Mother Of Dragons

Chapter 1

Daenerys

The sweet smell of incense and beeswax candles filled the cool air; the braziers were already lit and struggling to warm the inside of her small tent. Daenerys lay quietly on her bed and waited for the Khal to join her. My husband, she corrected herself. She didn't think of him as such, though, more as a person to be feared than loved. She couldn't speak his language and he only came to her to take his pleasure before retiring to his own tent for the night, so she felt no real connection to him. But somehow she was still his.

She could hear the raucous laughter and pounding of horse hooves outside as the men enjoyed their racing and drinking. She knew eventually he would come; she just had to lay there and wait. There was no getting around it, and struggling would displease both the Khal and her brother. When she felt the most despondent, she tried to think of a way to just end her miserable life, but there was always someone watching, always someone with her, always someone who would prevent her from harming herself. And there was the dragon in her dreams, breathing flame onto her, and into her, giving her strength to endure her days.

I am Khaleesi, to be guarded and then fucked, she thought morosely. Was this what her mother had intended for her life to be like? Viserys often liked to say that she would be a dreadful disappointment to their mother if she didn't do as she was told. But this? Had Rhaella meant her for this? No, Rhaella had finally had a girl child to be the wife of her son, Rhaegar, but she had been born too late, Rhaegar already killed by the warhammer of the Usurper, leaving her to be the wife of the next son, Viserys. She belonged to him, to do with her whatever he saw fit. It was her duty to obey him without question.

The night after their wedding, Khal Drogo came to her and seemed to be expecting something more from her, but she had no idea what he was watching and waiting for her to do. He had sat and stared at her, and with no common words, she was left to guess what he wanted. She had simply removed her clothing and got on her hands and knees like he'd taken her that first night, hoping that was what he wanted, and squeezed her eyes shut as she held her breath, silent tears coursing down her face. After that night, he would come silently to her tent, fuck her, then leave. She was relieved when he would pull out and then leave her for his own bed. That way she could be alone when she cried herself to sleep.

Her brother was angry with her despite her efforts to submit to the Khal. He expected her to win him over with her charm, and that just wasn't happening. She was more of a glorified slave instead of the Khaleesi, he had accused. He demanded that she make the Khal happy. She tried every night, but she didn't know what to do other than what she was already doing; letting him take what he wanted so she could be safe and alone, away from him and the fear his presence brought. He had yet to strike her, but she watched him carefully from lowered eyes just the same, as Viserys would often hit her when she least expected it, and the Khal had bigger hands that could easily hurt her worse than her brother's ever had. She lived in terror of those hands.

It was nearly dawn when the Khal came to her tent. He quietly unlaced his pants and knelt next to her bed, pulling her to him by her hips. She woke with a start, and whimpered and bit her lip as he shoved himself into her, not bothering to even give her a chance to move herself into position. She squeezed her eyes shut and let him pound her from behind, not revealing how much it hurt, not wanting him to be displeased with her. She whimpered into her pillow as he sped up, covering her sounds. When he finished, he pulled out and got up, tied his pants and left without a word. Daenerys cried quietly, sobbing into the soft furs and cushions of her bed, pulling her sleeping silks back down her body and covering herself with her blanket.

Dany woke late the next morning, surprised that she had been allowed to sleep so far into the day. She tossed off her blankets in a state of anxiety, not wanting to anger the Khal with her tardiness. There was no one in her tent except Irri, who calmly settled her back down to sit on the edge of her bed as she pulled Dany's sleeping silks over her head. "The Khaleesi will ride with the Khal tomorrow," she said. "We will stay here another day."