Chapter Text
Two things happen when he finally wakes up from the literal and figurative nightmares.
Nightmares. If only.
The former makes him want to hold his entire family close and never let go, the latter allows him to do that without being questioned.
Both make him want to start crying in the middle of breaking fast with the family.
Or mayhaps it is that two things have already happened while he was preoccupied with being torn apart by his body and mind and now he has to solve both with the fewest advantages he has ever had since birth.
One, he has been removed from the line of succession. Displaced might be a better term but with the number of Targaryens currently alive, he might as well not be on it. Besides, if it ever gets to the point that the lawful successor is Aegon or Gods forbid, Aemond, he might as well take a blade to his throat.
Two, his betrothal has been broken.
The first cannot really be solved. It is done. It was done before he woke from his presentation. Surprisingly, he has a purpose now courtesy of his nightmares (literal). If the king agrees, he will be quite fine. More than, if he realized the plans he's always had before his body betrayed him.
The second, from what he overheard of his mother's conversation with Princess Rhaenys, his so-called grandmother, will be harder. But he has options, he thinks.
He does not have the time to be bitter about the fact that having a cunt didn't displace his mother in the line of succession as it so easily displaced him when he grew one. He has worse things to worry about, namely, the death of his family, their dragons, the end of the world starting from the cold dark North.
He needs to get rid of the Hightowers. All of them.
Just because he had expected to present as an alpha or a beta does not mean that he is entirely ignorant to how omegas’ lives are, not knowledgeable enough but he supposes that he has all the time in the world to know. It will be a blow to his reputation, to have a betrothal broken. To Baela, no less. A Targaryen and a dragonrider.
Baela would gladly elope with him, he knows, her defiant looks across the table are proof enough. But knowing their fate, he could not possibly leave his family to the Hightowers’ machinations. Even had he been the sort to shirk his duty, he cannot do it now. That much is clear. And Baela, for all the wildness everyone claims she embodies does not shirk her duties either. Neither will she force Jace into anything, even if it is selfish happiness.
No, the best Jace has to look forward to is a way to get mother more allies. Secure an impossible dowry from both his grandfathers and be married off to a Lord who would ignore the blow to his reputation that is the broken betrothal from a Targaryen alpha. His own sister, no less.
Cregan Stark, he thinks. Jace was fond of him and he of Jace in his dreams. A loyal man who did not look at his hair twice. Even if Princess Rhaenys have all but branded Jace a bastard, Cregan might not mind. He could bring the North a better chance at survival in the winter than any other match. The northerners are a practical sort. They will appreciate the advantages of his wedding to their Lord more than they care about his reputation.
He hopes they will.
Mother, he knows, wants to break Luke's and Rhaena’s betrothal and wed him to Luke. As is his right as the only Omega of house Targaryen.
And even if she did not fight to keep Jace as her heir, he knows mother would not give him to anyone less than the future king, a dragonrider and her own sweet boy if she had a choice.
Or to Joff, to be the consort of Driftmark but even if Princess Rhaenys failed in ensuring her blood would sit the iron throne, she would rather fight for the Hightowers than leave the Driftwood Throne without her blood on it.
Alas, mother gave up such choices when she had dark haired children.
Joff and Baela. He would laugh if he had lesser control over himself. They're giving Driftmark to not one but two of Daemon's children who take after him the most.
But then, Cregan would keep his oaths whether he has a Targaryen prince for a bride or not. Calling his banners is an entirely different thing but he could still promise one of his own daughters for his son. They would have dragonblood even if they do not have the name. Or one of Luke's children if he and Rhaena agree. If it has to be a Targaryen princess.
He could marry another Lord whose loyalties aren't clear. He knows better than to think the Reach and the Westerlands would side with mother even if he was wed to them. No, rather, they would kill him after getting an heir or lock him in and mother would lose a dragonrider or even worse, sell him to the greens.
Lyonel Tyrell is a babe. Anyone else is a useless choice.
Oscar Tully. He needs the Riverlands and if it would free Daemon from having to rally those bickering lords, he could go to Rook’s Rest with Rhaenys. He and Rhaenys, should they survive, could fight the Triarchy even without Dragonseeds.
