Daenerys

Today was a warm day, the hottest there had been since she had arrived at Sunspear.

Prince Quentyn was here today too, which only furthered Daenerys discomfort. She had dreaded this day for some time, the thought of meeting the stranger that she was to marry.

Daenerys wore a sleeveless black silk dress, with red rubies emblazoned on it that were shaped to look a little like dragons. The dress did little to conceal her belly though.

It seemed to grow even faster with each passing day, and by now nearly half her time with the babe in her was done.

She might have been able to keep it hidden still but the clothes that did had proven to be too warm for the Dornish climate, and so her swollen stomach was plain for all to see.

She wondered what madness was guiding Prince Doran. He did not have to marry her to Quentyn, and with a word he could easily break off their betrothal, if one could even call it that, yet he hadn't. It wouldn't be so bad if he did, Daenerys had decided anyway, since she could either remain at Sunspear as a guest, or even return to Winterfell. Robb would be pleased to meet their son, she thought to herself. It was a son, she was certain. She decided she would name him Rickard, for Robb's grandfather, hoping that it would please him.

Making him though had proved more fun than carrying him, Daenerys thought to herself, with her strange cravings and how large and unseemly she felt. But the thought of a son of her own growing within her seemed to make it all worth it somehow.

Princess Arianne had suggested that she write to Robb, telling him of the child he had put in her, but Daenerys hadn't. She didn't even know where to start in the letter, nor even where it would need to be sent.

Lord Eddard might have known how to help her, but he rotted in the black cells. A cell Robb was at war trying to free him from.

She had failed Robb there, just as she had betrayed him, and for that Daenerys couldn't forgive herself.

He had betrayed you too, a small voice inside her whispered. He had sent her here to marry Quentyn after he had taken her Maidenhead, even if he didn't know it was what Aegon had planned.

She tried to avoid thinking of Robb as the Prince entered. He had arrived a little earlier, though Daenerys had not left the castle to greet him.

Daenerys still had not been told much of Quentyn, which only fueled how nervous she felt. She had met his younger brother, Trystane, who seemed a sweet lad who would not mind being a father to her child, and was closer in age to her, but it seemed that it had to be Quentyn. Seeing him now, Daenerys was disappointed. She must have pictured him to be either like his father or his uncle, but he wasn't particularly either.

He had a plain face, with a square jaw, big brown eyes, a broad nose, and a high forehead. There were some wisps of a mustache as well, while his hair wasn't black like Princess Arianne's, but a deep brown.

Unremarkable was what Daenerys decided he was, not hideous or beautiful. Just another man that she would have thought little of if she saw him in passing.

He greeted her by placing a kiss on her hand. "My lady," he said when he had finished. There was little warmth, both in his words or his kiss, which seemed more to be the courtesies he had been taught than anything.

Daenerys noted he did not call her princess as his father had. "My prince," she addressed him as was proper for him.

Quentyn studied over her. Arianne had told her that she looked beautiful today, and had nothing to worry about, while Prince Doran had assured her that he was sure to fall in love with her. But it wasn't her beauty that concerned her though, it was the babe in her belly that troubled her.

Every day she had wondered why Prince Doran was willing to marry her to Quentyn. Her family had fallen from power before she was born after all. She brought no wealth or power and was not of a great house that most Princes took brides from.

And before they would have wed, she'll have borne a bastard too. She remembered that Lord Jon Arryn had married Lady Lysa Tully, Lady Catelyn's sister, during the war they called Robert's Rebellion after she had birthed a bastard too, but Lord Arryn was an old man lacking heirs to follow him, and Lady Lysa was of good and high birth.

She watched as he studied her, until his eyes saw her tummy, and she moved her hands there protectively. Prince Doran hadn't told him about it yet, she was certain, which meant this would come as a shock to him surely.

"My lady I…" He began to say, fumbling at his words. "I had not known… Father… He did not say-"

"-That I am with child?" She asked, trying to keep her voice as confident as she could. Daenerys would have a need for some courage, Arianne told her, both for the babe and for herself, and she tried to show some here.

The prince nodded softly, though he did not seem too pleased with it.

"I am," she told him. She felt a little relieved finally saying the words, but she noticed how shocked the Prince was. "We… We aren't to wed for another year, I was told."

There was a little anger in the Prince's face. No doubt when he had been told he was going to marry a princess, he had imagined she would be coming to his bed a maiden, but in truth she would already have been a mother to another's child by then.

"A… A bastard…" He said, confused. "Why would… Why would father?"

Daenerys gave a slight shrug. She did not know any more than he did, and the boy's father had yet to tell her anything about it either. Whatever he hoped to achieve by marrying his son to her she did not know. "Might I be able to raise my son here, my prince?" She asked, hoping to sweeten her words with courtesy.

