraptured, as the branches of the tree crept towards him. However they were no longer the stark white of the heart tree, instead they were wreathing and dark ivy green. Coated in vines, he realized when they hit the ground and slithered their way over to him. Warmth emanated from them, lighting up his skin and filling his veins - this time with a softer heat. It wasn’t the same molten blaze that he had drawn to his hand from Balerion but it was close to it.
All at once he realized what the ivy smothered branches were. “Vermax?” He asked the air, delighting when the vines pulled away from the bleached bark to drape themselves over his back. They ended in an outline of verdant wings that blanketed him on both sides, curling around his form much like Vermax had when they laid in the grove of heart trees.
“But if you were the ivy, why did they warn me of danger?” His brother’s dragon was far from dangerous, to him at least. He had bonded with Vermax before he had met dream Jace and the older version of his dragon. There was no danger that could come from the two of them. Yet when some of the vines broke away to stroke over his cheek he was greeted with the same vision he had seen that day.
Dark green vines roving over the floorboards. But as he looked closer he saw them sinking into the boards and wrapping themselves around something….trapping whatever it was in place. The vines folded in on themselves over and over again; they tangled themselves together into a giant mass before sinking beneath the boards and the gravel to root themselves in place. Danger still rang in his ears even now, as if whatever was caught in the rootball still remained. His vision flashed with a face, one too soft around the edges to make out any details beyond envious eyes being shrouded in green.
Suddenly it clicked into place. It wasn’t the ivy itself his friends had been warning him of, it was a man! A man that had been spying on him with some ill intent, and it had been Vermax controlling the ivy to do away with his enemy. The ivy that had appeared from the floorboards hadn’t been trying to snuff out their flames, Vermax had merely been checking on them, assessing whether the man had harmed them. The ice that had grasped his throat was from the cold gods that allowed his brother and his dragon to stay in their tree.
He had mistaken the threat of the man for the threat of his brother’s dragon. “Why ivy?” He asked, pulling Vermax in towards his mind as much as he could without disturbing the hushed voices that drifted out of the tree’s branches. “You’re a dragon, not a plant.”
His question was answered with another stroke of ivy leaves, this one running up the entire length of his back. It turned him back towards the tree.
“Because Jace’s gods are trees?”
Flashes came to him; trees, flowers, rivers, rocks, mountain tops and droplets of rain. “The gods are all of those things?”
The heart tree rustled in the wind and he took the sudden lance of cold through his veins as a yes.
“Maybe next time they can make you into some Dragon’s Breath,” He suggested seriously as he reached out to pat the dried bark of the tree roots. Dragon’s breath were pretty flowers and they were red like flames. There would be no mistaking Jace and Vermax for an enemy if he took such an enticing form. His touch was rewarded with a cold whispering wind, an acquiescence as Vermax’s vines shortened into dark purple stems and vibrant red bulbs. “Thank you!”
The pungent scent of lemons and almonds drifted over him, though this time it was sweeter, smelling more like the lemon cake he had sacrificed than the almonds he had burned. “I love you too, brother. Thank you for protecting me.” He whispered to the tree, letting himself lean forward to place a kiss along one of the roots. Vermax’s warmth filled him again and he let it soak deep inside of him to keep him warm as he pulled himself away from the tree.
The ivy wings along his back faded alongside his brother’s scent as he drifted along the current of his mind back to where he had been before. Meleys swam in front of his vision, looking at him with concern, yet he couldn’t bring himself to care. Jace and Vermax still lingered under his skin, and he could feel some of the water he had used to call upon them lingering within the sap of the tree in turn.
His siren’s song buzzed with agitation in his ears at the loss. He’d need to refill his water now, and for that he needed the sea. His brother’s warmth would keep him up for as long as it could linger but it wouldn’t last.
“Luke? Are you alright?” His grandmother asked, her own warmth echoing what was left of his brother as she pulled him up into her lap and brushed his hair back from his face.
His voice came out as a croak, “Can we go to the bay now? I need water.”
The dragon was clearly unhappy with the request but thankfully she seemed to understand the urgency of it - though she did cast a suspicious look back towards the heart tree as she stood. “Alright. But we will be talking about this later.”
As they crossed over the threshold, before they turned the corner back into the hall, Luke chanced a glance over her shoulder towards the gnarled roots of the heart tree.
The smoldering remains of the almonds and the lemon cake were gone.
“Brother!” Harwin called, striding through the gardens with enough determination that his fellow guards hurried to get out of his path. Larys turned to greet him from across the hedges with a subtle raise of his eyebrow. “If I may have a moment of your time.”
His brother turned back to the ladies he had been chattering with to say a quick goodbye before slowly making his way over towards him. “Of course, Harwin.”
The two of them ambled down a nearby hall, until they were well away from the prying ears of the courtiers and instead were surrounded by just firelight. Their pace was slow but Harwin found a strange sense of relief filling him as the low din of voices was replaced by the steady thump and slide of his brother’s cane and club foot.
Larys cleared his throat as they came to a stop, each of them coming to rest against opposite walls of the small hallway. “What is it, brother? It isn’t often that you come find me for just a chat.”
“I need your help.” The admission seemed to grab Larys’ attention. Those hawkish eyes shot up from their perusal of his armor straight to meet his own.
“Oh,” Larys hummed. “And what is it you need my help with?” He asked with a half-chuckle, “Has your normal solution of simply punching things until they do what you want not bore fruit for once?”
The slight didn’t sting nearly as much as it used to, not after so many years of the same back and forth between them. They each had their strengths and Harwin had long learned to not question what gifts he had been given. “I need Father to offer to house Prince Jacaerys and Prince Lucerys at Harrenhal for the foreseeable future and I do not know how to ask him for it.” He said honestly.
His brother’s brows nearly met his hairline. “May I ask why the Princes cannot continue to be housed in the Keep? Or at Driftmark or Dragonstone? Surely they’d be both safer and more at home in the dwelling they’ve lived their whole lives in?”
Harwin allowed himself just the slightest bit of hesitation at the questions. They were perfectly normal questions, ones he himself might have asked if he was in Larys’ place, but he knew that Rhaenyra and her family had been keeping the attempts at assassinating Luke close to their vests. As far as he was aware only the Velaryons, Maester Gerardys, Prince Daemon and the King himself were fully aware of what all had transpired in the last two moons.
Even some of the guards for House Velaryon weren’t privy to the exact reasons for all the commotion that had surrounded Luke. But his need for the boys to be safe outweighed the need for secrecy and it wasn’t as if he was going about screaming it from the hilltops, he was only telling Larys. If his own brother couldn’t be trusted, then who could he trust?
“There has been a few…happenings recently involving the two of them.”
“Happenings?”
He spared a quick glance down the hall, ensuring that the two of them truly were alone before he leaned in closer. “Twice now there has been attempts made against Prince Lucerys’ life. While the Keep itself is safe, Princess Rhaenyra and Ser Laenor wish to move both him and Prince Jacaerys to a less notable location for their safety.”
His brother’s face remained blank at the news, and if it had been anyone other than Larys, Harwin would have seen the sheer lack of reaction as an oddity. But his brother was and always had been very adept at keeping his face stoic in even the most shocking of situations.
“Ah. How tragic…” He murmured, almost to himself as his gaze dropped away from Harwin’s eyes and instead down to the clasp that held up his gold cloak. “Two attempts, you said?”
Harwin nodded. “He was attacked within Prince Aemond’s chambers and then another attempt was made with poison.”
“Tragic indeed. Princess Rhaenyra must be beside herself.” After a short pause his brother drew himself up and off the wall, his cane clacking against the stone between them. “Well, consider it done, Harwin. I will take care of convincing Father to offer our home to the King. We all have to do our share in keeping the royal family safe, after all.”
Rhaenys looked along the rocky shoreline, seeing nary a single soul in sight. Ser Kent stood stalwart at the top of the stone steps that led down to the secluded little cove, but it appeared that it was simply her and her grandson out among the sand.
Luke was staring up at her with those haunting eyes, his dazzling white curls only emphasized by the afternoon sunlight. With a sigh she lifted her foot to precariously place it on a nearby rock so she could undo her boot laces with one hand. There was no one around to worry over or witness the impropriety of a princess her age taking a dip in the water. And her grandson needed to be in the sea after…whatever it was she had witnessed in the godswood.
It was a struggle to get her boots off while still holding him in her arms, but eventually she was greeted by the sand of the bay between her toes. Rhaenys was spurred on towards the water by the feeling of Luke nuzzling against her throat and soon enough the two of them were wading almost thigh deep into the sun warmed water. Her dress was soaked through in seconds, clinging to her legs like a second skin, yet she barely noticed.
