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Chapter Text

"Lykiri!" Maekar commanded in a soft tone, and Urrax responded. The silver-white dragon moved his head anxiously, but no longer screeched at the Dragonkeepers.

Maekar took another step forward, hands stretched towards Urrax, and the dragon's eyes locked onto his own.

"Lykiri!"

When Maekar was old enough to remember the memories of his past life and recognize what world, family, and time period he had been born into, he had regretted the fact that the egg placed in his cradle had hatched.

A larger dragon would have been much more useful, or so he had thought.

Perhaps that was still true. But after he had grown together with Urrax he could no longer stomach the thought of replacing him. Urrax was his, as he was Urrax’s. The idea of slipping into someone’s sloppy second dragonbond felt somewhat impure to him now.

As he tried to take another step forward, a wooden staff blocked his way. The interruption brought him out of the tunnel vision he was wont to get into when it concerned his dragon.

“That’s close enough, Prince Maekar.” the dragonkeeper warned in Valyrian, earning a glare from Maekar. But he did step back. The dragon keepers answer only to the king and they decide what goes on in the dragonpit.

“Bring out the goat!” Maekar commanded, and the dragon keepers obeyed. Though mostly because they were going to do it anyway.

He was not allowed closer, so he made do with watching Urrax eat the cattle after he commanded "Dracarys".

Once his turn was over and Urrax was returned to the dragonpit, Jace and Luke got their turns in being familiarised with their dragons.

Maekar was older than his nephew Jace by a year, and Luke by three. His brother Aemond was a year again older than him.

The singers called this the return to the golden days of King Jaehaerys' rule, with Targaryens in a number not seen since Queen Alysanne's children roamed the Red Keep.

Perhaps, too numerous.

Maekar spends a minute watching the closed doors to the Dragonpit, wishing for the day he could just fly away on Urrax whenever he wanted.

When he joined his brothers and nephews, he found a curious situation that he felt he should have expected. Aegon was old enough to not need these lessons and Aemond was dragonless. Yet they were both here, likely at Aegon’s urging. He should have suspected something was in the works.

Maekar watched as his nephew brought out a decorated pig and he felt a headache coming.

That was not a good sign. In this new life, whenever he got angry he started getting headaches. And then he'd do something to relieve that anger that he would regret after the fact.

Maekar took out his dagger and walked towards the other boys. He knew it was just a stupid prank. Back in his old life most wouldn’t even call it bullying. Yet, it angered him so much.

Perhaps it was Aegon, playing around with kids much younger than him when he could actually be doing something. Perhaps it was Aemond and his self-pity when he was born into a life of such privilege. Or maybe it's the Velaryon boys putting so much effort into procuring a pig and having it decorated.

Maekar reached the pig by the time the kids started to laugh and stabbed the beast in the neck, then quickly stepped back to create distance. The kingsguard guarding them shouted in alarm and moved in front of the princes. The pig was no danger however. Being a cattle raised for slaughter, it merely squealed in panic and tried to run away instead of trying to fight back.

Maekar followed behind as the kingsguard called him to step back, but Maekar had had enough of being told what to do for the day. So while the knight was stuck guarding the other princes, Maekar ran up to the pig, who had slowed down from blood loss, and used the fake wings on it to climb up its back and stabbed it again and again.

By the time a knight caught up to him, his hands and shoulders were covered in blood and the pig was dead. The dragon keepers were the only people around and they looked at him gravely.

When Maekar returned to the other princes he showed them the bloodied dagger and proclaimed, “Look, brothers and nephews! I am now a dragonslayer!” and laughed.

Chapter Text

Maekar had gotten bored again by the time he was brought to his mother's chambers.

"What happened to you? Did you get injured?" She fretted.

"None of it is my blood. It's just from a pig." 

He hoped the carcass of his first kill would be cooked for supper. Urrax too should be satisfied with the portion he had commanded the dragon keepers to be taken to him. Somehow they had become a little more obedient.

"Then how did it get onto you? Did those rascals throw pig's blood onto you? Did they push you on a butchered pig? If they-"

Maekar cut her off with a laugh.

There was no doubt just which boys she was calling rascals. She sounded so much like a housewife on her way to quarrel with her neighbour over whose son attacked who.

Perhaps she was. Except this quarrel would burn the entire continent.

"Mother." He insisted. "Look at me. The blood is on my hands and shoulders. Not my head, not my chest. It is on my hands."

He saw the realisation in her eyes and smiled. "That's right mother. It was me. I saw a pig, and I got annoyed, so I went and killed it with my own hands!"

"That's enough out of you! Go and get yourself cleaned! I will get the truth from the guards myself."

Maekar only laughed.

"And don't leave your chambers until I tell you to!" She shouted as Maekar left to take a bath.

In his chambers, he found a maid and commanded a bath drawn with hot water. He stripped and checked the temperature, then commanded for more hot water to be added until it was warmer than was comfortable.

It had become his habit to try and test how much heat his body could handle and whether he could train it. He had been curious if his skin could survive being burnt, but had managed to resist the temptation to test it. For now. One day if he got angry enough, he had no doubt he would end up putting his hand in some fire.

Once he was bathed, he had a maid bring another bucket of water, then sent them all away.

It was one of his newer ideas. A while back when he was bathing, he got the idea to check for secret doors by dropping water near the walls, then checking if it drained into any nooks between the floor and wall. But he had found nothing in the baths.

However, now that he had time, he decided to repeat the experiment in his sleeping chambers. Taking the bucket, he went to each wall and dropped some water at the edges, eventually finding a decorated wall whose bottom drained a small amount of water under it.

He went and checked the rest of the walls, but finding nothing more, stopped looking. The room was a mess by this point, so he waited till the water stopped draining, then called the maids to clean it.

Evening came and his food was sent to his rooms. He was still not allowed to leave his room and a part of him hated Alicent for the constraints. Yet if he tried to run now, the next time there would be guards posted outside his doors. Urrax endured this, so would he. Especially now that he had something to do.

It took him until midnight to figure out the mechanism to open the door. Despite feeling tired, he quickly armed himself with two daggers, and started exploring the passages.

By the time he became too tired to continue, he had managed to locate the passages to the rooms of Aegon, Rhaenyra, and Mellos.

The next morning he got awoken by a squire sent by Criston Cole, telling him that he was late for his morning practice in the yard.

Assuming that he was allowed to leave now he dressed up and went outside. On his way to the yard, he found out that he was not the only prince skipping practice.

"Hello there, sister!" Maekar smiled pleasantly, then turned to his nephew. "And you too, Lucerys!"

The younger boy stepped back, almost hiding behind his mother. Some people just didn't like his smile.

"Maekar." Rhaenyra frowned. "I see that you're out and about."

Did she know about his incarceration? Probably. Maekar's absence would have been felt easily, no doubt. Especially after he was publically seen walking around with bloodied clothes.

"So are you, dear sister. I was distraught to learn that you had taken to bed after Joffrey's birth." Maekar put on a chiding tone. "You really shouldn't have been running around, carrying the babe up and down the stairs so soon after his birth. It's no surprise you overexerted yourself."

Rhaenyra's glare could have cowed anyone with a lick of self-preservation. Maekar was undaunted.

"You take much after your mother, half brother." She gritted out.

"Ah, now if I only had a friend as devoted as my mother does too." Maekar smiled, and wasn't that a surprise. "Truly, to think that you'd overexert yourself just to share the joy of your son's birth with your closest friend? I weep in envy."

He shouldn't really be antagonising his sister, he knew. He didn't always used to. When he had learned that this world was different from the book, he had had hope. His mother was much younger and his sister much older. They were even friends for a time.

He had thought that the Dance might be averted. But then Rhaenyra continued to have the exact sons she did in the book, and the Small Council took the exact members it did in the book, and Maekar knew that things going to shit was just inevitable.

So he stopped caring. It was almost freeing in a way. Things would have become a clusterfuck if he did nothing, so anything he did, no matter how absurd, would likely be an improvement.

Except for Rhaenyra's dental health. Because she had started to grit her teeth. She did that not infrequently when she spoke to him.

"Perhaps you would be more likely to make friends if you kept your violent tendencies in check." Lucerys nodded from behind her, and she went to leave, thinking she had had the last word.

Not while Maekar still drew breath.

"About that, I wanted to say my apologies to Lucerys." He said in a contrite tone.

Rhaenyra and Lucerys turned around and looked at him in suspicion.

"I am truly, very sorry for scaring you with my behaviour yesterday. When I saw you bring out that pig, I had thought you wanted us to take turns battling the beast, so under that misunderstanding, I went and took my turn first."

He then put on a confused expression that mirrored his sister's face.

"But if that was not your intention, why did you bring a pig with you?"

Little Luke looked panicked now.

"Oh well, you must have had an important task for that pig, perhaps he was your friend? Regardless, you have my apology for the incident!" Maekar smiled at them and ran away, leaving behind a flustered Lucerys and an angry Rhaenyra.

Chapter Text

Outcrazy Ch 3

It had been a few days since the Pink Dread slaying, and the princes were in the practice yard, under the tutelage of Criston. Mostly they were just hacking at dummies with Cole suggesting improvements. Until Aegon started slacking.

"Aegon." Criston called him out.

"I've won my first bout Ser Criston, my opponent sues for mercy."

"Ah, well you will have a new opponent then, my Lord of the straw. Let's see if you can touch me, you and your brothers." The marcher knight said amusedly. Though Maekar was not amused at being dragged into this because of Aegon.

So Maekar dragged himself to stand with Aegon and Aemond, and as Criston signalled for them to start, Maekar raised his sword and gave a battle cry.

Aemond and Aegon charged forward at his battlecry, while Maekar himself slowed down so they overtook him and exchanged strikes with the knight. Like a couple of stupid meat shields.

He took his time to see that the meat shields were getting kicked around, as expected, then ran around them to attack Cole from behind.

The knight dodged with some neat footwork, but Maekar still clipped his shoulder. He did not seem amused by that, and dispatched his brothers in short order, then made for Maekar.

Maekar decided to get as close to Cole as he could and still fight to limit his options, then tried to hit his face in quick strikes of his wooden swords.

But Criston used his hands to deflect the strikes. Aemond came in beside Cole, and Criston used his feet again to trip Maekar. He caught himself, but Aemond was already down by the time Maekar got into Cole's face again. The knight smiled at Maekar trying the same trick twice. Except he wasn't.

