As Volon Therys is barely described on the wiki of ice and fire, I'm going to use the descriptions on the Iron Throne Roleplay Wiki.
Bold speech is Valyrian.
I own nothing but Lucerys. Everything else belongs to George R R Martin and/or HBO.
299 AC
The upper city of Norvos was up in flames. Thousands lay dead inside mighty stone walls that separated the nobility and the Temple of the Bearded Priests from the Sinner's Steps, most of them locals.
It had been put to the Golden Company that the Bearded Priests had offended one of the triarchs of Volantis, and so a lucrative contract had been made with the tiger triarch and the Golden Company had sailed up the Noyne towards the rolling limestone hills that housed the Free City of Norvos. The battle had been bloody, as while the lower city had fallen quickly due to the speed of the attack, the Sinner's Steps were difficult to get passed and after a lengthy struggle, they had turned into a waterfall of blood before the Company had managed to get to the top of the steps and assault the walls.
Jon Connington had taken up the rear, the Valyrian Steel sword Truth at his hip, the Rogare family blade now his thanks to the generosity of the boy he had raised from childhood. It had been the old Stormlander's decision, knowing that the famed Three Bells would ring out their song of war as soon as the lookouts saw the banners of the Golden Company and the ringing would just get in his head. He still flashed back to the Stoney Sept whenever he heard bells ring, he still saw his blade open the heir to the Vale's throat, and pierce Hoster Tully so badly that he had to sit out the rest of the war. But in that ringing he mainly saw his failure to capture the Usurper and his shameful retreat.
Lucerys had led the assault as he always did, and after three whole days of fighting above the Sinner's Steps the Captain-General returned to the lower city, his prize in his hands and his silver armour dull with the splatter of blood. "Is it done?" Jon asked the young man.
Luke nodded, wiping his sweaty and blood-soaked long hair out of his eyes. "The Bearded Priests will now decorate their sacred temple until the crows finish them or someone cuts them down." He said nonchalantly.
"The people of Norvos won't like that." Jon remarked cautiously.
Luke chuckled, patting his mentor's shoulder. "You said the same before we took the contract, Jon, but Magister Malaquo left explicit instructions that the price went up by half if we did as he asked. I know you don't agree with this butchery old friend, but we need the gold if we are ever going to take back the Seven Kingdoms."
Jon couldn't disagree with that, and his eyes wandered down to the crown hanging loosely at Luke's side. "It looks so different." He admitted. "Your Father wore it with such splendour, especially nearer the beginning of his reign when I first went to court."
Luke was holding the crown of Aegon the Unworthy in his hands, a large and heavy object of red gold with seven dragon heads poking out of the top, each one with gemstones for eyes. Aerys had worn it in the hope of becoming the greatest King that ever lived, but Luke just looked at it with disdain.
"I've only got it because it belongs to my family." Luke muttered. "It's a pompous thing and I'm surprised my ancestor Aegon had the strength to lift his neck with it on if the rumours of his girth are true. If it were up to me, I'd melt it down to scraps." Jon understood and bowed his head in silence. "Anyway, enough about this. Come! Let us feast in the halls of the Norvoshi priests before we head back to Volon Therys."
Jon longed for that. The last year had seen a large increase in the sellswords joining their ranks and so the Company had been gifted a town near the south coast of Essos by Volantis to use as their own on the promise to talk to the magisters of the city if ever a contract came up pitting Volantis as the target. Grinning at the heavy pat on the back from his silver prince's younger brother, Jon walked into Norvos to feast.
It took weeks to sail the main force of the Company back down the Rhoyne to their town, but Luke was glad to see the white walls and marble towers of Volon Therys appearing through the warm nights air. Five of the six towers depicted a key event in the history of the town, with one tower in the process of being carved depicting the Golden Company takeover of the city, now dubbed the Golden Tower. That was where Luke had made his headquarters and his personal rooms lay at the top.
Letting Black Balaq sort out the dismounting of troops, Luke and Jon made for the Golden Tower hastily. The hour was late so there was a minimal amount of guards about, and the two said their farewells and promised to discuss their next course of action in the morning. Jon headed to the command room, while Luke went for bed.
He climbed the steps and said a quiet hello to Jaqynno, his guard on the door, before pushing it open quietly. The room was very faintly lit with the candles coming to the end of their wicks Luke looked down at the large, four poster bed and smiled. The sleeping form of Valarra was curled up, breathing lightly against the pillow. Turning away, he went to place the heavy crown on a table when her voice sounded.
