Part Two - The Princess Paramount's Wedding (2)
Despite his First Men looks, Aelyx Royce-Targaryen, Heir of Runestone, is definitely a Targaryen at heart. He threw a tantrum when they told him he was not allowed to ride Wind to Stepstones, instead having to take a boat with mháthair and the Vale delegates.
But mháthair reminded him that he was too young to ride at a long distance unsupervised and if he fell, she would cry because her son was hurt.
So Aelyx capitulated and joined his mother and aintín Jeyne on the big ship, staring in awe at the big lake. (Aintín Jeyne helpfully explained that the lake was called a sea and unlike the lakes he used to swim in, it was deeper and tasted very salty.)
“Will Kepa and Muna Mysaria and deirfiúracha be at the wedding, mháthair?” he asked his mother.
She hummed as she patted his head, his hair curled wildly from the salty air. “They will. I won’t be near your father,” He grinned at her wry tone, he was used to his mother avoiding father every time he came to visit them in Vale, “but you can spend time with them, as long as you take your governess and guards with you.”
Aelyx hopped up and down in delight, excited to see his sisters again.
We are going to have so much fun, he thought gleefully.
A loud call from the stern alerted everyone that they were arriving at their destination. Quickly following the delegates disembark from the ship, he watched in awe as a flight of dragons flew over them.
He wants to live here forever!
His purple eyes then lit up in delight the moment he laid his eyes on who could be his Mandia as described by his deirfiúracha and quickly ran forward to hug her despite his mháthair warning. “Hello, Mandia!” He grinned at her.
The Princess gleefully hugs her young cousin tightly. “Hello Valonqar!” Over them, Windstrum, formerly known as Sheepstealer, roared his greetings to Syrax, who roared back in greeting.
Lifting Aelyx into her arms, she marveled at the combined beauty of First Men blood and Valyrian blood in her cousin and wondered if her children would look like this one day.
Oh, she thought as her cheeks turned red, that’s a dangerous thought to have. She quickly gestured Olyvar forward, who was literally vibrating in excitement at the idea of having a new cousin to dote on.
“Olyvar, this is our young cousin, Aelyx Royce. Aelyx,” She grinned at him as she passed the boy to Olyvar, “This is your Haedar, Olyvar Targaryen.”
“Hello!” He said cheerfully, hugging the young man. “Your eyes are very pretty!” The three of them talked loudly amongst themselves, ignoring everyone else as Rhaella greeted the rest of the guests which included Jeyne Arryn’s new husband, Oswin Arryn.
Rhea was in the middle of saying something cutting when a whistling roar can be heard over them. Everyone looked up to see a familiar red dragon hovering over them before landing neatly beside Syrax. The two small passengers immediately slid down Caraxes ran toward the three cousins, screaming in delight!
“AELYX!!”
“ALY!! ELA!!” Aelyx screamed back, successfully deafening both Nyra and Ollie as he leapt down and threw himself at his twin sisters. “I MISSED YOU!!”
“WE MISSED YOU TOO!!” They said in unison before rambling about a visit to Pentos that had him whining in envy. He wants to go there too!!
He wonders if mháthair would let him go on an adventure with kepa one day.
“Rhea.”
“Daemon.”
Both of them sneered at each other before turning away, Daemon looking fondly at his brood of children while Rhea cordially greeted Mysaria, who had become a somewhat friend to her.
Well, Rhaenyra thought ruefully as she turned to Jeyne, at least they were not screaming at each other like last time.
Lord Lyonel Strong, Lord of Harrenhal and Master of Law for His Majesty, King Viserys Targaryen, was staring broodingly at the ocean as the ship he and his family as well as fellow guests boarded cut through the waves.
He had bowed out of the privilege to board the Royal Ship that was due to depart next week, citing the need to visit Harrenhal and attending the wedding with his family but truly, he was done with past sly insinuations by Otto and his ilks.
Inability to provide a bridal price? Said the man who didn’t put out a single coin for his daughter’s dowry! Plus both the princess and his son were the ones who chose to turn it down.
Taking advantage of the princess’s council by strong-arming her into giving a position in her council? He and the Queen were the ones who kept padding the Small Council with their sycophants!
Leeching off the princess’s resources?! He already gathered servants to form for his son’s household, one he tries his damned best to make sure there are no Hightower spies in it!
Disparaging his bloodline and how it was unfitting it was for the Royal House?! The audacity of him when he is just a second son with no inheritance and yet conned the King into marrying his penniless daughter and trying to get his second son to marry the Princess!! When his Harwin is heir of Harrenhal and its fertile lands, his mother was a Blackwood and his maternal grandmother was a Stark!! His bloodline was impeccable!!
Lyonel sighed loudly.