Maekar jumped and used his secret technique "Helmet Headbutt". Cole was expecting the sword so he did not see that coming, and cradled his bleeding nose.

"That was not very princely of you." He admonished and pushed him to the ground.

"It's not my fault that I am the only one wearing a helmet." Maekar didn't know why no one else wore one, but it worked to his advantage, so he didn't care much. "Besides, I think I have distracted you long enough."

Aegon came back with a vengeance though the idiot's surprise attack was ruined by his shout. Cole would have batted him around easily if Maekar had not grabbed his legs.

"Break his teeth, Aegon!"

Aegon didn't break his teeth. The disappointment.

But Cole still sported a red bruise on his cheek as he ended the spar with the three of them on the ground. Naturally, that was when Breakbones came in.

The two grown men then had some childish argument, but Maekar didn't pay attention. He was busy squatting at the side as punishment. His attention did get caught when he heard a particular exchange.

"It's hardly a fair match."

"I know you've never seen true battle Ser, but when steel is drawn a fair match isn't anything anyone should expect."

That hypocrite. Maekar did his best mocking Cole impression and said,

"That was not very princely of you, Maekar. Go squat in the corner, Maekar."

He was ignored as the two men decided to have a dick measuring contest with Aegon and Jacaerys as their proxies. The two boys fought each other as the adults cheered from sides like a couple of thugs at a cock fight.

Aegon, being 13 to Jacaerys' 8, won the bout. And when Strong went to separate the two princes, Cole said, "You forget yourself Strong, that is the Prince."

"And what am I? Chopped liver?" Maekar complained. Things escalated quickly from there. This incident was one of the departures from what he remembered from the book. The only time Cole and Strong were mentioned to have been in a physical conflict was the tourney in which Cole broke Breakbones' bones. Yet that incident never seemed to have happened.

Maekar kept expecting it to happen now, for Cole to bring out his morning star from somewhere and go on a rampage. But the dude just got knocked down and punched in the face.

"Say it again! Say it again!"

Maekar whistled. This Cole fought with his words as well as he fought with his weapon. Maekar appreciated cunning, but mostly in himself, not in people who could use it against him.

...

Maekar spent the afternoon out in the city with Ser Lorent Marbrand. He enjoyed his little outings, and the people enjoyed it too. Mostly because every month, the day before he got his next allowance, he would go into the city and spend his remaining allowance buying things at exorbitant prices. A silver for this roasted corn? Sure. Five silvers for some baked potatoes? Why not? Is that an exotic rice recipe from the Three Sisters? Take a gold coin and serve a plate for everyone in this establishment.

Long ago when he still had hope to salvage the situation and stop the war, he had made plans. He would save money, invest in properties, buy some whorehouses, patronise an orphanage, create a network of spies using the aforementioned whore and orphans.

Then as things kept getting worse like in the book, he gave up on all those plans. What's the point of some whores or little kids or property when you would likely have dragons hunting after you?

When he returned to the Red Keep, he found that the Strong father and son pair had decided to leave for Harrenhal. Well, Maekar would say a prayer for them.

Chapter Text

"I am about to do what is called a pro-gamer move." Maekar proclaimed as he exchanged the positions of the King and the Elephant on the Cyvasse board.

"My prince, you can not move two pieces in the same turn." corrected Lady Ceryse Darklyn.

"I certainly can." He returned the two pieces to their previous position, then exchanged them again. "See, I did it again."

"This is against the rules of the game, my prince."

"No, it's actually an advanced move called Castling. See, I had not moved the King or the Elephant before this move, so I can move them towards each other." Maekar generously explained.

"That's not how it works. That's not how any of it works." she complained.

Ceryse was fifteen, but spoke like she was older. A nerd, Maekar had decided. He had made a game of breaking her composure.

"Oh, yeah? You want to know how it works? I can go and play with any of the other kids in the yard and never look at you again, is how it works."

"That... is a compelling argument." Ceryse relented with a grimace. "A smart move, my Prince." She moved his Dragon towards the new location of Maekar's Elephant, trying to salvage her original strategy the best she could.

"Wow, you really are desperate!" Maekar commented, making her lips twitch. He didn't ask why a fifteen year old girl was so interested in spending time with a 10 year old prince, it was probably something stupid anyway. But it did the job of passing time until Laena's funeral. And Maekar thought he could use some allies.

“Ah, it seems like you have won.” He congratulated her.

“No, I really haven’t.” She denied, looking at him suspiciously.

“Since you have won-"

"There's clearly many ways you can still win-"

"Since you have clearly won-," Maekar emphasised and Ceryse sighed in resignation. “-I'll let you come with me to Driftmark, to attend the funeral.”

"That-" she floundered at the unexpected invitation. "I do not think the Queen will simply allow me to join the journey."

"I'm sure she will." He assured her.

"Well, if you are so sure." She relented, likely assuming that nothing will come of it.

So Maekar went to see Alicent.

“Mother! I have decided to ride Urrax to Driftmark.”

“No.” She answered almost reflexively. Then put down the letters she had been reading, thought over his words then added, “Absolutely not.”

“Why not?” He whined.

“Because- because you are too young.”

“I have already gone out on flights though.” He countered.

“To my immense disapproval.” Alicent spoke angrily making him laugh.

“Come now, mother. I even promise not to burn anyone to death!”

“Don’t. Don’t even joke about this. You are not taking your dragon anywhere!”

“Fiiiine.” He whined again. “But only if I get to take a friend with me.”

“No-” She reflexively refused again.

“A human friend.” He clarified.

“Very well.” She sighed. “But there is no room on our ship, tell him to bring his own ship.”

Maekar laughed at that condition. “Yes, mother. As you command.”

The next time he met Ceryse, he gave her the good news and told her to bring multiple ships, and when they departed for Driftmark, the Darklyn ships accompanied the Targaryen and Hightower ones.

Their reception at the island was awkward. Viserys had wanted to go to Dragonstone, pick up Rhaenyra and her children then arrive together. But his sister had left on her own and they ended up meeting at Driftmark.

Still, Viserys had been happy to see his daughter after several months of separation. The only thing ruining the king's day was that his brother wouldn't talk to him. It was rather pitiful to watch him send messenger after messenger to check if Daemon had returned from his flight to wherever he had gone to brood, and being told that he hadn't.

The funeral took place the next morning with Vaemond giving a moving eulogy. Well, it at least moved some eyebrows when he said "the Lady Laena leaves two true-born daughters on the shore" and put emphasis on true-born.

Subtle. Maekar could appreciate that.

"Salt courses through Velaryon blood." Oh, he did it again. And he's looking straight at Rhaenyra. Ballsy.

"Ours run thick." Ok, you can stop now.

"Ours runs true." Wow, you're still going.

"And ours must never thin." Daemon broke first and Maekar joined him with a giggle. That made Daemon laugh harder, and Maekar had to put his fist between his teeth to stop his giggling.

Laenor looked up from his sister's coffin, seemingly registering them for the first time during the ceremony, and Maekar had to look away lest the reminder that this man would be joining his sister soon enough set him laughing again.

Thankfully, the ceremony ended, and they moved to breakfast. At least the others did. Maekar was sent to his room with no food for his “uncouth display” at the funeral and was only allowed out for the social gathering in the castle.

He was already cranky by the time he reached the open event hall and got crankier when he found his siblings. Aegon was getting drunk, Aemond was saying something about incest and keeping the blood pure and Helaena was playing with insects that she had gathered from gods know where. She either had them caught in Driftmark or carried them all the way from King’s Landing.

He didn’t know which possibility weirded him out more. Sometimes Maekar wondered if he was the most normal of all of Viserys’ children. And that thought terrified him.

But what really made him cranky was the junk she was muttering about dragons of black and green dancing. Aegon didn’t like Helaena muttering because he thought she was stupid. Maekar didn’t like her muttering because she was making actual fucking prophecies.

He had no idea why the book had not mentioned that. Perhaps because she ran out of her quota of the three lines assigned to her character in the book. Regardless, she would mutter out prophecies from time to time, like some type of foreshadowing device in a movie.

Nothing about her situation made sense to him. Did she see the prophecies in her dreams? If so, did she sit down and write them down to sound like poems? And then decide to recite them at random times?

He could just ask, but prophecies were always treacherous in this world. And the only way to be safe from them was to avoid them religiously.

So he jumped off the railing and made his way to Laenor who was standing drunkenly in the waves. Maekar took a position where the knight could see him, but did not speak up. It took a while for Laenor to speak and Maekar had almost forgotten about him, being focused so much on standing amidst the waves.

“Have you come to laugh again, boy?” He slurred.

“No, just to apologise. I am truly sorry for your loss.”

“You are much too like your uncle. I like it not.”

“Would my uncle have come to apologise?”

“No, I suppose he would not have.” Then he paused, before continuing more soberly. “Perhaps I should make him.”

Maekar perked up at that. A point of conflict between Laenor and Daemon. It had to have hurt to hear that your sister died in a foreign city, in some ways, because of Daemon. Could this be the reason he gets killed?

"No one would fault you if you did." He encouraged the drunk knight.

Their conversation was interrupted as Ser Criston and Ser Carl Qorrey came to retrieve them. Maekar's presence must have attracted more attention than just Laenor had.

He walked silently alongside his minder as they returned to his family.

“Father!” He greeted the King cheerfully. Viserys was sitting with Lord Jasper Wylde and having drinks, even as Helaena played at the back of the room.

“Ah, Maekar! Come, I wished to speak to you.”

Lord Jasper, already the Master of Law, had gathered even more power since Rhaenyra left the capital and the Commander of the Gold Cloaks got turned extra crispy in Harrenhal. He was aware enough to know that no one liked him here on Driftmark and so had just stuck close to Viserys to be a better brownnoser.

"I am listening." He allowed, smiling softly.

"This morning during the ceremony," he wheezed, tired from the exhausting day. “That wasn’t very courteous. Lady Laena was your kin, tied to us with both blood and marriage. The appropriate respect must be shown.”

Maekar wondered if he gave the same speech to Daemon. He doubted it.

“You are right, father.”

“I am?” Viserys asked, too used to Maekar trying to get out of trouble using convoluted excuses.

“And I wish to make it up to our Velaryon kin. Father, I wish to squire for Lord Corlys, as... penance, of sorts. And to bring our houses closer together.”

