He hummed in contentment. How could he not be happy when everything in his life just … clicked. Suddenly, everything he wanted from life was at his fingertips. A city under his command, a Queen that was rapidly falling in love with him, suggesting that a city was likely not the end of his ambitions, all perfected by a beautiful haze.
Just as importantly, he managed to figure out how to use magic. It was something all around them, almost like air, but with a different taste, with a buzzing awareness. Though, at the moment, he barely had any idea of how to use.
Even dispelling Dany's curse had only been possible because he instinctively understood that the energy was not harmful to her, which allowed him to bludgeon the curse until it dissipated.
Yet, even as he hummed, he was glad for one more thing. He was able to achieve all of it without betraying Daenerys. On the contrary, he did that by solving her greatest problem while offering to handle the rest.
He hummed as he caressed her hair and activated the tickets. First, the determined reward.
[Dragon Rider]
{Elite Trait: You are the one destined to ride dragons, all dragons view you more favorably and it is far easier to earn their affection.}
He smiled as he read the description. The name already implied, but reading the description was certainly even more welcome. He whispered a few prayers to the divines and activated the gold ticket reward.
[Expert Hand-to-Hand Combat]
{Elite Skill: You are an expert martial artist, you move your body like it is a lethal weapon, knowing where to strike and how to move your body to deal damage with expert skill. You learn and master other types of unarmed martial arts much faster.}
"Perfect," he muttered. It would have been merely a nice gift if it wasn't for his discovery during his spar with Daario. Especially since after touching magic, he realized Internal Energy was very different from magic, making it valuable in a very different way.
Unfortunately, the little bubble they were in had been destroyed when the door opened, and Missandei entered. She paused at their state, showing her confusion. "It looks like my Queen has been … stressed," Missandei whispered.
"Come here, please," he asked. She did. "I will tell you something, and I need you to take it very seriously, and never reveal it to anyone else." She nodded. "I have reason to believe that my beautiful Queen is already pregnant," he said, caressing her blonde hair while she shuffled.
Missandei's eyes widened. "It's impossible. I don't want to tell why—"
"I know, she mentioned a curse. I always had a sixth sense toward life. It's why I am so good at lovemaking, and I could feel that the curse weakening each time we made love once she admitted its existence, and I knew what to look for."
"She —"
"Yeah, she mentioned a witch. However, she's the Mother of Dragons, and she has hundreds of thousands of freed slaves praying in thanks for their salvation. Is it that hard to believe a pesky little curse failing after I gave it some extra push?"
Missandei nodded, unable to react.
"I don't need you to do anything you are not already doing," Rohar continued. "You don't even have to believe it. Just keep an eye on her for pregnancy signs, keep her away from dangerous drinks and harmful food, and protect her while I'm away."
"Away?" Missandei said. "Why?"
"Someone has to fix Astapor while my beautiful Queen goes and frees Meereen," he said. "We don't want it to fall into pieces or Wise Masters back in control, right?"
Her eyes widened. "We can't let freedmen there be recaptured."
"Exactly. That's why I'm trusting you," he explained. "But, while waiting for Dany to wake up, can you bring another book about Dragons here? I am starting to get some ideas about taming them, but some extra information would help."
His initial plan was to stretch the taming for months while slowly making Daenerys trust him more, but under the newest circumstances, it was very unnecessary.
It was a display of her loyalty when Missandei didn't even blink and returned with another book, her translation helping him deepen his understanding of Valyrian language. Daenerys stirred back to life a while later.
"Good afternoon, Dany," he whispered.
"Treason," she whispered, but she followed it with a deep kiss.
"Well, not as big a treason as getting you pregnant," he said. She stiffened. "Believe me," he whispered. "I always had a certain sense toward lovemaking, which includes somehow controlling the potency of my seed, and feeling whether a woman is pregnant. Especially if I'm the father."
Her eyes widened. "Do you already have children?"
