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130 AC
Kingslanding
Aegon Nymeros Martell
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"You look nervous." Visenya taunts from my bedroom door, I look back and raise a brow at her.
"Do I?" I don't feel nervous.
"You look more nervous than when it was our turn to wed." She nods and I frown.
I actually was nervous when the wedding with Visenya was approaching, I felt like it was a bit rushed and I was unprepared.
"I see." I turn back to the standing mirror and observe myself once more.
Dressed in black and red, I look every bit the Crown Prince of House Targaryen that I am, my Silver hair swept back with a rose gold circlet holding it down. I purse my lips as I tilt my head back and try to spot the scar on my chin from when I busted it open, but only briefly can I see the small silver mark. I sigh and turn away from the mirror and find my Wife sitting on my bed with pursed lips and a tilted head.
"Do you look pretty enough to go out yet?" I stamp down on the smile I was about to give her and instead glare, earning me a smile from her beautiful face. "I will take that as a yes, let's hurry or Rhaenys will leave us behind." She bounces up from my bead and without another word heads for the door, a sway to her hips that does wonders to her riding leathers clad ass.
The annoyance that bubbled up inside of me is snuffed out at the sight and I find myself nodding.
"Right... Rhaenys is waiting." I quickly follow after Visenya after grabbing Blackfyre from the table by the door.
"Hurry up!" Visenya calls out, already making her way down the hall, I shake my head before nodding toward my Kingsguard as I pass him after closing my door and quickly locking it.
He sighs behind me, likely knowing he will have to run after us as Visenya starts to pick up her pace with her wild silver hair blowing behind her. I smile as I grip Blackfyre tightly and quickly pick up my own pace to quickly catch up with her, which is not that hard due to my natural gift of being physically blessed.
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"You are late!" Rhaenys shouts from on top of Meraxes, the cream-colored dragon with splotches of what looks like molten gold poured over its head and wings trills at me as I approach it and pet its jaw.
Such a sweet dragon, completely unlike Balerion who likes to show his own physical affection by trying to take my head off with his tail.
"A Prince of the Blood is never late." I counter my Sister and soon-to-be Wife as I pat her dragon on the neck while approaching the short rope ladder that leads up to the saddle. "You should know that by now, sweet sister." Rhaenys scoffs and without another word tugs the reins that go to the implanted metal hooks in the neck of her dragon, causing the dragon to trill in excitement knowing it's time to fly.
I quickly jump back to avoid a happy dragon's charge as it heads for the doors of the pit, a few of the dragon keepers also have to flee to avoid being crushed. I shake my head as Meraxes leaps through the half-opened doors with the grace of a cat before powerfully flapping her wings to take to the sky.
"Watch out!" I quickly whip around just in time to see a large all-white head emerge from one of the stone staircases down into the tunnels.
These two will be the death of me.
I once more avoid an excited dragon's charge, Albion who is a bit bigger heads toward the door quickly but has far less easy of a time making it out. The jittery dragon half stands up on its back legs while using the elbows of its wings to push against the doors, oddly resembling a man as it widens the gap so it can escape.
They hate the pit.
They no longer get chained, no dragon gets chained these days, and haven't since before my Mother even became Queen/
But they still seem to hate this place regardless.
We only keep them here out of convenience, they are out of the way and can be easily fed and kept away from the easily frightened common folk.
Hot air hits my neck and I roll my eyes.
Turning around I see a much larger black head, blood-red eyes look down upon me as Balerion makes his way out of his own tunnel and observes me closely.
""Big brute, did you have a nice nap?"" Another wave of hot air hits me, the black cat-like pupils narrow.
Alright, big boy is not in a good mood after waking up.
Noted.
""Come on, let's go stretch those wings."" I can't back off or he will sense weakness and go do something else, like fly halfway across the world just to take a longer nap and then fly back when he wants to gorge himself on fat sheep.
Sometimes I wish I had a tamed puppy of a dragon-like my Mother, Syrax will never be a giant of a dragon like Vhagar or Gaelithox, but she obeys my Mother like a dutiful child.
Oh well, a King needs power, and Balerion is power beyond anything a mortal should have.
I will make do with what I have.
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Flying over the Red Keep, I swear I can almost feel my father's annoyance radiating off the Tower of the Hand of the Queen like heat radiates off a fire.
I quickly send a prayer in his direction, not that it will do him any good.
No God would pity Daeron Nymeros Martell enough to help him with anything, in fact, they might throw a curse in his direction just to piss him off.
I am not looking forward to the day he passes the position off to me.
He already has shaved off some of his own duties to give to me, the position in the small council, Heir to the Throne, has become a heavy burden in recent days.
I used to love sitting in and watching my parents rule over half of the world... not really half, but nearly a third if I am honest.
But eventually, I noticed how much a pain in the ass it was, and the fact I would have to do that in the future slowly chipped away at my enthusiasm. It won't be all bad though in the future, Father works tirelessly to find ways to delegate as much as possible without weakening the Crown. By the time he is a wrinkly old man and it's my turn to start pulling the cart, the load will be far lighter.
Maybe I should do something nice for him?
