CHAPTER ONE - A VALYRIAN VOW

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Welcome to my first House of the Dragon fanfiction: Embers Adrift. Super excited to write it and lend my own voice to Daemon and Rhaenyra's life together. This story is a selection of snapshots into Daemyra mostly to bridge the time jump from the final scene of Driftmark to the beginning of The Lord of the Tides but there is a bit that covers some key moments until the time of Lucerys' death. Naturally, I own none of the literary Westerosi universe or the content of either HBO TV show. I encourage you to write reviews and offer your opinion on any of the content - I take nothing personally and enjoy a bit of criticism. Please be fair and kind where you can - I'm just a human expressing love for a fandom and a fictional world just as presumably you are by reading. A caveat that this is an M-rated fic so there will be scenes of sexual nature,plus incest, domestic violence and graphic content. Nothing that goes above and beyond what you will have watched throughout season one, but please do be advised and steer clear if these topics/descriptions are going to bother you.

Otherwise, I'll stop my blathering and let you read!

DaenerysTargary3n

"Come now, Rhaenyra," Daemon murmured. "I have waited long enough."

Rhaenyra Targaryen looked at her husband of only a few short hours and smiled. She had bonded with him in the customs of their house and Old Valyria and he now sat at her side as her mate, as he was always destined to be. The hunger that simmered in his lilac eyes was plain to her as it was aimed at her. He had yearned to spirit her away to bed as soon as their ceremony was complete but she had coaxed him into a small, private meal with their children first.

"Soon. You are not the only one who has been waiting."

Daemon shot her a cheeky grin, "Then why delay?"

"For them, Daemon. Look at them - our children - they are now one family and will be siblings. It was not just us joined this day. It was them as well. And they've had such a strange time: first Laena passed, then Vhagar (their mother's dragon) was bonded away to someone who then attacked them all, then the Queen came for the boys, now they believe Laenor to be dead and here we are married the day after. Too much change for them, my love. Let them settle so that we might pass the night uninterrupted as well."

Her husband smiled serenely. Rhaenyra was everything he dreamed of in a wife and more. She was strong, articulate, beautiful, caring, unapologetic and daring all rolled into one. The care she exuded for her children and his defined her. Daemon knew that before all things she would be a mother to their brood both present and future, for he fully intended to have as many children as she could bear. He cared about his daughters' and stepsons' ability to survive and honour the Targaryen heritage that he and Rhaenyra bore, but he was first a warrior and a rogue, then a husband, then a father. It was his failing. That and his temper. But, he did love them all…in his way.

"As you like, Princess." Daemon acquiesced. "Anything for an uninterrupted night with you."

Rhaenyra giggled girlishly, "See, all I'm trying to do is your will, husband."

"Long may that continue, though I don't want a slave to my every want and whim, Princess. I want the royal bride I've long craved. I want a match to my will and a partner in my ambition and desire to bring House Targaryen back to glory and true power. That is what I want from you, that's what I've seen in you ever since you were a girl. Though, if you were to occasionally submit, it could be very…gratifying for you."

It wasn't hard for his niece and wife to recall why she had always found Daemon so entrancing and magnetic. Throughout her life, Daemon had treated her as his equal and with a care that belied her importance both to him and the realm even before she was declared Princess of Dragonstone. She found in him a strength of character and purity of intent that her father and mother just hadn't possessed. Daemon was assured and decisive in everything, though not always wisely. She had the wisdom and clarity of thought to marry to his capricious nature.

"I vow to submit to you…when we're in private," Rhaenyra teased back, "and will reap the rewards gladly. In public, it is you who will kneel to me."

"I'll kneel to you in private too, Princess."

That vivid image coursing through her mind sent shivers through her body that set Rhaenyra alight as though she were caught in Caraxes' dragonfire. "Stop it, Daemon. I can't stand the longing."

Daemon chuckled mischievously, enjoying the torment of his new wife. "As you command, my love."

"Finish your supper. Say goodnight to your children - all of them. Then, let's go upstairs. It emerges I am as impatient for you as you evidently," Rhaenyra glanced purposefully down at her husband's unmistakable arousal, "are for me."

The Prince could not devour what remained on his plate swiftly enough. He then approached the banquette where his two girls sat across from their three stepbrothers speaking quietly and eating only a little.

