Archmaester Gyldayn
Fire and Blood.
Volume 1
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The tourney dedicated to the birth of King Viserys' son Prince Baelon was the largest event the realm had seen since the great council of 101 AC. This was the first time the lords set up actual teams for some games that Prince Aemon created.
In addition, it's said that the sheer amount of gambling on different sports and events completely bankrupted several smaller noble houses. But the event that was gambled on the most was the joust. Specifically, the first round featured the most important riders and the opportunity for even hedge knights to win their way into the most famed matches.
This system would later be further refined by Prince Aemon himself and it's rumored that he may have suggested the system to King Viserys in the first place.
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111AC
King's Landing
First Person POV
Aemon Targaryen
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I stretched out my limbs, joints popping with each reckless shake of my limbs. I stood in my tent waiting for my young squire to return with my armor. He was a good lad, Arnold Arynn had been fostering at Runestone for the last two years and I decided to take him as my own square.
Not out of some random deed of kindness, but rather to at the very least, unsettle Jeyne Arryn. The two of us weren't enemies exactly, but she was the one big thing preventing me from taking the Vale for my own.
In all blood rights, he should be the current heir to the eyre as his father, Jeyne's uncle was still alive. Alas, for some reason Vale lords during the time of my grandfather seemed to have a thing for female heirs.
My grandfather only changed his mind about me being his heir for quite a while after I was born. Perhaps it was because he believed I was not long for this world, perhaps there was another reason. Either way, it doesn't really matter now. Mother is still my regent and will be until I'm 16 but for better or worse I'm essentially the lord of Runestone already, and it's thrived under my patronage.
I heard my tent's flaps open and the creaking of metal as I turned my head. Arnold returned carrying my armor prices along with a few servants but there was one more person with them I hadn't expected.
Rhaenyra glided in behind them and stepped off to the side as the servants set down the armor and exited leaving Arnold and the two of us alone.
"Princess! G-good Morrow!" Arnold chirped out, and I could almost feel the nervous energy coming off the boy. She politely greeted the boy and smiled at him. He almost immediately turned redder than a tomato. It was at that moment that I vaguely remembered he was technically her cousin as well which kind of makes him mine as well I think.
"Good Morrow cousin. To what do I owe this visit of yours? Should you not be with Uncle Viserys or your mother?" I questioned which was basically code for 'What the fuck are you doing in my tent right now?'
I wasn't really in the mood for her games today. I needed to focus on the joust and all the decisions I need to make as well. I glanced at Arnold who was all nervous energy it's not like it's his first time meeting a Targaryen but it is his first time meeting Rhaenyra.
"I thought well… I would like to see your armor early and also magaps ask a question or two." She said walking around me and studying the tent around.
"And what might that be?" I questioned as my eyes followed her around the tent. Arnold put on my armor piece by piece without a word. She strutted around the tent with a slight sway in her hips and I caught sight of something she was holding behind her back.
"Well for one thing I know that our family has a habit of bonding with animals and I've heard rumors but… how exactly is it that you've managed to tame a seven-damned cave bear?" She chuckled and poor little Arnold froze and I laughed at his face which looked like he swallowed a lemon whole. She stopped walking around in front of a table I had set up and a clever little idea popped into my head.
"Arnold would you mind waiting outside for a moment little cousin?"
"Yes, m-my prince." he nods and walks out quickly.
I waved the lad away and walked over to Raenyra. She lifts a brow curious but she doesn't back away from me. Step by step I get closer and closer to her. Then we were inches apart I could see the flicker of something on her face and when I looked down at her.
We locked eyes and I heard her breath catch in her throat. I leaned in closer to her our faces only inches apart. She grew redder and redder with each moment and I saw her glance down my lips. As she did I licked my lips and I heard her take a short intake of breath that wasn'quite a gasp. Slowly as our lips almost met I snaked a hand behind her.