“That is– an excellent idea, my son! I shall-” he coughed, and Maekar hoped that the decrypt middle-aged man didn’t fall down dead. “I shall speak to Lord Corlys. You can join us for dinner tonight. But it is getting late now. Take your sister back to your mother.” He and Helaena were dismissed, and he went to leave the room.

“No.” Helaena, however, refused, which made him snicker.

“Daughter, I must speak to Lord Jasper now. You should return to your chambers.”

Helaena sniffed and turned to the Stormlander Lord. “Have I been bothering you, my lord?”

He did not expect to be addressed and replied with a reflexive “Not at all, princess.” And Helaena went back to playing with what appeared to be a mixture of dolls and insects.

“Ser Criston,” Viserys turned to the Kingsguard. “Please escort my daughter to her mother.”

“Princess, please come with me.” Cole asked with a nod to the King.

“No.” she replied again, and Cole went to pick her up; only to startle back as Helaena threw a spider at him.

The Kingsguard made a valiant effort of getting the arachnid off of him without looking too undignified.

“Helaena!” Viserys chided. “He could have gotten hurt!”

“He’ll be fine. Ser Octo is very quick.”

“Ser Octo” Jasper mouthed.

“I meant Ser Criston, he could get bitten.”

“I am quite fine, your grace.” The knight straightened his white cloak and assured the royals.

“Fine. I will go. But only if Father agrees to play with me tomorrow.”

Viserys had no choice but to assent, lest there be more arachnid on human violence.

It was a trick Maekar had taught her.

Viserys was a pretty negligent father, but not intentionally cruel. So whenever he needed to spend time with his father, mostly to get him in a good mood to ask for more gold, he wouldn’t ask for the free time. He would just take it.

He was too soft to seriously punish any of them, so if you just kept demanding he would inevitably relent to what you want.

And so, the siblings smiled at each other and returned to their assigned rooms. She was actually quite fun without her cryptic mumbling.

Chapter Text

Outcrazy Ch 5

"This looks so weird, but tastes so good." Maekar complimented.

"The Bridgebottoms are a delicacy on our island." Princess Rhaenys explained as she took large bites from her own plate. " The legends say that these creatures descend from the Merling King himself."

"Well, they certainly taste divine." He agreed. The sea creature had looked slimy, but biting into it was like biting into a fruit. It was weirdly sweet and just as juicy. He made no effort to maintain cleanliness as the juices flowed down his chin, and down his hands. In Westeros, eating messily was considered a type of compliment towards the host. His father nodded in approval at his good manners. But not everyone could appreciate the tradition. To the side, he could see Rhaena and Baela looking queasily at the messy affair from the Essosi raised perspectives.

The dinner was just supposed to be a small affair between Viserys and Corlys. But when they learned that Maekar would be joining them, Rhaenys had for some reason decided to join them and brought her granddaughters as well.

Maekar picked up one of the slimy looking creatures in each hand and turned to the sisters.

"I think I like the meaty ones more than the juicy ones." He pressed them both for show, letting the juices flow. "The meaty ones have less juice, but when you bite it, it feels like the meat is melting in your mouth. Which ones do you like?"

"Ah, I like that one as well." Rhaena replied. Baela looked at her sister in betrayal, which made Rhaena add a, "I suppose."

He laughed. "I am sure you can become certain now that you are back home and free to eat all the food that our families have grown up eating."

"There will be plenty of time for it." Corlys assured, while Viserys smiled, too tired from the day's proceedings to have much of an appetite.

"Unless Uncle Daemon intends to take you back to Pentos."

The remark made the girls look to their grandparents in uncertainty.

"Their place is with their family." Rhaenys answered sternly. "They will not spend another moment in a foreign land."

"And they are always welcome in King's Landing, with the rest of their family." Viserys chimed in.

"As it should be," he agreed and took another bite, indicating an end to the topic. Then asked the girls, "So where is Uncle Daemon anyway?"

"I know not." Rhaena answered.

"We were supposed to dine with him tonight. But he never returned from the function." Baela added. "Then we were told to go to Uncle Laenor. But he was asleep."

Yikes. Maekar tried to recall and the last he remembered seeing him was with Rhaenyra. Something to keep in mind.

"Perhaps he's gone to clear his head on Caraxes." He assuaged. "And on that topic, has Lady Rhaena decided on which dragon to bond to?"

"Dragon?" She sounded surprised.

"Yes. It's really more common to bond to a grown one than to have an egg hatch. And there are plenty on Dragonstone. One even right here."

"Vhagar." She whispered.

"I think it'd be only appropriate that you, of all Targaryens, be her next rider."

"Can I, grandfather?" She asked Corlys.

"Of course-" he almost assented.

"Perhaps in due time." Rhaenys intterupted her husband and the two had a heated stare off.

"Yes, of course." Corlys relented. "Your mother was almost 15 when she bonded to Vhagar. There's plenty of time for you to bond to a dragon."

A shame, Maekar thought. He had hoped to turn this into a competition between Rhaena and Aemond. Lead them both out them fight it out. Maybe give them both daggers. The first one to cut the other's eye gets Vhagar? Whatever. There'd be plenty of blood soon enough.

They spent some more time eating and talking and Maekar entertained the girls with stories of his forays into the city.

"Look at this, Corlys. Our families getting along. Eating and laughing together." Viserys spoke. Then turned to Rhaenys. "Just like our fathers used to."

"Are you leading up to something, cousin?"

"I wish to leave Maekar here. As your squire, Lord Corlys. If you'd agree to it."

The Lord of the Tides exchanged glances with the Queen who Never Was. Having entire conversations as the two glanced at the children interacting merrily.

"You honour us, your grace."

Chapter Text

In the middle of the night, a man barged into his chambers and pulled his covers off of him.

Maekar half thought that someone had finally gotten tired of his shit and decided to kill him.

But all he did was look closely at his face, seemingly to ensure his identity, which let Maekar recognise the man as the Kingsguard Ser Lorent.

"My prince. Please come with me. The Queen wishes for your attendance right now."

"My attendance to what?"

"There's been an incident involving Prince Aemond."

Maekar groaned. That was tonight? We just had the funeral today.

"What about my siblings?" He asked as he got out of bed and put on some casual clothes.

"They are being summoned as well."

Maekar followed the knight to the common area for the section of the castle assigned to the King and his children.

The King was shouting, the knights were running around and the children were crying, but could really only look at Aemond and Jacaerys. There was a really ugly gash on Aemond's left eye, that was being tended to by the maester. And Jacaerys had another grey rat bandaging his fingers that looked like they were smashed.

Despite himself Maekar was impressed at their composure through the pain.

And a little excited at the blood.

He ignored Viserys dressing down the Kingsguard, and asked.

"Say, Aemond."

His brother groaned.

"Do you think the Boltons are very good at sewing up wounds?"

"What?"

"Because they make cloaks from human skin."

He groaned again.

A hand grabbed Maekar's ear and pulled him away from Aemond.

"It will heal, will it not, maester?" Alicent asked.

"The flesh will heal. But the eye is lost, Your Grace."

No shit. It's already been sewn up.

He could see the anguish on his mother's face, and the rational young woman that she was, it turned into anger.

"Where were you?"

"Me?"

He winced at the slap on Aegon's cheek.

"What was that for?"

"That was nothing compared to the abuse your brother suffered while you were drowning in your cups, you fool."

The hand got a hold of his ear again, and he was pulled out from where he was hiding behind Helaena.

"Why weren't you with your brother?" His mother asked.

"I was at dinner with Father and the Velaryons. Ow, let go! Like I was supposed to."

Any further abuse was delayed when the Corlys, Rhaenys finally arrived with Baela clutching her stomach. They were followed shortly by Rhaenyra and Daemon, and the adults all went to check on their kids.

The Kingsguard must have tried to keep the issue confined to the King's own section of the castle, for the Velaryons to have taken this long to join the circus. But things like summoning the maester of the castle just couldn't be done without word reaching back to the lord of the castle.

“Who did this?” The question was barely asked before a series of shrill complaints filled the hall.

“They attacked me!”

“He attacked Rhaena!”

”He broke Luke's nose!”

“He stole my mother's dragon!”

“He was gonna kill Jace!”

“I didn't do anything!”

“He called us-”

“Silence!” The King's repeated demands finally put a halt to the blame games even as Maekar tried to understand what happened.

Obviously, Joffrey was too young to have been involved like he was in the book. Though it would have been funny watching Aemond beat up a literal infant.

And Rhaena was involved instead. Because Aemond stole Vhagar? Sure, why not? While Baela got food poisoning from eating something at the dinner.

Maekar would not take any responsibility for that. He may or may not have challenged the girls to some seafood eating competitions.

“Aemond. I will have the truth of what happened. Now.”

Yes, dad. Let’s get the play-by-play. Maekar thought.

Though it was not to be as the Princess and the Queen picked up the verbal combat on the children’s behalf.

“What else is there to hear? Your son was almost killed. Her son is responsible.”

“My son may lose his fingers!”

“My son has lost an eye! The Prince Lucerys brought a blade to the ambush. He meant to kill my son!”

“It was my sons who were attacked and forced to defend themselves. Vile insults were levied against them.”

“What insults?”

Oh, no.

“The legitimacy of my sons' birth was put loudly to question.”

“What?”

“He called us bastards.”

“My sons are in line to inherit the Iron Throne, Your Grace. This is the highest of treasons. Prince Aemond must be sharply questioned so we might learn where he heard such slanders.”

“Over an insult? My son has lost an eye.”

“You tell me, boy. Where did you hear this lie?”

“The insult was training yard bluster. The lot of boys. It was nothing.”

“Aemond. I asked you a question.”

The silence was pregnant, and given this was Westeros, likely about to have a miscarriage.

So Maekar stepped in.

"Like Mother said. In the training yards. Did you forget Father? The other day when Sers Criston and Harwin had a brawl over it in front of everyone. You were there after all.

And as for who is questioning the legitimacy of my nephews' birth, well it's half the kingdom I am afraid. Old men question it with their death rattle, and unborn children question it in their mothers’ wombs. They question it in Dorne and they question it on the Wall. No one who looks at them truly beleives it, Father. Sorry."

Viserys looked at him with more anger than he had ever seen on his decrepit face. Unfortunately, Maekar had always wanted to use that Renly quote.

"And pray tell, son. Are you among the– the half that question my daughter?"

