Chapter 38: Chapter 38: The Not-Yet Daring. 126 AC
[Oldtown, The Reach]
A young and handsome boy was sitting beside a window, he was reading a book as he listened to the ruffles of the servants below, minding their businesses. The boy had silvery gold hair, gleaming violet eyes, he was coloured like a typical blood of the dragon. He had a gentle yet handsome face, the servants quite adored him, his foster host loved him, he was clever and courteous, yet he never rebels, he only listens.
He had only reached his 12th name day this year, and his parents, the queen and the king, sent him to old town, to be cupbearer to the lord of the holding, and to squire with his knights.
This boy is a prince of the seven kingdoms. The youngest child of King Viserys and Queen Alicent, Daeron Targaryen.
Suddenly, far away in the distance, he heard a thunderous roar, the sound was familiar to him, but for the servants, not so much. When the roar echoed, the people below flinched, even screamed at the sound, they thought an army had come, or more… supernatural things have come to the world, but they are all wrong.
While Daeron is used to the beast's roar, he still frowned. It is not his dragon's roar, so whose is it?
His answer came when he saw a bronze silhouette in the sky. The dragon's shadow covered an entire block of the town at once, dragons came to Old Town so rarely, especially a dragon this big.
The bronze dragon flew around the hightower a couple of times, it flew over the citadel, it flew over the walls, then finally, the dragon landed on top of the lighthouse for a few minutes, seemingly showing his dominance over the city.
Daeron could see the guards seemingly not knowing what to do, some ran to the tower to man the defense, some frozen in place, with the trousers wet.
When the dragon was seemingly satisfied with himself, it flew over towards the place that Daeron was staying in. as Daeron noticed it, he put away his book, and ran towards the yard of the place.
—
When Daeron reached the yard, he saw the menacing bronze dragon resting upon the ground. A man was standing in front of the beast, his hand on his sword's hilt, and he was speaking to the lord of the place, Lord Hobert Hightower.
"You have come uninvited, lord Maegor." said Lord Hobert with a deep frown.
The man who wore an eye-catching bronze Targaryen armor just stared at Lord Hobert calmly. Lord Maegor didn't say anything to the lord, instead, he turned towards Daeron, and took out a piece of scroll.
"I brought a message from the king." he said, pointing the scroll towards the young boy.
"A message from the king?" Lord Hobert asked. "What matter is so urgent that a lord from the Vale have to come to Oldtown with his dragon?"
"Familial matters, lord Hobert." said Lord Maegor. "I hope that you will not disturb the king's wishes and let the young prince go for a while."
Lord Hobert was confused. "I beg your pardon?"
Lord Maegor just signaled the young boy to take the scroll. "You can read, cousin? Or do we have to fetch a maester to read it for you?"
Daeron took the scroll from Maegor's hand, and answered his query. "I may be a cupbearer now, cousin. But I am still a prince of the seven kingdoms."
Maegor just hummed at his answer. "You will leave at once. The king cannot wait."
As Daeron was reading the message, Lord Hobert seemingly lost his patience. He was curious about the matter.
"Could anybody tell me what in the seven hells is going on?" Lord Hobert asked, glaring at Lord Maegor.
Lord Maegor sighed at the curiosity of the voice of oldtown. "The king has requested the presence of his family. Every single one of them. They are to drop everything that they are doing right now, and go to King's Landing immediately."
Lord Hobert frowned. "Every single one? On what account?"
"That is the family's matter, Lord Hobert. Not for the whole world to know." Maegor answered.
"Am I not invited then?" asked Lord Hobert. "I am the queen's uncle, and to a certain extent, the king's family."
Maegor just chuckled at Lord Hobert's claim. "The ones that have the blood of the dragon in their veins, Lord Hobert. If all of King Viserys's family is included, then all his subjects are counted as his family as well. So no, you are not invited."
Maegor then turned his gaze away from an embarrassed Lord Hobert, and towards Daeron, who was frowning when he looked at the letter.
"Are you done, cousin?" asked Maegor.
