Conqueror's Holdfast.
Liu Qian held the hatchling that had just broken out of its shell.
Its entire body was covered in scales as dark as eternal night, with a muted crimson sheen running through them, radiating a restrained heat.
The little creature restlessly twisted its slender neck in his palm. Its eyes had not yet fully opened, but it was already instinctively hissing softly in Liu Qian's direction.
Liu Qian was filled with astonishment.
He had retrieved this black-and-red dragon egg from the Valyrian Ruins.
Even after Liu Qian had spent seventy thousand points of magic power awakening it, it had remained dormant, without hatching.
Yet just after the seal on that mysterious black stone had been broken and the tide of magic power had swept through, it had cracked open on its own, bringing this little life into the world.
Stranger still, the almost identical black-and-red dragon egg beside it, which Illyrio had sent him, had silently crumbled and disintegrated at the very same moment, losing every trace of life.
"This was no coincidence..."
Liu Qian gazed at the hatchling in his arms, feeling the heat of its tiny scales against his fingertips. "There must be some profound connection between the black stone and this dragon egg's hatching that I don't yet fully understand..."
Liu Qian looked at Qyburn, who was carefully examining the broken dragon egg fossils nearby.
Qyburn wore his usual kindly smile. "Your Majesty, I suspect this may have something to do with blood magic..."
Something stirred in Liu Qian's mind. "Maester Qyburn, please continue."
Qyburn nodded and picked up a piece of shell from the shattered black-and-red dragon egg fossil. "Your Majesty, there have been some strange tales in House Targaryen's history. During Aegon III's reign, Laena Velaryon hatched a nameless, monstrous dragon, pale as