Pre-Chapter A/N: Here we go with another chapter. Here on time! Next four chapters on my patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga)— same username as here and link in bio.
Much like the wolf from the classic tale, I huffed and puffed, or in this case, hacked and stabbed, but the house did not blow down. The jewel refused to budge. Riptide, a blade of Valyrian steel, forged in dragonfire, could not even chip the ruby that held this witch's soul. It just stood no chance. Assuming I could feel some sort of progress, I would have kept at it for a while but even with all my strength and the blade's sharpness, it was clear to see that the gem would not break.
I could not destroy it. Not with the tools available to me now. That meant there was only one option. I had to get rid of it. Have it placed somewhere where it would never be a problem for me again, and I was already beginning to draw up a mental list. There were islands on the Stepstones that I could dig holes in to bury the bracelet and leave it for generations, but the chance of someone finding it was just too high. Getting rid of it would require going beyond my borders.
Not just taking it somewhere where it could not be used against me right now, but also ensuring that even if it was happened upon, it would happen in a place so remote and distant that there would be no chance of the witch managing to make it back into my life or that of my children.
That meant not just abroad, but abroad, far, and deserted. If I could pick a place that had some sort of monitoring system in place to ensure nothing untoward happened, that would be even better. Of course, a monitoring system did go against my requirement for a deserted location, and if I had to pick one or the other, I knew where my heart would lead.
I slipped the bracelet in my pocket. No matter where I chose to hide it, it would undoubtedly be too far away for me to make the journey now. I had a wife and children to see, and I had let them wait for too long.
----
I stared down at the sleeping forms that I would give the world for in a heartbeat. The forms that I had come close to giving up my whole world for. Four children and a beautiful wife. The wind felt cooler this night, its bite against my skin visceral in a way that nothing had ever been since the day I woke up in this world. They were real. They had to be real. Because what I felt for them was only possible if they were real.
And if they were, then this could not be a game to me. I had almost lost one of them because I thought there was nothing a serving girl who had gone through a background check could do to us. I had thought myself to be Daenerys. I had freed them and so I believed that the people who had once been slaves owed me their full loyalty. I had dehumanised them in just the same way as their slavers had. Believed that I had their full loyalty because I had freed them. I did not carry the title of master, but I had acted as one in all but name.
But that was not the case. Because it was not just the imposter. Myrilla had betrayed us as well. Knowingly or not, she had placed these people in danger and there was going to be nothing that would stop me from seeing that justice was done. After her, I could look into changing just how we approached things with those who had once been fully enslaved. Just expecting them to be loyal to me because I had freed them was just about doing the same as their masters once had. I was just nicer about it.
But that would be a change I pursued in future, after I had finished dealing with the traitors in the nest. My velvet glove would come eventually, but not before the iron fist had its time in the sun.
That was for the future. Now, I just had to take in what I had been blessed with. Four children. It felt almost like too much, even. All my plans had to be rejigged. For one, there was the issue of dragon eggs. Vhagar had given me one so that was something. Meleys had been nesting for the last few sennights and had left Mother grounded for that time. It had been a bit of bad fortune back then, but now seemed to be well-timed.
I had to write her to see how many eggs had come in that clutch. As well as how many had survived. The Cannibal was lurking near Driftmark these last few weeks so it would be no surprise if he could smell the coming eggs. And if he came for them, it was normal for Meraxes to leave some to his predation and escape to save herself. Luckily, the Cannibal only really tried his hand at eating hatchlings or unhatched eggs. That was probably the only reason why a hunt had not been commissioned.
Well, that and his size. Killing him would be too hard and the only benefit would be more dragon eggs in a time where our house had more eggs than children. Well, House Targaryen at least. I could write Viserys to open up the hatcheries of Dragonstone to me if Meraxes did not have enough eggs for the other three but the risk of him saying no was immense.
Mother had placed eggs in my crib and Laena's because they had been from Meraxes and had not needed any King's permission. If Jaehaerys had been consulted, he would have most definitely refused. Viserys was now in that same position. Four dragonriding children would scuttle any hopes he had of folding the dragonriding parts of House Velaryon into House Targaryen and leaving it as that. Four were enough to see to it that my house would ride dragons for a long time after my passing, and that was not likely to be something he backed. And if not him, then someone on that council.
