𝐁𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊 𝐎𝐅 𝐒𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐄 ~ aemond targaryen (discontinued)

• ~ Prologue ~ •

"Look at her!" The man of the seas bellowed. His thick, white locks swaying around his head. "She holds no blood of the old Valyrian, she is no blood of the dragon."

"And yet, the egg of Helios hatched in her cradle. White as snow beside her head of crimson. That should be Valyrian enough." The crone of a woman shuffled a little under the gaze of the Sea Snakes brother, of wrath and disgust.

She was afraid. Not for herself, but for her tiny granddaughter that lay on the cold floor before the Iron Throne, content in her slumber as if she had not been removed from her mother's womb.

The king had not uttered a word, barely a breath and that is what brought the old maid unease.

The Queen Alicent twisted to mutter quietly in her husband's ear. "This is a great offence, Viserys, seven months post our sons own egg not hatching. The land may recognise this as the power of Old Valyria dissolving, for a girl of common blood to bond with a dragon and my son to fail. Our right to the Iron Throne may be scrutinised."

Helios had not left his station, the albino creature wrapping itself around the little legs of the new-born. To anyone who stepped close to the baby, he spurted out a powerful puff of smoke, a warning, and a shock. A creature so young as 9 days old was not typically nestled with such strength. His loyalty to the girl was already unbreakable, so much so, that for a new rider to take claim may be impossible.

"Be rid of the commoner, your Grace, take the dragon to your son."

"No!" the crone cried for her granddaughter's life, the only existing remanent of her late daughter Mayra. She moved to cradle the little life that was at stake but was snatched back by hands of the Kings Guards. "Take my life. I have committed treason and theft, but don't take the life of my Granddaughter. I beg of you, Your Grace." Her bony hands, skin worn thin by age and a life of labour were clasped in plea, trembling slightly.

Viserys, for the first time since the babe had been brought to the court, slid to sit upright and tall in his chair of swords. His violet eyes moved from the old maid to her only kin.

Virena had been a nanny to him and his brother, Daemon. An aunt in all ways but blood. He had known the woman all his life and this felt like a betrayal. To steal from himself, his family for the gain of her own.

"You have yet to explain yourself." The king finally spoke. "Why steal the dragon egg owed to my blood?" His tone was more of disappointment than anger.

Virena recognised the hurt in the voice of the boy she helped raise. She had been a confidante to the King in some ways, comforting him in the ways a mother would over the many years since his mother passed. She loved Viserys too, like a son, filling the space in her soul left behind by her premature Mayvren. To see him in pain by her own treachery brought her pain. But blood was thicker than water.

"My daughter, Mayra, was a maid like me. Her maidenhood had remained intact, until 9 months ago, when she was only of ten and seven years, she was taken by force within these walls. I have not stolen from you out of malice, my King, but someone within these walls has stolen from me, my daughter, her life ended in childbirth.

"I am only an old crone; I have no existing family but my daughter's daughter. Soon, I will be gone, and she will have no one to protect her, no one to keep her safe in the ways I wished for my daughter." Tears slid down Virena's cheeks as she rested her head against the floor. "Please, your Grace, have mercy on my Granddaughter. I have only taken the egg to ensure her safety, so she may be spared from the fate my daughter faced, the fate I, myself, have faced. I only wish her liberated from the consequence of being a woman."

The face of Vaemond Velaryon held no inch of remorse, a stark contrast to the expression of His Majesty, a man with two daughters and a similar fear to Virena. The world was cruel to those who bore it life.