He will never allow Dragonseeds to claim dragons again. And to think, it was his own brilliant idea to let anyone with dragonblood to try and claim a dragon. Ser Steffon, brave knight that he was, will simply have to live this time around.
Oscar is young, but surely that will be better for Jace, if he is the elder, he can mold his husband. He did fight for his mother from the start of the war to the last. Even Cregan only came at the end, after most of them perished. Anyone who can stand against Daemon and come out alive is good enough for Jace.
Oscar then. Surely he would not mind Jace's hair and what it represents? Or the broken betrothal?
He has a dragon. He will have a better dowry than anyone else. Even his sisters and aunt.
Mother would allow it. She might even let him choose for love if she can't give him a throne, he thinks, catching the guilty gaze of his mother that she's been directing at him ever since she told him what being an Omega meant for his position. But Jace knows better than to think love is what will save their family. No, his grandsire loves his mother aplenty. What good did that do when she was watching her children die one by one only to die by her brother's hands while her son watched?
His poor brother. Gods. What a useless son and brother Jace was to them, to leave them to such fate.
He can charm Oscar Tully. He's always been good with his words, even with his temperament. Jace should ask Lady Elinda how to do that before he sets out. All the things he knows of charming anyone is to be kind and be a perfect prince. Gallant, even. He hadn't thought he needed to be well versed in charming men. Though he doubts Lady Elinda knows to charm men, she is entirely unimpressed with every single man that has ever been in her presence. If she weren't so kind, Jace would have found that sort of nonchalance scary.
“So, am I betrothed to Jace?”
For a moment, Jace thinks that it is Joff who asked, because who else would it be? But he knows all of his brothers’ voices and even when his mind claims that it must be, the reality is not as simple.
He blinks. He watches Luke and Rhaena blink as if they are one and the same creature.
Then he belatedly chokes on his saliva, like a heathen.
Jace turns to his mother in astonishment and horror, only to watch her own expression that mirrored his change into contemplation.
No.
Daemon, if there is one thing that he can be counted on for, looked entirely amused even through his surprise.
“Do you want to be betrothed to Jace?” Mother asks, before Jace has the wherewithal to outright refuse.
“Yes! If it's not Luke or Joff or Baela or Rhaena” Aegon, his little brother, counts out by pointing at his siblings, “ then it is me, is it not?”
Because mother has lost all sense he looks to Daemon for help. Only for the Gods to leave him to whatever world he has woken in to amuse themselves by watching his misery. Jace reckons that they would be enjoying this nearly as much as Daemon.
“If you both agree, I don't see why not.” His stepfather proclaims, languidly.
“Aegon.” He scolds. “You don't know what you are saying.”
Which only serves to anger him, as much as a calm child Aegon is, he too is of the blood of the dragon.
“I do.” He insists. A child's thoughts of honour, or right mayhaps. If his older brothers and sisters didn't wed Jace, then it would surely be him.
Jace loves Aegon, he does. He has loved him since the day he was born. He knows Aegon loves Jace just as much.
But he is still a child.
“Mother, might we have a word in private?” He chokes out when he realises that his brother will only get more upset if Jace keeps talking.
“It is not as unthinkable as you might believe, Jace. You are only six years apart in age.”
Why does he always feel like it is only him who has been given the ability to think things through?
“He does not understand what he is agreeing to.”
He doesn't. Jace doesn't think that Aegon even knows about the doubts surrounding his paternity. That his brothers have darker hair than him and Viserys might be only because they share a different father in his mind.
It is true, only Aegon might think that father is Ser Leanor.
His brother, as lovely as it is for him to offer to wed Jace, does not understand why his betrothal to Baela was broken, or why he won't be betrothed to Joff.
What threats Princess Rhaenys has made against him for mother to agree with shaming Jace in such a manner. To outright refuse Jace a crown, even if only a consort’s.
“You are both princes of the realm. Your matches were never going to be your choice, even though at this moment, I can give you nothing more than your choice in a match.”
His mother, his Queen, tells him. Her hands are warm . Her eyes are gentle and imploring. Jace feels small, young and entirely unprepared for this new life.
