Aemon Targaryen

-Chapter 120-

-1st day of the 6th moon, year 116 AC-

-POV Daemon Targaryen-

My dear brother,

I was delighted to hear about the birth of your son.

I hope he proves himself worthy of the name you chose for him.

Aegon Targaryen is a strong name, one with great meaning.

I hope he will live up to our ancestor's legacy.

I hope you and your wife are doing well, and that your marriage flourishes.

I've heard that your heir managed to tame his dragon and overcome the obstacle born of fear within his mind.

I write to you because I need you by my side; the leeches at court exhaust me.

I'd like you to come to the capital as soon as possible.

There are many important matters we must discuss, starting with Aemon's actions.

Your loving brother.

---

"Rubbish," I muttered, finishing my brother's message.

'He couldn't even be bothered to send me a letter after the wedding, and now that he's in trouble...' I thought, mocking Viserys's pride internally.

'Even if he appears weak and pliable, deep down, the dragon that seemed dead still slumbers,' I thought, seeing through his façade.

I understood that he was likely at his wits' end, having finally discovered everything my damn son was doing on his own.

'If you want to manipulate me, so be it. We'll see who manipulates whom,' I told myself, determined to make the most of the help I would eventually provide.

I tore the letter to pieces, throwing it into the fire, before turning toward Raevyna, who was sitting in a rocking chair, cradling our son.

"You should show your brother a little more respect," said Raevyna without looking at me, her focus on Aegon.

'A name she chose,' I thought, remembering how insistent she had been on naming our son that.

'She seems to believe it will make him special, but a name means nothing without the strength of the man who bears it,' I thought, opting not to respond to Rae.

'She can be as stubborn as a mule when she wants to be,' I thought, turning back to the crackling fire, watching the pieces of the letter slowly turn to ash.

"You're such a child, you know?" she said, her piercing gaze boring into the back of my head.

I raised my eyebrows, recalling the age gap between us, but I said nothing, knowing she was still recovering after a difficult childbirth.

'The maester doubts she can conceive again after Aegon,' I thought, recalling the relief I had felt when she survived.

"Your father still hasn't sent the warships he promised me," I said, changing the subject to something far more pressing than the pathetic intrigues of the court.

"My father is a man of his word. When he says he'll do something, he does it," she replied.

I raised my eyebrows again.

With the tensions Aemon had stirred in the Narrow Sea by siding with Corlys and burning a large portion of the fleet I had built, I urgently needed new warships to patrol my waters.

'The island's safety rests entirely on Caraxes,' I thought, watching my dragon soaring freely outside.

"He'd better," I said, staring directly into her eyes.

"I sense a hint of threat in your tone," Raevyna replied, narrowing her eyes.

"I don't make threats. On that, my son and I are alike," I said, staring at her seriously before briefly looking away.

"Your eldest son," she said, emphasizing that I had other sons.

"I have plenty of sons, but the only one who deserves the title is Aemon," I said, tacitly acknowledging the countless women in King's Landing carrying my bastards.

"The only son who wants nothing to do with you," Raevyna said, striking a nerve. She couldn't stand the way I handled Baelon's upbringing.

'She grew attached to him far quicker than I expected. I thought it would be the opposite,' I thought, my mind briefly drifting to Baelon's mother.

'She was nothing when I met her, one among many...'

"You don't understand our relationship," I said.

'Even I struggle to understand it sometimes,' I thought, fully aware that it was entirely my fault.

'I should never have left him with that whore. If I had taken him with me, we would likely already...'

My thoughts shattered as Raevyna interrupted with sarcastic venom, refusing to admit defeat:

"What I do know is that you're both men driven by insatiable ambition. Neither of you is truly satisfied with your status. There's only one throne, and neither of you will bow to the other."

I chuckled softly before responding to my wife in a cold tone, in stark contrast to the simmering anger I had felt since the destruction of my eighteen warships:

"Aemon thinks he knows everything, that he's smarter than everyone else, and that his two dragons make him untouchable…"

I paused mid-sentence, staring into the crackling fire, mirroring the fury within me:

"…He will soon learn who his father is and how to show respect. And if your father doesn't want the same thing to happen to him, he'd better send me that damned fleet quickly—or I'll come and take it myself."

---

-19th day of the 6th moon, year 116 AC-

-POV Rickon Stark-

Standing in the courtyard of Winterfell, my ancestral home, I waited, accompanied by my guard and all the northern lords.

'What a pack of hungry wolves,' I thought, observing each of them.

"How much longer are we going to freeze our balls off?" grumbled Lord Gawen Glover impatiently.

I was about to reply sharply, unwilling to let such a remark be made in the prince's presence.

Despite the tensions between him and the Manderlys, the prince must be treated with all the respect his rank deserves.

'Especially since he is the grandfather of the future Lord of House Stark,' I thought.

Dragon Roar

I frowned and turned away from my father-in-law to look at the sky.

That's when I saw, in the distance, a golden mass emerging from the clouds several miles away.

Casting glances around me, I noticed the awe on everyone's faces, which brought a smile to my lips.

'It's just Prince Aegon's dragon,' I thought, waiting for the true beast to appear.

DRAGON ROAR

The golden creature pierced through the clouds with majestic grace, its immense wings casting moving shadows across Winterfell's snowy grounds.