Chapter Text
Daemon Targaryen was wasted.
He had very little recolection of just how much alcohol he had consumed in the last twenty-four hours. After all, it is not every day that one becomes a father.
He could not help but let his brain spiral and replay all the interactions he'd had since his return, looking at them from a different perspective.
Many things made sense now. The way Rhaenyra acted around Baelon, as if she were his parent, Viserys wanting another child.
He chuckled to himself. He was such a fool not to see it, not to piece the fragments together. Baelon looked like a combination of himself and Rhaenyra and was born nine months after the night of her birthday.
"Why are you here, drunk out of your mind, instead of home with the wife and kids?" said the sarcastic voice of Mysaria as she dropped her handbag on the table next to his unfinished glass of whiskey.
"I am merely celebrating the happy news!" he exclaimed, just as sarcastic as his best friend.
"News of what?" she asked, sitting down, although now her voice sounded more serious, suspicious even. She knew him too well, the witch.
"Of my fatherhood! Cheers to me!" he raised the glass and gulped it down, feeling the alcohol burn his throat. It was good. The physical pain distracted him from the mental one.
He felt a bruising grip on his shoulder as Mysaria tugged him to face her. Her face, like always, was covered in glamorous makeup, the heavy eyeliner around her eyes making them look hilarious as they were widened in surprise.
"You look like a panda!" he snorted with humor, and she quickly squinted her eyes.
"What does that mean? Is Rhaenyra pregnant? And if she is, why do I get the feeling that you are not very happy about it?" she asked, looking way too serious for his liking.
"No, it is actually way more interesting than that." he said, pouring her some whiskey as well. Gods know she would need it for this story.
Daemon cannot deny that his inebriated brain found the changes in Mysaria's facial expressions during his story quite entertaining. He was not sure which shocked face of hers he liked better, the one when she found out about Baelon or about his brother's upcoming snake offspring.
Thankfully, somewhere along his retelling of the previous events, his mind cleared up a bit, alcohol slowly leaving his body.
"Your family never ceases to amaze me, Daemon Targaryen, never." she said with a heavy sigh as she chugged the whiskey in one go. He snorted.
"So you are going to go public with Rhaenyra?" she asked more calmly now.
He hesitated, looking down at his hands.
"What?" she let out, scandalized. "You can't mean to tell me you won't do anything to keep her with you."
"It is not that easy." he said gravely. "I wish it were that easy."
"What is hard about this? You love her, she loves you, and you have a child together. Fuck what anyone thinks; be together with the woman you love, with your son." she exclaimed passionately.
Daemon chuckled. "Wow, I never took you for a romantic."
She smacked him on the chest. "Be serious! What is your problem? Or would you actually choose Viserys over Rhaenyra and Baelon?"
"Mysaria, you have to remember that Viserys is not only my brother and Rhaenyra's father, but also the one who has all the power in the company. Right now we are in a precarious position as the Hightowers have already sunk their teeth deep into the company, and gods know how far their venom has spread. Viserys seemed to have realized that when he called me back here, but now that the Hightower bitch no doubt has him wrapped around her little finger, imagine how much further they can reach."
"That's it? What, the company, the money are more important to you than your family?" she sounded incredulous, and her eyes once again reminded him of a panda... An angry one this time.
"The company is the family, Mysaria!" he raised his voice. "You may not understand this, but we Targaryens are very proud of our legacy. This company was established almost two hundred years ago. My ancestors and even my closest relatives have poured their tears, sweat, and blood to keep it running. My father as good as lost his life to keep it afloat! He worked so hard that it drove him into an early grave. Over my dead body will I let the Hightowers have it! You are wrong to say that I'm choosing the company over my family because it is only for their benefit! Rhaenyra and Baelon should be the ones to inherit; it is their birthright. It must belong to them. Otto Hightower has been scheming to overthrow Rhaenyra as the heir for years, and he is a fool if he thinks I'll allow that!"
"Why does he want to overthrow her?" she asked curiously. "Because she is a woman?"
