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Daemon Targaryen was a banished man.

It had been a moon since king Viserys had banished his brother. Rumors of the princess's maidenhood had come into question after having been seen in a brothel with her uncle. Rat! Daemon thought to himself, the tiny foreign spies to which Viserys clung to. Daemon would be banished, but this time he took Aelyna with him. Daemon refused to have his daughter in the clutches of the Hightowers. His brother had always been blind to the many flaws Otto Hightower possessed but not him- he saw enough to take Aelyna from them.

anyone who was not of their blood, was no friend.

Aelyna understood why she was taken from Kings Landing, and though she would not miss the courts, she would miss her cousin Rhaenyra dearly. In the first few weeks she found it difficult to forgive her father. To take Rhaenyra from her was to take a piece of her heart. The princess's had been inseparable since Aelyna could crawl.

Though Viserys had ached for a son, to ends of which killed her mother, Aelyna was the sister she had needed to heal her wounds.

But now she was from her cousin, and Aelyna had learned to heal her own wounds. Her father. For a child of only nine, she suffered under the burden of being Daemons child. She supposed he loved her, why else would he have legitimized her? Though she had difficulty in proving it. Would a loving father abandon her for a war the king himself cared so little for? Her first developed memories was of falling asleep praying Daemon returned from the Stepstones. Aelyna often found herself jealous of Viserys and Rhaenyra. Yes, the king was a fool, but even she could see his love for Rhaenyra, even after having wronged her so many times.

Viserys had refused to wed Rhaenyra to Daemon but he did not want it to be the end of him. He still had her, his spitfire. When wedded to Rhea Royce, he had no hesitation that she would never carry his seed. He would rather fuck and whore his through through the brothels of Flea Bottom than consummate his marriage with his lawful wife.

Aelyna had brought a solitude to him. He would never be king, nor his brothers hand but he could be her father. He spent many nights thinking of all the cherished time he wasted when he could have spent it with her. Each time he looked at her he saw his mother. Daemon had believed for so long that war fueled the fire inside his belly, he was wrong. The war cries of loyal men, the cut of his blade through flesh was not what woke him up each morrow, it was his Aelyna.

Having taken Aelyna into his care, he kept to his promise. No greater gift could be given than that of a dragon. Under the dim moonlight Aelyna had snuck alongside the dragonmount. Through the pale grey wisp of smoke, Vermithor golden eyes looked down to child below him. When word had reached the castle Daemon had rushed to save his spitfire, a fear consumed, one he never knew he could feel. When Daemon had reached dragonmount all he could see was a tiny child singing old Valyrian lullaby's as she slowly approached the dragon.

The squeals of Aelyna's laughter echoed as the king of dragons wings opened to take flight. His thunderous roars echoed through the sky as Aelyna clung to him. On dragonback Aelyna, for the first time, felt belonged. No lords or ladies who sneered at her, no father that made her question her existence and no handmaidens who restricted her to lessons of old. Nothing but the freedom of the sky.

Aelyna's Targaryen ancestry could not be denied as she grew. The child proved to be more than just Daemon's whore child.

The blood of the dragon lived through her.

Aelyna walked along the corridors of her home in Pentos with her young sister Baela at arms. Daemon had married the lady Laena Velaryon and since then all Aelyna knew was peace. She finally had a family to call her own. A father who doted his life to his daughters, Baela, Rhaena and herself. Aelyna's heartaches of being a motherless child were soothed by Laena. She had finally gotten everything she had ever wanted.

"Must you leave so soon sister? Would you not at least stay till after the babe is born?" a young Baela pleaded to her older sister

"If I stay any longer in Pentos, I'll never see Braavos." Aelyna replied her fingers laced within her sisters grasp "I've begged father for years to let me travel by myself. With my sixteenth name day near I see no reason not to take this chance and I-"

"Then at least take us with you." Baela interrupted "You can take Rhaena and I on dragonback and we'll travel the Narrow Seas with you."

Aelyna chuckled as they reached her chambers. Her chambers embellished in the finest of silks and gold with a balcony of the city. The Targaryens honored guests to Prince Reggio Haratis. "I doubt father would let me." Aelyna rolled her eyes as a maiden handed her a cup of wine. Taking a seat in her lounge, her sister invited herself to join as she lied back into Aelyna's lap.

