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Concubine Beats King

Summary:

Helaena discovers an old valyrian custom that could save her the misfortune of being forced to marry her brother or her nephew. If it also happens to avoid a civil war and help said brother and nephew be together, well, more the better.

Peep those tags, they do not lie. Ages are nebulous, but they're all vaguely young adult.

Edit: Doing a bit of editing to the earlier chapters right now. No plot is changing. Just smut and a bit more context being added. I still have the OG version and you can hit me up on Tumblr for a copy if you're concerned/want to compare for any reason. Major changes will be mentioned in the chapter notes for those interested.

Chapter 1

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Dragonstone was old and her walls were filled with secrets. Helaena walked the walls of an old library. She trailed one finger over the spines.

Her mother's words echoed in her head.

The Targaryens keep their blood pure.

It had been said simply. A matter of fact. A passing comment.

There was no such thing with her mother though. Certainly not when her father had so recently brought Rhaenyra's betrothal offer up. Again.

Marriage was a noose, a threat upon her life that would soon be tightened. Her hand stopped. Helaena tilted her head to read the spine. She pulled the book from its spot on the shelf.

*The Lineage of the Dragonlords*

It was in High Valyrian. An older dialect, from before the Doom. A difficult read then. One that might take her all night.

Helaena settled into a corner with a candle and a blanket. She let the storms of Dragonstone provide her with a lullaby as she began to read.

"A library?! Are you mad?" a familiar voice cut through the wind and thunder. Helaena froze. Her eyes followed the sound of Aegon's whispers. Through a narrow gap between two shelves, she saw him.

Disheveled slightly, in a simple tunic and breeches. Hair wild and flying about his face in a frizzy mess.

"No one comes in here, trust me," his companion came into view and Helaena raised a brow at the appearance of Jacaerys. He was similarly dressed. As if they'd both risen from bed and come straight here before even bothering to dress properly.

The two were of a similar height now, but that was where the similarities ended.

Those who doubted the parentage of her nephews were fewer now. Jacaerys had filled out into a near identical build to his father and he held himself much as Ser Laenor did, with a confidence her brother so often lacked.

His darker hair and eyes created a striking comparison to other Targaryens indeed, but the strong chin, the sharp jaw. It was not dissimilar to Laenor. Though her mother refused to see it.

Perhaps because he had so many of the traditional Valyrian features that her brother did not. Aegon had received their father’s coloring certainly, just as Helaena had, but he was otherwise the spitting image of their mother.

Not that many were willing to say as much. Certainly not where the Hand could hear them.

Jacaerys was nearly a man grown now. Something her father had pointed out to her several times during this visit to Dragonstone.

Aegon was old enough that he'd been sent to the Stepstones though, with Sunfyre. A proven dragonrider in battle now, as her mother had said in response. Each, and every, time.

The boys themselves seemed to care little for the comparisons.

Now she knew why.

Helaena watched, mouth falling open, as her nephew backed her brother into a wall and proceeded to kiss him. Aegon responded in kind, arms wrapping around Jacaerys' neck. Their breathing grew heavy and Helaena turned her head back to her book as their moans filled the air.

A blush rose on her cheeks as Aegon groaned, "Stop teasing me, Jace."

"You started it," Jacaerys chuckled, voice breathy. Helaena chanced another glance. Her brother clung to Jacaerys, knuckles white as he fisted the tunic her nephew wore.

Jacaerys was kissing his neck now, mouthing down the long column of Aegon’s throat as her brother tilted his head to the side, providing more access. A smile spread across his face, lips parting. Quiet mewls grew louder with every kiss.

"You were flirting with every servant that came in the room during the banquet.” Jacaerys huffed, nipping at Aegon’s ear, “Groped half of them too, according to the steward."

Head falling back against the wall with a whine, Aegon dropped one hand between them. Jacaerys knocked it away from their laces.

"No touching," Jacaerys pulled his lips back. He smirked, leaning forward to press his forehead to Aegon's, "That's your punishment. No hands."

"No hands?" Aegon swallowed, eyes fluttering. Jacaerys nodded. Much to her surprise, Aegon dropped to his knees. Helaena blinked.

Jacaerys slid his hands into Aegon's hair as hee brother pulled at the laces of Jacaerys' breeches with his teeth. Her nephew's chuckle was dark, his voice husky, “Yeah, just like that, Egg.”

Helaena forced her gaze away before she saw anything else. The slurping and moans were still quite audible though, even over the thunder.

Luckily, the book was nearly as interesting when Helaena turned the pages to find a section on the concubines of the Targaryen and Belaerys families. Her eyebrows rose higher as she read and she didn't notice at all when the panting and moans on the other side of the shelves inevitably stopped.