He was the heir's heir just days ago, a boy who hoped that as long as the king does not disinherit his mother, her throne won't be stolen.
Jace can no longer afford such naiveties.
“If I betroth you both, then that is all there is to it. Aegon is a Targaryen prince, a dragonrider and your brother. Even if he is not the heir, you cannot make a safer match.”
Safer, she says, because that, at least, she is willing to concede. That Jace's life is much harder than it needs be, should he have been born with silver hair, should he not have grown a cunt, is his burden to carry.
Any of his brothers or sisters are a safer option than a stranger, a Lord who might pretend to be good only to reveal his true nature after Jace is trapped in his castle. He knows that. He does.
Only, he loves his brother too much even disregarding that Jace has only ever seen him as a little brother.
“Should you not use my hand for alliances, mother?”
His mother scowls. Anger flashing in her eyes.
“I will not sell you to the highest bidder.” She should. For her throne, for their family. Everyone does. “I will not.”
But mother has gone on a betrothal tour, he knows, in her youth. She is a woman, even if an alpha. She knows how terrible of a fate most women receive in this world.
Her mother, his grandmother Aemma, was a victim of such cruelty. Married at one and ten, only to lose babe after babe in the pursuit of an heir and finally her life.
“What if he resents me for trapping him?” Jace knows he sounds small, but he cannot imagine a life where his brother hates him. He does not want to. He would much rather a stranger hate him even if it is his husband than his own brothers and sisters.
“Jace.” Mother gasps, as if she cannot fathom such a thing.
“Mother, please. He does not understand now.” He says, as always, careful not to touch the subject directly. “He will one day. He might not be so happy to be betrothed to me then. And he is young, what if he finds someone else?”
“Aegon would not forsake you.” His mother defends. Always quick to defend her children, even to her other children. “You should have more faith in him and he is not so young as to be completely unaware that marrying you means that you will be sharing a life.”
“I do not lack faith in him.” He is pacing now. “I know he will not forsake me. I only want him to truly have a choice. An informed choice.”
There must be something pathetically pleading in his face for mother to soften up so much. He must look so lost.
“Will you force him to marry you, sweet boy, should he find himself unwilling to go forth with your union?” She asks, clutching his hands in hers.
“No!” Jace needs not pause or think to answer that question. Force his brother? He would rather jump from Vermax.
“Then we will simply tell him as much. That should he come to such a decision, he is free to tell us. That he need not suffer a match where his heart is not present.”
Well, he is glad at least his mother says it as if she could not possibly believe such a thing will come to pass but Jace is not so sure. He is glad that Aegon will have a choice.
That is easy enough, he thinks. Aegon would agree, wouldn't he?
“And I should accept another broken betrothal to my name?”
“You are my son. The only Omega of house Targaryen. Even if you had ten broken betrothals to your name, you would still have a hundred suitors. Though, I will not claim that keeping you with me forever is unappealing to me.”
His mother is jesting but he knows there is truth in that statement. Mother would love to keep him unmarried and unmated forever by her side if he let her.
Jace accepts her sentiment with a prince's dignity. He cannot claim that he mislikes his mother's intense love, for he too loves just as intensely. Would he too not find the prospect of living a room away from Luke till the end of his days appealing?
And he would rather live as a spinster with his family than be made a pretty caged bird to some cruel Lord or other.
“And,” his mother continues, looking at him intently. “ with Aegon, you need not marry so soon. You will have years before you have to think of heirs.”
In truth, he did not think so much of heirs when he was planning to sell his hand for alliances. Baela was the one with that burden in his mind until recently. Now it would be him, and he is very nervous about the prospect. Scared, really. It does not feel real that he would be bearing children.
Mother is right, as always. He would have six years to plan, to make alliances in other ways, to eliminate the greens until he would need to be wedded and bedded if it indeed is to Aegon he is betrothed.
That is better than being sent off to the Riverlands or the North suddenly and leaving the Greens free to steal the throne. He won't be incapacitated by a babe in his belly.
Besides, if he manages to do away with the kinslayer, they will have an easier war to fight.
