109

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298 AC

Dorne - Sunspear

Rhaella Targaryen

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"So what say you in response to my request?" Monford Velaryon asks as we have a private conversation.

The man is tired of the runaround and is coming straight to the one who signed the marriage contract way back in the day. He is 'trustworthy' enough at least to confirm a few things too, if he decides to cut his losses and back out and flip fully to Roberts's side he won't be telling them anything new.

The Baratheons know the dragons came back, the interrogation of the Bear knight gave us everything he told them. He told them we have at least five baby dragons and also gave a report of each Targaryen staying in Sunspear.

He also confirmed the matter of Eragon having Brightroar and that put a smile on my face, a slap on Tywin's cheek. His brother died in Valyria looking for it some time back and here it appears on my son's hip. I had the golden lion head from the sword that was removed for a dragon's head sent to Casterly Rock, a thank you letter attached. They should have received it by now, I can't wait for a letter demanding its return arrives.

"Lady Rhaella?" I relaxed realizing I was grinning like a fool at the thought and look back at Lord Velaryon and his daughter sitting next to him.

The sweet girl is very dutiful and wants to start repopulating her house, to bring them back to the glory they once held. The richest house in the realm and known worldwide for their exploration and discoveries. She would make a good wife for my son, the ship has sailed so to speak on him having multiple wives. The best I can do at this point is make sure no leeches try to latch on to my sweet boy.

"Sorry you reminded me of pleasant memories, I will cut straight to the meat and ignore all this show and dance." His eyes widen and Laena sits up straight with an expectant look, she will make a wonderful good daughter in the future should they take this news well. "The rumors of dragons are real, you should already expect that though, or at least you are hoping. That is the entire reason you showed up in person and risked offending the Lord of Dragonstone you are sworn to." Stannis Baratheon, a stag sitting in the real seat of power of House Targaryen.

We will need it back sooner rather than later with dragons back in the family, they nest and lay eggs in the hot caves and caverns. I don't know how Eragon managed to hatch the eggs other than ritual fire magic and almost killing himself but I would prefer if we incubated the eggs the old way on the Dragonmont. We can even set back up an order of dragon keepers to defend the dragon's lairs at all times, I know that would ease my son's worries.

"Dragons are back?" Lord Velaryon stumbles back into his seat as his eyes widen, soon a grin spreads and he sits forward eagerly. "What are they like?" His daughter sighs and shakes her head seeing her father act like an excited little boy.

"You ask what they are like instead of what this means for our alliance?" At least he didn't ask where they are or how many or something more greedy or possessive. He mainly looks excited at the thought of seeing an actual dragon, which I have still not gotten over.

Eragon promised to take me flying on Arrax when he is big enough, I look forward to my son showing me the sky.

"Sorry, I got distracted for a moment and lost myself." He clears his throat and sits up straight. "Why would this change anything about the marriage alliance from your side, unless you're saying you no longer need ships?" I shake my head and place my hands on my lap.

"We need as many ships as we can get, for many different reasons and we want a powerful naval ally. We will also build our own fleet and will need a competent Master of ships to command them, we hoped that would be a Lord of the tides as it always seemed to be in the past." He preens under the praise and looks even more excited but there is a calculative look in his eyes as well. His daughter crosses her arms and looks like she is displeased so I look directly at her and motion her to speak up.

"Putting aside the matter of dragons and needing ships for whatever plans you might have I have a question I would like an answer to if you would allow it." I smile and nod. "I would like to know why it seems there is a 'problem' with me marrying the prince. Dragons or no dragons or needing ships or not a marriage alliance should be pushed through so we can work to make the alliance truly formed through children. So long as there is no consummation of a marriage and a following pregnancy and birth there is no real tie to our family besides our history. Why would you delay is my real question?" I am enjoying this girl more and more every time she talks.

She is not wanting to marry a prince to make princes and princesses but instead, she is wanting to further her own house and goals. I can respect that and it is a breath of fresh air that almost makes me miss my days back in court. Eragon has plenty enough Targaryen wives, that much is a given at this point and there will be many Princes and princesses in the future. But real allies with blood bonds to our house are something we are short on and we are currently living with one of the only loyal ones left.

Should they accept Laena will birth Velaryons in all likelihood since Eragon does not need more Targaryen-producing wombs. Then the Velaryons can recover and become a powerful ally once more and support us in the future.

With some of the plans Eragon talked to me about in the future like long voyages to the jade sea to bring back foreign resources, we will greatly benefit from House Velaryon's support. There is still the matter of winning back the throne but once that's done we will start a new battle, managing the realm. We will be coming in as conquerors once again with very few allies and this is just one of many alliances we need to secure.

"The problem as you have put it is not you or the dragons, we have been pushing off the issue because there is, in fact, an issue." Monford looks like he swallowed a lemon but his daughter looks pleased to hear some truth.

