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The grand hall of High Tide was filled to the brim with screaming matches and accusations.
Jacaerys and Jaehaera were hugging a frightened Luke, left alone to fend for themselves while everyone glared and yelled at them. They have long since stopped crying, and for once, they were yelling back at their accusers with the help of their cousins who stood behind them.
"Enough! Cease your yelling at once!" The King yelled, banging his cane against the ground.
Jaehaera stopped her yelling. Her crying eyes turning to bury in her elder brother's shoulder. She couldn't even find it in herself to look over at Aemond's scarred face—the Maester's having done all they could to sew the bloody wound close.
As far as the guards were concerned, Jaehaera had mutilated the Prince. She had been found holding the weapon.
"It will heal, will it not, Maester?" Queen Alicent asked in a desperate voice.
Everyone held their breaths for his answer.
"The flesh will heal." The Maester looked back at the King, face grave. "But the eye is lost, your grace."
Jaehaera released a small gasp, looking to her brother Luke. He looked about ready to burst into tears. But she continued to hug his head to her.
Her and Jacaerys shared a silent look.
The King lowered his head with a troubled sigh at the news, while the Queen whimpered and angrily turned to her eldest.
"Where were you?!" SMACK!
Jaehaera jumped at the sound.
"Ow! What was that for?!" Aegon whined, holding his cheek.
"That was nothing compared to the abuse your brother suffered while you were drowning in your cups, you fool!"
Loud footsteps thundered down the grand staircase, followed by a booming voice.
"What is the meaning of this?!" Lord Corlys yelled over the court. His wife and himself rushing down the steps.
"Baela, Rhaena?! What's happened?!" Rhaenys glided down the steps fast. Her arms immediately wrapping around the girls as they ran to their grandmother.
Right on que, the entrance doors opened to reveal the Heir in her rushed panic. "Jace? Hera?" She looked about the room until she spotted her children, in which she rushed over with haste. "Luke!" She gaped at the sight of her bloody boys and daughter.
"Mama," Jaehaera cried.
Rhaenyra lowered down to them. "Show me," She demanded, searching them for their major injuries.
Luke suffered a broken and bloody nose. Jace was bleeding from his temple. While Jaehaera had nothing more than a scrape to her elbow.
Rhaenyra looked at each of them, and anger flashed on her beautiful features. "Who did this?!" She snapped, looking back at her father.
"They attacked me!" Aemond called back, turning in his chair.
"He pushed Hera!" Jace fired back.
"He broke Luke's nose!" Baela added.
"He was gonna kill Jace!"
"I didn't do anything!"
"He stole my mother's dragon!"
All the children began yelling once more, aggressively pointed fingers. The adults all turned their eyes back and forth, trying to follow but not understanding. They were bickering and the tension was growing evermore.
"Enough!" The King began.
"It is my son telling the tale?!" Queen Alicent snapped.
"I said, enough!"
"My children are not liars!" Rhaenyra yelled back, defending her children.
"ENOUGH!" The King roared loudly, but not before one last voice was heard.
"He called us bastards."
The silence that fell over the room was heavy. A pin could be heard if it dropped.
Ever slowly, King Viserys reared his head back towards the small, brunette child who clung to her mother's waist and her brother's hand.
Queen Alicent paled.
Rhaenyra gaped down.
It was Jaehaera who was staring at Aemond right in the eye. Her hurt and pain-filled expression burning through him. Big-doe eyes that had just been gleaming at him an hour ago, were now betrayed.
Aemond held her stare, shaking. His expression unreadable.
"You called us bastards," Jaehaera repeated again more softly.
The two children could feel the cracks in their chests.
One—Betrayed.
The other—Maimed.
King Viserys turned his head to the boy. His jaw clenched down, fury in his eyes when he saw the boy's guilt written so carelessly onto his features.
"Aemond, is this the truth?"
Aemond tore his eyes from Jaehaera. He leaned back into his chair with stubbornness.
"You believe the words of your son's assailant?" Queen Alicent interjected, stepping toward the King, "Our son has been maimed. That girl is responsible."
"It wasn't—" Jace nudged Luke hard, stopping him from saying more.
