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Laena's dragon killed Rhaenyra's son , Daemon had thought dazedly, and the thought never left him as he worked frantically to get everything ready.
Rhaenyra was gone, recklessly after the news left him with only the vaguest of instructions, with an Aegon and Viserys who hadn't seen either of them in days, a confused Joffrey and a Rhaena with eyes full of pain and anger that not even her sister could calm down.
Daemon works to kill all remaining traitors, finish securing loyalties, and leave his children safe for the time he has to go hunting.
Because Laena's dragon killed Rhaenyra's son and Daemon has to make sure the beast and his dragon pay before he hurts another member of his family. He is ready three days before Meleys is finally seen in the sky. Daemon is almost vibrating with suppressed violence and growls his last instructions before leaving.
Laena's dragon killed Rhaenyra's son . Vaghar killed Lucerys. Lucerys the boy who was his daughter's best friend, Lucerys the boy too eager for his duty and his whispers, Lucerys the boy who Daemon taught to maneuver on Arrax's back.
Lucerys had the easiest and closest mission, a way for him to help without putting himself in unnecessary danger.
Rhaenyra's son should never have died. Rhaenyra should never have been usurped, and her children should never have been in danger.
Laena's dragon killed Rhaenyra's child, Daemon thinks all the time and he's growing more and more furious with each passing second because this was so fucking avoidable, because it should never have happened and it's the fault of inept traitors and Daemon wants nothing more than to cut off everyone's heads even though he knows he can't, that Rhaenyra wouldn't approve.
But Rhaenyra is out there, recklessly exposing herself to the same fate, and Daemon has been left behind. All he can do is keep things together and organized before heading out to eliminate the threat.
And now, with Rhaenys finally back, they can do it.
Rhaenys descends, sweaty and disheveled, but she doesn't look tormented and that infuriates Daemon.
Luke may have had Harwin Strong’s eyes and hair but he had been Corlys’ heir. Luke may not have been a Velaryon and even terrified of his future duty to the point of vomiting on ships, but Daemon had carried that boy more than once after falling asleep learning about nautical charts, navigating by the stars, and trade contracts. Luke may not have been Corlys’ blood but Daemon had still read the countless letters exchanged between them over the years, always filled with affection and admiration for the man who claimed him as his own. Luke was Rhaenys’ grandson in every way that should matter and the damn woman was none the less unaffected by his death.
Rhaenys, still mourning Laenor, refused to even be moved by his son's death.
Daemon barked and ordered, furious that the woman did not seek revenge. They could do nothing for Laena and even when she had no proof she resented them for Laenor, but now that one of their own had been killed and they had a culprit to point the finger at and seek revenge on she remained unmoved.
Laena's dragon killed Rhaenyra's son and you don't care , Daemon seethed.
Rhaenys just mocked him and asked about Rhaenyra, Daemon's frustration came out. He says the problem is that Rhaenyra is more of a mother than a queen, but he's wrong, because that's not the problem, because if Rhaenyra really let her fierce motherhood envelop her she would have already done something, she would be here by his side planning to get retribution and justice for Luke's death.
Rhaenyra is not here not because the mother drowns the queen, but because Alicent Hightower's friend refuses to act, Rhaenyra would still forgive Luke's killer if she got Luke alive by some miracle.Vhagar and Alicent Hightower's cub killed her son and Rhaenyra is looking for excuses not to hurt Alicent, to delay the inevitable.
It is Rhaenyra again listening to Otto and thinking that peace is an option, it is Rhaenyra allowing herself to be poisoned, it is Rhaenyra forgetting years of abuse and mistreatment against her and her children because she misses her friend .
It is Viserys' weakness that lives within Rhaenyra and Daemon will be damned if he allows this to endanger her and their family.
Alicent Hightower's son killed Luke and the pup will die for that offense. He and Laena's dragon.
“It was a raven that brought me news of Laena’s death,” Rhaenys interrupts his turbulent thoughts and Daemon’s heart stops even after all this time before it fills with anger again at Rhaenys as he listens.
Ignoring Rhaenys' point, refusing to think about Laena and her burned body, about Luke and what might have been left, he focuses on the next thought. Rhaenyra, alone out there while the dragon that killed her son and his rider are still on the loose.
Despite himself, he feels his body relax at Rhaenys's comment, the recognition of Rhaenyra's ferocity and what a mother, a dagon mother , could do to her enemy, the murderer of her son.
Rhaenys ruins everything in her next sentence.
To be carried away by the desire for revenge. As if she had not driven Rhaenyra's children away, upset that Corlys had not endangered them; as if she had not demanded Baela as if she had a right to his daughter just because of her appearance; as if she were not to blame for Lucerys' death by allowing Alicent and her children to live .
It wasn't Rhaenys' war, it didn't matter that her grandsons were heirs to the throne and her granddaughters carried the Targaryen name. Rhaenys, once so fearless, was now drowning in her sense of higher morality. Perhaps that was why she hadn't killed Alicent, they were both the same.
He says it in her face, he wants to shout at her and shake her: Laena's dragon killed Rhaenyra's son , your grandson is dead! and then he sees the small smile that curves her lips and the mockery in her eyes and remembers how she brought out Laena's ghost.
Daemon fears that Rhaenys will be happy because of the pain they are going through. Do you see what it feels like to lose a child? Do you see what it feels like to think it could have been avoided? Do you feel my pain now? As if Daemon hadn't mourned her too, as if Daemon hadn't already mourned her and Rhaenys didn't still resent him for it.
"Fly with Me. It's an order," he tells her, containing his anger, because if she doesn't care Luke enough for her to seek revenge, Daemon will make him care .
Luke deserves it.
Rhaenys ignores him as if she were still the crown prince's daughter and Daemon her annoying cousin and Daemon forces himself to stay and wait and boils in his own anger and helplessness.
He boils through his conversation with the white worm who sold out to Otto and allowed Aegon to be found, Raenyra to be usurped, Luke to be killed. He boils through hid conversation with Erryk who didn't defend Rhaenyra's claim, who allowed Aegon's coronation, who allowed Luke to be killed. And he boils through Rhaenyra's arrival when he approaches her and sees her as broken as she is distant. .
“Did you find what you were looking for?” and the haunted look in her eyes is answer enough, more so than the wordless nod she gives him.
Daemon thinks of Laena's burned body, Viserys' rotting body, and wonders what kind of horror Luke's remains would be. Laena's dragon killed Rhaenyra's son , and Rhaenyra is finally ready to be a mother and queen.
Rhaenyra looks him in the eyes asking for the head of her half-brother, of Alicent Hightower's son, of Luke's murderer, and something in Daemon's chest loosens.
A son for a son.
Lucerys would be avenged.
His son would be avenged.