( ACT I; sleeping dragon )
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chapter 6: a crown for a king.

DAENERYS' hands gripped the slippery, carnal heart of a stallion, her teeth sinking into the muscle despite the undeniable urge to vomit everything she'd already consumed. The still warm blood tastes metallic on her tongue as she continues to chew and chew. As she concentrates on not expelling the contents of her stomach, her violet eyes graze over the crowd of prospecting Dothraki insuring that she is a capable Khaleesi for Drogo, and a proper mother for his heir.

She continues to look at the olive toned faces, hoping that eventually they'll land on a pale one. She hopes she'll see Vaegon among them, watching her in support. He isn't there, she soon realizes. She shouldn't have expected so. Not after their last encounter.

For a moment she pauses, her insides churning as she feels as if she is going to vomit what part of the heart she has managed to consume. She begins imagining vomiting, which only worsens her urge to stop. To deaden the urge, her eyes dart around, managing to land on Drogo who watches hopefully that she be able to keep it down. Luckily, she manages to shove the last piece in. The tent is quiet as all wait to see if she can withhold it. Her mouth is closed as she chews, breathing solely through her nose in long heavy breaths. Once she is able to, she swallows what is left of it.

After a long spell, a crone of the Dosh Khaleen rises, declaring in Dothraki that Daenerys and Drogo's son will be the 'stallion that mounts the world'. Daenerys rises to her feet, declaring that their son shall be named Rhaego, after her deceased brother. Her eyes scan the crowd of cheering Dothraki, until they land on Viserys. He stands near the back, his still visibly wounded face unimpressed with her decisions.

For a moment, she feels as if she has won. She feels a sense of strength return to her. She vows to herself that she will no longer be bullied by her brother. She vows to take a stand.

Daenerys is unaware of Vaegon entering the large tent once Drogo comes to lift her on his shoulder. Where Vaegon stands, he watches as the Dothraki cheer a name, 'Rhaego', he soon realizes has to be the name of Daenerys' child. He watches the way that the Dothraki cheer gleefully for her and her impending child, the way they look to her. It is then that he realizes they love her, and she loves them.
Vaegon sees her as the queen she is, loved and adored. He remembers then that she is not his queen, but Drogo's. He scowls as he watches.

The day proceeds on with celebration of the prophecy that was becoming true. Feasting, drinking, carnal pleasure and much more carry out among the city. In the tent of the Dosh Khaleen, where Daenerys originally ate the stallions heart, Daenerys carries on with Drogo his blood riders.

Sitting alone near the exit, Ser Jorah watches. Everything is peaceful for the time being, until he notices Viserys drunkenly stand from where he was sitting. The knight watches the Targaryen stumble about, until he exits the tent. Feeling a sense of suspicion, the knight follows.

He follows Viserys at a distance, who stumbles about the camp. Even though he is drunk, he seems as if he knows where he is going. It makes Jorah more suspicious.

As he follows Viserys, he watches the way that the Dothraki around them mock him. He hears them spew insults that the Targaryen would not be able to understand, but Jorah did. Some were crude, but true.

Soon enough, Jorah follows him to Daenerys' tent. When he enters, he finds the drunken man trying to steal Daenerys' dragon eggs. Viserys whirls around at the sudden presence, his hand grasping the cream and golden egg.

"Ser Jorah," Viserys utters.

"Your Grace?" The knight exclaims. "What are you doing?"

Viserys looks between the chest of eggs and the knight with glazed eyes, smacking his lips in a drunken way before speaking. He lifts the egg up in accentuation.

"To rule," he begins. "One must be feared or loved. I have never had such love as my sister has by the Dothraki." He leans his head forward to let out a dramatic breath before looking back to Jorah. "Nor do I have the power of Vaegon, and his willingness to fight. I know you want her. I do not care. You can have her, Drogo can have her, Vaegon can have her. I just want the eggs to buy an army."

He places the cream egg into its place in the satin before shutting the chest rather harshly. He begins to rise to his feet, lugging the chest into his grasp.

