“You…you are. You’re beautiful. So very beautiful and smart and-” Viserys shook his head as he glanced up at her and then eyed the bed. “I want you to enjoy this. I don’t want to just take you like a Dothraki…Like Daenerys was-” His past was coming back to him as he recalled what he had forced upon Daenerys and the guilt came upon him. “Relena, what would you want me to just get it over with? I will if you want me to.” His body shifted towards her and he pushed his hair back as he leaned in to her, a hand rested beside her leg and the sheets. He intended to take his time, he wouldn’t be doing this just to have an heir, nor for himself. But for Relena. “Do you want me? Relena? Honestly. Would you have me as we are. A man and a woman, nothing less or more.” He intended to take his time tonight. He’d take his time on her and make sure she knew how much he cared for her, wanted her. “I’ll be good to you, my doe, I promise. If anything hurts let me know.”
“Does the stag line of usurpers really think putting yet another child on the throne is a good idea?”
Viserys asked as he confidently strode towards the younger girl. He and his sister had come back to Westeros, an army of Dothraki, Unsullied and a few hundred Yunkai soliders as well as what was left of the Sandsnakes;
Elia, Loreza and Sarella Sand. Not to mention the three dragons they had.
“Your line comes from the bastards of my great line. Perhaps if you agree to let the rightful heir and ruler of Westeros sit where you are, I’ll let you live…at my side.” Viserys spoke, a half smile on his face as he gazed at the teen. Thirteen years his junior and sitting on the throne. Though she was the second eldest of the children rulers to sit on the throne the Stag line had produced.
“You’ve no family left to help you. Uncles and parents dead. Just a handful of bastards the lions couldn’t kill.” Above them he could hear his dragon, Rhaellion descend on top the Red Keep and even Viserys glanced upwards. “Put our families past behind us, Lady Shireen for you sit upon what is rightfully mine, not a childs.”
Relena rolled her eyes as soon as those creatures were mentioned. Life on the wall must be quite boring and only being among men probably made it worse, coming up with foolish tales was something she could ignore, but coming to court pretending they were true, that was utter foolishness. The boy could consider himself luck that he was the child of her Hand, or else she would have dismissed him right away. “Do you truly believe this is the right moment to speak about fairytale?”, the young stag questioned, her gaze falling upon the younger ladies at the table and then moving towards her uncle, before her eyes meet Viserys’ again. “And you truly wish to leave court to go chasing after fairytale creatures that were invented to scare children?”, the young queen questioned, a light frown appearing on her forehead while she spoke. She had an idea why his sister wanted to join Jon Snow, but it certainly wasn’t to go find these White Walkers, or however he called them.
“You are a guest at court, therefore you are free to do as you please…”, she mumbled, leading her cup to her lips once more. If he wished to waste his time beyond the wall he could do so, but the raven haired woman was sure that he wouldn’t find much there except for snow and ice and if he was lucky a few wild animals.
“Though I hope you will not be too disappointed if the only thing you return with is a cold.”
With the dinner nearing it’s end, Viserys had taken notice of Relena’s reaction to his words more intently then he would have had earlier. “Well…” He started,even though he knew he would reply no. But what other time than now would he ask of it? Dany wanted to leave soon and this was a prime moment they were in the same room together. “People didn’t believe dragons would come back. Anything is possible” he reminded Relena again, still unsure about the whole thing himself but he wanted to see it to be true, that and to look after his sister.
“Yes, lets hope.” He agreed solemnly as he pushed the plate of cake away, suddenly not in the mood for sweets, Stannis and family excusing themselves, Lord Stark did as well after lingering a few more minutes, leaving Viserys and Relena alone. A quick glance at Relena as he stood, giving her a small nod of the head. “Try to miss me?” He asked her, a slight twinkle in his eyes as he spoke, a smile too big and bright on his face as his mind clouded. Why would she miss him? If he did die she wouldn’t have to worry about marriage or children. She’d be better off without him, no worries of dragons taking the throne.
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There wasn’t many of them on this expedition north, Viserys soon came to realize as he and Dany rode off on their dragons, Rhaegal flying beside it’s siblings towards the wall. Drogon had known Jon’s scent the best out of the dragons and led the way to where Jon and his companions stood off against the dead. And the dead were real. Blue flesh and cold dead eyes that chilled Viserys to the bone. The dragons flames did wonders at clearing the dead away, Daenerys getting close enough to try to get to Jon as the others had gotten on Drogon.
Viserys and Rhaellion making a path to Drogon and keeping the White Walkers at bay while the captured member of the dead army was secured. But then Rhaellion was struck. One too many times and the great dragon started to falter in the sky. Viserys felt his heart beating out of his chest as he held on for dear life as he and his dragon began to plummet out of the sky and down into the icy depths below, he remembered screaming, his life flashing before his eyes and as his head hit the ice as the two dragons fell into the water he remembered thinking maybe a crown of molton gold would have been a faster, easier way to go then drowning.
Viserys had nearly drown in the icy waters beyond the wall had it not been for Jon and Benjen, the bastard had made sure Viserys was brought back as well, the whole time checking to see if he was alive or just dead weight. But he still held a pulse, despite the lack of movement and bleeding head that had been poorly attended to as Jon rode to eastwatch, nearly half dead himself from the encounter of walkers and ice water.