"Did you get anything?" She asked. Luke turned around and saw the Lyseni noblewoman rub her eyes, and sat herself up, her pale skin barely visible through the translucent purple material of her nightdress.
"I did." Luke nodded, throwing the crown of his four times Great Grandfather unceremoniously on the bed.
"Should you not treat it with a bit more respect." Valarra asked, picking up the crown and fingering one of the golden dragonhead points.
Luke just laughed as he slipped out of his golden shirt. "My Father wore that crown."
"So you should definitely treat it with more respect." Valarra grinned. Luke didn't wear the same expression for long.
"I've never told you my first memory, have I?" The Targaryen asked. Valarra shook her head and moved over to his side of the bed, taking a hairbrush and gently combing through his long silver hair.
"No, you haven't."
Luke sighed. "I was four and it was during the rebellion. Rhaegar had been and gone again and my mother was worried. I remember her and Princess Elia sitting and playing with me and my niece Rhaenys when the King came into her room. I didn't know what they were saying but I knew my mother was pleading with him. He hit her and dragged her away with his claws, and I was left with Elia not realising what was going on." He told her quietly, brimming with anger. "I know what happened now, he had just burned his Hand for defying him or something, and that aroused him."
"Luke…" Valarra whispered, placing the brush on the bed and massaging his shoulders. He leaned into her, calming down.
"I hated him, I knew that much." Luke said honestly. "He hurt my mother regularly and I can never forgive that. I was thankful when a week or so later Jon Connington came and smuggled me out of the city because it meant I didn't have to see him again." He sighed once more. "Then I was told that my mother was dead nine months later."
"I'm so sorry." Valarra whispered, resting her chin on his shoulder and wrapping her arms around his front.
"I don't want to be like that." He insisted. He held her left hand and kissed the golden ring on one of her fingers. "I don't want my wife to be terrified of me, nor my children."
Valarra wrapped her leg around his waist and shifted herself smoothly so that she was straddling Luke rather than sat behind him. "I'm not terrified of you, Luke. You are not your Father. You've treated me well ever since I came with you and I wouldn't have married you if you were not a good man." She kissed him, and his hands sought her belly. "And you will be the best father, I know it." She pushed herself off him so she was standing on the floor, her hands now in his. "Now hush, you've had a long few months on campaign, let me ease your stresses how you like it best.
She sunk to her knees and began shuffling Luke's breeches down his legs, exposing his cock. Luke sank back so he was lying on the bed, relishing the feeling of his Lyseni wife doing what her people did best.
The pounding at his door was an unwelcome sound that woke a frustrated Lucerys up. Groaning, he sat up in his bed letting the covers drift down so they covered him at the waist. Valarra was unhappy too next to him. "Make it stop." She grumbled, half asleep and rolling over so that her naked torso wasn't exposed.
Getting out of bed and putting on a crimson robe to cover his own nakedness, he opened the door angrily, and it only slightly went away when he saw Jon. "It's barely dawn." Luke complained. "What is it."
"I apologise, Captain-General." Jon said, and Luke frowned at the title. "Lucerys." Connington corrected himself. "But we need you in the command room urgently." Not happy, Luke shut the door and went to put on some loose-fitting black breeches and a low cut loose white shirt before he followed Jon down to the command room. On the stairs, Jon spoke again. "How is the babe?"
Luke chuckled knowingly. "The babe is well, as is Valarra if you'd care to ask."
"You know my feelings on the girl." Jon said quickly. "You shouldn't have eloped with a bed slave…"
"Don't!" Luke shouted angrily, his face twisting in rage and his royal purple eyes simmering like a fire. "Don't ever call her that! She was a noble guest, a hostage. She is a daughter of the noble House Rogare and a Princess now. I love you like a father Jon, but you shall treat her with the respect that her station deserves."
Jon bowed his head in apology. "I apologise, Lucerys. Forgive me."
Luke nodded, taking a few deep breaths to calm down before they descended the final few stairs leading to the command room. The council was basically full with the council of the Golden Company and Luke made sure that he greeted them all. Black Balaq, his commander of the archers, a summer islander with whiter hair than even Luke's own that wore a magnificent, feathered cloak of green and orange. Lysono Maar, the full lipped Lyseni spymaster that looked eerily similar to the Captain-General with his Valyrian looks, and finally Gorys Edoryen, the Volantene paymaster with long red hair and a pointed black beard, his ever-present leopard skin draped over his left shoulder.
