#the dragon's betrothed

[who-do-i-know-this-man-s4]

⚠️Vote for whomever YOU DO NOT KNOW⚠️‼️

[books-movies-anime-shows-games]

At last, the Darling! artbook is mine ❤️😍 I love every single page of it so much 😭 😭 (the struggle to fit as much as possible in this post was real 😩) -- Part 2

[Part 1]

[polycraftory]

Another week, another book haul! These are the books we received between 9/17/24 and 9/23/24. Where did this week go? I feel like I misplaced it somehow.

On the bright side, we've got some stuff in here that I am incredibly excited for. For all of you polyamory lovers, we've been working hard to acquire and review as many books with polyam rep as possible. Out of this week's haul, Darker By Four by June CL Tan, Strange Grace by Tessa Gratton, and the SPECTR series by Jordan L. Hawk should all feature polyamorous relationships. Gabe read the first half of the SPECTR series a long time ago and is really looking forward to diving back into it. Nic also got Gabe The Twisted Ones by @tkingfisher because Gabe is feral about every single one of her books.

We got this lovely version of Dragon Falls (How to Tame a Husband) by Davis Lavender from the @rainbowcrate Cozy Fantasy box. I read it in two sittings and it was exactly the sweet gay romcom I needed as a pick me up after a hard week. Check out @ edgybutfemme on Storygraph for a full review of this funny dragon riding isekai romance. Also, the main character is demisexual & demiromantic, and I've never actually found a book with that rep before!

I'm going to start actually moving some of our written reviews for books from Storygraph (and video reviews from our TikTok, I've been a hot mess) over to Tumblr soon so stay tuned for that!

[glosschi]

I don’t want to give up on you, or us.

The Dragon's Betrothed

[selkie-tea-tin]

If I had a nicked for every time I got tragically invested in BL series that was left unfinished I would have two nickles. Which is not a lot but it's sad that it happened twice, right? :')

[kaitiedidslibrary]

Book thirteen! Getting back on track after a busy work week.

I pre-ordered this one too. It was suggested when I was checking out, and I am a weak, weak person.

I'm glad I picked this one up. It reminds me of early 2000s fantasy romance manga and I mean that in the best way possible.

So author Izunome Chiharu has been having a really rough time. His grandma, who raised him, died, and he was away when it happened. (There's also something else about his grandma that he's dealing with, but it hasn't been resolved yet.) When he arrived at the station, he meets Rin, who said he was waiting for his bride.

That bride happens to be Chiharu.

Rin's a dragon god, and despite Chiharu's initial rejection, he's doing his best to convince Chiharu that he will be the best husband.

It's the perfect balance of fluff and domesticity, and seriousness. Rin learning to be human is adorable, and so is their bonding. The scene where he's showing Chiharu his shapeshifting power is so cute. My other favorite is in the tree at the sunset, when he's comforting him.

It's scenes like that I love the most, because it's not instalove- they're learning each other, and getting closer.

The kitsune was unsettling in his shifting, and I'm worried about Rin going a little see-through. I will be ordering the sequel immediately.

Additional notes:

Dragon gods who are simps for their humans.... Very good. One of my favorites. There should be much more of this. 😤

Also, childhood friend arc? 👀

Also, Rin's design? The white hair and green dragon eyes? Beautiful. And his dragon form! I love the electric horns.

The fact that Chiharu has family and they feel real? Ten out of ten.

Ahhh the fact that Rin was like, "You know what you'd like? A dragon form of your own! :D" Chiharu is stronger than me.

And Rin hanging out with Grandma? I need to know.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[catebees]

Dwarven ladies are an underrepresented demographic in Dragon Age and I'm here to fix that

[the-monstermash]

UNBROKEN BETROTHALS

Aemond Targaryen x Reader

Synopsis: After running away from an unwanted proposal, you find yourself working in a brothel as a cook. When a certain guest takes an odd liking to you, secrets are revealed and betrothals unbroken

Warnings: Angst, Brothels, Mature, 18+, Eventual Smut, Explicit Language

Word Count: 2,187

> **A/N:** AHHHHHH this is my first character fic, and only the second one I've ever been brave enough to post! I also had to post this on mobile because my browser was being wild so sorry for any formatting issues!

The sound of senseless fucking had never seemed to bother you. Easy to filter out, truthfully, and not as traveling as one would think it to be. No, there are many things worse, like for instance the smell. One never takes into account the smell of sex, much less the smell of alcohol fueled, desperate, old haggard men driving the last of their life-force into some disinterested cunny eager to make a coin. Eager to spend a coin, as well.

