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113 AC
Kingslanding
Daeron Nymeros Martell
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"I need to walk or I am going to go mad!" My very pregnant wife shouts as she tries to stand up pushing off the couch that looks like it is trying to swallow her back in as her hands sink into the cushion.
I wordlessly help her to her feet as she huffs and pants as if she ran for a lap around the keep. I keep one hand on her lower back ready to aid if she needs it. She stretches and I hear her back pop as she leans back with her belly looking even bigger. I know something is wrong with me... or maybe this is natural but fucking hell seeing her like this is hot.
I mean seeing the woman you knocked up at her limit and ready to pop... it's something primal.
"none of that." She presses a finger between my eyes and pushes my head back as she leans against me for support. "I am getting jerked around enough with your babe trying to kick its way out of me." I snort and shake her hand off my face as I follow her steps toward the door.
"Want me to get-." She shakes her head and I go silent as I just focus on making sure she does not face plant.
"Let's walk to the private garden so I can get some sun and stretch my legs." The pained tone leaves her voice as a bit of excitement picks up... she is really going stir-crazy.
We might need to hold off on the next one, we want to do the Royal Progress as well so it might be best to give it a few years before we try for another. Watching her almost daily since my return from the Stepstones has shown me just how much she dislikes her freedom slipping through her fingers. But on the other hand, I have caught her a hundred times or more simply rubbing her hand over her stomach and talking to the babe.
That and she is hot as sin itself when she like this... definitely something primal.
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"Visenya!" I can't help but speak up seeing the cutie sitting up with the aid of her Mother as they rest on a blanket under an oak tree.
"Hey, you two." Aemma turns around hearing me and smiles before her face goes sour seeing Rhaenyra waddle. "I do not miss that..." I hear her mutter as we approach and Rhaenyra obviously does as well as she snorts at her Mother.
"I can't wait to be able to sit like a normal person again." Rhaenyra complains and I catch Aemma fighting off a smile watching Rhaenyra struggle to sit next to her.
I obviously help my wife but I think both Aemma and Me took more enjoyment out of seeing the pregnant Princess lower herself as if she was about to sit on a knife.
"What is this little one doing?" I ask diverting the attention to the girl who is blissfully unaware of the discomfort one of us is suffering.
"Trying to eat her hand it seems." Aemma responds as she pulls her daughter's fist from her mouth causing the little girl to wobble as her balance was thrown off.
A calm silence overtakes the little gathering other than the whines of Visenya who is determined to eat her own hand but is prevented by her Mother. Rhaenyra watches on with a mix of happiness and dread, a common sight the last few weeks when she looks at Visenya. In moments like this, I think it is really settling into her mind that she is about to push one of these little goblins out of herself.
"You will be fine." I lean in and kiss her cheek and whisper in a low voice earning a furrowed brow look from her.
I silently eye the fussy babe and then her belly and she almost defensively puts both hands on her stomach while nodding.
"Of course I will, you will help and make sure I am or I will be a ghost over your shoulder the rest of your life." She speaks with a no-nonsense tone earning a confused look from her Mother who likely thinks we are both crazy.
"Thinking about trying again anytime soon?" I suddenly change the topic as I lock eyes with my Good Mother and she instantly knows what I am talking about as she gives a wry smile.
"I think she does not like me nearly as much as you make it out she does..." I roll my eyes at the woman who was able to approach a huge dragon and pet its head yet somehow is scared the dragon 'does not like her'.
"She would have eaten you if she did not like you, I can promise you as someone who claimed a dragon the hard way." She bites her lips before looking away toward the Dragon pit and I feel I am close to making her give in. "I am certain Visenya would love it if you could take her for flights, she is obsessed with her own little dragon." Visenya will likely ride her dragon the moment a saddle fits its back with enough straps to hold her on regardless of child-like strength.
I would not be surprised if she is the youngest Targaryen to take flight with how much she wiggles like a worm and squeals in glee seeing her dragon. I hope my own babe will like their dragon as much as Visenya does, it would be a nice sight to see. But I won't force something if the child shows no interest or an aversion to dragons since I do not want to make it worse. It has to happen naturally, taking to the skies is something to fear if your heart is not in it.
"Maybe soon I will go visit her again." Aemma gives a practiced smile and I nod feeling Rhaenyra grip my hand tighter seeing her Moms nervousness.
