“Stand up and tell me your name.”
Baelon spoke fluent High Valyrian, his tone calm and practiced.
Aston Waters remained respectfully kneeling before him.
“Your Highness, my name is Aston Waters.”
“Thank you for speaking up just now and saving both my life and the captain’s insignificant lives.”
Baelon had read about this in his books.
Waters was the surname traditionally given to bastards born in the Crownlands.
Every region of Westeros had its own surname for bastards.
In the North, bastards were called Snow.
In the Riverlands, they were called Rivers.
Baelon sat down on a nearby stone and questioned Aston.
“Tell me.
Why do you think Caraxes became so agitated and tried to attack me?”
Aston Waters lowered his head respectfully.
“Our dragonkeeper records are filled with notes concerning the habits, diets, temperaments, and various peculiarities of dragons.”
“Among them, environment and diet are the most important factors.
As long as those two things are properly taken care of, dragons generally won’t attack people without reason.”
“But there is another situation.
When a dragon encounters a rider whom it perceives as dangerous.
Dragons can sense the emotions of those who approach them, and that can influence how they react.”
“So you’re saying Caraxes wanted to attack me partly because of Daemon, but also because it sensed something dangerous about me as a potential dragonrider?”
Baelon found the idea difficult to believe.
He had already chosen the dragon he wanted to tame, but his encounters with Cannibal had so far existed only within his dreams.
He had never even had the opportunity to climb onto the dragon’s back.
If that counted as taming a dragon, then it was even more terrifying than the idea that his dreams were prophetic.
“Yes, Your Highness.
I haven’t been a dragonkeeper for very long, but I’ve memorized the relevant precautions very carefully!”
Aston answered with absolute certainty.
Baelon said nothing.
Instead, he ordered the captain of the dragonkeepers to bring him the books containing the Dragonpit’s rules and records.
He intended to read, in painstaking detail, every record concerning dragons that the dragonkeepers had accumulated since their order was founded.
“Does your family currently live in King’s Landing?”
Baelon suddenly turned toward Aston.
“No, Your Highness.”
“My family lives on Dragonstone.
I haven’t seen them for more than two months.”
Aston’s expression became noticeably downcast.
“If you want, I can have your family brought to King’s Landing so that you can live together.”
Baelon gave a faint smile.
He certainly wasn’t going to waste such a perfect opportunity to win someone’s loyalty.
Aston immediately dropped to his knees.
“Thank you for your generosity, Your Highness!”
“How can someone as insignificant as me repay your kindness?”
And remain loyal to me alone.”
Baelon admired the speed of Aston’s reaction.
The bastard clearly understood that if he received something valuable, he would inevitably be expected to pay a price in return.
Aston was visibly excited.
“It would be my greatest honor to serve you, Your Highness!”
The boy standing before him was the king’s eldest son, the future king of the Seven Kingdoms, and the sole heir to the Iron Throne.
Serving under such a man was more exciting than receiving a hundred golden dragons.
Baelon nodded in satisfaction before turning toward the dragonkeeper captain.
“Train him well.
Your family will receive the same treatment.”
The captain bowed deeply.
“I will not disappoint you, Your Highness.”
Satisfied with the answer, Baelon handed the books he had been holding to Ser Erryk for safekeeping.
He then looked toward the depths of the Dragonpit.
“Besides Dreamfyre, are there any other dragons here?”
“There is a young dragon named Sunfyre.
If you want to test the theory you mentioned earlier, he would be a good choice.”
Aston answered eagerly.
Baelon’s expression immediately changed.
“Aston, who told you that I intended to use a dragon to test my theory?”
One hand rested on the dragonbone dagger at his waist as he stared at the eager bastard with a smile that never quite reached his eyes.
Aston froze.
From everything he had observed, he had been certain that Prince Baelon intended to do exactly that.
So why was the prince denying it?
“Your Highness, I—”
“Ser Erryk.
Restrain him.”
Baelon’s voice turned cold.
Erryk Cargyll lived up to his reputation as a member of the Kingsguard.
Aston barely had time to react before Erryk seized him with one hand and slammed him firmly against the nearby stone wall.
“Your Highness, await your command.”
Baelon drew the dragonbone dagger.
He walked slowly toward the struggling Aston.
Then, without hesitation, he sliced off the little finger of Aston’s left hand.
“AAAAAAAH!”
“My hand!
My hand!”
Aston’s scream echoed throughout the Dragonpit.
Every dragonkeeper present immediately lowered their heads, terrified of making even the slightest sound.
Baelon stepped forward and calmly questioned the captain.
“Dragonkeeper Captain, Aston accidentally lost his little finger.
Do you know how that happened?”
The captain was trembling.
yes!
Aston was injured by dragonfire while cleaning the Dragonpit.
To prevent the wound from worsening, a maester had to amputate his finger!”
The dragonkeeper captain was completely terrified.
He had never imagined that Baelon, the king’s eldest son who appeared so gentle, polite, and well-mannered, could actually be a demon wearing a human face.
More frighteningly, he was only six years old.
Yet he already possessed such terrifying courage and decisiveness.
No one could imagine what astonishing things this prince might accomplish once he reached adulthood.
“Yes.
I’ll find him a reputable maester.
Hopefully, the wound won’t leave an ugly scar.”
Baelon placed a hand on the captain’s shoulder.
“And let us hope something like this never happens a second time.”
His meaning was perfectly clear.
The matter ended here.
But it must never happen again.
“Your Highness, you have my word!”
The captain immediately dropped to his knees.
The other dragonkeepers followed suit, hurriedly swearing their loyalty.
None of them wanted to attract the prince’s displeasure and discover that their own little fingers could disappear just as easily.
“I believe you.”
With that, Baelon and Erryk boarded the carriage and departed from the Dragonpit.
On the journey back to the Red Keep, Erryk, who was riding alongside the carriage as Baelon’s guard, repeatedly glanced toward him.
He clearly had something he wanted to say.
“Ser Erryk, you’re my personal guard.
There is nothing you cannot say directly to me.”
Baelon spoke first.
“Your Highness, forgive my bluntness.”
“If you personally cut off the dragonkeeper’s little finger, that bastard may come to hate you.
I don’t believe the decision was worth the risk.”
Truthfully, the moment Erryk had watched Prince Baelon draw the dragonbone dagger and decisively cut off Aston’s finger himself, he had felt a mixture of shock and excitement.
But he had also become deeply concerned for the prince.
A bastard might have a lowly status, but Aston was still a dragonkeeper entrusted with the management of the Dragonpit.
What if the bastard developed a grudge against Baelon?
What if he secretly released a dragon’s chains when the prince attempted to tame it and used the opportunity to take revenge?
Erryk didn’t understand High Valyrian, so he had no idea what Baelon and the dragonkeepers had actually discussed.
“Ser Erryk, would you like to make a wager with me?”
Baelon lightly tapped the wooden armrest beside him.
“Let’s see whether Aston personally delivers a report to me this afternoon concerning what happened in the Dragonpit yesterday.”
“And if you lose, you will swear upon that white cloak and the honor of a Kingsguard that you will never reveal what happened today.”
Baelon’s voice was filled with undisguised confidence.