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Teen And Up Audiences
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Graphic Depictions Of ViolenceMajor Character Death
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Fandoms:
House of the Dragon (TV)Warhammer Fantasy
Characters:
Ikit ClawRhaenyra TargaryenJacaerys VelaryonLucerys Velaryon (Son of Rhaenyra)Baela TargaryenRhaena Targaryen (Daughter of Daemon)Daemon TargaryenCorlys "The Sea Snake" VelaryonHelaena TargaryenAddam VelaryonBackground & Cameo CharactersSilverwing | Alysanne Targaryen's DragonOriginal CharactersJoffrey Velaryon
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Crack Treated SeriouslyCanon-Typical ViolenceThe Dance of the Dragons | Aegon II Targaryen v. Rhaenyra Targaryen EraAlternate Universe - Canon DivergenceCanonical Character DeathCharacter Turned Into a HumanIkit got isekai'd as Jace's twinSkaven Species (Warhammer Fantasy)Death to all GreensHuman ExperimentationScience ExperimentsIkit is his own warningSilverwing still has shit taste in male ridersPOV MultipleBackground RelationshipsBackground Character Deathshow canon onlyDragon RidersAnimal AbuseIkit is an abusive dragonriderTho he's fairly mellow compared to his SkavenselfGood Parent Rhaenyra TargaryenNo beta we die like LucerysDysfunctional FamilyCannibalismBlood and TortureCanon-Typical BehaviorBAMF Helaena Targaryen
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English
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Published:2026-02-26Completed:2026-04-22Words:181,492Chapters:55/55Comments:1,270Kudos:749Bookmarks:159Hits:33,636
The Rat Prince of Westeros
SkilledWarriorKiwi
Chapter 9: Jeyne
Chapter Text
Flea Bottom was an acquired taste. A down-trodden area of King's Landing, rife with poverty and crime with a grand maze of twisty, unpaved alleys and cross-streets. Dozens of pigsties, stables, and tanner's sheds all contributed to the smell, with as always the stink of the sea mingling through everything. Up above from Flea Bottom was Rhaenys's Hill, named after the sister-wife of Aegon the Conqueror, and where the immense Dragonpit was located.
Sometimes, when Jeyne was sewing at her window, she would catch a glimpse of a dragon flying high above. Sometimes golden, sometimes blue, and now one a gigantic forest green that blotted out the sun for a terrifying moment. Otherwise it was mostly her.
Her mother had died in the previous winter, so it only left herself, her father and her elder brother. Their home was small yet clean, right up near the beginning of the Street of Silk so wasn't as run down and filth ridden as those homes deep within the bowels of Flea Bottom. Her father worked at one of the stables, mucking and cleaning and tending to the horses while Jeyne spent most of her time sewing up rags, patching clothing and dresses. She had a knack for near invisible stitching and stretching even the scantest of fabric to full repair, with long nimble fingers that wouldn't let a stitch stray. Due to the proximity to the Street of Silk the whores were the majority of clients, as she was quick, efficient and asked for less than expected. It meant more work for her, even if the pay was a bit more lean, but it meant she was never without clients to help pay. Some of the whores would even offer her bottles of wine to be bumped up on the 'to do' list and her brother would always be happy to take them down to the gambling dens where he spent his days.
Like every smallfolk in King's Landing she entertained herself with gossip, and certainly one of the most wild stories to come forth recently was the loss of Prince Aemond's eye. The stories were in agreement that it occurred during the burial of Lady Laena Velaryon, a fight between the young child royals resulted in the prince being an eye cut out. Or bit out, but Jeyne didn't believe the rumours biting was involved. Seemed too beastly.
She didn't really know what that had to do with the big green dragon appearing- even if in Jeyne's opinion it was such a hideous saggy beast she didn't understand how it could be the same species as the pretty gold one she'd seen before -so she did wonder if maybe the dragon bit the eye out. She really didn't know, beyond there a continuing quarrel between Queen Alicent and the Princess of Dragonstone. However that wasn't the only death to come close to the royals in recent news as yet another occurred soon after.
This one was about the princess, her husband Laenor Velaryon apparently an unnatural man who preferred young boys which was a punishment for her whorish ways before marriage as the rumours said. Said husband also died only a month after his sister, killed during a drunken quarrel with his companion Ser Qarl Correy during a fair at Spicetown. There was currently a ten thousand golden dragon reward offered by the Sea Snake for anyone who could capture Ser Qarl which was of great interest to many but even after six months after the murder neither hide nor hair had been seen of the murderer. Some said Ser Qarl had slain Laenor for his unholy ways, other just thought it was a drunken fight gone lethal as some were oft to do. Either way a lord was dead and the bounty kept many on the look out.
