Daenerys was in a state of shock. She did not know what to do or say. This unexpected approach from Rhaenys had caught her off guard and had left her speechless. Her lips quivered, but no words came out of her mouth. Rhaenys did not make things more difficult for the young girl, gracefully shifting her attention away from her and toward the magisters.
"Magister Illyrio," she acknowledged smoothly.
Illyrio, whose face had briefly dimmed and soured at being completely ignored, instantly bloomed into a wide, flattering smile. He quickly approached her.
"Lady Rhaenys," he said. "I hope you had a smooth journey."
Rhaenys tilted her head slightly, looking in the direction her dragons had flown.
"Dragon rides are never smooth, Magister Illyrio," she replied with a wry smirk. "But they are highly entertaining and thrilling."
"Ah!" Illyrio laughed nervously. "Yes. Yes, of course."
"I would surely not know about it," he added.
He waited a couple of seconds, wondering if Rhaenys would finally address Viserys or even acknowledge him. But she showed no such intentions.
"Let us all go inside," Illyrio offered, gesturing toward the manse.
Rhaenys nodded in acknowledgment.
Meanwhile, Viserys was seething. He had been ignored. He had not been acknowledged by her. His fists were clenched tight, a raging anger bubbling in his chest.
He wanted to lash out. He wanted to scream and rage, but he forced himself to hold back. He had already lashed out once, and he could tell that neither the other magisters nor Illyrio had been impressed by his outburst. Their glares had been a silent warning. They had made clear that they wanted no obstruction in this grand welcome they had prepared for Rhaenys Targaryen. Furious as he was, he knew he still needed to use them. So he would wait. He would endure.
And once he had a dragon under his own control, he would teach everyone a lesson. He would teach a lesson to Rhaenys, too. He would teach her exactly how to behave before her rightful king. It was only a matter of time. With Illyrio and a couple of other magisters leading the way, Rhaenys walked toward the manse, where a lavish banquet had been prepared in her honor.
Daenerys, too, was about to follow them, but a sudden force on her arm jerked her backward. A whimper escaped her lips as she turned her neck. It was Viserys.
"Little sister," Viserys growled in a harsh whisper, leaning close to her ear. "What was that?"
"What was what?" she stammered, frightened.
"That bitch coming up and greeting you," he snarled, his grip tightening painfully on her arm. "What was that? Why did she greet you but ignored me?"
"Me?" He snapped, tightening his grip even more. "Viserys Targaryen?"
"Ah!" she gasped, stifling a cry.
"I do not know," she pleaded. "I have no idea. It is not as if I know her!"
"How would I know?" She pleaded.
Viserys gave her a hard stare, his eyes wide and blazing with anger. Daenerys swallowed hard. More than the pain, she was terrified of him causing a scene. She did not want this ugly, cruel side of Viserys to be exposed to Rhaenys. She did not want to blemish the grand preparation that had been prepared for her.
"Little sister," Viserys hissed, finally releasing her arm. "Do not wake the dragon."
"You know very well what happens when you wake the dragon," he growled. "Don't you?"
"Yes," she stammered, holding her tears back.
"Good." Viserys smiled, a thin, chilling expression.
"Anyway," he continued, smoothing his tunic. "It is only a matter of time before I have a dragon of my own."
"How?" Daenerys asked, her eyes widening in absolute shock.
"Did you not see how quick the bitch was to send her beasts away?" He asked with a wicked and arrogant grin. "She knows that once I get close to them, I could easily claim one."
"She does not ride the largest of the dragons," he continued. "Obviously, because she was not strong enough to claim it."
"They only follow her because they have no other Targaryen. She was the only one available to them."
"I am not saying I could claim it in a mere moment or two," he added with a tone of fake humility. "But I am certain that if I spend a few days attempting to bond with it, I can claim the largest of the pack."
"Did you see it? The great black one? It is as if it were the reincarnation of Balerion the Black Dread," he breathed reverently. "Aegon the Conqueror used Balerion to forge the Seven Kingdoms, and I will use this black dragon to reestablish Targaryen supremacy that has been established from us and take back the Iron Throne."
"And," he added with a sneer, "I think I will add a few more swords to the throne myself. The sword of our enemies."
Declaring this, Viserys practically swaggered into the manse, leaving Daenerys standing stunned in his wake.
True, she also could not understand why Rhaenys did not ride the largest of the beasts. Perhaps the dragon she rode was the first to hatch, and by the time the larger one was born, she had already bonded with her dragon.
Or perhaps it was exactly as Viserys had claimed. She was not strong enough to claim the largest and had to settle for a smaller mount.
But apart from that single mystery, Daenerys did not believe a word Viserys said. She knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that Viserys would never be able to claim any of those dragons, let alone the biggest one. And this was not a conclusion born of grand analysis or deep research.
It was pure instinct. It was the feeling Rhaenys had given her, the sheer pressure and commanding presence the woman projected. Viserys possessed nothing of the sort.
Daenerys highly doubted the dragons would even allow him to step near them. With these heavy thoughts lingering in her mind, Daenerys finally turned and followed her brother into the manse.
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