TRIGGER WARNING: Description of injury done to children, more threats against children, child abuse

He'll Have to Close an Eye

CHAOS ROLLED THROUGH HIGH TIDE. Maester Kelvyn was called, but he struggled to decide who to treat first. So many children had been wounded.

Kelvyn started with what he could fix quickly. Luke's nose was set, then plugged to avoid more bleeding. He called for a tea to be made for Daenys's throat. It was the most he could do for her, the maester explained. She would simply have to avoid speaking.

A steady handed maid was put to work stitching up the gash on the side of Maekar's head. Leaded against Leif's shoulder and still unconscious, the boy put up little resistance.

Then she was sent to clean and wrap the burns on Lyle's shoulder. He was conscious, though between milk of the poppy and copious whimpering managed to avoid disrupting the process.

Meanwhile, Kelvyn focused on what he deemed the most pressing issues – Aemond's eye.

Aemond was given as much milk of the poppy as he could be without doing more harm. The eye itself was unsalvageable, split in half by the blade. The most the maester could do was remove it, clean the socket, and stitch up the wound to protect it from infection. It wasn't a certainty, but it might just be enough to save him.

The arrival of others only worsened the problems.

The king and queen were awoken personally, and soon the entire keep was awake. Alicent ran to her sons in a panic, her other children trailing behind her.

At the same time, Lyle's family collected around him as well. While Lyle had kept a stubborn silence so far, the attention of his father and siblings quickly broke him. He clung to Merlon's arm and tried to keep his crying as quietly as possible.

Gael, meanwhile, joined her father in trying to find what had happened.

"How could you allow such a thing to happen?" Viserys demanded of the guards. His voice was steady, but an anger burned beneath it. "I will have answers."

"The princes were supposed to be abed, My King," Ser Harrold Westerling defended.

"Who had the watch?"

"Cole did." It was Gael who answered for the Lord Commander. Westerling nodded in confirmation. Glaring down Criston, she asked, "Would you like to explain to me, Ser, how you missed eight children sneaking out?"

"The young princes were attacked by their own cousins, princess," Ser Criston said.

It did not answer her question. Gael might have said so, too, if Viserys had not interrupted her.

"You swore oaths to protect and defend my blood!" The king bellowed.

"I'm very sorry, Your Grace," Westerling said.

Less apologetically, Criston added, "The Kingsguard has never had to defend princes from princes, Your Grace."

"Is that your excuse for your incompetence?" Gael hissed. "Children have been maimed because of you, Ser Criston, you could at least pretend to be ashamed."

On the other side of the room, Alicent was knelt by her children. Maekar slowly came to consciousness, to everyone's relief, but in a stupor. He did little more but cling to his companion and stare blankly into the distance. Not even Leif's movement earned any response beyond slight grunts of pain.

All of them were watching as Aemond's eye was stitched up. Helaena held a sobbing Daeron. Aegon – dazed and half–drunk – squeezed his eyes shut, as if that might hide him from the sound as well.

Aemond did not look at them. Instead he stared straight ahead. His nails dug into the wood of the seat. Between the milk of the poppy, sock, and terror, the pain had been significantly numbed. And still each piece of his skin set his head on fire. Each time Aemond was forced to swallow back the screams that fought to burst forth.

He was the blood of the dragon, Aemond told himself. He wouldn't allow his tormentors to see his pain.

"It will heal, will it not, maester?" Alicent pleaded.

"The flesh will heal," Maester Kelvyn explained. He had seen many wounds like this before, but all to seasoned sailors. "But the eye is lost, Your Grace."

Alicent swallowed by a sob. The eye was lost. Her son had been crippled. She turned to the other, almost too afraid to ask.

"And Maekar?"

"He will live, I am almost certain," Kelvyn said. "Though I would like to keep an eye on him. Head injuries can turn for the worst in an instant."

Alicent spotted Aegon to her side. Her anger boiled over. Where had he, their eldest brother, been? After all she had told him about protecting their family, all she had done to warn him that Rhaenyra's children would one day turn on them, when the time came, he had not been there.

She turned to face the boy. "Where were you?" Alicent demanded.

"Me?"

