Alicent brought Aegon before Viserys herself.
“I need an explanation for this.
And I owe Corlys one as well.”
Viserys had a splitting headache.
The last thing he expected was Alicent and Aegon wanting to protect Criston.
Yet the more he thought about it, the more it made sense.
He simply did not want to think in that direction.
He still hoped his daughter and his wife could live in peace.
“Father, Joffrey insulted me and my mother in front of Criston.
Criston lost his temper for a moment.
It is understandable.
Let the matter rest.
Mother and I will not pursue it.”
Viserys stared at Aegon in silence, then looked at Alicent.
His meaning was plain.
“That is the truth of it.
If Corlys doubts it, he can ask Joffrey himself.” Alicent’s expression did not waver.
Aegon kept his amusement hidden.
Joffrey had to survive first.
Even if he did, it would not matter.
It would be one word against another, and then a trial by combat.
Seeing that Alicent meant to hold her ground, Viserys waved a tired hand.
“I understand.
Both of you, go.”
He would speak with Corlys himself.
The man was only Laenor’s favorite.
In the end, he was not important.
The twelfth month of 114 AC.
Queen Alicent and Princess Rhaenyra each gave birth to healthy sons.
The boys were named Daeron Targaryen and Jacaerys Velaryon.
But their appearances stirred no small trouble.
Daeron had silver hair and violet eyes.
Even as a newborn, his future good looks were plain to see.
Jacaerys, by contrast, had brown hair, brown eyes, and a flat nose.
Nothing of his father’s hooked nose, silver hair, or violet eyes.
Many at court began to suspect the true father of Rhaenyra’s children was her personal guard, Ser Harwin Strong.
The rumors threatened to spread beyond the castle walls.
Viserys, furious, ordered a harsh crackdown on anyone spreading them.
Under that pressure, the rumors were finally suppressed.
He commanded that Daeron and Jacaerys be nursed by the same wet nurse, to build affection between them from the cradle.
A dragon egg was placed in each boy’s cradle as well.
115 AC.
Same brown hair, brown eyes, flat nose.
The rumors stirred again.
But the egg in Jacaerys’s cradle hatched without trouble, while Prince Daeron’s red egg remained still.
Daemon’s first wife, Lady Rhea Royce, died.
Some whispered Daemon had killed her.
But Daemon was fighting in the Stepstones against the Triarchy and the Dornish alliance at the time.
The rumor collapsed on its own.
Runestone passed to Lady Rhea’s nephew.
Daemon, left with nothing, departed the Vale.
On his way south, he stopped at Driftmark.
There he married Lord Corlys’s daughter, the twenty-two-year-old Laena, and killed a rival for her hand in a duel.
The man was the son of a former Sealord of Braavos.
Daemon had grown tired of his petty kingdom.
He knew the king would not welcome this marriage, so he and his wife set out together, touring the Free Cities on dragonback.
Viserys, upon hearing of it, raged in private.
Corlys wrote a letter inviting Viserys to Driftmark to discuss Jacaerys’s inheritance.
In truth, Corlys was testing him.
He wanted Jacaerys to take the Iron Throne under the Velaryon name and rule as King of the Seven Kingdoms.
In the end, the matter came to nothing.
No whisper of it ever left the court.
116 AC.
Daemon’s twin daughters were born.
He wished them to receive the king’s blessing.
Viserys believed his brother had repented and allowed him to return to the Seven Kingdoms.
The two reconciled once more.
Daemon settled on Driftmark with Laena and their daughters.
117 AC.
Rhaenyra and Laenor’s youngest son, Joffrey Velaryon, was born.
Daemon brought his twin daughters to court to meet the king.
Late in 119 AC, Viserys I refused Prince Daeron’s request to tame Silverwing.
In the end, Prince Daeron tamed a young she-dragon that had hatched alongside Seasmoke.
Tessarion, the Blue Queen.
Three years slipped by.
The year 120 AC arrived.
On the third day of 120 AC, Lady Laena gave birth to a stillborn, malformed child.
Weakened by grief, she died soon after of childbed fever.
Corlys and Rhaenys were shattered.
Viserys brought his family to Driftmark for the funeral.
As Vaemond Velaryon spoke the eulogy, Laena was lowered into the sea, to the realm of the Merling King, under his protection.
Yet the funeral carried more than grief.
Something unspoken hung over it.
When Vaemond spoke the words “blood never thins,” his gaze turned to ice, fixed hard on Rhaenyra and her children.
Viserys, Corlys, Daemon.
All of them noticed.
Sensing the mood turning, Daemon, who had never cared for ceremony, acted at once.
He laughed aloud, drawing every eye to him.
The guests were stunned.
Your wife is dead, and you can laugh?
Daemon did not care.
His reputation was already rotten.
A little more filth would not matter.
Besides, it drew attention away from Rhaenyra.
The long funeral finally ended.
The guests began to disperse.
Several dragons circled overhead.
Sunfyre landed first, his massive form kicking up a cloud of sand.
Aemond stared with open envy.
“Brother, Sunfyre grows so fast.
So mighty, and so beautiful!”
Sunfyre’s size now nearly matched Caraxes.
In less than ten years, he might surpass Meleys.
Meleys was the largest of the Targaryens’ third generation of dragons, second only to Silverwing of the second generation.
Though strictly speaking, Meleys belonged to the fourth generation.
The maesters simply preferred to set Balerion apart and count Vhagar as the first generation of Targaryen dragons.
Balerion had hatched in Old Valyria.
Vhagar had hatched on Dragonstone.
“I had the Dragonkeepers measure Sunfyre two days ago.
Guess how long he is.”
Aegon ruffled Aemond’s hair.
“Hmm.
I say fifty meters.
He is enormous.
He looks only a little smaller than Meleys.”
“Nothing so grand.
Do not exaggerate.
He has only just reached forty meters.
Meleys is at least sixty.
There is still a fair gap.”
Hearing his sons, Viserys chuckled and said to Aemond,
“If you have the courage, you may go to Dragonstone and choose an egg.
Or tame a dragon.”
A deep, unmistakable roar split the air.
Vhagar.
Aemond pressed his lips together and nodded firmly.
Viserys smiled with quiet pride.
House Velaryon had lost Vhagar.
If Aemond could claim a dragon, House Targaryen would hold the advantage once more.