Heir of the Dragon

Down the Dragons' Road

"Nyra, be reasonable. Aemond will come looking for me once he discovers that Starfyre is missing." Jessica had been trying to leave Dragonstone for the better part of an hour now.

Rhaenyra was still hugging Jessica tightly. "Just stay until Vermithor and Silverwing have riders. I need you here Sweet Girl."

Jessica sighed. "Nyra...I have to go."

Rhaenyra sighed, kissing her forehead. "You leave me no choice."

Rhaenyra looked up and gave a nod, and before Jessica could react, Jace had pulled Jessica away from her sister.

Jessica looked up at her nephew, knowing that look. She was grinning, already beginning to laugh. "Don't."

Jace beamed holding her to his chest, before leaning down and kissed her forehead, then her cheek, then her neck. Jace then rested his forehead against hers, before taking her face in his hands, gently rubbing his thumbs against her cheek.

Jessica could only close her eyes and shake her head, her shoulder shaking as she was trying to hold back a laugh. "You've seen Daemon do this far too many times. Fine. Fine! Just until Vermithor and Silverwing have riders."

Jace beamed up at Rhaenyra. "It pays to be the favorite nephew."

Rhaenyra made quick work using Elinda to send word to the smallfolk, and in a blink of an eye, the ships were being sent. Jessica could hardly believe the number of silver haird peoples making their way up to the castle.

Jessica knew that the dragonkeepers would not take kindly to having bastards and lowborns attempting to claim dragons that had been passed through royalty since Aegon the Conqueror himself.

She had followed behind Rhaenyra as they descended the stairs. The dragonkeepers yelled up at them. "This is an abomination."

Rhaenyra stopped. "What do you speak of?"

The dragonkeeper continued. "You set an Andal before a dragon. The judgment was delivered. Now you send more."

Rhaenyra continued down the stairs. "Ser Steffon Darklyn was blood of the dragon."

The dragonkeeper held firm. "It was a blasphemy. He was no dragonlord. And neither are those." He pointed to the score of silver haird peoples.

Rhaenyra was still arguing. "And yet the Gods have set them before us."

He shook his head. "You set them upon yourself. The dragons are sacred; they are the last magic of Old Valyria in this sad world. They are not play things for the games of men. Our order will take no part in this."

Jessica sighed as she watched the dragonkeepers leave one by one.

Rhaenyra looked back, she took Jessica's hand and gave it a squeeze before addressing the crowd. "I used to think I knew what it was to claim a dragon, but…I understand now that what I thought I knew is…ash in the wind. Perhaps it is blood. Or worth. Or perhaps it’s something else. Each of you…has left behind a life to answer this call. A life to which…you might never return. If you survive, you will be transformed. No man or woman can face a dragon and be otherwise. Some of you may welcome the prospect of change, even death, given the alternatives: privation...starvation, war. This is our purpose, to end those hardships. For you…for your kin, for all the realm. With these two dragons added to our number, the enemy will have no choice but to give way. And peace will be restored...suffering will be ended, and without bloodshed...gods willing."

Rhaenyra and Jessica were hand in hand as they lead the crown down the Dragonmount. Both of them coming to the edge before turning around. "The dragon named Vermithor…is the largest in the world after Vhagar, and…perhaps, the most fierce. He’s called the Bronze Fury…may the gods bless you."