"Have a good evening, Baela, Rhaena." Daemon said kindly, although betraying his impatience, with an embrace to his daughters. "Jace, Luke, Joff, I trust you will look after your new stepsisters tonight and will all be ready to leave for Dragonstone on the morrow. I don't think we'll have long to make ourselves scarce from Driftmark. I am pleased we are all to be much closer - Laena and Laenor's children should be true family - as Rhaenyra and I are now. These bonds must hold fast, for there will be many who will seek to rend us apart. That, however, is a struggle for future days. For now, I wish to enjoy my wedding night and I trust you will also celebrate your new family."

"Yes, father." Baela said plaintively, with eyes downward and an obeisant tone which was rewarded with an approving fatherly nod.

Jace observed their interaction with keen eyes. He didn't know what to make of Daemon Targaryen. He hadn't spent much time in his presence and they'd exchanged few words, but in the time he had been around his stepfather, he'd seen a man bitter from the loss of his wife and child, who didn't say a word in the hall when the children were held to task over the loss of Aemond's eye but leant against the doorway as though only an observer, but who had sprung to a side as soon as a blade was raised against his lady mother. Since then, Laenor had died and all of them were now fatherless. Daemon had stepped willingly into the breach and been secretly wed to his mother the day after the news broke. Now, here he was, in all his warrior's stature telling the five of them to be companions and to act as a loving, devoted family. It was plain to the Targaryen boy that Baela (and her sister) held their father in some fear and were raised to obey him in all things. Laenor - or Ser Harwin - had never been strict nor had they spoken in anger to them at any time. It wasn't the type of father he and his brothers knew but it was the first prince they had found as a father and the first Targaryen. Maybe he and the Velaryons would all learn to obey their new liege lord as Baela and Rhaena had.

"Yes…my lord." Jace said, stumbling over a mode of address.

Daemon smiled gently at the lad. "None of that. Daemon. Just Daemon to you. I am not your father, nor am I a prince to you for all of you bear royal Targaryen blood. I am not your lord, for you will be King, Jace, it is you who outrank me. But I am your senior and I have vowed to protect all of you and your mother, so you will obey me in return."

"Thank you…Daemon, for your care and your vow." Jace replied. "Now, I wish you joy on your wedding night."

The Rogue Prince nodded at the boy before taking his leave and returning to Rhaenyra. With a tender brush to her cheek and a kiss in full view of their children on her head by the mark he had placed there earlier, Daemon took her by the hand and they returned to the bedroom Daemon had been given by his former in-laws.

"Shall we, husband?"

"Mmmm…" Daemon replied, drinking his wife in all her glory in with his thirsty eyes. He spared one glance back at their shared family as they ascended the stairs to the room. "Remember, young ones, not a word to your grandparents or any other. What has passed this day must be a secret until it cannot be undone. So, not until tomorrow's morning light can you speak of what you have witnessed pass between the Princess and me."

"Not a word, Daemon." Luke promised.

"See you tomorrow, children," Rhaenyra replied, "try not to find more trouble among you. Be good and rest. Tomorrow we will greet the world as a united family and we leave for Dragonstone."

Without another word, the newlyweds departed and left their offspring with their attendants. As they flung themselves upstairs and fled out of sight, Daemon crushed Rhaenyra to him with unrelenting vigour. Holding her between his wiry frame and the sturdy wooden door to his bedchamber, he kissed the breath from her lungs. He promised what was yet to come and depth of the love they shared, nurtured for years and ever unfulfilled. Now, he had the power to fan the flames of their ardour to blistering and then balm the burn in the aftermath.

"I am going to burn every inch of you, woman," Daemon purred, releasing Rhaenyra's lips to whisper deeply to her ear, "until you feel me in every step, every word and every breath you take. You will forget those who came before and you shall take no more. We will burn together from this night hence and the world will feel the inferno we forge in our wake."

Rhaenyra moaned at the intensity of his words. Her waist gently undulated against him, yearning for more. She would ever be greedy for his love and affection. She had the proof of its existence in the hardness she felt by her core and she knew it in her soul by his devotion to her, but her past meant he would be proving both to her until his last breath. She had the sense he'd enjoy that though.

