He chose to ignore his cousin's smug expression to instead inspect the tunnel they've found themselves in. Leaning closer to the wall he notices that woven in the creases is not shadow but Valyrian steel. The red stone scales contrasting against the metal.
Turning his head back towards the end of the hall he sees that his cousin and Ser Lewyn have gone inside. His ever so loyal Barristan standing guard behind him.
"Lead the way, Your Grace."
Not needing any more prompting he starts towards the end of the hall. The reassuring clank of his guard soothing his childish fears. Passing the threshold he enters a room that almost makes the beautifully crafted tunnel seem dull.
The startled breath of Barristan makes a grin spread; pride at his house clawing at his chest.
The room was round but spacious twenty feet high with a second story balcony.
The railing along the balcony of the library, for lack of a better word, was decorated with carvings of dragons all holding up the rail in various ways.
Some were holding the rail by their mouth, some had their wings spread like they were about to spring into the air.
The whole room was filled from the floor to the top of the ceiling with shelves of books and….
"Are those Scrolls!" The excitement in his voice is undeniable.
The Citadel is very picky on who they let read their scrolls.
His prince status only gives him so much, especially with the distance from Old town. The "old coots" as his cousin calls them won't allow any interesting material to leave their building. Walking past the amused company around him he starts towards a random section of the library.
His hand reaches for the first scroll he can grab, as his fingers are about to curl around the scroll he picks a stern cough stops him. He sheepishly looks at Barristan over his shoulder.
"You shouldn't touch something so hastily, Your Grace, you never know what kind of precautions your family has installed" the words of Barristan are valid, with how paranoid his lineage is.
With that he dropped his hand and stepped back.
"You needn't worry about that Ser Barristan, I have it on high authority that this room is safe for those with the blood of the Dragon." The voice of Lael reaches his ear.
He turns away from the shelves full of beauty to see his guard give his cousin a hesitant nod.
"Of course, Your Grace" seeing the worry in Barristan's face, but knowing the faithful knight won't express his concerns, the kingsguard has gradually stopped inquiring a reason for things from him and his family.
His father didn't like the fact that they tried to undermine him, from the ravings he and his cousin are forced to endure during their "lessons".
"What about them?"
"Huh" the look his cousin gives makes him remember that while his cousin is a considered prodigy, he's still very much an oblivious diot.
"Our guards?"
His cousin blinks "I thought you were smart Rhae? We're the blood of the dragon".
Can he kill his cousin, kinslayer is sounding pretty good right now.
"I know that, you dragon's dung, I mean, what if they activate something?"
"Why would the room do that while we are in here?" Rhaegar twitches at his cousin's nonchalance.
"Never mind" knowing his cousin wouldn't endanger their sword and shields…intentionally.
Lael turns to the two adults, his face surprisingly serious to Rhaegar as he's so used to his carefree cousin.
"Your loyalties? Where are they?" Lael's voice comes out more cold than he's ever heard.
He turns to the two men curious on their responses.
Ser Barristan is just staring at his cousin, the man has a serious gaze that clashes with the blood red gaze of Lael's. Stemley seems to shift as he shares a glance at prince lewyn, before they both kneel. Barristan speaking first.
"We, I am loyal to the crown your grace" that seems to be the wrong thing to say because Lael's face scrunches up.
Lewyn stays silent knowing where Lael is going with this, and has already given his body to the boy, no boys before him.
"Just the crown? So anyone who wears the thing you will loyalty follow? Should someone wipe out our meager family, cause no matter how powerful we are, we are at our most vulnerable right now!" Lael states passionately.
"We are the only children, our dear King is getting more mad! You kingsguards stand by as our Queen is raped!" Making Rhaegar flinch, he gets an apologetic look his way, he can understand where his cousin is going, but to be so callous.
"Your Grace you shouldn't speak li-" barristan is stopped by an irate Lael.
"We are perfectly secure, I'm not an idiot Ser" Lael in his fury starts to be more colder towards the man, though he isn't mad at him, Rhaegar can see his cousin is frustrated by the injustice just as he is, but his dear cousin has always been more brash, he wonders if it has to do with the rambling he can hear under his breath.
Oh, his cousin is as insane as a Targaryen can get, but Lael has shown him that being insane isn't alway a bad thing.
'Being mad is another thing' Lael would say with a faraway look in his eyes.
"Ser Barristan, I'm not being this way because I'm upset with you. I'm being this way because I want you to open your eyes, if you're gonna find out my secret and keep it, you're gonna have to understand that having honor and keeping an oath means nothing if people have to suffer for you to maintain it" Lael finishes.
If he wasn't the crowned prince, and knew his cousin would throw the crown in the ocean should he be given a kings crown, he would have proclaimed the king himself.