"How could I?" Maekar said, affronted. "Just look at my dear nephews! That luscious Baratheon hair! That prominent Arryn nose! The Targaryen colouring, and their Velaryon… hearts?"

“Maekar!” Viserys warned.

"What? If you wish to blame someone, blame the gods who gave them those features! I don't care who they look like, but everyone else does. And we're just children who emulate what the adults do!"

Viserys didn't know what to say to that. So he moved to a broader perspective.

"This interminable infighting must cease! All of you! We are family! Now make your apologies and show good will to one another. Your father, your grand sire, your king demands it!"

He did sound very kingly.

"That is insufficient." Just not Kingly enough for the Queen. "Aemond has been damaged, permanently, My King. 'Good will' cannot make him whole."

"I know, Alicent, but I cannot restore his eye."

"No, because it's been taken."

"What would you have me do?"

"There is a debt to be paid. I shall have one of her son's eyes in return."

"And what of Jacaerys' fingers?" Rhaenyra interjected. "Shall I have Aemond's fingers in recompense for them?"

That only enraged Alicent, and turned her anger from Lucerys to Rhaenyra.

"How dare you even compare my son defending himself to your sons ambushing him with a knife?! Aemond is a sweet child. He wasn't hurting anyone. Just what need did your sons have to seek him out for a fight? Was it not enough that they tormented him in his own home?" Alicent demanded, walking closer to Rhaenyra as she spoke.

Maekar's attention shifted to Aemond considering his brother from their mother's perspective, while Alicent called for Ser Criston to capture Lucerys.

But sudden screams drew his gaze back to the two women to find that Rhaenyra was lying on her back with Alicent straddling her. People were shouting and Alicent made a grab for a medical blade the acolyte tending to Jacaerys had been carrying.

The acolyte tried to step back hurriedly and Alicent only caught something wrapped in a piece of cloth. The two women fought over it, with Rhaenyra finally managing to push Alicent off of her, making the other woman lay by her side still struggling. Until the cloth suddenly tore and deposited a handful of wriggling white creatures on the two women.

“What the fuck.” He muttered as the people reaching out to separate the two women flinched in disgust.

He exchanged a look with Aegon that translated to:

"Should we do something?" "Why are you asking me?" "You're the eldest."

Or it could have been translated to:

"Why is this weirdly erotic?" "What the fuck is wrong with you?" "I'm a Targaryen."

He wasn't very good at eye contact conversations.

As the two women screamed at the maggots, Viserys, who was quite used to those disgusting creatures, had finally gotten to them.

He bent over, balancing himself on his stick, and tried to help his wife and daughter. Unfortunately for him, neither woman was thinking straight. One pulled sharply at his hand that he had tried to help them with, and the other kicked at his stick in a panic.

The decrepit middle aged man lost his balance, and fell face first on the ground.

Shouts of "Your grace!" and "The King!" spread in the hall and people hurried to help him. Maekar jumped in too. If the old man kicked the bucket now, in the heart of Velaryon power, he would probably get taken prisoner by Queen Rhaenyra.

Fortunately for his ambitions, Viserys survived. And that was when Laenor showed up to the party.

Chapter Text

Maekar skipped between the alleys of Driftmark. The way was unfamiliar, but he only needed to head in the general direction of the harbour, and the narrow paths between the houses and taverns would lead him to his destination.

Some thug like men looked at him and his plain but clean clothes, but Maekar’s carefree and confident attitude gave them all pause long enough for him to get too far to bother. Soon enough, he reached the ship he was after and sneaked aboard it. He had been there before, so it didn’t take him long to get to the living quarters.

He had wanted to surprise Ceryse, but what he heard through the gap in the door surprised him instead.

“You can’t keep doing this milady.” He heard a man's voice. "You are not a girl anymore."

"And yet you keep treating me like one." Ceryse replied.

"It isn't like that, milady." The man protested.

There was some rustling and he swore,

"By the Seven! Please put your dress back on!"

"Can't you see, Darwin?! I'm not a child anymore!"

"I'm warning you, milady. If you don't seize this behaviour this instant, I'll take the first ship back to Duskendale."

He heard Ceryse breathe loudly, audibly upset.

"Why won't you let me show you my love?"

"I have served your uncle since I was a squire, and you a babe at your mother's teats. I have seen you grow up in front of me." The man explained, and Maekar's eyebrows rose at his every word. "It simply wouldn't be right for me to desire you. Not as a man does a woman."

“Fine. Then I don't want you either! Get out of my sight!"

Maekar could hear Ceryse throwing something and footsteps coming to the door. For an instant, he considered hiding.

For an instant.

Maekar knocked on the door.

There was a moment of silence from the room, then urgent motion.

The man opened the door partly and peeked from behind it.

"Hello there!" Maekar greeted him brightly.

"Prince Maekar," he answered, likely for Ceryse's benefit.

Maekar grinned at the unintentional reference.

"May I come in?" He asked, knowing he would not be denied.

The knight looked at his lady, then nodded.

"Of course, my prince. It is.. good to see you."

"The pleasure is mine. Lady Ceryse!" He entered and greeted her.

Ceryse gathered her composure, and curtsied,

“My Prince.” She hesitated then asked. “How much of that did you overhear?”

“From about when you took off your dress.”

Maekar expected a blush or some embarrassment, but Ceryse’s features only hardened. Not that he had a lot of time to analyse her features when the knight behind him drew his sword.

“Ser Darwin, wasn’t it?” Maekar casually stepped towards the knight with a sword. “What an auspicious name!”

“Yes, my prince. And I hope you know how to keep a secret.”

Maekar smiled wider and stepped towards his sword, making the older man hurriedly back off lest he harm a prince.

“Darwin, stop it.” Ceryse scolded tiredly.

“But, milady!—” He protested.

“You don’t know Prince Maekar like I do. If you threaten him to not do something, he will do it just to annoy you.”

Darwin sheathed his sword, then with some hesitation knelt in front of him.

“I am most apologetic, my prince. Please punish me as you see fit.”

Maekar laughed. He knew there was a reason that he liked Ceryse’s company.

“Punish you? No, no. I must congratulate you!” Maekar took the knight’s hand and shook it vigorously. “Your Lord’s hot niece is throwing herself at you and you refuse her because you knew her when she was a child? Marvellous! What are you?! Some kind of a man with basic moral principles?! In this day and age?! Truly marvellous!”

“Th— thank you, your grace?” He stuttered out in confusion.

Ceryse looked out the window and muttered in resignation,

“Why won’t the sea just open up and swallow me whole?”

“Now, Ser Darwin.” Maekar called. “Having a sword pulled on me has made me quite parched. Pour some water for me.”

The knight went to fetch a drink for the prince who was acting petty despite saying there would be no punishment. And Maekar turned to the Ceryse.

“So is this why you agreed to come to Driftmark? A chance to get some private time with this knight of yours?”

She finally blushed like he had expected her to and nodded.

“And spending time with me in King’s Landing?”

“It keeps my uncle from marrying me off.”

He chuckled. “That makes more sense.”

Ser Darwin returned with a glass of water and Maekar took a sip. His arrival renewed Ceryse’s courage and she asked,

“So about keeping this a secret. What do you want in exchange for it?”

He hummed. “Not much. Just keep my secrets in return. And do the task I brought you here to do.”

She frowned. “We have been keeping an eye on the ships heading for Essos, especially the ones that decide to depart abruptly. Just like you asked. But we don’t really know what we’re looking for.”

“Criminals, pirates, whatever. You have the Far-Eyes I gave you. Make sure there’s one on each of your ships. Just keep an eye out. Especially if there’s a commotion on the island.”

“And you won’t tell anyone about me?”

“Sure. I gain nothing from your ruin. You have my word.” Maekar assured her. “Anyways. I’ll be visiting King’s Landing for a bit. Did you want me to bring something to eat?”

“Some proper fruits?” She ventured. “The constant sea food has gotten tiring. But how will you make sure they don’t go bad during the journey?”

“Ah.” He looked at her pityingly. “Truly a question that someone without a dragon would ask.”

Chapter Text

“This is the most elaborate saddle I have ever seen.” Maekar complimented.

Rhaenys Targaryen did not answer.

"Princess" he prompted.

"I had the best blacksmiths in King's Landing make these. Corlys wanted me to hire from Driftmark itself, but I denied him." She caressed the seat as if remembering a precious memory. “I took my children flying when they could barely walk. Like Aunt Alyssa used to for her sons.”

She turned to Maekar and continued talking.

“I always felt jealous of it. My mother never rode a dragon. Not even by my side. It’s why I bonded to your grandmother’s dragon. So I could do for my daughter what my mother could never do for me.”

Ah, a landmine.

Maekar stepped on me.

“Did Lady Laena ever take you flying on Vhagar?”

The mention of Laena and Vhagar visibly annoyed her, and she did not answer.

“Did she?” Maekar prompted again.

“Aye, she did.”

“Then she accomplished something you never could. I think that is amazing.”

She smiled sadly. “I suppose that is something.”

She helped him strap into the saddle and then took her own seat. They flew over the sea and Maekar lost himself in the joy of it. This was not his first flight, he had gotten Aegon to take him flying on Sunfyre before, but it was certainly his longest flight. Add to that, Meleys and Rhaenys were somehow just smoother.

They had almost reached land when Maekar felt a hand brush his hair. He thought that the gesture was very motherly.

"One could die, if they fell from this height."

She spoke, and it wasn't motherly anymore. Maekar didn't reply.

"Your brother hurt my grandchildren last night. Jacaerys ever lost a finger to him. And then you went and insulted my son in front of everyone. You all but called my grandsons bastards."

Her hand tightened around his hair, but not enough to hurt.

“I remember it differently, Princess. Your nephew hurt my nephews and my cousins.”

The hand left his hair. And the woman sighed tiredly, not saying anything for a minute. Maybe she regretted her words. Or maybe she got confused trying to figure out the Targaryen family tree.

“That is not wrong. Nephew. But what of your insult to my son?”

“I might have said the words, but the insult was given by another, many years ago.”

It took them over 6 hours to cover the entire distance, including a small break once they reached land, and Rhaenys did not speak until they were over King’s Landing.

“That was unbecoming of me, Maekar.” It was the first time she had called him by his name. “I am too old for excuses. So I will just apologise.”

Maekar tried to turn around to look into her eyes, but Rhaenys put her hand on his shoulder, and said, “Let an old woman have some dignity.”

