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Viserys rarely ever used Maegor’s tunnels, not since he was a young boy who explored them with his brother, Daemon, but he preferred not to think about him so he didn’t allow memories to resurface and bring fond feelings. The man who currently lived in his Keep and fucking Seven! married his daughter, wasn't the same boy Viserys loved in his youth. No, this man was a twisted creature longing only for violence and power, not respecting anything holy. This man seduced his own young niece, Viserys daughter, and trapped her in a marriage, only to get his blood on the throne.
The knowledge that Viserys had no other option than to accept their marriage still, two years later, made his blood boil. Viserys still vividly remembered the day when in the morning his beloved daughter went flying with his brother, who recently returned victorious from the Stepstones and before the sun set they came back sporting cut lips, bandaged hands and proudly announcing that they married in the tradition of their House… damned Valyrian blood oaths.
And of course that their marriage was already consummated and couldn't be annulled. Daemon's proud smile was enough for Viserys to put him to the sword for what he had done to his little girl. However, his pure naive Rhaenyra, thinking herself in love, threatened to burn the Red Keep down with Syrax if anything happened to her husband . Normally he would dismiss words like that, seeing them as nothing more than a simple tantrum of a young girl, but something in Rhaenyra's eyes told him that those were not idle threats. So Viserys, despite being the most powerful man in Westeros - possibly even the entire world - he had no choice but accept that he couldn’t punish Daemon for his blatant treason.
For a moment Viserys had hoped that at least he would be able to proclaim their marriage invalid because Daemon already had a wife. Only to learn that Lady Rhea died in a hunting accident… nearly two years prior, just no one deemed it important enough to inform him, which cost his faithful Hand his position. His wife, Alicent, accused him of doing that because he wanted to punish someone and was unable to get his hands on the real culprit, Daemon, so he just pinned the blame on the nearest scapegoat. And while he was way more angry (furious to be honest) because of Rhaenyra's marriage, it didn't change the fact that him not being notified about Lady Rhea’s death was unacceptable. No matter what Daemon said about her and no matter how he treated her, she still was his lawful wife and because of that a part of a Royal family and King had to be informed when his good sister died. Not to mention, that if he knew that Daemon was widowed and thus eligible for marriage, he would never allow Rhaenyra alone in his presence, so Otto who for some reason hadn't seen this piece of knowledge important enough to share with his King was partially to blame for this mess.
And to think that Otto, who all those years kept repeating that Daemon should never get close to throne and then his own inaction inadvertently helped him to achieve exactly that… Still Viserys tried to prevent this, despite how it pained him to disinherit Aemma’s only child. However at the same time part of him also wanted to punish Rhaenyra for her stupidity in trusting Daemon and disregarding her duty. It was also supposed to be his last ditch attempt at saving her from his brother's depravity.
He really had hoped that his daughter would hesitate in choosing Daemon, hearing about the consequences.
He had been sure that Daemon would show his true intentions, furious that once again he would be pushed away from the Iron throne.
What he didn’t expect, was for Rhaenyra to just shrug and inform him that in this case there was nothing left for her in the Westeros so she and her husband (there was no words in any language to describe how much Viserys hated when she called Daemon that, reminding him that his precious girl married his brother) would leave to Essos. What shocked him even more was Daemon who only embraced her, telling her that he had a mansion in Pentos.
It left Viserys with no other option, he couldn’t let Rhaenyra leave with Daemon. He wanted to punish her for her selfish and stupid actions, not to sentence her to a life where she was dependent on Daemon's whims, where Viserys was unable to shield her from his depravity… gods only know what Daemon would do to her and how he would treat her if he felt that no one would punish him for his sins.
It was how Viserys found himself in the current predicament, his daughter still an heir (to keep her in the relative safety of the Red Keep) and still married to his degenerate of a brother. He hated with all his being (his wife agreeing with him wholeheartedly) seeing them together, which he frequently did, because Daemon seemed to constantly keep her not further than an arm's length, constantly touching (his poor daughter constantly being molested by him) or even kissing her in public.
Viserys’ newest torment also - of course - came from Daemon and Rhaenyra, who during today's Small Council's meeting announced that Rhaenyra was already three months pregnant, like their twins didn’t recently just had their first name’s day. Probably it shouldn’t come as a surprise that a man widely known for his voracious appetites didn't allow his wife any rest between pregnancies, forcing her to lay with him so soon. He wanted to shout at him for doing it to his little girl, but she didn't let him, still blindly enamoured with Daemon, despite the fact that he treated her like one of his whores, whose duty was to constantly serve him in bed and satisfy his appetites. She seemed even elated at the prospect of another child… maybe hoping that it would relieve her from her marriage duties for at least a few months, but Viserys doubted that pregnancy would be enough to deter Daemon and his needs . Especially considering that in the past two years there wasn't even one report of his brother visiting Streets of Silk, so he either became a master in hiding his activities or Viserys’ poor daughter had to be the only one burdened with the task of satisfying him and his depraved urges. Viserys wasn't sure what option was worse, having an unfaithful husband or having all his attention on herself.
