Silver Princess || House of the Dragon

Chapter V ''Celebration''

Valaerya returned to King's Landing about a day before Rhaenyra left on her tour of the Seven Kingdoms in search of a suitable husband. So she had plenty of time to herself and hardly any worries.

She didn't tell her father about what happened on the Stepstones - that her uncle didn't accept help. The news came to King's Landing by itself, and it said one thing: The Triarchy had been defeated.

So she had an easy life for the next many weeks. She grew closer to her father, who was now her only family at court (not counting Alicent and her children, of course).

Besides, you could say that Rhaenyra didn't outshine her brilliance after all.

However, her peace of mind was soon to come to an end. Sitting on her balcony, she glanced up from her book at the view before her and was surprised to see a ship that shouldn't be returning to the capital until two months from now.

In addition, the ship was dangerously passed by familiar dragon, Caraxes.

"Evylin?" She called her maid, rising from the armchair on the balcony.

"Yes, princess?"

"Bring me my favorite dress." She ordered, returning from the balcony to the center of her chamber.

***

She had barely had time to change into the dress Daemon had once given her  before the castle began to boil. Were it not for her guard, she would have had a hard time pushing her way through the throng of people who were all heading for the throne room.

Fortunately, she managed to get to the front of this whole group of people and stand quite close to the throne. She saw her father with his crown on his head, and at the bottom of the throne stood Otto Hightower and the kingsguards, ready in case of attack by an approaching attacker. But... what exactly were they defending against? Surely they knew as well as she did that Daemon was coming back to court, but why did they assume he might attack and so much precaution was needed?

Soon, as the throne room fell silent, the sound of footsteps could be heard coming from the corridor. Valaerya stood on her tiptoes, though it did little to help her look over the people's heads to see Daemon, who entered the hall with his usual sure-footed stride and headed for the throne.

However, when he stopped at the end of one of the knights' swords, she had no trouble seeing him anymore, all she had to do was look to the side.

"Add it to the chair." He said, dropping something he was carrying in his hand. Then he took a small step back and clasped his hands in front of him.

She could see now that his hair was noticeably shorter than the last time she had seen him. Besides, he also wore a crown...

"You wear a crown." Just like her father noticed. "Do you also call yourself king?"

"When we defeated the Triarchy, they named me King of the Narrow Sea." Daemon explained, and then there was a long moment of unbearable silence. "But I know there is only one true king, Your Grace." He added finally, then got down on one knee, taking off his crown as he did so. "My crown and Stepstones belong to you." He said.

"Where's Lord Corlys?" Asked the king, after looking at his younger brother with a small smile.

"He sailed back to Driftmark."

"So who holds the Stepstones?"

"Tides, crabs... And two thousand dead Triarchy corsairs, staked to the sand to warn those who might follow." With these words, Viserys descended the few steps leading to the throne, aiding himself a little with his sword. He stopped right in front of Daemon and took the crown from him.