That's where you came in. Whores work up quite an appetite, one you are all too happy to satisfy, no pun intended. You'd been with Sylvi for years, after you'd run from your family in the dead of night, afraid of the life they'd planned for you.

"Everybody must eat," Sylvi sighed the night she met you, disinterested. "If you will not fuck, you will feed. We earn our keep around these parts, you'll do well to learn quickly."

That was the start of a very standoffish, albeit maternal, relationship. Sylvi had never truly cared for your company, but she cared for you, and that was more than many could say, and more than you could say of any kin. She had taken you in, given you shelter among her girls, and had asked very little of you, knowing your past. She'd seen you into young womanhood, and taught you all you wished to know about life. She was not coddling, nor cruel. She was just what you needed, and it seemed many shared the sentiment.

You were in a daydream as you went about your nightly tasks. The brothel would be closing in a few hours, the girls would need food, and you had really set into it, working quick and messily, spinning and turning about in an attempt to do too many things at once.

Just as you'd turned from the broth and made way to the oven, a wall had manifested itself and blocked your passage. No, not really a wall. Moreso a tree, in it's slender and sharp way. The branches had reached out to hold you, wrapping around your waist and breaking you from your reverie. Suddenly before you was a bare chest, pale in color and smooth like silk. He was taught with muscle, cut like marble. The kind of statue kings pay fortunes for, just to place in their hallway and walk past every morning.

"Sir, no one is meant in the kitchens." You had spoken before you'd had the chance to understand what you were saying, turning from him and back towards your oven to retrieve the loaves. "You'll need to return back to the brothel, Sylvi will not have men in her kitchen."

"'Twas Sylvi that sent me. I've come for wine." The voice was quiet, but in a way that made the ears strain to hear him, instead of drown him out.

Wine? Why would he not stop at the many*tables he'd have to pass to get here?You'd thought. This man must have ill intentions.

Slowly grabbing your bread knife, you turned your head to the side to face the intruder.

Prince Aemond Targaryen.

"My Prince! " The sound of metal rang through the room as you dropped the blade unto the table to turn fully towards him. "My sincerest apologies, my prince! Please forgive me, I had no idea!" You did your best curtsy, and prayed to the Seven that he wouldn't find me impertinent, and would be in a forgiving mood. What you'd just done could be viewed as treason, an attempt on the prince's life.

In the state he was in, which you had noticed, you surmised he just might be in a forgiving mood. He was nude from head to toe, his brow beaded from heat and, hopefully, exertion. The hook of his nose looked sharper as his purple eye followed it to look down at you. He was beautiful, almost overly so. It could only have been Prince Aemond, the eye patch gave him away, even though you'd never seen him before, you'd be a fool not to know the stories of the one-eyed prince. And you'd known him to be a rather fond client of Sylvi's, as she boasted often to the other girls at dinner.

His presence there in your safe haven was unnerving, and once again the sounds of debauchery were drowned out, but now it was as if he'd sucked the noise from the room. He was too tall for the room, it was not made for him. What would a kitchen made for a God even look like? The very notion to build such a thing seemed almost blasphemous to you. He was looking at you like you didn't even exist, almost through you. His stare was too deep for that of a stranger, but perhaps he had to look so intensely because his lack of an eye.

He finally cleared his throat, as if it would've pained him to repeat himself.

"The wine, yes. We are a humble establishment, so you will have to be forgiving with our selection. I'll have our best sent to you at once!" And with that, he let out a low hum and left you to your duties.

You'd quickly managed a carafe and two goblets, and sent it through with a boy, with strict instructions to deliver it to the prince. You'd have delivered it yourself, but as you did not know where he was, and did not have the time searching the brothel for him, you'd relented to send it through a lord's boy, and hope he was competent enough to manage it.

As the sounds died out from the front of the house, you'd began shuffling out with bowls of broth and loaves for the girl. They took it gratefully, each dropping two coins in your hands and sitting to eat, sharing small talk and whatever gossip they had learned from their clients.

"Ser Lannister had quite a bit to share tonight. He speaks of war. Do you know what war means?" Lauryn spoke excitedly.

"Rapers." Another girl, Cate called from farther away, monotone. "Foreign men coming into the city in siege, taking over the villages."

"It means more clients, Cate." Sylvi's voice quickly silenced the small talk, as she walked to the table and sat, ready to be served her complimentary meal. Her place at the table, as always, was already set, and she reached for her wine immediately. "War means the king calls for more men. They leave their wives, and with no one to warm their bed, they come to us."