Me, Alicent thought bitterly. She slapped Aegon across the face, hard. Yes, you. How could you be so blind?

Startled, Aegon lifted a hand to his cheek.

"What was that for?" he whined.

"That was nothing compared to the abuse your brothers suffered while you were drowning in your cups, you fool!"

Aegon turned to look at the two. At little Aemond, twitching in his seat with each stitch. He had not looked at Aegon since they arrived – not even with his remaining eye. At Maekar, his twin, the brother he had spent years trying to gain the move of, who huddled next to some peasant boy for comfort.

Something cold seeped into his chest. His brother hated him. He was certain of it. Why else wouldn't they have come to him to be part of their plan? And he didn't blame them. For once Aegon saw himself as his mother, his father, his grandsire saw him.

A useless drunkard.

The doors slammed open. The lord and lady of the house stormed into the room.

"What is the meaning of this?" Corlys demanded.

"Baela, Rhaena!" Rhaenys ran to her granddaughters' side. The two began to weep as she embraced them. "What happened? What happened?"

Ryland Royce trailed behind the pair, with less fanfare. Where Rhaenys and Corlys had been alerted late, no one had thought to get him at all. It was only by luck he had still been awake to hear the commotion.

"What is the matter?" Ryland prompted the girls. "It looks like someone's been killed."

Rhaena was quick to accept her brother's presence. She was certain that, of anyone, Ryland would understand. "He stole Vhagar! She was my mother's dragon, but now mother's gone, and she was mine to claim, and he stole her, and she's gone, and –"

Rhaena was gasping for air now. Between crying and speaking, she barely had room for breathing. Words failing, Rhaena huddled in her grandmother's arms.

Rhaenyra arrived moments later. All noted that Daemon was right behind her.

While she ran to her children at once, Daemon barely gave his a glance. Instead he leaned against a nearby pillar and studied the crowd before him. Neither Ryland nor Rhaenys missed his dismissal and, with a shared glance, they moved to keep his daughters from realizing it as well.

"Luke! Show me, show me," Rhaenyra bent next to her youngest son. She meant to check his nose, but it was from there she spotted the bruises that had begun to form on Daenys's throat. Her fear curdled into a burning rage. "Who did this?"

This set off a flurry of words. Aemond shouted that he had been attacked, while Luke declared he'd attacked Baela. Jace claimed that Aemond had broken Luke's nose and Maekar tried to kill Daenys. Rhaena was still furious that Aemond had stolen her mother's dragon.

Vaguely, Daenys realized what she had wanted to say all those hours ago: How can you steal a dragon?

Maybe none of this would have happened if she had just asked.

Finally, Gael managed to shout everyone into silence. She nodded towards Viserys, who had been struggling to raise his voice over the chaos.

It was not he that spoke, however. Instead, Jace leaned over to his mother to whisper four simple words:

"He called us bastards."

Rhaenyra stiffened. In an instant she realized the danger they were in.

"Aemond..." Viserys limped over to the boy. "I will have the truth of what happened. Now."

"What else is there to hear?" Alicent interrupted. "Your sons have been brutalized, mained, and nearly killed, and her children are responsible."

"It was a regrettable accident," Rheanyra insisted.

"Accident?" Alicent couldn't believe what she heard. "The prince Lucerys brought a blade to an ambush, and the princess Daenys bludgeoned my son! They meant to kill them."

"You forget that son of yours in not entirely innocent," Gael interrupted. It earned a look from both women, Alicent furious at the intrusion and Rhaenyra thankful for her sister's support. "Maekar was injured assaulting his niece and nephew."

Jace turned to look at Lyle. He remembered the moment of panic when he realized his cousin had been burned. Then all he could think of was how to put it out. Now the fear hit as he realized Lyle could have been killed.

"It was my children who were attacked and forced to defend themselves," Rhaenyra suddenly declared. "Vile insults were levied against them."

"What insults?" Viserys asked at once.

Everyone was silent. Rhaenyra took a deep breath. She could not come back from this, she knew that. Either it would silence the rumors for good or send them spinning out of control. Was this a risk she was willing to make?