Viserys spent most of his afternoon battling with thoughts like that, feeling like a failure of a father for not being able to protect her from his power hungry brother. It made him restless and in need of doing something, anything, unable to sit still. The first impulse was to go for a walk to burn some of that excess energy, but he wanted to be alone and as a king he rarely could afford that outside of his own chamber, hence his walk through the secret corridors.
At first he didn’t have any destination in his mind, but quickly he realised that his feet took him toward the heir apartments, which were occupied by his daughter and her family. It gave him an idea, he wanted to see how Daemon and Rhaenyra acted when they were alone and he didn’t need to pretend to be a doting husband and father… and she didn’t need to pretend to be happy, to not show that she regretted her decision.
With a new found determination Viserys moved through the tunnels until he heard his brother's voice. He slowed down - not that he walked fast in the first place, his health didn't allow him to do that - not wanting to make any noise that could alert Daemon about someone's presence behind the hidden door, which could end very badly for him as his brother usually first acted and only then thought. Especially when he perceived something as a danger to Rhaenyra or their children, poor ser Criston Cole was a testament to that. Unlucky knight lost his life only because Daemon believed that he had lustful thoughts about Rhaenyra and according to him he had tried to act on them by attempting to force himself on her. Viserys had troubles believing that a honourable member of Kingsguard could do something of this sort, but unfortunately a dead knight couldn't exactly defend himself, and ser Cole lost his head in Rhaenyra's old chambers with only her and Daemon as witnesses, and she was either too enamoured with him or too scared of what he would do to her to contradict his testimony.
His brother's soft voice, so different from the images that Viserys’ mind procured for him, brought him back from the grimm and bloody memories.
“Come on Little Hatchling.”
Of course he was using Valyrian, Viserys’ grandchildren didn’t know even a word in Common Tongue, because their parents decided that the language of their ancestors would be their first one. He couldn’t understand why - and it probably drove many of the servants nuts, being unable to communicate with children in their care - but his daughter and brother were unmoved in this matter, only criticising him for not teaching Valyrian to his own children.
Viserys took the last few steps and stopped in front of a small hole that allowed him to look into the nursery.
The scene that greeted him came as another surprise, Daemon was sitting on the carpeted floor, dressed only in worn off, comfy looking breeches and tunic. His son, Baelon, was beside him, leaning against his leg and cuddling his dragon, which hatched a few months ago. It had dark bluish grey scales that looked exactly like dark clouds, which gave him its name, Storm Cloud.
And wasn’t that a low blow aimed at him? Both Daemon and Rhaenyra maintained that he was named to honour his father and her grandfather, but Viserys knew better, his brother wanted to put a salt on his wounds… that Daemon’s son lived while Viserys’ Baelon survived barely a few hours.
On Daemon's shoulder sat another, slightly smaller dragon, nearly completely white with some light blue and other shades sometimes appearing on its scales when the light hit just right, which was a reason why Rhaenyra named him Dawn. Its bonded human, Viserys' granddaughter, Visenya, was standing two, maybe three, small steps away from Daemon clutching the edge of an armchair. (Viserys avoided thinking about him as his grandchildren's father, not liking the implication, but his brother just made things worse today by congratulating him on getting a new nephew or niece, instead of a grandchild, like he needed a reminder that his daughter married his brother.)
“Kepa!” The little girl shouted, stomping her foot in frustration, she attempted to let go of the armchair but she caught herself once again only a second later.
“Come on, Visenya, come to Kepa.” Daemon spread his arms and made a calling motion with them.
Only then Viserys realised that his brother tried to encourage the little girl to walk towards him. He heard and also witnessed, the few times he was lucky enough to have a chance to observe his grandchildren, that Visenya was the talkative twin, the first one to start using her words, but she seemed mostly uninterested with walking, content to be carried everywhere, usually in the arms of her… father. Baelon however seemed to be the opposite, the first one to crawl and walk, but letting his sister talk for him. Actually Viserys wasn't sure if he ever heard the little boy talk.
It seemed that his grandson decided to fix that in the same moment, because the little boy turned to face Daemon and poked him twice in the knee, until he had his undivided attention. “Muna?”
“Muna is in the next room with Lady Saela and Lady Mariss. She will be back soon,” Daemon replied, while patting his head, not even a trace of impatience in his voice.
The answer seemed to satisfy the little boy, who settled back, petting his dragon's head, which laid on his lap.
