Chapter Eight: The Pretty Vampire Liars
Summary: Aegon gets drunk but still enjoys being the eldest son of Rhaegar. Damon plots with Kathrine and meets some old friends. Aegon and Jon offer their service as a house customization agency.
Aegon:
Aegon enjoyed the feast, he got so drunk that he was the one who needed Jon's help to get back to his chambers, instead of helping him. Jon was completely sober but his physical condition was not much better than Aegon, to anyone else, they must have looked like a pair of drunken princes.
"Where's Jyke?" He grumbled as he sat down on his bed, his head felt heavy on his shoulders.
"I'll get him." Jon instantly said and he was about to leave when Aegon remembered how sick his brother was and he felt a pang of guilt.
"No need, stay here." He said before Jon could hurt himself.
He was not willing, but he gave up to his weak body and came back to Aegon, sitting next to him.
Aegon did not know how, but they both fell asleep soon. With all his clothes on, he woke up and saw that he was in an uncomfortable position on his bed, half of his body was tangled amongst the heavy furs and Jon's head was on his shoulder, even in a worse position than Aegon's himself.
His head throbbed with pain and his eyes burned in the pale morning light. It was still too soon to get up, so Aegon gently propped Jon's body against his own, so at least his brother would feel no pain. Stirring, Jon let Aegon help him, but thankfully he did not wake. Aegon closed his eyes after that, willing to stop his own agonizing headache. He drifted to sleep once more.
An hour or two later, he woke up with a start, feeling a sharp pain in his jaw. He opened his eyes to see that Jon was looking at him guiltily, "Sorry, I didn't see you." Jon offered as he helped Aegon get up.
He had hit his jaw in his first-second panic of waking up in another bed. Thankfully the pain faded soon, leaving no trace behind. But Jon kept apologizing. "It's nothing, I'm serious." Aegon assured him.
Jyke, his squire, burst into the room a few seconds later, shocked by their groggy appearance. "My Prince, I'm sorry." He instantly said, his eyes hovering between Jon and Aegon.
Jon's hair was a tangled mess of black curls and he was struggling to put on his boots which turned out to be Aegon's ones. Aegon himself was not much better, he kept brushing off his silver hair out of his eyes and was trying to get rid of his sweaty jerkin.
"Where were you last night?" He demanded his squire.
Jyke shrunk back immediately, "I'm sorry, Prince Aegon... I... I got drunk and..."
Aegon could not blame him, he had been drunk as well. "Alright, help us dress now." He said, not unkindly.
After finally changing their clothes and having a light breakfast, Aegon and Jon left to find Nym. She was not in her assigned bedchambers, so they decided that she had been either forced to get along with the rest of Winterfell ladies or she had gotten too drunk last night to get herself to her room.
The sound of swords clashing against each other tempted them to go for the training yard. Seeing Jon's hand go to the pommel of his sword, Aegon frowned instantly, "You should not."
Jon looked up, "I'm fossilizing, Aeg. Don't worry, I'll keep it light."
They argued all the way to the training yard, but Jon would not give up. Aegon opened his mouth for one final try but he did not close it again. In front of them was Nym, taking arms against Oswell Whent.
The scene was something normal in King's Landing, but the place and the timing looked odd now. The castle was still asleep, everyone had been in their cups during the feast and would not wake up so early.
"Hey there," Nym stopped to greet them with a grin.
Oswell turned to them as well, "Had a hangover, huh?" He asked with a smirk.
"Something of sorts." Aegon said. "Can I have a round, too? I need to get rid of this damn headache."
Oswell grinned, "I can't promise I won't double it."
But Aegon accepted the challenge anyway and he lost in a blink. "I told you so." Oswell quipped.
The ever arrogant knight was a good friend of theirs, both Aegon and Jon had squired for him for some months when they were barely eight. When not too cocky, he was a good companion to have, like a big brother.
Resigning, Aegon stepped away from the field. "I'm too dizzy." He complained.