"Well it's a long story," I said teasingly as I activated my skill to boost her emotions even further than what she'd been feeling so far. I pushed on them to the point her breath grew slightly heavier. My eyes met hers and her gaze seemed to cloud over with open lust. Then she leaned in ever so slightly closer to me.
I sent my boosted senses into overdrive and I started to notice all sorts of things about her that I hadn't before. The smooth texture of her skin, the slight warmth that radiated out from her, her gate and posture as she stood in front of me head tilted upwards slightly. Two things about her stood out to me far more in that moment.
First was the shade of her eyes. There was a slight hint of blue in them. They were a similar shade to her mother's own eyes and I could even see a faint resemblance to Jeyne as well. There was also a fire behind them a desire that be fit the blood of the dragon no doubt. Less ambition and more a hunger for something or someone. The notion of freedom and how she looked that day when we went soaring through the clouds together and spent the afternoon chatting on the beach and playing in the shallows of black water for a few hours.
The second thing I noticed was her scent. It wasn't entirely the normal smell of a human. There were faint hints of some sort of perfume I'd wager but it was more than that. It wasn't exactly what my nostrils picked up from a normal person. Instead, it differed from the rest of humanity as faintly like a dragon but not quite the smell of smoke and sulfur most gave off.
Instead, it was much more pleasant than that. My nose wasn't strong enough to fully tell what a person was feeling or anything, I'm not Tanjiro after all. But it has been rather helpful in reading the moods of the people around me. Plus my skill has been rather helpful when it comes to my emotional intelligence when it comes to reading people at least.
Perhaps it was because she was like me. She was no longer just a human like before. Instead, she had become a creature ever so slightly human. Perhaps in some subconscious way that had swayed my own behavior towards her. The thought that she was like me, that I wasn't the only one, that… I wasn't alone.
But I knew that it could just be physical. After all, there was another scent mixing with the one that identified her. A particularly sweet scent coming off her body that I had slowly started to become familiar with over the years.
A smell which I most often picked up from my serving girls occasionally when I took baths. My enhanced sense of smell seemed to be an emotion from another person when I was close enough.
The smell of lust she was feeling right now was particularly enticing. Like the smell of a freshly cooked stake in front of a hound. Part of me just wanted to devour her then and there but I held back. After all, it was lust of my own creation.
Sure I couldn't make anyone feel anything with my skill. But I leaned in to create the emotion within her then stoked it higher while suppressing everything else. So something didn't feel quite right about it even so I thought about kissing her then and there.
I liked my lips and stilled for just a moment longer, before I grabbed a chair from behind her. I pulled it out and turned around dragging the chair as if nothing had happened. Then I spun around and sat backwards on the chair facing her.
"Well, it's a bit of a long story." I side smirked widely as she grabbed her, eyes slightly snapping out of their previous daze.
She cleared her throat and looked at me for a moment. She looked as if she needed a moment to gather her wits and process what had happened.
I tilted my head to the side my smirk growing into a grin. "And your other question?"
She went on to ask me if I wanted her favor which was what she had been holding behind her back. It was good progress in my opinion. unfortunately I had already accepted my mother's favor and it would be bad form to accept more than one I imagine. I she nodded disheartened slightly but as she left.
Little Arnold lifted the tent flap and ducked his head in.
"My prince?"
"It's alright you can come in Arnold," I said with a small grin splitting my face. I turned back around moving the seat back to where it was before.
'That was well played if I do say so myself.' I thought as Arnold walked back into the tent. I should get the wheels turning on one of my future goals.
"Arnold!" He jumped at the sound of my voice. I had a smile on my face now as I commanded my new squire. "Be a good lad and finish putting my armor on."
"Yes my ser prince ser… prince?" He stumbled over his words as he scrambled to start putting my armor on. As he worked on that I started to think about the matter at hand.
'Ser Christon Cole.' He poses a major problem to my plans. Not only is he a competitor for this tournament but he's also a good warrior and commander.
Hate him or love him it's hard to deny that the man has skill. To what level I'll have to determine for myself. But the real question is do I kill him now during this tourney or do I take the chance of letting him live?