Jaehaera lifted her chin while her mother looked down at her in surprise. She didn't try to deny it. She needed to take this blame, or else Luke would be in trouble.
"It was a regrettable accident," Rhaenyra said, even though she noticed her children making the effort to keep Luke hidden behind them.
"An accident? The Princess Jaehaera brought a blade to the ambush, she meant to kill my son!" Queen Alicent raised her voice in disbelief.
"It was my children who were attacked. My daughter was forced to defend her family. Vile insults were levied against them," Rhaenyra fought back, "My children are in line to inherit the Iron Throne. This is the highest of treasons."
Jaehaera turned her eyes as the King stared at her for a few moments in contemplation.
"Prince Aemond must be sharply questioned to know where he heard such slanders."
"Over an insult?" Queen Alicent choked out. She turned Aemond's head to show the grotesque wound to everyone. "My son has lost an eye."
"Where did you hear this lie?" King Viserys suddenly questioned, making the Queen shut her mouth. "Your King demands an answer."
Jaehaera looked at Aemond, waiting.
She was trying to find out whether he truly believed it so. If he really saw her as nothing more than a bastard girl.
If so, was that what their friendship was? Some form of pity or a laughing stock to be heard later on.
Aemond's eye shifted toward the Queen subtly.
Jaehaera wondered if anyone else had noticed the way the Queen fidgeted and was breathing heavily. Her wide eyes and terrified expression showing much more.
But it seemed that lies were well into the air, and soaking each and every one of them.
"It was Aegon."
Everyone turned their heads toward the eldest, who looked completely taken back.
"Me?" Aegon squeaked.
"And you, boy," King Viserys rounded the chair to head for him, tone low and surprisingly intimidating, "Where did you hear such calumnies?"
Again, Jaehaera noticed how Aegon's eyes shifted to his mother before falling back down to the ground. He gulped, not answering for a few mere seconds of tense silence.
"AEGON!" King Viserys boomed, making everyone flinch.
Jaehaera whimpered, but Jacaerys squeezed his sister's hand in comfort.
"We know, Father, everyone knows."
It felt like the whole world was now watching the three brunette children—watching her.
The same people who whispered as they passed. People who once awed at them when they were babes, but now looked at them with so much disdain.
"Just look at them," Aegon muttered.
The Princess Rhaenyra glared at all of them. Her hands cupping her children protectively.
Jaehaera didn't realize until this moment just how terrified her mother truly was. So many snakes and vipers—but no one to defend her, their family. Whether they liked it or not, they were all alone in this court.
In this Wicked Game of Thrones.
Her mother was burdened with their very existence—and that broke her little heart.
Jaehaera looked up at her mother's teary eyes, then down to her brother's frowning faces.
If only Aegarax were here, she somehow found herself thinking, he could carry us away from here. He could protect us—I could protect us.
"This interminable infighting must end!" King Viserys hissed, looking between the sea of blacks and greens. "We are a family!"
The Princess and the Queen glared at one another.
"Enough of this," The King huffed tiredly and turned his back on all the fuss, "Now make your apologies and show good will to one another. Your father, your grandsire, your king demands it!"
Jaehaera thought that would be it. Even her mother began to usher her and her brothers out, when a voice spoke up.
"That is insufficient."
Her doe eyes turned towards the Queen, halting with her mother. She reached up to grab her mother's fingers, gripping them tight with fear.
Queen Alicent's tears were raw and angry. She was staring directly at Jaehaera, burrowing such malice towards the girl for so many reasons. None of which the little girl knew of. "Aemond has been damaged, permanently, My King. Good will cannot make him whole," She whimpered.
King Viserys sighed heavily. He only casted a softened glance towards his granddaughter. "I know, Alicent, but I cannot restore his eye," He reasoned.
"No, because it's been taken!"
"What would you have me do?!" King Viserys asked her incredulously.
"There is a debt to be paid." Her voice echoed through the chambers. She never tore her eyes away from the brunette child. Her shoulders rose and fell, faster and faster, as vengeance flooded her expression. "I shall have one of her daughter's eyes in return," Alicent suddenly declared.
Jaehaera's heart sank to her stomach, and she immediately let out a terrified cry before Rhaenyra pushed her behind her body as a shield. She clung even harder to her mother's waist while her brothers also stepped in front of her, as if they could possibly do anything to protect their dear sister.
