The Brightest Sun

Chapter 55

Daenerys

"Ready?" Lord Harry asked, crouching down before her.

"Yes, my lor—Harry," she corrected herself, seeing the look on his face.

Lord Potter-Black was a most strange man; he had insisted Dany call him by his name, telling her there was no need to stand on formalities with him when they were almost family.

And what a strange family it was.

Dany had only known Viserys for so long – had not dared to consider the family lost to her – that it was odd being given a larger family in such a short time. Dorne had welcomed them as it's children – had opened it's arms wide for two lost children who shared their blood – but Dorne was not nearly as odd as the Targaryen prince and princess, and Dany had tucked away the part of her that didn't belong as Viserys had told her to.

Now; now, Dany could not recall the many reasons she was certain she had feared her oddness in the sands of Dorne.

The family before her were the oddest people Daenerys had ever met. Lord Harry sometimes forgot he was meant to be a lord, sitting on the floor as his youngest child insisted on playing with his hair or come into my castle as Maia's cousins had taught her. Princess Elia was everything Viserys had told her she was like; the part of Dany that had feared the woman's reaction to them had uncoiled at receiving nothing but gentle kindness, and she imagined her own mother had been the same – gentle and good, but with a fierce sharpness to her that was a warning for anyone fool enough to harm her loved ones.

Aegon, Rhaenys and Edward – Egg, Rhae and Teddy, they had insisted – were impossibly more boisterous than Prince Oberyn's daughters, and Dany worried at the chaos that would occur should the cousins ever decide it was in their best interest to work together.

And cousins they were; Teddy had a secretive smile on his face whenever someone looked in askance at him when he referred to Egg and Rhae as his siblings. When Daenerys had asked, Teddy had smiled. "They are blood of my blood," he told her, referring to their shared sister. "And of my blood."

Teddy had winked, a sly glint in his eyes, and Dany decided she was perfectly fine with not asking for more information. She was sure she would learn the truth of the matter in time.

Dany had watched them use magic for all manner of things since they had met – from simple household tasks, to entertaining Maia or pulling tricks on each other, to clearing some of the rubble and deadened grass from the island once they returned to Bloodstone.

Lord Harry had forbidden the three of them from assisting, reminding them of the oath that was in place, and Daenerys had instead practiced her stitching with Princess Elia in their apartments, stifling her snickers as Viserys regaled them with a tale of Lord Griffin's run in with the portraits. Lord James had been speaking to his uncle when Ser Jon was near – unable to resist visiting the portrait of the man Dany had been told taught him all manner of mischief – causing the other man to splutter in shock at hearing voices in an otherwise empty corridor.

That Lord Julius had been alone in his portrait when the Stormlands knight looked again, as immobile as a drawn painting, had left him flummoxed.

Yes, quite the strange family, Dany thought, remembering the multitude of portraits that had introduced themselves to her and the almost hissing tones that Maia and Teddy used when speaking to the dragons.

Compared to them, Dany was sure her dreams were a minor thing.

"I can't promise that it won't hurt," Harry continued, green eyes soft as he waited for Dany to get comfortable. "But you shouldn't feel it for now."