masquerade | house of the dragon

the dragon queen

"How is my grandfather?", Joffrey asked with his childish innocence. He was 6 now, his half-brother Aegon was 5 and Viserys only 3 and now their mother was pregnant again -with a girl she hopes this time. His elder brothers, Jace was 19 now -the same age as their uncle Aemond, and Luke was 16. One was in Winterfell in the past month and the latter didn't have time for them. His stepfather, 48, only looked like he was spending time with them when his mother was around and his mother, 32, was too busy to realize her youngest son was feeling alone a lot lately.

"He will be fine.", Ser Erryk cut it short, didn't want to explain what had happened to him and the young prince didn't ask.

"Can I see twins today?", he would ask every single day since Rhaenyra got her crown.

"No my prince, your mother had forbidden it.", Ser Erryk didn't even know why the boy was this fond of the twins. They were half his age and he only saw them once. The boy wasn't close with his half brothers because Prince Daemon gave secret orders to the guards and to the maids to not them raise as close.

Ser Erryk could swear that under his breath the Royal Consort said the word 'bastards' and 'my true heirs' but he knew it was a lost cause to inform Rhaenyra. She would never believe him and he himself would turn into a dragon meal overnight. Instead, he chose to bite his tongue every time the prince acted like a dutiful husband and an affectionate father and endure the scolds the queen threw him when she found out her sons were growing apart each day. Dozen of maids were fired because of this reason but Daemon still kept threatening everyone to mistreat Joffrey and focus on his sons instead.

Rhaenyra was too blind to see this -and so does Luke. Ser Erryk couldn't believe the boy's transformation but then again who could be surprised by it? He was raised under the Rogue Prince's influence and turned into a smug nothing just like him. He would pace in the halls with a smug face that some people wanted to punch out of his face, he would act like he is the King himself and above everyone else. Ser Erryk also realized that he was starting to mimic Daemon's actions. Eat the way he does, speak the way he does, act the way he does. Ser Erryk could even swear that the boy's accent had changed to Daemon's slightly influenced by Pentos one. And then again, Rhaenyra was blind to all.

And their one and only crown prince were nowhere to see, ever since his mother took the crown he went to Winterfell -only Gods knew what he was doing there. Ser Erryk heard things he did not wish to believe. Sure, Jace was always the impulsive one. Never managed to control his anger or excitement, he was always the frantic one, boy was weird, everybody would agree. Sometimes he would act like he was neurotic -not that Rhaenyra would ever acknowledge it.

Ser Erryk had served Prince Aegon once alongside his twin brother Ser Aryyk and sure, they saw things. The way the prince drank himself to oblivion, and spent more time in the Street of Silk than his wife's bed and they knew what everybody whispered on the streets about him, none of them was true of course. They were his shadow even though he never realized them and the boy could be fucked up but at least he did not harm anyone and didn't enjoy physical violence -except when he was protecting his brother Aemond. Everybody could agree that he was not fit to rule but when Ser Erryk looked at the current monarch and her line, and the royal consort and his line, he couldn't find a difference between them. They all were fucked up in some ways and unlike his brother, he never understood why he had to choose a side when everybody was worse than the other.

The Queen was a fool that couldn't see the upcoming storm that she saw as the loyal prince's consort. Daemon was a menace to his family and if given the chance he would butcher everyone just to become the king of ashes. Jace was irresponsible, sheltered and weak, Luke was proud of himself because of the great destruction he caused upon his family and grew up learning that he never had to face the consequences of his actions and now young prince Joffrey was growing up with neglect and mistreatment for his station -just like King Viserys' other children did. Daemon would take his youngest two sons -never even mention his daughters and would take them to hunt, killing animals in front of them and forcing them to cheer up -like it was a good thing. He would tell them war stories and the times the dragons caused destruction all over the realm and make it so the boys would think it was a good thing.