Godswood, The Red Keep
“Forgive me, Lady Laena, but the thing is that I rarely unwrap my blindfold to let others see my eyes.
My own body hasn’t adapted to them yet.
So the act of seeing through them without the blindfold inflicts pain upon my mind.” Gaemon declined formally, standing up from one of the outer roots where he had been comfortably nestled.
Laena’s face turned confused for a moment before a downcast look came over it.
“But I heard that you let the smallfolk see them not a day ago,” Laena whined.
“It was because of chaos, Lady Laena.
The smallfolk were creating too much chaos, and if Prince Gaemon hadn’t acted, someone might have been hurt among them.
It was out of compassion and to restore order that Prince Gaemon had to show them his eyes, and even those few moments caused him great pain,” said Alicent, slightly defensive as she positioned herself between him and Laena.
“But I have come all this way, I want—”
Gaemon muted out the argument; he could see it coming from leagues away, and his thoughts shifted to the talk he had with his father at the Dragonpit before his departure.
Gaemon has not forgotten what he has read about the Velaryons back in his world and of Corlys’s treachery at the very end as well.
So he, too, was not sure about mingling with the Velaryons, but if they approached him as Laena had, then he could not turn them away or speak rudely as his father wished.
Gaemon was not like that, and he did not think he ever would be.
So he stood there as Rhaenyra, Alicent, and Laena’s conversation evolved from an argument about his eyes to other things and the letters exchanged between them.
Alicent listened just like him, while Rhaenyra and Laena met like two long-lost friends.
Gaemon was happy to return to his place, making himself comfortable as he paid half his attention to the talk and the other half to the clouds drifting through the clear skies of King’s Landing.
Gaemon’s head slowly turned toward the direction from which Laena had come.
Before anyone could even hear the clinking of boots, Gaemon was able to see the firestorm of magic approaching him.
The woman of great beauty came into Gaemon’s view within a few moments, with a boy whose magic smelled of salt and sea.
Gaemon’s attention quickly passed over the boy, who might be Laenor, to the boy’s mother, Rhaenys Velaryon.
The magic within Rhaenys was in greater quantity than what Gaemon possessed right now.
That surprised him, because he had not met anyone with a mana pool as large as his.
Hell, he had not met anyone who even came close to approaching what he possessed.
Yet now a woman stood before him whose magic churned through her body like a storm and carried the scent of ozone and sulfur.
Gaemon was so deep in his thoughts that Alicent had to nudge him to bring him out of them.
His gaze shifted from the magic that had caught his attention to the face of its possessor.
Rhaenys Velaryon was looking down at him with her impressive height and a curious expression.
“Forgive me, I was just lost in my thoughts,” Gaemon apologized, because the looks he was receiving made it seem as though they had been waiting for him to speak.
“What were you all talking about?” he asked politely.
They were waiting for you to introduce yourself,” Alicent helpfully provided.
“Thank you, Lady Alicent.” Gaemon then turned toward Rhaenys and Laenor.
“I am Prince Gaemon Targaryen, son of Daemon Targaryen and Arya Stark.
It is a pleasure to meet you, Lady Rhaenys, Lord Laenor.”
“So Viserys has undone the previous king’s decree,” said Rhaenys.
Gaemon knew she was referring to his title as a prince.
“Yes.”
“Anyhow, what is this talk I hear about your eyes, boy?”
“Lady Rhaenys, I would advise that you address me as my station demands.
You are not family, nor do you have enough of my respect to call me a boy.
I am addressing you as your station demands, am I not?
I expect the same from you.” Gaemon spoke with the same indifferent stare.
“As for my eyes, I do not know what you have been hearing, but most of it is likely more truth than falsehood.”
Rhaenys’s stare at him hardened, and boiling fury could be seen in her eyes as she looked down at him, but Gaemon only gazed back at her with clear indifference and no fear in either his eyes or his actions.
A moment or two passed before the fury died down, and a smirk made its way onto her face.