Once back on the boat, Viserys was bundled up in furs and a maester attended to him stating to Daenerys that her brother was not dead but was just unconsciousness and he should wake up soon. Only soon didn’t happen a few days later or even when they brought Viserys back to Kings Landing, his body placed in his bed in his room. At one point Pycelle thought Viserys was starting to come out of it but soon declared him to be in a coma as his head wounds and the like began to heal. It had been nearly two weeks before Viserys woke up, his mind foggy and the feeling of death still caught in his lungs, gasping for air suddenly, his chest hurting as he did so as if it had been his last. “Rhaellion!” He tried to yell, his voice not nearly up to the task came out hoarse and his eyes darted around him as he took in his surroundings. Where was his dragon? Was Dany alright? Jon? had they brought back the beast? countless thoughts plagued him as he tried to get up more than once, failing each time he tried to push himself out of the bed until he fell on the floor with a loud thud.
He managed to drag himself up off the ground, staggering around the keep to the dragon pit, glad to have been clothed decently as he had nearly fallen more than once as he finally got to the pit he called out again and he waited. No answer, no sign of life as he called out again, his eyes leaking with tears as he tried to shake the reality of what had happened. It was than that the little strength he had left vanished and he collapsed, weeping for his dragon as his face hit the snow, making him aware of how cold it was here and strangely enough how warm it was here than at the wall.
The crunch of snow beneath shoes was heard and Viserys didn’t dare look up. Part of him hoping it was Rhaellion, that his dragon was actually alive, and the other part out of embarrassment for here he was a weak man sobbing for such a terrible beast laying in the snow. He knew how it must have looked to the other person but he didn’t care. All he wanted was to stop crying as he felt his face get warmer, no longer was his body in the snow and he wasn’t sure if he had done so or not. “Dany. Is Dany…She’s alive…she, she has to be.” He couldn’t bare to think of his sister dead. Viserys couldn’t handle losing his family like that. He was the older brother, he was supposed to care for Daenerys, he had raised her himself. If she was gone…
Violet eyes finally opened up fully, puffy and red from crying as he realized he was talking to Relena. Least it was she that had found him and not someone else. That was at least a comforting thought. He wanted to latch on to her, to know that this harsh reality was real and not some nightmare but he held back, his body still convulsing with shock as he took in ragged breaths of air. “This is the nice part of the nightmare right?” He asked in between breaths as he tried to calm himself down. “Right before I wake up…” Tears ran down his cheeks once more. He knew it was not a dream, the longer he felt his body react to the grave situation of nearly having had died himself and his dragon drying. “Relena…” His voice was now barley a whisper as he curled up, his knees to his chest as hung his head, silver hair making him look more disheveled than he already was. Her name spoken but nothing came after it as he wiped away the tears.
Relena’s eyes narrowed slightly upon hearing her uncle speak of political matters with Viserys. They weren’t even married and people were already turning towards him instead of her?
She had expected something like this from men like Lord Baelish or Maester Pycelle, but not from her own family, especially not Stannis.
Slowly the young queen began to tense up within her chairs, while she listened to Stannis, until Viserys finally spoke. For a brief moment her dark eyebrows rose in surprise, before she turned her head towards the silver haired man, slightly turning her back towards the Baratheon Lord. “I was thinking of honey cake.”, she suggested on the matter of wedding cake, leaning back into her chair again.
“Though mother did suggest pigeon pie.” It wasn’t the first thing her mother had suggested, her initially idea was dragon pie but that was certainly not something the young stag was going to mention in front of Viserys, even less so when her eldest uncle was right there with them, for he would probably agree with the former queen for the first time in his life.
“Relena, you’ve heard of the news from Lord Eddard’s son, Jon correct?” Viserys asked noticing how the dark haired woman only commented on cakes and pies than anything else and decided it was good enough time than any to bring up the subject he’d heard from Daenerys. “I wish to go with Dany to see these creatures for myself. If dragons can come back than…well, I don’t want to take any risks and not have any of us prepared for these….creatures.” He stated, Eddard nodding in agreement. “Yes, Jon was very adamant in these creatures being real and a real threat. People need to see to believe.” Eddard spoke to Relena, his eyes glanced over to Stannis trying to gauge how he’d react to the tales of the White Walkers and what his feelings on the matter were.
“You’ll be rid of me and Rahellion for a while. Not too long hopefully.” Viserys told Relena with a small smile, hearing Stannis grunt in disapproval to the words. which made Viserys lose his smile and turn it into a frown and he wondered how Shireen was ever happy if happy at all. The poor child having to be around such sullen and bitter parents who rarely saw one another. Viserys knew his own parents weren’t the happiest and his father was worse off then Stannis…But at least he had his mother and brother and his wife. They had been pleasant. But Shireen had no one, not really.
“Dany wishes to leave in the next few days to the North so with your permission, Your Grace. I’d like to go with her.”
