Chapter Text
Torn between the dream of a crowned son that Viserys does not want to part with and his feelings for the daughter of the woman he loved, the King makes a decision.
He lets Otto talk him into betrothing his teenage, unmarried heir, Rhaenyra, to the little son that his new queen has bore him, Aegon. The boy may be so little, but aren’t they brother and sister, as in the ways of the Dragon?
Perhaps by the time young Aegon is finally old enough to marry, Viserys’ daughter shall know some patience at last.
Rhaenyra is disgusted by her father’s decision, which he has also had the distaste of announcing publicly during her brother’s nameday. The boy is only a babe, while she is almost a woman grown!
No matter what she tells him, Viserys will not change his mind. To Rhaenyra’s consolation, the King insists that he will not make Aegon his heir. She is to be the regnant Queen, only she. But Rhaenyra must treat her little brother well. He is to be her consort, after all.
And more than that, in Viserys’ mind. He hopes that Aegon will grow up to be the Alysanne to the future ruler Rhaenyra’s Jaehaerys, perhaps.
As time passes Rhaenyra resigns herself to it. She would have married little Baelon, she senses, if only her little brother had not died. And mayhaps, if she is that old when she weds, she might still be spared the burden of childbirth… and its risks…
Little Helaena, another princess, soon joins the royal family. Not many years later, Alicent gives birth to another child, a little prince named Aemond after Viserys’ younger brother and late uncle. Rhaenyra makes an effort to be kind and get close to them all, her half siblings, as she is already doing with Aegon, who is by now a little troublemaker fond of his small, wooden sword.
They are her blood. And none of them are to blame for Rhaenyra’s pain, she ends up telling herself.
As the years go by Rhaenyra finds herself a woman, the heiress to the Throne at that, yet just another lady in her father’s court as if she were not going to rule over them all someday. She demands her inheritance, which Viserys concedes. Rhaenyra leaves then for Dragonstone, where she will rule as its Princess.
Daemon reappears briefly in Rhaenyra’s life, just long enough to give her a short lesson on lust and the will of women and men, and to get Viserys angry enough too as to send him away once again. What a waste it is, that his sweet niece should rot away waiting for a little boy to become a man, when there is so much pleasure in the world, awaiting. She lets herself to be seduced, that night, as her uncle is persuading and so handsome and Rhaenyra herself has desires.
It is at one of the feasts that she also meets again the son of Father’s Master of Laws, the attractive Ser Harwin Strong, who also manages to persuade her into the joys of the flesh. Unlike Daemon, Harwin is allowed to remain sort of close to her, back in King’s Landing, so for a time the two arrange encounters, Rhaenyra seeking the fun that only him can provide her.
She knows the duty of her role, now that she is no longer a stubborn child. Rhaenyra is meant to lead the Kingdoms and take divine marriage one day, and as an unmarried woman she must needs to be very careful. She drinks the tea, after Daemon and Harwin both.
While Rhaenyra is away from King’s Landing, learning the difficulties of being a ruler and dealing with one vassal and then the next, back at the Red Keep King Viserys is bent on making a decent royal consort out of his firstborn son. Aegon is not the best with numbers or languages or history, but he is slowly getting better with the training sword and spear and he seems to enjoy the broader parts of diplomacy. He also endeavors if he gets praised or when Viserys personally asks him to do so, he finds out.
Perhaps, it will not be long before that he shall ask his son to join him in the small council’s meetings, as the King’s cupbearer. And, perhaps too, in not that long he might be ready to squire, for his Lord Commander mayhaps, so in time he can be honored with a knighthood. Aegon is a dragonrider now, after all, and the future sire of kings and queens.
He could have made him Daemon’s squire, that is if his brother was not so keen to dissapoint him and force Viserys to order him away. By this point Daemon has left for Essos, accompanied by his young wife, none other than Lady Laena Velaryon, whom the prince has wed after an accident has taken the life of his first one.
Rhaenyra is now little-and-twenty and she and Syrax fly to King’s Landing sometimes so she can spend a few days there.
Little by little the lords sworn to Dragonstone seem to begin to respect her authority, but hers are not at the island. And she may miss them.
Father, who Rhaenyra can sense is glad every time she is returned, and who sadly is getting year after year more affected by his illness.
Alicent, whose relationship with her is slowly becoming kinder.
Her intended, Aegon is growing nearly as tall as his mother and now ignores her, wanting only to be around other boys, his friends, yet Rhaenyra convinces him to go do with her what he cannot do with not one of his court companions (she laughs when he blushes endearingly at her words, which pleases her: Aegon is still a child but seems aware of what their duties together will be in no many years).
Aegon and her have fun, riding together Syrax and Sunfyre across the skies.
Helaena also joins them, one or two times; her little sister is sweet to have around and loves to show Rhaenyra the new additions to her bug collection, which makes Rhaenyra smile.