When Helaena closed the book, even the storm outside had quieted. As too, had her fears. Her mother was right after all, the Targaryens were quite queer about their bloodline... and that would be to Helaena's advantage.

And perhaps her brother’s as well, given what she'd seen.

-.-.-

Helaena was always right and never listened to. It was a fact to which Aegon had long since grown accustomed. A solid and unchanging part of life amidst the turmoil of his mother's paranoia and his father's illnesses.

"The dragonlords of old Valyria had male concubines," Helaena hummed, eyes on her dinner plate. Their mother's eyes flashed at the interruption to her thinly veiled jab at Ser Laenor. That the comment related directly to her passive-aggressive insinuation likely made it worse.

"Did they?" Viserys's forced smile softened just a touch at the intrusion. Helaena startled at the rare acknowledgement. Her eyes fluttered for just a moment.

"Obviously, or she wouldn't have said it," Aegon huffed, eyes rolling. His father's gaze flicked to him, brows furrowed. Viserys sighed at the head of the table. He leaned back in his chair as he narrowed his eyes on Aegon.

What? His mother could make underhanded insults about Laenor's sexuality and his nephews' paternity all night but Aegon couldn't be a little rude? Wasn't that just the icing on this particularly disgusting cake...

It would have been more enjoyable feasting with the Velaryons. Hadn't that been the point of this visit to Dragonstone in the first place? At least then he might have enjoyed the inevitable show of Aemond being slapped about by Lucerys. Or vice versa. Both were possible and Aegon had little preference.

"What would the point of such concubines even be?" His mother asked, lips twitching up in a vicious smile, "It isn't as if they'd be continuing the line of succession."

Finally, the king's frown turned on his wife. Helaena beat him to a response though, "They could though. If they were dragonriders."

Hand tightening on his fork, Aegon looked at his sister. He wasn't the only one, but she continued to eat quietly, as if she were talking about the weather. As if she hadn't just sent his heart racing with a few stray words.

"The magic of their blood allowed the concubines to carry a child. At least two of the dragonlords of House Targaryen before the Doom were such children - one of the Jaehaeryses and an Aegon even," Helaena continued as if the entire room hadn't gone silent to listen to her rambling.

"You're more knowledgeable than a maester, my girl," Viserys chuckled as he stood slowly from the table. They all quickly rose with him until he waved them off. A servant came to gather his plates and another for the king himself.

That was how family dinners always ended. Their mother quickly beckoned after the king, which Aegon much preferred. Less nagging that way.

"Why did you say all that?" Aegon followed his sister out of the dining hall, voice low as he resisted the temptation to hiss as her. He turned his head to check the hallways for servants, or Aemond. The Red Keep was always full of eavesdroppers, certainly Dragonstone held its own secrets just as loosely.

Helaena hummed, "About the concubines?" He nodded. Her head turned, her gaze drilling in to his face, "Did you not want me too?"

Throat bobbing, Aegon kept his gaze straight ahead. He ignored his annoying little sister as her eyes focused intently on the side of his face, burning on his already flushed cheek. His heart beat wildly as they walked.

"I don't want to marry Jacaerys," Helaena whispered when they arrived at the door to her chamber. He choked on his next breath. She leaned against the handle, looking over her shoulder, "Or you."

Aegon blinked, "Who said anything about that?" Her brow arched up, eyes narrowing. She disappeared inside with a scoff.

Oh.

Spinning on his heels, Aegon flew down the hall to his own room. He slammed the door shut. With his back to the wood, he slid down to the floor. If his heart had been beating quickly before, it was thundering now. Aegon could hardly hear his own thoughts of the frantic rhythm in his chest.

Helaena was almost of an age with Rhaenyra when she'd been wed. His mother was quite adamant she wouldn't marry a Velaryon. His father wanted her to marry someone with Valyrian blood.

"I'm a fucking idiot." Aegon groaned, hands pushing in to his hair. He took a breath, then two, then three. The squeezing in his chest was not easing. His lungs burned.

With a whine, he let his hand drift down to his cock. Eyes closed, he tried to picture anything but dark, smoldering eyes. That didn't work of course. Aegon groaned as his grip tightened.

The warmth of his cock familiar, pulsing against his palm. The shaft thickened in his hand once he freed it from his breeches. His long fingers wrapped tight, calluses rubbing against the ever sensitive skin.

There was always a bit of pain when he first started. The rough texture of his hands scratching at dry skin. That only gave him more sensations to focus on, pulled him further from his thoughts. Further from the reality crashing atop his head.

Those eyes he wanted to forget rushed forward in his mind. They'd looked down at him from the practice yard earlier, shimmering with mischief as Jacaerys had offered him a hand up.

Cock throbbing, Aegon moaned. Wind-swept hair. Full lips pulled wide on a sudden smile. Laughter that rang like bells in his head.