“I am certain most of them are praying for a short winter every day.”, the raven haired woman mumbled quietly. Of course the common folk craved the summer to return, after all, no matter how well the great castles are stocked, there was always the fear that it would not be enough and those that had worked for the harvest were usually the ones that suffered first, but during a long summer there was usually more than enough food for everyone. If were just for the farmers and the low-born, Relena would have join them in their prayers, but she could not help think of something else when people spoke of the end of winter.
And apparently the queen was not the only one that didn’t think of the farmers when it came to the return of summer, because Lady Sansa seemed to think of the exact same matter. Just a moment later the young woman began speaking about the impending wedding that could soon happen when the snow melted and how excited she was, for she had seen many weddings, but never a royal one and if she hadn’t known any better Relena would have claimed that the red haired Stark was the bride to be, since she seemed far more excited than the Baratheon woman. Soon Relena found herself listening to the oldest daughter of her Hand, talking about fabrics for wedding gowns and embroidery patterns. As the girl kept on talking, the young stag did her best to keep a sigh from leaving her lips and leaned back in her chair, a golden goblet, filled with wine in her hand, suddenly understanding why she had seen her mother in the exact same position so often.
Relena’s thoughts trailed off as soon as Sansa began talking about sewing patterns, she was in fact paying so little attention that she had not noticed that the young lady had already stopped talking to her and long started bickering with her sister about something she hadn’t heard. It wasn’t until the queen noticed Viserys waving towards her cousin that her mind returned to the dinner and her guests.
He barley noticed the talk of wedding dresses that Sansa kept droning on about to Relena. That was, until, Sansa decided to take Viserys’s lack of people to talk to and continued the wedding talk. Which left Viserys like a fearful deer, wide eyed and on edge. Talk of food and drink occurred and he just danced around the subject giving half answers and suggested ideas to the girl. The dragon spoke to the young girl’s father, hoping he’d have more insight on what a royal wedding would be like. Arya seemed content enough to just stab her food and make small talk with whomever would talk with her.
The night dragged on for what seemed an eternity and Stannis cleared his throat, questioning Viserys on some political topics and the like, which he abstained from knowing full well it was not his place to discuss what Stannis was trying to get him to do. Viserys was unsure as to why but figured he was gauging Viserys and his role and just how far he could push the dragon. “These would all be questions you should ask your queen, Lord Baratheon. I haven’t the faintest of clues. Now, Lady Sansa….You suggested Lemon Cake for the wedding cake? Wouldn’t that be too much…lemon?” He asked, wrinkling his nose up at the idea as Sansa gave a small laugh, watching Arya join in clearly not liking the idea of that much lemon cake.
Relena could not wait for this dinner to be over, she was almost certain that one would be able to cut the tension in the room with a blade. For most of the meal the young queen remained silent, mostly just nodding politely at what other people had to say to her, for she herself was uncertain what she was ought to say to begin a conversation with the people that were surrounding her. Stannis had never been the most talkative, his wife wasn’t too fond of her and Lady Shireen, the only person she had anything in common with, was busy talking to the youngest Stark daughter.
When there was mention of the winter ending soon, Relena’s head lifted quickly, turning towards the silver haired man that had spoke. “That would be the first time Maester Pycelle was right with something.”, she mumbled, before Lord Stark could say anything, as she led the golden goblet towards her lips once more. The queen wasn’t too fond of the idea of winter ending soon, on the one hand a short winter meant that the country could go back to normal soon and the stocks would easily last that long, which was certainly positive but on the other hand she had said that they would marry once summer returned.
“And the last summer was quite long, reason enough to expect that winter will last longer than just one more month.”, Relena pointed out, while her goblet found its way back onto the table. “… though I am sure farmers would be quite pleased if that was the truth, which would be a delight.”, she added quickly, not wanting to sound too negative.
“It would be, yes. Which is why I am still skeptical but, the idea is nice” He told Relena before a frown passed over his face. He knew she didn’t want winter to end, if she could have her way he figured she would just have an eternal winter but it couldn’t last forever. “Very true but for the farmers and other common folk whose lively hood depends on these things that summer provides…”
He trailed off not wanting to really cause any kind of debate, especially now with Stannis here. Stannis, Viserys had noted seemed to make him more on edge than Cersei did and he held on to Relena’s words and his older more blind thinking to get him through Stannis’s glower. He was a dragon. He wouldn’t be put in his place by an old Stag nor cower in fear from one. If Stannis was iron breaking before ever thinking about bending. Viserys decided he would be diamond. Unbreakable.
Luckily for Viserys, Eddard took his attempt at trying to talk to Stannis and Arya and Sansa had taken this distraction as a way to bicker, Arya starting it almost as soon as Eddard addressed Stannis, leaving Shireen free and one hand slyly gestured Relena to her cousin, knowing they hadn’t gotten much chance to speak together. Viserys though gave the Stark girls a thoughtful look and shook his head, half wondering if he’d had more of a normal childhood if he’d have had that with either of his own siblings or his neice and nephews. As the cooks brought out the last meal, dessert, the Stark girls seemed to quiet down and Viserys slowly took a bite of his cake. Savoring the sweet taste, leaving any political talk to Relena if it needed to occur.
Goldnwulf 