Chapter 9: The Year of the Wombs

114 AC

"I WANT A DRAGON, I WANT A DRAGON, I WANT A DRAGON," Gaemon began to throw a tantrum right in front of everyone in the outer courtyard as he saw Maegelle fly with Ghost. I thought I knew sibling rivalry and jealousy, but dragons have a great way to complicate things. Suddenly I wish I was back in Dorne. It is so much easier to run a country than to deal with crazy kids and a pregnant wife.

I was about to slap him in front of everyone before my mother came to the rescue and calmed him down saying, "Don't worry sweetling, I will find you a dragon, don't worry you will have a dragon." This was the first time that Gaemon threw a tantrum in front of me and I had no bloody idea what to do when kids throw tantrums. I wonder what Alicent does when Aegon throws such royal tantrums.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before I said to my mother, "Take him to the Dragonpit, there is a young dragon named Tessarion still unbonded. And for his and my sake, please don't take him to Dreamfyre, she is more like to eat him than bond with him. She has just laid a clutch and she is very protective at this point. And if no dragon bonds with him then take him for a flight on Silverwing, that will calm him down."

My mother nodded before taking Gaemon with him to the stables. I looked around to see the nobles, guards, and servants still watching, "Should I dance for all of you," I sarcastically asked before all of them dispersed like gazelles on the run from a cheetah.

Then I turned my attention to the next little hellion, Maegelle, unlike her namesake who was gentle, quiet, and studious, this one turned out to be a bold and wilful girl who was showing all the telltale signs of becoming a terror like her brother. Was it too much to ask for quiet angelic kids who won't give me grey hairs before thirty-five?

And then, of course, her scaled companion who hatched in her cradle within a month of her birth, a dragon that I am a hundred and one percent sure is the dragon reincarnation of Ghost the direwolf from the main timeline. With snow-white scales, horns, crests, wing membranes, claws, teeth, and blood-red eyes. A dragon that didn't make a sound. The Silent Wyrm, the Dragonkeepers nicknamed him. There was no question who this dragon was. And Maegelle was deeply attached to him.

He was already the size of a pony and it was only a matter of time before Viserys put his foot down and moved him to the Dragonpit for the sake of everyone else in the Red Keep. I dread the ruckus that she will create. The nursemaids found it difficult to control her for there was a dragon to scare them off at all times.

Maybe I should go back to Dorne before it's too late, but I fear my wife will poison me in revenge for leaving her with two crazy kids and a third on the way.

"Kepa, they are saying that Ghost will be taken to the Dragonpit, I don't want that to happen," She was almost about to burst into tears, the last thing I needed was for her to start crying right now. Shiera would eat me alive if I made our baby girl cry.

"Come here sweetling, don't cry. Please don't." I knelt, and I stretched out my arms and she walked into it. Maegelle was the spitting image of my mother and there was no doubt that there would be many Lords and Knights vying for her hand but I would rather crucify them before they come near her.

"Now, now, sweetling. Don't worry, I promise that you will get to see and fly with him every day," I tried to reassure her.

"But I don't want him to go away," She pleaded. Convincing her will take something else.

"Sweetling, Ghost also wants to be with his muna, if you keep him here all the time, his muna will become sad," I tried to explain. Ghost did come from Silverwing's clutch so I wasn't off the mark there. Hopefully, this will work.

"His muna?" Maegelle asked confused.

"Yes, Silverwing," I informed her.

She then turned to her dragon who watching all this in silence and demanded, "You didn't tell me that Silverwing was your muna." The poor dragon didn't know what to say.

Now at least this one matter has been dealt with.

My heavily pregnant wife raised her legs on the chaise and tried to make herself as comfortable as she could be in her state, she was one of three pregnant women in the Red Keep. Alicent, Rhaenyra, and Shiera, all are due to give birth this year, no wonder that Mushroom declared this to be the Year of the Wombs.

"The Dragonkeepers took Ghost to the Dragonpit and Maegelle took it rather well than I thought she would. You said something to her that calmed her down."

I looked up from my citadel and city plans, "Yes, I suppose I did though Gaemon still failed to bond with Tessarion."

"Is there any way to hatch his dragon egg?" Shiera asked to which I shook my head, "I am afraid not. Dragon eggs hatch when it's time for them to hatch and the hatchlings and dragons bond with whomever they choose. The dragon chooses the rider, not the other way round."

"Maybe once he becomes older, he will bond with a bigger dragon," I hopefully remarked.