Maekar turned forward again, looking at the city below him.

“Forgive me, nephew.”

He hummed. He couldn't understand what was going on in her head, but losing a daughter had to have fucked her up. Too bad she'd be losing her son soon as well.

“I will. But only if you teach me to fly like you do.”

She sighed wistfully.

"I haven't taught anyone for decades. Are you really setting a price on your forgiveness?"

"Anyone can say things like 'I am sorry' or 'I forgive you'. But if you don't earn it, you don't mean it."

"I think you'll do just fine as my husband's squire. Very well, I'll teach you. But only if it does not interfere with your duties to him."

That was good enough for him.

She finally had Meleys stop circling the city and go land in the Dragonpit, making Maekar marvel at her control.

The sun had set by the time they landed and the Dragonkeepers got to corralling Meleys. The flight had tired him out, so they went to their rooms to sleep.

Maekar woke up early the next morning and got to work.

The first thing he did was to check on the secret passages he had discovered. There was one in particular that led to the outside of the castle, but not into the city, instead to the coast behind the Red Keep through a cave in the cliffs looking over the Blackwater Bay. Which was pretty neat as you needed to do some impromptu rock climbing to actually access the cave. Unless of course you had a dragon.

Maekar took a torch and walked down the passage. And walked, and walked some more. It was a long walk. When he finally reached the end of the cave, he unlocked the latch to the entrance, and turned around to walk back to his room. Because the entrance needed to be unlocked from both sides to be opened.

The second thing he did was to send a servant to do his shopping for Ceryse.

Then he realised he had forgotten to pack his bags for an extended stay at Driftmark, and hurried to do it.

Then came the fun part. He went to Urrax. He had missed his beautiful murder lizard and seeing her all saddled up was a sight for sore eyes. He made sure to let her know that.

Urrax was a large part of the reason he wanted to stay in Driftmark.

The Dragonpit was stifling. The structure was not a suitable abode for the most beautiful dragon ever. And the only other places that had the infrastructure to host dragons were Dragonstone and Driftmark.

One of those islands was an obvious no no.

Rhaenys soon arrived and they admired his dragon for a minute.

"It is a very unusual colour." She remarked at the bubblegum pink on Urrax.

"She is beautiful." He replied, somewhat defensively.

"She is." Rhaenys agreed, somewhat surprised at his tone. "Almost worth being commanded to bring you here."

Maekar smirked.

"Father has never done that before, has he?"

She contemplated the question.

"No. He's always endeavoured to be as accommodating as possible. Even for your sister's betrothal, he visited Dristmark and made the offer with utmost humility."

She didn't sound like she was complimenting Viserys.

"Is he angry at you?"

Rhaenys smiled.

"Say, nephew. If you truly want to know, I will answer your question, if you answer mine in return."

"Ask away." Maekar agreed.

"Why Urrax? I hope you are aware that it is not a true Valyrian name, but one from a Westerosi tale."

"I am." Maekar replied, surprised at her choice of question. "I named her after the dragon in the tale."

Rhaenys laughed, like an adult would at a child saying something dumb.

"Did you name your dragon after one who was slayen by a lone man with a trick?"

"I did." He confessed, and went to pat Urrax. "Urrax was a dragon larger than Balerion. But he was too focused on the dragon in his reflection, and did not notice when Ser Selwyn struck him down. It's a warning to myself, and perhaps to any future riders of Urrax. To not underestimate lone men with tricks. They can get you focused on the illusion of an enemy dragon, and strike you when you least expect it.

Rhaenys thought over it, then nodded.

"That is wise, nephew." And the title sounded like an endearment for the first time in their conversation. Then she sighed.

"It was my husband that your father was angry at." Maekar's eyes widened. "After what happened that night, he tried to refuse taking you as a squire, citing that keeping the children together would only cause more conflict. But your father would hear none of it, and even commanded me to urgently bring you here to get your dragon."

Maekar pondered over that, but it still seemed unusual for Viserys to be so assertive. Well, he'd likely return to his jovial nature soon enough.

Soon, a Dragonkeeper approached them, and informed that Meleys too was ready for her flight. They took off to return to Driftmark.

Chapter Text

Maekar sauntered through the castle towards the dining hall. A maid had informed him that the King had decided that the whole family would eat together that night.

"So, in my absence, did anyone in the royal family try to kill each other?" He asked the maid.

"No, no, my prince." She sputtered out. "Everything has been very peaceful here."

After what happened the night of the funeral, he was mildly surprised on his return to Driftmark to find that the island was not on fire.

He had the maid draw a bath for him, and made sure that it was extra hot. Getting Urrax comfortable with the island had tired him out. And he needed a shower to freshen up enough for the family drama.

His hair was still wet when he entered the dining space. Fortunately, he kept it short as the long haired Targaryen look didn't really go with his young body, so it did not make him look improper.

Not that propriety was high on anyone's list right now. The Blacks and the Greens sat on opposing sides of Viserys on the dining table, both Jacaerys and Aemond sat injured next to their mother's, Aemond much more visibly than Jacaerys.

Their mothers however, showed no sign of their own physical altercation.

"Good. Everyone is here." Maekar nodded in apparent satisfaction after he had strolled in like he owned the place.

Alicent sighed.

"Don't act like you were waiting for everyone else. It's you who is late, Maekar."

Maekar laughed.

"My apologies, Mother. Greetings, Father." He went and kissed Alicent's cheeks and then did the same for Viserys, who looked oddly reluctant. Then took his seat down the line of his siblings and took another look at everyone there. Corlys and Rhaenys sat opposite Viserys with their granddaughters next to them. Next to Baela and Rhaena was Daemon, followed by Laenor, the Velaryon kids and then their mother. Maekar’s own seat was further down from his siblings, between Aegon and Corlys.

"Hmm. Looks delicious." He extended his hand to some baked salmon, but it got swatted by Helaena, who was sitting next to Aegon.

Maekar sighed then finally allowed himself to notice the tension in the room. How no one else was speaking. And all the guards that were standing near the walls. And all the seven Kingsguard posing intimidatingly behind the King.

"Food can wait for now, Maekar." Viserys commanded. "I have something to say."

"For the past few days, we have seen some friction among our family. There have been fights among the children." He looked at the two boys. "That has escalated to their elders." Then he looked at their mothers.

"And I have decided to put an end to it. As the Lord of House Targaryen, your father, your grandfather, and your King, I command you all to put an end to these hostilities."

Maekar was surprised to see that the soldiers were actually tense, seemingly ready to subdue even members of the royal family.

"The elders among you must set an example. So for the sake of our family, I would ask my wife and daughter to kiss, and exchange vows of love and affection."

Under the watchful eyes of over twenty men-at-arms, the two women complied with fixed smiles.

"Alicent, my Queen. Companion of my youth." Rhaenyra greeted as she kissed her cheeks.

"Rhaenyra, our… future Queen. The delight of our realm." Alicent replied as she kissed hers in return.

"And as for the children who were involved in the conflict, they must render an apology to their rivals." Then as an afterthought, he turned to Corlys, "Would you not agree, Lord Corlys?"

It was his castle, and the man had little need to fear the men surrounding him. But he still acquiesced, and nodded to Rhaena.

The four kids apologized to each other. And when Jacaerys' words came out more of a mumble, Rhaenyra nudged him until he apologized properly.

The King then continued. "It truly gladdens my heart, to see the house of the dragon being rejuvenated in strength, from the bonds of love that are shared between us."

"I have spoken to the maester Coleman here. And he has assured me that the injuries taken by Aemond and Jacaerys will not inconvenience them too much in their day-to-day lives, and in their future duties as Targaryen princes."

He stopped, as if expecting an applause, or some sign of jubilation at the news, but when none came, continued speaking.

"And as for my own health, I have been assured that my fall after tripping two days ago has not worsened my health in any way. Lord Corlys has also commissioned a new, better, walking stick, so it would not fail me again." He said with an odd intensity and raised his glass to Corlys in gratitude, who nodded back.

That clearly wasn't the stick's fault though? It was pretty much the two women who dragged him to the ground.

Ah, he’s pretending that it’s the stick’s fault.

“With that said, I declare this matter over! No more words would be said over this!” Viserys declared, looking at everyone in turn. “Now on to happier topics! Let us toast to my son, Maekar is to squire for none other than Lord Corlys, once again bringing our two families together!”

There was a short applause, especially Aegon who seemed to be pleased at getting rid of him.

“Thank you, father.” Maekar said. “And my thanks to Lord Corlys for taking me as his squire.” He nodded to the man sitting to his right.

“And now, let us have some music and enjoy this food our hosts have arranged for us!” Viserys sat down and motioned to the Kingsguard and the men at arms left the room.

Maekar was eating to the beat of the music when he realized something.

Alicent had not made them say their prayer before eating. He took another look at his mother then turned back to the food before their eyes could meet.

Surely Father must have informed her of my fostering before this feast? Surely, this wasn’t the first she had heard about it?

Right?

Ah, well. I wouldn’t be the one to deal with her anger.

A few conversations had started around the tables, but they were muffled and tense. So he decided to chime in.

“Say, uncle Daemon?” The man looked up from where he was staring at Viserys. “What was the war like?”

“Full of dead little squires.”

Ah, so we’re being dicks today. Fine.

“At least their sacrifice helped you carry out Father’s commands.”

“What?” Daemon barked, between bites of shrimp.

“Oh, you know. Father’s commands to attack the Triarchy’s proxy army with a proxy army of Westeros.”

He scoffed and put his food down. "You speak nonsense, boy."

“Come now, uncle. The Triarchy sends their fleet under the guise of pirates. The Lords don't wish to enter open conflict against the Free Cities. You and Lord Corlys just happen to invade the Stepstones, unassociated with the Crown. I can read between the lines."

Maekar winked for good measure.

Daemon's eyes narrowed and he put down his cutlery. Next to Maekar, Corlys was frowning as well.

"That war was my war, not my brother's. I led the first battle and I brought it to an end. I wore the crown of the King of the Narrow Sea."

Maekar nodded in agreement.

"And then you gave it to your King, who had sent you to fight."

Like a dog, he did not say. But Daemon was similar enough in temperament to Maekar to get that undercurrent.

“No one sent me anywhere. I go where I please.”

Maekar sighed as if exasperated.

"You expect me to believe that you were willing to take on the Free Cities without the backing of the Iron Throne? It's good legal fiction," he scoffed mockingly, "but only an idiot would truly do that!"