"Well then, get away now, brother. Let me have a turn." Jon brushed past him.
"No!" All three of them chorused.
Jon eyed them one by one, "I'm fine! If you don't let me have a sword in my hands, I will one day end up like Pycelle." He frowned.
The three of them did not succeed in declining his request. Finally Oswell sighed and gave up, "I'll go easy on you."
Nym and Aegon watched with scornful and worried expression as Jon was forced to fight with tourney swords. However, he fought well enough, there was no sign of his weakness that would make him numb. He was acting like he was alright and he did not have that terrifying wound under his garments.
He did not manage to win, though, but he fought incredibly. By the end of the fight, Oswell was nearly drained of energy. As soon as Jon put back the sword into its place, all that glowing energy left him, and he groaned with pain.
Aegon rushed to his side, taking him before he could fall to the hard ground. Jon tried to break free of his arms, but Aegon had more power. "You are not going anywhere." He said to his little brother.
"I'm alright, Aeg. It was just a wave of dizziness, no more." Jon said, but his voice betrayed him.
Nym was about to scoff him for his folly but the arrival of Ser Rodrick Cassel along with Robb and Theon stopped her. They all bowed at the sight of the royal children, but straightened up with Aegon's casual wave.
Then the normal greetings were exchanged, half of them directed at Jon who was once again leaning against Aegon.
His brother had been getting better when they had first left the Red Keep, but long days and weeks of riding atop a horse had stopped the healing process, and only made his condition worse. No matter how much they begged him, he would not accept to ride in a cart or anything less stiff. And now he was trying to start training once more. Jon could be as stubborn as a hedgehog at times.
With the arrival of Robb, three of the direwolves padded towards them. Two of them were Jon and Nym's newly gifted ones. The two were albino with eyes as red as dragon's eyes. Aegon saw it fit for his siblings, but he could not help but to wish for one. He was ready to give everything but to be a Stark instead of a Targaryen.
His siblings had even named the direwolves last day, Jon's wolf was aptly named Ghost. Whereas Nym had named hers Shadow. Aegon saw no relations between the white direwolf and dark shadows, but he had not said anything.
Robb challenged Aegon to a fight and he accepted instantly. That marked his second defeat that day and he finally decided that it was not wise to accept Theon's challenge as well. "It appears I'm way too light-headed to even win from Rickon," Aegon grinned, "But I can recommend you my sister."
Theon took that as a jest and laughed, "I'm sure Princess Visenya prefers to be with Sansa rather than here." He grinned at Nym.
Nym smirked impishly. Aegon pitied Theon at that moment, he did not know what he had gotten himself into. Even Jon smirked from Aegon's side.
"Why, I would like to test myself in fighting skills. I accept your challenge, Theon." Nym said, "You prefer tourney swords or live steel?"
Theon thought she was joking, but he replied anyways, "Tourney swords, it won't do if I hurt a lady."
As they picked up their weapons, Nym smiled, "Oh, please fight me as if I'm a boy."
Neither Robb, Theon nor Ser Rodrick took any of those for real. So Oswell warned Theon, "Do as she says or you'll regret it very soon."
Theon gave a mock frown to the Kingsguard and finally started the match. It was rather a quick victory that Nym gained, leaving the northerners agape at the scene.
It was Ser Rodrick who broke the silence with a booming laugh, "You remind me of your mother, princess. She tended to come here from time to time and beat her brothers to a bloody pulp before leaving."
Everyone laughed at that. "I can say that Nym has done it dozens of times with us." Jon smiled.
They continued their matches but Aegon soon left his siblings alone, going to explore the castle. On his way, he ran into Sansa Stark, clad in furs and a blue silk dress. Her fiery auburn hair was braided in a northern style and her eyes matched the blue of her dress.
"Prince Aegon," she sank into a curtsy.
Aegon in turn bent to kiss her knuckles courteously, "Lady Sansa, I must insist that you call me Aegon."
She smiled shyly, "Only if you call me Sansa."