"The legitimacy of my son's birth was put loudly to question." Rhaenya refused to even consider the truth of Daenys. She couldn't.

"What?"

"He called us bastards," Jace said.

"My sons are in line to inherit the Iron Throne, Your Grace," Rhaenyra said. After their sister, she added mentally, but she knew that would be unpalatable to those listening. "This is the highest of treasons. Prince Aemond must be sharply questioned so we might learn where he heard such slanders. Maekar as well, once he is competent."

Tortured, she meant, and everyone knew it.

A uncomfortable, fearful silence fell over the room. It was an open threat against two princes. They were all holding their breaths, waiting to see how Viserys would respond. Surely he wouldn't allow this threat to his son.

Would he? 

"Over an insult?" Alice finally managed. Her throat was closing up. This was Rhaenyra's idea of an attack? Not even the injury to her children – just words. "My sons have been maimed. Nearly killed."

And yet, it was Aemond that Viserys turned on.

"You tell me, boy. Where did you hear this lie?" he asked.

Aemond only glared up at his father.

"The insult was a training yard bluster. The talk of boys," Alicent said quickly.

"Aemond..." Viserys showed no mercy as he looked into his son's remaining eye. "I asked you a question."

"Where is Ser Laenor, I wonder?" Alicent demanded. "The boys' father? Perhaps he might have something to say on the matter."

That, at least, caught Viserys's attention. "Yes, where is Ser Laenor?"

"Ser Quarl and I helped him to bed," Gael answered. She knew exactly what Alicent meant to imply next and moved to cut it short. "He had to be given dreamwine so he could sleep. You'll be unlikely to wake him."

Laenor had been convinced his sister's death was his fault. That there was some way he could have saved her somehow. It had been a fight to get him to rest, Gael did not want them doing and undoing it.

"And why were you not with him?" Alicent asked Rhaenyra sharply. "Why did it fall to your sister and a lowborn knight to care for your grieving husband?"

Of course, Alicnet would be quick to turn an attempted shield into a weapon.

"I...could not find sleep. I'd gone out to walk," Rhaenyra said.

From the corner of her eye, Gael caught Daemon smirking. She could have killed him then.

"Aemond..." Viserys turned back to his son. His voice was cutting now. "Look at me. Your king demands an answer." Your king – his words were too cruel for your father. "Who spoke these lies to you?"

Aemond's eye drifted to Alicent. It was her name Rhaenyra wanted to hear from his mouth. Everyone knew it, none more than Alicent herself.

"Was it your brother, hm? Did he talk you into this?" Viserys prompted.

Aemond jolted. He could see his father glaring down at Maekar, just out of his field of vision. The boy had never been his most loving brother, but he had been the one who helped him tame Vhagar. Aemond owed him.

"It was Aegon," he said.

Aegon was the safer answer. Not their mother, whom Viserys disrespected and Rhaenyra despised. Not the sickly spare, who didn't even carry the true Targaryen looks. Aegon. The Conquer–Babe. Second of his name. The first born male heir.

"Me?" Aegon looked around, confused.

Viserys started towards him.

"And you, boy? Where did you hear such calamities from?" Viserys snarled at Aegon, with such hatred Aemond regretted his previous confidence. Inches from the boy's ear, so loud that his son flinched away from him, Viserys screamed, "Aegon! Tell me the truth of it!"

"We know, Father," Aegon said. His voice was flat, but each word hit like a knife. "Everyone knows. Just look at them."

Rhaenyra pulled her sons closer to her. Daenys pressed herself into her mother's side.

"This interminable infighting must cease!" Viserys shouted. Aegon flinched again. "All of you! We are family! Now make your apologies and show good will to each other. Your father, your grandsire, your king demands it!"

The room was silent as he hobbled past.

"That is insufficient," Alicent finally spoke up. "Aemond has been damaged permanently, My King, likely Maekar as well. 'Good will' can not heal them."

"I know, Alicent, but I cannot restore an eye or heal some unknown wound," Viserys said.

"No, because the damage has been done."

"What would you have me do?"

"There is a debt to be paid," Alicent's turned to glare at Luke and Daenys. "I shall have one of her son's eyes in return. And her daughter's hand. Is that not the proper punishment for striking the king's blood?"