Whispers and gasps filled the room at what the Queen demanded.
Aemond's expression went pale as a ghost. His head already shaking. "N-No! That isn't fair! Jaehaera didn't do anything-!"
"Hold your tongue!" The Queen snapped at her son, crying as she turned to the King. Even his Grace looked appalled at the demand. "He is your son, Viserys! Your blood!"
Viserys shook his head, not even daring to entertain the notion. "My dear wife. Do not allow your temper to guide your judgement. I will not order the maiming of my granddaughter," He growled the last part to her.
Queen Alicent stared into his eyes, lips trembling. She casted another glance over at the terrified child. "If the King will not seek justice, the Queen will." She looked behind the King at one of the guards in particular. "Ser Criston, bring me the eye of Jaehaera Velaryon," She commanded.
"Mama!" Jaehaera cried loudly, before Rhaenyra pushed her toward Lord Corlys.
The older man immediately hugged the child to his stomach, muffling her cries and holding her close to his form.
"You will do no such thing!" Rhaenyra snapped at the knight.
"Stay your hand!" The King ordered the knight as well.
"No, you are sworn to me!" The Queen yelled above them both.
She glared at the man, high and true to her command. She wanted blood.
Ser Criston didn't seem to hesitate. He hardly had any emotion on his face for such a grave order to maim a little girl. "As your protector, my Queen."
Jaehaera didn't hear what the King whispered to the Queen after that. She only peeked her head out from Lord Corlys' tunic just barely, just in time to watch the King begin to turn away with the matter, in his mind, settled and done.
"Let it be known," The King announced in a harrowing voice, "anyone whose tongue dares to question the birth of Princess Rhaenyra's children should have it removed." His word was law.
Everyone bowed their heads. As the King commanded, they wouldn't dare to speak more of it. For fear of the consequences.
"Thank you, Father." Rhaenyra turned her back to the Greens, and opened her arms to her daughter. "Come, you will sleep in my bed tonight," She whispered to her.
Jaehaera nodded vehemently. She walked forward into the line of sight, and in the next moment, her head turned when the Queen pulled the knife from the King's belt and began charging after her. She jumped back into her brother's immediately, letting out a defeaning scream of horror.
"Mother, no!" Aemond screamed, trying to reach out but his mother yanking her arm away to continue her advancement.
Screams erupted throughout the room as everyone began crowding around Jaehaera. Some pulling and pushing her every which way. Jace and Luke were quick to grab her while she screamed, and Lord Corlys and Princess Rhaenys jumped in front of the three of them.
Daemon Targaryen finally decided to intervene when he saw Ser Criston heading for Rhaenyra and the Queen, in which he pushed the man back with daring eyes.
Rhaenyra was the one who had stopped the Queen by holding her wrist with the dagger above her head. She glared at the woman with fury.
Outside of the castle, a loud roar of fury could be heard-the sound of Aegarax growing antsy. From the large windows above, one could see his great shadow swarming the castle. Another loud roar rattled the castle walls and alerted everyone to the greater danger among them.
Aegarax could tear down High Tide with little effort and bury them all into the sea while doing it.
The sudden roar was so loud that everyone immediately covered their straining ears. The ground quaked under them. The warning loud and clear for everyone in the room and commanding them into a deep silence that left most of them quaking in fear.
Until the only thing heard was the soft crying of Jaehaera, as the people who loved her surrounded and guarded her.
Aemond kept pushing himself through the crowd. His eyes searching for the girl, but unable to see her. Only hearing her cries.
"Exhausting, isn't it?" Princess Rhaenyra sneered towards the Queen. "Hiding beneath the cloak of your own righteousness. But now they see you as you are," She whispered with equal malice.
"URGH!" Queen Alicent slammed her hand's down and pushed the Princess away.
Rhaenyra almost stumbled back, if not for Lord Corlys catching her.
The sounds of dripping commenced. Before blood spilled unto the cobblestone under their feet, pooling as if to draw the first line, the first strike in the game.
