𝐍𝐨 𝐅𝐢𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐫 𝐅𝐨𝐞 ~ A. Hightower

XIX

"What's the matter?" Maekar asked when Rhaegar and Moira were dragged in front of the Small Council. Viserys had been feeling too weak that day to attend, so Maekar took his place at the head of the table. Maekar dismissed his Lords and the Grand Maester, glaring furiously at the Dragonkeeper who held a tight grip on his children's arms.

"They were found in the depths of the Dragonpit, my Prince," the Dragonkeeper said in High Valyrian, shoving the two children forward. Maekar inspected his two children, seeing their faces and clothes coated with ash and dirt. "I took them to see the Princess Alicent, but was told to bring them here."

"Are you hurt?" Maekar asked his two children.

"I have a bruise on my arm from his needless dragging," Moira spat, glaring at the Dragonkeeper.

Maekar's eyes narrowed on the man, before turning to Ser Harrold. "Take this man to the Black Cells, Ser Harrold, he harmed the Princess."

"My Prince?" Ser Harrold hesitated.

"Take him to the Black Cells, Ser Harrold, it's an order," Maekar repeated. "I wish to have his head on a spike before the sun sets," Ser Harrold bowed and together he and two members of Maekar's Dothraki dragged the Dragonkeeper out of the Small Council chambers.

"Why was you down there in the first place?" Maekar's cold tone was replaced by a softer one as he walked around the table and knelt before his two children. Maekar noticed Rhaegar's quietness and the tear stains that marked his cheeks. "I'm not angry, my boy, I just wish to know what happened."

"Lucerys and Jacaerys played a joke on me for not having my own dragon," Rhaegar spoke in a downtrodden tone. He began biting around the skin of his thumb, a habit, it seemed, that he picked up from his mother. "They brought in a pig with wings. They called it The Pink Dread."

"Is this true, Moira?" Maekar asked his eldest daughter, his anger bubbling beneath the surface. It hadn't even been two hours ago since himself and Alicent bickered with Rhaenyra and Ser Laenor about Jacaerys and Lucerys breaking Aegon's ribs, and now this had happened.

"Yes, father, they were being horrible to him," Moira admitted straight away. "Baelon and I tried to stop them, but they continued."

"And what of Aegon?" Maekar enquired about his eldest child.

"He just laughed along with them," Rhaegar said tearfully.

"I promise you, Rhaegar, that one day you will have your own dragon," Maekar said comfortingly, wiping away his youngest son's tears. "But until that day do not go wondering into the depths of the Dragonpit," Maekar decided to crack a joke. "Your mother and I can't handle that fear it in our old age," in truth Alicent was only twenty and six and Maekar was thirty and three, but it made his two children laugh and that's all that mattered.

"But you're never afraid of anything," said Moira with her childlike innocence. It was hard to remember she was only ten at times.

"That's not true, I fear for you and your mother everyday," said Maekar, and he hid his smirk well as his two children looked at him confused. "Because the tickle monster is always lurking!" He shouted, and Moira and Rhaegar laughed loudly as their father chased them out of the Small Council chambers.

"Run, Visenya, run!" The twins shouted in unison as they made it to Maegor's Holdfast, spotting their four year old sister being escorted back to her chambers by a member of Maekar's Dothraki. Maekar watched with a mix of amusement and pride as his two older children chased after their younger sister, Visenya. Their laughter echoed through the corridors of Maegor's Holdfast, momentarily dispelling the tension that had filled the Small Council chambers just moments ago.