Get comfortable, turn the page, and let’s see what this story has been hiding 🔥 ✦ Before entering King’s Landing, Vaelor had agreed readily enough.
After disembarking, his firm will immediately met its first challenge.
At midday, the sea wind was calm.
The Prince Vaelor crossed Blackwater Bay, and from the bow Vaelor could see the imposing Mud Gate in the distance.
“So many people.” He leaned over the rail and stood on tiptoe, watching the little ant-like figures moving around the harbor.
The Vale knights stood in formation, waiting for the ship to dock.
The voyage had gone very smoothly.
Boom!
Suddenly, a golden blur shot over the high city wall and tore through the drifting clouds.
In the next instant, the thin mist scattered.
“Shriek!” Before the ships on Blackwater Bay could react, the golden blur plunged downward.
One broad membrane wing skimmed the sea.
Wind and waves swept across the surrounding water.
“Dragon!
Protect the prince!” The Gull Knight cried out in alarm, threw himself forward, and pressed little Vaelor to the deck.
Vaelor’s vision went dark.
Beneath him, the great ship shook violently.
Water crashed up in a spray.
The Prince Vaelor and several nearby ships were shoved by the blast of wind.
Vale knights shouted one after another, their feet swaying until they nearly lost balance.
Everything came quickly and left just as quickly.
The golden blur climbed thousands of feet into the sky and vanished beyond Blackwater Bay.
“What happened?
Was that a dragon?” Vaelor did not know the meaning of fear.
He poked his head out and asked.
Ser Ryan watched the sky warily.
Only after confirming the dragon’s shadow had disappeared did he rise.
“Yes.
It looked like the princess’s dragon.” He had glimpsed that golden beast from afar in Gulltown before.
Experiencing it this close had soaked his back in cold sweat.
“Ser, could you please get up first?” Vaelor was being crushed so hard he could barely breathe.
He struggled free.
Ser Ryan did not dare delay.
He hurriedly stood and checked him.
“Prince, are you hurt?” “Thank you, ser.” Vaelor patted down his clothes, showing that he was fine.
But in his heart, he was thinking one thing.
‘It has grown so much.’ It was only a dragon.
It was not as if he had never seen one.
After the small disturbance passed, the ship quickly reached the dock.
With his three guards hemming him in front and back, Vaelor hopped down from the deck and successfully arrived in King’s Landing.
He lifted his eyes and scratched his head in confusion.
There was no welcoming honor guard.
No royal escort clearing a path, no special carriage waiting for him.
As a harbor gate, the Mud Gate was full of merchants and fishermen coming and going.
Commoners and merchants mixed with nobles.
The Vale knights raised the banner of House Royce, and several other banners stood nearby as well.
The roaring lion of Lannister.
The crowned stag of Baratheon.
Compared with two great houses, House Royce, a bannerman of the Vale, did not stand out much.
“Let us go.” Vaelor’s small brows drew together.
He was a little unhappy.
Gunthor obeyed the order.
With his powerful body, he pushed aside the merchants blocking the way like a merciless battering ram.
Vaelor followed him toward the gate beneath the high wall.
His mother had brought many Vale knights on this journey, and Lady Rhea needed to arrange lodgings for them.
She could not go with her son.
Of course, perhaps she simply did not want to see the king.
“Make way!
Make way!” Vaelor had many thoughts, but the moment he entered the city, he heard wheels rolling.
Several strong white horses whinnied as a luxurious white wheelhouse stopped across the street.
Two bronze gongs rang out.
A line of royal guards carrying three-headed red dragon banners came forward.
A white knight in silver armor and a white cloak jumped down from the wheelhouse and bowed respectfully.
“My deepest apologies, prince.
There was a small difficulty on the road.” Seeing the display, Vaelor’s eyes turned as he wondered whether it was true.
‘They did not forget me and send someone at the last moment, did they?’ “Is His Grace busy?” Vaelor tilted his head, sensing something odd.
The white knight lowered his head further and answered every question.