"My friends." Luke greeted fondly. "Pray tell me why I've been plucked from the arms of my naked wife to sit and chat with you ugly sons of whores."
Black Balaq grinned at the comment, but it was the Lyseni spymaster that spoke. His high pitched, eerie voice constantly making Luke's spine shiver. "I've had whispers from Qohor meet my ears. They say that Drogo's horde have passed through Vaes Khadokh."
"Essaria?" Luke asked. The city had been in ruins long before even Aegon the Conqueror had sat the Iron Throne having fallen to the Dothraki during the Century of Blood. "What are they doing so far west?"
"Travelling to Pentos. Peacefully." Maar answered.
Unease sat with Luke. "Pentos." He repeated.
"We know of two other people in Pentos, one of which would be a prize worth staying the arakh's." Jon said to Luke pointedly.
Luke's hands gripped the edge of the table tightly. "Have we heard from Illyrio?" He asked through gritted teeth.
"No." Black Balaq shook his head.
"But there are whispers of a large wedding ceremony being set up near the Magister's palace." Maar reported. "In the Dothraki style of the ceremony."
Luke raised a fist and pounded it hard onto the table. "I will NOT have my sister sold off to a Dothraki savage!" He roared, his blood running hot. "She is blood of the dragon, not a fucking brood mare for savage horse lords!"
"We can beat them to Pentos if we leave tomorrow at the latest." Edoryen noted.
"Then prepare a boat to Ghoyan Drohe." Jon told them quickly, knowing what Luke would do.
"The Dothraki will not take kindly to an interruption, Captain-General." Black Balaq told him.
Luke agreed, trying to calm himself down. "Then send all the boats." He said coldly. "Gorys, how many sellsword companies can we afford?"
Gorys thought for a moment. "Three that are currently free."
"Then send a rider to Malaquo." Luke ordered. "I want him to make contact. I want them with us when we face Drogo's horde. I'll travel up beforehand and make contact with my siblings. We leave the minimum number of men here to defend the town and my wife. The rest travel with us."
"Captain-General." The others nodded, and they went to go about the business they'd been tasked with. Jon was the only one that remained in the room.
"Are you sure about this?" Jon asked. "Drogo is the fiercest Khal in the Dothraki Sea."
Luke nodded. "My House is crippled, Jon. I only have Viserys and Daenerys left to me. If we are to take back the Iron Throne I need them unwed."
Jon agreed, though something in his eyes made Luke feel like he was being judged for his own wedding. "They don't know about you, remember."
"They will." Luke whispered, staring down at the map marking of Pentos. "They will."
Daenerys Targaryen felt miserable, although that wasn't a new feeling. Ever since leaving Pentos her and Viserys had been on the run from hired knives, being turned away from the cities of Essos after the magisters had had enough of them. Pentos seemed different however, although even that didn't help the youngest dragon's mood.
Her handmaidens, given to her by Magister Illyrio, were both gossiping as they heated her bath, but Dany just stared out at the Narrow Sea, trying to see if she could spot Westeros, her home. She couldn't, but that didn't stop her trying to see beyond the horizon.
"The sea is calm today, Princess." One of the handmaidens said as Dany was handed a glass of water. "I am glad, I don't want the Sea God to send storms here like he did with Lys."
Dany was confused. "Sea God?" She asked, taking a sip.
The dark-haired slave girl nodded. "A Valyrian Sea Demon came down from the North a year back and sunk the sell sail ships out at sea, and brought his wrath upon the magisters, stealing their daughters for himself. Magister Rogare was so haunted he threw himself into the ocean not long after the Sea God came for him."
"What nonsense is that?" A haughty voice came from her doorway, and Dany froze up at the voice of her elder brother. "Valyrian Sea God? The Valyrian's worshipped fire, you halfwit. Go, leave us." He commanded, and the two women bowed their heads and quickly ran off. Dany saw Viserys walk up to join her on the balcony, seeing him in her peripheral vision. "You shouldn't let them fill your heads with such nonsense."
"What were they talking about with Magister Rogare?" Dany asked. She remembered the man, and how he had basically thrown them on a ship for the mainland after buying her mother's crown off of Viserys, and she remembered how Viserys had been furious on that boat, cursing the man to each of the seven hells.
Her brother grinned. "He made some powerful enemies, sweet sister, who hired sellswords to sack the island and make him suffer. I wish I knew who they were, I'd raise a glass to them." Dany nodded, knowing that he wouldn't expand on that to her. Sighing, she stared back out to sea, imagining herself as a child walking through her image of the Red Keep and sitting on her Father's lap on the Iron Throne of legend. "The Dothraki are on their way." Viserys added.