There is a dragon lurking in my good mother even if she does not know it and I long to see it. I can not claim to know her well before I married her Daughter but since I have and gotten to know her I can confidently say I know her decently. She almost entirely revolves around her children and I can't help but want her to have something else to enjoy in her life. If she can get over her fear she could even ride with us on the Royal Progress, at least trips to Dorne would be easy on her compared to a wheelhouse.
Rhaenyra loves her Mom as I love my own, I know I would be happy if my Mom had a dragon and I could see her more. But I also know there are some small problems with that, I don't think any backlash would happen if she claimed one but it needs to be handled slowly. There is a lot of tension with House Martell having more dragon riders than House Targaryen. It won't be too late for my Mom to claim one if she wants one later on and with Cannibal no longer culling the wild dragons the population is slowly growing.
All the wild big dragons left Dragonstone to join House Martell so there is a ton of real estate for the baby dragons to grow up in. I heard the King mention there was an attack of four young dragons snatching up some sheep not long ago. He was worried and was thinking about ordering some of them killed off before they attack one of the small villages around the island.
I am sure he has thought about it as well but if one of those dragons land in a small village to snack on their sheep a 'dragon seed' might claim it by accident or on purpose. Just like Aemma visiting Dreamfyre once it was all it took for the two to bind and it could happen to a random Targaryen bastard on Dragonstone. It might not be a problem immediately but if one ran off and hid away in Essos somewhere it might grow into a big problem.
Looking at my wife and her hands still on her belly I shake the thoughts away... worst comes to worst I just need to pump out the babes with my wife as if she is the Good Queen come again.
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113 AC
Winterfell
Daemon Targaryen
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Warming my bones in the hot waters that boil out of the ground I can't help but sigh in bliss at the feeling. This damn cold will be the death of me and Caraxes if this keeps up as it is, who knew it stayed cold for so long up here?
Looking over at my red-scaled mount I see him resting as much of his body in the hot water as he can with his neck stretching to dip his head in another pool. I shake my head in amusement seeing his head barely above the water only enough for his snout to take in air. He hates this cold but he loves all the food he is rained with almost every day, a perk of my brother sending an abundance of gold for our stay.
So while we might freeze our balls off we are certainly living it up like Winter Kings.
I close my eyes and sink further under the water feeling the slight tinge of cold on my damp face melt away. My thoughts traveling to the state I have found the Night's Watch in and the reports I have been sending to my Brother. The tales and stories I have heard from the wildling prisoners all the way to the old lady who lives in Winterfell. The prophecy my brother sent me up here to chase all those months ago seemed to have a flicker of a spark at being more than just a story.
All these people with different stories but all have some similarities, a grain-sized connection that binds them all together. From the 'Night King' who was a Lord Commander who sacrificed people to Gods made of ice to spiders the size of hounds ridden by men of ice.
Though the worst are the stories I can tell from what my own eyes have seen and ears have heard. The shadow I saw in the woods beyond the wall that looked like a giant of a man with horns sprouting from his head and chains behind him dragging smaller men like dogs. But the worst was the talking door that I would burn to ash if not for fear of the wall coming down and letting whatever horror lurks to the far North into the south.
'Who are you?' I can still hear the voice echo in my mind and the white eyes of the wooden door looking down at me. If someone told me about the door before I saw it for myself I would laugh and call them a fool. Seeing the magic wooden door that is supposed to lead beyond the wall I could not help but be curious about what else in those stories are true.
A 'Darkness' with 'Cold winds' that is supposed to hit Westeros if not for a Targaryen King keeping it united to face the threat. A prophecy left by the conqueror just as Daenys saw the Doom of Valyria Aegon saw the doom of Westeros. I still can't help but feel there is some horse shit to it but I also am seeing things I would have called horse shit not long ago.
With Caraxes not wanting to go beyond the wall I can't even get further answers and it is making me want to tug my hair out. This trip and search for ghosts has only shown me enough to make me want to believe something but also makes me want to deny it even more. I want answers but I also want this to all just be a scheme of my Brother to get me to leave Dragonstone willingly.
Coming up for air I make my way out of the pool of steaming water to get some rest before looking into another location I have been wondering about.
Skagos.