Aegon nodded, "Would you please show me the the godswood? My mother says it's truly beautiful."
"It would be a pleasure, Aegon." Sansa put her hand into his offered arm. "I hope you are enjoying Winterfell." She said as they went into the the godswood.
"It's truly a magnificent castle. Even older than Red Keep and it has stunned me." Aegon said truthfully.
Sansa broke into a smile, "I'm happy to hear so."
Aegon thought on what to say next, he had little experience with northern girls, except for his sister. "I hope our visit here has not brought you much troubles, though I'm afraid it has."
"Oh, no, no," Sansa dismissed the matter instantly, "It's a great honor to have you here, the royal family in the North." The last part was said in a dreamy manner.
Aegon almost laughed at how naïve and sweet she was, the exact opposite of his sister. He shook that thought away, Nym and Sansa were simply different type of girls. He did not want his feelings for Nym lead him to misjudge Sansa. "Well, it's actually our mother's homelands, it is not such a big event." He said softly, trying not to ruin her expectations.
She showed her around the the godswood in silence. Their small tour ended by running into Kathrine and Lady Rowan, one of his mother's ladies-in-waiting.
Aegon left Sansa alone with the two ladies, so they could tell her of the wonders of the court.
He found his mother awaiting him in his bedchamber. Suddenly he got anxious, what had he done? Was she there to scowl him for drinking too much? Had something happened to Jon?
"Aegon," She got up and smiled at him kindly, calming his racing heart. "I was waiting for you." She instructed him to sit at the small table in the corner of his room and she took the other seat. "How was your day?"
"Good enough, I had a walk with Sansa and two unsuccessful matches with Ser Oswell and Robb." Aegon did not mention the hangover and how he and Jon had fallen asleep last night.
"No need to worry over the last part, I could barely get up today, let alone handling a sword." Lyanna gave him a knowing smile. "Anyway, I need to talk to you."
"Is something amiss?" Aegon got worried once more.
"No, actually I need your help to fix something. This whole journey has a purpose which I wish to achieve. I want to make Rhaegar open those damned eyes of his and come back to his senses." She said sternly.
Aegon was intent, and even proud that his mother was looking forward to his help in that matter. "How can I help?"
"He likes you, at least more than Jon. Use it to gain his trust, the way Damon did. As long as we're here, surrounded by my brother's men, he cannot harm us even if he finds out. Meanwhile, we need to get him into some sentiments, getting to feel something about his crimes other than being proud of them." She said, at length.
"Like making him feel guilty?"
"Yes, we have about a moon's turn or two. I made him agree to stay here for a while." Lyanna said and Aegon nodded. "And, one more thing, Aegon. I have to thank you for the way you've been supporting Jon. I really appreciate it."
Aegon felt even more proud, but he had done that out of his love for his brother and nothing more. "It wasn't anything, really. If I had known what he wanted to do, I would've volunteered myself."
"Now don't make me angry the way he did. Even thinking of such idiocy is forbidden!" Lyanna warned him, not unkindly. "But speaking of which, how is he doing? I have been too busy these days that I hadn't pay enough attention to him."
"He insists that he's better and he will be, only if he agrees to calm down. Today he forced us to let him have a match with Oswell and he exhausted himself on the act."
"A match with Oswell Whent?" Lyanna asked with a horrified tone, "Is he alright now?"
"I suppose he's better than the days during the journey, but still he's not well. Fortunately Oswell went easy on him." Aegon felt like he was being counselled by his mother and a childish joy filled him.
"I will see to him, if he keeps doing these sort of things, he will never give the chance for himself to heal." Lyanna said, "But anyhow, thank you Aegon." She smiled before taking her leave. The scent of fresh winter roses was left in her wake. The blue roses of the North had given her courage and spirit to continue her war to gain back her husband. Aegon smiled hopefully.
Damon:
If not for his vampire abilities of resisting getting drunk, Damon would have been in a terrible hangover just like the rest of the castle. He had feasted on liquor and a poor man's blood from Winter Town the night before and he was drunk on blood.
