Pre-Chapter A/N: Here we go with another chapter. Here on time! Next four chapters on my patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga)— same username as here and link in bio. Also started a new story (SI into Bill Weasley in the HP Universe) so go check that out. As we do when we have new stories, there's a cheeky little discount for the week. Code: THEFIRSTSON
XXXXX- LAENOR VELARYON (TWO WEEKS LATER)
Zalindros had kept up his end of the bargain and then some. Dragon's Roost was ready for occupancy and I had already inspected it thrice for flaws and things to be wary about. There were none. So the time had come for my wife and the children in her belly to move. And that was a task and a half on its own. First was drawing up who would be following her and who would be staying. With time, Dragon's Roost would have its own full-time staff, but that was not an option now. Laena was at far too delicate a stage in her pregnancy for things to be entrusted to people who lacked the requisite experience to see to it that she was properly cared for.
Cooks would have to go. Enough to make sure the household would be well-fed. Cleaners as well. General serving staff would need to make the journey too. Then there was Laena's mini-household of serving girls. Myrilla, Myriah, and the rest of them. They would make the journey as well. Bernard, the midwives, and all the healing Maesters I'd brought on over would follow.
If Laena changed her mind or if there was some sort of emergency, it was better to have them on hand ahead of time. The rest of the household, the council, and Aegon himself would remain here. I would switch between both places. Igneel could make the flight in less than an hour. I would move some of my things to Dragon's Roost as that would be where I spent my nights, but my days would be spent here making sure the kingdom that the children in her belly would one day inherit was as strong as it could be.
Now all that was easier than the other problem.
Laena did not have the same mental connection that I shared with Igneel with Vhagar. When she needed to ride her, it was simple enough for her to ride a horse down to wherever she chose to roost for that period. Heavily pregnant as she was, there was no way she would ride here. Off in the far reaches of Bloodstone Isle, far from civilisation (a few miles, but still). There were no roads for a wheelhouse to easily traverse and any journey across this landscape in one would be uncomfortable to say the least. So I had volunteered to tell Vhagar that Laena would be moving to Dragon's Roost.
Now, that would have been hard enough without the other complicating factor that Vhagar had suddenly become even more crotchety than usual about two moons ago. The sight of another dragon now drove her into a rage. She'd near eaten Sunfyre, the poor thing, when he had flown too close. Igneel had been the only reason the golden dragon was just traumatised and not turned into Vhagar's dung.
So I couldn't ride Igneel down here. She would go into a fit and act out. Instead, I'd come out here myself to meet a dragon that did not like me at the best of times in one of her worse moods. Let's just say, the list of things I've done that would trump the risk of this one was a very short one.
The dragon was visible from miles out. Vhagar had never stopped growing. Dragons never did, true, but Vhagar's rate of growth should have slowed more than it had. It was not as drastic as Igneel's, of course. But it was still noticeable. She was obviously bigger now than she had been five years alone. She never agreed to stay still for comprehensive measurements to be taken so we couldn't put numbers to it, but the eyes didn't lie. Not mine at least.
One change in the last few months though was that she was much less active than she used to be. Her flights over Bloodstone now happened once a sennight rather than daily as they used to. Most of the time was spent just lying about in one place or another. She had gotten lazy without Laena to fly her around it seemed. I wondered how she felt about every time Laena got pregnant. Igneel's feelings were obvious enough on that. He knew the children she carried were mine and so he paid more attention to her than he usually did.
Whenever she had reason to leave Bloodstone Castle, it was not unusual for him to be spotted watching her from the skies.
My horse began to resist my instructions to get closer as we got within smelling distance. Vhagar remained curled in on herself, but I had no doubt that she had smelt us a while ago. A dragon's senses were something else. The horse though had just begun smelling the dragon perhaps and was not going to continue forwards.
"Come on," I urged, trying to get it to keep moving. It did a few more steps before stopping. Any urging after that just fell on deaf ears. I sighed and dismounted. There weren't many trees here but I managed to find a stump to tie it against. It seemed the rest of the journey would be continued on foot.
"Wait here," I instructed somewhat unnecessarily and began to walk down towards the dragon. She was perhaps a mile or two of walking away. The sun was beaming down overhead but the heat bothered me little. The breeze was also quite comforting, and the smell of dragon might have been off-putting to most, but it just gave me peace. I enjoyed the walk as much as I could, and when I was a hundred paces away or so, Vhagar finally saw it fit to recognise my approach.