For Viserys, however, it served only as a reminder of what a political headache - and not only - the two of them were. As soon as Rhaenyra's first pregnancy was announced, she forbade - undoubtedly influenced by Daemon - all the Maesters from attending to her or even coming close to her and later also her children. Instead Daemon brought the wife of one of his trusted Gold Cloaks, who was a midwife and then also flew to Volantis, to bring a healer from there, according to him one that possessed knowledge about healing Dragonlords, knowledge that nearly always contradicted Maesters’ teachings. Viserys didn't believe that anyone could have more vast knowledge than order of Maesters (after all Otto often emphasise how important they were and how that they had to have trust in them) and anger filled him, that his brother would so recklessly entrust Rhaenyra's safety and life into the hands of some stranger, instead of a skilled Maester, like Malleos. The worst part was, how much he had to apologise to Malleos for the slight Rhaenyra dealt him, by refusing his help and then barring him from entering her chamber while she was in labour - this last insult was accompanied by unsheathed Dark Sister and threats of bodily harm and death from Daemon. Viserys could already feel his headache coming, at the mere thought of living through this nightmare once again with this pregnancy.
“Kepa!” Visenya's scream alerted Viserys and made him pay attention to the scene in front of him just in time for him to see her finally let go of the armchair for good and on unsteady legs walk straight into Daemon's awaiting arms.
She squealed in delight when he caught her and hauled into the air, before he hugged her to his chest.
“That’s it my little hatchling,” Daemon praised her with a loud kiss to her cheek, one that made her giggle excitedly.
“I see that you finally managed to motivate her to walk some, husband,” Rhaenyra spoke, startling with her presence both Daemon and Viserys.
“Muna!” Baelon exclaimed and stood up, helping himself by leaning his hands on Daemon's knee, before he toddled to his mother, who crouched to catch him into her arms.
“Yes, it took a lot of convincing and some additional motivation from Dawn.”
Indeed Visenya was currently splitting her attention between petting her dragon, who was still perched on Daemon's shoulder and looking at her mother, who was walking towards them with Baelon on her hip.
“What did the midwives say?”
“That I and our child are perfectly healthy and that this time, thankfully, it looks like I'm carrying only one little hatching.” Rhaenyra came to a halt in front of Daemon, and smiled fondly down at him, when he leaned to kiss her barely there belly, whispering something too quiet to be heard by Viserys, the hatchling on his shoulder screeching unhappily at the movement.
“Your little egg? Really Daemon?” Rhaenyra shook her head, but the smile didn’t disappear from her face and she tangled fingers from her free hand in his hair.
“What? I call you my little dragon, and our children, our little hatchlings, it’s logical that this one is our little egg.”
“You’re ridiculous.”
“I’m ridiculously happy.”
Daemon tugged on her dress so she would lean down closer to him and then he kissed her, only to be interrupted by Baelon, who loudly announced his unhappiness with being squeezed between his parents. At the same time little Visenya let out a loud yaw and leaned her head against Daemon’s arm, like she was planning to take a nap there.
“It seems that it’s time to put our hatchling to sleep.” Daemon looked so fondly at the girl in his arms that it left Viserys speechless. “Go, take a bath, I will take care of them.”
“If you hurry up, you can join me in the bath,” Rhaenyra promised in a seductive voice, before passing Baelon to Daemon and leaving the room after kissing both children goodnight.
It took everything for Viserys to not gag at this display, never he would expect that his little girl would act like that. However despite his disgust, he had to admit that away from Court's eyes his brother treated her in the same, just more open and inappropriate, way, still the perfect visage of a doting husband.
For the first time in Viserys’ mind appeared a flicker of doubt, that maybe Daemon didn’t seduce his daughter out of desire to get closer to the throne, at least not only because of it. He seemed to genuinely love her and care for her, and she too seemed truly happy, constantly smiling in that genuine way he rarely saw at Court unless she directed it at Daemon or her children, and here no one watched her, there was no reason to pretend. For the past two years Viserys was certain that Rhaenyra just acted like she was happy with her decision about marrying Daemon, because she was ashamed to admit that he was right that with time Daemon would make her life miserable.
And Daemon himself… Viserys could think about a few good reasons why he would keep the charade of a doting husband even behind closed doors, but his involvement with the kids couldn’t be explained like that. There was just no other reason for him to care for them personally when there were nurses and nannies for it, unless he simply wanted to.
The easy, trained way in which Daemon put both children into their crib (Only one because the twins shared, which scandalised Alicent, who raged about how improper it was, until Daemon snapped that the twins would probably marry either way so it didn’t matter, which seemed to make her speechless with shock and anger) and then settled beside them to read them some Valyrian story, also told Viserys that it was a common occurrence and not a special event.
The sight of his brother surrounded by silver haired children and dragon hatchlings - a vision of a true Valyrian prince - made Viserys question everything he thought about his maybe-not-so-power-hungry brother and also ache for the same with his own family. The last thought made him realise that he couldn’t recall the last time he spent any significant time with his own children… would little Aemond even recognise him as a father?
With shame swelling in his gut, Viserys moved quietly from his hiding spot, eager to return to his own chambers, not sure if what he witnessed calmed him down about his daughter’s fate or broke his heart.
A small voice in the back of head, that sounded suspiciously like his beloved Aemma, kept telling him that his little brother, who he saw only as a violent, power hungry whoremonger, turned out to be a better husband and father than him.