Ruin Me

Chapter Twenty Two

Daenyra did, indeed, feel better after she'd sparred with Ser Criston. The knight had lost against Aemond before Prince One-Eye set his sights on his brown-haired kin. He'd asked his nephews if they had come to train, and when they stumbled for an answer, it was no man who spoke an answer.

"They may not have come to train, but I have," she had proclaimed as she attached her gauntlet to her arm. She was dressed in battle armour, the same armour she had worn in the Stepstones except it was several sizes larger to accommodate her grown body. "What say you, little brother?"

Ser Criston had known better than to let the arrogant prince fight the same person who had fought in the Stepstones, alongside Daemon and Corlys and be named the Knight Princess. He had known better than to underestimate her, especially when she didn't go for the steel sword at her hip. Rather, the Princess of Dragonstone moved her long hair from the way, and she drew Shadow Fang from behind her back. The blade of Valyrian Steel seemed to have darkened with time, but it was no less deadly as Vaelon and his cousins grinned at her as she stepped into the ring opposite Ser Criston.

Oh, how she had been waiting for this moment. She was disappointed that it was over sooner than expected, then again, Ser Criston had no way of knowing that Daenyra hadn't stopped training since the Stepstones. That she hadn't stopped training with her son, her husband, and some of his Gold Cloaks who had abandoned their posts in the City Watch to take a place in their guard upon Dragonstone.

It was very evident in the fact that Ser Criston was disarmed, bleeding and on the ground within a few minutes with Shadow Fang pressed directly over his heart. And she had learned from that day at the tourney, that day that he fought her husband. She refused to turn her back and she further refused to let him move as she stepped on his dominant wrist and kicked away the leg that tried to knock her down – not that he was very flexible inside his armour.

It was the perfect position for her to stand as the gates to the training yard opened and a Velaryon delegation walked through. Banners of the Sea Snake were held high as a group of guards marched around Vaemond Velaryon.

Daenyra let Vaemond's eyes feast on her visage as she stood over a member of the Kingsguard before she stepped over him. Criston groaned as Daenyra stepped on the wrist of his sword arm and approached the three brown-haired boys.

"Stand tall," she spoke to them. "Do not let him see you weak. Do not let him see you afraid."

Vaelon did indeed feel stronger as his mother pressed her sword into his hand, an expression of trust in the action and in her eyes. He planted the tip onto the ground as he covered the hilt with his hands. Daenyra then placed each of her hands onto Jacaerys and Lucerys's shoulders. And they did her proud as they straightened their spines and stared Vaemond in the eyes as he was escorted past them.

Daenyra hadn't hesitated to take back Shadow Fang from her son the moment Vaemond was out of sight, but, she praised all three boys as she planted kisses on each of their brows. "Well done. You have done me proud." Their retreat from the training ground had been prompt after that, but still, they walked tall even with Aemond's scrutinising eye on them.

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The next day, they stood proud still even though it was Otto Hightower standing before the Iron Throne as he would determine their fates.

"Though it is the great hope of this court that after the death of Ser Laenor, Lord Corlys Velaryon survive his wounds, we gather here with the grim task of dealing with the succession of Driftmark. As Hand, I speak with the King's voice on this and all other matters." Otto flicked his cloak back as he took a seat atop the Iron Throne. "The Crown will now hear the petitions. Ser Vaemond of House Velaryon."