"That is a part of it, yes. However, the main reason is that he knows he can't control her, not like he can Viserys. That's why he hates me, because I see right through his fake niceties, because I'm uncontrollable." Daemon took another sip of his drink. "And now Otto has an even bigger influence considering his daughter's condition. But that is not the worst. The worst is that this situation has uprooted the stability of Viserys' family. Aemma has the full right to hate him, and so does Rhaenyra, but that creates a great possibility for the Hightowers to slide right in and play the supportive family. Who do you think he will listen to, huh? The family who hates him? Or the family that pretends that he is the best human being on the planet? And trust me, my fool of a brother will not be able to see through the lies they tell him."
"So what do you want everyone to do? Pretend nothing happened? Forgive him?"
"No. I know that is impossible, but I do believe that we need to keep some sort of civility between us, or all will be lost to the bloody Hightowers! Not right now, but someday soon. The problem with going public with our relationship is that it will be a huge scandal that will impact Rhaenyra's reputation. Otto will latch onto that and use it against her and even against Baelon. The circumstances surrounding Baelon's birth also mean that he will only be the heir after Rhaenyra, which leaves Alicent's child. If it is born a boy, that will be a serious threat to Rhaenyra and Baelon."
"Yeah... That is fucking complicated." muttered Mysaria, looking down at her drink.
"It is not that I care more about the company than Rhaenyra and Baelon. Should the situation become dire, I'll gladly give anything up for them, but I feel like we are not quite there yet. We can still make sure the company is ours... You know, it is Rhaenyra's passion too. She enjoys this work and she has slaved away in that company. She has been raised to take her place as the CEO one day, and I won't be responsible for her losing that. I won't allow it."
They sit in silence for a bit, both lost in their thoughts.
Mysaria is the one who breaks the silence.
"All this talk of business, strategy, conspiracy... You have just found out you have a child. Is this really what is going through your mind right now?" she asked, voice even as if she were a fucking shrink poking around in his brain, asking 'And how does that make you feel?'
He stared at the window in front of him.
It was hard for him to think of anything but strategy and schemes because then he came back to the look in Rhaenyra's eyes whenever she would watch him and Baelon, The look in which he always saw adoration, yet something else he could not quite place. Sadness. Now he knew. It was sadness over how much he'd missed, over not knowing whether he wanted anything to do with her and the child, whether he would come back to her, for her.
His heart hurt thinking of how alone she must've felt. Pregnant, scared, young, not able to tell anyone who the father was. Not able to tell him. Probably horrified by the thought of being a mother. He did not even wish to think of the birth and what had happened; his heart simply could not take it.
He thought about all the moments he wasn't there to witness. Baelon's first smile, first laugh, first word, first step and first fucking everything. And it was his fucking fault. He ruined this, just like he has ruined every pure thing that has ever been in his life, including Rhaenyra.
He thought of her missing him, feeling alone, surrounded by people from whom she must keep secrets. His mind drew a heartbreaking picture of her with a tiny white ball of fabric, little hands playing with her curls as she solemnly wondered where he was, whether he cared about her, and whether he was coming back. He wanted to throw himself off a fucking bridge.
Once the fury of being kept in the dark dissipated and his mind was clear, he realized he did not feel betrayed by her keeping secrets. His pain was not for himself, but for her. His sweet girl who, has always looked at him with stars in her eyes, the only one who has always picked his side, always listened to him, always waited for him... And he has thanked her by causing her this much agony.
"You know... she deserves so much better. Rhaenyra." he said sadly. "So much better than I could ever dream to be. If this were a stupid romance movie, my next words would no doubt be something about letting her go, giving her the chance to find someone better, someone perfect... Someone who deserves her."
He poured himself another glass, quickly gulping it down.
"But I am selfish... I won't let her go. She is the best thing in my life and I won't let her go, even if I'll have to fight death itself."
Mysaria looked at him with a smirk. "Something tells me she feels just the same. Perhaps it runs in the family."
He smirked back at her.