Bewitched {Being Rewritten}

Chapter Nine

Birds flew overhead and nested in treetops, softly chirping. The warm breeze carried their lilting song to those down below. Dark eyes tracked the movement, remaining focused on the fluttering of white wings.

"Lord Corlys and Princess Rhaenys asked to meet you this far into the gardens?" Darla questioned from beside Viserys. The stone pathway led the two deeper into the royal gardens and away from wandering eyes. This deep Darla was able to walk at the King's side without the court whispering of the impropriety.

"Yes."

"Curious." Darla hummed.

"Quite," Viserys agreed, glancing at the younger teen out of the corner of his eye. He moved slightly closer, allowing his knuckles to brush against the back of Darla's hand. "He didn't share his reason either."

Darla nodded, slowing her steps as they neared the lowest path looking out on the Blackwater Bay. She fell back, walking behind the King as they approached the small group waiting for them.

"Your Grace." Lord Corlys called, catching sight of the King.

"Lord Corlys," Viserys smiled, joining his cousin and her husband. "I'm glad we could meet. I know tempers ran hot today, and I wanted to assure you how much I value the bond between our houses. Rhaenys is my favorite cousin after all."

Darla studied the Seasnake, taking in the way his shoulders pulled back giving the illusion of confidence. Dark eyes trailed over the man to his wife, noticing Princess Rhaenys's strained smile.

"I wish to apologize for the tenor at the Small Council today, Your Grace. It was not my intent to make offense."

"Your fleet is one of the realm's most important assets, Lord Corlys. But you must understand, as King, it is my obligation to avoid war until such time it is unavoidable."

"None among us desire open war," Lord Corlys paused for a moment before moving onto the reason he had called Viserys here. "Might I speak plainly, Your Grace?"

"I always welcome the unfettered thoughts of my council."

"I fear that the eyes of our enemies are presently fixed on the Red Keep. The Queen has passed. A girl has been named heir to the Iron Throne, the first in its history. The King's brother, so disinherited, has claimed the Targaryen seat on Dragonstone without challenge. And now, a foreign power has established a colony in our most critical shipping lane."

"You paint such an aspiring portrait of my reign, Lord Corlys."

"It is an honest one, cousin." Princess Rhaenys finally spoke up. "At the moment, The Crown is perceived as being vulnerable."

"And a blind incursion in the Stepstones is the only way to demonstrate that we are not?" Viserys reasoned.

"To elude a storm, you can either sail into it, or around it." Lord Coryls spoke, spouting off some riddle as if he was a wise old maester. "But you must never await its coming."

"Do you have a specific course of action to propose, my lord?"

Lord Corlys and Princess Rhaenys shared a look as if Viserys had finally spoken the words they had been waiting for. "Join our families. Wed our daughter, Laena. Unite the two great surviving Valyrian houses. With the Targaryen dragons and the Velaryon fleet bound in blood, you can show the realm that the crown's strongest days are ahead, not behind."

Viserys's lips parted as he searched for something, anything to say.

"The realm expects you to take a new wife soon or late, Your Grace," Rhaenys interrupted Viserys's thoughts. "To strengthen your line and produce more heirs. You could not ask for a stronger match than Laena."

Viserys nodded. "I will consider it." He began to turn away from the conversation when Rhaenys spoke once more.

"I thought you might spend time with Laena before you made your decision," Rhaenys turned slightly waving to a nearby servant. The servant nodded, darting around a corner before returning with a young girl. The child moved to join her parents, dressed in a lavish gown of her house's colors.

"It is an honor, Your Grace." Lady Laena curtsied deeply.

Viserys sighed before forcing a kind smile to his lips. He nodded, leading the young girl down the path. Darla followed behind, feeling sickened that a mother would force her young daughter toward a man over two decades her senior. Such callousness was not even practiced on the streets of silk, Darla's own mother had sent her to the Red Keep to avoid such a fate befalling her only child.

Light lavender eyes glanced back at Darla, as if pleading to be saved. Darla's face softened, faking compassion for the powerful man. Viserys could have easily refused if he was not so eager to please those around him.

"What was it like flying the black dread?" Lady Laena questioned, breaking the silent tension. Her eyes twinkled with a childlike wonder, reminding everyone of her youth. "You were Balerion's last rider."

"Only for a short time before he died," Viserys turned his attention back to his cousin's daughter, flashing the girl an awkward smile. "With Balerion died the last memory of Valyria of Old."

"But Vhagar still lives somewhere," the young girl corrected. "Bit too large for the Dragonpit."

"Some would say too large for our world." Viserys glanced back at Darla, meeting her gaze. The young girl spoke drawing Viserys's attention back to her. "I'm sorry?"

"Do you know where Vhagar is now?" Lady Laena repeated.

"The Dragonkeepers believe she made home somewhere on the coast of the Narrow Sea."

"The workers at Spicetown report hearing her song at times. They say it is a sad thing."

"I imagine even dragons get lonely."

Lady Laena's steps faltered, slowing to a stop. She looked up at the older man, eyes wide with fear though she attempted to hide it.

"Your Grace," Viserys stopped, turning to face the child. "It would be a great honor to join our houses as they were in Old Valyria. I would give you many children of pure Valyrian blood so that we might strengthen the royal line and the realm."

Darla's stomach turned at the words the young girl spoke, clearly coached by someone else to regurgitate them. A matching look of disgust burned in the King's eyes.

"Is that what your father told you to say?" Lady Laena's gaze fell, looking ashamed to have been caught and disappoint her father. "What did your mother tell you?"

"That I wouldn't have to bed you until I turned fourteen."

Viserys sighed, glancing at the girl. "Return to your mother, I will speak to your father on the morrow."

Lady Laena nodded, once more curtsying before continuing down the path, back from where they had came. Darla moved to Viserys's side, pressing her hand against his upper arm. Dark eyes followed the young girl, watching as she turned a corner and disappeared from sight.

"She is so young." Darla whispered.

Viserys didn't speak, instead removing Darla's hand from his arm to hold it in his own. His thumb brushed over her knuckles. His other hand lifted to Darla's face, fingers brushing over her jaw to turn her attention to him. Deep in his eyes she could see his agreement, Laena Velaryon would not be Queen.

AN: Sorry for disappearing for a bit, I had a big project due and I didn't have the energy to write.

-ELE