Rhaena looked at her three children with deep satisfaction. Each had been different since childhood.
Aegon, known as the Dragon Prince, was a little slow to react but had a cheerful disposition, often playing and laughing with his two sisters.
The twin sisters, Aerea and Rhaella, could not have been more different.
Aerea was a shy, timid girl—prone to tears, bedwetting, and frailty. She feared horses, dogs, loud boys, bearded men, dancing, and even dragons.
Rhaella, in contrast, was braver and more determined than her sister—bold and headstrong to the point that even her maids were wary of her.
Still, both sisters adored their strong, sunny-natured older brother, Aegon.
Rhaena hoped their bond would last a lifetime, unlike her own relationship with her brother Aegon, from whom she had been forcibly separated and then married off to a man she did not love.
The maids brought in a lavish meal for the prince and princesses. Large porcelain bowls brimmed with thick cream of mushroom soup, served with soft white bread, while silver platters held glistening, fragrant grilled steaks.
Aegon speared a piece of steak, sprinkled some pepper over it, and began eating ravenously.
Rhaena placed strips of bacon between slices of bread, took a small bite, and said,
"You should get ready. This afternoon, you'll be going to Rhaenys' Dragonpit to tame dragons. Your father and the court ministers will be there to watch."
"We're not going to Dragonmont on Dragonstone?" Aegon asked, chewing a mouthful of beef before gulping down a large swallow of milk.
Thanks to the culinary reforms he had brought to Westeros in his previous life, meals were no longer so monotonous—many of the dishes had been his own creations when he was the Conqueror.
"These days, all the suitable unclaimed dragons have been driven to Rhaenys' Dragonpit," Rhaena replied, setting down her bread. "Your father says it's to control attempts by bastards outside the royal family to train dragons."
At that, Aerea instantly pouted.
"I'm not going. I hate dragons—they look far too fierce."
Rhaella shot her sister a scornful look and mocked,
"Coward. Don't you want to ride a dragon? Just imagine soaring through the sky, free and unbound—how could that not be thrilling, hehehe."
Her face lit with pure longing at the thought.
Aegon swallowed his bite of beef and looked up.
"Is Balerion in the Dragonpit?"
Rhaena met her son's golden eyes and said slowly,
"Yes… in Rhaenys' Dragonpit. Aegon, can I ask you for a favor?"
Puzzled, he tilted his head.
"Is this about taming dragons?"
Rhaena noticed her son seemed unusually perceptive today, but there was no time to dwell on it—what she had to say was far more urgent.
She nodded.
"Could you… not choose Balerion? Could you give him to your sister instead?"
Aegon's brows drew together slightly. He set down his fork and asked in a quiet voice,
"Is this because of Aunt Rhaenys? Or because of Cousin Aegon?"
Caught by her son's sharp insight, Rhaena instinctively looked away.
"You truly have grown sharper. Your father, Maegor, has long sought to seize your great-aunt's seat as High Priestess. Right now, the royal power and the Faith's authority are still in balance.
The key lies in the fact that the number and strength of the dragons on both sides are nearly equal."
"If you tame Balerion, your father will surely declare war on the Faith of the Seven. That could plunge the kingdom into another great war."
Aegon cut another piece of steak but didn't rush to answer Rhaena's request. Instead, he asked,
"After you and little Aegon took the seeds of life, why were you the only one captured by Grandmother Visenya, while little cousin Aegon escaped?
Also, why did Father Maegor transplant the seeds of life?"
The two questions caught Rhaena off guard. She scanned the attendants in the room, then raised her hand to signal them to escort Aegon's two sisters out.
Moments later, only mother and son remained in the dining hall.
"Why are you so interested in this? If I tell you, will you agree to my request?" Rhaena asked, studying Aegon closely as he ate.
"No. Whether you tell me these secrets or not, I will still tame Balerion," Aegon replied evenly.
Rhaena lowered her head with a disappointed sigh.
"Child, do you truly wish to see the kingdom consumed by war again?"
Aegon shook his head.
"Letting my sisters tame Balerion would be the real cause of unrest. If your aunt's faction grows much stronger, do you think cousin Aegon wouldn't go to war with Father?"
