And Dunk, ever powerless to this omega, cannot refuse him. What follows is a night of unexpected passion and intimacy.
The night before Aerion's forced wedding, he comes to Dunk. In one last bid of defiance against his father, he slips into Dunk's chambers and accosts him for one night together. Just to know what it would be like.
The next day, Maekar marries Aerion off as punishment, still, for Ashford Meadow. The lord is an ugly, self-righteous alpha with wandering hands and beady eyes. When he kisses Aerion, he makes a disgusting show of it.
At the wedding feast, Maekar announces there will be no bedding ceremony, to the disgruntlement of the crowd—and the lord. Instead, the Kingsguard will observe, Ser Duncan the Tall, more specifically.
Dunk stands there and watches as Aerion and the lord consummate their marriage, watches as the lord forces himself, and hits the prince hard across the face when he protests. Aerion falls back, then, stunned, and remains silent the rest of the knotting.
And Dunk does nothing, not even when he sees the humiliated tears in the prince's eyes, because he cannot, and it haunts him for days.
The lord takes Aerion back to his coastal castle, and Dunk is assigned to go with. Slowly, it breaks Aerion down. The once-proud prince, arrogant and cruel, becomes quiet. Withdrawn. He stops looking people in the eye. Stops speaking unless spoken to. Shies away from physical touch. He is a shell of the fiery dragon he once was.
Then comes the announcement—Aerion is carrying an heir.
Everyone celebrates, but Dunk wants to be sick at the way Aerion doesn't even seem to take joy in this. Not when the lord's meaty hand grips the back of his neck like he's just another piece of his property. Not when Aerion flinches every time he raises his hand. Every time he touches him.
Months later, he discovers why.
Aerion's omega and beta handmaids try to block him from view when Dunk barges into the prince's dressing room, but he forces his way past them.
And there sits Aerion, his head bowed in shame. Dunk gently slips his fingers under his chin to tilt his head up, revealing a swollen black eye, lip split and crusted with blood. With yellowed bruises under fresh purpled ones, and marks around his throat.
Dunk falls to one knee before him in horror and dismay, "How long has this been happening?"
Aerion lowers his eyes, "Since the first night."
The rage, his own failure, nearly tears Dunk apart, but Aerion makes him swear not to act. He says this is what he deserves, that he brought it on himself.
Dunk only hears the lord talking.
When the child comes, Dunk remains at Aerion's bedside through every cry and every hour of labor. The babe is born healthy, screaming with a good set of lungs.
Aerion takes one look at the boy and freezes, before slowly looking up at Dunk with wide eyes. And when Dunk peeks over the crowing lord's shoulder, he understands why.
The child has Aerion's silver hair and fair complexion, but everything else belongs to Dunk. His eyes, his nose, his size. His son. Their son. Conceived that night before the wedding.
Maegor, Aerion calls him.
From then on, Dunk becomes more assertive with his authority. More protective over the omega who just birthed his own child. The lord, though, grows bolder, crueler, more insistent to match. He attempts to force himself on Aerion only days after the birth, but is met with the end of Dunk's sword as the prince pleads to stop.
With help from the maester, Dunk manages to stave off the lord's advances for three fortnights until Aerion is healed.
But a stormy night, not long after, Aerion's omegan servant finds Dunk in the stables, sobbing so hard she can barely breathe.
“The lord is hurting him!” She cries, “Worse than before! Help him, Ser!”
Dunk reaches Aerion's chambers to find him alone, beaten, and barely conscious. Their infant son is crying nearby, red-faced and inconsolable.
The lord had become angry with Maegor's crying, and started shouting and shaking him. Aerion stepped in to desperately placate, and paid the price.
Something inside Dunk finally snaps, and he can no longer obey Aerion's wishes. It was the final steaw.
“Do you trust me?” He asks, brushing the hair from the prince's miserable eyes.
“More than anyone.” Aerion says.
He kisses the prince's forehead and promises he'll return. Then he goes hunting for the lord. He finds him in the gardens, knuckles still scraped raw.
The servants, holding no love for the man, turn a blind eye to his screaming when it starts.
By the time it's done and choked off, the lord's face is no longer recognizable, and he is no longer breathing. Dunk is kneeling over him, breathing hard, covered in blood, with murderous rage in his eyes.
The servants help dispose of the body that night, throwing it over the cliffs to the tumultuous surf below. No one mourns him. No one speaks of it.
At the news of the lord's disappearance, Maekar makes the journey to the castle. When he arrives, he finds Aerion bruised and healing, his grandson tucked safely in his arms, and a Kingsguard who refuses to leave their side.
Questions are asked of residents and staff alike, vague answers are given, and the lord's death, albeit begrudgingly, is ruled an accident.
Bidding the servants a fond farewell, Aerion returns to King's Landing with the babe in tow. He never remarries.
And as the months progress, people start to notice strange things.
The prince smiles more. He regains his arrogance and vanity to a point, but he's…softened in a way. Especially when he looks at a certain Kingsguard, and that Kingsguard looks back.
Maegor grows like a weed, tall and broad for his wee age. He follows Dunk everywhere he goes, and the knight seems to glow because of it. If they bear a striking resemblance, well…that's got to be coincidence right?
And no one is ever truly worried whenever Prince Aerion disappears in the Red Keep for any length of time. For you can rest assured knowing that his Kingsguard, Dunk, is wherever he may be.
FINN BENNETT as Prince Aerion 'Brightflame' Targaryen and
PETER CLAFFEY as Ser Duncan 'Dunk' the Tall
A Knight in the Making - Episodes 4-6
A KNIGHT OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS
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