It was, however, of extreme interest that the royal family weren't invited to this particular funeral. Even after news of Laenor's death and then his burial reached the city no royal vessels left King's Landing. Jeyne knew the king's health was upon a decline but other gossip claimed House Velaryon quarreling with the Hightowers, in specific Alicent and Otto, was the cause much like how they were notably absent during the wedding of King Viserys and Lady Alicent so many years ago.
Either way it was an entertaining way to pass the time, Jeyne sitting outside her door upon the street and chatting to the many people she recognized walking the roads. Some were insistent Princess Rhaenyra had orchestrated the death of her husband while others believed Prince Daemon caused it which were the words of the court fool, and yet others proclaimed Laenor wasn't truly dead and instead the body found in Spicetown was an illusion spurn forth by Valryian demons to trick everyone. Others believed it was retribution by Queen Alicent for the maiming of Prince Aemond and through it all many spoke wistfully of how they would spend the generous gold bounty.
Jeyne would certainly love to buy silk dresses and Myrish lace with so much gold, instead of having to wear her typical dark woolen dresses. At least she had embroidered it, designs a far cry from any noble woman but enough she had little flowers along her hem and across her bodice that she didn't feel too plain.
Still, she lived a simple enough life and while she was content with it she wasn't oblivious to the dangers. And one day, when she went to one of the small inns along the street after she had finished fixing a series of rat-chewed blankets for her neighbour, someone approached her over them.
The man was entirely unremarkable, brown hair and brown eyes and a limp. He was dressed bland and dull, easily ignored among the countless other cripples and smallfolk which populated Flea Bottom.
Jeyne hadn't even noticed him until the man settled down opposite her at the small table.
"Please, just a moment of your time," the man smiled, the expression not meeting his eyes. "I would be happy to pay for you supper, in exchange for a few words."
She wasn't about to ignore a free meal, even after her week done it would be lean for food so after a moment hesitation she nodded. The inn was busy, a vibrant hum of voices that let the man's soft voice easily go missed by other patrons when he began to speak after she finished the bowl of stew and was now chewing upon the bread.
"I saw you from afar and thought that perhaps we can aid one another, if I may be so plain in talk," the man said.
Jeyne's hands clenched around the bread as she flushed red in offense, "I am no whore, ser."
"And I am no knight," came the easy response. "But you misunderstand me. You have a brother, don't you?"
She swallowed down her mouthful of bread, suddenly nervous as she answered, "...I do."
"And it seems he has acquired a substantial amount of debt through his dice and card games in more recent moons, more than he can hope to pay before they grow impatient. More than you can hope to pay," the man said.
Jeyne was tense and uncomfortable, not knowing how the man had discovered so much about her family. Because she had been giving the majority of her pay to her brother to help him with her debts for many a moon now. She spent many nights in candleflame, tending to torn skirts and ragged tunics, to get extra coin to help pay his various gambling debts and gone hungry some days. If he couldn't pay then he would end up dead in a gutter somewhere or taken in by the goldcloaks and perhaps they would even be expelled from their home to pay off the debts and that would kill her father, he was so proud of his only son.
"We can pay the debt, keep the lenders and bookkeepers happy, keep your home with your family. Keep your brother out of a jail cell, or from losing a hand. In return, you will simply become under our employ."
"And do what, m'lord?" Jeyne asked suspiciously.
"For your seamstress talents, of course. Dragonstone is looking for some new maids, some with clever hands and patient demeanor. They typically search upon the isle itself, but you with your blonde hair and pale eyes could fit right in as one of that rock if we put you forth quietly enough."
"...You just wish for me to serve as a seamstress? For the crown princess?"
"Of course. And all you have to do in return is send a letter back home each month. Telling us anything of...interest you may see or find. Do that, and all the debt of your brother will vanish. You will never have to worry about him being jailed for his gambling debts, of losing your home. That will be taken care of. We simply want to know how the princess fares. How her children fare. Prince Ikit especially, the one with silver hair. What he knows, what he does, what he hides in his room. Any secrets the princess hides for her son. Do that, and your family will be well taken care of. They will be able to move from Flea Bottom, given a manse of their own and never been without food. Never have to fear living on the streets and starving. Don't you want that for your family, Jeyne?"
That had been nearly four months ago, and only a day after she had accepted the deal did she find herself on a small boat bound for Dragonstone.
