It was supposed to be simple.
Meet in the empty chamber. Enter the secret passage. Reach the Dragonpit. Roam it unseen, gaze upon some dragons from afar if they were fortunate, and be back in the castle before anyone was the wiser.
Simple.
Yet now, with Viserys squirming like a hooked fish in his arms and Rhaenys hovering nearby with an expression of 'this is amusing,' Rhaegar knew one thing for certain.
It was not simple anymore.
"Did you not lock the door?" Rhaegar snapped over his shoulder, struggling to keep his grip on his thrashing younger brother.
Rhaenys had the gall to blink innocently and say, "I did now."
"Wonderful," he muttered.
Viserys, for his part, had resorted to desperate measures. His legs kicked aimlessly, his small fists flailed, and eventually a boot caught Rhaegar's shin.
Rhaegar winced. "Oh, for the love of—"
Viserys, recognizing his opportunity, sank his teeth into Rhaegar's hand.
"Fuck!" Rhaegar recoiled, clutching his fingers.
Viserys fell with a thump, scrambled to his feet, and whirled on the both of them.
"What in the seven hells was that?!" he cried, indignant and red in the face. "Were you trying to abduct me?"
"No," Rhaegar said, massaging his bitten hand. "You just startled us."
Viserys scoffed and straightened his tunic with the dignity of a boy who hadn't just been tackled and muzzled. He turned toward the far wall—toward the gaping stone mouth of the secret passage that struck out like a sore thumb in a chamber of plain walls and pillars.
He pointed at it dramatically.
"What is that?!"
Rhaegar pinched the bridge of his nose.
"It's nothing—"
"It's a secret passage," Rhaenys chimed brightly.
Rhaegar whipped his head toward her. "Why?"
"What?" she said, all innocence.
"Why would you tell him that?"
"He already saw it," she shrugged. "It's a bit obvious."
"There are still other explanations!" Rhaegar growled. "We could've said it was a storeroom. Or a wine cellar!"
"He's not an idiot," Rhaenys rolled her eyes.
"He bit me like one!"
Viserys was already standing beside the passage, peering into the dark, wide-eyed and reverent. "They're real?!" he inspected the entrance with wonder. " I mean, I have heard stories, but no one has ever seen them!"
"Imagine that," Rhaegar said bitterly.
Viserys turned to face them, utterly glowing. "Where does it go? How did you find it? Are there more?"
"Please stop talking," Rhaegar said, rubbing his temples.
"It was Rhaegar," Rhaenys answered helpfully. "He found them. But how he found them, he won't tell."
Rhaegar stared at her, deadpan.
"I am never doing you another favour."
"You say that now."
He turned to Viserys, who was still circling the mouth of the tunnel like a moth to flame.
"And what exactly," Rhaegar asked slowly, "are you doing here?"
Viserys blinked at him. "I couldn't sleep."
Rhaenys raised a brow.
"…And," he added, "I was hungry."
Rhaegar rubbed his eyes. "So you went looking for sweets."
Viserys nodded seriously. "There are always some left near the kitchens. I've done it before. The Maester says it will rot my teeth, but he's old."
"Excellent," Rhaegar muttered.
"And that's when I saw her," Viserys continued, pointing at Rhaenys. "Sneaking about like a thief."
Rhaenys defended. "I was not."
"You were hunched!" Viserys shot back.
"I was cautious!"
Rhaegar glared at her. "You were seen. That was the one thing you weren't supposed to be."
"How was I to know he was on his way to rummage the kitchens?"
"You could've looked behind you!"
"I was trying to act natural!"
"You were hunched!" Viserys commented again.
"Enough!" Rhaegar's voice echoed faintly off the chamber walls. "Enough. Fuck! this was meant to be simple."
The two fell silent.
Viserys, after a beat, raised a hand.
"Yes?" Rhaegar asked through gritted teeth.
"What were you two doing?"
Rhaegar opened his mouth. But before he could get a word out.
"We were going to the Dragonpit," Rhaenys said casually.
Rhaegar looked up at the ceiling. "Why this life? Why me?"
Viserys gasped. "Really?!"
Rhaegar only closed his eyes, and that was all the confirmation Viserys needed.
Viserys beamed. "I want to come."
"No," Rhaegar said without hesitation.
"But—!"
"No."
"You can't say that!"
"I just did."
"I saw it first." Viserys made a comically false argument.
"No, you didn't."
"I found you!"
"You followed Rhaenys!"
"Still counts!"
"You're nine."
"And you're ten!"
Rhaegar opened his mouth to retort but found nothing suitable.
Rhaenys leaned casually against the wall, watching the argument like a spectator at a mummer's play.
Then Viserys narrowed his eyes and said the words Rhaegar had feared were coming.
"If you don't let me come… I'll tell father."
Rhaegar stared at him.
"I'll tell him you were sneaking into secret passages with a torch and Rhaenys and probably wine."
By now, veins were popping on Rhaegar's temple, and Viserys smiled with the wicked satisfaction of a boy who knew he had the upper hand.
"I want to come along. Please?" he pressed again.
Rhaegar snapped. "FINE, YOU INFANTILE CRETIN. YOU CAN COME."
"Yes!" Viserys beamed.
Rhaenys was trying very hard not to laugh. Rhaegar shot her a withering side-eye, the kind that said: this is all your fault.
She only cleared her throat.
Once the drama had settled, Rhaegar raised the torch again.
"Alright," he said darkly. "Ground rules. One — no noise. That includes talking loudly, humming, screaming, singing, and whatever that sound is you make when you eat sweets, Viserys."
Viserys and Rhaenys nodded earnestly.
"Two — you do not touch anything."
"I—"
"Anything."
"Fine." Viserys complied.
"Three — no wandering. Do not stray and stay close at all times."
"What if—"
"If you stray," Rhaegar said grimly, "I will not come looking."
Viserys gave a series of quick nods. "Understood."
Rhaegar turned to Rhaenys. "You too. Don't think you're exempt just because you blackmailed me yesterday."
"Technically, I didn't—"
"Do. Not. Start."
She gave a smile. "I'll be a perfect shadow."
Rhaegar trudged to one of the corners of the room and grabbed another torch to accommodate the increased number of participants.
He tossed it to Viserys, who almost fumbled the catch but eventually held it firm.
"Rhaegar," Viserys said suddenly.
"What is it now?"
"What if there's something in the passages?"
"There won't be."
"But what if there is?"
"Then," Rhaegar said, "you'll be the first to know."
Viserys gulped.
And so, eventually, after much delay, the operation—if it could be called that anymore—was back underway with one additional member.
"Alright. Let's get this over with." Rhaegar said as he stepped into the passage first, holding the torch aloft.
Viserys followed next, holding another torch.
And Rhaenys brought up the rear as the stone door behind them groaned, shifting slowly back into place as Rhaegar activated the mechanism in the passage. With a final, muffled thud, it sealed shut once again.
Darkness wrapped around them.
Only the flicker of the torches remained as they started walking towards what was hopefully the Dragonpit.