It took him a moment to consider the words she had just said. "No, my lady," he answered. In a word he had proven her worst fears to be true. She would not be able to keep her son here at Sunspear after all.

It made her remember what Arianne had told her, that Quentyn had been fostered at Yronwood, while Arianne had been fostered at Tyrosh from a young age. She had been betrothed to a second son of Lord Hoster, while Quentyn's hand in marriage had gone unpromised till now.. Arianne was certain that with Lord Anders Yronwood whispering in his ear that Quentyn meant to claim Dorne for himself, and this match would hurt him.

For a moment Daenerys thought to try and convince him by pleasuring him, but she doubted she would be able to pleasure him truly, and certainly not with her belly worsening her looks too. It had made no difference with Robb before, why would it make any difference with him?

Daenerys left him there, deciding to return to her chambers in a desperate hope that it might sway him, but she truly just wanted to rest.

When she got to her chambers she got into the bed, where she began to cry. As a girl, Daenerys had always dreamt of marrying Robb, and bearing his children. She had one at least, but for how long she didn't know anymore.

Their children were always different in her dreams too. Most often they had Robb's fiery auburn hair and her violet purple eyes, but there would be other times when they looked more like Robb's father, and sometimes like her instead.

Once when she was a girl, no older than ten she had spoken to Lord Eddard about marrying Robb, swearing she could be a good wife for him, though he had only given her a sad look, and told her that Robb was promised already.

Her only hope now was Arianne. She had spoken to her father of the marriage to Quentyn, urging him to end it, but he had been insistent, just as he had been insistent that he would not act against Joffrey just yet, or crown her son.

'Much as it would please me to see Glendon seated atop the seat of his father, the time is not ripe,' he had said. But the time was never ripe was it, Daenerys realized, not for Prince Doran. His caution was maddening for the both of them, and she wondered if she would simply have to wait until he died for anything to change.

Daenerys cried into one of the pillows on the featherbed, holding her belly in her hands. She would need to send the babe to Winterfell after it was born she knew, to Robb, but he was at war now, and she did not know how Princess Myrcella would take to her son, especially when she had a babe of her own.

And if Robb should fall in battle…

She hoped that he wouldn't. That her son wouldn't lack for his mother and father as she had. Daenerys resolved that she would run away if she had to. But she didn't know where she could run to if she did.

Daenerys knew that she had a brother somewhere in exile, the one they called the Beggar King. He had escaped from Dragonstone when Lord Stannis was storming the castle she knew, as she was being born, but she knew little of him.

The old knights of the Kingsguard occasionally gave Daenerys a detail or two of him, and she had once overheard Lord Eddard speaking with a maester over some news of where Viserys was, and Arianne had told her some old rumors that she had heard while she was a ward of the Archon of Tyrosh, but beyond that she knew little else.

She wondered if he would embrace her as some long lost sister, or ignore her. Targaryens always wed brother to sister to keep their lines pure, so she also was not certain he would be pleased with her son by Robb either.

It was not long before Daenerys found herself drifting off to sleep despite the fact that it was just barely past midday.

When she woke again, she found it strange that she had dreamt a dreamless sleep, though when she looked out the window, the sun was close to setting in the west. Daenerys felt a little kick in her belly that she realized was the first she had felt her babe move.

She sat on the bed for a moment cradling her belly in her hands, wondering if she might feel another kick, though she didn't.

Lady Catelyn and Rhaenys had told her some about motherhood during her time at Winterfell, but Arianne had given her more details since she had arrived.

Daenerys for a moment thought to get up, knowing it was cooler now that night had fallen, and she moved to change her dress that she had slept in, putting on instead a looser gown in its place, when she heard a knock come from her door.

"Might we speak Daenerys?" She heard a raspy voice call. It was Arianne's voice she realized.

"Yes," Daenerys called in, once she felt ready to be seen.

The Princess opened the door and stepped in, with a letter in hand.

Arianne did not trust Maester Myles she knew, just as her father didn't, so she had entrusted Daenerys to send secret letters for her under the guise of writing to Winterfell. Maester Luwin had taught her a little of raventending, so she was able to be alone in the Rookery, and could send other letters to other castles. She had sent letters to other houses in Dorne, but the most important had been the one to Glendon's uncle at Dragonstone, Lord Stannis who Arianne was hoping to secure for his cause, but he had not seen fit to write an answer back to Arianne.

"The letter?" Daenerys asked.

"No… Not yet… I take it your meeting with Quentyn went poorly?" Arianne asked.

She nodded. "He wouldn't let me keep my son here," Daenerys said.

Arianne gave her a sad look. "I am sorry Daenerys. But… With our plans."

"Is it from Stannis?" Daenerys wondered.

"No, it's from the capital. Lord Eddard is dead…"

Author Notes:

Thanks for reading, as always, and a friendly reminder that I don't own ASOIAF.