The air upon the volcanic isle stunk and even after so many moon she wasn't used to it. It was a different type of reek compared to the filth of Flea Bottom and Jeyne tried to keep her features blank as she was herded up the wharf by a sour faced woman at the village at the base of the mountain. It was her and three others, two young ladies and a man, that were to be keeping tabs on the royal family. Anything and everything, what they eat, what they do, how many times they go on flights, if they quarrel, if they sneeze, everything was to be written down and put in letters and given to the old woman who would send it to King's Landing.
"You all know enough letters to write basic enough, so drop them off in the silver vase by the main dining hall end of each month," she said sternly. "And know the princess will feed you alive to her dragon if she catches you, so don't think she ain't be lookin' nicely on this. You chose this and she ain't merciful. Maegor with teats she is, even if she hides it behind a smile and faux kindness like a fox 'fore it rips your throat out. And don't think your family is beyond her reach, she decided to wed that Rogue Prince not even six months after her husband died. He'll slit them ear to ear and make you watch before feeding you to that dragon of his."
It was a threat that left Jeyne shaking, realizing just what kind of dire situation she had put herself in but as the old woman said she had already condemned herself in accepting. If she backed out now, it wouldn't matter. The princess would kill her anyway, Jeyne had heard the rumours about her.
Being sent up to Dragonstone didn't help her nerves in the least, but at the very least growing up in Flea Bottom meant she knew how to control herself in a dangerous situation. Her face was bland and almost bored when she arrived at the servant quarters and found herself following alongside another maid, one who had the silvery hair of a Targaryen. She noticed many upon the isle had such colouring, lending credence to the rumours many of the populace had come with Aenor himself Jeyne, with her gold hair and pale eyes, fit right in as the man had assured her back upon King's Landing.
Tansy, the maid who she had been sent to work under, had been friendly enough even if Jeyne felt awkward speaking to her.
"See those torn blankets just over there? Unbind the hems if you please, and pick out the golden threads," Tansy had directed her upon Jeyne's first day in the castle.
Jeyne spent her afternoon upon Dragonstone with the blankets, picking any valuable threads or silk as they were to be used for scraps and strips and bedding for the hounds. Then the following day she fixing up several tunics for the guards, trying to act as if she belonged. It was difficult at times, as the unfamiliar roars of dragons would make her jump. It was never that noisy in King's Landing, the golden dragon and the blue one were hardly ridden unlike the numerous beasts that seemed to have free range of the isle.
When she wasn't using needle and thread she'd help the other maids with various cleaning jobs, fixing up rooms, dusting, and polishing windows or just cleaning various messes. Physically exhausting in a way sewing wasn't, but she was being fed far better than she expected- three meals a day, two of them hot, and comfortable beds in the servant quarters that lacked vermin or leaks. Yet still, she remembered her purpose so between her typical labours she took note of the coming and goings of Princess Rhaenyra and her family as best she could.
Jeyne didn't understand why the man felt they would be so interesting. As far as she knew they were typical routines any nobility would hold. Family meals, sparring lessons, walks about the keep, time spent in the library. The only real difference was the dragon flights, which were far more common than King's Landing. There was also Prince Ikit, the second born who Jeyne had heard many bizarre things about and was a person of interest, who would visit Driftmark for one week a month, flown there by his mother and then returned by Princess Rhaenys.
Then there was Prince Daemon, the new husband of Princess Rhaenyra. The Rogue Prince frightened her the most and whenever he was near she would be completely fixated upon her dusting or mending and acting oblivious, not even sneaking a look, until he disappeared again. Yet still, as the moons passed she found herself relaxing and even enjoying a friendship with Tansy and the other maids.
Occasionally she would see the princes in the distance; Jacaerys, Ikit, Lucerys and Joffrey. Joffrey was already trotting after his elder brothers, hanging off their hands and babbling excitedly. When their mother wasn't with them they were attended by guards. There was also the Rogue Prince's daughters, Baela and Rhaena, with Baela joining the boys for practice down in the training yard even if she favoured a crossbow over everything else. It was unsightly for Jeyne, seeing a girl use a weapon, and she approved of Rhaena until one foggy morning she saw the girl using a shortbow. She didn't understand that, warfare and fighting weren't for women. It was why Queen Alicent was so pious, she knew her duties as a woman.
She didn't really understand Prince Ikit however, if only due to the fact his name confused her more than anything.
"It isn't Valyrian or Velaryon, so why is he named that?" Jeyne asked Tansy as they took a dinner of broiled pork and mashed potato.