"I just don't see why you want to leave." Baela muttered, her innocent voice reminded her of herself when she was confided to Kings Landing waiting for Daemon to return. Perhaps Baela was right, it was selfish to leave. But what her sister did not know nor understood was the letter she had received from Shayna not too long ago. Over the years the two had grown a network of spies reaching all through to the free cities. Reports of a woman who could be her mother.

It wasn't that Aelyna did not love Laena. She did, more than words could describe but she still felt tied to her mother, even if she had no name or face. Always longing for the answers Daemon could never give her. Who was she? Where did they meet? Did she feel loved by Daemon? Why was she given away? Was she a drunken mistake?

Aelyna's heart carried a whole that nothing but the truth could fill. But as she stared down into Baela's kind eyes, she looked back into a mirror of the child she was.

Aelyna sighed in defeat "Perhaps I should put my plans on hold. The cities are going no where, don't you think?" To this Baela squealed as she sat up, her arms wrapped around her big sister.

The door opened to them "Princess Aelyna, princess Baela, your mother requested for your attendance at dinner." She bowed

Aelyna felt her head grow heavier as her face felt warmer. Perhaps five cups of wine was not her best idea on an empty stomach. While the adults amused themselves in their chatter she could not help ignore the desire to throw her body onto her bed. Her mind going back and forth on her plans to leave. After all there was nothing that held them back, but she could not bring herself to do to Baela and Rhaena what Daemon had done to her.

"The lamb hearts are excellent!" Prince Reggio exclaimed over his toast

"We are fortunate in your cooks excellence. There's a plumpcake that I no doubt will have my daughters fighting over the crumbs." Laena acknowledged, keeping a close eye on Aelyna who's eyes grew heavier by each dessert she ate.

"Then before it comes to blows." The prince interrupted tapping his cup three times "A toast to Aegon the conqueror and the result it all bare. You exalted forebear, who joined our cause against Volantis in the Century of Blood on the great dragon Balerion, he flew to our aid in Lys and burned a fleet of enemy ships, thus turning the tide."

They all toasted. "He wants something." Aelyna whispered to her youngest sister Rhaena in Valyrian. The two youngest having spent a great deal of their time studying through Aelyna. Aelyna felt the lingering eye of prince Reggio and his guests to he focussed his attention back to Laena and Daemon

"This brings me to some business." He said "A proposal I wish to make in the spirit of honoring our storied alliance."

Aelyna felt the wine of her lips as her mouth became a straight line. A worried look glanced to Laena, her stepmother giving her a reassuring nod. Since her first bleed too many requests have been made to take her hand, all of which Daemon had refused. Aelyna had asked one thing and only one thing of them, to not marry her off. She'd seen too many times with the women in her family the fate they met from marriage proposals. As naïve as it may have sounded, Aelyna had hoped to marry for love instead.

"If your aim is to marry one of our daughters, your excellence, you might have said so and spared us the history lesson." Laena warned

"What?" Baela abruptly asked

"I would not count myself so deserving, my lady Laena." They all chuckled

"I wish to extend this proposal to yourself and the prince's eldest daughter." Alaeyna sat forward in her chair her finger idling the rim of her cup "I offer you a permanent residence here in Pentos. This manse I would gift to you, outright, along with its farms and lands, the vineyard and the wood." The prince continued on "The tenants would pay their tributes annually to their new Targaryen lady. You and your family would have the freedom of the city and the harbor, as benefits your royal station."

"So what?" Aelyna rudely asked earning a slight smirk from her father.

Prince Reggio coughed his eyes followed back to Daemon "Lys and its allies rise again. The Triarchy has made common cause with Qoren Martell of Dorne. At any moment, they may turn their sights north. Your family has dragons, four now, mayhaps five in the future." He glanced back to a pregnant Laena "My aim is to protect Pentos from the lustful eye of the Triarchy. Aid Pentos in this age, as Aegon once did and my gratitude will fill your cup and overflow it."

Laena could sense the discomfort and irritation in Aelyna. The girl slowly shaking her head, the answer could not have been more clear to her "Your excellence, we are travelers. I believe we've already extended our visit here."

Daemon took hold of his wife hand, returning a smile to the prince "It's a most generous offer. One we will certainly entertain." The straining eyes of the women of his family staring back to him.

Aelyna sat behind Rhaena, braiding her sisters hair as she held her dragon egg to the fire. "You don't think father will consider the prince's offer, do you?"