"Your Grace?" Barristan is bombarded with the insight the boy has, he can't help but think this boy is more than he appears, while he knows there's intelligent children, Rhaegar comes to mind, he hasn't witnessed such inspiring spoken words since his first years as a kingsguard.
"My uncle is going to destroy this kingdom if he has his way" Rhaegar pulls a face at that knowing its true but not wanting to fulfill the task selfishly as he would need to be king, all he wants to do is read and play on his harp.
"It's gonna take a lot of time and we aren't ready, but we need to know we can count on you two, Rhaegar is going to be king, I'm sorry cousin, but you need to start realizing that." Lael speaks unknowingly eluding a dominating aura that enthralls them all, even Rhaegar can admit the words of his cousin are jolting.
"Can we count on you two to be loyal to us? Can we be sure that should it come to the king ordering you to slay us, that you won't?" Lael states like commenting on the weather and not the king ordering his children kin to be killed.
"His Grace wouldn-"
"His grace already has!" Lael interrupts the knight, again.
"What makes us so special? Because we are royal? if I was anyone else ser barristan, if I didn't keep that man's attention on me to a level that keeps him entertain he would have killed me the second he realized I have claim to the throne as his older brothers first born, the fact that my father gave up the crown for love is irrelevant when we are dealt with a king who is delusional in his quest for greatness"
Rhaegar can't believe that's why his cousin spends so much time entertaining his fathers wishes.
"Wha..!" Lewyn growls the passion of Dorne dripping out of him at the thought of his boy being killed.
"I-" baristas are lost for words he knows the King isn't right in the head but kinslaying.
"His grace," you can hear the drippin sarcasm, "has told me on various occasions that as long as I'm muse him he'll keep his sights of Rhaegar, of course he didn't say it out loud but we can all see that he's always had a dislike to our dear Rhae" lael finishes softly.
Rhaegar feels the softly hands of his favorite person as they cradle his face wiping the tears that have leak out of his eyes without his knowledge.
"Lae, you-" he's stopped by the shush of Lael.
"Hey, you're my brother, even if you're older it doesn't mean I can't protect you" the innocent way he states that breaks some of the tension that's has built up.
"Your Grace? I'd like to answer that question again." The soft voice of Barristan makes Rhaegar remember it's not just them two.
"Ser Barristan, where do your loyalties lay" this time it's Rhaegar that speaks gently pulling the hand of his cousin off his cheek but keeping it in his grasp for comfort, he knows he can always count on Lael.
"Yours, you're Grace, my loyalty is willing given to the two boys, no men in the making who I believe will change the world, I swear myself to Rhaegar, and Lael of House Targaryen" he wonders if his oaths as a Kingsguard are even broken as either boy in front of him could and will make a great king.
"Aye, Lael you shouldn't even have to ask, Rhaegar, your grace, you have my loyalty as well, I swear it on the Honor of my homeland." Making Rhaegar blink while he knows Barristan would be loyal to him, and he's pleased the man is trusting his cousin, he's surprised by the support of his cousin's father figure.
"Rhaegar, you're just as much as my boy as your best of a cousin is" the light teasing words are full of sincerity.
Rhaegar cracks a smile through his rush of emotions as he hears the squawk of his cousin breaking the tense atmosphere that has rerisen.
"I'll have you know I'm not a brat I'm a menace" Lael sniffs haughtily before giving the two knights who swore to them, even if the oaths are unorthodox, a contemplative look.
"Thank you, knowing that me and Rhaegar can count on you two is such a relief, I think it's time we discuss some things." Lael states reaching ironically for the scroll Rhaegar was about to grab, laying the rolled up parchment on the table he carefully unravels the strings holding the thing together.
"What do you know about the gods of Valyria?"
Unrolling the scroll he reveals a depiction of three beings with the names of the conquerors dragons?
"Why are Aegon's Dragons above people?" Rhaegar asked his cousin, confused.
"Ah you see, long before the doom," here he leaves the picture, drawing of the three beings to reach for a book.
Rhaegar wonders how his cousin is finding the exact thing he's looking for if he hasn't been her by the surprise he saw in his cousin's face when they found this place.
Setting back down on the floor, as the table was strangely low with pillows as seats, Lael lays an ancient looking book on the table gently opening it, before scrying through it in search of something, before explaining as he finds the page he wanted.
He shares a befuddled look with the two knights, not believing their getting lectured by a child, or his cousin in Rhaegar's case, but too fascinated to care.
"You see, Aegon and his sisters-wives-" Rhaegar watches as his cousin shivers in disgust, his cousin isn't shy about his revulsion to incest, especially their families history, not that he treats Rhaegar or thinks less of him, Lael just is very opinionated.