All too easily she was pulled into the waves, nearly letting them wash her off her feet as they waded deeper and deeper into the bay. The sound of the surf crashing against the shore was like a siren’s song to her, calling her further out. It didn’t take long for Luke to come back alive in her arms as the waves washed over them. Within moments he was squirming against her, practically begging to get down into the water. The listlessness he had been plagued with on the walk from the woods to the beach was replaced with joyful giggles as he dunked himself into the surf.
She didn’t try to stop him. Instead all of her good sense was replaced by the carefree childishness of an afternoon spent messing about in the ocean.
It almost reminded her of her own youth; when she had first met Corlys and her headstrong fool of a future husband had tugged her boots off her feet and coaxed her out into the water to waste the afternoon beneath the blazing sun eating fresh clams right out of the shell.
“Well this is certainly a sight to behold,” Her head whipped towards the shore, her hands reaching out to pluck Luke from the water before she even registered the owner of the voice. “You must have a way with words, nephew, if you managed to get my mother to shed her boots and head out into the water.”
Laena’s mouth was twisted up in a grin as she joined them out in the water. Behind her Rhaenys could see Baela and Rhaena hastily casting their boots and stockings aside.
The fear drained out of her just as quickly as it had come, and she lowered Luke back into the water, encouraging him with a firm hand on his shoulder to wade closer to shore to meet his cousins. The three of them quickly whipped themselves into a frenzy, rushing out into the waves, giggling and splashing each other without a care in the world.
Laena came to her side, mirroring her smile with one of her own as they watched the children. “I don’t believe I’ve ever seen you galavanting in the ocean, mother.” She said slyly.
Rhaenys snorted, “It would seem that Luke has me doing quite a few things I wouldn’t normally do.”
“I think that can be said for all of us.” Laena turned to face her, the sweet smile she had fading fast into annoyance, “Speaking of things we’ve been doing, Ser Harwin and I have yet to get into Prince Aemond’s chambers to try and find the ring the assassin spoke of. I believe at this point we may be better off just sending Daemon in.”
The news drew out a sigh. It truly came as no surprise to Rhaenys. Even though Alicent had been startlingly silent as of late, Ser Cole was patrolling the halls more and more often, and now that her cousin's younger children resided in the King’s wing with them, the knight was on even higher alert as he stormed about the Queen’s apartments. It was no wonder he kept finding ways to turn Laena away from the Prince’s old chambers.
Though it did somewhat pique her curiosity. Aemond no longer resided in the chamber and even Cole, as dense as he was, had to at least assume that they were looking into the assassin that had attacked Aemond and Luke. What other reasoning could they have for attempting to send Laena in to investigate the room?
Nonetheless, perhaps it was time to shed the attempt at secrecy and simply have Daemon force his way into the room. Try as he might, Cole didn’t have the authority or the leverage to force Daemon away from any room in the castle the same way he could with Laena or Harwin. They should have started with that, truly. In the time since that first attempt on the boy’s life any other assassin - or more aptly the woman who hired them herself - could have easily gone and disposed of whatever ring the assassin had been told to drop. But they had had other things that required Daemon’s deft hand moreso than finding the ring had.
It was also a stretch to think that the ring would lead them to the woman behind all these plots anyway. From what the assassin had disclosed the ring was given to him purposefully to drop in the room after making the attempt on what should have been Lucerys. At best it would lead them to whoever was meant to be framed by the true mastermind behind this vile plot. Still, they were hoping for the chance to work backward and figure out who might have a grudge against whomever was framed.
“I assume you and Daemon have already discussed this?”
“We have. He’ll be taking over training with the children this afternoon for their sword lessons and then when Alicent leaves to say her prayers he’ll go.”
Rhaenys hummed, half a plan starting to fall into place as she roved over their options. “And he’s taking over the training from Cole?”
Her answer was a nod.
Perfect. “Next time you see him, tell Daemon not to dismiss Cole from his training duties.” The suggestion of course got a look of confusion sent her way. Daemon and Cole’s hatred for one another was well known amongst practically the entirety of King’s Landing. Just having the two of them in the same room was more than enough to cause trouble. Having the two of them try to teach a gaggle of princes sword work together? It would be a recipe for disaster. “The two of them will be distracted and at each other’s throats while Alicent should be heading off to say her prayers.”
“Leaving the Queen’s wing unattended,” Laena finished as she finally caught on. “And with my duties done for the day, it will be no hardship to get into Prince Aemond’s old quarters.”
“Exactly that.” Rhaenys echoed. Gods, she loved it when everything needed for a plan fell right into her lap. “Now, with that out of the way, did you and the girls come find us for something in particular, or just for a romp in the water?”
There was certainly no way Laena and the girls just happened to stumble upon them by accident. This section of the bay was secluded, Rhaenys had chosen it to soothe her worries about Luke’s vulnerability. Which meant Laena must’ve asked after their location specifically. “Ah, I met Father and Laenor at the docks after all the children were done with their morning lessons and Father wished for us all to spend some time together.”
More like her husband wished for an opportunity to go on a shopping spree at the jewelers and show off their family’s wealth, she thought with a sigh. If it were any other moment she may have outright said no and insisted on heading back to the Keep with Luke. But in this particular moment, after looking back to her grandchildren and listening to the bright peals of their laughter echoing off the rocks…she supposed she could suffer through a shopping trip just this once.
They all deserved something nice, and Gerardys did say that Luke needed time in the sun and the fresh air.
The market was bustling all around them, filled with the normal buzz that came with being among the more crowded sections of the city. It was almost a shock to Laenor after spending so much time cooped up in the Red Keep, even after he had spent the morning among the sailors and captains of his father’s fleet. However it was a welcome shock, though the crowd did open a small pit of fear in his stomach.
That fear seemed to linger just a bit no matter where he went nowadays but the presence of his entire family did help to quell some of it. Having his parents, Qarl and half the household guard dispersed around him and his sons took some of the edge off just barely.
Enough that he could relax and watch Jace and the girls bounce from stall to stall, pointing things out to Luke and him as they went. And it was even enough to keep him from flinching back as Harwin appeared out of nowhere from behind one of the buildings, beelining straight for them with a call of his name.
Laenor let his father take Luke from his arms when the knight got close enough, shooting his son a smile as Harwin led him just slightly off the path the rest of his family followed. “Good afternoon, Harwin!”
“Good afternoon.” The knight rumbled back, waiting until Luke and Corlys turned the corner towards another stall to grasp Laenor’s elbow and pull him into a small alcove. “Rhaenyra told me what happened with Jace and the tutor, has he been any better?”
The near fight with the tutor and the conversation he had with Jace after both swam through his mind. He hadn’t thought about it all day, talking with Captain Garon and the other sailors had taken up so much of his time and brain power. “He’s been…seeing things because of Luke’s magic and the poison, its quickened his temper, but he seems to be coming back to normal.”
“Seeing things? Like the dragon dreams?”
He sighed. “To be quite honest I don’t know much, magic isn’t exactly well studied.”
Harwin’s brows furrowed as they got to walking again, this time at a much more sedate pace and further away from the bustling market streets. “Surely you know what’s happening, your mother is a Targaryen and the Targaryen’s have magic. They’ve always had it, haven’t they? That’s what lets you control the dragons!” He sounded quite shocked, just as he had when they revealed Luke’s magic to him the first time.
“Yes, but…Luke’s magic is different.” It was hard to explain - Laenor himself didn’t truly understand it, how could he expect to be able to explain it to someone else - that while they knew magic existed and that it was in their Valyrian blood, there just wasn’t much known about the magic itself. They couldn’t even pinpoint exactly what it was that allowed some with Valyrian blood to hatch eggs, and allowed others to only claim living dragons.
Their heritage was a mystery thanks to the Doom. “It's not just prophetic dreams and taming dragons. He can manipulate water and fire, which is something that even the oldest information we have in House Targaryen’s archives doesn’t reference.”
And that didn’t encompass all that Luke could do. His ability to heal himself was an enigma in and of itself, and Laenor often found his mind dwelling on it. It was a strange feat of magic, and one that he thought would have been highly coveted if it had been seen before. Something like that should have been written in every book, taught to every person, yet not a single book or scroll - of the few they had from Dragonstone, saved by Aenar and Daenys - referenced it. The few things they had from Old Valyria barely had any information at all, and even less that was useful.
They’d probably never know the extent of Luke’s magic, and Laenor really didn’t want to either. While the allure of certainty and knowledge was strong, he couldn’t stop thinking about what testing out Luke’s magic would require. What if he had a limit to his magic and they pushed him beyond it? What if he attempted some feat at their behest and injured himself?
What if their family’s greed for knowledge ended up killing his son?