If none of that was enough, Aegon is a Targaryen prince. His children will be Targaryens. They will have dragon eggs. Something he would have had to give up were he to marry out of the family.
And so, Jace is forced to concede, mother is right and to agree to a betrothal to Aegon.
But first,
“Let us talk about my dowry.”
Jacaerys Velaryon is given Lordship of the Stepstones and named Protector of the Narrow Sea by Royal Decree no later than a single visit to the King. Jacaerys Velaryon, if in nothing else but name, is the Sea Snake’s grandson. He has never made a bad contract. This one, the one that gave him lordship over a group of rocks in the middle of the ocean in a crown’s stead, was one the Master of Coin and the Hand of the King would have argued against had they known about it.
He is also given support to build fortifications and a very small part of the royal Navy is sent as support, on the condition that he replaces them when he is settled, which he thought is unfair given that he is protecting the waters for the king, but his grandsire was not moved.
He agreed. He should not look so greedy.
Say what anyone will of the King, he loves his daughter and he loves his grandchildren. Especially his eldest grandson. And when he made his eyes bigger and pouted( he shall take that to his grave), after being displaced as the heir, the king simply gave his grandson everything he asked for, apart from the dowry the crown will add to the one House Velaryon provides.
The crown cannot be seen as being stingy over its only omega’s dowry. Never mind that it will stay in the family. That is irrelevant.
Aegon does not have an inheritance. Jace has no plans to live in Luke's castle. That is not true, Jace does plan to live in Dragonstone even after his wedding. But he will have his own income apart from his allowance and dowry.
More importantly, he will destroy the Triarchy before they decide to attack and be contacted by those traitorous cunts.
Unlike in the dream, his grandsire is not at death's door. It will be years before the stranger comes for him. That will only work in Jace's favour as he's sure Otto has no notions of his plans while Jace has plenty of insight into his.
His mother, as little interest as she has in sending him to war, concedes when Jace asks her if she would deny him his life after denying him the crown.
It was cruel but Jace is not entirely unaffected to being disinherited just because he has better things to do to keep their family alive.
Lords Bar Eammon, Sunglass, Celtigar, Seaworth have all been ordered by the Princess of Dragonstone to provide aid along with a small number of other houses from the Crownlands that are sympathetic to mother's cause.
Borros Baratheon is a fool. That is not even considering the fact that he is as responsible for Luke's death as much as Aemond was in the dream.
But Jace knows, he cannot kill everyone who rose against them. The greens are dead, there are no two ways about it. But the rest, no matter how distasteful he finds it, even if they raised their banners for the usurpers must be brought to their side.
What other reason than being a fool does he have for agreeing to foster his young son with Jace's brothers so quickly? He can only thank the Gods that Borros was fool enough not to include his wife in their discussion. Surely, she would have opposed the mere thought.
He does begrudgingly applaud Lord Baratheon’s gall to ask for his hand in marriage to his alpha daughter though. An alpha daughter who is not even his heir. Jace can only be glad to be betrothed to his brother at the realization of what his life would have been, should his hand remain unclaimed.
An army for his hand. Of course, Jace should not be surprised, he had done the very thing with the kinslayer once. But Jace did not ask for his army, only the volunteers who had already been inconvenienced by the Triarchy enough to go fight them.
“For volunteers?” He asks.
“An army then.” Lord Borros boasts. As if this is some big offer when Jace could have fleets for his hand and Lord Paramounts or a dragonriding prince, even the heir to the heir as far as anyone else knows as a bridegroom in his landless daughter's stead.
Jace would rather marry one of his uncles than let his hand be sold for mere volunteers. Borros is lucky his mother and stepfather were not there to hear his insult. It is only his dignity as a prince that stops him from scoffing at his face.
He should not be surprised with how little he respected him from the moment Jace stepped in his keep. Though whether it is due to his status as an omega or his dubious paternity, he cannot say. Both, he decides.
“Mayhaps we could foster your heir, the young Royce with my brothers. Prince Aegon and Prince Viserys. And the newest prince, of course.” She will be a princess, but Borros doesn't need to know that. “And one of your daughters, the one with the fewest prospects, if one such exists,” he laughs, pretty and shy, not that he thinks Borros would be too offended if it is his daughters that are the victims “could be mine or my sister's lady in waiting.”
