"When you first left Braavos, there was always war, and you had to restore the kingdom. How could I dare tell you about this?" Falia murmured as she lay against Viserys's chest, tracing gentle circles across his skin.
But Viserys was not convinced by her explanation.
"What about five years ago? By then, I had already reclaimed the Iron Throne, ruled over Westeros, the Free Cities, and even the Dothraki Grass Sea. Why didn't you tell me about my children after all that time?"
Unexpectedly, Falia's expression darkened, her eyes misty with regret. She looked up at him with sincere remorse. "I'm sorry, Your Grace. It's my fault… After I found out I was pregnant, I drank a lot of moon tea to try… to try to get rid of them. The moon tea harmed them. Not only do their eyes have different colors, but… they also have birth defects."
"Birth defects?" Viserys's heart tightened as he recalled the girls' appearances. They both seemed perfectly healthy; he hadn't noticed any obvious signs of a defect.
"They have… scales growing on the back of their heads," Falia confessed, her voice trembling. "I… I gave birth to two freaks!"
"Scales?" Viserys asked, stunned. "Are you certain?"
Without a word, Falia got up, dressed quickly, and returned with a small red wooden box. She opened it to reveal two small cloth pouches inside. "I tried plucking them out a few times, but they always grew back, each time harder. Eventually, they said it hurt, so I stopped."
Viserys opened one of the pouches and found about thirty small green scales, varying in size. They looked strikingly like dragon scales.
"So… they still have these scales on the backs of their heads?" he asked.
Falia nodded solemnly.
"Falia, my children are not freaks. They're… different."
"Different?" Falia echoed, a glimmer of hope in her eyes.
Viserys remembered the peculiar insights Shiera had shared with him: children with dragon-like traits were rumored to possess powerful magical abilities. Falia's face softened with relief as she took in Viserys's words.
"Were there any other… unusual things about them?" he asked.
"Yes." Falia hesitated, then continued, "I remember two instances when they disappeared suddenly, right in front of me, when they were babies. I was terrified, thought I was losing my mind, but then they reappeared in a blink. Lady Methys said it might have been a problem with my mind."
"Disappearing?" Viserys repeated, astonished.
As he processed this, he suddenly sensed someone—or something—approaching from behind. He turned, but there was no one there. For a moment, he thought he might be imagining it… until two small voices broke the silence.
"You… are our father?" asked Lily.
Viserys's gaze snapped back, and there, as if they'd materialized from thin air, were the two girls.
"You? When did you appear?" he stammered.
"This is our secret power," Lily said with a smile.
"Even our mother doesn't know", Millie added, her voice a soft whisper.
As they spoke, the two girls began to fade, their bodies blurring and turning translucent, as if a veil of glass had been drawn over them. Under Viserys's astonished gaze, they became increasingly faint until they vanished entirely.
Holy hells… they can go invisible! Viserys marveled. He could sense their presence nearby, faint but unmistakable, and guessed they were moving toward Falia. He reached out, trying to locate them, feeling their faint breaths in the air.
Falia, too, was wide-eyed, as if she had only now come to grips with her daughters' abilities. For years, she'd dismissed these strange occurrences as figments of her imagination, but now she saw her children for what they truly were: two little witches. She glanced at Viserys, and seeing his delight rather than disgust, she breathed a sigh of relief.
Then, just as suddenly as they had disappeared, the two girls reappeared before them.
"You can see us?" Millie asked, her eyes wide with wonder.
"I can't see you," Viserys replied with a smile, "but I can feel you."
Millie beamed. "We went to the Temple of the Moonsingers and asked a priest there. He said the person who can discover our secret is our father. So… are you really our father?"
"Of course I am!" Viserys said, a trace of excitement in his voice. He couldn't help but feel a surge of pride. Suddenly finding himself with two more daughters—especially ones with such remarkable talents—filled him with joy.
Kneeling down, he took Lily and Millie into his arms, and they nestled into his shoulders. Soon, he felt the damp warmth of their quiet tears against his tunic. After a moment, he gently pulled back and asked, "Can you show me again how you made yourselves disappear?"
Both girls nodded eagerly. With a little encouragement, they vanished once more, right before his eyes. Viserys reached out, his fingers brushing over two small hands that gripped his with trust. Then, moving his hand upward, he felt the soft crowns of their heads, hair pulled neatly back.
'They're still here physically,' he thought, watching where their forms would have been. It's like they're bending light around themselves. That must be how they managed to escape unnoticed before.
"All right, girls, you can stop now," he said gently.
Though they didn't completely understand his instructions, Lily and Millie did as they were told, slowly becoming visible again. Their figures grew sharper until they stood fully before him, smiling. But almost as soon as they reappeared, they both stumbled slightly.
"We're a little sleepy…" Lily murmured, letting out a big yawn.
Millie followed suit, yawning as she leaned against her father's shoulder. Viserys wrapped his arms around them, realizing that using magic had drained them. Before long, the girls' breaths grew slow and steady as they drifted into sleep, their heads nestled on either side of him.
Watching his two daughters doze off, Viserys felt a warmth that melted the last traces of anger or resentment he might have harbored. He held them close, carefully cradling each girl as he listened to their soft snores.
Falia stood nearby, observing this scene with a sense of profound satisfaction. She had known that Viserys had children—Willem and Victoria, his acknowledged son and daughter, whose births had been celebrated across the Free Cities. But now she saw that he loved these two girls just as much, treating them with tenderness as he gently settled them into his arms.
As she basked in the moment, Viserys looked up at her and asked quietly, "Are their names really Lily and Millie? They sound more like nicknames."