Not to mention it wouldn’t be only their family’s bid for knowledge they’d have to contend with. Once they started to test out Luke’s magic there was only so much they could do to keep it a secret and inevitably the rest of the world would find out. The citadel and the maesters would clamber to be the first to grasp all that new knowledge and Laenor knew that those vultures would willingly shed their chains just to sink their talons into Luke like he was nothing more than a piece of meat to experiment on.
News would find its way beyond Westeros as well, out into the world at large, and Luke was already in so much danger without anyone knowing of his magic. How many more assassins would they be dealing with if everyone knew Luke was special?
It made his head ache and his heart race just thinking about it. More and more often he found himself wanting to just bundle his sons up and take off with them. Find some little hovel in the middle of nowhere near the ocean and let them live quiet uncomplicated lives without the weight of the world bearing down on them. He’d never be able to do it. Rhaenyra herself would hunt them down with the anger of a thousand suns if he took their children away, and if not her, then his own father would chase him to the ends of the earth just to get them back.
But he could dream.
He could dream of giving the boys a safe life away from the perils of being in line for the throne. Truthfully he didn’t think either of them would want the throne or even the stress of being a Lord of a Great House. “Like I said, we have little to no knowledge of the magic of Valyria. There’s whispers and rumors but nothing concrete, even for those of us who grew up with it.”
The stubborn set of Harwin’s jaw was more than enough to tell him he didn’t find that answer satisfactory. Laenor couldn’t blame him, he didn’t like the constant unknowns either.
“There has to be something somewhere. What about the Targaryens that came from Valyria before the doom? Aenar and his daughter?” He suggested. “Did they not bring anything with them when they fled? Or House Velaryon?”
“They did, but it's all about mundane things.” Laenor tried to explain. He’d never spent much time searching what little information they had from Old Valyria - truth be told he hadn’t cared all that much about any of it until Luke started showing signs of magic. But he knew some tidbits that Rhaenyra had learned from Viserys, and a few things he had heard from his own father and mother of what remained. “Mostly journals from Aenar himself. Some of it was about Daenys’ dreams, and some entries about seafaring and dragon husbandry.”
“But nothing about magic?”
Laenor shook his head. “Nothing outright, and nothing about the kind of feats Luke is capable of.” Though he wished there was something. He’d give the world over if it meant there was some kind of missive detailing how to raise a son with magic hidden away on Driftmark or Dragonstone.
Instead all he got was a frustrated sigh from Harwin as the knight’s head thunked back against the stone wall behind him. The look on his face echoed in Laenor’s heart. He knew the feeling of helplessness his friend was feeling, given that he himself had felt it almost every day since Luke had fallen into the sea.
Their lack of knowledge in general was already hard enough to contend with, and on top of not knowing the truth of what was happening, all of them were being dealt the secondary task of planning on the fly. It felt as if they were going from one horror to the next with no time at all to regroup, to think ahead, to try and mitigate anything. Even his own father, who always seemed to have at least the bare workings of his next few moves planned out, seemed to be getting caught off guard at every single turn.
Gods how he wished for a few moments of peace. Just a day to go out drinking with his sailors, or get a full night's sleep with Qarl that didn’t involve him jolting awake with the sight of Luke drenched in blood and seizing in Rhaenyra’s arms burned behind his eyelids.
And yet even just wanting for peace and quiet opened up a pit of guilt in his stomach. Who was he to be exhausted by these happenings when it was Luke who was being harangued at every turn? Luke had nearly drowned, had his hands sliced near to the bone, had been poisoned, and here he was wishing for himself to have more peace.
“What about the attempted assassinations?” Harwin’s harsh whisper jolted him out of his pity party.
At least he had slightly more information about that subject than about Luke’s magic. “The man that attacked Luke and Aemond has been…dealt with, and Rhaenyra is planning to petition her father to have the acolyte that poisoned Luke meet the dragon’s justice.”
“And what of the boy’s safety? Have you and Rhaenyra talked about it?”
“No, we haven’t yet,” There hadn’t been time. They had only just learned of the Triarchy’s involvement, and even though the boys had spent the night with his parents, he and Rhaenyra had only their brief meeting that morning before going their separate ways. He was still trying to parse over everything in his own mind and steady himself from the talk with the captains of the Velaryon fleet. “We were planning to reconvene tonight and discuss a few things, the boys -”
The other knight hesitated next to him, watching his face for a brief moment before turning fully to face him, stopping the two of them near the edge of the road they were on. “The boys could be moved to Harrenhal, Laenor. They’d be safer there.”
The mere suggestion stole whatever words he had been about to say right from his lips. Moving the boys halfway across the Kingdom? To Harrenhal? “I - We can’t just…my parents would never allow that!”
Harwin stared, his dark eyes haunted and hurt, but eventually he managed to force his words out through gritted teeth. “You’re the boy's father, Laenor, if you tell them you are taking Jace and Luke to Harrenhal, they can’t tell you no.”
He knew as well as Harwin did that it took the wind right out of both their sails to admit that out loud. As much as Laenor loved his sons - and they were his, yet they were also Harwin’s - he knew Harwin loved them just as much. For the first years of their lives Laenor had been their father only in name, while everyone, whether they admitted it or not, believed Harwin to be their father by blood. It had to take an immense amount of effort for the other man to say the words they had all danced around for weeks out in the open where others could potentially hear it.
His heart went out to Harwin. “My friend -”
“Please.” For the first time since he met him, Harwin looked nearly on the verge of tears. “They aren’t safe here. You know it, I know it, Rhaenyra knows it. No matter what anyone, even your parents or the King himself says, there is no way to keep them safe in King’s Landing and it's only a matter of time before someone actually manages to kill Luke, magic or not.”
Laenor’s breath whooshed out of his lungs. Harwin wasn’t wrong; the gods knew that both he and Rhaenyra had said as much amongst themselves. They had contemplated taking the boys out of the Red Keep as early as the first assassination attempt, and it was only due to the threat of the Triarchy laying siege to the islands that kept them from going through with those plans.
Still, there was no way his parents or Viserys would allow their grandchildren to be stripped from them, even if Laenor announced his intentions to take them to the Riverlands. He wasn’t entirely sure that Luke would be willing to go either. His youngest loved his grandfather, and Laenor didn’t think he’d take kindly to not only being taken from him but also being so far away that it’d take days to be able to see him.
Barring all that Luke had water based magic, he was attached to the sea; he used it to heal and it was possibly the basis for several of the magic feats he was capable of committing. How would he react to being hundreds of leagues away from the nearest coast? If he was attacked at Harrenhal would he even be able to heal himself? Would he be able to use river water the same way as he did seawater to heal himself? Harrenhal might be a less likely target for assassins and spies but if it was attacked Luke could be stranded without access to the one thing that let him survive the previous attacks.
It was an impossible choice, once again.
“What did Rhaenyra say to this?” He hated himself for falling back on Rhaenyra’s choice instead of making a decision himself. But his wife was always far more sure in her choices than he had ever been. She was also a far better parent than he was. “Did she agree to it and just ask that you confirm it with me?”
If she already allowed for it and just wanted his agreement, then he’d say yes. Rhaenyra could convince the King that sending the boys away was safer, and if Viserys agreed to it his own parents would be forced into it alongside him. Perhaps if the King forced their hands his parents might even send Laena and the girls along with them. That was a longshot, since he knew already that his father wanted Laena - and Vhagar - staying in the city to defend it in case of a siege, but he would be far more willing to send the boys to Harrenhal if his sister and her dragon were there to defend the castle.
The hesitation Harwin had was visible. “She said that she couldn’t come to Harrenhal with the boys, and that your parents wouldn’t allow them to go without someone from House Velaryon going along with them.”
“But she would allow them to go if someone went with them?” That certainly sounded in line with what Rhaenyra would choose. The position of heir was resting heavy on her head already, along with the decision to help take on the care of her half-siblings, so it was no surprise that she refused to abandon her duties.
“She was going to ask you to go with me and the boys herself, but given that I saw you first I figured I would ask instead.”
Laenor nodded. It took a long moment for the information to fully filter into his mind, it was a lot to take in after all.
“I’ll bring it up to my parents and see if they’d go along with it.” He settled on eventually. It would be hard to convince his father and he was reluctant to take himself away from the war efforts that would be kicking off soon, but he owed it to the boys to do his due diligence and figure out which option was best for them .
The two of them and their safety had to be what guided his decisions, not his own wants. He had fled the kingdom after his marriage to go gallivanting in one war and he didn’t have the luxury of doing it again. Not when Jace and Luke were already entrenched in so much danger.