"Precisely." Lauryn agreed readily. "If war comes, I welcome it. I don't give a shit who sits the throne, as long as the crown prospers enough to put gold in my pocket." She lifted her goblet, a smirk on her face at her own clever musing.

"I'll drink to that." Another girl called from the back, which caused an rupture of quiet laughter through the room.

As you passed to fill an empty cup, Sylvi grabbed you arm, and pulled you in close enough to whisper.

"I require a moment with you." At your confirming nod, she raised from her seat and left to her room. You were quick to follow, leaving the carafe with the girls, who took it readily and saluted your departure.

Once in her lavish rooms, Sylvi sat at her vanity and peered at you through the mirror, an air of drama filled the room and caused you to rock on your toes in an attempt to soothe yourself.

"I see you've met the Prince."

Oh. You'd thought surely this would be a serious conversation, but as you had spoken so few words to the man, you could not see how possibly she could have taken issue with your conversation. Unless the prince had told her about your grabbing the knife, in which you were in deep shit.

"Yes, ma'am." You sat in an armchair and folded your hands in your lap. "He came to ask for wine, and I had some sent with a squire, I believe."

"He seemed to take a liking to you." She brushed off your words just as she now did her hair, her lips pressed into a tight line that betrayed her nonchalant tone. "He asked for you, the next time he graced us with his patronage."

Your throat tightened and your stomach lurched. This can't be. Your conversations were short, and you had nearly insulted him, and then only half obeyed his order by sending someone in your stead with the wine. Perhaps he hoped for a moment alone so he could punish you for your insolence. Perhaps he was just playing at a joke, and Sylvi had taken it for more than he had meant it. Though he did not seem to you a joking type, and Sylvi seemed sure in her words.

Would she sell you to the prince? It hardly seemed as though you would be in a position to refuse, should he insist on a private meeting with you. But perhaps Sylvi had a sway with the prince that others did not.

"I...don't understand, ma'am. I do not-"

"Of course, I told him you were not that type of girl." She reassured. "He listens to me, you know. I'm one of the only he bears his heart to." Her voice took on a dreamier tone. "I'm the only woman he's known."

"I had no idea." I spoke distantly, still reeling at the idea of being asked for personally, and by a man of such high standing.

"What did you say to him? When he came to the kitchens. I sent him for wine, and he comes back without wine, and with a sudden interest in you" She turns around now, her eyes appraising and scrutinizing.

"I did not say anything, ma'am. I had mistaken him for a mere lord at first, I told him to leave. And then he ordered the wine, and I told him it would be done! I promise, there was nothing untoward, and no advances."

You spoke at a mile a minute to plead your case. It was clear this woman had an attachment to the prince, and you would not give the impression that you were there to threaten it. Sylvi was a kind woman, but a burn so scalding might just scorch her heart enough to cast you out.

"I swear it to you, ma'am. I've no interest in the prince, and he none in me. If anything, he only wishes to punish me privately for the way I behaved before I knew he was the prince." She nodded at your words.

"Nonetheless, I let him know you were not available. He did not take the refusal well, but such is his way. Dragons are not used to the word 'no'." She readjusted and smiled at you. "It's nothing to worry at, my dear. Just go about your duties, and do not speak to the prince again. He'll forget you in time." You nodded and stood to leave.

"Thank you. You've done such a kindness for me, and I owe you my life. I would never make such a slight against you, please know that." Her dismissing nod and small tired smile was enough for you to turn and take your leave.

The women had filled their bellies of wine and broth, and some began to make way to their beds, others staying around to gossip. You approached the lingering girls, grabbing a loaf from the table and sitting on a chair to eat.

"So, will you?" Lauryn, who still remained, asked you, as if the incomplete question was all you needed to know. When you only responded with a questioning look, she rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Will you fuck him? Everyone here heard the prince and Sylvi's clash. He wanted you. He begged for you!" The other girls began giggling and wiggling their eyebrows at you. "It drove her mad! He doesn't want her anymore."

"Not wanting Sylvi is one thing, but wanting you is another." Another girl, Maria, a Dornish delicacy, played with her hair as she spoke with a natural coolness. "If you don't want to, of course you shouldn't, but you should consider it. A prince would pay handsomely, perhaps even enough for you to move on."

"I would not do that to Sylvi, I would not do it at all. I wouldn't even know how, I'm not versed in the...fetishes of men."

"She told him such, but he would not hear it. He asked for an exception to be made, perhaps a private arrangement. If anything, it seemed to appeal to him more, knowing you were still untouched." Lauryn jumped back in, eager to return back to her teasing.