I plan to win this tourney but should I kill him in the process? Even if I don't want to do it myself there are plenty of other ways to kill him. Ways I've had Sidious prepare for me but I'm not sure if I should use them just yet.
I could take the risk of letting him live. He would be an excellent asset for my house even if he does lose I could recruit him still. Maybe I just need a second opinion?
"Arnold," I said, quieter this time. I looked down at the brown-haired boy. To be honest, I felt a little bad when it came to him. I haven't been paying him much attention over these last few months. Sure we get along well enough but I really didn't have a reason to speak with him lately. Perhaps that makes me a terrible knight but well I was never that committed to the whole honor thing. I've just been using that persona as cover for the most part which hasn't been that hard.
"Yes, your grace?" He says in his high-pitched voice. Perhaps it's not the best idea to take advice from a child but fuck it. What's the worst that could happen?
He's barely old enough to be a squire sure, and I remember the look of awe on his face when he first saw a dragon. But the young heir of Gulltown Aryns might as well help me solve this little problem.
"Arnold?"
"Yes, my prince?" He said doing the finishing touches on my greaves.
"If you knew someone in the future might or might not do something bad to someone you care about would you do something bad now to stop them or give them a chance not to?"
He froze and looked up at me finishing the last strap. He looked down for a moment before standing to his full height. I saw something in his eyes at that moment that would stick with me for the rest of my life. It was a weird sort of light in his eyes that I found endearing in a way. If I had to describe it, then I would call it innocence perhaps?
"I would give them a chance. Knights don't hurt people who haven't done any wrong yet, right?" I smiled down at him, and to think this is the boy who could one day lead a failed rebellion against Jeyne. This boy with a light in his eyes, a light which he looked at me with. It seemed a mix of innocence and hope only a child could have along with admiration maybe.
I don't want to seem too full of myself but when this child. This young, kind, innocent child stared up at me what did he see? A warrior, a prince, a cousin, a knight, a dragon, a fraud? I honestly I'm not sure if I'll ever know but a large part of me wants to think that maybe I should at the very least pay a big more attention to him from now on.
I wouldn't find it there always… I wouldn't see it all in later years but I was moved by it in that moment. As I looked down at the boy he gave me an answer much deeper than I was expecting. I knew from my first life that during this time period though not the exact year of his birth. But I was pleasantly surprised when he arrived at Runestone only a few months ago.
"I suppose you're right. Now, bring me my sword, we've got lots of work to do you and I. You've got lances to carry after all, and I have a tourney to win." I said tousling the lad's hair. He brissled but didn't complain instead he just pouted and looked up at me with those Arynn blue eyes.
"Go on now lad hurry up, unless you want a clout in the ear," I said chuckling.
"No ser, my prince, I mean… uh," He stuttered again.
"Go!" I said pointing as he scampered away across the tent to grab my blade. I took it without asking but to be fair it was going to be mine someday anyway. It's not like I can steal from myself now can I?
He picked up the blade and brought it over to me with reverence. Its hilt is relatively simple and the orange grip has a few black runes. Not magical but still a nice touch. I grin down at the blade before sheathing it.
[Chapter Image]
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Sorry about the delay something happened with my MHA fic so it delayed me writing this one. I'm thinking though that maybe I should decide to prioritize one over the other. I'm not sure so if anyone has any suggestions on how to write both at the same time more effectively.
Also, I'm dealing with some IRL stuff so it might be a while until the next chapter. Because yes I am in fact sick again. My health simply refuses to allow me to have any sense of peace in my life. But either way at the very least I'm going to either finish this arc or get to a good stopping point before a break.
Lastly, this chapter was originally longer but I decided to take off the second half and the ending and make it the next chapter so sorry if it feels like an abrupt end. Plus I'm fairly certain autocorrect kinda hurt this chapter plus I'm heavily sleep deprived as well so you might have to make a few leaps in logic to figure out what's going on.