The agreement to at least consider taking the boys to Harrenhal loosened the tension that had been wracking his friend, and Harwin’s face eased itself back into his normal carefree expression. The desperation still lingered just a fraction in his eyes though the worst of it was gone. He wouldn’t make any promises - if his father and mother refused to let the boys leave he’d most likely be swayed into staying himself but he could at least weigh the options laid in front of him.
Maybe he’d have a chance to talk it over with Laena and get her opinion on it before he took it to their parents. His sister was a smart woman and an amazing parent to her daughters, surely she’d give him a guiding hand on what was best for his boys. He’d talk to Rhaenyra about it as well, just to make sure they were all on the same page. He and Harwin both were the boys’ fathers, Rhaenyra was their mother, they all should have a say in what was going to happen with their children.
“Good, good.” Harwin whispered, his hand reaching out to land heavily on his shoulder, though his eyes remained focused away from him. “It’s what’s best for the boys, truly.”
The air was almost oppressive around them, and Laenor tried to lighten the mood with a soft jest. “Yes, well, I’m endeavoring to be a better Father for them both, no matter how many times I’ve failed at it.”
Harwin’s eyes darkened when his attention turned back to him, and Laenor felt his face flush at the heady look. Thank the gods his skin was dark, otherwise the few passersby would have been treated to the sight of the heir to Driftmark blushing like some virginal maiden on her wedding night. “We really do need to do something about your self-esteem.” Harwin rumbled, subtly nudging Laenor near one of the walls of the alley. “Perhaps the four of us need to spend another night together, that certainly seemed to boost your confidence the last time.”
“Harwin!” He hissed, his eyes darted around the side streets, though much to his relief none of the people around them were paying them much mind. The two of them weren’t the most common duo to be seen around the streets of the markets, but they weren’t odd enough to bring more than just cursory glances. “You can’t say things like that, not out loud.”
“If I don’t say them out loud, you won’t get flustered.” The words were lighthearted and teasing, Harwin’s earlier morose mood completely gone, barely ghosting across his ear as the knight bumped shoulders with him. “And you know how much I love to see the future King and Queen of the Seven Kingdoms flustered. It lights up my day, and they’ve been incredibly dark and dull, what with me having to deal with Cole all the time.”
That part Laenor could agree with. The Queen’s protector was dreary on a good day, and down right sucked the life out of every room on a bad day.
“What’s this I’m hearing about flustering the future King and Queen?” Laenor nearly jumped out of his skin at the extra voice, and moments later Qarl made his way out from between two stalls, sidling up to them with the same smirk that had caught Laenor’s eye when they first met. It was a twisted little thing and usually it heralded quite a raucous night. “I can’t believe the two of you are out here planning a get-together without me.”
Harwin let out a whooping laugh. “It’s been quite some time since we’ve all been together, I think both our heirs could do with some…extra attention lavished upon them.”
“Now that sounds like a plan I could get behind.”
He couldn’t believe his ears! The two of them were menaces to society, truly, talking about their assignations out in such a public place, without a care in the world! It was made even worse by the knowledge that if Rhaenyra were here, she would only inflame the situation, being a similar menace as she was.
If anything his wife would have brought up their previous rendezvous quicker than Harwin had.
“A plan isn’t the only thing you’ll be getting behind, my friend.”
His hands snapped out to thump against both of their chests as soon as he saw the shit eating grin take over Qarl’s face. They needed to stop and continue this conversation later, in the safety of their rooms before someone actually overheard them and kicked up a fuss. It wouldn’t be the first time someone heard their plans - gods he didn’t want to remember the sheer mortification he had felt the first time his sister had accidentally listened in on their ideas for a good night in.
He most certainly didn’t want to remember the knowing smirk and wink she had leveled at him the next day over breakfast. He swore that everyone around him made it a game to embarrass him, and each tried to outdo the next. His wife, his sister, his lover, his wife’s lover, all of them fiends.
He needed better and less attractive friends. “Let’s worry about that later, shall we?” Laenor said with a tense smile, “Qarl, was there a reason you came to find us?”
Qarl smiled back at him. “I smelt the sexual tension in the air and like any good dog I just had to come find the source.” He jested, before quickly turning serious. “Luke was asking where you went off too.”
Luke’s name seemed to bring them all back to reality, the cheer and teasing tint to the air fading just a fraction as they turned their little entourage back to the markets once again. “Is he alright? Does he not feel well?”
“He looks happy enough, Laenor, however your father was piling nearly his entire body weight worth of jewels on him when I left, so we might want to hurry back.”
That was enough for him to start up a healthy jog to the main street. Once his father got into the swing of a shopping spree, especially one that would showcase the wealth of their house and the prestige of their lineage, there was little that could stop him.
And surely enough, when they made it back into the bustling market Luke was adorned with not only his aquamarine and pearl necklace, but a new circlet of dazzling silver sat balanced perfectly on his curls. Laenor could already feel a headache building behind his eyes just at the sight of it all.
They already were dealing with assassins and spies and now his father was piling jewels on his son like he was begging for thieves to throw their hat in the ring as well. He might as well fill a chest with jewels and leave it out on the front steps of Driftmark.
“Father!” He called out, storming up to them as quickly as he could without appearing improper, and plucked his son right from his father’s arms. Luke greeted him with a smile and a fistful of rings latching onto his hair. “Just how many things did you buy him?”
The affronted look his father sent him almost made him laugh. “I’ve barely bought him anything, my son! Besides, is it not a grandfather’s duty to spoil his grandchildren?”
A hastily concealed snort from his mother was more than enough to make the rest of the tension fade from his shoulders. “It is, but Luke doesn’t need to be plied with jewels.” He brushed a few of Luke’s curls back, disturbing the circlet. His son seemed happy enough despite the half a pound of jewelry he was adorned with.
He was halfway through inspecting the beautifully crafted sapphire ring on Luke’s pinky when he noticed Luke start yawning. While the smile on his face hadn’t dulled, the shine of his eyes certainly had. It was clear he was tired.
Laenor hoisted him further up onto his hip…and then blinked, his head tilting in confusion as a noise filled his ears. It was a soft jingling, like a set of bells sounding off as one, and it almost sounded as if it was coming from Luke. “Father…why is my son jingling?” He asked as he shifted Luke again and the jingling noise followed along with him.
His father beamed back at him and pointed down to a brightly colored cuff on Luke’s ankle, and finally his eyes took in the line of little bells attached to the strip of fabric. “I saw it while we were looking at the circlet. It’s usually for dancers to make music as they move, but I figured it would be useful to let us know when Luke is running around unseen, and I’ve already commissioned the jeweler for a more permanent version that Luke won’t be able to easily slip out of.”
He closed his eyes, internally telling himself to breath through the headache that was hitting him in full force, and instead elected to ignore the cuff entirely to focus on the fact that Luke needed to go rest. He probably should have been taken back to the Keep earlier, but this was the first time since his fever that he had been out of the Keep. Well. The first time he was allowed out, his unplanned outings notwithstanding. “Luke and I are going to retire back to the castle,” His voice remained low and steady as he looked over the crowd of his family. “If you wouldn’t mind, Jace begins his sword lessons in half an hour with Daemon.”
Thankfully his father seemed to catch the gist, simply stooping low to kiss Luke on the crown of his head instead of answering aloud and herding Jace back into the crowd before he could latch onto his brother. He knew from experience Jace would kick up a fuss if he realized Luke was being taken away, so it was better to make a swift exit. If Jace managed to grab a hold of some part of Luke they rarely were able to get him to let go.
As he quickly moved down the market street Harwin, who he hadn’t realized was still nearby, fell into step with him.
Chapter 21
Notes:
I'm going to be trying to update a bit more regularly now that we are getting closer to the end of Act I and heading towards Act II, but I make no promises! The chapters might be shorter than the previous 10k-20k chapters I was pulling before though.
Regardless, I hope you guys enjoyed this shorter than normal chapter! Let me know if you did!
A/N: Luke and Older Jace’s interactions are brought to you by Ivy by Taylor Swift playing on repeat.
A/N: All of Laenor and Harwin’s scenes were surprisingly written to the tune of Mirrorball by Taylor Swift.
A/N: Rhaenys, watching Luke just suddenly go stock still after burning some almonds: What the hap is fuckening
Chapter 22: Chapter 22
Summary:
Dun dun....DUN!!! A wild Otto Hightower has appeared!