Daemon had pushed his plate away, but Maekar continued before he could say anything.

"There’s no way you would make such a folly, of course, the dutiful subject of the crown that you are.”

People were looking at them now, and if he wondered if anyone wasn’t following their unsubtle argument.

“Hundreds burnt to the fire of Caraxes and scores were cut down by Dark Sister.” Daemon stared right into Maekar’s eyes as he spoke. “I left half of the Crabfeeder to rot in the caves he loved to hide in. The rest, I–“

"Daemon.” Viserys interrupted him from the head of the table. “This is hardly a conversation fit for the dinner table."

“And Maekar. Stop arguing with your uncle. It is true he went to the Stepstones on his own accord, and won the war most valiantly, earning much glory!” He said, giving his brother a proud smile. Daemon, too, quirked his lips in satisfaction.

“Huh.” Maekar faked astonishment. “So, father. If I were to ride off on my dragon,” he spoke speculatively, “and declare war on some island full of pirates,” he let his voice get more excited, “I could earn much glory as well?”

Around the table, his brothers and nephews and even Baela had leaned in to listen to his words, and he could see the idea appealing to their fantasies of being dragonriding conquerors.

Viserys put down the goblet he was holding, identifying a trap when he saw one, even if Alicent and Rhaenyra were not looking at him like he was about to make a mistake.

“Well, not at your age, of course." He tried to deflect, but Aegon had caught on now.

"At what age would it be valiant to ride our dragons to glorious conquest, Father?" Viserys' eldest son asked.

"Twice your age, at the very least."

"What if it's two of us who go? Or three." Jacaerys asked, looking at Lucerys and Baela.

"Your dragons are rather small to do any conquering, Jacaerys." He answered.

"Mine isn't." Aemond chimed in.

"There is no place to conquer to begin with. We are at peace with everyone." Viserys tried to keep up with the children's arguments.

"Even the Dothraki?" Baela asked. "We heard of them in Pentos, and they are always at war. Kepa told us that even a single dragon could break them."

"I could break them." Aegon found the thought very fascinating.

"And what about the slaver cities?" Helaena chimed in. "My Septa told me that they were at war with the Seven themselves."

"That's not.." Viserys tried again. "She meant theologically, Helaena. Not an actual war."

"But the gods would be pleased if we ended slavery, wouldn't they?" Rhaena asked, more comfortable talking of theology, than conquest with dragons.

"That's.. something you should ask a septa, dear niece. But not the one that's been teaching Helaena. She might need to be replaced."

"What about the wildlings in the North?" Jacaerys asked. "Mother kept getting requests for resources to man the Wall. If we destroyed them, then the Watch wouldn't need so many resources, would they?"

"That's quite enough!" Viserys raised his voice. He looked at the mothers, but neither women seemed eager to assist him after he had so overbearingly forced them just a few minutes ago. "No one is doing something as stupid as taking your dragon and flying off to war.

"Gasp." Maekar said the word, instead of actually gasping. "You just called Uncle Daemon stupid!'

"You. Little. Shit." Daemon growled.

Someone giggled.

Probably not Corlys. He seemed simultaneously displeased at his own contributions to the war being sidelined and relieved that he was not dragged into the arguments.

Chapter Text

"Good. Now use the finer brush for the lower side of the helmet. It needs more careful attention to detail than the top."

"Yes." Maekar grumbled, his hand working over the armour.

"Yes, what?"

"Yes, Lord Corlys." He gave the old man his best smile.

"Now, be careful with the engravings. I had the Seahorse sigil inscribed by the best blacksmiths of Qohor."

"Truly, Lord Corlys?"

"And every scale next to it was engraved in a different city."

"That's amazing, Lord Corlys."

"The metal of the helmet came from the best mines of Yi Ti."

"So cool, Lord Corlys."

"The shine to its surface came from the blood of the Merling King himself."

"That's pretty neat, Lord Corlys."

A cuff upside his head, woke Maekar from his daydreaming.

"Ow." He rubbed his head melodramatically.

"You weren't even listening, were you?"

"Was it something about how many places you have visited and how rich you are?”

“...”

“...”

“No, of course not. It was important information regarding your duties.”

“Oh?” Maekar asked skeptically. “What was it?”

“Well, you missed it, didn’t you?” Corlys retorted. “Now, run off. I have things to do.”

Maekar did just that, yawning, as his mind went back to what had distracted him. His family had returned to the capital, and The Darklyns would probably want to do it as well. His plans for them would probably yield no result, but then again, he hadn’t really done much planning. It was more of a spur of the moment idea that he thought up to see if Ceryse would react in a fun way.

Well, he got to learn more about the interesting girl’s motivations which was fun. She also tried to rope him into some business ventures she came up with to make more money, which was not so fun.

Well, he could just visit her on Urrax when he felt bored. It’d be fun if people decided that they were having an affair.

He went to the room assigned to him, picked up the box of sweets he had bought during his last outing, and left towards the chambers for the Blacks. It was a longer walk than it needed to be, as he was, quite unreasonably, roomed away from his loving sister and nephews.

Still, he had learned enough about the general habits of some of the castle’s inhabitants by the simple expedient of asking the servants politely and generously, so it was easy enough to find Laenor in a verandah he would entertain his friends in. No such entertainment was in progress this soon after a funeral, but Laenor was there nonetheless, and arguing with his lover.

The place was too open for him to overhear anything without getting seen, but he could clearly see wild, aggressive gestures being exchanged.

Ah, poor man.

“Ser Laenor! Ser Carl!” He greeted them, and they instantly stopped talking.

“Maekar.” Laenor greeted him, annoyed.

“My prince,” Carl followed, bowing slightly. “It is Ser Qarl.”

“Carl.” Maekar allowed.

“No, Qarl my prince.”

“Karl.”

“Like this, my prince. Qarl.”

Maekar wondered if he should just kill him right now. Save everyone the trouble. But Daemon would just get someone else to do the deed for him.

“Kharl,” he enunciated. “That’s the best you’re going to get. Correct me one more time and I will have you renamed from Carl Corey to Colin Creevey. Who named you anyway? Some half-wit with a stutter?“

“Now then,” he turned to Laenor, “How have you been, good-brother?" He asked, feeling pity.

"I've been well, Maekar." He answered with suspicion.

Maekar nodded sadly and handed him the box. “I brought some sweets for you. You should make the best of these next few days.”

“”Thank you.” He took the box. “Wait– what ‘next few days’?”

“You know, these days in general. Just try to live your best life.”

“I… see?”

Maekar walked off before there could be more questions.

…

"Hey, Baela!" Maekar knocked at the door.

"What?"

"Come on out?"

"What for?"

"To build a snowman."

"What?"

"Let's go hunting or something."

He heard furious whispers being exchanged inside the room by two similar voices before the door opened and he was let in.

"What do you want to hunt?"

"Criminals."

Rhaena gasped and Baela's eyes widened.

"What? How will we find criminals?"

"It's simple. We'll hide our identity, and bribe a guard or clerk to commit a crime. If they accept the bribe, we'll reveal our identity and arrest them!"

"Will that actually work?" Baela asked skeptically.

"Might not." He admitted. "But it'd be fun as hell."

She laughed in agreement.

"Wait, Baela!" The as yet silently sulking girl interjected. "You said you only were only going to talk to him."

"What? It's just a bit of fun!" Her sister defended herself.

"With him? What if he does something?"

"So little trust in me, dear cousin?"

"You're on Aemond's side!" She accused, as if annoyed that she even had to state something so obvious. "And he hurt Jace!"

"Come now, cousin. If I was a bad person why would your grandmother give me lessons and your grandfather make me his squire?"

He walked closer to Rhaena and sat on her bed. It was softer than his.

"Well, I still don't like you."

She scooted away.

"What for? I wasn't even there. You're the one who couldn't fight off Aemond and let Jace get hurt."

"Hey!" Baela protested. "It wasn't her fault!"

"I know," he agreed. "It's not her fault no one's trained her to fight, while her cousin was taught by the most skilled fighters in the realm."

"Of course I wasn't trained to fight. I'm a lady!"

"But you still got into a fight." He pointed out with a laugh. "And then lost."

"Don't laugh at me!" She jumped towards him to push him off her bed, but Maekar jumped away first. He ran towards Baela and hid behind her.

"See?" He crowed. "With a temper like that she'll keep getting into fights. And losing!"

"I don't have a temper!" She yelled, unconvincingly.

"How about this? I'll teach you how to fight, and you can decide whether you like me or not later."

"I see no harm in that." Baela agreed, putting peer pressure on her sister.

Before Rhaena could find her footing and refuse, Maekar foraged some candlesticks that could pass for short training swords and got to tutoring them, the girls followed his lead with varying levels of enthusiasm.

The candlesticks broke the first time they hit each other and they had to stop training for the day.

…

"Hey, don't jostle me!" Baela hissed, riding on Maekar's shoulders.

"Stop complaining." He hissed back, trying to balance her weight and walk at the same time.

"Walk straight or the cloak will come off."

He groaned. This had sounded like such a good idea. He had even found this shady looking black cloak with a hood on the washlines.

Slowly, but surely they walked to the counter near the harbour.

"My ship, the Lady Carla, will be leaving in an hour." Baela repeated what he had told her to in a fake deep voice.

"Fuck is wrong with your voice?" The clerk at the counter asked.

"Umm. Sore throat." She got flustered at the curse word that, but managed to improvise.

"Well, then get leaving then."

"What about the inspection?" Baela asked, things not going to plan. She was supposed to pay him to skip the inspection.

"Huh. We did that when you came into harbour."

Baela lightly kicked at him. Giving up, he just turned around to walk away.

"Oh. Alright then." She hurriedly said to the clerk as her lower body turned around.

…

"Pfft." Rhaena laughed when her sister relayed the tale to her.

"What? It's not my fault the procedure here is different from King's Landing!" He defended.

"Whatever." She dismissed, cocking her trouser clad hips in self importance.

Maekar poked her with his wooden sword, then ducked as Baela charged at her from behind, resulting in the girl running into his bed.

His chambers had more room, so they had moved there for the girls' training. He was going to chide her for making a mess, but was interrupted by a knock on the door.

The girls hid to the side and he opened the door to find a servant.

"My prince. Something has happened to Mylord Laenor!" He said with little prompting and Maekar smiled.

