Artys Arryn POV
I stared at it.
"How did a ship get inside a cave?" I murmured.
"Perhaps the Lord of Light placed it here for you," Kinvara whispered back.
"To you, everything is done by the Lord of Light," I replied, looking at her.
She smiled at that, unbothered.
I crouched down and picked up a coin from the open box.
On one side, two dragons coiled around each other. On the other, a city — with small shapes circling above it. Dragons, most likely.
Coin of the Valyrian Freehold. Only they would put dragons on their coins.
"Seems we've found the treasury of the Freehold," Kinvara said, picking up a coin of her own and turning it over with something almost reverent in her expression.
"More like someone who tried to run when the Doom came," I said. "And didn't make it in time."
The treasure was large, yes but not the wealth of the Freehold itself. A powerful family, perhaps. A rich merchant house. Either way, it was all mine now.
Hen zȳhon iā daor se rova jaelza, issi ao ōrēs se syt bantis iā shipwreck." I ordered the Unsullied who had arrived through the entrance.
"Help get these boxes out of the lake and anything of value from that shipwreck."
"Nyke ȳdra, muña."
As you command, master.
They dove without hesitation.
They went down again, and this time one surfaced with a smaller chest — a proper treasure chest — nd clutched in his other hand, a pendant.
"Muña. Hen glaeson issi. Ānogar hen ñuha glaesot iōriles." He held both out to me.
Master. It was inside the wreck. A skeleton was holding it.
I took the pendant from him. Gold and Valyrian steel, worked into the shape of a dragon's head — a blue gem and a purple gem set as its eyes.
Like my eyes.
"I told you the Lord of Light has his own ways," Kinvara said softly beside me, her gaze moving between the pendant and my face.
Valyria and its obsession with dragons, blood magic, and dominating the world.
I didn't blame them. If I were the only one with dragons, I'd let my intrusive thoughts win too.
I looked at the chest.
"Open it."
The Unsullied forced the lid in one motion.
Inside two dragon eggs, their surfaces hardened to something like stone with age. One silver. One bronze.
Finally.
I picked up the bronze one. Heavy. Hard as rock. I looked at Kinvara.
I hope this woman can actually help me hatch these because so far all she has managed to do is make me deeply uncomfortable.
She was already looking at me, and for the first time since I had met her, her expression held something that might have been genuine awe.
"Aōt Sir Jaehōs gīmī," she said quietly in High Valyrian, her voice echoing off the black glass walls.
The Lord of Light has shown his blessing.
She stepped forward and placed a hand on each egg, closing her eyes. When she spoke again, it was in old High Valyrian the kind that hadn't been a living language since the Doom.
"Hen zȳho ānogar, sir jaehōs kesrio, gaomagon ondor valzȳrī se oktion. Āeksio ōño ānogar iōragon ondossa."
From the fire of the Lord of Light, let the rulers of the sky be born once more. The prince that was promised shall bring dragons back into the world.
I watched her for a moment.
I don't give a damn about your religion. I just need those eggs hatched.
"Get this treasure out of here," I ordered. "Transport it to the boats. It won't all go in one trip — take your time, but be quick about it."
"Nyke ȳdra, muña."
As you command, master.
They went to work.
"My lady," I said, looking at Kinvara, who still held the silver egg carefully in both hands. "Can you help me hatch them?"
"Zȳhon ānogar Valyrīo syt zȳhy issi, ñuha āeksio," she said, settling the silver egg back into the chest.
The blood of Old Valyria runs strong in you, my prince.
Not that prince nonsense again.
"If not you, who else could? But I warn you — the ceremony will require sacrifice. Blood. To waken a life, a life must be given."
A god that asks for a life in exchange for a life. Sounds a lot like a devil to me.
"Come, my lady. Let's head out," I said, keeping my thoughts to myself.
Two hours later, every chest was aboard the ships. The sailors, knights, and household guard all stared at the size of the haul as it came over the railing, necks craning, eyes wide.
"My lord." The Unsullied captain stood at my shoulder, expressionless as ever. "Ynot iōragon, muña."
*Everything is aboard, master.*
"Good. Move out."
I carried the small chest with the dragon eggs myself, refusing every offer to take it from me.
I looked back at the island one last time. Just rock and steam and the thin trickle of warm water running down to the sea.
Two dragon eggs. A great deal of treasure. And no one dead.
Good enough.
~~~Back aboard the Malenia~~~
Soyrn met me at the railing as I climbed back over the side, dripping, and looked me over with the practiced eye of a man assessing damage.
"Did you find something?" he asked.
"A little," I said, shaking water from my sleeve. "But that's not the real prize."
I glanced across the deck. Lord Royce was nowhere in sight.
"Don't worry, master. The old bronze boar won't wake before noon tomorrow," Soyrn said, with the smirk of a man enjoying his own handiwork far too much.
Royce and Soyrn had, somewhere over the last six months, become genuinely fond of each other — though you'd never know it from the way they constantly tried to get one over on the other.
I looked at Soyrn and let the smile come.
"Find me somewhere private," I said. "We have things to discuss."
We made our way below to my cabin at the stern spacious by the standards of a ship, with a proper bed and a table bolted to the floor. I set the chest down on the table.
Soyrn dropped into the chair across from it and eyed the chest with open suspicion.
"So what is this real prize, then?"
Let him figure it out himself.
"Go on. Open it. See for yourself."
He opened it slowly half-expecting a prank, which, to be fair, was not an unreasonable assumption given our history together.
i had played muliple parnk on this man for fun.
"Ahh." His expression shifted into something like genuine excitement. "Dragon eggs. These are worth a fortune."
"For the last time, Soyrn, we are not selling them. Why else would I have you searching for them all over Essos if I meant to sell?"
"Because it's a good investment. Easy to store, easy to transport unlike gold coins." He shrugged. "To everyone else it's a commodity. A showpiece. An investment."
True. But to me it was priceless for reasons that had nothing to do with gold.
"I'm going to hatch them."
"Hah." Soyrn looked thoroughly amused. "And what you'll sit on them and keep them warm? Like a chicken with her eggs?"
"It's a hen, not a chicken," I said, siting into my own chair. "And no, I won't be sitting on anything. The Red Priestess will assist with the hatching."
"A live chicken then, since to me a hen is a chicken." He set the egg back carefully. "I thought you brought Lady Kinvara along for... other reasons."
"For what?"
He gave me a look that needed no further explanation.
"No. Why does everyone think that?"
"Because it's not just me who thinks it, my lord. It's the entire crew."
I rubbed my face. "Just make sure Unsullied are posted outside my door tonight. No one comes near my cabin."
"As you command, master." He was already grinning as he headed for the door. "I'll make sure they're positioned so no one hears the moans."
"I am surrounded by perverts," I muttered to the closing door.
POV Ends