Notes:
Am I happy with this chapter? Absolutely not. Am I going to post it because its been months since I've updated this fic and I'm upset its taken me this long? Yes! This is considerably shorter than I originally planned, I initially meant to have us go all the way until we got back to Alicent's POV but I just....have not had the time nor the energy to write. Classes have been kicking my ass and I got caught up in not one, not two but three other HOTD fics that have been screaming at me to be written. I may take this down later and end up rewriting it, or I may have Chapter 23 cannibalize this when its ready to be posted and have them be merged together like I originally intended.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Chapter 22
Luke could feel Ser Harwin watching him, but he didn’t care, all he cared about was the plethora of smells and sights and sounds going on all around him. Everything was bright and bustling and now that he was up in Father’s arms he could see everything. Gone was most of the tiredness that had settled in while he had been surrounded before.
He stuffed three of his fingers in his mouth to keep from clapping with joy. The part of the market they were in had even more stalls than before. There were skeins of dark rich colored fabrics, an entire stall of wooden carvings like Gerardys, it was almost too much for him to look at, he couldn’t figure out where to cast his eyes or what to focus on.
There was a shop with a bunch of weapons in it that he didn’t like, but father wanted to go in and look at the long sticks with swords at the end, so Luke didn’t protest. Besides, as they exited he caught sight of something that made his mouth water.
A stall with burning coals underneath and fish roasting on top of it on sticks. It looked fun and smelled nice and he wanted to go over there. He was about to tug on Father’s hair to lead him over when Ser Harwin beat him to it.
Harwin went over to the stall, talking with the man turning the fish and then handing him a few coins and getting three fish in return. He walked back over to them with the fish, handing one to Laenor and then holding the second out to Luke with a smile. “Careful, my prince, it’s still hot.”
Luke took the stick eagerly and immediately bit into the side of the fish. It tasted amazing, like the candies Grandfather gave him.
Laenor sucked in a breath and nearly dropped his own fish in shock, trying to pull Luke’s stick away from his mouth, “Luke, that’s hot! You need to let it cool off first!”
He leaned away from the hand, keeping his fish near his mouth so he could eat as much as he could before it got away. It was too tasty to let it go and this was one of the first times he actually wanted to eat instead of just doing it to please everyone.
“Luke!”
Harwin was laughing next to them, watching as Laenor struggled to try and grab the fish away and failing as Luke gobbled down nearly an entire side of it in just a few bites. He grabbed Laenor’s fish to keep it from falling, and then gently plucked the stick away from Luke when he was busy chewing his mouthful. “It’s alright, Laenor, it must not be too hot for him.”
Luke shook his head to agree with that and held out his hands for his fish, he wanted to finish eating!
He was obliged, and the fish was back in his hand long enough for him to shovel the rest of the meat into his mouth and lick the bones clean. Even though he was eating fast it was so tasty that he couldn’t resist it. No wonder everyone was always trying to get him to eat if everything tasted this good to them.
“Do you want another fish?” Harwin asked, and when Luke lit up he handed over his own stick with a chuckle. “Try not to eat this one so fast, alright?”
Laenor threw him a soft look over Luke’s head, “Thank you.”
They both watched as Luke devoured the second fish albeit at a slower pace. They started walking again once he was consumed by his food. “It’s nice to see him eating with such voracity, I know he hasn’t had much appetite.”
“He hasn’t,” Laenor sighed, “He barely takes more than a bite or two at any meal, I’m surprised he ate a whole fish let alone two.”
“Maybe he just hasn’t been given anything he really likes,” Harwin suggested as he took the second finished stick from Luke and handed him Laenor’s fish as well. The two of them had eaten plenty that morning, he had only really bought the fish in the hopes that seeing the two of them eating would coax Luke into copying them, but now having more fish just meant they could get Luke to eat an appropriate amount. “He’s a lot like Lord Corlys, perhaps he just enjoys sea farer’s food like your father does.”
Laenor watched Luke start in on the third fish with a contemplative look. “That’s a good point, I’ll ask the kitchens to bring up some fish for his evening meal and see if he enjoys it as much as he enjoyed his lunch.”
The third fish was devoured just as quickly as the others, and once the stick was taken out of his hands Luke mourned that they were gone so quickly. The taste lingered on his tongue just enough to make his stomach ache with the want for more. Perhaps he could ask Arrax to bring him more fish and roast them with his flames once he was done with his flight. His dragon brought him plenty of fish but he’d never thought to have him heat them with his flame before.
Usually Arrax just ate them whole and ripped off pieces or used his talons to help Luke rip apart his own fish. Already he could hear his dragon squawking in the back of his mind, and without seeing him Luke knew that his friend was abandoning whatever task he had given himself to instead head towards the sea.
There would be a pile of charred fish for him to gorge himself on by time they made it back to his father’s chambers, of that he was sure.
The two of them walked along the halls, passing Luke back and forth between them as he asked them a series of ridiculous questions. He seemed even brighter than he normally was and Harwin supposed it must be from the food he ate.
For the first time since his fever had abated, Harwin had watched him gobble down a ridiculous amount of food. By the time they had reached the end of the market the boy had eaten four whole fish and nearly a full pound of raw oysters. It was astonishing considering Luke had practically refused to eat that morning when Rhaenyra and Princess Rhaenys had tried to feed him breakfast.
He hadn’t seen Luke that vibrant in far too long. Almost since before he had fallen into the sea.
It warmed his heart and yet it still wasn’t enough to fully drive away the thoughts that plagued him. Seeing Luke being so happy and finally eating only made his need to take the boys to Harrenhall even more apparent. Luke was thriving but it was because he wasn’t in immediate danger and danger lurked just around every corner in King’s Landing. He and Jace would be far safer in Harrenhall.
Hopefully Laenor saw it the same way.
He wanted to believe the other knight did. Laenor had completely changed his tune after Luke had first gotten sick and he’d been around the boys more often than even himself ever since Luke woke from his fever. The new connections with their sons should be enough to convince Laenor of his argument. They all knew King’s Landing wasn’t safe for the boys, and now with the threat of the Triarchy neither Driftmark nor Dragonstone were safe havens any longer.
The only clear choice should be Harrenhall.
The boys would be safe, they could thrive, and the weight of them being in constant danger would be lifted off of Rhaenyra’s shoulders so she could focus on being the heiress to the Throne. It was the only winning move in a game full of nothing but losses, if only he could get Rhaenyra and Laenor to see reason.
“Rhaenyra!”
Rhaenyra nearly jumped out of her skin at the call of her name echoing in the hall. It was unusual to say the least, her half-sister was rarely seen out and about in the Keep, and even more rarely seen alone. Yet here she was bustling down the barren stone halls with nary a single guard or attendant in sight. The usually subdued Princess was practically beaming from ear to ear as she strode towards her. “Ah, hello Helaena.”
She went to curtsy in greeting, but before she could Helaena had already reached her and grabbed ahold of her wrist. It sent quite a shock through her. In all the years they had been in King’s Landing she had never seen nor heard of Halaena being so forward, or even of her willingly grabbing another person. She was so reclusive that sometimes Rhaenyra genuinely forgot she even existed.
But here she was, holding onto her wrist like it was some kind of life line.
“Envy and ivy are the same shade of green.” She said cryptically. The words were nonsense to Rhaenyra, barely even registering as Helaena reached into the pocket of her dress and pressed something into her hand.
“Sister?” Rhaenyra stared down at the two almonds in her palm with confusion. The words Helaena had said echoed in her head but she couldn’t move past the way her half-sister was stroking the skin of her hand, utterly enraptured by the almonds as if they were a gift from the gods themselves.
“Give them to Luke, please,” She whispered reverently. Her fingertips ghosted over Rhaenyra’s skin one last time before she curled both of their hands into a fist and pulled away. “To say thank you for our dance…”
The soft swish of her skirts against the stone was the only sound in the hall as Helaena took two steps back, the violet of her eyes dulling considerably as she moved into the shadows. “He’ll know where they go.”
And just as quickly as she came, Helaena was gone, drifting off out of the hall as if she was a leaf caught in the wind. Leaving Rhaenyra with more questions and a set of almonds.
There was barely any time for Luke to notice the man across the vast hallway as Harwin and his father stopped short, and if it hadn’t been for the sharp screech of his water under his skin, he wouldn’t have noticed him at all. Ser Harwin had his father by the arm before he could blink, shoving the two of them behind his bulk, between him and the wall while his hand dropped to his sword.
“Now now, is that any way to react to a Lord of the Seven Kingdoms, Sers?” Luke frowned, watching the man waltz from the corner of the room like he owned the castle, staring down his Father like he was just a bug rolling in the dirt. He didn’t like him.
He didn’t know who he was, and the sirens just kept hissing at him when he tried to ask, but he knew he didn’t like him. Even the mean man with the knife and the firefly hadn’t instilled such ripples in his water like this man did.
