bloodrite

xxxi.

Aerion sighs deeply, but turns at Leanna's prompting. She dismisses them both towards their quarters and retreats for the entrance hall to prepare for her departure.

"Be safe," she urges Daemon when Rhaella has appeared in her flying clothes. Turning to the girl, Leanna brushes invisible dust from the dark tunic. "Stay within sight of your father. He has made this journey many times."

"Not so close to make Seasmoke angry," Daemon adds. Leanna nods along.

"Of course," Rhaella agrees. "I'll be careful, Mother. I'll see you there, Aerion."

Aerion, his arms crossed, scoffs. Still annoyed he is forced to take the slow ship with Leanna. He skulks even as the sleek sailing ship sets sail from the coast.

"I know your plan," Leanna finally addresses as they look out over the sea. "I cannot allow it." Aerion turns to her, appalled.

"That's not fair! All my siblings have a dragon! Even Jacaerys has one!"

Leanna lifts a hand. "That's different. Jacaerys was giving a dragon egg in his cradle."

"Well, why wasn't I?"

"You know why. There were too few dragon eggs at the time of your birth. Only recently have Syrax and Dreamfyre begun laying clutches healthy enough to be placed in cradles."

"I want a dragon," he presses. "I'm not going to be as stupid as Alyssa." Leanna's stomach drops. Aerion winces, catching himself. She looks away quickly, fighting to keep her composure. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that."

"She made a mistake, Aerion. A mistake all of us could have prevented if we had acted differently. I cannot stand by and let you make the same mistake."

"But I won't—"

"Enough, Aerion!" She holds up her hand. Notably, it shakes in the air. This very topic making her terrified. "I will not bury another child. If you want a dragon, you will wait good and long until you have reached manhood. Not now. Is that understood?"

Aerion grumbles, looking down. "Yes, I understand."

"I'm not trying to be cruel, or make you feel like less of a Targaryen. I promise. Besides, Orlys doesn't have a dragon."

"Because he's a Baratheon. Not a Targaryen."

"And still your brother," she presses. "He is still a Targaryen as much he is a Baratheon, just like you. Just because he will one day become Lord of the Stormlands does not mean he never wished for a dragon. When they were young, he and Aerys had the most frightful squabbles because one had a dragon and the other wanted one. Orlys grew to understand his worth, dragon or not."

"What about war? What happens when I have to fight?"

"If we are lucky, you will never face it," she sighs, leaning forward to brush a dark curl from his face. "Now go rest. Night is falling and the journey is long."

Two more days they sail, arriving on a clear and freezing day on the shores of Dragonstone.

Aerys greets them in the courtyard of the castle with Orlys and Laena, grinning. Here, in the home of his ancestors, Aerys is glowing.

"Mother," he greets her with a kiss to her cheek. "Welcome."

Despite visiting this castle before, Leanna allows his excitement to burn bright. She squeezes his hand before turning to Orys and Laena.

"How was the flight? Hopefully not as cold as our trip."

"What's it like flying on Vhagar? Oh, can you take me sometime?" Aerion bursts, grinning at Laena. The elegant woman laughs, exchanging a glance with her new husband.

"I suppose that can be arranged, now that you are to be my brother and I am to be your sister. Not now, I think. Rhaenyra is waiting for us."

"Of course," Leanna dips her chin, grateful for Laena's peaceful diversion. She regards the newest member to their family with a careful eye. They had crossed paths sparingly before. Funerals, weddings, and in Laena's youth. Now, however, the Velaryon girl has blossomed into an intelligent figure. Rider of the largest dragon alive, capable and yet gracious and reserved.

She was a fiery spirit, according to Orlys. Kind and gentle, yet entirely devoted to her family and loyal to those she regarded as blood. Orlys, in the quiet secrecy of their meetings, had promised the marcherlords of the Stormlands that Laena would not betray his lands. Not now, for her love for Orlys was as strong as that of her parents. If anything, her rage against the Greens was palpable. Intense enough to make her a formidable enemy. And a strong ally to them.

Leanna hopes that Laena will find her loyalties falling to Rhaenyra, too.

The princess is waiting for them in the receiving hall with Jacaerys in her arms. The baby is growing quickly, already past two months of age and his hair growing as wildly as his father's. Leanna, with a note of surprise, cannot stop the hand that reaches out. Finding the dark streaks on the underside of the baby's curls. Baratheon darkness, like the hair Laena and Laenor bore from Rhaenys. Their dense curls were white-blonde, from Corlys, yet the undersides of their hair has been streaked with black and visible only when drawn back and away from their necks.

"Look at that," she murmurs, turning to Aerys.

"He has a hint of you in him," Aerys grins. Where Orlys had a lighter brown color and not true black, this was a different expression of the Baratheon line Leanna had not been expecting. Nodding, she meets Rhaenyra's eyes. There is a troubled light in her pale gaze.

"It has caused whispers, Leanna."

"What whispers?" She demands. Laena moves forward, examining the baby's hair herself. Lightly, her hand raises to her stomach. Rhaenyra does not miss it, nor the lack of surprise from Leanna.

"That Aerys is not his father and I am a whore," Rhaenyra answers.

"Unfounded," Leanna offers.

"Of course!" Rhaenyra scoffs. "I can tell you who's behind it, at the very least."

"I'm certain I could too," Leanna bites. She rubs her face, annoyed.

"Have they not seen my own hair?" Laena muses.

"Perhaps the good queen is blind," Orlys shrugs, the sarcasm bleeding into his words. "I would not lose sleep over it, Princess. Your supporters know the truth of it, and it makes Alicent all the more fallible." Laena moves back to her side, hand still resting over her stomach. Aerys, too, notices it now.

"Brother, is there something you're not telling us?" He presses, pale eyebrow lifting. Rhaenyra passes Jacaerys to him, a grin spreading over her features.

"When?" She asks, light blossoming in her eyes. She stretches her hand out for Laena's.

"Should be the seventh moon, if the maesters are right." Rhaenyra reaches for Laena with one hand, the other pressing to her own stomach.

"I am due in the eighth moon."

"You wasted no time," Orlys presses, reaching his hand out to clap Aerys's shoulder. The blond prince laughs, returning the gesture.

"Neither did you, apparently."

Leanna, grinning, observes the two women. "This is excellent," she bubbles, reaching for them both. "Wait until Daemon hears." Then she pauses. "Have they not arrived?"

"Not yet. When did they leave?" Aerys inquires. Laena turns to Leanna, a bashful expression on her face.

"Daemon took Rhaella beyond Dragonstone. He said they would be back soon."

"Where did they go?" She presses. Enough worry to make Aerion look up at her with unease. Before the group can follow her towards the door, they slide open. Revealing Daemon, wind blown and grinning. Rhaella is at his back, eyes just as wild. Aerion breaks into a run, beelining for his father.

"What did we miss?" Rhaella asks, regarding the group before her. Aerys is obviously taken aback at this. The Rhaella he had last seen at the funeral, for he had been unable to attend Orlys's wedding, had been a shell. Quiet and subdued. Haunted with memory. This Rhaella was a different girl entirely, even from before. She was bright and bold. Armed with a sword at her hip that he cannot miss.

Rhaella was a dragon, now. There was no denying it.