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With a huff, Rhaenys strolled through the dragon lairs near High Tide. Her face remained markedly neutral, entirely composed. A true mask.
Inside, she was screaming.
Her cousin, for all that she loved him, was an absolute idiot. One son with an eye gouged out, another with bruises around his neck, and the only thing he'd asked about were the damn rumors?
In her place, Rhaenys wasn't sure she'd have acted any differently to Alicent. Rhaenyra had admitted the same only a short while ago, when Rhaenys had checked on the boys.
Laena's girls were in bed, properly this time, with a guard outside their door and their father lying between them. Rhaenyra had her boys well in hand. A quick walk by Alicent's rooms had told her Aemond was being well looked after. Viserys had been nowhere in sight, of course. Rhaenys was far from shocked by that at this point. His younger girl had been sat in the hall, staring listlessly out a window.
"Golden scales are never balanced," Helaena had hummed to herself when Rhaenys passed by her. She'd paused, listening to the girl's ramblings, "A sun in the shadow can never shine."
Aegon had not been in his room. His bed empty. Cold. There'd been no guard at his door, kingsguard or otherwise.
She ought to have been surprised. She wasn't.
Instead, she was furious.
The eldest son of the king and no one seemed to give a damn as to where he was right after he'd been publically interrogated by his own father.
Daemon was known for his temper. Rhaenys thought she could give her cousin a run for his money in that moment, fire licking at her veins.
Her daughter was dead. Her Laena. And yet everywhere she looked all she saw were Targaryens neglecting their children. Daemon and Rhaenyra had both taken a tongue lashing for disappearing, today of all days.
Meleys rankled in her lair as Rhaenys passed. She raised a hand to her dragon, a finger moving to her lip. The Red Queen quieted.
Already, she could hear the sobbing. Harsh, wet gasps of breaths. Rhaenys walked towards the noises. They were joined by nervous rumblings Rhaenys recognized, the telltale sounds of a dragon's concern.
The boy was pacing, wiping furiously at his face with the sleeve of his shirt. His doublet had been cast aside. His cloak too. He gestured wide and wildly, berating himself under his breath, only half grumbling and entirely indecipherable at this distance.
Aegon looked more a child than a young man, stripped of all his finery. His hair a tangled mess, his skin so pale Rhaenys couldn't help but see the bruises. Shining like purple beacons beneath his shirt.
Sunfyre twisted around beside himself, fretting over his rider, head moving quickly and erratically. The beast couldn't figure out how to comfort the boy.
Rhaenys felt her heart clench.
"Aegon?" She called out softly, remaining just outside the lair as both boy and dragon startled. Sunfyre growled, chest immediately puffing up when Aegon stumbled backwards. He fell back, grunting as he hit the ground.
"No! Sunfyre!" Aegon screamed, already scrambling for his dragon, hands petting at golden scales. Hiseyes wide with fear even before his gaze snapped to Rhaenys, "I'm sorry! I didn't-"
"You're not in trouble," Rhaenys raised her hand to quiet him. His next breath a stuttering sob. She didn't approach, even with Sunfyre calmed, backing away. He still stood between her and Aegon. A barrier, a wall, between the world and his rider. His boy.
A small child really. One that hadn't even seen a proper winter yet. A boy of three-and-ten. The scent of fermented grapes hung between them. He'd been drunk earlier, stumbling over his words as first Alicent and then Viserys had shouted at him.
Her lashes fluttered and she blinked back tears. Laenor was much the same, drunkenly crying for his sister as his knight tried to comfort him.
There was no one trying to comfort Aegon though. Just Sunfyre. Just his dragon.
"I came to check on you," Rhaenys told him, maintaining eye contact as he pulled his knees up to his chest.
"Me?" Aegon blinked, brow furrowing when he looked up at her. Her eyes squeezed shut as his voice broke.
Did no one care for this child? Was he really so shocked that someone would come looking for him?
"Why would you check on me?" Aegon gasped out, voice trembling along with the rest of him. Sunfyre coiled around him, now that Aegon had stopped pacing.
Rhaenys crouched down, meeting his gaze even as she kept her distance, "We're family."