“Ser Laenor, Prince Lucerys. It’s a pleasure.” It was obvious that he didn’t consider seeing them a pleasure, his voice sounded like he had just been handed a plate of rotten grapes and asked to eat them all at once. Luke didn’t need his water to tell him this man was lying right to their faces. “I must admit I am…surprised to see how much Prince Lucerys has changed,” He continued with his rotten voice, “The Queen had informed me of what happened, of course, but I had such a hard time envisioning him with Valyrian features.”
His father’s blood boiled beneath his skin, heating them both to an uncomfortable level. He could feel how upset he was and his water rushed in to try and soothe him. It was futile, his blood was startingly hot for someone so entwined with the sea, and all trying to cool him did was leave Luke overheated and strained, but he did it anyway.
“You’re as charming as ever, Lord Hightower.” Fire crackled angrily against him, echoed by the annoyed vibrations rippling his water. Both Harwin and father were tense around him, their bodies keeping him practically pinned against the wall of the hall.
He wanted to get away from this man and away from the scorching heat of his father’s anger. He wanted Corlys, or maybe Balerion. They’d both be able to make this wretched man go away and they’d both be able to soothe his father’s anger.
Luke pulled at his water, asking it to show him where his grandfather was so he could direct father there, though it was unneeded. It wasn’t his grandfather who came to their rescue, but rather Ser Harwin.
The big knight nearly charged at the man, drawing his sword from its sheath with a growl. “I would suggest you find your way back to whichever hole you crawled out of, my Lord, last I heard you were exiled from this city.” He stopped mere feet from the Lord, his anger written in every line of tense muscle bunching up under his armor. “Somehow I doubt the King had enough grace to let you back in the city just to levy insults against his grandson.”
The aggression only drew a scoff. “The Queen called upon her father.” He said haughtily, and when his eyes met Luke’s they were cold and full of rage. “She was in need of counseling on some…unfortunate developments within the Kingdom and rightfully asked for my assistance in dealing with them.”
His water rushed beneath his skin, begging him to let it loose; to make this man swell until he popped, to rip the water from within his very being until there was nothing, to return this dead man walking back to dust. It raged and raged and raged with all the strength of the sea behind it. An endless wealth of power held back by only a single layer of fragile flesh.
“The King has a Hand to help advise him on the ruling of his Kingdom, he doesn’t need the advice of a traitor.” Harwin hissed.
Only one thing stayed Luke’s hand, and that was the fact that Ser Harwin stood between him and the horrid man. If the knight weren’t in his path this man would be erased from the world entirely, sent to whichever gods thought it smart to lay claim to his dastardly soul. If any god even laid claim to his soul. Luke was no god himself, but he’d never be willing to claim someone with such ill intent.
“Oh yes, I’m sure Lord Strong is providing quite a helping hand to the King while his goodson languishes the day away in Flea Bottom with whatever sailors are willing to entertain his company.” Freezing cold water welled up on his fingertips, barely holding itself from destroying this monster in front of him. “Though it shouldn’t surprise me that everyone seems to be turning a blind eye while you and Ser Harwin are galavanting around spreading your…proclivities to Rhaenyra’s children.”
Luke did not like the sound of that, it sounded like an insult, and judging by the way Balerion shrieked in his ears from his Father’s blood, and the knight in front of him flared hot enough to burn, it was definitely an insult. He couldn’t use his water against the man, not when Harwin had moved even closer to him in response to his words, but he could do something.
Without a moment’s hesitation he reeled his arm back and threw Gerardys at the man as hard as he could. His water lent a little more weight to his seahorse as it flew through the air and the sirens directed the toy to slam itself into the man’s eye.
His Father sucked in a sharp breath, shifting to press the two of them even closer to the wall as the man doubled over, clutching his face with a scream. But neither father nor Harwin went to try and help him.
When he stood back up there was a livid red mark bulging out his cheek, and the redness was already creeping up to his eye, swelling his face to make it even more unsightly. His eyes burned with rage when he stared straight at Luke. “You monstrous little whelp.”
Before he could take even a single step towards the two of them, Harwin had put himself back between them. His sword arm drew itself up, stopping any advances the other man may have taken towards them as the point rested against the green of his tunic.
Luke stuffed his fingers in his mouth and leaned back against his father to watch what was about to happen.
The entire hall was utterly silent. Not a single breath was taken as the two men stared each other down, locked in a stalemate. At least, not for a slow moment until the soft tap of footsteps against stone coming towards them drew the man’ cold eyes away from Harwin’s.
Almost as if nothing had happened his face fell back into its placid expression and he took a step back. His eyes were still full of rage as they swept across the three of them but he said nothing else as he took yet another step back, and then another, until he was back near the edge of the hall where he had started.
And without another word to them he turned and fled.
“Take Luke back to your chambers,” Harwin hissed, still staring at the spot that the man had vacated even as he corralled the two of them towards the opposite hallway. “I’ll go let my father and the King know that Hightower has defied his banishment.”
His father nodded. “Jace should be in the courtyard training with Daemon and the other princes, if you see him -”
“If I see them or the rest of House Velaryon, I’ll let them know and send them along to your chambers.” He pushed them around the corner with one last sharp nod. “Now, go.”
End Chapter 22
Notes:
Yes I know the transitions between scenes are subpar and it cuts off abruptly at the end, this isn't where I initially intended to end chapter 22, there's another 6k that was also supposed to be part of this but I just could not for the fucking life of me get the beginning of one of the scenes written and I just couldn't handle not updating anymore. I'm hoping to have the later half of this chapter posted within the next two weeks, and once we get over the hump of Chapter 23 we'll be into the end of Act I and into Act II. Chapter 24 should be the bridge between the two acts.
I'm tentatively considering during a time skip mid way through Act II, though I'm not 100% sure on how big of a skip I want to do. My end goal is Lucemond (with some caveats) and I'm not going to turn things too romantic when half the ship is literally a toddler ;)).
A/N: Harwin: Hi, Westeros Police, I need to report a murder. Yeah, my lover’s toddler just absolutely clowned this old man.
Chapter 23: Chapter 23
Summary:
Guess who's back back back, back again, guess whose back, tell a friend! Its a surprise appearance from Alicent!
Notes:
I just wanna start off by saying this story has been up for almost 2 years...and not a single one of you commenters ever told me that I've been spelling Caraxes wrong this whole time. I'm kind of offended that you guys didn't correct me XD. And, I'm not making any promises about the next chapter this time, because I haven't been able to keep the last few promises I made 😅. But I am still continuing the story, it hasn't been abandoned! I'm just slow as hell. Surprisingly enough this time its actually Seasmoke that has been stumping me while Im trying to write him.
Regardless, I hope you guys enjoy this meager 4.5k chapter! Let me know if you did!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Chapter 23
Jace frowned, trying to ignore all the eyes keenly watching them as Ser Harwin took Prince Daemon off to the side of the yard. There was far too much distance between him and them to be able to hear what was being said but he could tell it was nothing good. Just the rigid set of Ser Harwin’s shoulders was more than enough to tell him something bad had happened.
Prince Daemon’s face went from his usual smirk to downright livid in an instant, and that look alone sent a thrum of pure fear through his heart.
That thrum of fear only got worse as Harwin stormed out of the yard without another word and Daemon turned towards him. The older prince’s full attention zeroed in on him like a dragon sighting a sheep. “Jacaerys!” He called with a stern wave of his hand. “Come!”
Jace felt himself stumble forward. His blunted training sword wobbled in time with the trembling of his hands. When he reached his granduncle he was greeted with a firm hand on his shoulder that turned them both away from prying eyes to face the wall of the courtyard.
“I want you to listen to me closely, grandnephew,” Daemon started. His voice was barely more than a hushed whisper that Jace had to strain to hear. “You are to head straight to your father’s chambers. Do not stop for anyone. Not the Kingsguard, not the citywatch, no one.”
The order certainly didn’t help the anxiety pooling in his gut, but at least it was something he could do easily. Father had taken Luke back to his chambers to rest, and now he was being given an excuse to go find his brother. Whatever had happened couldn’t have involved his brother, at least, otherwise they would have called the entirety of his family back to his Father’s chambers. Instead granduncle Daemon was only sending him away while his grandparents, aunt and cousins were to remain in the training yard.
With a simple nod, he turned and fled through the stone archway. Something behind him crashed to the ground, but he ignored it, setting his mind towards finding his little brother and nothing else.
The walls of the hall blurred past him. While they had only recently moved into the King’s wing, he knew the path back to his brother by heart. It wasn’t hard to wrap his greedy mind around the bits of Luke that resided in his head, to call out to his brother and find his way to him the same way he could call Vermax to listen to him. They shared a bond just like he and his dragon did, after all.