Jaehaera held her breath with so many others. She and her brothers swarmed their mother, grabbing at her arm and their fingers pooling with red through the fabric. She turned her head towards the other Targaryen children, who swarmed their mother as well. Her gaze landing on Aemond, ultimately, who was staring back at her, too.
For the first time ever...she couldn't help but feel the coldness in his eyes. He looked at her family with the same coldness as his mother did. She knew that in some odd way, this was the second crack in the foundations of their friendship tonight.
They were now hanging on by a thread that was quickly unraveling before her very eyes.
She never wanted to be apart of this wicked game. She had only wanted to watch the stars tonight with Aemond.
How could the Gods be so cruel as to remind them of who they truly owed themselves to in the end?
"Do not mourn me, Mother," Aemond spoke up, voice stone, "I may have lost an eye...but I gained a dragon."
Jaehaera scowled at him. She turned her head away just as he looked at her, and she almost bumped into the man who suddenly took his place behind her. When she looked up, she was in awe to see Daemon Targaryen planting himself right there beside them with the deadliest of expressions towards the Greens.
Greens versus Blacks.
And so, on this very night, the first moves in the game were made and the sides had been chosen.
"This proceeding is at an end," King Viserys announced finally.
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The next morning, Jaehaera, Jacaerys, and Lucerys stood on a cliffside together. They were all dressed in black wares—patterns like dragon scales on their tunics and dress. The sea breeze blowing through their brown locks as they watched the King's ship depart with their dragons in tow.
The sails may have had the House Targaryen sigil—but they might as well have been green and with the Hightower sigil, instead.
Behind the three children, their own dragons were standing behind them—watching them like giant protectors.
Jaehaera stood in the middle. Her puffy, red eyes still stinging and her throat still raw from her screams last night.
Jaehaera slowly turned around to her brother's. She nodded to them, taking a deep breath. "Mother protected us—her blood was spilled to the floor for us," She began.
They stood upright.
Jacaerys being the tallest, and Lucerys puffing his chest as best he could. No one could doubt their bravery in this moment nor their loyalty.
"So many people will try to tell us who we are, but there is one thing that they will never take from us." Jaehaera reached out her hands towards them. Her brothers didn't hesitate to take her hand, and they took each other's too. Their eyes searching one another.
"Bastards or not—Our mother is Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, Heir to the Iron Throne. We have the blood of Old Valyria in our veins as she does," Jacaerys continued for her, for once he was confident and sure of himself, proud even. "We are made of Fire and Blood, just as they are. But unlike them, we will not turn our backs on our mother, we must make an oath to each other. Here and now."
Lucerys nodded at them. His bloody nose still puffy, but his tears long gone. "We stick together as one—" He looked between his brother and sister, admiring them for different reasons but with the same expression, "—Until the sun rises in the west and sets in the east..."
"...Until the rivers run dry and the mountains blow in the wind like leaves..." Jacaerys continued.
Jaehaera felt her heart pound. She felt the weight of the words she swore like a weight on her shoulders. Yet, she wouldn't have it any other way.
"We swear this oath, on our family, to protect each other and fight together. From this day..."
"...Until the end of our days," The three children swore in unison.
The wind blew through again, this time much warmer. The sun peaked through the clouds above and shined down on them.
Lucerys was the first to let go to head towards Arrax.
Then, Jacaerys, who followed toward Vermax.
Jaehaera took one last look toward the speck of what was the King's ship, and the one large dragon that outsized the others in the distance. Her eyes narrowed.
She turned her back to the Greens to head towards Aegarax.
Her brothers were already descending the hilltop with their dragons following by taking flight.
But she stayed staring up at Aegarax, who stared back down at her. A soft mewl escaped him as he lowered his head to her. She responded by placing a tiny palm between his nostrils.
Jaehaera looked in his green-slitted eyes with resolve.
"Aegarax," She finished her words in perfect Valyrian, "When I am grown, we will fight back against those who hurt my family. We will lay waste to armies and burn cities to the ground, if we need to."
Aegarax bared his teeth, as though the very idea enlightened him.
"We will show them how dangerous a Targaryen and a Strong can be."
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thoughts?
Who's ready for the big timeskip?!
From here, most of the plot will change almost entirely. There will still be parts from the show in between but mostly, it will be an original plot!