He didn't even need Borros’ permission, truly, since his grandsire has given him permission to defend his territory.
Tarth had been in an altercation by themselves and had requested aid from their liege lord. Aid that has not been provided yet. Jace is doing them a favour, not the other way around.
It was only a ruse to get the hostages he wanted.
But he supposes asking permission when he didn't need it and providing them the honor of a royal fostering along with the invitation for his least desired daughter as a lady for either his sisters or himself to build friendship between their houses as well as between the Stormlands and the Stepstones must have sufficiently stroked his ego enough to ignore the danger in sending his children to one side of a succession crisis.
Or mayhaps there is another advantage in being seen as a poor defenseless omega. Never mind he has a dragon, certainly these self important lords don't respect him enough to think he will use Vermax against them.
A notion that will cost them and one he will gladly make use of now that he knows about it.
He expects Borros to play both sides as he expects Otto to offer Aemond’s hand again.
Jace can only pray to the Gods that such an obvious approach would be overlooked by everyone if he is forced to make them as long as the rewards are good enough.
Jace only has barely a little more than a moon to gather the support needed if he wants to be present for Visenya’s birth before he leaves for the Steps.
Lady Jeyne has been as much of a hard negotiator as she had been in the dreams and entirely unimpressed with his family. Something he finds endlessly amusing, if only because she did not waver in her loyalties. If she wanted to save her people and made the best decisions for the Vale first and his mother second, Jace cannot blame her.
He can tell that she approves of his intentions to have his own lands apart from what the Crown provides him, as a fellow omega in power. An unmarried one at that. He can only admire that she has managed to do something his mother and him both failed at.
Jace will simply need to have a better relationship with Lady Jeyne Arryn and the Vale when the time comes for his mother to take the throne.
“I want to have a good relationship with Gulltown and they want the same with myself.” He states, simply.
They both know this to be true. Gulltown would gladly make a deal with Jace as long as his trade routes remain open and safe for them.
House Grafton would like an exclusive deal without Lady Arryn’s interference. Something Lady Jeyne shouldn't encourage when it could be her generosity that gets Gulltown the shipping lanes that have remained elusive yet. When it could make House Arryn more wealthy.
Especially with as many oppositions as she will always have as the Lady of the Vale. That is forgetting the good relationship she will have with a dragonrider. One she thinks is worthwhile if the begrudgingly approving look she gave him is anything to go by and one that shares blood with her.
“I will allow it.” She says, magnanimously.
Of course she will, but she must be a little pleased that he came to her first, he hopes.
He did not ask for an army from her either. Only the opportunity to have a good relationship with the Stepstones in the future as Jace has no delusions as to who will be providing food to his people. And volunteers. There is no lack for men wanting to prove themselves anywhere.
Something Lady Jeyne has evidently thought is a good enough prospect with the amount of men she raised and the list of fields that are ready to be bought should he need it. He already has land in the Vale that he inherited from his mother's dowry but because it will be some time until he can call it his own, Jace will need to buy farmland on his own.
“The crown once married a dragonriding prince to the Vale.” She says.
And that ended with a dead Lady of Runestone, she doesn't need to say.
Lady Jeyne, he knows, will not underestimate him for his secondary gender. For his age, mayhaps, but not enough to truly be an advantage for him. He must enjoy these few and far between lords and ladies who consider him seriously enough, he decides.
“The crown is not offering you anything, my Lady.” Something he is embarrassed to admit, but true nonetheless. “I am.”
He knows better than to defend Daemon. Not in the Vale.
“The crown once married a Vale Queen.” He says. “And the next Queen will have her Arryn blood. As high as honor, my mother taught me. The crown, the hand” he emphasized “might have forgotten but I have not, my mother has not.”
Her heir, Joffrey Arryn, is not sent to foster despite his very generous offer. He needs to be in the Vale to learn his duties ,to know his land, Lady Jeyne tells him. But he gets omega knights to accompany him. And a recommendation for ladies when he gets back to properly form his household.
