32

----

186 AC

Harrenhal

Aerion Targaryen

----

"They feel way different, the ones passed around to try to hatch after you two hatched Moonfyre and Drogon felt almost lifeless. It is an odd thing to say but I can feel the heat coming from the egg and not just because it is kept warm. It gives off its own warmth from the inside which shows the difference between dead and alive. It makes me wonder how the two in your crib managed to hatch." Daeron my older brother and the king sits in my solar inside Harrenhal.

Not even a full day after the raven was sent we had a response, it must have been an instant decision on his part, or the birds were just motivated. He practically grew wings himself and reached here in record time and now the entire House of Targaryen is in Harrenhal.

All the eggs are being passed around but nothing has hatched but hope is still soaring through the sky. The announcement of Danny being pregnant also got celebrated amongst the family, almost everyone spoke about one of the eggs hatching for our baby. I was expecting more disappointment or even anger from some of the family at the eggs not hatching. But mostly everyone is just happy that the number of dragons is growing even if it's slowly.

"I am sure they will hatch in the near future, I am thinking along the same lines as everyone else that my child with Danny will hatch the first egg at this rate." He places his head on his clasped hands with his elbows resting on the table.

"If this happens, if your child hatches the first egg and none hatch naturally till then we will have to discuss future plans. Hopefully one or two decides to come out on their own like wild dragons and can be claimed." His eyes meet mine and his lips twitch as I look at him in confusion.

"What future plans?" One of my dragon-riding kids marrying the heir of Baelor most likely.

"Aerion my brother, if it comes to only your blood and Dannys hatching eggs then we will need to get as much of it flowing as possible. Do you understand what I am trying to say without actually saying it?" My older brother and King is telling me to go hog wild and make a ton of babies with my wife it seems.

I wish she was here to see his pained look as his brows scrunched up in discomfort.

"Daenerys already said we will mimic the Old and Good king and Queen, so the blood will be flowing you can rest your weary head on that." He nods and looks like he aged ten years but his features smooth out.

"Good, just give her a little time in between because I fear she may be like our mother and have difficult births with her similar build. Mother almost died in each birth she had, we are lucky she is alive so make sure you are careful and I will be praying for her safe delivery." I shake my head in disbelief at the turn of this conversation but an odd smile spreads on my face even if I want to cringe. "Aerion I need to ask you something..." His voice lowers to a ghost-like whisper.

"After what you just asked I don't think it could get more awkward so just hit me with it." He snorts and shakes his head before lifting his hand and pulling the seven-headed dragon crown off his head.

"I do not say this lightly, I know how it could hurt you in the long run and our sister but I feel the need to say it anyway. If somehow the dragons are only bonding with the blood in Daenerys and you then it might be best to spread the net a little wider." He sets the crown down and looks up at me with a difficult look. "I am not saying to be like our father, but if some Dragon seed sprouted up and was able to claim a dragon they would be legitimized. We were at our lowest for years and years before two miracle dragons hatched, we can't let them slip from our hands again." I no longer wish Daenerys was here to enjoy this awkward conversation.

The very thing our father was known for and looked down on for, he wants me to whore around. I purse my lips and wonder how quickly we both would lose our nuts if Daenerys or my brother's wife heard this conversation.

"Your Grace, I don't know if I can complete this task..." Let's back off with an official white flag raised for now, we don't even know if the theory is correct just yet.

I get his worry, in a perfect world, Danny births ten-plus babies and they all ride dragons and their kids ride dragons. But this is not a perfect world and she could die in the first birth with the child and everything goes up in flames. He wants me to father a child not of Danny to see if it could hatch an egg and ride the dragon.

Likely a marriage to the main Targaryen line on the Iron throne awaits any bastard I make that hatches an egg, not a bad deal for the kid. But I would need Daenerys to be ok with this, I would not go behind her back just for curiosity or a quick fuck. If she did the same to me I would be beyond furious so I won't do that to her, as they say, an eye for an eye.

"Just keep it in mind, if a dragon hatches in the cradle of your firstborn you should give it some real thought." I nod and he gives one last look at the crown before putting it back on. "I would not ask this of you if I didn't think it was necessary, we need the power the dragons give us. The Lords know the history and events such as the Dance showed how dangerous dragons can be, we need them. Without them I fear we will eventually fall to petty schemes and plots, not every King will be good. One more King like the last one and we can be sieged by all the other Houses of Westeros." I know he is right because I have seen it myself, so has Danny as she lived through the consequences of the fall of House Targaryen.

