"He could have killed you" Otto scolded her like a child, and it burnt at her in the way real flames never could, melting her insides in pure molten rage. The men arrived hours after Rhaenyra had, sailing could never compare to the wings of dragons and an emergency meeting of the small council had been called before their feet even hit the smooth stone of land.
"I prevented blood shed"
"You are the heir to the throne now"
"And therefore it is my duty to prevent as much blood shed as possible" her words were poison arrows flung at Otto under the presence of restraint.
Viserys watched them, following their words back and forth as though spectating a tourney. When his patience broke his stout hand simply waved in the air "What is done is done. Rhaenyra returned the egg without consequence; we shall speak no more of it."
"We are all so very pleased the princess is not harmed" Allicent stood against the wall several paces back from the table but seemed to follow the conversation better than most men sat at it. Viserys offered her a kind smile, a familiar kind smile that was intended to be concealed Rhaenyra was sure. Nevertheless, she saw it ignited a perverse curiosity within her. Nobody had yet asked why Allicent was present. Neither a member of the small council or a consequential member of court Rhaenyra had initially assumed she had rushed here to greet her father upon his return and simply not excused herself in time for the meeting to convene but now Rhaenyra began to itch with the prospect of some other hidden reason. On a handful of occasions, she had glimpsed her father and Allicent in each other's company but never had she seen reason to question it, until now.
"Daemon is out of the control"
"A danger to the crown"
The conversation continued around her as she observed her father and Allicent, piece together a jigsaw in her mind, as the pieces began to settle into place Rhaenyra grasped the arms of the ornately carved chair and recoiled as the sweet wine she sipped curdled in her stomach. No, she did not want to see the final image it held. An image of her friend and confidant being the person to replace her beloved mother, a girl barely older than herself who would no doubt fill their family tree with fat sons to hold their claim over her own for the rest of their lives. Viserys pushed his chair loudly back from the table.
"It is late and we are getting nowhere, we will reconvene on the morrow with clear minds and fresh thoughts." Another poorly hidden glance passed between them and Rhaenyra felt her fingernails begin to cut grooves into her clamy palms as he stopped and added, "I have an announcement to make at our meeting tomorrow, one that I hope will bring great joy to the court after the darkness we have faced of late." He headed to the door with the members of the small council close on his heels. Rhaenyra did not recall ever having seen Lord Corlys smile so widely before but he was met with tight lipped apprehension from Otto and suddenly the Jigsaw Rhaenyra had not wanted to complete could no longer be avoided. Corlys would be enraged when her father didn't marry his daughter and Otto knew that. Viserys was going to marry Allicent Hightower and it would be announced tomorrow, Rhaenyra would bet her life on it.
Her walk back to her bed chamber was mostly silent, Sir Criston enquired several times as to her health and state of mind but receiving little response he soon fell into silence himself. Rhaenyra did not intend to be rude but she simply could not open her mouth and make coherent words leave her lips. She didn't trust herself to speak kindly when her blood ran white with heat and her stomach felt it had misplaced itself, as though she had climbed as high as the clouds on Syrax back and now plummeted toward the sea in freefall. Tears of frustration, betrayal and embarrassment burnt behind her eyes and she willed them not to cry. When her bedchamber door came into sight she almost threw herself through it, managing "I shall not be disturbed, not by anyone" with all the assertiveness she could muster. The dark familiar room that should have felt a safe haven felt nothing but a prison tonight and sat in the middle of the floor her heart raced in her chest until she felt she could no longer breath within these walls. No, she could not stay here.
The greatest prize of her lonely childhood was knowing her way comprehensively around the hidden passages and back alleys of the palace. Too many times she had been caught out which left her now well versed in hugging the shadows and hearing even the faintest of footsteps. Getting from her bedchamber to the throne room was the greatest challenge, from there a sunken corridor beneath the floorboards lead direct to the dragon pit. It was an insurance policy-built centuries earlier by her ancestors to ensure they always had access to their dragons in the event urgent need arose. This was an urgent need, she urgently needed to leave this castle and she urgently needed to see the one person who would understand. The one person she had missed so terribly for the past six months.