Rhaena froze for a moment, then gave a small nod.
"You're sharper than I expected. Perhaps our family is destined to bring disaster to this world."
After a brief silence, she began slowly,
"When my brother and I fled Dragonstone, we were intercepted by my aunt, Queen Visenya. Our dragons were far too small—Quicksilver and Dreamfyre together weren't even a tenth the size of Vhagar.
I volunteered to stay behind and block our aunt, while my younger brother Aegon carried part of the seeds of life back to our mother, Rhaenys, to seek help. I, along with the seed I carried, fell into Queen Visenya's hands."
Aegon looked puzzled.
"Since Grandmother Visenya only got one seed of life… well, go on."
Rhaena continued,
"My mother Rhaenys had already succeeded my grandfather as High Septon. She met Aegon and Quicksilver at the Sept of the Seven, but she knew she could never defeat Aunt Visenya.
She feared Aunt Visenya and your father would punish Aegon, and she would not see him suffer the same fate as his father, Aenys, who died tragically at the hands of the royal court.
So my mother and little Aegon both transplanted seeds of life.
Your father Maegor and your grandmother Visenya sent the royal guard to surround the Sept. They circled overhead on Vhagar and the Cannibal, pressing my mother to hand over little Aegon for punishment and to surrender her position as High Priestess of the Faith.
It was then that Maegor suffered his first defeat in a dragon battle—a crushing loss. He nearly died at the hands of my awakened mother."
Aegon frowned.
"Little Aegon awakened? Then why is he still living in Harrenhal?"
"Those who awaken only fall to madness when they first awaken or when they are starving. Once that hunger is sated, they are no different from ordinary people and can even return to human form. If they are careful, they can live among humans without trouble," Rhaena explained.
Aegon poured her a bowl of mushroom soup.
"Mother, can you tell me more about the battle at the Sept of the Seven?"
Rhaena took a sip before continuing,
"In the past, dragon knights were nothing but a burden to the King-tier Dragons in battle. They rarely played a real role, serving mainly as commanders.
But once a dragon knight awakened, their power allowed them to perform feats on dragonback beyond the reach of ordinary men.
Little Aegon and my mother, armed with dragon lances over six meters long, knocked your father from the Cannibal's back, leaving him near death.
At that critical moment, Grandmother Visenya awakened. She fought desperately to shield Maegor, holding off both my mother and little Aegon single-handedly.
The royal court and the Faith had no choice but to halt the fighting and make peace.
With Maegor at death's door, Grandmother Visenya was forced to use her only seed of life to save him. That is why your father carries a seed of life within him."
Aegon thought for a moment.
"And after that?"
"After that, Maegor and Queen Visenya attacked the Sept again. But by then, my mother had given all the seeds of life she had to my brothers and sisters. The church's side had five awakened ones in total, which made Maegor hesitate and kept him from launching a full-scale war between crown and Faith.
The two sides ceased fire and entered a standoff."
"I see," Aegon said. "So now, whether I can tame Balerion has become the key to upsetting that balance of power…"
"That's right." Rhaena nodded.
Aegon thought again, then pointed to his eyes.
"But how did I become a dragon demon? Didn't the royal court only have one seed of life?"
"I don't know," Rhaena said, shaking her head. "When I gave birth to you, I lost too much blood and fell into a coma. When I first saw you, a month had already passed, and you already had those golden eyes unlike any ordinary child."
"All right." Aegon exhaled softly, took her hand, and said gently,
"I'll do my best to keep the crown and the Faith from going to war. Even if I claim Balerion, it doesn't mean I'll destroy Grandmother Rhaenys' line. We share the same blood, after all."
Though worry still lingered in her eyes, Rhaena gave him a small nod.
...
In the afternoon, sunlight poured down across the palace grounds.
Rhaena, poised and graceful, held Aegon's hand as they stepped out from Visenya's side hall. Behind them, his two younger sisters were carried by the maids Anna and Jenny.
Rhaena wore a white-and-gold court gown that cinched tightly at her slender waist, highlighting her dignified, elegant figure. From beneath the hem, the graceful lines of her long legs occasionally showed with each step.
Aegon glanced upward and noticed a construction site beside the Visenya Palace.