I just had to get eggs of my own. If Meraxes didn't have enough, then I would have to obtain eggs another way. Jason did always love a good deal, and he might have thought he was being slick with the way he sent Tyland to keep poking and prodding at my intentions, but he just revealed his worry.
I would easily pledge a neutrality I was already inclined towards for a dragon for one of my children—of course assuming the egg hatched. And on that account, I just had a feeling. Igneel had hatched for me. My children would be in the same boat. And if not, then dragons would be found. Sheepstealer and Grey Ghost could always be lured over to Driftmark and a chance meeting could always be engineered. And when I died, Igneel would be an option.
A mental roar drew me from those thoughts.
"Sorry, buddy," I whispered at my oldest friend. The feelings he sent over best translated to a huffed 'you'd better be', as he returned to what he was doing—seal hunting.
Okay, no thinking about that for now. A rustle from the bed turned my attention to the woman that held my heart in her hands. Her eyes fluttered open slowly as she transitioned smoothly from Morpheus' realm to our own.
"Nor?" she called, hands reaching out towards the part of the bed I was supposed to lie on. The room was lit only by the bits of moonlight that came in through the windows.
"Here," I called, moving towards her. She did not share my advantages. Asking her to see through the dark would be unreasonable.
"Come to bed," she said, even as I was already moving the covers aside to take my place next to her.
"I was a fool," she said. What she was talking about was not hard to guess.
"She made fools of us all," I said instead of trying to convince her that she hadn't been fooled. She held some of the blame for what had happened. I held some of the blame as well. So did every single one of my guards, and all the other serving girls. But apportioning blame was the work of fools and layabouts. All that mattered was responsibility to do better.
And that was mine. This would never repeat itself. I had thought Igneel would be enough. That my connection to my dragon was all the magic I needed. But it seemed that this world would not give me such peace. If I wanted it, I would have to take it. The legions and dragons would be our guards against physical threats. Against the metaphysical, however? I had to do better. That woman had been one red priestess. Volantis had hundreds where she came from. I refused to believe that they were all just as magically powerful as she was, but even just half her skill would create a foe I would struggle to beat.
Especially if they were wise enough to not get tricked by me twice.
"I brought her in," she said.
"And I allowed you to do so. The blame stops at me either way and that is fine. I will do better. So will you. We have to," I said.
"For them," she added.
"For them."
"I've been thinking of names," she said.
"Oh?"
"We had two already when we thought we would be having twins but they don't seem to land just the same considering what has happened," she said.
"I agree."
"I still don't want to give them Valyrian names. Not names that have been held before at least. They are to be the first of a new dynasty and they must mark that from the very beginning," I said.
She nodded against my chest.
"I would have wanted to name our last after father, but you are right. Father is gone. Our children—we can't saddle them with baggage from the past. They already have enough of that from just being our children," she said.
"Exactly. Two boys and two girls. Caesar for our eldest," I started.
"Caesar?" she asked.
"You don't like the sound of it?"
"Caesar Velaryon. Lord of Driftmark, Lord of the Stepstones, Master of the Tides," she said as grandly as she could, spreading her arms out for effect.
"I think it sounds good," she said after, delivering her verdict.
"Good. Wasn't going to budge on that one so good to see we're on the same page," I said. She just scoffed.
"And for our girl? The older one? What do you have in mind?" she probed.
"Nothing that comes to mind immediately. I was thinking Alexandria and Alexander for if we had twins but that's obviously scuppered," I said.
"Different from the names we chose before?" she asked.
"Yes, they were the first ones to come to mind before we ended up going with what we did."
"Alright then. That could work. Alexandria and Alexander for our next two and then for our last girl?"
"Having two out of a set of quadruplets with matching names but not the others seems to be a recipe for some awkwardness down the line," I said, trying to reel that back in. She sighed.
"Always about the symmetry with you, isn't it? Well, we already voted on Caesar but we can go back and get a more suitable name to make a pair out of."
"No. Two pairs might encourage them to split along those lines. We want them as close knit as possible."
"That seems far-fetched, don't you think?"
"A name is important, Laena. It determines our futures more than you think."
"Do you think I'd have loved you any less if your name was Jon?" she asked with a chuckle.
"Perhaps if we had a brother named Laenor and I'd been Jon you would have been here with him and not me," I said.