"I can't let you take those," Ser Jorah warns. "They are the Khaleesi's."

Viserys scowls. "Just because I have no care for your feelings about my sister does not mean that I will not tell her or Drogo," he weakly threatened. "Let me through."

Even though Jorah could have easily restrained the drunken man, he allows him to pass. He knows that with the chest in hand, he won't make it far. Something will happen.

"Money will not buy you love either, Your Grace," Jorah warns before Viserys is too far. "It may buy you an army, it may buy you the iron throne, but you will not have love. King's without any love do not survive long."

Viserys gives him an annoyed sneer. "Selling poachers did not buy you love either, Ser Jorah," Viserys uttered drunkenly. "Selling poachers couldn't even buy you the love of your wife."

He stumbled away, leaving Ser Jorah stunned. The knight frowns to himself, letting out a heavy sigh. Perhaps Viserys wasn't as ignorant as he had previously believed. If he knew of Jorah's feelings toward Daenerys, there's no telling who else did.

♜

VAEGON reluctantly partook in the celebrations, keeping to himself within the tent of the Dosh Khaleen. He sipped at a bitter drink he didn't know the contents of, but knew it would do its job once he's consumed enough of it. Some of the pleasure girls passed around by the Dothraki had tried to come to his entertainment, but he turned them away. He had only Ser Jorah to speak to since Daenerys was sold away and Vaegon didn't even know where he was. The realness of his loneliness felt heavier than ever.

He scanned the room, watching Drogo's blood riders celebrating with the Khal nearby, Daenerys positioned on her husbands lap. He watched how she glowed in the presence of the new found respect that the Dothraki had for her. Even though he desperately wanted her, even after all that had happened, he was happy to see that she had found some form of belonging. It was more than he had.

Even though he was in support of his sister, his disdain of her horse lord husband did not change. He sneered as he looked to Drogo's hand placed snuggly on Daenerys' hip and he scowled at the sight of her swollen belly. He wanted more of whatever bitter drink he was consuming to perhaps forget what angry thoughts were churning in his mind.

From the entrance, Viserys announced his arrival with his sudden and aggressive stomping toward Drogo. Vaegon watched as his brother howled in rage, knowing that something was about to happen.

"I want my army," Viserys demanded angrily at Drogo's feet. It draws the attention of the Khal and his blood riders, who look down in annoyance. Daenerys' body grows still.

"I want the army that I was promised for giving you your slut wife!"

Near Daenerys, her hand maiden begins translating for Drogo. As he listens to her words, his expression grows angry.

"I will have the crown I was promised. The Seven Kingdoms is my birthright—," he unsheathes his sword, which is an offense that is punishable by death in the city of Vaes Dothrak. The room seethes with tension. "Or I'll gut her and her bastard child to get it."

Deathly composed, Drogo gently nudges Daenerys to stand from his lap. She stood, her expression still as could be as she silently watched. Drogo rose to his feet, towering over Viserys where he stood.

Drogo spoke in Dothraki, his voice deep and menacing which Irri translates.

"He's says that you will have your crown," the slave girl translated. "That men will tremble to behold."

Viserys looks utterly pleased until one of Drogo's blood rider, Qotho, suddenly seizes the Targaryen, snapping his arm with a switch motion. His sword drops to the floor as he wails in agony just before being kicked to the floor.

As Viserys is wailing in pain, Drogo makes his way to the fire at the center of the room. Vaegon watched as he unclips his golden belt of medallions, dropping it into an iron pot to melt. Vaegon, interested now, rises to his feet to find a better view closer to Daenerys and Drogo's blood riders.

"Dany," Viserys begins to plead in horror. "Dany please, help me!" He begs. "Please, please, please! You are the Khaleesi, you can save me!"

Real tears begin to form in Viserys' eyes as he pleads for his life. As Vaegon watched his brother plead for his life, his heart begins to pound.

"Vaegon, I'm your brother," Viserys diverts his cries to him now. "I would never sell you away like I said I would! I would never do anything I promised! You are my brother, we are blood! You can't let them do this! Please!"