“The king is in Small Council.
Her Grace the queen will receive you for the time being.” “Is that so?” Vaelor clasped his small hands behind his back and nodded generously.
“Very well.
I will trouble you, then.” “It is my duty.” The white knight was solemn in manner.
He lifted the little prince into the wheelhouse, set him safely inside, then took the driver’s board and gathered the reins.
The royal guards also provided several swift horses as mounts for the prince’s own guards.
Beneath the three-headed red dragon banners, the white wheelhouse rolled unhurriedly toward the Red Keep.
People along both sides of the road stopped to watch, their curiosity toward an unfamiliar prince far stronger than their interest in other nobles from around the realm.
At the Red Keep, in Maegor’s Holdfast, the white knight led Vaelor through the crowded outer yard and into the inner palace, where outside courtiers were not permitted to enter freely.
“Thank you.” Vaelor thanked him quietly, and the white knight led his guards away to be settled.
The pale red-brick corridor suddenly held only one small person.
Knock, knock.
He knocked on a door, warning the people inside the royal chamber.
Alicent Hightower stood by the window with her back turned, holding a swaddled infant in her arms and humming patiently to soothe the child.
Hearing the sound at the door, she turned in confusion.
First, a small boot appeared from behind the door.
Then a soft, fair face with silver hair and violet eyes peeked out.
The little boy smiled mischievously and waved.
“Hello, Alicent.” Alicent’s weariness turned into surprise.
Then a smile bloomed across her face.
“Vaelor?
Is that you?” She took one step, remembered the infant in her arms, and handed the bundle to a maid.
When she moved again, her steps were lighter.
Seeing her delight, Vaelor lifted his chin proudly.
“I came back from Runestone.” He had barely finished speaking before she caught his small hand, pulled him into the room, and set him on the soft black-and-white carpet.
Alicent cupped Vaelor’s plump cheeks in both hands and turned his face left and right, hurriedly asking, “How have you lived at Runestone?
I heard Lady Rhea has a very proud temper.” His cheeks felt soft and round.
He clearly had not lacked food or clothing.
Vaelor’s cheeks were squeezed until they puffed.
He mumbled unclearly, “It was all right.
I am her own son, after all.” “That is good.
I worried you would not adapt to the Vale’s climate.” Alicent’s mood stirred with a long-lost excitement, and her smile filled her lovely face.
There was no denying it: a woman chosen as queen would never lack beauty.
Her features were soft and lovely, her manner gentle and moving.
Slight curls fell against the fullness of her bodice, adding a motherly warmth to her young body.
When she smiled, she was especially beautiful.
Vaelor rubbed his nose, breathing in a familiar faint floral scent, and told her about his ordinary life over the years.
Alicent did the same, holding the little boy she regarded as a younger brother on her lap.
When she saw the embroidered satchel at Vaelor’s waist, her smile warmed like tea in winter.
The two of them were good friends.
They had been from the beginning.
That went back to Vaelor’s birth, when Alicent came to court with her father and helped care for the aging Old King Jaehaerys I.
Vaelor had a pair of parents who could not stand each other, so naturally they had little interest in raising a child together.
In his old age, Jaehaerys had lost children of his own.
He pitied his newborn great-grandson.
After the Great Council of 101 AC, he brought the baby to his bedside to be cared for.
The person who did much of that work was Alicent, still a girl at the time.
The entire court knew that beside the aged King Jaehaerys were two young souls who got along exceedingly well.
When Vaelor was still very young, the great-grandfather who had cared for him so attentively died in his sleep.
Only then was the boy sent back to Runestone in the Vale and handed to his birth mother, Lady Rhea.
“Alicent, you have your own child now.” Vaelor covered his mouth with a wicked little smile and pointed at the crying bundle in the maid’s arms.
✦ ✦ ✦ Ready for more?
CREATORS’ THOUGHTS EmberHollow Thank you for reading.
I hope this chapter pulled you deeper into the story.
Stick around, because there’s still a lot waiting just ahead.