Anna quickly explained to the prince, "That's the new sleeping quarters His Majesty is building for himself. He didn't want to disturb the rest of the Dowager Queens, so he's having a new tower built. It's called Maegor's Holdfast."
"I see," Aegon murmured.
But his thoughts immediately turned to the fact that most members of House Targaryen had already awakened. Perhaps Maegor had built the new tower not simply for seclusion, but for a more private place to feed.
They boarded the rail carriage and set out toward Rhaenys's Hill.
A squad of royal guards, already waiting, closed in swiftly, surrounding their carriage in a protective formation.
The Dragonpit of King's Landing stood atop Rhaenys's Hill, within the Red Keep's walls—an ideal location for members of the royal family to mount their dragons.
Aegon found it strange. If today's event was meant for all three siblings to tame dragons, why was the royal household traveling to the Dragonpit separately? The rift between Visenya's faction and Rhaenys's faction, born of the struggle between crown and Faith, had clearly grown into open hostility.
After awakening, a dragon demon's mind and instincts shifted into something altogether different. Maegor had grown distant from his human wife, children, and daughters, rarely seeking their company.
In Aegon's memory, the times he had met Maegor alongside his sisters could be counted on one hand. Perhaps Maegor avoided family out of fear—an awakened one harbored an appetite for human flesh, and if he ever lost control… the result would be too dreadful to imagine.
The carriage rolled slowly across the vast Dragon Square before Visenya's Palace, a plaza hundreds of meters wide, with Rhaenys's Hill rising at its far end.
Through the window, Aegon studied the towers of the Red Keep. The fortress was still new; the stone-paved roads and palace walls bore little trace of smoke or wear. It stood like a vigorous youth—full of life and strength.
At the square's far end, where several roads converged, a cluster of tall, circular wooden platforms stood in a triangular formation. Painted entirely black, they were surrounded by a dense crowd. From time to time, loud shouts rose from the gathering. Some spectators raised their arms in pulling motions, others whispered anxiously, and many more stared with rapt attention at the platforms.
On the viewing platform, a nobleman in a black-and-red battle robe stood with a black longsword in hand. His expression was cold and resolute. He was tall and powerfully built, with broad shoulders, a thick neck, and strong arms.
Short platinum hair framed his head, and his beard was trimmed with precision.
This was Maegor I, now thirty-eight years old and well into his middle years. If not for the Conqueror's crown on his brow, one might take him for a formidable warrior rather than a king.
Maegor noticed Aegon's arrival and inclined his head slightly in greeting.
Nearby, a man in a white cap with a hooked nose kept his eyes fixed on Aegon, murmuring to a bald, middle-aged man beside him. Aegon's unusual appearance had long been a favorite topic among the Red Keep's courtiers, but he was used to it and felt no stir of emotion.
When Aegon, his mother, and his sisters reached the viewing platform, he spotted two familiar figures seated at its center—his wives from a previous life, Dowager Queen Rhaenys and Dowager Queen Visenya.
Rhaenys was clad in silver-and-white papal robes edged with gold, a metal scepter in hand.
Visenya wore the same black-and-red armor-skirt Aegon remembered well, but now her head was covered by a helmet that concealed her eyes entirely. Wing-shaped guards extended outward from the sides like a dragon's pinions, the edges sharp as blades.
Aegon was struck with shock.
When did she go blind?
Then realization dawned. Could the difference in his golden eyes, compared to the dragon demon's in his past life, be because he now bore Visenya's awakened eyes?
Maegor bent down to help Rhaena as she stepped onto the stairs and said with visible satisfaction, "I thought my noble queen would not attend."
"My son and daughter are taming dragons. Why shouldn't I come?" Rhaena frowned, slapped his hand sharply away, and replied with biting sarcasm, "I hate you, not the children."
Maegor's brows knit in displeasure.
The sharp exchange between king and queen quickly drew the attention of the courtiers.
Glancing around, Aegon saw the children of Aenys—Aegon Jr., Viserys, Jaehaerys, and Alysanne. Like Rhaenys and Maegor, each of them bore the same unyielding golden eyes.
...
[Upto 20 chapters ahead for now]
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