Of the Blood of the Dragon

Chapter Five

109 AC

"That will not be necessary, Orwyle. The leechings have always brought His Grace relief." Maester Mellos says as Valaena enters Viserys' chambers.

"To help him sleep." The maester whispers to Valaena, handing her a vial.

She opens the bottle, walking to Viserys who is slouched in his chair.

"Where's the Queen?" Viserys asks weakly as the maesters leave.

"I was given to understand that she is otherwise occupied, Your Grace." Viserys sighs as he takes the vial from her. "Before you ask, she's not with the children."

Viserys smiles, "Alicent tells me Aemond always is asking for you."

Valaena looks down at the vial in his hand and Viserys sighs before drinking it.

"Will I be remembered as a good king, Valaena?"

"Viserys?" She asks, confused.

"What will they say of me when the histories are written? Will I have a statue in the throne room like Jaehaerys or Aegon I? I have neither fought nor conquered, nor suffered any great defeat."

Valaena sighs, kneeling on the floor next to his chair and taking his hand. "Some might call that good fortune."

"It hardly makes a good song, does it? To be sung at feasts in a hundred years..." Valaena smiles. "Five hundred." he adds with a laugh. "I swore to myself that I would be a good king, as honorable as Father, strong, just, loyal to my friends and brave when I faced my enemies, now I can't tell one from the other."

"You have carried King Jaehaerys's legacy. And kept the realm strong. It is better to live in peace than to have songs sung after you are dead."

"Since when did you become so wise?" Viserys jests.

"I've always been wise, Your Grace."

"But there is a part of me that wishes I'd been tested. I often think that in the crucible, I may have been forged a different man."

"As someone who has been tested, I often wish to have been spared it. I wasn't the youngest Valar to ever be sworn to a king. But now that I think back on it, I'm not sure I was old enough. I'm not sure I was ready."

Viserys sighs, squeezing her hand. "Another lord might assure me that I would rise like Aegon the Conqueror given the chance. But you're right... as always. As for our childhood, someone should have stood up to your grandsire, should have let you be just Lady Valaena."

"It is perhaps best not to know."

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Valaena's breath was taken from her as a handmaiden tightly pulled on the strings of her corset. The same handmaidens that had been given to her to which she had sent away years ago. However, with it being her wedding day, Viserys insisted she needed help dressing.

The day she used to dream of before those foolish dreams were beaten and cut out of her. It should have been a joyous day if not for the handmaiden's weary glances and shaky touches, as if she would snap at any moment.

As the handmaiden laced up her dress, the white a stark contrast to the black she always wore, she saw Daemon enter her chambers through the mirror that led to the secret passages Maegor had built.

The handmaidens all stopped and bowed to Daemon.

"Leave us." She said not looking at Daemon, instead fidgeting with the end of her lace sleeves.