𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍 | Quietness

{ Malkym }

✧✦✧

𝕽haenyra was never truly this quiet. It had left Malkym disturbed by it, if he was being entirely truthful.

Their wedding had been filled with drama, leading to the pair to be married before the seven days of festivities could have even started. Once it had been confirmed that it was in fact Ser Criston Cole who had attempted to attack him, the couple had demanded that he'd be stripped of his titles but Alicent had stepped forward and spoken up for him, protecting the shamed knight. Apparently the Hightower influence held more weight that the heirs, which had led to dark curses and muttered threats from the entire Thorne family, Rhaenyra included.

Malkym had threatened an accident, but Rhaenyra had stopped him. They had seven more day in King's Landing, plus a few more, and then they returned to Alterwoode. 

They had been forced to go about the seven days of festivities as if all was well, before they held yet another wedding on the seventh day to appease the lords and ladies of the court. Malkym's only happiness had lied in seeing Rhaenyra in her true wedding dress, aptly called the dress of diamonds. It was made of glimmering silver and white, crystals interlaced in her hair, which had been left down, and a glimmering tiara perched atop her head. Diamonds were embedded in the dress, seemingly like tiny dragon scales, reflecting the light as she walked through the Sept. He had been stunned, so much so, that Rhaenyra had to pinch his hand multiple times before he had been able to speak.

If he was not so in love with her, it would have been embarrassing. 

For once, their wedding feast had gone off without a hitch, with both being able to dance together once more, though her father was not their to witness it, confined to his bed. Malkym had watched Rhaenyra dance with his brothers, all the while praying they weren't revealing all of his terrible stories, before the call had finally come for the bedding ceremony and he had been pulled away from her.

It had been a shame to see Rhaenyra out of the dress, but it had been more than easy for him to fall back into her arms once more. He'd ignored all the calls and taunts outside the doors (which were quickly silenced once Calym and Michayl chased them away), and even the next morning, it was even more simple to nick his hand again and spill blood across the bed sheets in an effort to make it seem like he had taken away her purity.

Rhaenyra had snorted at the concept before going back to her quiet brooding.

Both had their reasonings for the brooding, but Malkym hated seeing his darling dragon like this. The entire ride back to Alterwoode was filled with the same quiet brooding whenever Rhaenyra was left with her thoughts for too long, though Malkym and his brothers tried to remedy that, keeping her laughing.

When they'd returned to Alterwoode, Malkym had been given a little less time than he wished to spend with his betrothed, being thrust into meetings and accounts with the maester. His mother had taken to being with Rhaenyra, who was adjusting to everything and still brooding over the events of their wedding. The only time Malkym truly got to spend was her was in the morning and the evenings, alone in their chambers.

"Rhae..." He trailed off at her nickname, pressing light kisses to her neck and jaw as she hummed. The girl reached up, squeezing his hand gently as he traced shapes into her stomach. "Come on, please. Speak to me."

"I am fine, Malkym."

"You are brooding, still." The man huffed, before helping her roll over so that she could face him. He reached up, brushing her hair from her face as he searched her eyes. "Is there anything that I can do to help?"

"I am worried about my father is all. There is nothing you can do."

"I understand. We can return to King's Landing if you wish, so that you can see him."

"Alicent is there and I do not want to see her." Rhaenyra shook her head, eyes turning stormy. "If I see her, I will hit her for daring to pardon that bastard who dare put his hands on you."

"I am still alive."

"That is not the point." Rhaenyra waved his words off. "The lack of respect he has for you is horrific. You are to be king consort, and yet he decided that it would be appropriate to attempt to kill you."

"I do not think he was thinking it was appropriate, more that he wanted me out of the way."

"Out of the way?" That seemed to enrage his small wife further, who sat bolt upright in their bed, scoffing. "He warns me that you might harm me and then attempts to kill you. I will go to King's Landing right now and demand for his head, Alicent be damned. I shall set Syrax on that pathetic excuse for a knight."

"Rhae." Malkym sat upright, watching his wife scowl as her brooding finally stopped. Now, she was just angry. "Rhae..."

"I shall kill him myself."

"Rhae..."

"I will burn him alive."

"Rhaenyra, we are in Alterwoode and it is the dead of night. Nothing can be done at this moment." Malkym finally called, stopping the smaller woman. Her anger subsided as she smiled sheepishly at Malkym, who was grinning. "Come back to sleep."

The woman huffed, before clambering back into the large bed and sinking down beside Malkym once more. He wrapped his arm back around her waist, kissing her head as he soothed her softly.

"We are not in King's Landing anymore. We are in Alterwoode." Malkym calmed her. "Away from the snakes and the Hightowers and the pathetic excuse for a knight."

"I should kill him."

"The Targaryen and Thorne mix of tempers looks wonderful on you, my darling dragon, but let us leave the killing and murder to me."

"Are you saying I cannot kill people?"

"It is probably not a good look for the future queen to be murdering King's Guard members." Malkym pointed out. "I will arrange an accident."

"Do it quickly."