"Don't be ridiculous."
"I'm being serious."
"No you aren't. You're messing about again because there is no way you think what I feel for you would change because our names were different. In a million lifetimes, Laenor Velaryon, with a million different names, I will always love you. Because I was made to love you, and you were made to love me. The gods fashioned man for love, and you were fashioned for me and I, you. Always, Nor. Always," she said.
"I love you too," I said first, not able to stop myself from planting a kiss on her lips. One she deepened with a hand on the back of my neck. I felt blood rush to other areas of my body before I pulled back.
She whined at the loss of contact.
"Not so soon," I whispered in consolation, giving her a kiss on the cheek, and then a peck on the lips.
"Remember what the Maesters said," I cautioned when she began to pull back in. And with those words, I was reminded of the true casualty of my carelessness. Maester Bernard. The old man. My friend. He was gone now.
Laena seemed to pick up on some of my sadness there as she fell back against the pillow.
"We can still go with Alexandria for the oldest girl, and Diana for the one after her," she said.
"Alexandria Velaryon and Diana Velaryon? They sound good. A bit foreign, but with time everyone would get used to it," I agreed.
"And for our last?" she asked.
Our last son, the one that the Red Witch had almost taken from me. For him, a name was not hard. His life had been threatened at birth, and he had come out of it still stronger.
"Romulus." He had faced adversity in the beginning and from there, he would do nothing but rise. The founder of Rome, the creator of the foundation of arguably the greatest empire my first world had ever known.
"Romulus Velaryon. I can come around to liking that," she said.
"Good. Good. So that's it then? Names sorted," I said.
"Caesar, Alexandria, Diana, Romulus. Well, you wanted variety and you got that. Also, we can be certain that no one's had these names before," she said with a wide smile that I easily matched.
"I love you." I couldn't help it. It just slipped out.
"I love you even more," she said.
-- -- ONE WEEK LATER
My eyes snapped open at the sound of wailing. I practically pushed myself off of the bed to reach Diana's crib in time. I had seconds. Just bare seconds before this turned from a slight niggle into a total and complete disaster. My left foot hit the ground, my muscles coiled like a spring and pushed me forward and to the side. It was more a leap than a step, and it took me half the distance to the right crib. The second half was covered with my other leg arcing out without ever touching the ground.
I landed on the tips of my toes. The ground was stone and would not creak but these children seemed to have some supernatural ability for detecting disturbances. Now next to her crib, I picked her up and had her pressed against my chest in a second. Her cries quieted down almost immediately. I looked around. It was silent. She hadn't woken up her siblings. I sighed in victory, pumping my fist up.
And then she started crying again. I hadn't even managed to bring my arm to her back before the leftmost crib began its own wailing. From there, it was over. All four of my newborns were now screaming their lungs out. Laena looked up from the bed, giving me eyes that sparked with menace.
I just shrugged. That one wasn't my fault.
----
I stood outside, waiting and staring into the horizon as part of me struggled to keep my eyes open and alert. Igneel had given me the forewarning I needed of Meleys' arrival and I stood now waiting to see my mother for the first time in what would be the better part of a year. It was shocking that I had let it go this long. I'd wanted to visit.
I'd planned it even. It was just that the right time never came and more and more kept happening that needed my attention and eventually I just ended up not making it. A terrible son, I was.
But as I gazed at the Red Queen's form beginning to make its appearance in the distance, I felt none of the guilt I should have. Only relief. Relief and joy. Because I had missed my mother.
She landed mere minutes later, and was swept into my arms seconds after she slid off her dragon's back. Meleys growled a warning to me, but I felt safe ignoring the Red Queen in this. She was as much a mother to me as Rhaenys was in some ways.
"How are my grandchildren?" she asked, breathing the question into my ear before I'd even put her down.
"Brilliant, but also noisy and smelly. Did you bring them?" I asked.
"Three freshly laid dragon eggs. Just like you asked," she said. Perfect.
A/N: This chapter had no business taking this long, and I am so sorry for taking so much time to deliver it to you. I do hope you love it though. Despite the long wait, I hope it proves itself worth it. Discount on patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga) for those interested. Next chapter comes on here on Wednesday night/Thursday morning (depending on your timezone). Next four chapters up on patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga) (same username as here and link in bio), support me there and read them early.