Work Text:
Dunk sat in the cold, damp cell, staring at the ceiling as if bored. Yet his mind wandered. Tanselle, Aerion, Egg’s lies. He hoped Tanselle was okay, that he had actually protected her rather than getting them both killed.
The rain drummed against the stone of the castle walls, some pittering onto the floor of his cell through the small windows. A lone rat scurried through, most likely seeking shelter from the storm.
Cute, Dunk thought, petting its soft, damp coat. He could never understand the disgust so many people had towards these little guys, only trying to survive another day.
The door burst open, making Dunk jump and the rat to scurry away. At first, he expected to see a servant, but the creature he saw gave him more disgust than a rat ever could.
“Hedge knight,” Aerion shut the door behind himself, “do you know your history? Or is that head of yours completely empty?”
Dunk glared up at him, “why are you here? Just to gloat?” Venom dripped from his voice. He knew it was a mistake, yet he couldn’t hold his tongue. The omega had this effect on Dunk, the hatred in his heart took over any small amount of common sense he had in his head.
Aerion scoffed, looking down at Dunk as if he was nothing but an insect beneath his boot. “The dragon is not to be ignored,” he grabbed Dunk’s face, his nails digging into his cheek, “answer me.”
Dunk flinched away, but Aerion held firm. “I know some,” he stared into the prince’s cruel violet eyes, “but I do not have the upbringing of a prince.”
“Stupid oaf,” Aerion’s grip tightened, drawing the smallest hint of blood, “you punched me, you kicked me. By all rights, you should be mutilated and left to rot.” Aerion’s eyes ran down Dunk’s body, studying him as if he were sword instead of man. “But you can solve a problem of mine. In the old days, before Queen Alysanne… do you even know that name? No matter. There was a tradition where, if an omega stood accused of a crime against an alpha, the alpha could claim the omega as a mate.”
Dunk growled, instantly sensing the implications behind Aerion’s words, “I am no omega, and you are no alpha.”
Aerion shrugged, “I am a dragon, I can do as I please. If I want to reverse the roles of the tradition, what does it matter?”
“This is madness!” Dunk pushed himself as far from Aerion as possible, while the omega stayed impossibly calm. “I will not. You cannot force a bond.”
Aerion smiled. Not a sign of joy or comradery, but a cruel, vicious thing. Like a predator who’d cornered its prey. “I’m a dragon, and you’re just a brainless hedge knight who can’t control his own scent. My father thinks he can mate me off to whatever lordly alpha he wants but I,” Aerion licked his lips, “I’d much rather have a mutt I could control as I please.”
Dunk was about to fight back, to argue that the omega could never control him. But as soon as his mouth opened, a wave of scent slammed into his very being. Omegan fear, omegan arousal, all with that Targaryen scent of fire and blood so intense it made Dunk’s nostrils burn.
His instincts flared, in equal parts wanting to protect and fuck. Yet Aerion was far too calm for the scents washing off him. “They teach us royals to control our scents, did you know that? And being a dragon only makes it easier,” the scents thickened. If Dunk hadn’t already been sitting, he would’ve fallen to the floor.
“I can see your eyes blurring,” Aerion purred, “good dog.” The prince laid on the floor, spreading his legs. Dunk’s eyes focused on that spot between them, but he dared not move. Not until the omega gave him permission.
“As much as I hate to do this in this filth, take me. Knot me. Claim me,” Dunk knew an order when he heard one. Ignoring the last sane part of his mind screaming for him to stop, Dunk climbed on top of Aerion, ripping his pants off him to expose his cock and hole, wet with slick.
If Dunk was in his right mind, he’d be gentle. Hell, he wouldn’t be doing this. But the scent dug into every fiber of his being, the omega begging to be fucked. So Dunk growled as he entered Aerion, ignoring the prince’s cry of pain as he shoved himself all the way in.
“Fuck, you’re a beast,” Aerion moaned, “give me more. Show me you’re mine.”
Dunk’s thrusts were hard and rough, jerking Aerion’s body with every one. Aerion pushed his hands under Dunk’s shirt to claw at his back, drawing blood. Yet Dunk didn’t feel the pain, all he felt was the overwhelming need to breed and knot and claim.
Aerion tilted his neck, allowing Dunk access to his scent glad. Dunk leapt to the opportunity. Licking it, nibbling, leaving bites right around it yet not on it. He knew, they both knew, that Dunk wouldn’t leave the claiming bite until his knot formed.
“I should keep you in a cage,” Aerion thrust his hips in time with Dunk, “lock you up until I want to use you again. Not sure if I have one big enough.”
The degrading words flew right over Dunk’s preoccupied mind. “I’ll fit you with a collar, my father’ll be pissed but, ah, I don’t care. I’ll leash you so you can’t run off.”
The pleasure was building and building and building until Dunk couldn’t hold it back. He came inside Aerion, heaps of cum escaping him as his knot grew. For a moment, his rational mind returned. He wanted to run, to get as far from Aerion as possible.
“None of that,” Aerion muttered, sounding more tired than Dunk had ever heard him. He’d came too, at some point. Aerion pushed fear through his scent, and it felt like a sword. “Please, alpha, don’t leave me. What if I get pregnant? I can’t do it without you.”
Dunk frowned, scenting his omega in an attempt at comfort. He knew what he wanted, how he could truly help him. Dunk bit down on his scent glad, tasting the thick, metallic taste of dragon blood.