Hmm... but what?
*REEAAARRR*
A cream-colored blur dives past Balerion as he glides over Black Water Bay, much to his obvious annoyance as he vocalizes loudly and even snaps at the air where the blur passed by.
*AARRRRRHH*
A White blur passes by on the other side and I shake my head while quickly checking on the chains attached to my belt.
It's about to get bumpy up here.
Balerion proves my thoughts to be almost prophetic as he tucks his wings and lowers his head while rumbling loud enough to rattle my teeth.
They just love pissing him off.
My stomach feels like it's being lifted up through my chest and my body tingles as we dive downwards toward the two dragons. They both ahead of us snap open their wings and raise their heads in synchronization to start gliding. Balerion however aims himself by lowering his tail, letting the red leathery frills on it catch air and slowly readjust his dive to better intercept the two troublemakers.
If he could talk, he would never admit it, but I know he learned this technique while fleeing from the Red Queen after munching on some of her sheep. The frills on his body that many of the other dragons lack, except for Seasmoke, Dreamfyre, Ny Sar, and Meraxes, make it much easier to maneuver agilely in the air.
The two dragons below that we are rapidly approaching seem to sense the danger and do the wisest thing possible.
They split up.
One going North toward land and the other going south toward the large Targaryen Royal Fleet that just returned half a moon ago from the Far East.
Father would be pissed if anything happened to those ships so I quickly tug the reins to the left to avoid Balerion even going near those ships.
Father sent half the fleet and more than two million golden dragons worth of goods to the Far East to Trade with the God-Emperor of Yi Ti. The profits are estimated to be close to four times the investment, but it won't be an immediate thing, and will take years to sell off all of the nonperishable goods.
If some of the ships burned before he could send them off again, he would likely actually freeze someone solid with just a glare.
I shiver and am thankful Balerion obeys, he lowers his left wing and banks hard, heading back out toward the calm Black Water Bay where there are no ships in sight.
Looking back toward Rhaenys who is still fleeing, I hold up a middle finger knowing full well she has a far-eye in one of her saddle bags and is likely using it to watch me.
I smile feeling my stomach return to normal from the hard dive and my tingling muscles return to normal as well.
Today is a good day.
----
130 AC
Kingslanding
Daeron Nymeros Martell
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Today is a bad day.
Problem after problem with the wedding preparation keeps rearing its ugly heads.
I know it's the Faith of the Seven, the cult fuckers are throwing wrenches any chance they get.
But they are not brave enough to openly say something.
It's fine... just wait, you seven-pointed star-worshiping fu-
"Daeron?" My Wife waves a hand before my face and I look up from the report I was reading with a smile.
"Yes?" I admire the dress she is wearing and the way she has her hair tied up, showing off her slim neck.
"I asked if you want to join me in the sky?" She smiles back at me. "Seeing the dragons flying over the Keep has me wanting to take a flight." I take a deep breath and narrow my eyes out of the window, out toward the Black Water where I can see three dragons flying about without a care.
Lucky punks.
If only they knew half of the stuff I go through to afford them such a carefree upbringing.
Not that I regret anything, nor do I plan to stop anytime soon.
I just like to grumble, makes doing the work feel less painful.
"Sure, we should also check on the construction on Visenyas Hill." She nods in approval and I stand up and down my cup of wine that I was sipping on.
The construction is nearly done, and once it is, funds for various other projects will be freed up and allow me to start working more in the capital.
It's hard balancing all the various budgets.
There is a budget for each Free City that I am helping to manage while Daemon flies about the Great Grass Sea and purges the last remnants of the Dothraki who have turned to guerilla warfare.
Then there is obviously Sunspear and the Water Gardens that I have inherited upon my father's death.
Rest his soul, died far sooner than he should have.
The budgets for the various port cities that have been built in the North of Essos, along the top of the Great Grass Sea. Repurposed old port cities that long ago fell to ruin and have been rebuilt and minor Lords put in power over them, all of whom are directly sworn to the Iron Throne.
The three Cities on the Mother Rhoyne, which before long will fully be under my Daughter Nymeria's care. She is the most eager of all of my children to have control over her lands and sit in her seat of power and expand it into something that will last thousands of years. That girl brings a tear to my eye, the pride I feel when I think about her actions in the East, it seriously makes my heart burn.
Viserra is probably a close second in that regard... that little girl has big plans, probably too big if I am honest.
Yi Ti.
She has her eyes set on the lands beyond the Bone Mountains, and she wants to claim them in her own way before anyone else in the family can even step foot in those lands.
Anyway... Kingslanding budget is obviously the most important of them all, but has been tied up in various major projects like the construction on Visenya's Hill, the proper drainage system, and the start of a small colosseum on the other side of the Black Water Rush from the Capital City.
A pair of lips press against my cheek and an arm wraps around one of mine.
"Wake up." My Wife commands in a playful tone, fully snapping me out of my thoughts.
I smile and turn my head enough to kiss her lips and she returns the kiss before tugging me toward the door.
"Let's go have some fun." I find myself humming in agreement with that plan.
Some fun would be nice right about now.