"Yes, I am done reading it." said Daeron, his gaze ever curious. "But I'm still confused about the purpose of this. He rarely ever asked this of us."
"Age can be cruel sometimes." Maegor answered. "The older you get, the more regret you have. Let's go at once, where is your dragon?"
Before Daeron could say anything, a piercing screech could be heard from the sky. A blue dragon flew across oldtown, and towards the place that Daeron was standing on. The dragon was a third of Vermithor's size, but when she landed and faced the bronze fury, she stood firmly, seemingly not scared of him at all.
Maegor hummed. "It seems you have a strong bond with her."
"Indeed cousin."
—
[Red Keep, King's Landing]
Maegor and Daeron were walking through the sleek corridor of the red keep as they approached the dining hall. It was not yet time, the sun was still shining brightly outside, but the queen and the princess were watching the decoration of the hall, and whispers said that the princess and the queen were not happy to see each other.
It was a quiet walk, the two cousins walked alongside each other, not talking at all.
Suddenly, the young boy asked a question.
"How does it feel to rule, cousin?" asked Daeron.
Maegor raised his brow. "Why are you asking?"
"12 years of being the youngest child, I realized..." he whispered. "I was not born to rule. I was born to listen, to please, to obey. So I ask you, how does it feel to rule?"
"For a boy on his 12th name day you asked hard questions…" Maegor said in amusement. "But… if you are serious, then I will be serious as well. It's burdensome, the fate of many lives are in your hands, if you make a small mistake, your life could end, your loved-ones lives could end, ruling is not a fun thing to do."
"What is better of the two?" asked Daeron curiously. "Being a yes-man for the people around you, or bearing the burden of ruling?"
"I cannot say, cousin." Maegor hummed. "You're still young. You have many opportunities to change your fate."
"I highly doubt it." Daeron said casually. "Especially when our eldest cousin sits upon the iron throne."
"Your mother told you that?" said Maegor, his face was half amused. "Or the lord hand? Or Lord Hobert?"
"We are a threat to her rule."
"Your brother is the one who is half blind, not you." Maegor said. "If anything, your family is the one who views Rhaenyra as a threat. Seven hells, your grandfather probably thought I was a threat as well."
"You constantly provoke us, cousin." said Daeron. "Of course we will view you as a threat."
Maegor chuckled. "Fine then," he said. "Let's see, in the prospect of peace, who will be the one to provoke first. Will it be you and your family? Rhaenyra? Or me?"
Daeron then turned towards Maegor, his face showing a confused one. But he didn't have time to say anything, as they had arrived at the dining hall.
The door suddenly opened, and the people inside stared at the door.
"Lord Maegor Targaryen of Runesten, and Prince Daeron Targaryen." the kingsguard announced.
Inside the room were a couple of servants decorating the room, while the queen, prince Daemon, and Princess Rhaenyra stood in the corner, seemingly speaking to themselves.
"Ah, Daeron, you've arrived." said the queen with a weak smile as she hugged her youngest child.
"Mother." Daeron greeted.
"How was Oldtown?" she asked.
"Normal," he said.
"You finally finished being a raven, my son." said Daemon with an amused smile. "You didn't mention that the red keep became a place of the faith's worship to us before."
"Yeah, well, it's a stale decoration compared to the beastiality art before." Maegor hummed.
"And you didn't tell us that my father has been drugged this entire time." Rhaenyra commented, this time, quite sternly.
"I do not like it as well, cousin." Maegor said with his brow raised. "But I would rather see him like that than seeing him screaming in pain."
"See? Even lord Maegor agrees with me, Rhaenyra." said the queen. "You have not seen what he is like when he is not drinking the milk of the poppy."
"I'm sure the act was done by pure kindness, your grace, but tell me, why does the king suddenly want to have dinner with us?" asked Daemon. "It's so unusual of him. Usually he just ignores us."
"As Lord Maegor said to me, uncle." Daeron said. "Age is cruel. The older you get, the more regret you have."
Daemon looked towards Maegor, his face ever unreadable, but didn't say anything. He stood from his seat, and walked towards the door. "Call me when it's starting."
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