Jace must give credit where it's due. Lady Jeyne is not someone to be crossed. Mayhaps she also recognises that Jace isn't someone to be crossed if she would refuse fostering knowing that they are kin.
Visenya is born with a scaled pattern on part of her face and hair so fine. Jace barely made it to the birth. Fortunately, it wasn't too early.
Daemon was there. Something he was as angry at as he was pleased.
Jace was there too, wouldn't– couldn't leave his mother to it. He never should have left in the dream either. Should have sent Luke after Daemon and stayed with his mother.
Jace held Visenya before mother did, before Daemon did. His little sister. His beautiful little sister, he thought, alive.
He could hardly stop crying to pass her to mother's hands.
“Jace, would you like to name her?”
A question Jace found most ridiculous. So what if he hasn't moved from his mother's side? So what if he hasn't taken his hands off of his mother and little sister?
They are alive. It must mean that Luke can stay alive. That Joff can be saved. That Daemon and Jace will stay alive to make things hard for mother as is their right.
So what if he is as relieved about Visenya's birth as he is scared to leave his family?
Mother and Daemon only looked at him expectantly, seemingly quite content with letting Jace name their only shared daughter.
He laughs, a sound that even to his own ears is wet enough to warrant not be called a laugh.
“She has a name.” He tells them, bewildered. Why would they ask him? Why would they doubt when they already know her name?
He looks at his little sister held in their mother's hands. Hands that Jace hasn't let go off, too scared to think of a life where she doesn't live. Where most of them don't live.
He looks at her tiny red face. At her fine hair and scrunched face. She will have lilac eyes, he knows. Like Daemon's, like Aegon’s. He knows that without seeing it, before her pale newborn eyes settle into a colour. She will have Daemon's eyes and mother's hair.
She will be the most beautiful girl in the world. Like her mother and her sisters both.
He smiles at her, even when his tears don't stop, because he has to. His little sister is alive and their entire family will stay alive by the time Jace is done with the greens. No one will take mother's throne or their family from him.
He vows it to his sister. Kisses her forehead and vows in his mind to let her grow in a world where she is safe from the Hightowers treachery.
“Visenya.” He says, but no one reacts , so it must be too low to hear.
Visenya, he says again. Louder. Stronger. As loud and strong as his sister will surely grow into, as loud and strong and proud as her name demands.
His sister opens her pale lilac eyes at him and his mother smiles at him through her own tears.
If there is one thing that he is grateful about his presentation, it is that all of his frantic emotions are excused.
Driftmark is as chilly as it always has been.
It's mistress doubly so, as she always is when faced with the existence of Jace and his brothers.
“Princess Rhaenys is not here at the moment.”
A lie. He saw Meleys when he dismounted Vermax near his preferred caves.
No matter, he was counting on just that lie when he came. He counted on Princess Rhaenys's hate for him and the lack of response for aid when it was Velaryon men who had been fighting all this time.
He knows he shouldn't be feeling relieved that Lord Corlys is yet to wake. He claimed Jace and his brothers, gave them Velaryon names, never spoke against them. He didn't turn traitor until the end of the war, something Jace does not accept but does not hate him for either. Not when it was for Baela’s safety.
But his absence is a boon for Jace as Rhaenys must surely believe it is for her.
Jace does wish that the lady looked less vindicated at saying this lie. It is not as if she has any claim to the Driftwood Throne. Neither his brothers nor sisters would ever let any of Princess Rhaenys’s people be thrown out when they come into their power.
He doesn't hate Driftmark. Never managed to do it no matter what Lord Corlys, Princess Rhaenys or its people seemed to think about him.
Father loved it. It was his home, and so Jace cannot hate it.
He could not care less about what any of them thinks anymore, an experience that is more liberating than any other.
Another thing the dream has provided him. What happened to all the Velaryons when the greens came for them? When the Triarchy came for them?
Without Jace, they would have lost more than they did. Even now, he is letting them keep their wealth, their homes by taking on the Triarchy without Driftmark's support.
Ungrateful cunts, he thinks, looking at a pair of silver haired boys snickering to each other.
He is no longer heir to the throne, or Driftmark. He doesn't need to be of Velaryon blood to keep Stepstones.