"May we know what the issue is, we could help solve any problems so we can push forward with the union." Lord Velaryon sighs and looks quite beaten at this point as she offers his support.

"He is or already had married his sister, am I right?" Laena's words cause Monford to scrunch his brows and grip the arms to his chair.

"Is this truly the reason?" I nod and he sighs once more in response.

"Eragon is planning on marrying multiple women who all happened to bond with the dragons. If the circumstances were different I might would have fought him on it but how things have turned out I felt compelled to agree." I wouldn't feel safe having any of the girls marry out knowing they have dragons, it's a recipe for disaster.

"To keep the dragons in House Targaryen, I see why such an outcome came about but it leaves me with one final question if I may ask once more." Laena cuts her dad off and I snort in amusement as I give her a nod of approval. "My children with Eragon or even myself should we marry, would we be stopped from getting a dragon should the opportunity present itself?" The biggest concern has appeared and I am left feeling hesitant.

The dragons won't lay eggs till they have grown much more and that could be ten years or more by old records. The only way they will get a dragon in the short term is if one gets freed up or Balerion the only unbonded dragon chooses her or her child. Either circumstance is not bad, the Velaryons had dragons in the past during the peak of our power and it only helped them be stronger allies.

Agreeing to this will most likely secure them regardless if Eragon has a hundred wives, but it also opens up a 'what if'. But it should not be a problem, if she leaves to meet Eragon and Balerion picks her immediately she can't do anything about it. She can not fly on a baby dragon and she can't hope to run off with him.

If she didn't get picked and tried to kill one of the others to maybe get their dragon to pick her then she would be dispatched quickly and we would see the Velaryon's true colors. I don't see that happening regardless and I mainly see them playing the long game to get a child from Eragon to have a dragon so they can recover quickly.

With a dragon traveling with their fleet, they can sail anywhere to trade and bring back valuables, that is likely her plan. I honestly support such a plan as it would ultimately strengthen us as well and encourage more voyages that Eragon wants to take to make our House a lot of gold.

"You would not, Eragon talked about it before but any kid he has will be presented the same opportunity as the rest so long as he raises it. He does not want some jealous child raised away from his eyes to come in and claim a dragon and cause the next dance. I see no reason why from his own words he would prevent your child should you have one with him from claiming an available dragon." They both ease a lot hearing my words and softly smile.

"I agree to marry my daughter to him so long as he gives me his word to treat her and her future children fairly to put my mind at ease. If I have his word on the matter and Laena agrees then House Velaryon will do anything it can to support House Targaryen as it has since we first conquered the kingdoms together." This went better than I expected, I look over at Laena and she takes a deep breath.

"I will agree to the marriage and not cause any problems with his other wives if he also agrees to it as well. I would rather not suffer under a disgruntled husband because he felt forced into a marriage." I suppress a smile, a fleet gained for the price of my son gaining a Valyrian wife is quite a nice deal.

"We will have to wait some time for him to personally give his word to you Lord Monford but we can have Laena meet him and spend time with him until he is available. I am sure you have seen a lack of dragons around Sunspear, both the scaled kind and nonscaled kind." He nods and looks at his daughter out of the corner of his eye.

"We did notice the lack of princes and princesses, but from your own words, it is likely they are elsewhere raising dragons to size. I expect we won't be seeing them until the dragons can be ridden and burn down our enemies. But that makes me worry about the delay, it could be many years until they are big enough. The sooner they get married the faster we can see the fruits of the union." Laena nods along with her father's words.

"I can't say much as it is a sensitive location and only a handful of people know who are not actively involved, but I can say you will be personally able to visit him within a year. If you want your daughter to go ahead she can but she won't be heard from until that year's time limit is up, I am sorry I can't say more even though we are coming to an agreement. The dragons are the very foundation of House Targaryen's power and the fewer people know the better." They begrudgingly agree but I can see Lord Velaryon is unsatisfied with being left out.

"What do you think, we can wait until he is no longer hiding from us or you can go on your own? I will let you decide since you are already getting your hands dirty in negotiating for this." Monford asks his daughter and I am surprised at how much trust he has in her, it is also risky on both their parts.

We could just take her hostage and force him to do what we tell him to by threatening her life. I think we are past the initial worry but still hesitant to fully embrace each other as allies, our history and past relationship with our family playing a large part in this. If this was some other house I wouldn't have talked half this much with them but Velaryons have been with the Targaryens since the beginning. We have plenty of Velaryon blood in us ourselves.

"I would like to meet him, I would be free to back out of the engagement after spending a length of time with him and finding out who he really is. Spending a length of time together in 'hiding' might let me get to know the real Eragon and decide if the pairing will work." I almost shake my head at her, once my son works his way into her mind he will root in deep and she will be eager to marry.

I almost feel bad knowing how skilled my son is with women and yet still sending this dutiful girl straight into his hands.