Intermission 3: Null And Nothing

The Rogue Prince

"Thank you. You can be nice when you want to." Alicent said, her mouth inches behind his face, white air coming from her every breath in the cold morning air.

"I'm nice, you say?" How adorable, "The first time someone said that."

How decidedly unlike Alicent Hightower at all.

Alicent, when she's a young girl, loved how dangerous he was. Daemon had taken advantage of that, just to place an attack on Otto, but he had left to find his own fortune soon.

Had he known it'd lead to Viserys taking her as his second wife...

"That sounds like a very sad thing to say?" But ohh, this new her was completely different.

How exciting, "This isn't what people would usually use to describe me." To have her forgetting everything, to have her think he's nice, "The world isn't a nice place. I simply adapt to the working of this world."

It almost made him consider making a detour.

"I thought you're the kind of guy to say 'the world is my playground'." She said, a smile in her voice.

This was fitting. The world was his playground, and he would have it all.

Daemon knew he was different from a young age. His first memory was when his mother died...

He was a child, attending her funeral. He saw her lifeless body being put on a pyre and lit on fire. His father, Viserys, everyone was devastated.

Daemon... felt almost nothing. The adults thought he's too young to understand the meaning of death, but this wasn't the core of the issue.

He perfectly understood: his mother wasn't coming back. She wouldn't be able to hug him, to talk to him. But he wasn't more than irritated by the thought of his mother's passing.

At first, he was confused. As he grew up, he tried to find out the difference between him and others. What made people cry? What made people sad?

At last, he arrived at one conclusion.

He lacked... humanity. His heart was empty, with nothing in it.

Nothing. That was who he was. His essence.

He didn't feel the same thing most people did. Happiness, sadness, fear... he didn't have that.

He knew how to crack a laugh, but he knew not how to cry. When people shed tears, he only felt irritation or rage.

Only when he picked up his sword and tame his dragon, he found immersive, overwhelming joy.

He enjoyed wielding his sword and on top of his dragon. That's where he belonged— holding the weapon to take one's life and on the top of everyone else.

For others, like his brother, it was a challenge and bother to navigate in this deadly world. Yet for Daemon, he thrived and soared in it.

This was a world where the most shameless, the vilest survive to write their tale. And he had all the qualities to win all the matches.

He'd get the most out of it.

"…Does that mean you would rather live in a less… deadly world?"

A world that offered no bloodlust and slaughter?

The mere thought of it should bore him, but he read another possibility from her question.

A world that... he could feel what people feel... where he could finally understand.

"This is the only world that I've ever been to, so who knows?" He couldn't say he wasn't intrigued.

To have a life where people would call him nice... to experience what he couldn't have.

He had planned to take the crown with wits and charm, but it wouldn't hurt to try what he hadn't done in a long time.

To be... a nice person.

—

But it couldn't be.

Try as he might, he felt nothing.

Nothing, when they joked and played around. Nothing, when he once again beat everyone in her game. Nothing, when he spent his time charming Rhaenyra with his story.

No human could make him feel anything other than annoyance, anger, or... lust.

He should be angry at Alicent for wasting his time, tricking him in this folly. But when she's around, he had only found her... lovable.

Hilariously foolish and naive. Easily manipulated. Slightly mad, and certainly not suited to be a queen or even a mother. Completely out-of-bonds.

This new Alicent was his type of woman, unlike the old her.

Taking Rhaenyra wouldn't be easy. He would need time to worm into her heart, to corrupt her, to make her yield herself to him.

So, in the meantime... Why not play for a bit?

"Arghh," He heard her scream through the door. He could imagine her scratching head entirely unladylike.

He swiftly inserted himself into her conversation with her brothers.

"...Why do you keep approaching me?" She asked.

He smiled. She's still suspicious of him, it's clear. As were the Hightower brothers.

They weren't wrong with their suspicion.

"You want to know?" He held out a hand, "Then come with me."

She stared at him, her wide eyes full of confusion. "You can't tell me here?"

"There's something I want you to do for me." One thing he's curious about, "Once it's done, I'll tell you everything." Everything he planned to tell.