With a snort, Aegon ducked his head, "Family just cut my brother's eye out." He had her there. She chuckled, laughter hollow. She tilted her head.
Was this what had become of House Targaryen?
"That's fair," Rhaenys took a breath, "You are a guest in my home though, and a proper host sees that all of their guests are cared for, especially children. Especially when there has been... conflict."
This garnered her only a look. He was still shaking. Tears continued to stream down his face. Sunfyre's warmth, his comfort, had slowed the sobbing for now. Or so she assumed. It certainly wasn't her. Sunfyre shuffled about, bringing his tail forward to wrap around Aegon properly.
Meleys had done much the same for her, several times these last few days. Rhaenys had sought comfort in her dragon just as often as she did her husband. More even.
"You have a strong bond with your dragon," Rhaenys commented, smiling at him. Aegon sniffed and nodded. "How-"
"Why would you bother?" Aegon spat out, eyes hard. His voice lower now, sharper.
Ah. The time for tears was over.
"You're one of them!" Aegon yelled at her, brow furrowing, voice cracking, "You want Rhaenyra on the throne, you have no use for me!"
Eyes fluttering, Rhaenys stood. Her mouth fell open. She had no chance to speak.
"This is a trick!" Aegon snapped, arms wrapping tighter around his legs. Sunfyre shuffled beside him, chest rumbling as Aegon began to sob again, "Just like everything else!" His eyes squeezed shut as he screamed, "I'm not falling for it again! You don't care!"
Sunfyre growled properly, head rising. Meleys approached from behind. Her own teeth already bared before Rhaenys raised a hand to stop her approach.
"You'll kill me as soon as Rhaenyra takes the throne!" Aegon cried out, hands fisting in his hair. His lips twisted into a snarl, "I'm nothing but a challenge! Nothing but a fool!"
The sobbing had returned full force. Aegon rocking himself back and forth while Sunfyre nuzzled at the top of his head. The golden dragon started whining then, whimpering even. It had no effect on his rider.
"I would sooner burn the Red Keep to the ground than harm an innocent child of my own blood," Rhaenys told him, voice firm. Her throat bobbed. "I cannot speak for every Targaryen," Rhaenys took a step in to the lair. Her mind went immediately to Daemon and her lips pursed, "But I know Rhaenyra is of a similar mind."
A few threatening snaps from Sunfyre - which only had Meleys growling from the entrance - and Rhaenys knelt on the ground in front of him. Aegon clung to her immediately when she wrapped her arms around him, crying into her chest. So starved for comfort, he took it even from her, from someone he thought a threat. An enemy.
Rhaenys tucked her chin over his head. The boy curled in on himself, making himself as small as possible. Sunfyre sniffed at her, wary. She didn't wonder why.
She knew how the game worked. Knew what rumors had been flying around the Red Keep. Knew their origins were far off, in Oldtown maybe, at least at the start.
Unlike Viserys, Rhaenys did not need a child to confirm what she already knew, what the whole realm knew.
Aegon was safe from the fire bubbling in her blood.
The same could not be said for her cousin or his Hand.
Rhaenys squeezed Aegon tighter. Her gaze swept over him, cataloguing every bruise. The one forming on his cheek and the hand print wrapped around the wrist. Another on the back of his neck. All of them fairly new. Fairly fresh.
Alicent was many things, but the only hand she'd laid on her son had been that evening. In a fit of misplaced rage.
"Shush, my prince," Rhaenys whispered into his hair, rubbing absently at his back, "I will not let anyone harm you. Not ever again." His sobs only grew louder.
In the morning, Rhaenys would go to Rhaenyra, and then to Viserys. The only threat to House Targaryen was itself, and Rhaenys would not allow the children of their house to be caught in this crossfire.
For now, she rocked Aegon in her arms and let Sunfyre coil around the two of them. With a quick look to her dragon, Meleys stalked away. Her chest rumbling and fire rising in her throat. Just as it did in Rhaenys'.
There would be no need to seek out Otto Hightower. Meleys knew her better than Rhaenys knew herself, and Rhaenys wanted fire, and blood.
She had buried her daughter in the sea earlier, in the evening, just before sunset. Alicent could bury her father come sunrise. A few smoking bones might survive until morning. Maybe.