"I would only lay with a man I chose. I did not have the option before I left home, but I do now, and I will choose myself who I bed." And with that, you stood to leave, retiring to your room for the night.

[hinamie]

hhmmmmm uh im dusting the cobwebs off my brain trying 2 come up w something interestinf uhh.......anything non spoiler-y you can discuss w regards to geto in the atla au perchance?

hi rin !!!!! tysm fr sending i hope u r doing well <3

atla geto lore fr u courtesy of sam:

he's a waterbender from the northern water tribe. he can bloodbend but finds it distasteful

he gave gojo the betrothal necklace/proposed to him when they were 20 (all of the adult characters are aged up in the fic vs jjk canon ages)

all of his decisions are driven by a desire to lighten the burden placed on gojo's shoulders

aaaaand atla geto draws fr u courtesy of Me :3

jjk atla!au with @philosophiums

[ride-thedragon]

I love it when husbands and wives match.

[books-movies-anime-shows-games]

At last, the Darling! artbook is mine ❤️😍 I love every single page of it so much 😭 😭 (the struggle to fit as much as possible in this post was real 😩) -- Part 1

[Part 2]

[prideprejudce]

AU Reds Poster: Alicent joins Rhaenrya as her advisor and wife after escaping her father's influence.

She escapes Kings Landing with Helaena and her grandchildren just in time. Unfortunately, her father has already sunk his teeth into her two sons who are ready to fight for their right to the iron throne. How will Alicent choose between her family and her beloved Rhaenyra when the time comes?

[glosschi]

If all that awaits me is a life of rejection, then death is a mercy.

The Dragon's Betrothed

[sommornyte]

𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐀𝐔𝐑𝐎𝐑𝐀 𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑 & 𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐀𝐄𝐆𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐆𝐀𝐑𝐘𝐄𝐍 𝐈𝐈

𝗜 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗮 𝗳𝗮𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗰 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝘀𝗼 𝗯𝗮𝗱𝗹𝘆, 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗔𝗲𝗴𝗼𝗻’𝘀 𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗯𝗲 𝗮 𝗟𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 (𝙗𝙚𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙛𝙪𝙡, 𝙖𝙡𝙘𝙤𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙘, 𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙝), 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗲𝗹𝘀𝗲 𝗮𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗲?

[kaitiedidslibrary]

Dragon gods who are simps for their human brides is one of my favorite tropes

[saltywinteradult]

This is what people need to understand: Rhaenicent isn't for Alicent stans, it exists for Rhaenyra fans only.

They would never have Rhaenyra grovel at Alicent's feet.

They would never have Rhaenyra agree to make Aegon II her heir instead of Jace.

They would never have Rhaenyra forgive Aemond for Luke's death.

They would never have Rhaenyra abandon her children and people.

It's the reason I could never like Rhaenicent, from Day 1 it was made abundantly clear that this ship existed solely to prop up Rhaenyra.

I think you are entirely correct, anon​ - but only about canon Rhaenicent.

Of course the hack HotD writers were never going to disrespect Nyra Sue like they disrespected Alicent. And most Rhaenicent shippers are Rhaenyra stans who are fine with that. It’s perfectly fine if that’s a dealbreaker to you - but allow me to elaborate on why it isn’t to me.

Wanting a pairing to get together in canon is not the only way to ship. I am a tragedy enjoyer first and a human being second; the appeal of Rhaenicent to me lies in Rhaenicent as a tragic lost love that never could be, because they were doomed by the narrative to become enemies. (Or as a hilarious ”broke up and made it everyone’s problem” dynamic when I’m in a facetious mood. Gay sex would probably make this situation worse but they should try anyway etc etc) Most of the many, many, many times I've stated this opinion, I've seen at least a couple of people agreeing with me. While we are in the minority among Rhaenicent shippers, we do exist. So it should go without saying that I hate, hate, HAAATE what the show did with Rhaenicent in season 2.

However, while the show writers are unfortunately beholden to their stupid, stupid version of the canon story, fans aren't! There's nothing stopping anyone from writing what the HotD writers should've written - Alicent and Rhaenyra pining away for each other, going to war and hating every minute of it, yet unable to do anything but hurt each other over and over because they were forced to become enemies. Or writing a fic where Rhaenyra grovels at Alicent’s feet. Or writing any of the countless canon divergent scenarios where Rhaenicent could’ve happened without butchering either character.

So yes, anon, canon Rhaenicent unfortunately exists only to prop​ up Rhaenyra. I am with the haters on that one. But fanon Rhaenicent is ours to do with as we wish.