Well, at least he will get to see his daughters again.
Maybe it’s time to arrange marriages for both Morna and Layla while he’s in Stepstones. And Larys’s as well, maybe one of the Princess’s ladies won’t mind marrying his second son.
He turned away from the bow of the ship and went to find Lyman Beesbury, who was apparently too busy patting his wife’s back as she emptied out her stomach content.
They looked in awe as the ship docked at the main dock in Moonstone, the once barren island with its ruined castle is now a bustling town, with beautifully designed mini plazas and gardens dotting its path up to the now renovated castle.
At the pier, they can see Her Royal Highness waiting for them, Harwin and the rest of her household with her.
He surreptitiously tried to check on the princess as they stepped off from the ship, an action that had the princess smirking at them as she greets them.
“Welcome to Stepstones, Lord Strong, Lord and Lady Beesbury and Lord and Lady Massey. Please, partake of our bread and salt.”
“Incredible!” Lyman Beesbury couldn’t tell but gushed as he admired Stepstones achievements especially in maintaining its treasury and economic trades. Beside him, his wife, Rosemary Beesbury, rolled her eyes affectionately as she cooed at her granddaughter by her youngest son.
“She’s beautiful my dear!” Rosemary said to Yanli, who simply smiled as she poured tea for everyone. They were waiting for Daemion and Rosemund Velaryon in a sitting room attached to the suite of rooms the Princess had given them during the duration of the wedding celebration. The two women chattered about the fabulous fashion the princess and her ladies were wearing while Martyn groused to his father about their budgeting issues for the wedding now that the Royal Court expected fantastic events during their month-long visit.
“Grandfather, grandmother., it has been so long!” Rosamund greeted her grandparents in delight as she and Daemion entered the sitting room. “May I present to you my son, Aethan and my daughter, Lavinia?” She smiled as they passed their 2 year old son and newborn daughter to their great-grandparents, who gushed in delight at the children.
“There is no reason to be nervous,” Harwin said as he watched his betrothed fiddles with her rings as they made their way to suites of room allocated for the Strong during the visit. “You like my family and my father likes you. We’re going to be fine.” They decided to have a private dinner with the Strongs on their first night, where Rhaenyra would meet Harwin’s family properly for the first time.
“I am not worried about your father,” Rhaenyra, looking up at him with an exasperated smile, “It is everyone else that is cause for concern.”
Harwin took Rhaenyra’s hand and brought it to his mouth so that he might kiss the back of it. “All will be fine, my siblings are kind people.” he reassured her, his eyes meeting her purple eyes. “And if the dinner turns out to be intolerable, I’ll just faint so that we can leave early.”
“You and your delicate constitution,” Rhaenyra teased lightly back, but at last she smiled.
Rhaenyra smiled as she sipped her dinner wine, listening to Lord Lyonel complimenting the current law system in Stepstones. (She felt smug as most of it was her work, especially the marriage law and the age of consent law). She doesn’t know why she felt nervous about meeting them as most of Harwin’s siblings were friendly with her, teasing her as if she was their longtime friend. (She said most as she noticed Larys’s unnerving stares and remembered Joffy’s suspicions about the man’s loyalty.)
Even Alys had attended the dinner, dressed in another dress she had gifted her, much to her father’s surprise as he didn’t even know his bastard daughter was in Stepstones.
“Now, I hope you don’t mind Princess,” Lyonel smiled as he set down his wine glass, “I was hoping to arrange my daughters' marriages while I’m here.”
Morna, who was in the middle of enjoying her dessert, choked very loudly.
“Stop fretting Daemon.” Mysaria said dryly as she read through her latest correspondents from King’s Landing. It was getting worrying that all her contacts that tried to investigate Larys Strong ended up disappearing, which itself proves that he had something to hide. “You just had to invite your brother to visit us before he inflicts himself on Rhaenyra so really it's all your fault.”
Daemon scowled before flopping dramatically on his second wife's lap. “I just want to show him what I have achieved after leaving Westeros.”
“You just want to piss off your brother with your acerbic words.”
“Well, everyone said I’m not allowed to feed Otto and his ilks to Caraxes.” He sulked.
“You want to give that poor dragon indigestion?” Mysaria quirked her eyebrow at him as she played with his hair.
“True, he must be rotten to the core and would just poison my poor dragon.” Daemon mused out loud. “Maybe I should get Caraxes to shit on him while they visit the island.”
“Don’t even think about it.” She paused. “Well, maybe after the wedding. We should at least help provide some entertainment while the Royal Court is here.”
“Speaking of that,” Daemon sat up, “Have you figured out what Olyvar had in plan for the wedding performance?”
Both of them then had fun speculating about the highly guarded secret that seemed to involve dragons and fire coals.