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Sorry for not updating for so long. I've been on holiday… and in a few days, I'm off to another one, shorter this time.

In the Shadow of the Throne

Games of Blood

Thunder shook the great hall and the flames in the fireplace shot up, swirled together, swept by the dance of fury. The crowd gasped. A few handmaids hurried over with buckets of water should need arise but Aegon waved them away. "One cannot hold the dragons with water," he said and his mother smiled as she made her way to the door.

"Lady Mother," Viserys called out, hurrying to catch up with her. "May I come?"

"Yes, Lady Mother," Aegon agreed. "May we join you?"

Rhaenyra did not look back. "Keep the children inside," she ordered to no one specifically. "Just because the fool on the blue dragon thinks he can defeat an entire army that also has dragons, that still doesn't mean the princes should be exposed to dragons in fight."

Viserys exchanged a look with Aegon. It did not escape their notice that no one else looked eager to be exposed to dragons in fight – in fact, the Queen's attendants did her best to stay out of her way, lest she decided she needed companions. But Lady Serise was already coming toward them, so they had no choice but look from the window while their mother probably watched the fight from the highest tower in Dragonstone.

The earth rumbled as the dragon in black and gold suddenly plummeted and stomped his leg on the ground. Then, he suddenly shot up, hitting his green-white opponent from beneath and breathing a column of fire. The other dragon shrieked and thrashed about, missing the enemy's head by inches. The black-golden one flew some distance away and then suddenly turned and headed right back, bumping into the other one's side. Viserys screamed, for it was surely a death sentence, and for a moment he could swear he could hear the rider's uproarious laughter before he avoided death once again.

Now, it was just three of their dragons against five of Aegon's. Even with his child's mind, Viserys could see that things were not looking good. With sudden insight, he thought that this might be the reason why his mother watched the fight alone – she wouldn't want anyone to see her anxiety.

"What happened?" a woman asked. Everything had happened so fast that not everyone knew of the two dragons that had suddenly been noticed flying for Dragonstone, chased by five others. When they could flee no longer, they had turned and given a fight. Viserys had yet to know who the second dragon, the red one, belonged to. She was young – it had to be a she, for the dragon was smaller and somewhat slender, or as slender as a dragon could be – but its agility and smart movements showed that it was no hatchling – and very well-trained. He was sure he had seen her in King's Landing but he couldn't say whom she belonged to.

Now, three of the enemy dragons surrounded her. Viserys closed his eyes, not wanting to see her fall but when he opened them, the battle was still going on.

"They don't want to take her down," Aegon murmured, stunned. "They want to… capture her, I think."

The dragon in gold and black roared and launched another attack that left him bleeding. Viserys and Aegon both screamed.

The sky disappeared under the curtain of a few other pair of wings. A chorus of roars made Dragonstone shudder and then, suddenly, Aegyl was there, mounting his Arelis, with a formation of three other dragons backing him up. They had not been expected to return sooner than the morrow, having left on some urgent errands that the boys were not allowed to know what they were… Eavesdropping hadn't helped either.

Sharp cries arose. Now their people had the edge of it, with two more dragons that could turn the tide.

"Look!" Aegon cried out. "They are running away, the cowards. They were not so reluctant to fight when they outnumbered us."

Viserys barely heard him. He was staring entranced at the battle between dragons and riders. He had heard that a dragon would never run away from a fight and it was true, all of it. He could hear the roars of indignation, see the resistance of the great beasts thorn between their loyalty to their masters and their instinct to stay and fight, tear the enemy, taste his blood.

Their people charged and Aegon's met the attack. Hot blood started pouring like rain and the smallfolk started screaming and scrambling for cover from the torrent that was washing over them and sinking in the earth. Dragonstone shook once again, the earth groaned and a big part of the seaside rock crumbled to ruins that plummeted in the waves. The swell was so great that a nearby ship sank immediately.

So huge were the dragons that even when they were so high above, Viserys could still make out clearly their jaws, the huge claws gripping each other's flanks.

And then, it was all bright and clear again. Aegon's dragons flew away, shrieking with fury, and their own flew back to the ancient fortress. The black and gold one flew forward, carrying his reckless rider.

Rhaenyra came into the courtyard – Viserys had been right, she had been watching from the tower – and coolly nodded to the newcomer who ceremoniously bowed to her. Then, he grinned and swept her in his arms to kiss her passionately, to the barely contained disdain of her people who had stepped aside to give them some privacy – and give themselves some privacy from the dragons, no doubt. "Are you not happy that I am home, my love?" the man called out.

"I am overjoyed, husband," she said. Viserys could see that she was anything but.

His father looked at them and grinned once again. The boys grinned back.

Rhaenyra looked at the red dragon and raised an eyebrow. "What is she doing here?" she asked, looking straight at Aegyl who shrugged.

"How am I to know, Lady Mother?" he replied.