His father’s room was on the other side of the wing from where his uncles and aunt resided, and it was only once he caught sight of the familiar tapestries outside of uncle Aemond’s room that he allowed himself to slow down. The stone halls finally started to take on a shape he remembered.
Yet as he rounded the corner and passed his uncle’s room, he was still focused on his task of getting back to Luke. So focused, in fact, that he failed to notice the hand reaching out to snatch his sleeve until it was already latched onto the fabric.
Laenor huffed as he paced around the foyer, unable to stop himself from staring at the door to his chambers. He adjusted Luke again, glancing down to look at his son who was still safely perched on his hip for just a moment before going back to staring at the door.
Truly he should have put Luke down to sleep as soon as he had gotten back to his chambers, but he couldn’t bring himself to. It wasn’t as if Otto Hightower was about to burst through the doors after them - the man wasn't a warrior after all - but he just couldn’t shake the sinking feeling that his son was about to slip through his grasp. And inevitably whenever Luke got loose, trouble was sure to find him.
Still, Harwin had left quite a bit ago and he hadn’t heard a single sound outside of his door since. No footsteps to signal any guards arriving, no talking to herald his family coming…just silence.
He hated it.
The lack of anything happening only served to put him further on edge. It was no secret that he was a man of action. He craved the heat of battle and being kept stagnant, waiting for something to happen so he could react made his skin crawl. If it weren’t for the sole fact that he had Luke in his arms he would have gladly taken the chance to beat the smirk off of Otto’s face back in that hall.
His blood still sang with that call to action, even though he couldn’t answer it. Months ago he would have. He would’ve left Luke alone in his room or in Rhaenyra’s chambers - like a selfish fool - and gone after a fight without a second thought. And gods help him for the fact that some small part of him still wanted that.
“I’m sorry.”
The soft words caught him off guard. Luke had been silent since they had entered his chambers, merely content to just be held in his arms. “What was that, Luke?”
“You keep trying to cool off,” He whispered nonsensically, “and I keep making you boil but I’m just trying to call Arrax.” One of his hands clutched violently at the seahorse embroidered on the lapel of his tunic. “I don’t understand why he won’t answer…”
Inexplicably the words made his anger from earlier flare up yet again and the driving need to go find Otto and run a sword straight through his belly came racing back along with it. At the same time a knock came at the door, and the anger had him surging towards it and flinging it open before he could think better of it.
Only to find Qarl standing on the other side of it. His hand was up in the air and his eyebrow was raised as if he hadn’t expected the door to be opened so fast. The anger that he felt died just as quickly as it had come on as he stepped aside just enough to let Qarl into the room.
“Qarl?” At least with Qarl in the room he was relieved enough to finally let Luke out of his arms, though he did keep him close by his side while he turned his back to the door. “I thought you were staying in the yard with Jace?”
His lover didn’t get the chance to answer him, because as soon as his mouth opened, Laenor was choking around a gasp as Luke literally disappeared right in front of him. His son was gone, like a puff of smoke, just vanished into thin air. He whirled around to slam the door shut behind him, and then motioned for Qarl to do the same with the one on the other end of the room. “Go guard the other door!”
The other knight did, dashing over and closing the door - carefully, just in case Luke was already trying to go through it - before putting his back against it. Both of their eyes flitted across the room, desperate to catch some glimpse of Luke. There was no way he could have gotten out of the room, he tried to assure himself.
There had only been a split second between him losing his grip on Luke and them closing the doors. Unless his son could walk through walls, he should still be in the room.
“I’ve got him!” Laenor’s head snapped up at the call and sure enough Qarl was holding…well he was holding nothing up in the air, but judging by the blank space between his hands that was just big enough to be Luke; Laenor assumed it was, in fact, his son. The air seemed to shimmer as he stormed over and by time he got to them he could vaguely see hints of the outline of his son’s body.
Not enough for him to truly be able to see Luke, but enough that he could easily guess it was him. He hesitantly put his hands right under Qarl’s and squeezed them around the empty space until he finally felt something solid between his hands, and only once he was sure he had a proper hold on the invisible weight of his son did he gesture for Qarl to let go. It was an incredibly strange feeling to have the weight of something in his hands and yet not be able to see anything.
It almost felt like something out of a dream and if it weren’t for the slow puffs of Luke’s chest rising up and down in his hands, he could have convinced himself this was a dream. But unfortunately for Luke, he knew this wasn’t a dream and he knew what he was holding was a very naughty little boy.
He shifted his hold until he could prop Luke up on his hip and wrap a firm arm around his back. “Now, just where do you think you were going?”
He heard the sound of Luke stuffing his fingers in his mouth and sighed. “Luke, where were you trying to run off to?”
“The hall by the courtyard.” Hearing Luke’s voice muffled from right beside him and not being able to see him was even stranger than holding him and not seeing him. It was like he was talking to a ghost.
“And why were you trying to go to the courtyard?”
“That man is still down there!” Luke huffed, and all at once Laenor could see him again, held safely in his arms. His lips were pulled down around a frown and he looked absolutely incensed. He was angrier than Laenor had ever seen him, that was for certain. It almost looked like he was glowing with rage. “He insulted you, and Arrax should be nearby, I want to make sure he doesn’t say anything mean to you again!”
The words made him pause, his grip relaxing slightly as he parsed through what he just heard. It was just enough for Luke to push his way out of his arms, dropping himself to the ground quiet as a sept mouse, and to take off running out the door.
“No, no! Luke!” Laenor bolted after him, nearly slamming into the door itself with how quickly it opened and closed again, and he could hear Qarl running out after them. He caught sight of the tail end of Luke’s tunic as it disappeared around the edge of the hall, outpacing the two of them by several yards.
When had his son gotten so fast? It wasn’t enough that his magic gave him the ability to hide himself, now he was able to outrun two grown men!
By the time they got to the next corner, Luke was already completely out of sight. There was neither hide nor hair of him, and of course the hall split off in two different directions further down. He could have already turned another corner or he could have made himself disappear entirely. “Qarl, you take the left corridor, I’ll take the right, if you see any guards tell them to be on the lookout for Luke. They probably won’t see him but I’d rather have them looking regardless.”
Qarl nodded, already halfway towards the left hall when he suddenly turned back with wide eyes. “What about Jace? Shouldn’t one of us go get him and bring him along so he isn’t alone?”
The words had Laenor stopping dead in his tracks. “Jace?” Laenor asked, his voice already taking on the strained edge of panic, “What do you mean Jace, he’s down in the training yard with Prince Daemon.”
“I came to check on you, Luke and Jace. Harwin looked like he was about to burn the whole city to ash when I saw him in the yard and Prince Daemon told Jace to come to you, he left barely a moment or two before I did.” A sinking feeling made its way home in his gut. He knew already that Luke had a habit of running off unseen, given that they quite literally just saw him disappear before their very eyes into thin air, but now Jace was capable of disappearing too? Gods help them, they were never going to be able to keep his children safe at this rate.
“Did he not make it to you?”
“No! You think I would have let him leave my side after just finding out Otto fucking Hightower has come back to the city?!”
That sinking feeling increased tenfold, surely there was no way Jace could have slipped away and found trouble in just seconds? Luke attracted trouble like honey attracted flies, but so far Jace had managed to avoid almost all of it.
“Well he has to be around here somewhere! Can he disappear like Luke can?”
Laenor felt like he was about to pass out. “I fucking hope not!” He couldn’t deal with two disappearing children, truly, it would be the death of him. He was barely keeping himself afloat just dealing with the magic he’d seen from Luke before this, now both his sons were galavanting off into trouble at every turn. “I - just take the left hall. We need to find Luke before he goes and tries to find Otto. Wherever Luke is, Jace won’t be far away, they’re probably already back together.”
He hoped they had found each other at least. There was always one thing he could cling onto no matter how much turmoil and uncertainty surrounded them, and that was that Jace would always manage to find his way to Luke.
With that, he turned to sprint down the right hall, trying to focus on his surroundings. He didn’t even know what to look for to try and find Luke. He hadn’t been able to see or hear his son when he had disappeared in the room with him, though he knew he could at least feel where Luke was if he bumped into him.
But all the halls in the Keep were wide enough that he could run right past his son without ever knowing he had gone by. It would be sheer luck for him to somehow bump into Luke.
“It would seem as though your plot has failed.”
Her former accomplice, shrouded in his own gray cloak, turned from his perch by the window. He didn’t bother facing her, they never did when they met like this, not when outright revealing their identities would leave them open should either of them be caught.
She knew who he was. She had known since he approached her that night near the royal sept, but knowing his identity and expecting him to confirm it were two very different things. And she also knew that he hadn’t pegged her own identity just yet. He had tried, of course, both of her accomplices had. But he had failed just as all the others. Her face was shielded more oft than not, and its shield differed from what anyone who might have once known her would remember.