"-named their Dragon's after the gods, or the fourteen flames in Valyria." Here he pauses to make sure they are listening mainly the other two knowing Rhaegar loves history or anything that involves learning, Rhaegar's eyes widen as he's past the book as his cousin continues reading as he listens to his cousin, thanking the boy for knowing him so well.
"Balerion, the god of death, and the underworld, which I find appropriate for the black dread, in my opinion" Lael's voice enters his ears as he half pays attention.
"Meraxes, the goddess of the sky, who-"
-is the twin of caraxes" Rhaegsr can't help but finish for his cousin, flushing before turning back to the book letting his cousin talk, marveling at all the gods.
"And finally we have Vhagar god of war, but that's not why I'm talking about them, this is to tell a story that I don't know if you're gonna believe but I swear it's true, and with the long night coming I'm gonna need you to trust that everything I say is real and I'm speaking the truth. "
Rhaegar trust his cousin and the books help back up his cousins words so he's trusting, looking towards his two fellow confused companions he watches as they give his cousin a serious nod, he knows how hard it is for his cousin when he's not believed so he know their easy acceptance is a little jarring, but what can you say against those ruby eyes.
"first let me start a little further back, the long night, that is real, now wait" Lael says to Barristan when he was gonna start talking, "the beings known as the others, or white Walkers for a more common term, beck before the kingdoms were barely even a thing the long night rose throughout the lands, but with great difficulty those who opposed prevailed, after the generation long war and winter, a man known as the Azor Ahai, used his Valyrian steel sword and stabbed his most beloved in the chest infighting the sword in a light of flames most think was gifted by the lord of light, but truly it was Aegarax, the god who created all who walk run, and fly" making Rhaegar gasp as he realizes where this is going as he reads the very god his cousin is talking about.
"You mean the creator of Dragons ignited the flames himself?" in awe as a Targaryen, as the family that prides themselves of their Dragonhood, how could he not know the very god that created the being who raised his family so high?
"The very god, it was his will that saved mankind as he couldn't let his very children die now could he? We and dragons are made from the same god, yet we treated them like lesser, we always spouted you can't enslave a dragon, yet is that not what we tried to do?"
"Sorry, where was I? Ah, the long night. After a long battle the man Azor Ahai finally put an end to the terror, with the help of one named Brandon Stark, they built, what we now call the Wall, the wall stands stings because of the magic endued inside it."
"Sadly, the others aren't finished" he finishes
"Lael? What are you saying? How do you know all this? Why do you know all this?" The frantic words spew out of his mouth before he can stop it.
What does he mean they aren't finished?
"The night king, who was once a man that was manipulated by the children of the forest for a different purpose, which was to stop the men who were killing them and their weirwood, like all creations that are made with a dark intent, it revolted from its purpose and now seek to destroy life itself"
"To answer the other questions you have to keep an even more open mind"
'More open-minded than this?'
"The very god who lit the sword has sent me here for a purpose, and while the night king isn't a priority" his cousin mumbles the last part before continuing, "I can just stand by and let the world that is going to be ruled by my cousin very well freeze over."
"Your grace? This is…" the voice of Barristan breaks his thoughts.
"I know it's a lot to take in so I thought maybe a little proof would help."
"Aegarax, who I now know is the one who sent me here, has given me the task of bringing dragons back to their former glory, and aren't we dragons as well cousins?" Lael asks Rhaegar with an excited grin obviously having to keep this a secret was taxing on his cousin.
"I hope this doesn't change how you view me? He, Aegarax, essentially killed me in my former life-"
"Former life!?" Lewyn spits out, he knows what his so- ward is saying is true he can feel it in his gut, but to hear his precious boy has died makes a rage pour out of him, just the thought of his light dying.
Rhaegar watches with concealed envy as Lael is rigged protectively into the man's arms, though he is surprised when the man tugs him into the hug as well.
Barristan gently sets his hands on both boys' heads ruffling their hair, his heart warming as their small heads in case his head, he knows he's not understanding most of what's being said but he's not here to understand, he is here to protect.
Protect the future of his home.
The next few hours were spent trying to understand just what they have gotten themselves into by agreeing to be their loyal knights, the first of an empire, not that they know that.
Though a certain deity smiles knowingly as he watches his little one start shaping the world under his will.
A/N:
So this is gonna be slash. Since, I'm playing the Targaryens are dragons troop and he's been blessed by a deity, and dragons are interchangeable….
How would you feel about M-preg?
parring Ideas? Can Lael have a Harem?
Dragon names? Colors? Personalities? I haven't figured out when they'll be introduced, but there's gonna be a lot hopefully not an obnoxious amount but.
I don't want to cheapen my story but I also want to do what I want.