"What bigger dragon?" Shiera asked with a snort. "As you said, Dreamfyre is in a bad mood for anyone to bond with her at this point and the only other big dragons are the Cannibal and the Sheepstealer. And you are a bloody fool if you think that I will ever allow my son anywhere near them."

"Well I understand not wanting the Cannibal but what is wrong with Sheepstealer, he hasn't harmed a single shepherd. Besides these things like dragon bonding and hatching, they cannot be forced they happen naturally when it's time for them to happen. I bonded with Vermithor when I was five and ten and at the time that was quite young compared to the others. Most other boys in the family have to wait until they earn their knighthood and become men before they bond with dragons."

"Aegon bonded with Sunfyre a month ago during his nameday," Shiera pointed out.

"Yes, because Viserys stupidly asked him what he wanted for his nameday instead of just buying him a damn gift," I retorted.

Shiera before walking over to the table where I was working, "Taking care of your third child," She asked with a smirk.

"Hey," I replied, "I deserve to have a child that doesn't go out of its way to cause trouble for me. The Fire Watch, the Royal Navy, the Army, the Stepstones, they are all my projects but this, this city, this city is my baby. And I will prove to everyone who ever doubted me that I can build a city."

"Nobody doubts your ability to build cities, my dear, they do however doubt your ability to name them," She replied with a smirk.

I tried to defend myself, "Hey, hey, hey, the name Targaryenople was a completely normal name."

She shook her head, "No, it's not."

I continued, "And since all of you couldn't stand that name, I changed it."

"Yes, dear. You renamed the city after yourself. If anything you proved yourself to be your mother's son," She finished.

"Thank you, it's about time people complimented me for Cape Maekar," I said with a smile.

"It wasn't exactly a compliment but rather stating a fact but sure take it as if it were," She dryly answered.

"I thought of naming it my mother but her vanity didn't need anything like that," I said to her to which she snorted.

"Yes, her vanity didn't need that, yours however did." She deadpanned.

"I would prefer it if you didn't have to mock me for it," I said with a frown."I don't understand what is wrong with it, technically the area is a cape and I am founding a new city on that cape, so naturally, I have naming rights. And if I want to name it after myself so be it."

"Besides people ought to be more interested in the man-made harbor that I am building. The first of its kind at such a massive scale ever. Not even the Valyrians have done this." I continued my rant to defend my city.

"Not that the Valyrians ever needed to do something like this because they preferred to use natural harbors," She returned.

"Please don't ruin this for me, we have dinner with my mother and our children in a few hours and I still have to explain to Gaemon why he hasn't been able to bond with a dragon." I pleaded. As long as Aemond doesn't have a dragon, it will be alright. Those two were stuck at the hip for most of the time.

She thankfully conceded and looked over the plans. The city was planned out like Caesarea Maritima. Instead of facing toward the east through the promontory like Sunspear, this time around the city was facing down south with the two breakwaters looking like a bull's horns. There were already around thirty thousand people living in the city and that number was only going to grow. The city is due to become the Cape Town of Westeros and it will remain that way unless some idiot thinks of making a canal across the Neck to ruin everything that I have worked so hard to build.

As for the castle, I took inspiration from the Citadel of Aleppo, a large fortified palace right in the center of the city with enough space for the dragons to land. For any would-be attacker, the stone-cladding slopes and the high brick-walled entrance ramp and gatehouse itself would be a nightmare. Fully self-sufficient with a palace, bathhouse, sept, smithy, armory, training ground, defense towers, barracks, stables, water cisterns, and granaries. It would take at least ten years to finish building but it would be perfect.

My decision to choose Sunspear over Plankytown was also proven right when the course of the Greenblood River changed, if I had to build Plankytown then I would have to build it like the Martells did it with planks over the ships to help the town maintain its position whilst the river changed its course. The last thing I need right now is that bloody Mushroom to start calling me the Prince of Planks or worse, the Planky Prince. That dwarf knew things that he shouldn't know.

The rest of the hinterland was starting to recover from my depredations during the war. Most of the land had been parceled out to the soldiers who had now become farmers with an obligation for them and their families to serve as soldiers for me during times of war, similar to the thematic system. I called in every agriculture expert from the Citadel and the Free Cities to help increase the acreage of cultivation in Dorne, hopefully, there will be an agricultural revolution of sorts.

At the moment the political situation for me wasn't that good. It was bad enough that the Velaryons were now disparaging me in court as a drunkard because I may have developed a drinking problem after being away from my family. Before he left for his honeymoon Daemon made sure to credit my success in battle less to my tactical skills and more to dumb luck. While that wouldn't be a problem in its own right, he was at the height of his popularity with that wretched triumph that he got.