"Yes, my love," Rhaenyra replied, placing wet, open-mouthed kisses down the unmarred flesh of his neck, "together. As equals."

Daemon grasped her throat and pulled her back to his lips and they grappled with each other ferociously. They were so evenly matched. His physical power was equaled by her regality and mental acuity. He longed to be within her again - it seemed too long since he had taken her under the night sky on the beach under cover of darkness.

"I will have you. This time in the light and the open as your husband. Open the door, wife, and let us to bed."

As she turned, Daemon caged her in his arms and nuzzled her collarbone pecking gently at the skin there. Within moments, the heavy door gave way to Rhaenyra's will and allowed the entwined pair entry. Twisting and turning in their embrace, exchanging wild and passionate kisses, Daemon and Rhaenyra traversed the room in a dance of lust. On their way, Daemon flung the headdress from Rhaenyra's head away and ran his hand along her braided platinum hair.

Rhaenyra didn't even look where her wedding crown landed, she was too entrammelled by Daemon's eyes as he caressed her hair. His lilac eyes bore into her very soul and she longed to seal their bond and be truly his. Just as she felt she could wait no longer, she felt the backs of her knees hit the bed and such was the power of their movement, they both tumbled onto the bed gracelessly and in a heap.

Daemon laughed as he braced himself on his arms so as to not injure his new wife. Seeing her beneath him, gazing up with a smile turning up her lips, was everything. Neither of his wedding nights previously had been causes for such mirth as well as passion: Rhea had barred him from the room and said she would never lie with him and he would die heirless, and his poor dead Laena had been spirited and willing but their first bedding was…difficult for her.

"Daemon…" Rhaenrya prompted, frowning slightly as she noticed him drift away.

"Mmmm." He replied nonchalantly, before finding himself in the moment again. With a stroke to her cheek that didn't halt until it reached the edge of her wedding gown, Daemon brought them both back to their current task at hand. With no warning or ceremony, he rent the fabric from her. Once Rhaenyra's bodice had been ripped to pieces and was strewn about them, Daemon turned his attention to her skirt. Grasping hold of its top, he swiftly tugged the garment down and over her shoe-clad feet. Rhaenyra looked in that moment more beautiful than anything he had seen in his life. She was bare from her head to the tops of her knees. He had felt her inviting softness on the beach, but seeing it in the ambient light of their room presented as a gift for him to relish was profound. Her calves were still adorned with her scarlet stockings and her feet the black boots she had donned for their wedding in the hills were something he didn't want to see on the floor.

"You. Are. Beautiful." Daemon pronounced, as he examined his paramour. "If I was able to withhold myself from you for an instant more, I would have you painted just as you are now. Wanton, eager and ripe for the taking. You are a feast for the eyes. Mine alone, mind you."

"I do mind you, I mind everything about you." She breathed. "I don't wish to be a painting, Daemon. I want to see you and be yours."

"Your wish is my command, Princess."

Pulling back from her for a moment, Daemon unbuttoned his tunic, his eyes never leaving hers. He had been conscious on their previous…encounter that his image was obscured by the darkness. Now, she would see all of him and he would know, for sure, whether she could truly love him in the harsh light of day. With an unsteady breath, Daemon dropped his attire and watched Rhaenyra take him in.

The woman prostrate on the bed had known her new consort bore scars. She knew of them from tales gossip mongers told in the keep after the campaign in the Step Stones. She knew he had been badly marred by Caraxes' flames as they both set the earth alight. When they had lain together before, she had caressed and kissed him and felt the ridged, silky skin where burns had scarred. She had not seen the flesh clearly but she could see his uneasiness at exposing her to it.

"Those too." She instructed, pointing with her eyes at his trousers.

Daemon blinked and let out the breath he didn't know he was holding in. "Bossy…"

"I've been waiting many years for this, my love," Rhaenyra answered, "and you are being too slow."

With no further ado, Daemon dropped his trousers and returned to his wife's expectant embrace. He descended gently to her and wrapped her as much as he was able in his arms before placing his lips on hers. She reciprocated his kiss with equal ardor and tried with all her might to pull him closer to her though nary an inch separated any part of them. As they parted for want of breath, Daemon felt her lips had had enough attention and he yearned to taste more of her without the salty spray of the sea on her skin. He littered kisses down her throat, passing and caring for each breast in all their voluptuous glory, he paid particular attention to her belly, lashing his tongue around her navel. He hoped that their union would bear fruit and she would carry his children and that the first of those heirs might be conceived this day. Once his worship was performed, Daemon continued his journey southward to her womanhood.