"No." Aelyna replied, her hands placing tiny flowers in her sisters hair "He gave me his word he would never offer me to the highest bidder, and I believe him."

"How so?"

"It's an understanding that we have." Aelyna shrugged. The truth was shortly after his marriage to Laena, having finally found solace in the love Laena offered him, he promised Aelyna that she would not find herself trapped in a loveless marriage as he had once been forced into one. Daemon refused to follow in his brothers footsteps when following duty in pursuit of the heart. He'd burn cities to the ground should his daughters feel an ounce of dread, shame and hate as he had for Rhea Royce. "Besides, if I should ever take a husband for riches the least I can do is take one handsome."

"But you're so picky." Rhaena laughed "Whatever happened to that boy from Essos who wanted to take your hand?"

"What Daario- Daarion?"

"Daerion." Rhaena quickly answered "He was madly in love with you, Baela and I caught the two of you kissing when you returned from the city." Aelyna felt her cheeks grow warm again, this time not from the wine. Her sisters had become her watchful eyes as well. Always giggling behind a wall whenever Aelyna had taken a boy in company. Though she was embarrassed to admit it would only ever passionate kisses under the moon. Aelyna feared giving away her maidenhood to the wrong one, she dreaded becoming her mother and father.

"Rhaena, all these men want is my Valyrian blood and my offspring. I doubt any man could endure a woman like us." Aelyna chucked placing a kiss on her sisters shoulder. She crawled over to her Rhaena's side as she lay next to the fire.

"Besides if memory served right, it was you who shared an innocent admiration for him." She countered back to which Rhaena shot her head back the dragon egg.

"At least you know you're wanted." She spoke softly

"What does that mean?" Aelyna asked "Rhaena..."

"Just that you know." She shrugged "Wherever we go, you and Baela know why you're wanted at least. Even if it's for your dragons."

The door creaked open as Laena entered the room. A gentle smile on her face as she took a seat by her two girls. "It's been eight years, sweetling. Half of them never do, you know?"

"What?"

"Hatch." Both Aelyna and Laena answered.

"Will they let me stay? The prince of Pentos."

Laena looked to Aelyna "What does your sister mean?" she asked calmly

"He wants you." Rhaena nodded to Aelyna "And father and mother and Baela...Because you have dragons."

"There is more than one way to bind yourself to a dragon." Laena chuckled "I was without one until I was fifteen years old and now I ride Vhagar. The largest dragon in the world. Your sister had claimed her to save her life when she visited Dragonstone, and she was but a few years younger than you. Baela's was born to her." Laena encouraged her youngest "You have a harder road, but it will be worth its wait. But if you wish to be a rider, you must claim your right."

"Father would tell you the same." Aelyna added

"Father ignores me." Rhaena retorted. Aelyna shook her head, she knew what it was to feel isolated from Daemon. She also understood why Rhaena had felt this way. She had learned over the years that whatever had happened between Daemon and Viserys, was not her burden to carry. Being disinherited and banished, none of it was her fault.

It was not her duty to carry the burden of the men in her family, nor should Rhaena felt like it was hers. Aelyna sat closer to Rhaena her arms slung around the girls shoulder as she held her. Looking into the flames dancing in her blurry eyes, each curve forming a sequence of dreams.

she saw her aunt Aemma. Screaming and crying, with white sheets stained in blood. Her pleads for mercy echoing in her ears. Aelyna held onto Rhaena tighter as she turned to look at Laena

"Everything will be fine my sweetlings." Laena said standing up to place a kiss on each of their foreheads.

☆ ࣪ ִ AUTHORS NOTE :l 𝆬 3

AAAHHHHH RHAENA AND BAELA ARE MY GIRLS FR. I'm praying they get more screentime for season 2 because that one deleted scene of Rhaenys and Baela proved we needed more of them.

So another time jump- Aelyna is almost sixteen years old lemme tell yall she is going to be giving all the adults grey fucking hairs. ALSO I'm so happy to see everyone who's enjoying this book, even if it's just by votes and comments, it's so motivating and I can't wait to write more.

so if I'm not wrong season 2 will be released somewhere around June and by that time Cregan will already have been introduced into Baptism. The books not gonna follow according to the episodes precisely- there's gonna be a lot of sub plots between Aelyna and characters to set up the events of the dance of the dragons and Cregans gonna be a main one in that.

anyway please don't forget to vote or comment

<3