He is fire; she fears the flame. Naerys Velaryon, firstborn of Rhaenyra Targaryen, bears the blood of the dragon yet carries a curse that sets her apart: a terror of fire. When her mother's claim hung by a thread, she was bound in childhood to her uncle, Aemond Targaryen - a union forged not of love, but as the price exacted for the loss of his eye. Ten years later, Naerys returns to King's Landing to fulfill her duty. Yet her betrothed is no longer the boy she once knew. Aemond is vengeance made flesh, as sharp and unforgiving as the blades he wields. In a court ruled by treachery, where oaths shatter as swiftly as they are sworn, they must set aside their grievances... if only to seize what they both covet: the Iron Throne. And in the game they are forced to play, hatred may prove the only thing more perilous than desire. All rights belong to George RR Martin and HBO House of The Dragon, except any original characters and canon divergence on this story.

"Qeldlie" word for golden in High Valyrian. According to Septon Eustace, most accurate description for Alyssa Targaryen, only daughter of King Viserys I and Queen Alicent. "The children of King Viserys I and Queen Alicent Hightower are now grown. Life at court, with its intrigues and shadows, has shaped them into very different people. In the Red Keep, growing up is perilous, and the blood of the dragon carries both duty and danger. In a game ruled by wicked and ruthless men, being a princess is an even riskier fate-especially when your greatest threat may be your own kin. Aegon, the eldest of the siblings, Prince of Dragonstone and heir to the Iron Throne, is twenty years old and has grown up without ever knowing his parents' love, always disappointing them with his vices and his distaste for matters of court. Though he is often lost in drink, one thing in him has never faded with time: his love for his younger sister, and the fierce instinct to protect her, the only one who never rejected him or treated him cruelly for who he is. When the young princess finds herself in danger and the King's health begins to decline, an ill-prepared and vice-ridden Aegon must rise to protect all that he holds dear."

Princess Saera Targaryen is everything Alicent prayed would never happen. To Prince Aegon, his sister has always been his best friend, his twin flame since childhood. But when adolescence blooms, and King's Landing becomes a playground for the King and Queen's neglected firstborns, scandal, desire, drama, and reckless pleasure become their daily ritual. Meanwhile, the realm whispers. "Saera the Second," as the smallfolk call her, moves through life in the Red Keep caught between her mother's shame and regret, her father's slow decay, the first threads of usurpation beginning to stir, the quiet comfort of Helaena's friendship, the sharp, unspoken tension with Aemond- -and the bond with Aegon that no one dares name, and no God could ever sanctify. And in the shadows, someone watches her closely, proud of everything she's becoming.