The Time Curse (Game of Thrones/House of the Dragon Fanfic)

Chapter 16: The Beggar King

Morgana landed with grace in front of her crumbling, forgotten statue. 

She brought out her wand, performing a simple healing spell on the hickeys Viserys left on her neck before her eyes fell closed and she reached into the void to see where her magic would lead her next. 

She felt an established bond not too far but her magic was pulling her somewhere else, somewhere further. Following the magic's command she aparated further than she ever had before. Her surroundings reminded her of the first time she met Maegor. It was hot and the landscape was different than that of Kingslanding. 

She walked unnoticed among the market stalls. The crowd of Essosi people swarmed around her in the hustle of their day. 

Silver eyes scanned the crowd, looking for whoever it was that held the other end of their bond. Slinking through the crowd like a snake in the grass, she made her way to where the bond was pulling her. 

There at one of the stalls stood a little boy, no older than nine, silver-haired and hand clasping a familiar tiara. Aerys had commissioned that diamond tiara for her though she had disappeared before she had the opportunity to wear it. 

The closer she got, she heard the little boy bargaining to sell the piece. 

"It was worn by the queen of the Seven Kingdoms, it was commissioned by King Aerys himself, and it is worth more than the scraps you offer!" The boy hissed in harsh Valyrian. 

She looked into his mind, briefly seeing the poverty the young prince was fighting against. He didn't want to sell his mother's crown, he thought it an insult to her memory, but he had little choice in the matter. 

"Viserys... There is no need for that. Come, let us return to your sister." Morgana spoke calmly in perfect High Valyrian. 

The young prince snapped to attention, flinching at his own name before his eyes met hers. Instantly his terror faded and his eyes welled with tears. 

"You are Morgana Slytherin... the dragon witch," Viserys spoke in the common tongue again, scanning the face he'd seen a thousand times in a dozen portraits in Dragon Stone's keep. His father was obsessive about finding an artist that correctly captured her beauty, though he insisted that none ever got it right. 

He had always thought she looked absolutely radiant in the portraits. But seeing her in front of him, Viserys understood now why his father insisted that the painting made her look too plain. No painting could capture the noble beauty of the dragon witch. 

"Come with me Viserys. You will hunger no more." She offered a hand. 

He looked at it, stories of the Dragon Witch filling his head. So for the first time since the fall of his family, Viserys decided to trust someone. He took her hand in his and led her away. 

"Why are you helping us?" He asked, genuinely confused why the 'King Maker' was there when they were no longer kings. As if reading his thoughts she answered, "It has always been my job to care for the House of the Dragon. I have committed unspeakable sins and unfathomable wonders in the name of the dragon bond. I have loved them all before they were Conquerors and after they were Userped." 

"You came to me... Will I be a king? Is that why you are here King Maker? To anoint me your next conqueror?" Viserys stopped, just outside of the marketplace place to ask. 

"... I do not know... This is the furthest in time I have yet been."

"Did you truly love Rhaegar? Was he worth the torment my mother endured from my mad father in his jealous rage?" Viserys hissed like an angry dragon, demanding answers to the questions that had always haunted him.