Auris spoke carefully in the face of Baelon’s fury.
“Your Grace, blood magic always carries a cost, but it strictly follows the principle of one side benefiting while the other sacrifices. You don’t need to get so worked up.”
“If your dragon stands to gain, then your dragon will absolutely not be harmed. Just as you would benefit if your dragon were harmed—that is the foundation of blood magic. So there’s no need for such anger.”
The temptation of standing again and the thought of Ignir paying the price had thrown Baelon’s emotions off balance.
He quickly forced himself back to calm, repeating silently in his head:
“If you never had it, you can’t lose it. I’ve already prepared myself to never stand again.”
“Stay calm. Right now I have to stay calm. I can’t let this damn foreigner control my emotions with a few words.”
He took a deep breath, pressed his tongue hard against the roof of his mouth, and forced his voice steady.
“Tell me how you plan to speed up Ignir’s growth.”
Auris, clearly worried Baelon still didn’t trust him, tossed the ancient book back again.
“The method is on the last few pages. It’s called Devour Source blood magic.”
As Baelon flipped through the pages, Auris continued.
“This spell was passed down from House Belaerys, one of the royal bloodlines. Their family once used it to breed the largest dragons the world has ever seen.”
“My own house spent enormous effort to obtain it. We even sent a branch family away with this book when we feared retaliation, which is how it survived to this day.”
“Unfortunately we weren’t able to bring any dragons or eggs with us the way your family did. We were only trying to survive a short-term disaster, not undertake a true migration.”
“Dragons are magical creatures. Their growth speed depends on the magical density of their environment and their bloodline. This spell lets a dragon still in its rapid-growth phase steal life force and magical essence from an adult dragon, greatly accelerating its own development.”
“The price is the adult dragon’s life.”
“The magic takes a long time to complete—anywhere from several years to more than a decade, depending on the size of the dragon being drained. It continues until the victim grows weak and dies.”
“The adult dragon must be riderless. Once a dragon has a rider, any changes in its body would be noticed and the magic interrupted.”
Baelon kept turning pages while he asked, “What if I stop the magic partway through? Would the drained dragon still lose its life?”
Auris blinked, then answered, “No one has ever done that. Halting the magic would drastically reduce its effectiveness. Your dragon wouldn’t receive the full benefit.”
“But it would let an adult dragon survive. That’s a valuable asset to my family!”
“Kind prince,” Auris said with a touch of disdain, “a dragon that has had most of its life force and magic stolen will have bones as brittle as glass. What meaning is there in letting it live?”
“More importantly, a single dragon only gets one chance at this magic. Too many different magical forces would drive it mad.”
Baelon pulled his glove back on, guided Ignir to turn toward King’s Landing, and spoke without looking back.
“No wonder your family lost its dragons. You never deserved them.”
“I can’t even imagine how many dragons had to die for your house to collect these blood spells.” You are reading on g.com, the official source.
Auris called after him urgently, “So you’re rejecting the chance to walk and run again?!”
Baelon didn’t turn around.
“Stay in King’s Landing. I need time to think and verify everything. We’ll meet here again in seven days.”
With that, Ignir spread his great wings, pushed off the ground, and carried Baelon back toward the city.
Auris sat in the dirt, face covered in dust, but a cold smile curved his lips.
“Such a righteous prince. Looks like my plan worked after all.”
On the flight back to the Red Keep, Baelon lay against Ignir’s back, thinking hard.
If everything Auris said was true, the family currently had three riderless adult dragons: Vermithor, Silverwing, and Dreamfyre.
Using one of them to buy his health was an acceptable trade—as long as Ignir remained unharmed.
But Dreamfyre was in the dragonpit beneath King’s Landing.
Getting close to her alone, let alone bringing someone else in, would be nearly impossible.
His real opportunity lay on Dragonstone.
Rhaenyra was about to take possession of it.
The problem was that Viserys would never allow him to go with her.
Finding a legitimate reason to leave King’s Landing was going to be difficult.
Even if everything else went smoothly, he would still need to guard against Auris during the process—maybe slip him some slow-acting poison that could be countered with medicine if he behaved.
He had no idea what leverage Auris might use to ensure Baelon kept his end of the bargain.
The most urgent task right now was to dig through the family archives and see how much truth there was in the man’s words.
By the time Baelon finished his frantic planning, Ignir was already circling above the Red Keep courtyard.
The moment Ignir landed smoothly, Cole and several servants were waiting.
Cole quickly lifted Baelon down from the saddle.
Ignir glanced at his rider, gave a soft whine, then turned and headed toward his own shelter.
Cole said at once, “Your Grace, His Grace the King has asked to see you in his chambers.”
Baelon nodded.
“Don’t keep my father waiting.”
Viserys was holding a stone carving of Balerion when they arrived.
He set it down carefully as soon as he saw his son.
“Baelon. Where did you go today? See anything interesting?”
“Father, I was circling above the Kingswood. I saw a lot of fertile land that no one is farming.”
Viserys waved a hand, signaling Cole to leave.
Only after the doors closed did he continue.
“Child, the land beside the Kingswood has always been like that. It’s a royal asset. I called you here for something important. We can talk about the land another time.”
“Go ahead, Father.”
“Regarding your sister’s marriage… I want you and your sister to wed.”
Baelon stared at him, stunned.
Viserys kept speaking.
“It would keep our family’s bloodline pure and strengthen the crown’s rule. The queen wants Aegon to marry Rhaenyra, but I doubt your sister would ever agree.”
A wave of nausea rolled through Baelon.
His mind raced, searching for the right words to refuse.
“Father… do you want Mother’s line to die out completely?”
As he spoke, he patted his own thin legs and felt a sharp rush of gratitude that he was still disabled—and that he hadn’t agreed to anything with Auris today.
Viserys dragged a stool over and sat directly in front of his son, his face full of sorrow.
“Baelon… you can’t even do that?”
Baelon didn’t want to admit it, but he gave a small nod.
Viserys’s last hope crumbled.
He had no more desire to talk.
He called Cole back in and had him wheel Baelon out of the room.
Baelon let out a long, shaky breath of relief.
At the same time, an unexpected thought of four-year-old Helaena crossed his mind.
“Gods… even if everything else works out, I’ll have to wait until Helaena is married before I can stand in front of my father.”