As soon as the bite was done, Aerion drew his scent back completely, allowing Dunk to rush back to his conscious self. He panted, staring at the bite on Aerion’s neck, the bite that bound their souls.
“Why?” Dunk asked. Why would he bond with a hedge knight? Why would he force a bond with someone who hated him? Why did this have to happen?
“I’m not a piece of meat for my father to sell as he pleases,” Aerion closed his eyes, “but you’re a piece of meat I can use to get away from all that.”
“You-“ Dunk wanted to get the hell out of Aerion, but he knew the knot wouldn’t die down for a couple more minutes. “What… what happens now?”
Aerion laughed, “gods, you really are stupid, aren’t you? Well, I’ll take you back to Summerhall and do what I please with you, obviously. It’s not like you can leave my side.”
Right, of course. That made sense. They were mates, now, and even though Dunk wasn’t sure exactly what that entailed, he knew they’d have to stick together. He’d never seen a mated pair far from each other.
“I can see your brain trying to run, stop that,” Aerion flicked his forehead, “it doesn’t suit you. I control your fate now, so don’t get all caught up in things you can’t control, it’s irritating.”
Dunk scowled, “usually, the alpha is the one in charge.” Or, in the relationships Dunk had dreamed of, they could be equal.
“Yet I am the prince and you are the peasant, besides,” Aerion’s scent spiked again, just for a moment. A reminder, a threat.
Dunk’s knot dissipated soon after, and Dunk finally got the relief of being off of the prince. Aerion rolled his eyes, “you’d think I was poison with the way you run from me.”
“Are you much better than a poison?” Dunk grumbled, a sense of dread settling in his stomach. A life under Aerion was perhaps no life at all.
Aerion shrugged, getting redressed with an elegance shocking from a recently knotted and claimed omega. “Perhaps not, but try not to sulk so much, it’s very annoying.”
Dunk wanted to beat him again. Wanted to pummel the omega into the ground for what he’d done to him, stealing his life away like it was nothing. And it was nothing to him, Dunk knew that. Aerion cared for Dunk about as much as he cared for a cockroach.
A cockroach who had fucked and bonded with him.
“What exactly does the bond… entail?” Dunk found that he really didn’t care how stupid he looked to Aerion anymore, Aerion would think as he would, no matter what Dunk did.
Still, the incredulous look on Aerion’s face was a jab to the soul. “You… don’t know?”
“How in the seven hells am I supposed to know?!”
Aerion laughed, he laughed so hard he clutched his stomach. Dunk wanted to murder him, to see his lifeless eyes devoid of amusement.
“I think I’ll leave you blind,” Aerion’s eyes were not lifeless. They were filled with a cruel glint. “Let you figure it out on your own.”
“I hate you.” Dunk wished he could get the full weight of those words to hit Aerion. But of course, Aerion didn’t care.
“Tell me something I don’t know,” Aerion stood, brushing hay and dirt from his clothes and hair. “Gods, how do you live like this?”
‘How do you live with yourself’? If Dunk were a braver man, he’d have said the word aloud. Alas, he wasn’t. It was pointless anyway, Aerion would just ignore him.
“Come along now,” Aerion gestured, “let’s get you cleaned up so I can explain this to my uncle and father.”
***
“Aerion.” Prince Maekar hissed. “What in the actual fuck?”
Prince Baelor stared into Dunk’s eyes, knowing far too much. There was pity there, and a sense of tiredness. “It is tradition, although a bastardized version of one not used in over a hundred years.” Baelor’s eyes moved to Aerion, switching from pity to burning anger.
“He wronged me, I had the right to take him as my mate,” Aerion leaned against the wall, too calm for the situation.
“You were going to be mated to-“ Maekar cut himself off at Baelor’s gesture. The two were a mated pair, and Baelor the alpha.
“This is going to me a fucking mess,” Maekar grumbled in a quiet voice.
“Yes, and one we have to clean up,” Dunk felt glad he wasn’t at the receiving end of Baelor’s stare anymore. He couldn’t understand how Aerion wasn’t sinking into himself. “You were supposed to mate to Lord Lyonel, now he will surely be displeased.”
“Fuck if I care!” Aerion hissed, “I’m not moving to Storm’s End to pump out that freak’s pups!”
Dunk’s mind raced. Firstly, with the idea of Aerion getting mated with Lyonel, of all people. That seemed… dangerous. Secondly, pups. Aerion could have pups. He could have pups and the other father would be Aerion. The idea made him nauseous.
“So you mated to a random fucking peasant knight, against his fucking will,” Maekar held his head in his hands, “fuck it.”
Maekar stood, moving to grab Aerion by the collar and pull him out of the room. Dunk watched them, glad to be away from Aerion for the first time in hours.
Baelor sighed, leaning into his chair. Dunk noticed the stress in his face. “I apologize for the situation you are in. I will do my best to keep Aerion in line.”
“Um,” Dunk fiddled with his fingers, nervous to ask this to Baelor, nervous that Aerion would be angry with him for asking. Fuck him. “I, um, don’t actually know what the bond does? Aerion wouldn’t explain it to me.”
Baelor Breakspear was known for his renown in battle, his calm mind, and his kindness. So seeing his face instantly crumble was like a punch in the gut for Dunk.
“It’s a soul bond,” Baelor explained, “one that cannot be broken. Even in death. When one of you dies, so does the other. You cannot be too far without experiencing pain. And once the bond starts settling, your emotions and sensations will be tied together.”
Baelor took a long sip of wine, “Aerion was cruel to force this upon you. But what’s done is done, I hope you can be good for him.”