Aemond for his part likes to talk about the books he’s read and enjoyed, and all that he knows of the Valyrians and Andals and Essosi of old, though she knows he is sulking as well about being not a dragonrider like all his older siblings. Rhaenyra lets him know that when he is older she shall ask Viserys to allow him to go with her to the dragonmount and thus earn his status as a rider. Aemond says nothing but she feels he appreciates her promise.
She also enjoys her time with babe Daeron, how not, the boy is simply adorable and raises in her a craving that Rhaenyra opts to ignore, one of being not just a sister but a mother. She grows so fond of playing with her littlest brother and taking care of him, and singing Daeron to sleep in her arms.
By the time Aegon is not ten any longer Rhaenyra is summoned one day to see her father in private, only to learn that the Hightowers are demanding already that she marry him.
She refuses, her brother has just turned one-and-ten and by the look of him Rhaenyra would wager he is still a boy, unable to do what his family seems so eager to ask of him and of her.
Viserys makes her angry, telling Rhaenyra she is not getting any younger.
She is past five-and-twenty, surely, not a young girl in everyone’s eyes for certain, but, as she reminds Father, he knew what she would be, back when he chose this for her.
It takes Rhaenyra nearly a year to return to King’s Landing after their argument.
She and Aegon marry when she is seven-and-twenty and he scarcely two-and-ten, though this time she can tell there is a difference by the way he has grown in limbs and face, and particularly by the intense manner in which he stares at her body—and at the women that are serving at the feast, that too.
Rhaenyra makes herself forget her past anger as she notes how pleased her sire the King is, how pretty Alicent’s smile turns when she tells Rhaenyra that she is glad that she can truly call her daughter. Ser Otto looks oddly happy while her younger siblings seem content too, and Rhaenyra gladly ends up dancing with all of them: her groom, and her father, the Hand, and shy red-cheeked Aemond, lovely Helaena, and giggling little Daeron.
Aemond is still red in the face when the boldest of the Baratheon girls grabs him back into another dance, while her sister cannot seem to be able to look the young Lord Stark in the eyes as they also dance, towering over her as he is while he gently holds her, though Rhaenyra can tell how much Helaena has quietly liked it afterwards.
They all feast, and drink, and rejoice in the new union, until the moment arrives. Rhaenyra and Aegon are left in the newlyweds’ chambers, finally alone.
Aegon is so obviously willing and expectant before her that Rhaenyra has to laugh. The excitement in his eyes turn anyways to undisguised disappointment, the moment she voices it: She will not bed a boy. Not that day, not as long as he is that age. And he may tell his family if he so chooses.
Aegon makes an attempt, a poor one at that, to convince her otherwise. He reminds Rhaenyra that he is now her lord husband, that they are meant to sleep together after their espousals.
I shall bed a man, not a boy, Rhaenyra says to him again. They will do their conjugal duty, sure. Once he is of age.
Aegon blatantly disagrees with that prospect.
Rhaenyra wants his assent, and perhaps a path to an eventual devotion. She tells him, she will grant Aegon something in return for his patient endurance. She is disposed to give him something whenever her brother proves himself better, in the ways she will ask of him.
The sight of her bare body, the touch that he so obviously is desiring at the moment. The pleasure of her hand and of her mouth, that if he really deserves it, in the future.
Her brother protests, threatening Rhaenyra with the reminder that he can get those same joys and much more than that, if she dares him so. And easily.
Perhaps he must ask his Hightower uncle to take him to a certain city street so he may take to bed whomever he chooses, in exchange of some coins.
And none of them will compare, she tells him with the confidence of her smile. Her brother is fortunate, for Rhaenyra is a Targaryen, her charm and ethereal looks more akin to divinity than to those of ordinary folk.
The men still call her the Realm’s Delight for a reason. Be patient and good to me, sweet husband, and you shall be rewarded in manners no paid whore can give to you.
Aegon ends up nodding. He is still such a green boy in many ways, after all.
Rhaenyra sits beside him on the marital bed as she takes his hand and lets Aegon know, what he shall get from her, once he may prove himself a warrior and earns his future knighthood.
What will be of them, if he pleases her by learning enough High Valyrian as to be able to hold a conversation with his wife.
What kindness she is to bring to him, if he quits teasing and annoying their little siblings.
What will happen, indeed, once they are both a man grown, and what Rhaenyra already is.
They want us to have children, he ventures. And you will be old by then. Aegon lowers his head, likely mostly because of what others may have told him of what is expected of him, of the two of them from now on.
You will find me beautiful for many years to come, dear brother. And rest assured, I plan to give sons and daughters to my king.
Aegon smiles, and the child in him grips her hand tighter, agreeing to Rhaenyra's words.