Her head rose from where she had tucked it beneath her wings, and she roared. The ground shook, my bones began to vibrate, and it felt like I was going to lose my hearing from being subjected to it from so close.
"'Lo to you too, Vhagar," I said, waving my right hand at her. I didn't take another step forwards though. For all the confidence I portrayed, I was not stupid enough to piss off this dragon. If she killed me, Igneel would make her regret it for sure, but I would be dead by then so that wasn't much of a win.
The bronze queen of dragons just regarded me with fiery green eyes. It felt like she was asking what I wanted, so I told her.
"Laena is moving out of Bloodstone later today. She'll be heading to Atlantis, an island not too far from this one. You've been there before. It's the one that sits nestled between two others and out of the way. The small one Laena and I like to go to. Of course in her present state she can't ride you there. She'll be going by ship, but I doubted you'd want to remain here while she wasn't, and I know for sure that she wants you with her. I can send Igneel along to—"
The mention of my dragon set her off as she roared once more, threatening to blow me off my feet. She rose then. Her languid posture disappearing as she pushed herself up to her full height, towering over me and making me feel like an ant in the face of a god. Mentioning Igneel was not the good play there, I see.
Vhagar was a mountain that breathed. And now that mountain loomed above me. One wrong word here would mean my death. In the back of my mind, I could feel Igneel stirring. He was rising as well. Sure to start flying her in a matter of seconds. Igneel and Vhagar had never had a good relationship. But in the beginning, she had seen him more as an annoyance than anything else. A smaller dragon ridden by a boy too stupid to give her her due.
But that was no longer the state of things. Igneel had grown now. Still smaller than her, but she would be stupid not to see that Igneel would give her a good fight if the occasion came. I knew that if I were on his back and the situation arose, we could kill Vhagar. And she saw the threat. She did not like it. Not one bit.
'Calm, brother,' I urged him mentally. He could not come here. If he did, they would fight. Vhagar's present mood did not leave many options for this to end well if she was faced with another dragon. But I was her rider's husband. I could handle this.
"Are you quite done?" I asked when she remained there breathing deeply and staring down at me. She wanted fear. She wanted subservience. I gave her neither of those. Push back, but don't challenge, I decided. If I displayed fear here, she might spare me but she would never respect me again. If I challenged her by bringing Igneel into this, she would fight, and that would not end well. Killing my pregnant wife's dragon would not be a good idea. Losing the weapon that was Vhagar, and possibly Igneel himself as well, was going to be disastrous. No. That was not an option. I did not make eye contact. That would be a step too far. I did not lower my gaze much either. I kept my eyes pinned on her nose as I kept speaking.
"I came to tell you what I have, and the message is given. Laena's ship will leave in the next three hours. It's the big one in the harbour. The biggest one. You should be able to follow it easily when the time comes," I said. No reply, just deep breathing and a stare that would have made a lesser man empty his bowels or soak his breeches. Perhaps both.
"Goodbye, Vhagar," I said, and turned around. She remained like that, looming over me as I showed her my back and walked away. When I heard movement behind me, I felt my heart begin to beat even faster, but I allowed it to show in neither my gait nor my pace. She settled back into her lazy posture, curling back in on herself.
Did her midsection look a bit swollen? I asked myself but could not say for sure. Perhaps she'd had a much larger lunch than usual, because the other possibility? Well, that one did not bear mentioning. Because it would mean Igneel had been more active than I'd given him credit for.
I returned to my horse, and then my castle in short order. And when Laena's ship set sail, Vhagar flew behind it.
XXXXXX- LAENA VELARYON (THREE WEEKS LATER)
Eight months with child now. Children, she corrected herself. The Maesters said she would be due any day now. Myriah agreed. The children were just waiting to burst out of her. Their kicks got more ferocious with each day. Even being here by the sea had not calmed them the way that she had hoped it would when she had urged Laenor to accelerate things. A castle built in less than seven months. Sometimes, the things her husband was capable of frightened even her.
She had no doubt that if she asked for the moon itself, he would see it given to her. That was just the kind of man he was. The man she loved.
"Lady Laena, I thought you were abed," she heard the words as she stepped into the dining room. Myriah was there waiting for her already. How odd.
"No, laying down any longer would have the little ones rip themselves out of me. Movement is the only thing that keeps them from treating my womb as an enemy and kicking with all their considerable might," she said, moving to one of the empty seats.