Daemon lay fitful in his bed, unable to sleep but also unable to order his thoughts. He rarely felt chaotic or found himself questioning his actions and it was not a feeling he savored. Although he liked to project the image of an impulsive nature he never truly acted without clear consequence. He reasoned with himself that he had not expected her to arrive, there were no way he could have foreseen that, could he? But in this quiet moment alone he found himself questioning whether seeing her had been his goal all along, six months was a long time even for them and he could have chosen any egg yet he chose hers. Grasping a fistful of his pillow he slammed it with all his might against the head of the bed. He had made a fool of himself. Before Misery, who had avoided him for the rest of the evening. Before his men, whose loyalty he held as one of his greatest achievements to date. Before Rhaenyra, whose ability to cut seamlessly through his façade made him shudder. THUD THUD THUD his large doors shook with each pound against them and he snapped himself from his thoughts, grasping dark sister firmly as one of his men entered, halting at the foot of the bed and paling at the princes alarming smirk "Unless the king Is dead I am not leaving this bed, so this had better be good."
Caraxes had been sleeping when they arrived but awoke briefly as Syrax landed beside him, accepting their presence as though it were entirely normal the dragons both rounded to settle beside one another. Rhaenyra had barely dismounted when she saw him stood in the shadows against the rocks, watching her. The moonlight highlighting his pale angular face in the darkness twisted with confusion and concern. Neither of them spoke as she climbed down. Was he angry with her for their earlier encounter? For a moment she wondered whether she were as safe on this island as she had presumed. Her stolen boots barely touched the rocks before her doubt melted away for her presence seemed to breathe life into him and he captured her in a consuming embrace. Strong arms, his smell, his breath against her neck oh gods how she had missed him and for the first time in months things felt right again.
"Can I be here?" She stuttered"
"You are already here"
"You know what I mean uncle"
"I do but I do not know why you request permission now when you never have before"
"So, I am safe here with you?
His gaze pierced her with intensity "You are always safe with me"
They fell back into silence but this time their eyes locked together, until hers dipped and she shook her head "Can I stay here tonight?"
He studied her for a moment, his eyes penetrating her soul and peering into ever secret thought she held close, "It is almost as dark as it is late, I would be a poor excuse for an uncle to allow anything else. Now let us escape the rocks and this darkness, you'll excuse the lack of servants tonight I thought your presence here better kept quiet."
True to his word they saw not a soul as they walked the corridors to his chambers, Rhaenyra wondered what he had done with them but didn't find herself wanting to ask. As they sat beside the fire in his large chambers she recounted the meeting of the small council to him, her fears of her father and Allicent had him reach for her hand and holding it firmly. He filled with rage when she told him of Otto's suggestion that her life had been in danger at his hands. He would rip Otto's head from his body and present it to his idiot brother on a pike. Daemon's responses outwardly were so like hers internally and it was not lost on Rhaenyra that her uncle was surely the only person in the world with whom she felt completely at one. He offered her sweet wine, which he sipped himself before handing it to her, as though they had never been parted. He moved closer to her chair until he knelt on the floor before her his hand grasping her own as those tears of anger, betrayal and frustration she had been holding onto since her mother passed began to fall. He wanted to embrace her, she could feel that with every inch of her but he didn't do it and she wondered why.
"I understand that he must re marry uncle I do but not her. It makes no sense when he will alienate one of his closest and most powerful allies in the process. He is ridiculous and I feel I no longer understand him at all."
To this Daemon lowered his cup and gazed at the open fire intently, "I understand"
Rhaenyra frowned "You cannot possibly see logic in this"
"Not logic but Allicent is a comely girl who has no doubt showed your father great kindness at her father request. You father desires her, perhaps he even believes himself to love her." He took a drink "I do not expect you to understand the confliction of aching for someone you are not allowed to possess but I admire my brother for standing his ground, even if he is a fool."
She opened her mouth to respond but the intensity in his gaze silenced her.
"I am truly sorry for the way things have played out Rhaenyra" He offered.
"I wish you had killed me on that wall today."
His proud head shook "I could never hurt you. It's a twisted irony, they blocked my path to the throne with the one person I care more about than sitting upon it."
Rhaenyra couldn't fathom what possessed her in the moments which followed but before she could speak sense to herself she reached for his cheek cupping it gently in her hand "You are my truest friend and when I am without you I ache" she gasped and failed to pull her eyes from his guilt and pain.
"You are a niece who adores her uncle. It is a different type of ache."
Her thumb stroked him, "When I heard you were to be married, that you were to be a father It…" Something flickered in his violet eyes and she realized the sudden magnitude of her words and retreated but he wasn't letting her go.
"It what?"
She shook her head "Somethings one said can never be unsaid uncle and that makes them dangerous. I should leave before…" In her haste to leave she stumbled her face burning as he caught her wrapping strong arms around her small waist and holding her close to him. She suffocated in his intoxicating aroma. His face hovered an inch from her own, eyes fixed on hers pleading with her. Rhaenyra had never had strong impulse control and she wondered what his lips would taste like. He saw her thought; she knew that he did and with her heart beath thundering she jerked forward to meet his lips with her own. It was gentle and chaste for a second before Daemon grasp on her tighten and his tongue invaded her poorly defended mouth. He brought with him a force she had not expected and as though the air sucked from her lungs she groaned into his open mouth as they drowned in the release of long pent-up desires.
