In truth, the night before the royal family's arrival, Corlys had still been sulking and complaining to his wife, Rhaenys. The royal family had sailed past Driftmark to visit Dragonstone first before coming to his island, and he felt slighted, his pride wounded.
He had stood on the balcony of their bedchamber, gazing at the Velaryon Fleet moored in the moonlit harbor, his emotions too tangled to put into words.
The following day would decide the fate of House Velaryon-if Viserys rejected his overtures, if this name day celebration proved futile, all his years of restraint and scheming would come to nothing.
The dismal outcome in the Stepstones, the frantic work on nine new warships in the shipyards of Spicetown, Hull, and High Tide on his own Driftmark, the extravagant spectacle of this name day celebration-
Everything rested on tomorrow's meeting. Yet proud as he was, how could he bring himself to bow his head first?
Especially after learning that the royal family had not come straight to Driftmark, but had sailed right past it to Dragonstone before returning.
"Was it Viserys's second daughter, Helaena? Or his second son, Aemond?" Rhaenys had sat up in bed, her long black hair spilling across the pillow. Moonlight washed the silver at her temples into a shade indistinguishable from the rest of her hair. Her brows drew together slightly, a barely perceptible worry in her eyes. "Surely it couldn't have been the newborn Daeron? But all three children are too young. You can't mean Viserys went to claim a dragon himself?"
Vaemond had reported that one of their merchant ships had seen the royal fleet detour to Dragonstone before arriving.
When Corlys and Rhaenys heard the news, they assumed that, besides bringing Rhaenyra's Syrax and Aegon's Sunfyre, Viserys apparently intended to find suitable