He cried and cried, his brothers fear almost reconciling to Vaegon for all that he'd suffered throughout his life. He recalls the sleepless nights defending Daenerys against their brothers bouts of rage, his effort to provide money for food so they wouldn't starve. As he thought of it, he almost believed Viserys deserved to die.

Drogo finally lifted the metal pot from its stand over the fire. Viserys looked back, realizing what was happening, and began to panic uncontrollably.

"DANY! VAEGON! Please!" He cried out horribly. "We are family! PLEASE!" His body shook as he made a weak effort to escape the grasp of Drogo's blood riders.

"A crown," Drogo spoke in a rough common accent, so foreign on his tongue."For a king."

He tipped the pot, causing molten gold to pour over Viserys' head like a waterfall. His body convulsed as horrid cries of utter agony escaped Viserys' lungs. The gold melted away his flesh, his hair, cause putrid smoke and scents to begin wafting about. When Viserys' body stopped convulsing, he was dropped to the dirt. A metal clank was audible as he landed.

Vaegon, utterly stunned, looked toward Daenerys. Her violet eyes were filled with tears, but her expression showed no signs of mourning.

"He was killed by fire," Daenerys states.

Vaegon looked from her to their now dead brother.

"He was not a dragon," he muttered, expressing what they had both realized.

♜

VISERYS was burned on a poor excuse for a Targaryen funeral pyre, but for his two siblings that found themselves better off with him dead, there was  no one to care how grand it was. At the order of Daenerys, a handful of Dothraki were fetched to gather wood, just enough that his body could be burned sufficiently. After they'd been dismissed, there was nothing but silence and the dance of flames.

Vaegon stood with Jorah to his left, and Daenerys' to his right. The three were quiet as they watched the fire crackle and sizzle, Viserys' body already beginning to break from into ashes. Vaegon's mind whirled with thoughts of what would become of them now that there was no Viserys. Would they ever reach Westeros? Would they ever see home? Who would rule now?

He realized now that he was the sole male heir. There was no one else except Daenerys, but she was swelling with child and married to a savage. Even though he never thought he'd become the heir to the iron throne, the feeling was welcoming. He no longer felt the uncertainty that came with the future of Viserys as king. He was going to be king now.

"Will you continue your brother's campaign?" Ser Jorah spoke up, his voice soft. "Will you continue on taking back Westeros?"

"I will," Vaegon replied. "We'll find a different army, though. I won't find the Dothraki helping us, I'm sure of it."

As he looked to Jorah, Daenerys looked over to catch his gaze. Vaegon's eyes darted to her, giving her a still but cold look before turning heel and disappearing into the shadows surrounding them. There was only the knight and the Khaleesi left.

"He won't ever forgive me," Daenerys mumbled as she looked off into the direction he'd disappeared. She looked back to the fire. "I know Vaegon too well, he never forgets and rarely forgives."

"In time, things will be fine," Jorah reassured. "When he gathers his armies and gains power, I'm sure he will find some forgiveness in his heart. Wounds will heal now that your brother is gone."

Daenerys frowns. "But my place isn't in Westeros anymore," she says with pain. "It's here. I carry the son of a khal. The stallion that will mount the world. How could I ever return home?"

Jorah frowns, for he knows that things more than likely would never turn out in her favor. She couldn't simply leave Drogo behind, nor her son once he was born.

"Tell me, Khaleesi," Jorah said. "Do you love him?"

Daenerys was confused, for she wasn't sure who he was talking about. She furrowed her brow in confusion.

"Who?"

"You tell me."

She fees herself conflicted with his question. She feels as if it would be a betrayal to Vaegon if she admitted to having some sort of strange, twisted love for Drogo despite all that she'd endured. She didn't know how to describe such a thing. No one loved their captor, yet she did.

Yet, even though she loved Drogo in some form, her love for Vaegon was so much more true and real. It was the love she desperately craved, but was forced to ignore.

"Yes," she stated without another word. "I do."