"Not yet. Both mothers are pregnant," he whispered, knowing that it was the best time to reveal it. Any other time, Daenerys would have treated it as bad news, but right now, it was a source of hope for her.
Technically Sansa was not yet pregnant, but he decided to present it as a done deal just to be on the safe side. Forgiveness was easier to get than permission.
"One of them is Sansa," she guessed. She took that well, which was a sign just how much she was excited with the possibility.
"Correct," he said. "So, I want you to protect her as well. It's important. Think of it as a way to solidify the alliance with the North."
"Who's the other?" she asked.
"Margaery Tyrell. Joffrey's prospective wife," he said, and her eyes widened. "I decided Lannister's didn't deserve to stay in this world. I just took an alternative route. Margaery also welcomed the idea of not carrying that monster's baby just because her family was forcing her to marry him for profit."
Admittedly, he was convinced that Margaery was a willing participant with her own ambitions, but he changed a bit to make Daenerys more sympathetic.
"That's …" Daenerys gasped, confused. Luckily, he knew how to use confusion to his advantage. He put his hands on her body, caressing to bring her pleasure to the surface, then put his hand to her stomach. "That's why I am absolutely sure that we succeeded, and you're pregnant. I can feel the presence of my child. You're going to be a mother, my beautiful."
He kissed her softly, but in a way that left her toes curled. "Really," she whispered.
"Wouldn't it be better for your beautiful child to have a sibling to play with?" he whispered. "Imagine them together, running around, playing while laughing, not having to deal with any of the pain we deal with…"
Daenerys started to cry, but they were happy cries. He hugged her, and let her process what happened. It had been a heavy realization. "Maybe you shouldn't go to Astapor," she muttered.
"No, that's still a necessity," he responded. "Someone needs to go and fix the place, and I'm afraid that I'm the only one who can. I'm the only one on your council who actually cares about ruling rather than invading new places. You do realize that, right?"
Daenerys paused, and then her eyes widened. "That seems to be the case. But, anyone else won't be loyal—"
"No hurry," he cut her off. "It's not a failure when you fail to establish a stable and sustainable kingdom in less than a year. Even your most successful ancestors required a lifetime to take over Westeros."
He was aware that, at any other time, she would have reacted badly to his well-meaning advice, but convincing her that he had just resolved her biggest hidden pain earned him a lot of leeway.
One that he had no intention of wasting.
After all, what better way to further his ambitions than having a Targaryen Queen and a Stark mistress. All he needed was to save all their problems first.
"Now, why don't we go and meet your other children with worse mood? Maybe they'll warm up to me quickly, like their beautiful mother."
Daenerys looked at him as if he had promised her the moon just after giving her the sun, taking his tentative framing as a possibility. Her trust in him had risen incredibly, but with that trust, came the risk of disappointment.
It might have been troubling if he were merely relying on his Adept Taming, but with his most recent Dragon Rider trait, he was no longer afraid of that risk. He lazed on his seat while Missandei helped her dress and fix her hair before they moved to the huge garden which currently doubled as a resting place for the dragons.
"Go and interact with them. I want to watch from a distance first," he said. "I have some ideas, but I need to see how you interact with them to confirm it."
"Fine," Daenerys said as she walked to her dragons. She called for them, and they gathered around Daenerys, moving happily around her like cute puppies rather than giant firebreathing monsters, their affection clear.
Missandei introduced the dragons from where they watched while Daenerys played with them.
Drogon lay stretched across warm stone like a black banner thrown carelessly on the ground. His wings were folded, but not relaxed, tight enough that Rohar could see the tension in the muscles along the joints. Rhaegal and Viserion circled closer to the shade, restless, tails flicking, claws scratching lines into the dirt as if testing how easily the world could be torn.
Daenerys spoke to them softly. It sounded gentle. It looked gentle. It was also a big mistake.