He enjoyed a fitful sleep and woke up at about nine O' clock, or when he thought it was nine, there was no clock or watch in Westeros.
He went to the courtyard afterwards, finding a group of boys and knights in the training yard, as expected, Nymeria was also present, locked in a battle with a clumsy young boy. A very familiar young boy, even from the back he looked like someone Damon knew, but he did not know who. As he turned, Damon got his answer, it was his own student, Jeremy Gilbert. How the fuck had he ended up there?
He was soon disarmed by Nymeria and was about to find another one to challenge when his eyes met Damon's. Within a moment, he was in front of Damon.
"You're here, too!" He exclaimed.
"I am, under the alias of Damon Salvatore." Damon confirmed. "You're alone or you have company?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean," Damon rolled his eyes, "I woke up in this strange time with Kathrine by my side. What about you?"
"Kathrine? Kathrine Pierce?" Jeremy was shocked.
"Do you know any other Kathrines? Yes, I know, she's alive, or so it seems." Damon replied. "Now, are you alone?"
"No, Bonnie's here, too." Jeremy finally answered.
"Bonnie? Oh good, maybe she can explain which part of the spell went wrong that we woke up in the middle of this hell." Damon growled.
"She doesn't know, either." Jeremy defended his girlfriend.
"Fine, fine, forget it." Damon gave up. "Just say hello for me." He said before walking away.
They were not alone, at least. There was even a chance that all those others were scattered across Westeros. The thought of seeing Elena again made Damon smile.
"Damon," Jeremy called from behind, causing him to stop and turn to the boy.
"What now?" He asked.
Jeremy got closer, "Why does Prince Aegon look like Klaus?"
"I don't know, but all I know is that he isn't Klaus. That's all that matters." Damon shrugged, he had long ago given up on finding an answer to that question.
Inside the Main Keep, he came across Kathrine. She practically dragged him into her room.
Damon gave her the news of Jeremy and Bonnie's presence and she rolled her eyes in reply, "Now we're supposed to babysit them?" She asked.
"I'm not doing it anyway." Damon shook his head. "But look, we need to do something about Rhaegar."
Just the last evening, Lyanna had personally asked him to join her for a walk. Away from eavesdropper and in the godswood, she had told him of her intention to 'change' Rhaegar while they were in the North. Damon had promised to help, but he saw no way of doing it. He could keep Rhaegar at bay, but changing him was an entirely different matter. He was no psychologist, which was what Rhaegar actually needed.
"So you want help." Kathrine said after he explained the situation.
"Yes," Damon replied, stiffly.
"We need to use Jon in that matter, then." Kathrine started, and she went on as she saw the little frown on his face, "He's the one that Rhaegar hates most and the one that he should feel most guilty about. It's just like turning back a vampire's humanity on."
Considering Stefan's reaper nature, Damon was an expert in designing plans for that sort of things. "He needs to die, then." He decided.
Kathrine immediately scowled him, "You'll do no such thing. I was hoping for some softer ideas."
"Fine, he needs to go on the brink of death." Damon offered with a brash smile.
"Damon Salvatore," Kathrine warned him, "If anything bad happens to Jon, I will skin you myself."
"Don't worry, your one true love isn't going to die." He grinned. Kathrine was obviously in love with Jon.
"What's your big plan, then?" She demanded.
"What sorts of poison can be found in this weird timeline?" Damon asked.
They had already tested a few, when they planned to poison Rhaegar. However, none of them suited Damon's intentions. He wanted something slow-working which did not shout it was poison. Jon was already weak enough and any change for worse in his state would be related to his wound. It was a good, though, because Damon wanted Rhaegar to believe he was dying of those fatal injuries.
All they needed to do was to find the right poison and get Jon to spend even more time doing what he was forbidden to do, things like riding, sword fighting and such.