Tansy gave an easy shrug before taking a swig from her cup, "I cannot say. Perhaps his mother simply knew he was not like the rest of her children upon birth. He is strange indeed."
Jeyne frowned, "Will he try to hurt us?"
Tansy looked at her as if she were mad, "He is still just a child, why would you say such a thing? True he is odd and speaks just the same, but that is simply the lot of dragonriders. He is different but that doesn't mean he is some mad beast."
"I meant no offense," Jeyne hunched her shoulders, cowed. "I just...he has a strange mannerism to him. I don't want to cause offense if I do speak to him."
A grunt before Tansy said, "Just leave him be, he only wishes the company of his family. His kin are friendly and well mannered lads, Prince Ikit is not. Much like Prince Daemon, simply be respectful and mind your manners so only speak when spoken to and you'll be fine."
They were words she held to as she continued her surveillance, watching and volunteering for extra duties. Occasionally she would see Princess Rhaenyra herself and rarely would she be alone. Typically the woman was with her children and Jeyne found herself wary for any glimpse of silver hair. Even with Tansy's reassurance, Jeyne felt that there was something disturbing about the young prince. Maybe it was how unnatural he looked, she had never seen eyes that colour, or that hoarse raspy voice of his that reminded her of an old man more than a boy.
Though the first time she actually witnessed him spending time with his siblings she got distracted as she tended to one of the hearths, hearing Prince Ikit talk about the wild tale of the Witch King of Naggaroth. The boy did have a very strange way of speaking, but the tale he weaved of Malekith- born the son of the Phoenix King Aenarion, the greatest Elven hero to have ever lived, yet his son tried to conquer the world through sheer force of will, cruelty and bloodshed -distracted her immensely. It looked like the two guards and nursemaids, tending to Joffrey, were similarly intrigued.
"We shall strike down our foe with sharp steel and cold hearts. The weak die so that the strong shall be spared. Then and only then will our enemies know the true meaning of fear.' So said the Witch King, yes-yes. And he had his own dragon, vicious-mad Seraphon who was stolen from the the Kingdom of Caledor as an egg. From that egg hatched a dragon, just like Balerion with scales pitch black and flames as dark."
Jeyne then burned her fingertips upon the hearth and she quickly snapped back to attention, securing the fire grate and quickly leaving the room before her inattention was noticed. She didn't know if the fantastical story of the Witch King was in anyway important, but she jotted it down as best she could with her limited knowledge of writing and then slipped it in the vase when the month came to an end.
She did get more interesting information when she managed to get inside of Prince Ikit's rooms upon the third month. She slunk in there upon one of the days the prince was at Driftmark with his grandparents, taking advantage of the moonless night and his absence.
It was perhaps a fools urge but the more time she spent on Dragonstone, the more curious she became. Prince Ikit was just odd in a way even Daemon did not come close to. She knew he looked exactly like his mother when she was that age, simply a male version, but those eyes and hair and sharp teeth put him out of place amongst his brothers. Even his cousins, who had the white hair, did not fit with him.
It made a part of Jeyne feel like even more was off about him and she just couldn't help herself. The cryptic man from King's Landing, the rumours of Prince Aemond's eye, the silver-haired prince himself and the way a part of her was disgusted and intrigued by him. She heard from the other servants about how absurdly smart the boy was- apparently he had even clashed with one of the builders in the keep, arguing with him until the man had made adjustments of one of the catapults on the castle walls and it had expanded the reach of the catapult over 20%. There was also the castle maester, as Jeyne learned about Prince Ikit passing all of the mathematical lessons until it was speculated about sending the boy to the Citadel to learn his chains if only to give him a challenge.
She didn't know how true it was, but she knew how the man in King's Landing had specifically named Prince Ikit as a person of interest. That she had been promised extra pay and treatment for her family if she brought more important information. She could build up generous savings so they wouldn't have to fear the upcoming winter, so her family would be safe.
Jeyne slunk into Prince Ikit's room, avoiding the patrolling guards and then picking the lock with ease. They were more or less the same, and Dragonstone was old. Quickly she lit the candle after she shut the door behind her, searching about the room as she kept her ears alert for anyone approaching.
She found a weird shrine in one of the cupboards, with numerous gemstones and an emerald obelisk as the center piece. She picked up the miniature bell tower, shaking it a bit and turning it upside down. Some silly little toy then or a demon worshiping tool considering the runes scratched into it. She heard rumours Princess Rhaenyra paid tribute to the demons of Old Valyria instead of the Seven but she never expected it to be true.
