The halls of Dragonstone were shrouded in the grim scent of volcanic smoke and sea salt.
Within the great hall, bas-reliefs on the stone walls depicted Aegon the Conqueror and his sisters.
Rhaenyra Targaryen stood before the hearth in the corridor, the flames flickering across her long silver-gold hair. "I said—no."
Daemon Targaryen sat at the far end of the long table, idly playing with an empty wine goblet in his hand.
"How long will you remain stubborn?"
He slammed the cup onto the table with a crash.
"Now the king has fully lost patience with you and prepares to replace the heir."
"If you do nothing, Rhaenyra will forever lose the status of heir apparent."
Rhaenyra turned and said angrily, "So you want to send my son to the Wall?"
"To send Jacaerys, Lucerys, and Joffrey to ice and snow to die?"
Daemon rose and strode around the table to her. "It is the only way to solve the problem."
"Rhaenyra, open your eyes and see reality! Your father is shaken! Alicent whispers in his ear day and night, and now Alicent herself is with twins."
"Seven bless us, my brother could get the queen pregnant at that age, and now the nobles of King's Landing claim it is a good omen!"
He seized Rhaenyra by the shoulder.
"As long as these three children remain with you, as long as their name is Targaryen, as long as you insist they are your legitimate heirs, the nobles will not obey you."
"Let me speak plainly. They now mock a woman who has tainted her own blood—why should she rule the Seven Kingdoms?!"
Rhaenyra shook off his hand and recoiled, bracing herself against the mantel. She lifted her gaze to Daemon and said, her voice trembling:
"From the beginning to the end… you married me only for this, didn't you?"
"To place your lineage on the Iron Throne? To make you and my child, little Aegon, and Viserys the legitimate heirs?"
"My other three children are merely obstacles for you? Obstacles to be removed?"
Daemon remained silent for a long moment before speaking.
"You think I do all this for the Iron Throne?"
"I confess, the thought crossed my mind…"
"But I do not believe it harms Jacaerys or the others."
He grabbed her shoulders and met her gaze. "When you were a girl, I thought you would be my wife."
"It was my brother, your father Viserys, the self-satisfied fool, who orchestrated all this."
"You will lose the inheritance, the nobles who support you will turn neutral, and you will be killed."
"But if you surrender now, it is tantamount to kneeling before the Greens!"
"Moreover, if you yield, the hearts of the people will scatter, and the Greens will gain complete advantage, holding a legitimate claim of succession."
"And you will have nothing, and the maesters' knowledge will no longer support you!"
"You have been heir apparent for so many years—why are you still so naive?"
Rhaenyra looked at Daemon shouting at her, tears welling in her eyes.
For a long time, Daemon had helplessly reached to wipe her tears. Perhaps Rhaenyra had never fully grown, but as heir, she had always hidden on Dragonstone, never daring to face King's Landing… until now.
At that moment, the corridor door swung open.
Rhaenyra forced herself to calm down. "My lord, please, sit."
Corlys settled into a chair, his eyes falling on the map of the Seven Kingdoms laid out by Blackstone on the table. "I heard you recently bore another child?"
He did not like Daemon, and now part of the Green faction's power rested on this prince.
He had orchestrated the faked death of his son Lannion without permission, leaving him unaware of his extreme grief and slipping into a coma, and no one in House Velaryon restrained the obstinate younger brother, Vaemond.
Corlys turned to Daemon, his gaze sharp. "Two years ago, you arranged for my son laenor to stage his death."
"You forced him to abandon his family, his duties, and flee like a coward to consort with those lovers."
"And now Laenor cannot return from the dead."
The hall fell silent and still.
Daemon looked at Corlys in silence. If the current Black faction lost Velaryon support, no foundational principles would remain.
"Because of your schemes, I had to endure gout in a sickbed, convincing an enraged clan to continue supporting Rhaenyra."
He rose, placing his hands on the table. "Now, do you wish to determine my grandson's fate again?"
"You wish to send them to the Wall and let me die?"
Hearing this, Daemon realized Corlys had not yet abandoned these three children.
"In a foolish sense," Corlys said coldly. "Send them to the Wall? Let the world know that Rhaenyra has indirectly acknowledged the child as illegitimate?"
Corlys sat again, lifting a silver goblet of wine to sip, before speaking slowly:
"Jacaerys, Lucerys, Joffrey—they will indeed belong to House Velaryon in the future."