Damon smirked, he was born to be an assassin, killing people without them knowing where the blow had come from. Be it taking out their hearts or secretly poisoning them. Some more influence and he would be Master of Murders in Rhaegar's council, a new title invented by Damon himself. He was already very close to become a knight or even a lord and member of the Small Council. Even if he killed Jon openly, he would be praised by Rhaegar. The man was that mad to do that.
Damon and Kathrine both went to library, doing the tiresome act of researching the books. He dearly missed internet, where he could goggle things and get whatever information he wanted in a matter of seconds. All of the books were hand-written and yellow paged, old and new were all dusty.
The library was empty, though a maester came in once to grab a book, but he left soon. It was a good thing, they did not want anyone sneaking on them and asking questions about why were they reading the Poisons of the East, it would just be too suspicious.
Why could they not simply get some Thallium or Arsenic in those times? Instead they had those complex poison names that sounded more like names of foods or other things. Widow's Blood? Seriously? Damon mused.
"Look here," Kathrine said, pushing a book towards him.
This one was relatively newer than the other ones and looked like an encyclopedia of poisons. Kathrine pointed to a part that was titled Tears of Lys. It had some illustrations but what caught Damon's attention was the effects. They had just found the Thallium of the medieval times. No maester could tell whether the victim was actually poisoned or had simply fallen ill. In Jon's case, no one would even suspect that he was not actually ill.
The next step was finding the poison, they could not just order it in old Westerosi version of Amazon and expect it to arrive in a day. It was a rare poison, only imported from Lys. So Kathrine decided to send someone, maybe a sellsword, to White Harbour. There, their messenger would obtain the poison in secret and bring it back north. It would take time, at least three weeks, but Lyanna had told him that they had all the time in the world, Rhaegar was easy to persuade. Although the queen had not meant that they had time to poison her son, but she looked willing to give anything to gain her husband back on her side. Besides, Jon was not actually going to die, the poison would be carefully measured and there was always two willing vampires to give him their blood.
When Damon and Kathrine finally left the library, it was already getting dark. Kathrine went to find the right sellsword and seduce him with her own charm and some gold. It would not matter anyways, for they would get rid of the fool as soon as he came back with the poison.
Damon, in turn, left for Rhaegar's temporary solar. He had to work on him, as well. But as he got closer, the sounds of yet another heated argument could be heard. Although it was not Lyanna who was arguing the king. The usually calm voice of Arthur Dayne was laced with anger, though he kept it quiet. The argument was low, but of course Damon could hear it without even being obvious about it.
"That prophecy has invaded your mind, your grace." Arthur was saying.
"You're not the one to tell me what things I should put my mind to, Dayne." Rhaegar barked.
"My duty is protect you, your grace, and I see it my job to warn you against these destructive thoughts." Arthur tried to stay calm.
"Your duty is to shut your mouth and just protect me. I don't need your words, Dayne."
"Write to Maester Aemon, he will agree with me, Rhaegar." His tone changed into a friendlier one.
But it made Rhaegar even more furious, "I'm your king!" He bellowed. "And I order you to get out of my sight."
It took a minute before Arthur finally stomped out of the solar. Damon started walking to the solar from where he was at the end of the hallway. Arthur gave him a venomous look as he brushed past him. No wonder, he did not know that Damon was working with the royal family instead of Rhaegar.
He calmly went and knocked the door. It took a while before the answer came, "Come in." Rhaegar's voice was still angry.
"Your grace," Damon entered with a bow, "I hope that I had not interrupted you in a bad time."
"No, sit down, Salvatore." Rhaegar motioned for a seat in front of his desk, "I had things to tell you."
"Yes, your grace?" Damon could not second guess what the king wanted from him.
"For your services during the recent moons, I thought of rewarding you." Damon now knew where it was going, a knighthood or lordship. "I doubt you're a knight, are you?" Rhaegar asked.
"No, your grace." Damon answered briefly.
"Then from now on, you shall be Ser Damon of house Salvatore. An advisor in my council." Rhaegar announced.
Damon grinned with gratefulness, "I'm the most honored, your grace."
