The unwanted princess - H.o.D.

The pink dread

Sunfyre was big for a dragon his age and, just like his rider, he was smart and quick and thirsty for a victory. Going up against him, Baelyx was clearly at a disadvantage. She was younger and smaller but she had been flying with Valora on her back for longer than Sunfyre with Aegon. Even if the boy had never said it with all the letters, Valora knew he resented her for it. Mayhaps he had the hope that, if he had managed to fly on his dragon before his siblings, cousins and half-sister, their father would favor him somehow, but in the end, Aegon hadn't been fast enough. And, regardless, when it came to Viserys, both him and Valora meant close to nothing, so it wasn't as if anything would change anyway.

Still, Aegon resented her and, therefore, strived to impress. Which was why it was not surprising in the slightest the way Aegon kept on trying to get Baelyx and Valora to give up the fight.

But, even if Valora didn't seek the same validation as Aegon, she wasn't one to back down. And, thankfully, Baelyx also shared the sentiment.

Above the dragonpit, Sunfyre and Baelyx, pushed by their riders, engaged in a beautiful yet dangerous dance. Since both Valora and Aegon had managed to control their dragons enough to fly upon them for years, they were the only ones allowed to practice fighting with them. From below, Valora could hear Jacaerys trying to tame Vermax while Lucaerys and Aemond watched the fight going on above them since Luke's dragon was still too young to train and Aemond was the only child with no dragon - a fact that the other boys always made a point of reminding him of.

Sunfyre flew straight into Baelyx, causing her mount to squeal in surprise and effectively bringing Valora's attention back to the task at hand. She glared at Aegon as he smirked at her, flying with Sunfyre underneath her. Tugging at her reins, Valora managed to get Baelyx to fly down as well, following right after Sunfyre when Aegon flew away from them. From the right, one of Baelyx's heads snapped forward to try to nip at any part of Sunfyre it could reach and, even if she hadn't managed to, the scare seemed to have been enough to angry the golden creature, who huffed in annoyance, prompting a calming word from Aegon.

Leaning to the side in her saddle, Valora guided Baelyx to fly out a little to their right and Aegon was quick to notice it, tugging on his own reins to get Sunfyre to turn around. Hovering in the sky in front of the older dragon, Baelyx chirped playfully before diving down straight into the pit at Valora's order. Aegon was quick to get Sunfyre after them. The pair of dragons flew straight past Aemond and Luke who cowered at their proximity, but it wasn't until Valora was pulling Baelyx up toward the sky again, that Aegon decided enough was enough.

"Sunfyre!" He called. "Dracarys!"

And Valora barely had time to process what was happening before she was tugging Baelyx to the left and then down to the ground again, just barely managing to avoid the other dragon's fire as Baelyx sat on the ground and allowed Valora to climb down from her back.

"We are not supposed to use fire in practice, Aegon!" Valora yelled out at the sky, where Aegon still flew in circles around her, laughing as Sunfyre huffed out smoke.

"You were toying with me, Valora." He retorted, finally urging Sunfyre down to the ground.

"I was tiring you out."

"I grew tired of it." Aegon shrugged, sliding down from Sunfyre and already flinching away from the hit he knew he was going to be getting from his betrothed.

"So you've cheated?" She scoffed.

"I won." Aegon corrected.

"You did not." She argued.

"I did." He smirked.

"Aegon!"

"Better luck next time, princess." He said, both of them walking away from their dragons as the keepers already started to guide the two of them back into the chamber. "Now... Aemond, we have a surprise for you."

Walking toward his brother to throw and arm over his shoulder, Aegon completely dismissed Valora's bad mood as she stopped where she was and crossed her arms over her chest. She watched from afar as Aegon, Luke and Jace surrounded Aemond and one look at the amused expressions of the three boys, Valora knew whatever they were going to do was not anything good - it never was when any of the cousins agreed with one another. She knew Aemond knew it too.

"What is it?" He asked anyway.

"Something very special." Luke asid, before skipping ahead and straight into the dragons' chamber.

"You're the only one of us without a dragon." Aegon continued, pushing Aemond toward the entrance of the chamber with Jace following them closely.

"Indeed."

"And we felt badly about it, so we found one for you."

"A dragon?" Aemond frowned. "How?"

"The gods provide." Aegon smirked and, when there was a squealing sound echoing from the chamber, Valora took her eyes away from the boys to look at it instead.

Had they... Had they really found Aemond a dragon? Was it even possible? But of course, Valora's sliver of hope was short lived when Luke came out of the dragons' chamber with a pig on a leash and fake wings attached to its side.

"Behold..." Aegon started, prompting the other boys to join in as if they had been planning this for a while.

"The Pink Dread!" They said, laughing wildly as Aemond's face fell.

"Be sure to mount her carefully." Aegon whispered to his brother over the laughter of the other two boys. "First flight's always rough."

Luke and Jace laughed again. Valora scoffed, walking past Aegon behind him as she flicked the back of his head.

"Fools." She rolled her eyes at the boys, walking away from them and out of the pit, ready to join Helaena in whatever craft class she was taking at the moment to leave her half-brothers and nephews to be stupid boys by themselves.