"I will speak with my wife about it, she would be included if such a plan was ever pursued." I wonder how she will react to this, most likely a good laugh at the very least.

----

"Finally!" Shiera grabs the silver egg with green and blue swirls from my hand and holds it to her chest.

She was smitten with the egg the moment she saw it and I almost thought it would hatch for her, they have matching colors. She slept with it for days and nothing has happened yet but I am letting her take care of it for now. If he does hatch then I am concerned about what will happen to her, she will be put firmly onto the 'board'.

She has a claim to the Iron Throne as one of the great bastards and she would have a dragon while being unmarried. I almost feel like keeping her away from the egg and just taking her on flights when she wants, but the look in her eyes as she holds it is too sweet to break up. If the egg hatches then I will convince my brother that she and the dragon need to stay here until the dragon can defend itself. That will give her time to figure out what her future will look like.

"Just be careful, Moonfyre trusted you with that little baby." She nods and walks to the warmer she keeps by the fireplace and sets the egg inside. "Keep it locked and chained and your door is always locked even if you are in here, there will be more guards posted so long as the egg is in here." She nods and locks the warmed and checks the chain attaching the warmer to the fireplace.

"It will be fine, I will take care of the egg I promise." She jumps up excitedly and crashes against me in a tight hug. "If it hatches I kind of want to call it Seastar, is that too much?" I shrug, it's a bit narcissistic but most Targaryens are so it's expected.

"Let's go get some food, Ser Richard will guard your door for now and make sure no one gets to the egg." She nods and lets go of me before skipping to the door while humming a pleasant tune.

----

"What did he say?" Danny asks exasperated as she picked up my mood instantly and knew I was talking with Daeron earlier.

"You might want a drink-." I stop as I remember the little baby and set the cup I was preparing down. "Well actually might just want to sit down and not think about fire for a few minutes." She scrunches up her brows and glares at me.

"Did you do something that you know will anger me?" I shake my head and her features soften and she sits down on the edge of our bed. "Then why do you seem to think I am about to burn something, or someone." I sit next to her and place a hand on her thigh and she laces her fingers with mine with a smile spreading.

"The King was just running through some scenarios with me, like for example if our kid hatches an egg he will put more credit into the idea our blood is needed. The eggs that are laid are vastly different from the stone eggs, and he thinks the stone eggs we hatched only did so because of our blood being special." She nods and leans against me with her head resting on my shoulder.

"Was that not obvious from the beginning? What does this have to do with me getting mad?" I sigh and prepare to have a pissed-off pregnant dragoness on my hands.

"Well if he thinks it's our blood that is special he will want our blood to spread and more dragons hatched. He said we need dragons and without them, our House would eventually fall... which you already know 'will' happen." She stiffens before relaxing once more against me but gripping my hand much tighter.

"So he is expecting a lot of kids from us to hatch the dragons, and by spreading he means he wants our kids to marry into his own grandkids most likely." I purse my lips.

"Well yes but actually no..." She takes a moment and slips into her thoughts before the hand gripping my own goes slack.

"He wants the blood to 'spread' you said?" I nod solemnly. "What was your reaction to him asking you to spread the blood?" I lick my lips and take a drink of my wine, she may not be able to drink but I can.

"Well I told him I don't think it's a good idea, I would never betray you like that and he accepted my words. I am telling you this because you asked what he said and I was not going to lie and then it come back to bite my ass. Nothing is going to happen so no need to call Drogon to melt the rest of Harrenhal." I happily pat the back of her smooth hand as she narrows her eyes at me.

"I never said you would go behind my back, I know you would not or you would have already." Relieve floods through me that she does not secretly think of me as a horny mutt even with all the rutting we do. "But he is not really wrong, you are right that I know how things would have ended. Give me some time to think about it further and we will see, we don't even know if our baby will hatch an egg at all and could be getting ahead of ourselves." I feel my heart almost stop as I look at the strange woman pretending to be my wife beside me, is this a Faceless man?

"Come again?" She snorts and shakes her head while rubbing her free hand across her lower belly.

"Do not get your hopes up Aerion, I only said I would think about it, it was our king who recommended it after all. I have given the thought some merit myself before when I was still adjusting to how long you last in bed. So it is not some weird thing for me, I was close to raising a white flag and letting you vent on someone else before." She rolls her eyes before letting go of my hand and leaving the room.

I am left on the bed with more questions than answers, truly an odd day today was.