Agape

Prologue. Nightshade

From the window in Euron's cabin Rhae could see that they were entering the Smoking sea, catching glimpses of far off volcanoes and molten crags bleeding into the depths of the ocean, now leagues away from their port in Volantis. A stray wind slipped through the opened window, billowing the lace robe that Rhae clutched around his lithe frame before a pair of hands gripped his waist and turned him around, being greeted with an easy smile and both of Euron's eyes; blue one shining brightly as a dying summer sky and the other black as pitch, but Rhaevon stood closest to him and saw red tendrils gripping at his iris. "We're nearing Valyria, we should be able to see the coast within a fortnight."

Rhae just hummed in approval, looking down at Euron's exposed chest, flitting long nails and longer fingers over the black thatches of hair. The hands on his waist tightened and he looked back up to the pair of eyes that foiled each other so perfectly.

"Something the matter, your Grace," Rhae's sarcastic inclination caused Euron to chuckle before shaking his head and letting go of Rhae completely. He watched as Euron made his way over to a table, pouring that honey thick blue liquid he's so fond of; 'shade of the evening' as the warlocks like to call it. Rhae has had his taste of it back home in Lys with his mother and grandmother when he was much younger, it made him have awful nightmares he doesn't quite recall and perhaps for good reason.

"Would you dream with me tonight?" Euron offered him the glass, having his own as well. Something about the gesture, the uncharacteristic and genuine softness in Euron's voice as he gave Rhae the proposition; dare he call it romantic? Rhae chewed the inside of his lip, trying not to give way to a real and true smile but something faltered and it slipped, only a smirk but it had slipped. He took the glass from Euron's hands into his own, their fingers brushing and Rhae shivered at the contact; he wanted to curse himself because him and Euron have fucked and more but a simple gesture, a few words, and a slight touch have turned him into a blushing maiden? This cannot stand.

"I would be honored to," he looked at both of Euron's eyes again, a rare sight and Rhae hadn't noticed before but that could have been part of some gesture as well, some notion of laying himself bare in front of Rhae but to what end? He was trying to search for Euron's motivations but came up with nothing before Euron clinked their glasses together, signaling Rhae to drink with him.

Taking a sip of the viscous liquid, this shade of the evening, his eyes watered at the taste, somewhere between the fleshy bits of rotting meat and the bottom of an inkwell; it reminded Rhae of his mother, when men with blue stained lips would enter the pillow house, dressed in peculiar jewels, looking for certain girls of height or weight and oftentimes they would even leave with the one they had chosen. Rhae does not remember those girls coming back but does remember the hefty bag of coins his mother would receive in return.

Though the taste was deplorable and worthy to be spit right back into the glass his tastebuds were overwhelmed with a new sensation, as if he was tasting all the delicious foods and drinks he could think of at once but none of them mixed together. He could taste his grandmother's lemon pastries, he could taste wine from the coast of Sunspear, he could taste the water from the fountain a walk away from his childhood home, he could taste the fine Lysene perfume on the skin of the men he's bedded, he could taste Euron's blood on the tip of his tongue, he could taste all sweet things he had ever tasted.

He doesn't remember climbing into bed but he feels a pillow cradle his head, fingers brushing through platinum hair before he felt a crashing wave slam into his ankles. A beach was before him, a nameless beach with an endless shore on both sides, wet sand starting to engulf his feet. Rhae stepped back but he found it hard to pull from the sinking sands, he pulled, gripping his calf before he felt tendrils wrap around him beneath the sand; his heart skipped a beat as he pulled to no avail and he tried to scream but a hand, soaked in blood and shade of the evening clasped his mouth shut.

The tendrils beneath the sand yanked him through damp earth, pulling him out onto molten rocks, a volcano alive and thriving a few leagues away and Rhae's clothes, if he had any in the first place, were gone. His hand felt around him, the ground hot but not burning and those same tendrils, cold with intention worked their way up his legs, stopping short at his thighs and Rhae finally saw them; black as night, resembling a squid but far, far too large...a kraken. Gold flecks streaked the limbs as veins and Rhae didn't dare look up, didn't know if he could even see that high up through the smoke and ash. He reached out, placing his fingers against the monster that gripped him, feeling the limbs for what they were and all he felt was the skin of a human, no sliminess of a sea creature. The warmth comforted Rhae and his heart slowed as he lie back against the rock beneath him, closing his eyes from what was to come.

When Rhae opened his eyes from what felt like an eternity, he was in a bed but glancing around he saw an entire cityscape outside of his window along with people - no, a maester with a kind face and brown eyes similar to tree bark between his legs with midwives surrounding him - and he chanced a look down; a swollen belly fit to burst and a pain rushing through Rhae's entire abdomen. The pain was white hot and nothing that he had ever experienced before, claws and daggers ripping through his insides, a monster crawling it's way out of his body; whatever it was, whatever it would be, he didn't care, he wanted it gone. He gripped hold of bloody sheets, squeezing them with a strength he never knew he could conjure, ripping the seams with his nails as he bit down on his lip, blood gushing into his mouth.

The comely maester assured him that "it" was almost out in a calm voice of any man of medicine, but Rhae felt like he was being torn in half as whatever he was harboring was soon enough vacating his body. Sure enough, it did and Rhae felt like curling into a ball and passing away from relief but the maester approached him, whatever beast that clawed it's way out of Rhae's body was swaddled in a blanket, stains of blood adorning the cloth. He handed the hell-spawn down to Rhae and he looked at it; there was no abomination in his arms, it was simply a baby. A hand placed itself within Rhae's hair and he was met with a familiar blue eye and a look of approval.

Rhae jolted awake, sweat slicked and heart hammering out of his chest.

He looked down, feeling at his stomach and finding it just as flat as it was when he was gazing out to sea. His breath steadied as he looked over at Euron, sitting at the table, now drinking a dark red, possibly wine from Dorne but he didn't care about that when their eyes met and the look on Euron's face, he knew what Rhae had dreamed. How he knew, Rhae did not know; educated guess, he was talking in his sleep, or perhaps that they shared a dream.

"You will give me a son?" Euron asked but the more Rhae listened it sounded like a confirmation. He nodded in agreement, yes, he would give him sons with lilac eyes and platinum hair to match his dragon bride; no, they wouldn't be bastards, they would be messiah's made in blood and sacrifice, to live as offspring of a true and proper god, a kraken, a true storm to envelope and swallow Westeros whole.