"If anyone know, it should be you," she snapped. "Help her down."

Quite reluctantly, he helped the rider down. For a dragon rider, she was quite clumsy – or maybe it was her belly that billowed the light armour she was wearing. Her auburn-golden hair made her face even paler and her eyes a deeper shade of purple. Viserys blinked. She shouldn't have been here at all, so why was she…

Bowing to his mother?

Rhaenyra's face betrayed nothing but Aegyl was seething with rage. He made a step towards her. "Why are you here?" he asked with barely contained anger.

Princess Rhaenys looked at him. She looked so exhausted that she might collapse any minute now. "I came to find you," she said.

He laughed derisively. "And what made you think I'd want you now? When I begged you to come with us, you stayed with your usurping brother. Did it not occur to you that I might have moved on?"

She didn't flinch. "I was the one who warned you what Aegon and my lady mother were planning," she reminded him. "And back then, I didn't know…"

"I imagine what it was that you didn't know," he spat. "I suppose I am the babe's father?" he asked with grim curiosity and his dark eyes bore into hers. The dying sunlight turned his hair into molten silver.

"I'd rather have the Stranger as my babe's father!" Rhaenys exploded. She looked as if she wanted to slap him.

"Well, I thought I was the Stranger, Rhaenys?" he asked. "That's what you kept telling me."

Finally, Rhaenyra lost the last vestige of her patience. "Everyone inside," she commanded. "There is no need to humour everyone."

On the way for the building, Viserys noticed Aegyl and Rhaenys exchanging looks like angry children who were on their way to reconciling.

An hour later…

"How did you come across her?" Rhaenyra asked and started rubbing her temples. Lately, she had been struggling with constant headaches.

Gaemon shrugged. "By chance," he said. "I think she had lost her way in the sky. Had she ever been here at Dragonstone at all?"

"Once or twice when she was a child," Rhaenyra answered, absent-mindedly. "I can't believe she managed to hide her condition for so long," she added but the truth was, her young half-sister had always been something of a loner, preferring dragons to people and wearing shapeless robes, to her mother's horror. This attire would have served her well.

"Do you think it's a lie?" her husband asked straight-forwardly. "Some trap of the Queen's?"

"She is no longer Queen," Rhaenyra snapped. "I am. I am the Queen of Westeros, not just the King's wife."

Here it is, Viserys thought. He had known that his mother was angry with his father from the moment Gaemon Targaryen flew his dragon in the courtyard. It had been just a matter of time before she gave her anger free will.

Quite contrary to his habit, Aegon shoved his brother aside quite roughly and for a while, they struggled for the better position in front of their mother's bedchamber, all the while trying to make no noise at all.

Their father did not raise his voice. He only sighed. "Rhaenyra, there's no need to beat this into my skull. I know you are the Queen and I am only your husband. I know you're angry with me and – "

"Angry?" she demanded. "Why should I be angry with you? You have a life of your own and I have mine. I trust your travels in Essos were quite satisfactory? Did you see the Dothraki as you intended?"

Gaemon's steps echoed around his wife's chamber. "I came as soon as I could, Rhaenyra," he said. She huffed in derision.

"Your speed was not fast enough," she spat. "And I can't help but see that while you were in such a hurry to get back, you still got to play the brave knight to the poor lady in distress. Leading Aegon's traitors straight to me and our children, if I might add."

"But now we have Rhaenys," he said reasonably. "The fact that Aegon's own sister is denouncing him would serve our cause greatly."

"Our cause?" Rhaenyra asked and laughed. "Since when do you have a cause other than adventuring? I have a cause, husband. For me and my sons. For justice. For my right."

He did not rise to the bait. "If Rhaenys gives Aegyl a son, people will be even more favourable toward you. Aegon has yet to sire a son. He only has the little girl while you have our boys and three grown sons. With a line of their own…"

Viserys exhaled sharply. His mother gave something like a sudden sob. "Two grown sons," she said. "Only two."

The silence crushed them like the sky falling, like a dragon's dead body shaking the earth for one last time.

"Rhaenyra," Gaemon said, his voice now soft. "I didn't know."

"That much is clear," she spat. "How could you know? You weren't here. I was left alone to struggle with Aegon and his bitch of a mother, with traitors, with keeping our sons safe, with my fear for Aemon and Aegyl… And Rhaenys' babe is as much a threat to us as it is to Aegon. Now he has no choice but fight us to the bitter end, for we are on our way on establishing a dynasty. And my sons are the first obstacles in his path."

Gaemon's steps stopped. "I know," he said softly. "Our boys will be probably safe but Aegyl and Aemon… Boys who are sons of the enemy are still only boys. But men who are sons of the enemy… they are enemies and rivals of equal worth. Their makings are something Aegon cannot forgive."

Viserys shuddered, for despite his father's careless ways, he felt in his words the eerie certainty of a prophecy.