Dany sighed. "I don't want to marry him." She whispered.
Viserys grabbed her shoulder and turned her towards him. "You don't want to?" He asked, his voice raising in anger. "I don't want to be here, I want to be sat on my Throne with the Usurper being flayed before my very eyes. We all have to do things we don't want to, Daenerys. Marrying Khal Drogo will give us an army, and an army will give us the Seven Kingdom's." Dany remained quiet, and Viserys sighed. "It's just me and you left, sweet sister. Our Mother died birthing you, our Father was murdered. Rhaegar was killed in battle and Lucerys was kicked in the head by a horse. Our family relies on us to win the Iron Throne and save our people from the Usurper." He kissed her on the cheek and took a step away. "Take your bath, we're feasting with the Magister again tonight and I want you looking pretty."
With that the man walked away, leaving Daenerys looking sullen once again, staring out to the place she wished she called home.
Valarra is a victim of Stockholm Syndrome, and in the year and a bit since the first chapter she developed feelings for Luke, who also developed feelings for her once she grew in confidence thanks to the syndrome taking away her fear of him.
As I said earlier, my version of Volon Therys is based on the subreddit role playing game's wiki because it is the most in detail version of it.
The response to the first chapter was excellent, and I hope you all enjoy this one as well now that we introduce Dany and Viserys.
Next chapter: The siblings meet.
Reviews:
Silver crow: Yeah Rhaella's crown meant more to him than most because of the meaning behind it and the fact that Viserys had to sell it and was treated horribly. He grew fonder of Valarra, and she grew to love Luke, probably Stockholm syndrome to be honest, but they have a good relationship. Luke was kept away from Viserys when the company hosted him, mainly as his existence was still a secret and Myles Toyne didn't trust Viserys.
Mach9330: Luke was born in 279AC. I don't think so, but I've not planned out the entire story yet so there's still a chance!
fdiggin: He is, he thinks it's a crime that his history should be scattered about and when he has a chance and learns of any of his family's treasure being kept somewhere, he will go and get it. He will meet them in the next chapter actually.
BornSinner01: Thanks! I hope this lives up to the expectation.
C.E.W: That's the thing, Luke's eyes are firmly on Westeros and he has an army, so he isn't too fond of the idea of Dany marrying a horse lord. I wouldn't call the Reachmen cowards, just Mace is an incapable commander.
AZW330: Lucerys has precedent in being shortened to Luke, with Prince Lucerys Velaryon having that nickname in the Dance of the Dragons. I chose it because it was different, and with Aerys' canon sons being named Rhaegar, Daeron, Aegon, Jaehaerys and Viserys I felt it stupid to pick one of the dead names, and in reading Fire and Blood Lucerys, or Luke, stuck with me. I'm absolutely honoured that you've said I'm your favourite author in this fandom, there are plenty better than me in my opinion, but thank you so much for saying that.
Hail King Cerion: He's been brought up in Essos and in a sellsword company, and while he's had a Kingly education, he's still effectively a sellsword and while taking Valarra is mainly for hostage reasons, while sacking Lys why not take a bit of pleasure while you're at it?
wbdionizio: I don't think Euron had those in the TV show, so no he didn't. He has Blackfyre though.
Hear My Fury: Worse than Viserys? Viserys was arrogant and cruel without having the ability to back it up. Luke was chosen as the leader of the Golden Company at the age of 18. He took her as a hostage, but he's still technically a sellsword and when he's in Lys and nobody can stop him from taking a hostage of course he's going to take a pretty one that he can get some use out of.
DaddyChad: Viserys is the elder, so for the foreseeable future that's who Luke will claim as King. Of course, the pair haven't actually met yet…
Dzerx: Because Viserys is the elder and he hasn't seen nor even heard much about Viserys since Luke was 4 years old. His opinion may change once Viserys shows his true colours though…
lostfeather1: I think Baratheon OC's are generally easier to write because there's a clear story there. (Find out they're the rightful monarch, try to win the throne from that etc) whereas with a Targaryen it's a bit harder to find a good starting point and make it a bit different that just following Dany's arc. I think a great Targaryen needs to have a mix of both madness and greatness.
TheOnlyKing: If he goes to Vaes Dothrak…
alec-potter: I won't lie I was planning on that at the start, but in planning (up to chapter 20 as of writing this review response) the story went away from an outright pairing.
oneironaught101: I'll certainly do my best!