A few days had passed since the incident at the market, and even though nothing unusual had happened since, Elyse couldn't help but feel on edge, as if her world was a breath away from shattering. Of course, she had been paranoid for years, worried that somehow her identity would be discovered, but the years had tempered it to some extent, she mostly relied on Oberyn for excessive concern over her safety.
Her mind was constantly alert.
She had avoided telling anyone about the necklace and the strange man that seemed to know too much about both it and her, something captured the words before she could utter the and there was nothing she could do to stop it. Maybe some part of her wanting to pretend as if there was nothing to worry about, that the necklace had nothing to do with her, the Targaryens were nothing more than people she had heard of.
She was Rhaenys Targaryen.
Rhaenys Targaryen died years ago, a child of three summers who had a happy life and a tragic death, died not knowing of her father's betrayal, her grandfather's madness and the pain that came from her lineage.
Elyse Sand on the other hand was a daughter of House Martell, a young woman who worried for nothing and spent her days in the Water Gardens, playing with her siblings and cousins, occasionally venturing to Sunspear when her uncle Doran decided to take ruling Dorne seriously. Elyse was happy, she may be a bastard but she was a Dornish bastard, loved by her family and had nothing to worry about in the world.
"Dear cousin! I've been looking for you." Arianne's familiar voice broke her concentration.
Arianne had found her sat in the library, tucked into an alcove with a book titled 'The History of House Martell" – a favourite of Elyse's.
The trueborn daughter of Prince Doran, the heir, was a beautiful woman who was entirely aware of the effect she had on men. A Dornish beauty with her long dark curls and infinitely dark eyes, she was a fiery beauty which a temper to match. Arianne had been one of the most vocal when it came to matters concerning Elyse; they both carried an anger around in them: anger at the death of her aunt Elia and Elia's young son, anger at the fact that Elyse was forced to pretend to be a simple bastard when she had been born a Princess. But most strongly: anger at Doran's unwillingness to seek revenge.
Arianne sat herself beside Elyse, clasping the younger girl's hands in her own. "I need to tell you something."
"I'm listening." She replied hesitantly, cautious about whatever had made Arianne seek her out.
"You can't tell our cousins, not Sarella, not Nymeria, not any of them. Father doesn't even want me telling you, but you deserve to know." She insisted with an assertive tone, her eyes completely serious.
"I won't tell anyone, just tell me."
"I am betrothed." Arianne said simply, watching Elyse's reaction.
She didn't know if she was shocked or not. Most highborn girls would already be married by Arianne's age, but Doran had been reluctant to accept any proposals, for what reason Elyse didn't know.
She was about to exclaim her congratulations when she paused, why did Doran not want anyone to know? Why did Arianne insist on telling me?
"Who to?" She decided was to safest answer.
When Arianne finally spoke she did so calmly, letting no emotion into her words. "Your uncle."
"My uncle?" She didn't understand, and it took several seconds for her to remember that she still had an uncle, a Targaryen uncle. "Viserys?" She stretched the syllables out, having uttered the name for the first time in years.
Nodding, Arianne elaborated: "Apparently it has been arranged for years, but he only sought fit to tell me today." Her words became bitter as she spat. "I thought he might have enough respect to understand that I have a choice in the matter, he let me think I had a choice in who I marry, but he lied! One day, sooner or later, he will die and I will rule in my own right. He has taken all of that away from me, I am just a political tool for him."
Though she was still in shock at the thought of Arianne marrying Viserys, she could see exactly why Arianne was angry. If Doran was intending them to marry then it meant he was tying the future of House Martell with House Targaryen, as if that went well the last time that happened. Doing so would anger the Baratheons and Lannisters who had tried so hard to erase the dragons from Westeros, and the marriage would be essentially declaring war. Elyse could only imagine that Doran would do so if he was planning to put the Targaryens back on the throne.
"I don't understand why he would do that, does he want Viserys to be king?"
"I assume so, I can't even begin to understand his logic! I swear to the gods my father is going mad, the Targaryens had brought nothing but misery and death to our family and he wants to do so again. He refuses to demand revenge against the Lannisters for your mother's death but he is happy to marry me to the Targaryens. He is insane!"
Suddenly, Elyse wondered something, "So he had been in contact with Viserys?"
"Apparently, we were betrothed not long after the rebellion, after you arrived. I doubt your uncle had much say in the matter either. Elyse, he could be as mad as his father!" This kind of outburst was unlike anything she had seen from Arianne before. Yes, Arianne had a temper which was wasn't afraid to unleash, but most of the time she was more controlled then this, concealing her true intentions until the right moment.
"I don't think Viserys is mad." Her uncle had been four years older than her and as such obviously hadn't wanted to spend copious amounts of time with her. However, the boy she remembered hadn't been unusual.
"You don't think…" Her answer was clearly not sufficient for her cousin, who encouraged Elyse to speak more.
"He was a normal child, I'm not sure." She struggled to remember things she had previously tried to actively block. "A bit spoilt if I remember correctly."
"That was years ago, now he is a grown man stuck in Essos with your aunt and crazy ambitions of returning to Westeros and taking back the throne."
Daenerys. Her aunt she has never met.
"He wants to be king?" Of course, Elyse knew that her aunt and uncle were living in exile, but for some reason had never made the connection that one day they might want to return. Being honest about herself, she had never considered being queen once. The Targaryens had been removed from the throne, that was it, dynasties come and go and there was no point trying to fight the change.
Not answering her question, Arianne continued. "I don't know why he is supporting Viserys. If he wants a Targaryen on the throne then why doesn't he just support you? He knows you and-"
Elyse interrupted, her voice colder than she had ever used before. "I'm not a Targaryen." Her short, blunt response seemed to break Arianne from her rant.
"Rhaenys…" She flinched under that name, putting her head in her hands as she felt a headache emerging.
"No. I am not a Targaryen, I am not Rhaenys. Don't call me that." She punctuated each word with force, biting through each sentence as if it burnt.
"You can't just act as if that side of you doesn't exist, however much I want to agree with you."
Arianne was usually happy for Elyse to embrace her Martell heritage, but she had grown tired of her cousin's denial.
"Quiet! How dare you act as if you know who I am and how I feel. Why would I want to be a Targaryen when all that means is accepting a legacy of inbred monsters who all turn mad? Is it so bad to want nothing to do with that?" She jumped up from her seat, her headache flared, as did her temper.
Arianne rose to meet her, and stared Elyse right in her eyes. "Get yourself together and stop acting like a petulant child. You want to be treated like an adult who can make mature decisions, but that can't happen until you start acting like an adult. I see you as a Martell and if that is what you want to be then that's alright, but you can't just ignore anything else that doesn't fit your narrative. You are so concerned about your mad relatives that you can't see that if you continuing acting this way then you'll certainly go mad."
Part of Elyse felt unbelievably ashamed and wanted nothing more than to promise Arianne that she would change, and accept who she really was.
The reality was far different.
Pushing Arianne away from her, she hurried out the library slamming the door as she went.