Let them hate him. As long as they don't touch his brothers, he will leave them to it.
He flies over the beaches of Driftmark when he knows it is time for the people to collect molluscs. In the evening and again in the early morning after sleeping with Vermax in his cave.
When at last he finds what he is looking for, he dismounts from Vermax at a distance. When he walks over to watch him methodically work, Jace takes a moment to ask Seasmoke to forgive him.
“Milord!” Addam says, in surprise, when he notices Jace looking at his work. Jace looks at his own riding leathers with no sigil that is undoubtedly of good quality, but not in a good state after sleeping on the ground and thinks that he will forgive him this once.
Of all the dragonseeds, Addam is the one he liked best. Addam is the one who stayed loyal until the end. His end.
Jace is happy that his father's dragon had better taste in riders than Vermithor, Silverwing and Vhaghar did.
But this time, no one but a Targaryen can claim a dragon. Not when Jace will prevent the war that would need dragonriders. Not when he will be a threat to Luke and Joff. Addam’s loyalty will mean as little as Aegon's disinterest in ruling or being a decent human being as long as there are people who would take advantage of the opportunities they present.
But that doesn't mean he can't give Addam a better life. A reward for his loyalty and services.
And if it also gives him something to hold over his grandfather, well, Jace is not the Seasnake’s grandson for nothing.
“What do you think of the conflict in the Stepstones?” He barely stops himself from saying his name. That would be too suspicious.
Addam blinks his eyes at him. Jace supposed that was too out of context but no matter, if Addam is to stay with him, he would need to get used to Jace.
“I don't know. Lord Velaryon has been fighting for a while, but the pirates are still there, aren't they?”
That is fair enough.
He wonders if Addam really hasn't seen him in Driftmark, or Luke? Surely the dragon riding leathers are telling, even if Addam missed the dragon that flew overhead before his appearance.
“Lord Velaryon didn't have a dragon.”
“The prince doesn't have an armada.” Addam counters. That is true enough.
“Will you only risk yourself for a better opportunity, a better life if the prince has an armada?” Jace gets to the point. He doesn't have that much time to waste, lest Princess Rhaenys thinks that his whereabouts needs to be investigated.
“What opportunity?” He asks Jace, bewildered. Addam was much more polite in his dream. “I don't have a ship. I'm not a captain. I'm not anyone important on a ship that they're taking to the Stepstones even if the Velaryon fleet is not sailing.”
“How do you know the Velaryon fleet is not sailing?” Jace asks, even though he already knows the answer.
Addam fidgets a little, wondering if he should be truthful. Loyalty, he thinks. To his brother, yes, but Jace can use that.
“My brother works on the Sea Snake.”
“Why don't you?”
This time he just looks frustrated. That is well enough, he thinks, he doesn't truly need an answer.
“How about I make you someone on a ship that is sailing to the Stepstones?” Again, Jace thinks that playing games with Addam is unnecessary but it's better if he wants to come with Jace.
Unfortunately for Addam, he is too valuable to be simply left to dive for oysters in Driftmark. Not when he could keep the old man in line with Addam.
“Why?” Addam asks, suspiciously. Jace has to give him this, it is very suspicious. And anyone with any sense would never believe that such a generous offer comes without conditions.
“Mayhaps I simply want men and you are right here in front of me,” he says, taking on the same irreverent tone that Daemon uses when he wants to unnerve people “ or mayhaps you are too special. Believe what you will, I care not.” Here, he changes his tone to imply the seriousness of the offer.
“I want men who are useful, who are loyal and I have a ship that will sail as swiftly as any other. I am going to make something of myself. Do you wish to join me–?” He trails off at the end.
“Addam.” He answers as Jace nods his acknowledgement.
Addam seemed for the first time in the conversation, understanding. All men want to make something of themselves. Especially ones who aren't born into wealth and privilege as Jace was born.
He does give Addam the time to think. It is, after all, a big decision.
Jace's feelings about the sea have been muddy since he woke from the nightmares. The sea that drowned him and Luke. Arrax and Vermax.
Staring at the waves from his father's shores, feeling the wind in his hair, he cannot hate the sea any more than he can hate Driftmark or Hightide.