Shoving the bell tower back in the cupboard she continued her search and eventually she found great piles of parchment in one of the drawers, even if she couldn't understand the letters scribbled all over the pages. After a moment of hesitation she folded up one of the pages and tucked it down her bodice. At the very least she could send it for King's Landing to look over, for all she knew they were unholy scripture. There were also various drawings, mechanical and reminding her of sketches she'd been builders and blacksmiths scrawl. Great machines and handheld devices she could not make head or tails of, so she grabbed several of the drawings at random. Then she straightened up the pile and shut the drawer.
She would've liked to inspect more of the room but she had already gained enough and wasn't foolish enough to overstay her welcome, so she quickly put everything back in its place and snuffed out her candle. Making her way back to the servants quarters after avoiding the patrols she slid into her bed after hiding the paper under her mattress. It would be two weeks before the end of the month and Jeyne felt anxious the entire time she had the hidden parchment, as if fearing it would burst into flames.
When Tansy asked after her that afternoon over her tense and uneasy behaviour Jeyne just excused herself with feeling as if she had eaten some bad mutton.
"Might have been a flock the Sheepstealer had been snapping," Tansy accepted easily, expression sympathetic. "But if it gets any worse, we can see the maester for something to settle your stomach. Don't want an illness to spread."
"I will keep that in mind, my thanks."
It was also upon that morning that Prince Ikit returned with Princess Rhaenys upon the Red Queen, the courtyard of Dragonstone a bustle of noise as the Realm's Delight greeted her son. Jeyne watched from the window as Princess Rhaenyra embraced her son. Then she had to help clean up a barrel of pitch that had fallen and split, soaking the ground and stones with the pitch quite determined to stain her limbs due to all the scrubbing.
Jeyne was stupid. That was her only excuse. It was why she followed along Tansy without a second thought as the maid carried a basket of fresh scented rushes and candles up to Prince Ikit's room, with Jeyne carrying new sheets to change the bed.
"Princess Rhaenyra always holds a fine welcome for him but the crown princess herself is a kind mother and wishes to spoil her son so we'll freshen things up for him before he retires after their dinner," Tansy said, seemingly happy to chatter to herself as Jeyne hummed in acknowledgement. At the prince's room was two guards and Tansy greeted them with familiarity as one opened the door for the two maids to enter.
Tansy set the basket down on one of the chairs, even as Jeyne approached the bed which had already been stripped.
"Yes, my prince, she's the one who's been spying for King's Landing," Tansy said from behind her.
Jeyne froze from where she putting down the sheets on the bedside table, fear roiling over her body. Stiffly she turned around only to see the Rogue Prince give Tansy a handful of gold coins. The maid curtseyed to him with a murmur of thanks before leaving the room without a backwards glance, shutting the door behind her. Leaving Jeyne alone.
"So we have a rat in our keep," the Rogue Prince turned to face Jeyne, expression entirely amused. He was dressed casually in a dark jerkin but Dark Sister hung from his belt and Jeyne wasn't stupid enough to think she could overpower him. For a brief moment she thought of screaming but then remember how the guards had greeted Tansy with friendliness but hadn't spared her a second glance.
"My prince, I apologize but I am unsure of what you mean," Jeyne began.
"Oh come now," Daemon stepped closer, still smiling but his eyes were cold and empty. "Prince Ikit came to me just this morning, quite certain someone had been pilfering through his room. Stealing his things, rummaging about quite rudely. He knew exactly how many pages were missing, insisting he could even smell you. And then we found them, hidden in your bed."
The Rogue Prince clucked his tongue, wagging a finger at her as if she was a misbehaving child. Tears started to roll down her cheeks, even as she struggled to draw in breath.
"I- I don't...Please, I never meant to-"
"Do not fret," Daemon was now close enough he clapped a hand on her shoulder, still acting so friendly even as his fingers bit into her skin hard enough she gasped in pain, trying in vain to pull away. "Your little friends have already gotten caught. Prince Ikit is talented at catching people in lies even if I must admit I'm surprised it took one of you so long to break into his room. You were a lot more subtle than the rest however, lasted the longest. Did you know my daughter Baela spotted one of your fellows when she got up early, intending to raid the kitchen's for the first fresh loaf of bread and instead just saw him blatantly hiding things in that silly vase? He didn't even check no one was watching and she brought that foolish letter to me. As for that fool, he's already in Ceraxes's stomach. Alicent's sloppy little spies."
"Please, I'm sorry-"
Daemon's fist slammed against the side of her head, catching her in such a blow that she was unconscious before she had even hit the floor.
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