Rohar kept his distance. She relied on her facial expression and kind tone too much, only to panic whenever one of the dragons did something wrong, confusing the beasts.
Their confused reactions weren't truly dangerous yet, but Ghiscari records had been clear that as dragons grew, their instinctive responses would get more and more aggressive, meaning she was unknowingly feeding a future disaster.
Adept Taming, combined with all the reading he had done, helped him to contextualize the reactions of the dragons. Their affection toward Daenerys was clear; probably a combination of her Valyrian heritage and raising them since they were hatchlings.
However, he could also see that dragons were struggling. Daenerys did her best to communicate, but from the perspective of the dragons' instinctive understanding, she was unpredictable, some of her acts registered as alarming while others were loving. Human equivalent would have been having a mother who either lovingly patted her child's head or shouted angrily, switching between them with no link the child could understand.
He watched as Daenerys played with Viserion, speaking his name in a tone that changed halfway, command at the start, affection at the end. She raised one hand, palm out, then pulled it back when Viserion snapped his head forward too quickly.
Signal. Cancel. Signal. Cancel.
The result, confusion. Viserion's tail lashed once, short and sharp. The motion was so casual it could have been dismissed as irritation. Rohar knew better. That was a cry for help.
Daenerys flinched, which Viserion successfully registered as a fear reaction. He didn't understand he was the source, so he started looking around in agitation, trying to find the threat to protect Daenerys, creating a dangerous loop.
Fixing was simple, but only because he had done his research on both Valyrian and Ghiscari sources, assisted by Adept Taming.
"I will get close, wait here," he said to Missandei.
"Are you sure?" she asked, worried. He just nodded and walked, knowing it would be hard to explain.
Daenerys noticed his approach halfway, and she looked tense. "Don't worry. I know what I'm doing, beautiful," he said with a humming tone that helped to calm both Daenerys and the dragons.
Daenerys was still tense, only relaxing when he went and hugged her from behind. "Why are they so calm?" she said. "They don't like strangers."
"You're missing a detail. I'm not a stranger. It's the smell," he said, deciding that he had the perfect excuse. "Since you already introduced them to my smell, and I smell like you, dragons are not alarmed by my presence."
It was certainly more believable than him having a magical trait that made him loved by all dragons.
"Smell?" she asked, then her eyes widened, blushing.
He kissed her neck, making her moan softly. It was a risky move, one that he wouldn't have dared without Dragon Rider, which, in practice, worked quite similarly to Avian Ally, allowing him to convey his intentions directly.
If someone tried to pull the same trick, the dragons would have treated it as an attack on their caretaker-mother, but with the trait acting as a filter, he was able to highlight just how much Daenerys trusted him, enough to reveal her vulnerable neck to him.
He continued hugging her from behind, caressing and kissing her. "I thought you were going to tame them, not me," she muttered.
"My beautiful queen, it's a part," he said. "I'm showing them that you trust me utterly; this way, they will trust me as well. That way, we will be able to fix the biggest issue."
"What's that?" she asked.
"That they don't have a father, only a mother. A proper family requires both. A father to protect and guide, and a mother to love and support."
"Why do I feel like you're spewing nonsense?" she muttered.
He kissed her, then pulled back. "Why don't I prove it to you, then," he said, and walked toward Viserion. "Lyka!" he ordered, accompanied by a gesture. Viserion sat down, the word conveying that there was no danger, and he could relax. "Fendha!" he ordered, his tone stern but not angry, and Viserion walked toward him obediently. He raised his hand, holding it steady even when he opened his maw and revealed his dangerous teeth…
He started petting.
He looked at Daenerys, who was watching what was going on with shock, and a little shame, like she had failed. "You are an excellent mother to your dragons, Dany. There's just a few things you need to pay attention to. Like your posture and tone."