It wasn't pretty. Messy and frantic; they pulled at clothes a tangle of raw flesh and heat exploding deep inside. Taking from one another what felt like it had always been there's and once their clothes lay forgotten on the flagstones they stood entirely bare, except for the necklace he had gifted her which hung around her throat, before each other for the very first time. Daemon looked as though he would explode if she were to touch him. Hard cock jerking eager and wanting but his energy was nervous in a way Rhaenyra had never witnessed. The ladies at court spoke of him in hushed whispers, Rhaenyra had always been jealous that they knew him in a way she did not. Standing before him now felt exhilarating he was very large and expertly experienced and she was neither of those things but she would learn. After all she had learnt to ride a dragon once before. Despite this he faltered and suddenly she felt like the braver of the two this was not how she had imagined it. Her hand captured his and stroked his fingers against the light dusting of pale curls at the apex of her thighs earning a gluteral moan from his lips. Wet and wanting, stickiness oozing down her thighs she placed his fingers deeper against her.
"You are in danger. Leave now if you wish to remain intact little dragon." His eyes were the deepest shade of purple as he shuddered.
"and if I stay"
"I will take you and I will not repent it"
His words were direct and bold, and she lifted herself to tip toes and smiled against his ear whispering "good".
He was gentle, she suspected uncharacteristically so as his actions appeared foreign even to him. He lay her on the bed mouth trailing kisses along her neck and collarbone to distract her from the practicalities of him lining himself up against her sodden curls. She gasped as he pushed against her entrance and paused, his eyes searched hers whether for encouragement or permission she wasn't sure so she wrapped her legs around his waist and waited. It was enough, he surged forward plunging into her and breaking the tiny barrier of flesh on which such a high value was placed. He sucked away the whimpers which bubbled in her throat. It felt as though the bees from high garden has flown up inside her, the pain was searing but brief settling to a dull sting as he paused and began slowly rocking back and forth. His fingers laced with hers as he kissed a trail down her chest taking one of her dusty peaked nipples in his mouth, his eyes staying locked on her as though she would disappear should he close them. Back and forth he rocked gently gazing at her until the sting faded to a dull pleasant pressure. His movements stuttered and stalled as he hovered tense and almost still above her, he looked to be in far more pain than she was now and Rhaenyra thought of how different this was to the whispers she had heard from the ladies at court. Daemon was a notorious lover so the fault must lay with her, she was doing it wrong and he was…
"Does it hurt?" she whispered.
He stifled a laugh but spoke through gritted teeth. "I am trying to control myself."
Rhaenyra tightened her legs around his waist with indignance "I will tell you if it is too much to bare. Now take me, properly and teach me if needed."
His hands crashed hers to the bed pulling out of her sharply before impaling her again. The growl of pleasure that came from him filled Rhaenyra with satisfaction which dulled the sting. Fiercely he moved within her, each powerful thrust stroking an itch building deep inside until her legs quivered and shook. Her thigh so tightly grasped she would bare bruises for weeks, his breaths drew short and erratic and he lifted her briefly from the mattress granting him deeper access and a delicious angle where flesh met flesh and slapped together in unencumbered bliss. He swore with each thrust as though fighting himself and the itch within her began to throb, this was building to something and for a second she was terrified she would wet herself but the pleasure was indescribable. Writhing beneath him a haze of pleasure willing him to ride her harder and faster until her fingers and toes began to tingle, she was on the edge of euphoria. He stopped, tried to slip himself from within her and the loss of motion made her want to sob. "I have to…" his strangled voice gasped but she couldn't bare it.
"Please Daemon Please" She begged. Her legs tightened around him as he fully sheathed himself back in her slick heat just in time for an explosion to ignite in her pelvis sending shockwaves through her as she shook and screamed beneath him. He pounded into her with unbridled passion and watched her with unravel with fear in his eyes before shuddered atop her, releasing a sound like a wounded animal and then collapsed into her waiting arms. His face buried in the gentle curve of her neck and her fingers stroking the skin where his shoulder blades met as they lay there both gasping for breath and panting.
"I had no idea it could be like that" she whispered, finally understanding why people were so obsessed with this act.
Daemon didn't respond for what felt like an age, before rolling to his side and staring at the ceiling above them, "Neither did I"