Triarchy, he hates. Vhaghar, he hates. Lohar and Aemond, he hates. Alicent, he hates.
He will kill them. Not Alicent, he hopes, he will let her live the death of her traitorous, monstrous children. His mother had to live through that, he doesn't see why Alicent shouldn't.
“I want to join you.” Addam says, turning to him.
Jace bites his tongue from correcting him. He doesn't have a dragon, he reminds himself. No need to point out the difference in their stations.
“But I think first I have to ask who you are, milord.” He smiles at Jace.
He has a nice smile, Jace thinks and has to keep his own lips from twitching. There was no need for cloak and dagger but Jace didn't see why he should let go of an opportunity when it presented itself.
Then he lets his lips form the smile that it has been wanting to form since Princess Rhaenys did as he predicted.
Vermax has been waiting not too far so it takes him barely any time to fly and land behind him at his mental suggestion. He doesn't have a bond as Daemon and Caraxes does, but it is strong enough to call his dragon as long as Vermax is paying attention to him and in close proximity.
Addam walks backward in his fright and trips on his feet. Vermax is undoubtedly enjoying his fear, the menace. No wonder Luke likes to make claims that Vermax is Caraxes’s get and Arrax is Seasmoke’s.
Vermax, of course, roars in Addam's face just because he can but doesn't take a single step forward. Not that he needs to, if he truly meant Addam harm but he is just having fun, so Jace lets him.
It takes Addam's fearful face staring imploringly, mayhaps even pleadingly at his face to realise that Jace hasn't stopped smiling.
He still doesn't. Only raises a brow at him. Jace doesn't see why he has to introduce himself. Only two people have green dragons and one of the dragons is a hoary old bitch. Far from his lovely dragon.
But he takes pity on him if only because he is wasting time.
“I am Jacaerys Velaryon.” He purposely leaves out his title.
As Addam has proved in another life, he is not an idiot, neither is he irreverent.
“My prince.” He kneels, as fast as he can manage from his sprawled position on the sand even through his fear.
Jace forces his smile to be softer.
He tipped Addam's face to his with his fingers on his jaw, gently. He hopes his smile is not too sharp. He cannot tell, not now.
“You are beautiful, Addam.” He says to Addam's obvious shock. He hadn't expected that of all things to be something that came out of Jace's mouth. “My father was beautiful too, what little I remember of him.”
Addam's shock turns to absolute dread. It would have been laughable had it not been a death sentence for both of them to be known for what they truly are, mother would have had Addam and Alyn killed if she didn't need Corlys’s support and Corlys would have had Jace and his brothers killed if he didn't want the Velaryon name tied to the throne.
Now he knows why Jace said that. His hair may be black but with a prince knowing such things, his hair might as well have been the brightest silver of the Velaryon Seahorse. A dragonrider with brothers to protect knowing such things would only mean terrible things.
Fortunately for Addam, scaring him is not what Jace wants. Not yet.
“My offer stands, Addam. I will not force you.”
A lie. He wants so badly to make the offer truthfully, to be good. Jacaerys the Just, his brothers once teased him.
But he won't be king. He will make it so that a Queen sits the throne next and a good and just king follows after her. For that he will become whatever he must.
Only monsters win wars. The conqueror burned hundreds for the throne. He will too, if it comes to that. Queen Visenya protected her family with fire and blood, so will he.
“I will treat you fairly. And you will have your place in whatever little world I make.” He continues, all of which is true and Addam must know that because he does not look so scared anymore.
“But,” here he looks at him intently so he knows Jace is very serious “if you betray me, you will regret it.”
“I won't.” He says. Jace wants to believe him, but he knows better. Jace smiles, pleased, anyway.
He nods and takes a step back into Vermax's shade.
“Rise.”
Now, this fidgeting and nervousness, he is very familiar with and it makes him feel more himself than he has in a while.
“Go get whatever you need to get and come right back. My ship is on Dragonstone.”
Addam nods, excited. “Which ship am I getting on? Um, my prince.”
He will never forget Addam's face and how he looked at Vermax when Jace tells him “ We are not taking a ship.” and he took Jace's meaning, however belatedly.