"Juice?" Myriah offered, already pouring out the pitcher of juiced orange into the glass. Glass. They had so much of it now that they could afford to have this dining room with glass windows that gave a clear unobstructed view of the beach. It felt like being outside with none of the discomfort that came with it. She was a lucky woman. She accepted the glass and began to drink. When she'd had her first sip, a thought came to mind.
"How have you been, Myriah? I apologise for not asking sooner," she asked. She had been so preoccupied that she had paid little care to the welfare of her ladies in waiting. While they were not ladies in the Westerosi sense, they did fulfill the purpose and provide all the services that ladies in waiting would have. Using that name was better than calling them servants. Because they were more than that. To her, they were friends. And sometimes even family.
Myriah took a second to answer, looking out through the window as well. She had a thousand-mile stare sometimes. Like she was here, but not here at the same time. Like she had lived so long that she got stuck in memories of a past long gone. Myrilla said it was because of what she had gone through at the whorehouse. Laena could not even imagine it.
A woman as beautiful as Myriah was? Even now, after decades of life, she was still a beauty to behold. The whorehouse must have used her for all they could get and then some.
She shivered as she came back to reality.
"I have been well, my lady. The quarters here are something else. The view, the sea breeze, this place is perfect. And your husband built it for you," she said.
"He built it for us. For the family we will be building," she corrected.
"Yet he is not here now. He built it for you," Myriah asserted again. She was firm this time.
"He will be back tonight. And when our children are born, he will be here to dote on them night and day," she said. Myriah gave her a look Laena was more than familiar with. It was the same one Mother gave her when she felt she was being fanciful but did not want to discourage her dreams.
"Yes, my lady," Myriah said.
"No. You have something to say. I will hear it," she said.
"No, my lady. This one has nothing to say," Myriah said, eyes flicking off to the windows. Laena hissed then as the children kicked her in unison. She couldn't feel how many feet were ravaging her insides, but that could not have been one.
"I find that hard to believe. Speak your peace, Myriah. I command it of you," she instructed, rising as the pain began to wear at her patience and mood.
"All I would say is that I have seen many a man like your husband. They say they want families, children aplenty, but they care only for the having and not for the raising. A man with the power he has will seek more power like a moth in a lit room will seek the flame. In the face of that, what is a family? What are a babe's cries to a throne?" she asked.
"My Laenor is nothing like that," she sniffed, already turning to leave. The children were still kicking. Perhaps it was for the best to take them outside.
"I'm sorry, my lady. I misspoke. 'Tis none of my business and I should not have put the things I have seen in Lys onto you. You are right. None of the men I saw there cared for their wives the way your husband cares for you. It is clear that he loves you, and when he has them in his arms, he will love your children as well," Myriah spoke as Laena turned her back to leave. She turned again to look at her. She looked sorry. Truly repentant.
"Your apology is accepted as long as it does not happen again," she said with a sniff. Myriah nodded eagerly.
"Now let us speak of something else.
"How do the little ones feel now? Did the candle I gave you help with sleeping through their kicks?"
"It did. For a time. But Laenor is not comfortable with it. Says it itches at his nose," she said.
"That is odd. I have never heard of anyone having such a reaction to the scent," she said.
"My husband is a particular man. Trust me, I've had to deal with him and his peculiarities for all my life. He has the things he likes and the things he does not, and there is rarely a chance for anything to move from the latter category to the former," she said.
"The candles are necessary, my lady," Myriah said.
"I would hardly say so. If they bother my husband, then I cannot burn them," she said.
"Perhaps he should sleep in another room," she said. Laena turned fully to face her now, lifting an eyebrow.
"Pardon me?"
"Just a suggestion, my lady. Forgive my presumption."
"Why do you push so much for this, Myriah?" Laena asked, feeling some of Laenor's suspicion be aroused in her. Laenor was paranoid, yes, but perhaps he had a point.
"Forgive me, my lady. It's just that you mentioned being unable to sleep properly and the health of the mother matters so much in this stage of the quickening. The children are just about ready to come out now. Any issues with your own health could see them... I do not even want the words to leave my mouth," she said. She did not need to say the words. With every day that passed, Laena's fear grew. It did not lessen with time because she had been here before.
She would not be calm until she had her screaming and crying children in her hands.
"No, no, no. No need to apologise. You are right. We cannot make any compromises now. I will speak to Laenor. We cannot risk anything. Your medicines have worked well so far. He will understand," she said.
"If it pleases you, my lady," Myriah responded.
A/N: Children soon? Real soon-ish. Next four chapters up on patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga) (same username as here and link in bio), support me there and read them early. Don't forget to check out the new story or redeem the discount.