Murmurs rose throughout the court.

"My dear wife —" Viserys started.

"They are your sons, Viserys," Alicent's voice broke. "Your blood."

"And would you have Maekar punished the same, for burning the king's grandson and strangling his granddaughter?" Gael interrupted. She kept herself between Alicent and the threatened children. "These children have suffered enough, Alicent, and you know it."

"My daughter is right." Viserys started towards Alicent. "Do not allow your temper to guide your judgment."

But Alicent was done hiding her temper. For too long she had crushed her fury, and rose now with a hungry vengeance.

"If the King will not seek justice, the Queen will," Alicent turned to the Kingsguard. "Ser Criston. Bring me the eye of Lucaerys Velaryon and the hand of Daenys Velaryon."

Ser Criston did not move.

"Stay your hand," Viserys ordered the knight.

"No, you are sworn to me!" Alicent shouted.

"As your protector, my Queen," Criston said.

Something inside Alicent hardened. For years she had assumed Ser Criston Cole was her only ally. Now it seemed she did not have even him.

"Alicent, this matter...is finished," Viserys said. "Do you understand?"

With that, he turned and began to leave once more. Gael hesitated, but Rhaenyra was quick to push her back to her own children.

She was relieved to do so. Believing everything was over, Gael went to check on Lyle. Under his mother's gaze, the boy was quick to try to look strong, but it hardly worked.

Ultimately he gave up and stood so he could wrap his uninjured arm around hers and lean against her side.

"Let it be known: anyone whose tongue dares to question the birth of Princess Rhaenyra's sons should have it removed," Viserys announced.

As he said the last words, he gave his wife a sharp glare.

"Thank you father," Rhaenyra said.

As Viserys turned, Alicent lunged forward. She wrenched the blade from his belt and charged an unknown target. It seemed to have been Luke. But when the boy shrieked and was shoved safely behind his mother, Rhaenyra made an acceptable replacement.

The two women locked arms. Rhaenyra did her best to hold Alicent's blade away from her face. A crowd had gathered around the women. Ser Criston tried to run to Alicent's aid, only to be stopped by Daemon and handed off to the other guards. Gael was similarly blocked, first by the crowds and then by the need to comfort her own terrified children.

"Take them to bed, now," Gael ordered Merlon.

Merlon did not need to be told twice. He was quick to gather the children in his arms and begin herding them around the outside of the crowd and towards the door. Gael watched them until they made it, before turning back to her sister.

"You have gone too far!" Rhaenyra said.

Her gaze was locked on the blade in Alicent's hand. One slip and another eye would be lost that night.

"I?" Alicent cried. "What have I done but what was expected of me? Forever upholding the kingdom, the family, the law. While you flouted all to do as you please."

"Alicent, let her go!" Viserys ordered.

"Where is duty? Where is sacrifice? It's trampled under your pretty foot again."

"Release the blade, Alicent," Otto called from the other side of the room.

"And now you cripple my sons, and to even that you feel entitled," Alicent continued.

She cared not for what she was ordered to do. For once she had to stand up for herself. For her children.

"Exhausting, wasn't it?" Rhaenyra sneered. "Hiding beneath the cloak of your own righteousness. But now they see you as you are."

Alicent let out a cry. She wrenched herself away from Rhaneyra, sending them both stumply back into the crowd around them. As they did, the blade sliced through Rhaenyra's flesh. Blood and blade fell together.

"Do not mourn me, mother," Aemond said. In the chaos, he had somehow been able to reach his mother's side. "It was a fair exchange. I may have lost an eye...but I gained a dragon."

He approached his mother in silence and pressed the wounded side of his face to her side. Alicent could only cling to her son in despair.

For years scholars would debate when the Dance of the Dragon began. Some argued that it had been inevitable since the Great council. Others put the date much later. But all can agree: Much more than Aemond's eye was truly lost that night on Driftmark. Things that could never be regained. 

Author's Note: A lot of people try to blame someone in this scene, but TBH it really feels like Rhaenyra, Alicent, and Viserys collectively went "Is anyone going to traumatize these children more?" and didn't wait for an answer.