He led her in circles to keep her brothers from following them. Eventually, he told her his wish. She laughed heartily, before agreeing and took off her gloves.

There's nothing under it, as she had claimed. "Can I touch it?"

"...Sure." She looked at him, those innocent eyes.

It made him want to take her right here and now.

He took her hand, soft and warm and slightly sweaty, although it looked like a pile of air. But it's there.

He didn't have any interest in taking it up with the old Alicent. But the current Alicent...

The difference was invisible but plainly existed.

It's the invisible part that attracted him.

"You're adorable, do you know?" He asked. He's tired of pretending, and he wanted her.

"Huh? What... huh?" She went agape. Blinking rapidly, her face flushed red. "Are... are you..."

Aww, even that stammering was so in character.

"Viserys doesn't get you. You want someone to tell you that, someone to praise you and proclaim his love for you." He was confident of that, from his observation.

"Ah..." She was too stunned to say anything. He pulled her close, "I can give you what you want, and nobody else will know. Do you want it?"

He's so sure of himself.

"No, definitely not." Came the answer.

"You mean yes," He wasn't discouraged yet. All women caved in eventually.

"No means no. I'm not playing hard-to-get. I don't want you, Daemon." However, this made him pause.

"You know I'm right. You love it when I praise you. You went all red when I said you're adorable." He saw it. He couldn't be wrong. She couldn't escape him—

And she broke him.

"If it isn't you, it might be different."

Isn't him?

She had a specific problem with him?

She's exactly what he had observed. But she would deny Daemon, and Daemon only.

And Daemon Targaryen was not to be denied.

She's still talking, so he shut her up with his hands. "Mm!" She struggled under him, refused to let him take what he wanted.

He hissed, "You won't get away with tricking and stringing me along. Stop resisting now, and I'll be merciful— argh!"

A finger— an invisible finger— stabbed into his left eye. He grabbed her arm at once but was too late. She screamed, "Help! Myles! Gwayne! He—"

He moved to silence her, but it was the moment the door burst opened.

"Alicent!" The older brother tried to approach her but stopped at the sight of darksister.

The younger one had his sword out, pointing towards him. Despite eying the Valyrian steel sword carefully, he didn't seem to hesitate. "What've you done to my sister!?"

Did Hightower really think he could win against him? Even losing one eye, he was still the better swordsman. A grin appeared on Daemon's face. "Nothing she doesn't want and doesn't deserve."

"He tried to rape me!" Alicent whimpered, rubbing her head where he had hit her.

"Why would I try to rape the queen, my brother's wife?" His voice was cold despite the hot blood dripping from his left eye. He wouldn't be able to leave King's Landing if Viserys believed her words. This was a game of trust, and he would trust him more than her.

All he would need to do was stay put, spread the rumors, and ruin her reputation— which was already in the dust. She had plenty of reasons for wanting to frame him and take revenge on him from their past.

Then when the time came, she would pay with more than an eye and her body.

Her brothers, unsurprisingly, didn't trust him. "You dare tell me my sister is a liar in my face, rapist?!" Gwayne Hightower could no longer restrain himself and attacked him.

"Fool." Daemon didn't think he could pose any threat. He wasn't wrong... but he wasn't expecting her.

"Criston, help Ser Gwayne!" Rhaenyra ordered, and with her words, a worthwhile opponent jumped in.

Cole wanted to fight Daemon ever since he came back to King's Landing. Sadly for him, Daemon wasn't going to give him the satisfaction.

"Rhaenyra," Daemon called, his voice hurt, "Don't you trust me?"

"Alicent, she won't..." She gasped as she saw his eye, "...Lie..." She was shaken, he could feel it.

It wouldn't go well if he lost Rhaenyra's trust. He sighed and dropped darksister, "I'll prove my innocence in front of your father."

"Viserys won't believe you," Alicent seethed, "He won't, I'm... I'm..." Yet even she sounded less and less sure as she struggled to continue.

You'd lose, bitch, Daemon thought, and you'd pay for this very soon.