With that, he once again relied on his Teaching skill to convey everything Daenerys needed to pay attention, giving her a specialized subset of his taming skills. It worked wondrously, mostly because the hardest and most dangerous part of taming was to build the initial rapport, which Daenerys already had. All she needed was to refine her approach.
Soon, Daenerys was repeating his trick with Rhaegal, who was the calmest of the three.
Missandei stood near the doorway, hands clasped, posture straight with forced calm while she tried to keep herself from gaping in shock. She whimpered, and Viserion turned toward her, his teeth out once more, but he bowed down when he flicked his nose.
That reaction alone showed that his initial estimation of possibly requiring months to interact with them was not wrong, nor Ghiscari sources misrepresent the challenges to interact with dragons.
Luckily, he had the divine favor of chaos and gacha, giving him Dragon Rider.
Soon, Rohar moved to Drogon, who was clearly the alpha among the three, with an overdeveloped sense of importance. He stood in front of him, captured his gaze, and steered him down until he broke the connection.
He felt like a father showing his teenage son that he was still the man of the house, and he would accept no disrespect. He ordered Drogon to follow him in High Valyrian, and together, they returned to Daenerys' side.
"How?" she asked, unable to believe.
"I think they can already feel your pregnancy," Rohar said, deciding it was an excellent way to solve her doubts and worries at once. Rohar continued, carefully, because this was a blade-edge conversation. "Dragons are blood. Fire. Lineage. They don't understand 'marriage' or 'titles,' but they understand family. It's why only Valyrians could tame them."
Daenerys's hand drifted to her stomach. "You're saying—"
"They sense your child," Rohar said. "And they scent me as part of that line. Not because I am special. Because I am… connected." He paused, then added with a small shrug, almost casually, as if discussing something simple. "It probably marks me, to them, as kin. Valyrian-in-law, if you want to put a title."
Daenerys looked at him in shock, which slowly melted into a happy realization. Then, suddenly, she started laughing.
"What's so funny?" he asked.
She giggled. "W-when I had first heard of your reputation, I assumed it was exaggeration. Who would have guessed that they were not giving you the credit you deserve. You came and solved every problem I had just by your cock."
He smiled as he hugged her from behind, pressing against her ass. "You have to admit, I do have a nice one."
She leaned back, enjoying his warmth, relaxed in a way he had never seen her. It was not just the distraction from a momentary overload of pleasure. For the first time since he saw her, she was truly happy.
He hummed even as he found himself a part of a family he had never expected, a queen in exile and her three dragons that seemed to be happy acting like children. Huge, scaly, firebreathing children, but still children…
[Feat Achieved! Help Daenerys tame her dragons
+1x Gold Random Gacha ticket]
He hummed as they played. "You realize that you're mine now, right?" he whispered. "I have no intention of letting you or my children go."
"Children?" she asked.
"Do you think I'll stop with only one, beautiful," he said, putting his hand on her belly, knowing that she enjoyed his possessiveness. She shivered, confirming it.
"I should have known your ambitions would know no bound," she said, but her tone was merely happy.
"Of course, I warned you about it," he whispered. "But, tell me, wouldn't it be nice to have a partner with you once you take to the skies? Isn't it better than being lonely in the sky?"
Her eyes widened, as she likely only at that moment considered his closeness meant that he could be a dragon rider.
He closed his eyes in contentment while Daenerys leaned against his chest, playing with Rhaegal while Viserion lay under his hand, getting a scratching. Drogon lay ten yards away, acting aloof, but coming across as a surly teenager.
However, he wasn't merely resting. He used the opportunity to test his newly developed magical understanding, to see if dragons were the source of magic, like he guessed. Unfortunately, the result was not conclusive. His senses were limited. It was like dipping his finger into the water and trying to guess its depth. The only thing he could say was that it was deeper than two inches.
It didn't bother him. It was merely hours ago he had even developed a way to sense magic, and expecting to turn into an expert was absurd.
He needed to be patient … especially since he had many beautiful ways to pass time.