The Dreamer and the Defiant

Family Matters

"You cannot do this, Father. I will not do this!" Aegona recoiled at her father's demand. The gall of him. She had already given up her political ambitions at his behest, had stopped riding to preserve his strong image, had relinquished her position on the Council in favor of her weak brother. She refused to wed for him.

"I can and you shall! I will not allow you to bring any more dishonor upon us."

Sitting in the great hall of Goldstone, the holding of the noble family of Daezgygar in the city of Valyria, Aegona faced her father. Next to her at the dragonstone table, seated amongst the dozens of blood marble chairs in the roofless hall flanked with dragon skulls and made of magnificent purple-and-blue arches, were her brother, Vhaelor, and her sister, Alaesys.

"Father, why may I not be wed to Alaesys alone? We together shall continue our pure and noble line. I do not need Aegona." Vhaelor was the epitome of Valyrian pride. He was a gorgeous man of three-and-twenty, with flowing white-gold hair, deep purple eyes, and skin so unblemished and pale it was almost translucent. Alaesys, too.

Despite being twins, Aegona and Alaesys looked far from similar. Where Alaesys looked like Vhaelor, like their parents, Aegona boasted shoulder-length silver-gray hair, green eyes, and a surprisingly boring face when compared to her siblings. Vhaelor had always preferred her sister to her, primarily due to Aegona's lack of Valyrian looks.

"Alaesys is a worthy bride indeed who shall fulfill you, yes. You will continue our line. But you will wed Aegona. What will others say if Aegona remains unbound? If not even her own brother will take her?" Raeon Daezgygar was a ruthless, fearless man of the Lords Freeholder of Valyria, being one of the wealthiest men in the entire Freehold. He owned hundreds of gold mines across the peninsula, deep underneath the Fourteen Flames; he controlled with three other families almost a tenth of Valyria's wealth, and almost twenty-thousand slaves.

Despite his age of five-and-fifty, Raeon looked to be as young as his children. The noble Daezgygars had practiced sorcery and blood magic since they herded sheep instead of gold, and upon its members it shone brightly.

Aegona stood, pounding her fists on the table. Alaesys and Vhaelor flinched, yet Raeon remained still. He turned his head slowly to his daughter, menacing. She glared at her father. "They shall say nothing. I will take to the skies and prove my worth as a dragonlord. I shall fly upon Pryjagis to war, bring glory to Valyria like Uncle Maeron. I will not be tamed upon a marriage bed. Least of all Vhaelor's." She believed Vhaelor to be an arrogant, brainless sot who knew not how to think for himself. Just like their father.

Raeon leapt from his chair, sending a magical gust to his daughter. Flung to the ground, pinned upon the glass floor by an invisible force, Aegona thrashed, screaming in frustration. Raeon walked over to her, kneeling. The golden fire in his eyes was cold. Terrifying.

"I will kill that beast for how you speak to me, then you shall be bound here forever. You will be tamed, and it will be by Vhaelor. You shall sit wed before the year is over. If you flee, so help me gods, I will hunt you down myself."

Aegona grinned at him, taunting. "Hunt me with what, Father? You shall find me flying above the Narrow Sea while you sit upon, what? A mule?" she spat in his face.

Raeon's mount, the ancient and monstrous she-dragon Leriod, had recently taken ill and would soon be dead. Raeon had barred the women of his household from riding their dragons, for fear of public opinion. He could not have his daughters and wife riding fearsome beasts while he sat emasculated in his keep, bound to a horse.

He growled, raising his hand to strike.

"Father, do not do this. By giving her your energy, you are giving into her," Vhaelor said from behind him, his face expressionless.