His head hit the door as it fell back. Aegon bit his lip to keep from screaming a name with his release. He whined as his fingers flexed around his once again flaccid cock.

Forehead slick with sweat, his hand covered in his own seed, Aegon's lips curled in disgust. He let out one breath slowly, then two, then three. At least his lungs were behaving now.

"What the fuck am I meant to do now?"

The answer was simple, and obvious, though Aegon was want to admit such a thing. Cleaning himself up, Aegon steadied himself and then snuck back out into the castle.

The library stood just as empty as it had the night before when he arrived. Aegon walked through the shelves, searching for his sister's nest. She always had one.

In a back corner, he found it.

Aegon knelt and picked up the book sitting atop her bundle of forgotten blankets.

"I thought you said I was mad for picking the library?" A thick voice rained down on him from above. A whisper that sunk directly to his gut.

Jace.

Glancing over his shoulder, Aegon found his nephew leaning against one of the shelves. Smirking at him.

"Or were you just hoping to run into me here?" Jace drawled, gaze flicking over Aegon. His eyes moving slowly, and growing darker with every inch of Aegon's body he surveyed.

"I'm never not hoping to run into you, nephew," Aegon quipped as he rose up, book in his arms. Jace ducked his head, grinning into his shoulder. A dusting of red on his cheeks.

His body felt warm just looking at the younger man. Aegon surveyed Jacaerys, eyes roaming over his muscled limbs and toned body. It was only fair. He clocked the boots. The leathers.

"Going flying?" Aegon quirked a brow. His gaze flicked towards the one slit of a window in the opposite corner of the room. It wasn't visible from where Aegon stood, but he knew what it showed regardless, "Bit late for that isn't it?"

Jace shrugged and took a step towards him, "You could come with me, if you're not busy reading..." His eyes slid over the front of the book before widening. Jace chuckled, gaze rising to Aegon’s face with a squint. "The Lineage of the Dragonlords. Are you turning in to grandfather now?"

"Shut up," Aegon scoffed. His face flushed, "Helaena was reading it."

"In here?" Jace startled. His shoulders stiffened. Aegon nodded and stepped to the side to reveal her nest. Jace croaked, eyes wide, "When?"

Aegon stilled. His eyes fluttered. "I don't know." He glanced down at the book and then to the side. There were plenty of shelves between where they now stood and where they'd been the night before.

Where Aegon had greedily sucked on his nephew's cock and Jace had worked him to release. He bit at his lip, gut twisting as he thought of the way Jace had kissed him.

"Does she-" Jace started to say, voice low, nearly hissing.

"Probably," Aegon sighed, shaking his head, "It doesn't matter."

Jace rolled his shoulders back, forehead wrinkling. Aegon shushed him before he could protest. He raised a finger, pressing it to his nephew’s lips.

"She found something. In the book.” Aegon inclined his head, chewing his lip now. He stumbled over his words, “It might be useful, for us. Perhaps. If... if you'd like."

"Useful for us?" Jace stepped closer, reaching for the tome. Aegon let him take it. The brunet opened the book, scanning the chapter titles in the front. His brow furrowed. Long lashes fluttering.

Clearing his throat, Aegon nodded quickly. His gaze shifted to the wall behind Jace as he forced the words out, "Apparently the dragonlords of Old Valyria had male concubines."

The finger Jace had pressed to the words on the page stilled.

"Supposedly, they even had children, if they were dragonriders," Aegon repeated what Helaena had said, throat bobbing. Jace looked up at him, face carefully blank.

Aegon was a bit jealous. He'd never managed to master such a skill. His face burned as he stuttered out more.

"I'd assume concubines could be quite... useless, if they wanted, outside the expected." His voice trembled. The rest of him followed suit.

"You want to be my concubine?" Jace whispered, lips parting quietly.

Rocking backwards on the balls of his feet, Aegon nodded again. He didn't trust his voice. Didn't trust himself not to say something incredibly stupid as Jace continued to stare at him, gaze dark and unflinching.

The book fell to the floor and Aegon yelped as Jace tugged him close. His hands settled in his nephew's hair as the man devoured his mouth. His kiss hot, demanding, more so than it had been even the night before.

"How do we do it?" Jace gasped as soon as he released him, breath warm on Aegon's face.

"I have no idea." Aegon laughed, tossing his head back with a sigh. Jace dropped down, swiping the book into his arms.

He tugged Aegon after him, grip firm as he held Aegon's hand, "I suppose my ride with Vermax will have to wait then."

Notes:

*waves hand* If GRRM didn't want me exploiting the lack of information about Old Valyria for nefarious purposes, he shouldn't have left so many tantalizing plotholes for me to abuse.