The wedding stunt that I pulled off in Dorne was in some circles denigrated as a cowardly Dornish tactic, championed not only by Daemon and the Velaryons but also by a certain Lord Lefford who now hated me with a passion, while the Marchers and House Oakheart on the other hand applauded me for giving the Dornish a taste of their own medicine. It was all a mixed bag but thankfully so far no one has dared claim that I broke guest rights.

Daemon managed to hog all the glory for winning the war while I was just given credit as a fellow commander. Viserys' actions no doubt. The fact that Daemon made quite a few enemies in both the Reach and the Stormlands over his handling of the war and its conclusion which satisfied no one went unnoticed by Viserys.

All the while this was happening I was busy in Dorne trying to rebuild what I destroyed. My mother and wife would have done something to counter this injustice if they weren't blindsided by Viserys and Daemon mostly because nobody expected that. Green or Black, nobody thought that I would be relegated as a mere fellow commander and not as a War Hero.

Now the two of them saw me as a threat, there was no question of it. Viserys didn't see me as a threat to him, no he saw me as a threat to Rhaenyra.

Then we sat in silence, savoring the moments of peace that were quite hard to find these days. When Shiera's ankles began to hurt, I massaged them to her delight. During the first pregnancy, we were still awkward around each other when we weren't fucking each other's brains out, this ability of mine to massage came in handy to bond and connect with her and to share the juicy gossip and help me learn Volantene and Tyroshi politics.

"Did you hear, Laena is also pregnant, she will be staying Pentos with Daemon for the birth," Shiera informed me in between the massages before she sighed in relief.

"I figured as much," I shrugged. The year of the womb indeed. Hopefully, Daemon won't have a son and if doesn't he might force Laena to keep having children until he has a son which means that there is a good chance that Laena might die in childbirth. If she doesn't die in childbirth, then I will see to it, there is no fucking way that I will let that bitch stay alive longer than 120 AC.

I was in a way lucky that both Daemon and Laena were wanderlust lovebirds who decided to tour the Free Cities and beyond for their honeymoon which is now stretching to around two years. Which meant the Daemon was not Rhaenyra's baby daddy but rather like OTL Harwin Strong.

I am certain that Rhaenyra slept with Criston Cole, even Shiera and Viserra agree on that. I am assuming that after the post-coital bliss faded away reality set in, they both must have had different ways to deal with such an eventuality and they broke up in a rather bad way because he was now Alicent's loyal dog instead of Rhaenyra's. During the wedding tourney, Criston was like the books described it, a beast in the field.

He specifically targeted Joffrey Lonmouth from the start and made sure that he would never see the sun again after which he went after Harwin Breakbones. At first, their fight was rather evenly matched, Criston was faster and more skilled while Harwin was stronger and larger and he made sure to stick to his strengths. But that day, Criston was fighting like a man possessed and Harwin couldn't keep up with him.

I don't think that Harwin was Rhaenyra's first choice for sperm doner but rather I was. Rhaenyra would have propositioned me had it not been for my wife. Even though she denies it, I do not doubt that my wife privately threatened Rhaenyra that if she dared to come near me she would choke purple.

A Month Later

"Kids, come meet your new brother," I said to my children as I brought them into the room. Shiera was still sleeping, this time the labor was a bit difficult at around six hours. I think that we shouldn't try our luck too much. Perhaps we should stop at three. My mother certainly thought so.

As both Gaemon and Maegelle came to the cradle, they saw their little brother sleeping with the dragon egg his grandmother gave him.

My mother quietly warned them, "Don't wake both of them up. They are very tired."

"What's his name?" Maegelle quietly asked as she looked over the crib with wide eyes.

"His name is Haegon Targaryen," I answered, "And he is your baby brother. Which means that the two of you have to protect him, do you understand."

They both nodded in awe as Gaemon forlornly looked at the red and black dragon egg.

I tousled his silver curls, "Don't worry son, you will have a dragon one day."

Four Months Later

"I must say that this is a very fortuitous year for the Royal family," Lyman Beesbury remarked as most of the Small Council and the Targaryen and Velaryon families stood outside Rhaenyra's birthing room.

He was right, Alicent gave birth to Daeron around three months ago and people in court were now placing bets on whether it would be a hattrick of boys. I on the other hand was busy placing bets with myself on whether Rhaenyra would beat the odds.