"What are you doing?" Rhaenyra asked, surprised that he didn't return to her for a kiss.

"Rhaenyra." Her name sounded like a prayer, an exasperated one though.

She looked down at him with humbled eyes and a surprised expression. "No one has ever…"

Daemon moaned, lowering his eyes from hers for just a second. He wanted to lavish her with his experience and revere her in all her splendour but he would do nothing she did not wish. "If you wish it otherwise, I will not. But, you will enjoy it, wife, and I want you to know that this is pleasure. I have no other motive for sharing this with you except that I want to see you writhe as I bring you to ecstasy with my lips before I take you."

"Very well."

"Good girl." Daemon soothed, brushing her arm with his fingers in comfort as he settled between her knees and faced his task.

Rhaenyra's experience with men had been more colourful than her status and society allowed: she had visited the Street of Silk with her uncle as a girl and borne witness to the activities of the others; Ser Criston had the gift of her maidenhead and nights thereafter but he was a straightforward bedmate who took her and then retreated into his guilt; her first husband had been a trial - Laenor Velaryon hadn't wanted to take her at all so she spent most of their dalliances with her face in a pillow and Laenor at her back simply trying to get his seed to take root; Harwin had been fulfilling and the only one to yet show her the true, fierce passion a man and a woman might share in the flesh but he had never tried to bring her to climax in this way. In spite of this history, here she was a mature woman about to experience something new with Daemon once again.

"Fuck the Seven!" She exclaimed at the first sensation.

Daemon had buried his face in her core and was busy about his business. The Princess could feel herself thrum as he hummed his approval at her outburst. She was putty in his hands and lips and she now had no doubt that her orgasm would be swift in its arrival and delicious.

"Don't stop."

"Never, my love." Daemon murmured with moist lips against her, as though he was promising her cunt that it would never be so neglected again.

The pair of them continued to toil away for the promised reward of Rhaenyra's first crest as Daemon's wife. Indeed, her coils and releases became so violent that Daemon placed his broad palms atop her belly to hold her down lest she squirm away from him.

"Daemon!" Rhaenyra screamed as finally her floodgates burst and her nerves channeled her release into every sinew of her boneless body.

The perpetrator of the Princess' pleasure received the flood that poured from between her legs into his willing mouth. She was honey-sweet as he predicted and she held nothing back. She had been quiet on the beach and serene, but now, when she was free and his in name, body and law, she was a creature of infinity possibilities where their congress was concerned. As he wiped his face on the sheet, he crawled up to face her and pushed her hair from her face where it had broken free of its braided tendrils. With a chaste kiss on her brow before a grateful and adoring one on her lips which she was still too limp to match, Daemon lay at her side waiting for her to return to earth.

"That was…indescribable."

The Prince brought her to face him. "And so are you. We will do wondrous and spectacular things together, Rhaenyra. Out there as Targaryens where we ride fearsome creatures and are gods to other men but in here as well. Remember what I told you all those years ago when you were still an innocent girl: marriage is a duty but we can still fuck whom we want. What we have is not a marriage. It is infinitely more. We are bound in the tradition of our house and Old Valyria as we always ought to have been since you were sixteen. I have no duty to you until you are crowned Queen of the Seven Kingdoms - then I will be a dutiful subject and Prince Consort to you. Now I am your husband, I am first your lover, protector, and counsel. We have never had a marriage not steeped in duty and ended tragically. We are different, Rhaenyra. We are not duty. We are destiny itself. And now, I want to fuck you and fuck duty. Here, now and until the day Caraxes ignites my pyre."

"What's stopping you?"

Daemon could think of no answer so he proceeded to make love to his wife. He wanted to erase the traces of her previous lovers from her and leave only the memory of him thrusting into her. When they reached their shared pinnacle for the first time that night, Daemon gorging himself on Rhaenyra beneath him, their shouts could be heard in the valley of Driftmark where Syrax and Caraxes howled at the full moon while their tails snaked together mimicking the intimacy of their riders.