"What?" "Uncle!" The girls questioned, coming out of hiding.

"Good job letting me know." He praised the servant he had asked to keep an eye on the older man and found a gold coin to pay him and got the rest of the story.

Soon as they did, they ran to the hall that the fight had occured in with their wooden swords. It was bustling with guards and it was easy to see what had got them in a tizzy. A body was being pulled out from the fireplace and there was only one name on everyone's lips. Laenor.

Maekar smiled at things finally starting, regardless of how different the details might be from the story he had read.

Chapter Text

Maekar ran out of the hall, stopping for nothing. Baela tried to follow him, but her sister had started crying. She returned to comfort her and was crying alongside her soon enough.

With no one to stop him, he found himself a palfrey and hurried off towards the port. All the while he kept calling for Urrax with his mind.

‘Māzigon!’, he said out loud, focusing on that command.

They had practised it a lot. He would give a command and Urrax would respond. Then he would give the command in a quieter voice until Urrax would learn to respond. He had continued this until he was speaking too quietly for Urrax to listen, but she still heard it through their connection when he said it with enough focus.

And so it was this time as well when he spied her in the sky. He hurried his horse to the tallest place he could find, dismounted, and shouted for Urrax to find him. They were still working on the part about locating each other from afar. He knew they could do it, but they had yet to achieve it.

His horse started to panic as the dragon approached, and he let it run off.

Urrax landed with a thump, and he rewarded her for the good job with pats. Then climbed her and they flew off towards Ceryse’s ship. The sailors screamed as he passed over them and he delighted in their screams as he reached his destination.

Urrax landed on the captain’s cabin, and the ship shook at his weight. Luckily for Ceryse, Urrax was still small and dragons are light for their size, so her ship did not capsize. But Maekar promised Urrax that they would capsize a lot of ships when they grew up.

Ceryse came running out of her cabin and he jumped off of Urrax.

"Maekar!" She yelled, forgetting her courtesies, and he laughed at managing to make her do so.

"What do you think you're doing?!"

"Time for you to earn your keep!" He called, jumping down to the deck.

"What keep?! You're not paying me anything!"

Urrax roared and Ceryse backed away, bumping into Darwin's chest. He spied a moment of delight on her face when she realised that, and she clung closer to her knight.

"What about the information you were gathering? What ships are leaving suddenly?"

"I could tell you which ships made abrupt departures yesterday."

"What about today?"

Urrax's claws dug into the cabin's roof, and the lady seemed to be getting annoyed.

"If they leave suddenly we won't find out until they are leaving, would we? I can get you that information tomorrow."

This really wasn't going as well as he had thought. It was kind of his own fault for not telling them why he needed that information.

"You at least know which ones are going to Essos, don't you?"

"Throw a stone, it'll probably land on one."

"What?"

"Half of the larger ships here are bound for Essos. Why do you think the Velaryons went to war for the Stepstones? That's the route most of their traffic comes from."

"Hey! Hey! Enough joking around! A lord has been murdered, and the murderer is getting away!"

Every person on the deck stood in shock. Ceryse gaped at him in incredulity.

Unexpectedly, it was Ser Darwin who came to the rescue.

"Forgive me, my prince. But if someone has murdered a lord, shouldn't we barricade the port and have every ship searched?"

"Barricade everything? Isn't that something you'll need the law enforcement to do?"

Darwin looked at him strangely.

"Wait. I am the law enforcement!" He thought more about it. "Huh. As a prince I'm actually pretty high up in the chain of command, aren't I?"

"Well, in a way." Ceryse agreed, recovering from her shock. "But you don't have any soldiers except ones you can commandeer in an emergency."

He thought about that, then looked at the sailors around them.

He smiled.

"Prince Maekar, no." She protested.

His smile widened.

"Prince Maekar, yes!"

So it was that the sailors went from ship to ship, announcing the barricade, and commandeering other sailors to do the same in his name. For his part, he and Urrax flew around the harbour at a lazy pace, belching out flames as a threat, and giving authenticity to the sailor’s words.

It was pretty boring work. So he ran after the first distraction he could find.

A splash of colour attracted his attention and he flew closer to find a mid-sized vessel crawling away around the coast. There was probably a name for ships of that make, like a galley or a carrack. But knowing such things was what nerds did and what he had his Darklyn minion for.

He swerved Urrax in its direction, wondering if he'd get to burn it, perhaps just a little, for disobeying him. Probably not. His authority was shaky enough as it was, and ships caught on fire at the slightest gout of flame.

He caught up to the ship easily enough. Curiously, the ship was barely moving. Travelling several leagues from the port then parking the ship near to the coast. It was an effective strategy to escape scrutiny from the guards on the ground, but to his eyes in the sky, they might as well have painted a "SUS" on their sails.

He flew high above the ship then swooped down in a sheer dive, aiming for the bow of the ship. The sailors scream in terror as Urrax's claws grab onto the figurehead on the front of the ship.

The vessel shook as her powerful wings beat in the air and the wooden likeness of an elephant's head broke away from the ship. They went high again, and she dropped the broken statue back in the water.

It missed the ship, but likely because Urrax wasn't actually aiming for it. Throwing things at their prey was not a part of a dragon's instincts.

The sailors pull up their sails again and even start rowing away from him, causing him to guffaw at their ridiculous scramble.

Just then, he caught sight of two men on a dinghy, sitting still in the water between the ship and the coast. In any other situation, he would have dismissed them as random fishermen. But here, well, a ship wouldn't be waiting for some random fishermen, would it?

He couldn't make out their faces, but it was obvious when they went from shock at a dragon attacking out of thin air to panic that they'd be next.

The two men started rowing desperately to return to the coast and away from him and his dragon.

Chapter Text

Urrax dove down again and the two men jumped into the sea. The boat was suspiciously empty of any fishing tools or luggage, so he felt no hesitation as he called, "Dracarys".

Pink gouts of flame stem forth and set the dinghy on fire. He and Urrax rise up again, warm air licking at his back.

Looking down, he saw his targets coming up for air, then ducking back down. He laughed at that.

"Whac-A-Mole!" He shouted and dove back in.

True to his expectations, they ducked again to escape his dragon's teeth. Not that they needed to, for he had swerved up long before Urrax could chomp on them. He wanted Carl alive after all, and that was definitely Carl Corey escaping with a man in a hood. He tried to go after Carl again in the next dive, but the hooded man jumped in the water, trying to get his attention.

He let Mr Hood think he was succeeding in his distraction and dove down towards him. To his credit, the man was an excellent swimmer and dove deep just in time to avoid Urrax. Actually invested now, in the next pass he commanded “Dracarys” so he could get rid of the interloper and focus on his target.

To his surprise however, when he flew back up, the man surfaced again. Unharmed, except for his hood, which got removed to reveal a bald head.

Maekar spent a moment admiring his instincts or his familiarity with dragons to be able to predict when Urrax would spray his flame. That was.. actually pretty good.

No longer wanting to kill him, he turned back towards Carl who had reached land and was rushing towards the cave to hide. He dove towards the running man, ignoring the calls from the bald guy trying to attract his attention. A belch of flames blocked Carl’s path and he tried to make a circle of flames around the man. But Urrax still couldn’t hold up a flame for that long.

They landed in front of Carl, and he urged Urrax forward, intending to bite off his limbs or whatever to incapacitate him.

“Maekar! Stop!” The bald man came running towards them, rudely screaming his name, and looking closer, his features looked strangely familiar.

He grinned at the reckless actions, which was very brave and loyal, but also very stupid.

“Go away! Leave me behind!” Carl seemed to agree, as he shouted at his hairless companion.

“It’s me! Laenor!”

What?

“Laenor Velaryon!” The man shouted desperately, then tripped and fell while running towards them. He got up again, screaming “I’m alive! Don’t hurt Qarl!”

Huh, he had seen that way of falling before. His good brother had been falling drunk quite a lot recently. And that did seem like him.

Truthfully, he just wanted to capture Corey and get the reward that the Seasnake had declared in canon for the capture of his son's murderer.

He couldn't get that if Laenor still lived.

For a moment he considered correcting that deviation from what he thought was canon. Because Laenor was definitely supposed to be dead. There weren't even any ridiculous theories about Laenor secretly surviving, like there was for a lot of the other characters.

But before he could decide either way, they were all shook by the roar of another dragon. A much bigger one.

The Red Queen landed near the sea, closing anyone's escape to that side. Meleys' enormous head moved as she and her rider examined all three of them. When it turned towards him with range in those large eyes, even he felt a moment of fear.

Then Urrax roared in defiance, and he laughed along with his feisty companion.

Meleys turned her head away, having grown familiar enough with the other dragon, then growled at Carl. But before she could do anything, the Laenor wannabe jumped forward, waving his arms,

"Mother, stop!" Rhaenys almost didn't, so he urged his dragon forward. Not actually in the line of fire between them, but enough to distract her.

"Mother!" Laenor jumped through the circle of fire to protect his lover and Rhaenys seemed to finally recognise him.

"No." She shouted. "No!"

And Maekar thought she was going to fry both men anyway, before she commanded her dragon to calm down and sit, then slumped in the saddle.

…

"How could you?!" Rhaenys berated her son for the hundredth time even as she tied a bandage torn from his cloak around the injury on his biceps.

Maekar turned to Corey and shrugged from next to Urrax.

"Mothers, amirite?"

The man just gave him a baleful look from where he laid on the ground, groaning in pain, bleeding from all his wounds.

Because when Rhaenys had come down from Meleys, she had brought her dragon riding whip with her. And then absolutely went to town on the knight. She did not stop until Laenor jumped in front of him and took a lash for his troubles.

"I thought you knew how it felt to lose Laena, but then you turned around and made me go through it again!"

She shook the man in front of him, jostling the injury she had just bandaged.

"How could you do that to your own mother!" She cried again, the scolding becoming rather repetitive, and Maekar started to get bored.

"That's assuming that he is the real Laenor." He interrupted.

"What?" She asked.

Maekar only shrugged and pointed at the bald man.

"He's probably a faceless man."

Back in his old world, such an accusation would be dismissed out of hand. But here, face stealing magic was a fact of life and a completely valid option to consider when dealing with political enemies.

Rhaenys' eyes sharpened and her hands tightened around his shoulder, making the man wince in pain.

"Maekar. Why do you think he's a faceless man?"

"They are said to take the faces of people they kill. I'd wager the corpse in the fireplace did not have a visible face."