Not that he had ever known her before. The only one who had known her, truly known her, was long gone. Lost to the murky waters of death and far out of her reach. Though not for long.
The hood of his cloak tilted almost imperceptibly towards her. “And what would lead you to believe that?”
“You’ve been made, my friend, and soon enough you will be exposed.” She said; If it wasn’t Lucerys who gave up the game, surely his worthless coward of a father would. The boy wasn’t nearly as bright as she expected him to be, he was barely anything compared to the image she had built in her head, but he still managed to survive if not outright thwart several of her plans.
And here he was yet again foiling another plot against him. Perhaps he wasn’t truly the lame child he portrayed himself to be.
He hummed and stepped back to his perch, watching out the window into the courtyard. Below them, three of the young princes stood having their first sword lesson led by none other than Prince Daemon. The commands from the courtyard were far too muffle to be heard, though she could easily assume what the eldest of the princes was shouting.
Still no answer came from the man, so she took a step closer. His actions held no weight to her, not in the end, but if he intended to change his plans she needed to know. Already her own third attempt to rid the world of Lucerys Velaryon was unraveling and with her first accomplice indisposed due to his own stupidity, she didn’t want the second getting in her way. Not when she was so close. “Are you intending to rectify this misstep?”
“Are you?” The echoed reply came with a scoff as he once again shifted his attention to her, though he never fully turned away from the window. “I had believed our paths diverged after your foolish attempt to kill Lucerys the first time, why does it concern you whether I deal with what you consider a mistake in my own plans.”
The leather of her gloves creaked around her clenched fist. She shouldn’t be surprised at his arrogance, after all, half his hatred for Lucerys was steeped in the fallout from his own hubris. Still, the casual dismissal in his voice made her want to knock his teeth in. “If your plans interfere with mine, I will have no choice but to disrupt them. As I’m sure you can understand, having to do so would be a considerable waste of time and resources on both our accounts.”
“And on the account of our other friend.” She didn’t need to see his face to know that he was rolling his eyes. While the hushed words should have given little away, it spoke volumes to her. He wasn’t aware that their ‘friend’ had already set into motion the end of his own fate.
Conniving as he was, her accomplice had made a grave misstep in his plans and now he lay trapped beneath the boards of the King’s wing. Cold and godless in his failure to achieve their goal.
The death of Lucerys Velaryon.
How he died was no concern to her, after all his death was merely a means to an end and so long as it happened, it would set them down their inevitable path. But the tides were hemming them in with each failed plot, and soon enough they would all run out of options. There were only so many chances they would be given before they too were abandoned and cast aside for someone capable of setting fate into motion. And for her failure wasn’t an option she was willing to entertain when the only thing she ever wanted was riding on her killing that mongrel child.
“All three of us have quite a bit of skin in the game, my friend.”
The man nodded in agreement. “Yes, that much is true. As it is, we still all have the same goal in mind.” He leaned back against the wall, easing a hand into the deep pockets of his robe as he watched the princes spar. A small coin pouch rattled in his hand, and it landed heavily in hers once he threw it to her. “I will stay out of your plans, so long as you stay out of mine.”
Something crashed in the yard beneath them, and he shifted out of view of the window. With one last tip of his head he fled the room. She waited till the sound of his footsteps retreated entirely before she opened the pouch.
To her shock within it was a cut section of bone. Dull and weathered with age, it nonetheless laid heavily in her grasp, brimming with untapped potential.
“What were you thinking?” She hissed as she yanked Daeron along into the room with her, “Wandering about the castle unattended like that, do you know what could have happened to you?”
She didn’t bother stopping to look at him, her feet just carried her back and forth across the line of her lounge. Alicent wasn’t even sure she could stand the sight of him. He had gone out, against her direct orders, and for what? To go visit his siblings when she had expressly told him not to?
He had been nearly to the other side of the King’s Hall when she had spotted him and there was no doubt in her mind that he was only going to continue further. Had she not stopped him in time he would have walked right into the very wing that Rhaenyra and her gaggle of bastards had taken over. The same wing that held the members of House Velaryon, and her now own children. Everyone would have seen him.
Their plans would have been ruined.
Nearly a week of hiding, fretting over every knock at her door, glancing over her shoulder at every turn in case someone had noticed her father and her son within her quarters would have all been for naught. It must have been the Seven’s blessing that she had caught him just in the nick of time and no one had seen her taking him back to her rooms.
It was as if her children were conspiring against her. First Aegon and Aemond had turned against her and refused to see her unless she forced her way into their rooms and waited for them to come in after their lessons, then Helaena had taken to ignoring her summons, and now Daeron had apparently been set against her too.
How it had happened, she didn’t understand. Her youngest had been with her this whole time, he had seen her turmoil, her fear, and yet he still defied her?
“Do you know how many people could have seen you while you were gone?” The skin around her thumb ripped off with a single clack of her teeth, coating her tongue in the metallic tang of blood. It turned her stomach.
All she could think of was how much blood would be spilt by the whole kingdom if her father’s plans failed and Rhaenyra ascended the throne with her sons as her heirs. A single droplet of blood wouldn’t compare to the countless lives that would be trampled beneath Rhaenyra’s feet. Or the lives that would inevitably be lost under the rule of her bastards, and their savage children beyond that.
“Do you know what all could have been lost? I warned you not to leave, to stay by my side and yet even you, my own son, betray my orders!” Her boy said nothing, he just sat and watched her pace back and forth with wide eyes. “All of you betray me! First Aegon, and Aemond, and now you as well!” Her next words caught in her throat. Tears came unbidden to her eyes, followed by the yawning pit of nausea churning in her stomach. “How could you do this to your own Mother?”
When no answer came she surged towards him. She moved to grab his chin, to force him to give her an answer for why he would so flippantly throw all of her sacrifices back in her face like this, when the sound of her chamber door creaking open stopped her before she could reach him.
Once again the anxiety overwhelmed her, only to skyrocket even higher when she turned to find her father staring back at her from the now closed door. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the darkening bruise marring one side of his face and while horror dawned on her at the sight of his injury, it paled in comparison to the moment she noticed what was at his side.
Or rather, who was at his side.
Her head swiveled from the boy on the couch, to the boy by her father’s side half tucked under his cloak, and then back to the one on the couch. It didn’t make sense, if Daeron was by her father’s side having been with him the whole time….who had she brought back to her chambers? How was there two of her youngest son? The boys were nearly identical with white hair just below their chins, purple eyes that shone in the light of the sun peeking in from the windows, they were even the same height!
She took another glance to her father and almost staggered back at the absolutely livid expression he had on his face. The eye that hadn't been shut by swelling bore into her with the coldest look she had ever seen. It was definitely her son by his side, and it was only once she looked back one last time to the boy on the couch that it finally clicked in her mind.
On her couch was Jacaerys Velaryon, somehow with the white hair and purple eyes of Old Valyria. His full cheeks and rounded face finally stood out, entirely different to her own son’s slim face and sharp cheekbones, and now that she knew the truth she couldn’t believe she had mistaken him for her child. He was a mockery of the royal line sitting in the chambers of the Queen as if he belonged there. The boy hadn’t once said anything when she had grabbed him, nor when he was pulled through the halls to her own personal chambers and even now he sat stock still on her lounge.
It must be some dark witchery. Some cruel twisted joke played on her by gods that weren’t her own. That was the only explanation she could find for how both of Rhaenyra’s bastard sons were suddenly turning up with the coveted features of the royal family, of her children.
She almost went to him, to cast away whatever foul demon was standing in front of her masquerading as a prince, but her mind simply refused to let her move. Instead she found it being filled with the strangest sound of crashing waves right before it went blank, utterly unable to comprehend the sight in front of her.
End Chapter 23
Notes:
Well hopefully you guys enjoyed that, if you did let me know in the comments. Or even if you didn't! We've got one chapter left to go before we start making a turn towards Act II, so its going to be a more action-y chapter for Chapter 24. We've got quite a bit of ground to cover and a set of three mystery people (plus a firefly!) to unveil! Also, part of me is still half heartedly trying to rework the Daemon-Luke mind-meld that got erased during my concussion era, so we might see that in Act II.
A/N: Alicent, seeing Jace for the first time and realizing she mistook him for her own son: Aol Dial Up noises
The gods, who might've taken their eyes off of their little pet project for two seconds to try and find Jace: Your PC ran into a problem and needs to restart. We’ll restart it for you!A/N: Luke: I'm just gonna call my dragon to kill that man I don’t like, that’s what dragons are for after all!
Laenor: Why do I hear boss music?
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