The king regarded him with a smile, one that Damon had never seen him with before. He had seen him smirk, or laugh mercilessly, but never smile. He noted that as a small victory against the king.
"Now I think is the time for thinking of your sigil and proper house words. It's not going to be easy." Rhaegar offered with a smirk. Alright, he won again, Damon admitted inwardly.
He grinned outwardly, "That would take some time, I'm afraid." He replied.
"But you don't need to wait for your sigil to attend the council meetings here." Rhaegar said. He held his own very Small Councils in the North. He had already thrown some during their journey, where Lyanna, Ser Gerold, Renly Baratheon and now Damon would be present.
That night he celebrated that victory with yet another poor folk from Winter Town. But due to limits and privacy matters, he and Kathrine shared the blood, but it still tasted good enough.
The next day, he started his job at indirectly tempting Jon to do some real activities. He had Jon challenge him in the privacy of his own rooms while the prince thought it was his own exclusive idea. Damon protested all the way, saying that taking private sword fighting sessions would make everyone angry and Jon would hurt himself as well. But Jon humorlessly stated that it was a command.
Damon made sure that he was not too exhausted, wanting to look like he meant well. None of them broke as much as a sweat by the end of the short session, and Damon even let Jon win.
Just as they finished and got rid of the evidences, Aegon burst into the room. "Oh, I thought you were alone." He said as he saw Damon.
"I can leave then." Damon offered but luckily his offer was answered with a scowl from both princes and thus he stayed.
Aegon examined Jon from head to toe with his observing eyes, after he found nothing wrong with his younger brother, he let go of himself onto a chair. "We're staying here for a while." He announced.
Jon broke into a rare smile, "That's good indeed. How did the king agree with Mother?"
"Don't know, but let's enjoy it." Aegon shrugged. Damon wondered if he knew of his mother's plans. It was like Lyanna to tell him of her plans.
"Are you feeling better?" Aegon asked Jon. It was at least the hundredth time that Damon heard this cliché conversation, and he was not with the princes half of the times.
"I'm fine," Jon replied, frustrated, "You don't have to ask it like every minute, Aeg. You're even worse than Edric."
Aegon grinned at that, "At least you have a capable squire, brother. Jyke, well, you know how he is." Jyke Buckler was Aegon's squire sent to him from Stormlands and Aegon was never pleased with him, even though the boy tried his best.
"Well, I suppose being Ser Arthur's nephew helps." Jon smiled.
"Why can't I have, say Ser Barristan's nephew as my squire? Life must have been simpler that way." Aegon mocked a frown.
"There, there, Aegon. You can hand me this Buckler squire of yours and find another one if it's that bad." Damon offered, as a discreet way to announce his new rank.
"You're not a knight, not yet." Aegon frowned with confusion.
"Oh, your father made me a knight last night. I'm now Ser Damon Salvatore." Damon grinned.
"Congratulations, Ser Damon." Jon grinned as well. Aegon clapped him on the back as an act of applauding him.
"And I'll be needing your help for sigil and words. I can't choose between a skull, a raven and a chalice of blood." He said frankly.
"Are you sure you aren't a Dothraki?" Aegon raised a brow.
Damon only grinned in response, "I want it to be scary."
"Then I guess a chalice of blood is the best option. Anyways the raven would make you look like a Night's Watch member or some maester from Old Town." Aegon decided.
Secretly, Damon liked the raven idea, but Aegon's words made sense. "And the house words? Scary, please."
"I don't know. Your blood is ours, maybe?" Jon shrugged.
Damon could laugh at the irony of that. Yes, their blood was his, he was a vampire after all. "Good idea."
"And you should defiantly set for red and black, besides, Father will love it." Aegon suggested.
"Noting it, thanks." Damon grinned. Finding house words and all was simple for the princes, they should have had an agency. Targaryen House Customization Service, Damon mused with a smirk.
He almost felt bad for attempting to poison Jon, but almost. He shrugged that feeling away, he was just helping them that way, and it was for everybody's best.