"Mother!" He protested as Rhaenys brought the hilt of her whip against his neck. “It’s me!”

“Then why can’t he answer why he was escaping like an assassin?”

“I did! I.. I’m sorry mother. I wanted to live freely, with the man I love!”

He could see Rhaenys’ suspicions subsiding, but being replaced with anger at her son’s lover.

“Then why fake death? He could have just flown away on his dragon. Could the real Laenor you have killed someone in cold blood and disfigured the body, just to play this cruel jest on you?

Could he leave his dragon and lose the ability to ever fly again?

Could he abandon Spicetown and all the effort he had put to develop it?"

Rhaenys choked out a sob. The blood in her whip's hilt drew blood from him.

"Princess Rhaenys," Carl choked out. "Don't listen to the boy! That really is your son."

"Shut up, traitor! You have either tried to steal my son from me, or actually murdered him!"

The knight cowered.

Rhaenys' hands roamed over Laenor's face, perhaps looking for a seam where it was sewn together. Normally, she might have deduced some answer from his behaviour. But caught between believing that her son was murdered or her son was alive and tried to fake his murder, Rhaenys was nowhere in her right state of mind.

"Get on Meleys." She commanded the Laenor lookalike.

"What?"

"Get on my dragon. Try to run away, and the traitor becomes dragon food."

"Mother, but why?"

"You're not getting away from my sight! Whether you're my son or an impostor, I'll find out later. But for now, you'll do what I say."

He tried to protest again, but Maekar patted Urrax's neck and she growled menacingly over Carl, still bleeding from the whippings.

"Qarl, no! Fine! I'll go with you."

"Where are you taking him, aunty?" Maekar asked.

"To the castle." She answered, marching Laenor up Meleys' back. "He'll be confined to his room till we get the truth of what happened."

"But what if he is Laenor, and some assassins try to kill him again?"

"I thought you said he was the assassin?"

"Fine. Then what if other assassins come to rescue him?"

"What are you saying now?"

"We should keep him hidden. If no one knows he has survived, no one can try and kill him again."

Seeing his words get traction with the older dragonrider, he continued.

"I have a friend with a ship here, we could keep him safe there."

She scoffed, then showed a thoughtful look.

"No. I have plenty of private boats of my own." She nodded decisively. "Keep Correy here. I will be back soon."

She gave Laenor a meaningful glance.

"If I don't, kill the traitor."

Maekar nodded excitedly as Meleys flew away. Then he remembered something important.

"Wait, who is going to pay me now?"

Chapter Text

The next evening, Baela found him busy reading in the library. She came up to him and dubiously eyed the stack of thick books next to him, then took the seat opposite him.

"Did you know that the Lord’s men at arms can enter the home of a peasant and search it or arrest and torture the residents with nothing but a suspicion?”

She massaged her forehead,

“Why would you start a conversation like that?! I just sat down!”

Maekar laughed and lazily flipped through the book.

“I was looking for something like a maximum duration the suspect could be jailed without evidence or any requirements to let them contact their families. There is not much in the way of that." He shrugged tiredly.

"Yeah," She agreed. "Father told us that most of the Lords misuse their rights or are just lazy in delivering justice."

"He did?" Daemon 'Lord Fleabottom' Targaryen is concerned about people misusing their powers?

She hummed in agreement. "Which is why the gods guided our ancestors to this land so we can punish the lords for their injustice."

Oh, nevermind then.

"Why doesn't he then?"

"What?"

"Why doesn't Uncle Daemon fly around making the nobles accountable?"

"Oh," She looked around nervously then asked, "promise you won't tell Uncle Viserys?"

"Pinky promise." He grinned.

"Father said that it's because uncle doesn't want to upset the lords. So he lets them abuse their smallfolk in the name of pit and gallows. If father had the leave to, he would put them all in dungeons and let better men and women rule those lands!"

Maekar guffawed.

"Yes! We shall solve the misuse of the judiciary with more misuse of the judiciary!"

Why didn't the lawmakers of Modern Earth think of this?

"Hey!"

"Sorry! Sorry!”

To be fair to Daemon, plenty of Earth govts were involved in extrajudicial imprisonment and tortures of suspects. But they at least tried to hide it, knowing that the society at large did not approve of it.

Maekar looked at the setting sun outside and closed his books.

"So you're done reading?"

"Not really. I'll resume tomorrow."

After the funeral. He didn't say.

If Baela was here and not with her sister and cousins who were still mourning Laenor, then it was probably because she was trying to escape all the gloom and doom that the second apparent death had brought upon the family.

Besides, Baela barely knew Laenor. And unlike Rhaena who had gotten closer to his nephew's after their fight against Aemond, Baela had gravitated away from them. It'd make sense if she was not that invested in mourning their father.

"Why not today? There's plenty of candles."

He laughed again and stood up to leave the library.

"And read in candlelight? No way!"

"What's wrong with candles?! Everyone uses candles!" She smiled, letting him distract her.

"Everything! It's so primitive. I'm never going to read in candlelight."

"Never? What if you get a raven at night?"

"I'll get a maester to read it."

"What if you don't have a maester?"

"I'll wait for the sun to rise."

"What if it's an urgent call for help?"

"Then the caller better pray that the Seven are more receptive to their calls."

"What if there's a Long Night and the suk never rises?"

"Then I suppose I'll miss the noble art of reading. Also, I'll have far greater worries."

The two children giggled as they came upon a much more serious situation in the corridor beneath the library.

Rhaenyra was trying to share her grief with Rhaenys while Corlys and Daemon stood to the side.

It seemed a very awkward conversation with his sister unable to decide if she should offer condolences to the deceased's mother, or expect condolences as his wife, that Rhaenys was in no mood of giving.

In a more functional family they would have grieved together and such things would have been unnecessary between mother and wife. But that relationship had not been functional since Jacaerys came out looking nothing like Laenor.

"Oh, dearest sister!" He greeted, ignoring Rhaenys and Baela who went to stand with her father and grandfather.

"You look so radiant even as a grieving widow." He walked closer to Rhaenyra.

"Maekar." She gritted out. "Don't you have your duties as a squire?"

"I usually would. But there's not much to do, what with the funeral and all."

He attempted a friendly smile, though it came out with more teeth than he intended.

"On that topic though. If you are looking for a new husband,” He flexed a bicep. “I shall be a man grown soon enough."

Her eyes widened in outrage and even Baela gave a scandalised gasp, though he could not see her.

Quick as a flash, Rhaenyra’s hand snapped forward and grabbed his chin. Her nails dug into his skin and he relished in the pain.

“You go too far, Maekar.” Her eyes bulged out like their father’s would the few times he had been angry.

“Why?" He mumbled out, struggling against her fingers. "What's wrong with me?"

"I can even make omelettes. Can you make an omelette?"

Rhaenyra pushed him away in disgust, which he took as a no to the omelette thing, and he stumbled a few steps.

Before he could try again, a hand grabbed him by the neck from behind.

"Tut, tut." Daemon tutted evilly near his ear and he stopped his instinctual struggle.

"Just when I thought you were different from the rest of your brood, you prove that you're just another leech, trying to latch on to your betters."

"Ah! My apologies, Uncle."

He waited until Daemon loosened his grip somewhat.

"I didn't know my sister was already spoken for."

Daemon threw him to the ground.

He heard shouts and gasps from the others in the corridor, but was more focused on keeping his skull intact. Which he only managed because he had expected a violent reaction to his statement.

Daemon's boots came into his sights, but so did Corlys' and he looked up to find the older man had situated himself between the two Targaryens.

"What are you doing, Corlys?"

"What am I doing? Have you gone mad, Daemon?"

Baela ran to check up on him, and he sat up to better keep track of the confrontation.

"He's just insulted your son's memory. Barely after he insulted your grandsons in front of everyone!"

Corlys gave him an assessing look, before returning his focus to Daemon.

"Which I will punish him for."

Daemon grunted in disgust.

"With chores? Cleaning your armour?"

He continued with a more pleasant tone.

"Come now, Corlys! What are you so afraid of? Viserys is not here to protect him. And the little leech has insulted us all here. We have killed men for less."

He hissed out the last sentence and Maekar felt his breath hitch.

“In the Stepstones! Not my own castle!” Corlys hissed back.

“Daemon, that’s enough!” Rhaenyra called from behind him and the man turned to give her an aggrieved sigh.

“You’re acting as if I’m asking for his death. But a few cracks of the whip will teach the boy some discipline.”

The uncle and niece had a staring contest before Daemon grunted and turned to the door, Rhaenyra following behind him.

“Baela, come!” He called when he was at the door. His daughter hesitated but ultimately obeyed. The action hurt Maekar almost as much as Daemon’s throw had.

“You are doing it in the wrong order, Uncle!” He called out.

“What?”

“You are supposed to wait for her to accept my proposal, before getting me out of your way.”

“That’s enough.” Corlys picked him up by the scruffs. “You look fine, but let’s get the maester to see you in any case.”

He took to marching him back towards the library and he heard Daemon walk away behind them. Then he turned to Rhaenys who had been observing everything with a stony face.

“So? Do you think it was him?”

She opened her mouth, then shut it, before speaking again.

“If it was, he will regret it.”

He grinned and looked at Corlys.

"Are we really having a funeral? With him still alive."

The older man sighed and turned to his wife.

"I see no reason for this mummers farce. My men can keep Laenor safe inside the castle."

Rhaenys laughed a hollow laugh.

"Like they protected him from Correy?"

This seemed to be a rehashed argument between them and Corlys tightened his lips and his wife continued.

"And what of Rhaenyra? Can your men protect him in their bed chambers?"

"She wouldn't--"

"Did you see them, Corlys? Daemon and her are just counting the days before they think they can get married."

"That's all the more reason to not do this farce. What if they do get married thinking Rhaenyra a widow."

"That's not more important than my son's life!"

Rhaenys was getting heated and Maekar didn't want someone to overhear and ruin all the excitement he was having.

"Has Ser Laenor, assuming that it's him, confessed to who helped him? Like who arranged for the body or for the ship?"

"Not yet." Corlys admitted.

"He insists that he is Laenor and everything was his idea and execution." Rhaenys added.

"Then perhaps we should belay this decision till we know more. And after everything is cleared he can return to court pretending that he has just escaped some captivity."

It would even be true.

"And surely my sister won't remarry before even her mourning period is over!"