127

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118 AC

Kingslanding

Daeron Nymeros Martell

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"Dracarys." Rhaenyra emotionlessly commands her dragon and the she-dragon swiftly responds after turning its attention away from the gathered onlookers back to the pyre with the passed King's wrapped body resting upon it.

Syrax opens her mouth with a low-pitched whine which is soon followed by a sizeable spray of Yellow-Gold flames that nearly instantly turns the corpse into ash. The flames last around ten seconds which is enough time to almost do all of the burning needed to leave behind only half of the wood and a bunch of soot. The she-dragon jaw snaps shut with another whine leaving her now closed snout, her intelligent eyes shift to look toward Rhaenyra who has her own locked onto the burning pyre.

""Good girl Syrax..."" I mutter low while pretending to wipe away some tears, the dragon turns her attention to me and lets out a sharp trill before turning her attention back toward the strangers gathered around to watch my Good Father's cremation.

She is obviously bothered by the gathered crowd but is tolerating them, but it's obvious she is displeased with them all being in here.

This is where she grew up, she likely views this place as home and always will.

Even after they stopped chaining her, she still willingly returned here to rest in her old lair.

"There he goes..." Rhaenyra mutters and wipes away real tears with her sleeve. "Gone." I wrap my arm around her side and pull her against my side.

I am horrible in moments like this, I wish I wasn't.

"Gone." I confirm with a slow nod. "But only in flesh-" I bite the inside of my cheek to stop from cringing as I accidentally breathe through my nose and smell some rather burnt flesh. "-however, he still remains in spirit and memory." I finish my words and turn my head to kiss the side of my wife's head while rolling my eyes at one of our guards who is side-eyeing me.

I know, that was horrible.

I don't need your judging eyes.

Funerals are not my strong point, in fact, they are my weakness.

"He disliked war." Rhaenyra whispers. "But we will fight one anyway..." I turn my head back forward catching sight of Daemon as he looks solemnly at the flames.

"We will." Rhaenyra hums at my words and leans her head against my chest as both of her arms snake around my waist.

My eyes scan the gathered crowd, none of the major Lords had time to arrive and we would not send for them anyway. They need to be preparing for war and not traveling to the capital, armies are worth more now than their presence or condolences. Things will start moving fast, like a snowball rolling downhill, this war will be swift and brutal, and everyone on our side needs to be as prepared as possible.

I still can't be certain this was even Volantis, I don't think anyone is, but as they are the most likely culprit in everyone's eyes, they have to pay the price. It helps they just bought a slave army and potentially allied with a Dothraki horde or two to invade westward. If it turns out they are not behind this, they still need to die and no one will feel bad for smashing them flat.

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"Are you sure you want to wear that crown?" I ask my Wife as she stands before a mirror with her father's crown.

It was the Good Kings and then my Good Father's... and now Rhaenyra wants to wear it.

"I don't think the Conqueror Crown sends the right message..." Rhaenyra mutters while lifting the crown from her head with one hand and setting the Valyrian steel circlet that is fitted with square rubies in its place with her other hand. "Many will take it as a sign that I have 'conquered' the throne and not 'inherited' it." Rhaenyra turns to look at me as I lay on the bed with my head hanging off of it and our Daughter Viserra sleeping on my chest.

"I think it sends the perfect message, especially with what we have done in Essos and will do in Essos. It's not meant to be a message to the Lords in Westeros but rather the people of Essos who are going to be looking toward you with even more scrutiny than the Lords of Westeros will." She purses her lips and looks unconvinced and I just sigh and adjust myself to put my head back on the bed as the blood rushing to my head was starting to make me dizzy. "Wear what you want in public, but when we have roleplay sex on the throne you will wear the Conqueror's crown." I hear her snort but fail to see her reaction as I shift my attention toward my chest where a tiny pair of purple eyes are looking up at me.

Viserra is chewing on her thumb while scrunching up her nose and looking at me with curiosity.

"Aegon told me he wants to wear Aegons crown." I hum in response to my wife's words and tickle my Daughter lightly causing her to wiggle about wildly.

"He told me he expects Blackfyre soon." I smile remembering how my eldest boy earnestly requested I find him his sword.

'Muna won't be using it, so that means I can use it instead' were his exact words.

"Don't even get me started on swords." Rhaenyra sighs and I look over to see her run her hands over her face, both crowns set aside. "Nymeria has been pestering Daemon, she wants Dark Sister." I purse my lips and feel a bit betrayed that my Daughter has not even approached me about such a thing.

"Hmm..." Actually, that makes sense, she likely does not even want it herself.

Nymeria wants to use a spear in the future, she probably wants to get Dark Sister for Visenya as I know they talked about it before.

Written, they have written to each other before and the subject came up.

Visenya was speaking about her training in the Vale, and Nymeria expressed how much she is looking forward to training and receiving her own weapon. They then went on to draw swords and spears and even knives for the next ten or so messages that some poor raven had to carry.

"Will your Mother and Sister be joining us in the capital at some point?" I ask suddenly as my mind drifts to my Good Mother and my Good Sister who is almost more like a Daughter to me with how I have spoken to her more than her now-deceased Father. "She has no reason to stay away now." I narrow my eyes seeing my Wife shrug before she turns and starts walking across the room toward me.

"I think it will be awkward for her and Alicent, but I think she will be arriving within a few days and plans to stay awhile." I nod while feeling happy about the upcoming reunion. "We need to finish going through our stuff so I can have what we don't want to be thrown out or maybe even donated... I want to move into the Queen's chambers sooner than later." Rhaenyra drops onto the other side of the bed and locks eyes with Viserra who has raised her shaky infant head to look toward her Mother with a cute babble escaping her toothless mouth.

She obviously does not want to talk about her Mother and Alicent, it's a brewing storm that is unavoidable at this point.

"Don't donate or throw out any clothes." Rhaenyra raises a brow at me and I shake my head while feeling a bit murderous. "I don't know if it was real or not because I refused to go and confirm it myself, but apparently one of your dresses ended up on a whore who wears a silver wig." Her jaw drops and I immediately regret speaking up. "I sent someone to handle it already and while I was at it I told them to make it known that anyone caught pretending to be you will be punished." Her obvious rising fury is not stopped by my words and she shuts her eyes.

"Make sure whoever you sent double checks... if I hear about this again Syrax will be eating whoever it was alive." She shakes her head before opening her eyes and crawling across the bed, her gaze focused on our confused Daughter. "If someone wants to pretend to be me while riding men, then they can pretend to be me while riding my dragon." The kind smile on her face as she takes our Daughter and sets her onto her own chest sends a fire through me but I snuff it out and lay my head back on the bed with my gaze looking up at the ceiling.

"I will handle it." I promise while adding yet another task to the list I need to work my way through before our evening meal.

Lots to do, and not a lot of time to do it.

Sighing I sit up and stretch my back.

"Break time is over I guess..." I groan while slipping across the bed and letting my bare feet hit the cold stone floor. "Aegon wanted to go and see Balerion with his new friends as well and I wanted to do that today so he would stop pestering me." Rhaenyra hums in acknowledgment as I stand up and feel my back pop.

"Have fun." She calls out while squishing the cheeks of our baby who is looking downright betrayed as she looks toward me with watery gem-like eyes.

Be brave my Daughter, I will come rescue you from the she-dragon clutches after I wrangle your siblings together to go and see their scaled friends.