Chapter Six: the Rats of the Red Keep's Walls
The maiden with skin as pale as weirdwood knew Alyssa's history lesson of last week had been on no other than her own late father, she had overheard septa Rhaella discussing it as she and another septa traversed the halls of the Red Keep, on their way to educate the princelings. They talked at such a volume, the maiden could hear every word through the walls. Rarely did any secret uttered in any corridor of the Red Keep escape her or her mother's ears.
The septas were pondering if King Jaehaerys and Queen Alysanne's young children should be exposed to the full extent of the cruelties of their own uncle Maegor, for it could awaken a crude bloodlust in the young dragons, known to have plagued some of their kin. They were of High Valyrian blood after all, and every time a dragon is born, the Gods hold their breath. King Jaehaerys had insisted however, that his children be received a detailed, objective education, including about all that befell his own parents' struggle fighting Maegor's terror, for history may never repeat itself.
That was most amusing to the maiden, musing her treacherous uncle Jaehaerys may feel her presence haunting him and his family.
Not one of her kin would ever suspect whom they had shared their entire childhoods, spying from within the very walls of the castle they call home. Tonight, she had awoken Alyssa, just to listen to her drift off to sleep again from within the network of narrow hidden walls her father had built in the Red Keep. None of the men involved in its erection had lived to share the secrets of the walls, but Alynna enjoyed certain privileges, as Maegor the Cruel's only surviving heir.
She could just catch a giggle from slipping her lips when she thought "they will not be able to remember the sweet bliss of their innocent childhoods, of this past peace, once I complete my mother's plans...".