“Daemon’s son indeed.
Very well, I shall address you as Prince Gaemon.
Now I want to see your eyes,” Rhaenys said with a smirk.
“Lady Laena, could you please retell to your mother what I told you?” Gaemon turned his head toward Laena.
Not wanting to repeat himself to the mother what he has already told the daughter.
Laena turned her gaze to him, nodded, and told her mother what Gaemon had told her and more.
All the while she spoke, Rhaenys’s stare never left Gaemon’s wrapped eyes.
Once Laena finished recounting the whole conversation she had had since coming here, she nodded to herself in satisfaction, the ringlets of silver-gold hair of hers bouncing with her actions.
An involuntary smile came to Gaemon’s face at Laena’s cute antics.
The smile did not last long, as Rhaenys’s predatory gaze snatched it away at once.
“I have come all this way just to see your eyes, Prince Gaemon.
Would you still deny me that?” Rhaenys asked, slowly closing the distance, trying to intimidate him.
“I’m grateful that you came all this way merely to see my eyes, but forgive me, my decision will not change.
Though rest assured, I do open them for a few moments each day, so I will call upon you when such a time comes,” Gaemon replied without any hesitation.
Rhaenys seemed unwilling to back down as she stood there without speaking, staring at him with an unreadable expression.
“Let Lady Rhaenys see your eyes, Gaemon,” Rhaenyra spoke up.
Since the first day, Rhaenyra had extracted a promise from him to let her see his eyes for a few moments every day, and the princess had taken to calling those few moments their gazing time.
Rhaenyra looked conflicted, and the refusal was already on her tongue when Laena’s pleading face appeared before her.
The princess’s resolve slowly crumbled.
Combined with Laenor’s soft words and Rhaenys’s unwavering stare, Rhaenyra finally gave in with a nod.
Gaemon sighed, and within a few moments, the world was presented to him in all its unbearable clarity.
His eyes tracked every minuscule movement of both muscle and magic within the bodies of everyone before him, flooding his mind with an endless torrent of needless information.
Gaemon ignored the pain and looked at Rhaenys.
The princess who never showed fear before dragons or lords drew in a sharp breath and fell silent.
Laena’s mouth parted in wonder, and even Laenor forgot himself enough to take half a step forward.
None of them spoke.
For a few heartbeats, they simply stared.
It was not merely that the eyes were beautiful.
There was something deeply unsettling about them, as if the gaze saw too much, knew too much.
To stand beneath those purple eyes flecked with stars was to feel exposed, as though every secret one carried had been laid bare.
With the blindfold off, Gaemon could even see the potency of Rhaenys’s magic.
Seeing that there was nothing else worthy of his attention other than the unique magic within her, he focused on it.
It was interesting, and neither Laena nor Laenor had inherited it from her, as both of their magic was calm like the sea with only a slight scent of sulfur.
Gaemon scanned everything but still found nothing that could explain the unnatural size and potency of Rhaenys’s magic.
Slightly deflated and disappointed, Gaemon closed his eyes and wrapped the blindfold back around his face.
“It is the first time I think the rumors are not exaggerating.
Your eyes are something else, Prince Gaemon.
Do they serve any purpose other than being otherworldly beautiful and making people feel naked beneath their gaze?” Rhaenys asked bluntly.
“King Viserys has forbidden me from saying anything more about them to anyone else,” Gaemon replied as he tied the knot of his blindfold.
“Well then, I shall get the information from your uncle myself,” Rhaenys said confidently as she turned around, dragging Laena and Laenor with her toward wherever they were staying in King’s Landing.
“A piece of advice to you, little prince.
Do not reject everyone as quickly as you rejected me.
Not everyone will be as understanding as I was.
Some may take offense at your refusal.”
Before Rhaenys could leave, Gaemon muttered loudly enough for her to hear.
“Why should I care about them anyway?”
Rhaenys sighed and repeated what she had said a few minutes before.
“Daemon’s son indeed.”