Maybe it was a Westeros thing where the children tended to follow the father's coloring with a few instances of that not being the case.

"Prince Maekar, I believe that I forgot to give my congratulations," Jasper Wylde said to me as we waited.

"And why is that?" I asked bemused.

"Why? Your son's dragon egg hatched, of course," He said as if that was the most natural thing in the world.

"Oh that, yes, thank you," I said as I thought of ways to get the hell out of King's Landing once Rhaenyra popped out a strong kid.

Haegon's dragon egg hatched a week ago, a dragon with crimson-red scales and black wings. I named him Bloodfyre and as soon as the Dragonkeepers and I were certain that the two bonded, I had the hatchling taken to the Dragonpit, not making the same mistake with Maegelle again. Many people saw the consecutive hatching of the dragon eggs as a good omen and the approval of the gods over my handling of the war in Dorne. Most of Corlys and Daemon's machinations were slowly eroded like that.

I turned to see Harwin Strong, waiting tensely, the man was like an open book. He quit the City Watch to become the new sworn shield of Rhaenyra now that Criston Cole had new loyalties to the Queen rather than the Princess.

I wonder why Rhaenyra didn't choose him from the start, he was the son of the Hand of the King, the Heir to Harrenhal and it would seen as an acceptable match. Instead, she dithered away and put everyone on the hook which forced Viserys to make her marry Laenor which wasn't necessary since Daemon married Laena.

"So Harwin, you look very nervous. More nervous than Laenor, that husband and the ... father of the child," I said to him with a wide smile and the poor guy pissed his breeches.

The way I lingered on the father made him realize that I knew the truth and boy was he about to faint, "Of course, not my Prince. I am merely worried for the Princess for this is one of the few battlefields where I can't help her."

"Indeed," I said with a ponderous nod.

Then the wailing of a newborn baby was heard.

I was the fifth one allowed into the birthing chambers after Viserys, Laenor, Corlys, and Rhaenys. Almost immediately upon entering the chamber, I could feel tension, it was so thick that I could touch it with my hand and I had every intention of bringing my axe into it.

Corlys and Rhaenys were stone-faced as fuck, Laenor was looking everywhere that didn't have a set of eyes judging him. Viserys was sweating like a pig while trying to pretend to be happy and most importantly a defiant Rhaenyra

I saw the newly named Prince Jacaerys Velaryon, "Even from outside I could hear his crying, he has a very...strong set of lungs," I said straight to Rhaenyra's face, either she was too thick to understand my meaning or she thought that I was genuine.

I turned to Laenor and embraced him and I said with a jovial laugh, "Laenor. You are now a father and let me speak from experience when I say that it will be a difficult task for every new father but I have full trust in you that you will be Strong enough to deal with any troubles that come your way."

The man couldn't look me in the eye in normal times, this time he was on the verge of a heart attack. I turned from Laenor to Viserys.

"Brother, you are now a grandfather while Daemon and I are still trying to get the hang of being fathers," I said to him as I embraced him as well.

"Thank you, brother, it is truly a momentous occasion," He said with a nervous chuckle.

I turned once more to the crib to see that the baby Jacaerys did indeed have brown tufts of hair. I decided to lay it thick for the benefit of everyone in this room, I turned to Rhaenys as I went to embrace her and I japed, "My dear Rhaenys who would have thought that you would be a grandmother, even saying that makes you sound old."

Rhaenys tried to form a smile but I destroyed that in my next sentence, "I must say that the babe has a very dark shade of silver hair, a rare color indeed, even in Old Valyria, just like your father's pale white golden hair. Wouldn't you agree, Rhaenys? I do not doubt that he will have an equally rare shade of purple for his eyes."

If looks could kill Rhaenys would have me buried in the ground right at this very instant. I was laying it thick but I wanted to elicit a reaction from them.

Then I turned to Corlys to deliver my masterstroke, all this while he was my political rival and now I have him exactly where I want him.

"Corlys, you old dog, you finally got your strong heir for Driftmark and the Iron Throne as you have always wanted," I said to him as I embraced a very stiff Corlys.

I then whispered into his ears, "I hear that there is a mouse in Hull who is about as old as your good daughter. A small and very pretty piece of thing I must say, it would be unfortunate if something happened to her."

If the stiff Corlys could freeze even more then he would have. I withdraw from the hug before I declare, "This is wonderful news indeed, we must share this with the world."

I went out of the birthing chambers before Lyonel could enter and I threw up my arms and announced, "IT'S A PRINCE, A VERY STRONG PRINCE INDEED."