"As my princess commands." Malkym laughed. "I am not sure if it can be done, but I will try. I am sure he knows that I will be hunting him now, and if he knows what's good for him, he'll make himself scarce."

"Push him down a long flight of stairs." Rhaenyra huffed. "Or challenge him to a duel and accidentally kill him."

"I will see what I can do." Malkym replied, tugging her a little closer and peppering kisses to her cheek. "I am glad you are not brooding anymore."

"Now I am angry."

"That is still better than silence." Malkym whispered, as she finally slumped down beside him, letting out a small 'oomph' as her head hit the pillow. "At least when you are angry, you speak. When you are brooding, I find it hard to know what is going on in that head of yours."

Rhaenyra could not seem to find a way to counter that, merely sighing and leaning back into her husband's touch.

"I love you." He mumbled, squeezing her waist.

"I love you too." She smiled up at him, as he pressed a soft kiss to her lips. She took the hand that held the scar of the blood oath, kissing it gently as well, before both closed their eyes once more.

✧✦✧

"You look most beautiful." Malkym touched his wife's waist gently as she got ready for the day, combing her white hair out. The girl let out a peal of laughter as Malkym's hands tickled at her sides.

"Stop. Stop it." She batted him away, slapping his arm gently as the man chuckled. 

"I am merely joking." He grinned, smoothing his shirt out as he waited for her. She was in a far better mood than the night before, where she had been too involved in her brooding. Now, she was more talkative and her laughter lit the room up once more. "That is a good colour on you though."

"You are just saying that because it is your house colours."

"That plays a factor, I will gladly admit." Malkym admitted. "But you just always look beautiful to me."

Rhaenyra flushed red, before placing a swift kiss to his lips.

"Do you not have meetings?"

"I do, but I was hoping you would come with me to the first one."

"Why?"

"I need your seal of approval."

"Is it a plan to have Cole's head on a platter?"

"Not quite." Malkym hummed, kissing her once more, before pulling away and shrugging a doublet over his shirt. Rhaenyra took that time to do the buttons up one at a time, smoothing it over her husband's shoulder as he smiled down at her with adoring eyes, twirling the signet ring on his finger. 

"If we have children, who will the ring pass to?" Rhaenyra questioned, looking down at her husband's hand when she noticed him fiddling. He'd always had the ring, keeping it by his person as she did with her lily.

"Well, the first born child is to be your heir." Malkym stated, holding his arm out for her to hook through. "So the second born, should we have one, is to be my heir. They will rule Alterwoode, so they will get the ring. And, if we have no children, the ring will pass to Calym and his children as the next eldest."

"I see." Malkym led her through Alterwoode and up into the solar of the estate, where people were already waiting. "What is going on?"

"I need your seal of approval for the dragon pit plans."

"Dragon pit?" Rhaenyra turned to look up at him with wide eyes.

"Yes. It is to be Syrax's home and as her rider, you will know what is good for her. So I need you to approve it. It is my wedding gift to you."

"Believe us, Your Grace, he had us working on it as soon as you two were married." One of the others in the room, who Rhaenyra did not know, spoke up, causing laughter to appear as Malkym rolled his eyes. "We've found a place suitable for it, only a few minutes ride from Alterwoode to the South, but we need you to approve it all."

Rhaenyra turned to look up at Malkym, not knowing whether she could love him anymore than she currently did. She squeezed his hands, before accepting the seat offered to her as the plans were given to her to look through, the others in the room explaining everything and listening patiently to her opinions and thoughts on it all.

"This should be a little larger, if that is alright?" Rhaenyra looked between them, waiting for someone to strike her idea down as the Small Council often did.

"Of course, Your Grace. What size is best?" Yet no one did, and Rhaenyra turned to smile at Malkym briefly, as he winked, before going back to explaining. Once the meeting was done, Rhaenyra leant to kiss Malkym deeply. 

"You are truly wonderful."

"Hopefully Syrax will love it."

"She will adore it." Rhaenyra wrapped her arms around his shoulders, leaning into him. "I adore it."

"I am glad. I know that you will spend most of your time there with her. I have to make sure it is to your liking as well." Malkym jested, kissing her hand.

"I love both of you equally and in different ways." Rhaenyra replied, knowing that Malkym would soon joke about the fact that Rhaenyra seemed to love her dragon more than him. "They do not compare so easily."

"Well, I will accept that."

"This feels reminiscent to the time when you and Calym..."

"Oh no." Malkym shook his head. "No, no, no. I knew leaving you and my brothers together was a bad idea. Stop asking them for poor stories about me otherwise I will start sabotaging your meetings."

"We would create a code." Rhaenyra promised. "They just love telling their sister such stories and they promised me cake. I might have also promised that they could meet Syrax."

"Stop bribing my brothers!" 

𝐄𝐍𝐃 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐆𝐎𝐄𝐃𝐈𝐀

Hiya,

So this is the end of part one of this book and Rhae and Malkym are so cute. They're a little chaotic, as is their nature but I'm quite excited for you guys to see how they've matured in the next book.

Let me know what you think,

Love Li xx