CHAPTER I
4 Years After
It's awkwardly silent as Rhaenys, Laena, Laenor, and Corlys Velaryon sit for breakfast, watching as the Sea Snake's youngest sibling pushes her food around her plate.
Her abrupt visit wasn't announced or planned until she arrived off the ship and announced it herself, tossing her belongings to the nearest set of hands...at the dead hour of the night, at that.
"So, Aenyka," Rhaenys starts, swallowing the bite of her food, "Why exactly have you come, again? I was too distracted with the suddeness of your arrival in the night to listen very well when you explained."
"To pay my respects to the Queen of course, Rhaenys." She replies softly, glancing at her niece and her nephew as Corlys bites his tongue, something he'd always done with his sister who had been known to react belligerently rash to the smallest of indiscretions.
"It saddens me she died for nothing and so, my respect for her will be given." She adds. "Besides, it's a good opportunity to see my beloved Laena and Laenor who I have missed so very much."
She offers a genuine smile at the children, to which they smile back, and Rhaenys and Corlys find themselves looking at one another as if knowing better than what Aenyka is trying to peddle to them.
"I do hope your chambers meet your expectations." Rhaenys continues.
"It's perfect, Princess, thank you." She takes her first bite of buttered bread. "So, what are we to do today aside from mourn?"
"I wish to show you how big Seasmoke has gotten." Laenor says.
"He's probably the size of a songbird compared to my Valor." Aenyka teases.
"That can't be true, he's two years short of Seasmoke." Laena interjects.
"I feed him a secret ingredient that helps him grow fast, you see."
"What is it?" Both of them ask curiously, and Aenyka holds back a smile as she replies, "Velaryon children."
She can see the color drain from their faces as Rhaenys scolds her, "Do not tell them that."
"Sheep, children, sheep." Their aunt quickly disputes their fear. "But, yes, Laenor. I would love to see how big Seasmoke has gotten. Perhaps we can race, if your parents permit it."
"Since when are you riding a dragon?" Rhaenys questions, a bit colder than she intends, and the gentle smile on Aenyka's lips falters slightly before she retorts, "It's amazing the kind of bond that's created from nearly grieving yourself to death alongside a creature such as that," putting the discussion to an end.
"Is the King aware of your arrival?" Corlys asks his sister, moving to change the subject, and she grows further rigid.
"I like surprising people, brother, you know this." She reminds him and he has to keep from scoffing.
He does know this, all of the "surprises" she's forcefully bestowed upon him since her coming of age have nearly given him heart attacks to no end.
"Yes, but I also know in a delicate time such as this, it is respectful to announce one's arrival before galavanting about in such a manner intended to vex." He says and she furrows her brows.
"It's not my fault if I make the king uncomfortable. Perhaps if he had a bigger pair of –"
" – Rhaenys, may I speak with my sister, alone?" Corlys asks of his wife.
"Of course." She answers with no objection, standing from the food she's done eating, and Laena and Laenor arise from their seats without being told to, following their mother from the table.
Aenyka waits patiently for her brother to speak, knowing the routine of a good tongue lashing from him by now.
"I understand you and Viserys have your differences, but he is still your king, Aenyka, and whether you like it or not, he will be your king until the day of his death. And today he is not just your king, but a man grieving his wife, and a father grieving his son." He speaks evenly, lowly, but compassionately, in both his King's and his sister's favor. "And the last thing any of us needs is for you to, yet again, pose a threat of sending our allegiance with the Targaryens to the Seven hells."
"If a measly bastard daughter can single handedly unhinge centuries' worth of allegiance, was it even truly an allegiance, Corlys?" She questions, and he rolls his jaw.
"You will not disrespect Viserys while you are here, do you understand? You will pay your respects to Queen Aemma and Prince Baelon, offer comfort to Princess Rhaenyra, and you will leave here."
"This is my home just as much as it is yours." She argues.
"You said it yourself, Aenyka, you are the bastard. You have no claim, and you wouldn't even have 'Lady' attached to your name had it not been for me raising you as my own and fighting for it to be there." He points at her. "Offer your condolences, and go, before you give yourself time to further muck anything up more than it already is at this time."
He doesn't give her time to reply, storming out gracefully, leaving her to herself.
Rhaenys' fingers nimbly work through the thick curls of Aenyka's hair, spiraling strand after strand around her finger, making sure each one is perfectly pronounced as the latter stares into the mirror, viciously pulled back to another time her sister in law had been doing the same thing, except the previous time Aenyka had been wavering in her seat, nearly blind from wine consumption after a blasphemous night of trying to destroy the Great Sept.
She laughs at the memory, as sad as it is, she finds some humor in it, mainly recalling poor Rhaenys' reaction to hearing of the events from Corlys.
"What are you carrying on about?" The princess asks, not taking her attention from her work.
"Do you remember the last time you did this?" Aenyka recalls, to which Rhaenys lets out a heavy sigh.
"I try to forget it, truthfully…but I'm glad you find some laughter in it." She admits, the smallest smile tugging at her lips. "My favorite was your wedding day." She adds, hearing the younger woman laugh once more – delighting in the sound, having missed it.
"We couldn't get through the ceremony because Daerek decided he was going to come out whether we were wed or not." Aenyka recalls.
"Oh, I remember. I'd never seen Daemon waver until then. I thought he was going to faint."
"I believe he did, briefly."
The two women chuckle together at the memory.
"It was an easy birth, though. I am thankful for that…I just hate that Aemma wasn't so lucky." It's sincere coming from Aenyka. "Do you know what went wrong, exactly?"
"He breached in her belly, they couldn't get him turned the right way no matter what they tried. She was going to die either way, thus the decision was made to cut her."
"Cut her?" Aenyka's brows furrow, looking at her in the mirror.
"Cut the baby from her womb."
"The Maestor made that decision?"
"It's the father's decision to make, and Viserys had no choice but to."
"He sacrificed her to save his son's life?"
"She was dead already, Aenyka, before she even stopped breathing."
"Fuck." She mumbles under her breath, finding tears clouding her vision as Rhaenys finishes her hair.
"I do hope you and your brother have settled whatever it was that had you spun up this morning." The older woman adds.
"He wants me gone as soon as possible. I make him nervous, apparently – though I've decided in the seven and twenty years that I've been breathing that I make everyone nervous."
"You just keep us all on our toes, is all." Rhaenys says smoothly.
"I make Corlys wish he wouldn't have ever taken me in when my father died."
"You make him wish you were more disciplined and compliant with what is expected of you, but you've never made him regret his decision, Aenyka." It's reassurance that she needed. "There's just so much change now that the Queen and the King's only son are now passed. Everyone's frantic about who will now be named heir, I'm sure, and your brother is having to deal with that as part of the Small Council as well. He's under so much pressure and doesn't want you adding to that."
"There's no need to be frantic about such things. Daemon's the rightful heir. He always has been since Viserys succeeded the crown." Aenyka states.
"Apparently not many people agree with how Daemon tends to handle some things." Rhaenys explains, pulling a look of confusion from Aenyka, but before she has time to explain anything or even bother with street gossip, a knock on the door interrupts. "Come." Rhaenys calls, the heavy wood opening to reveal a servant maid.
"Princess, the Silent Sisters have finished preparing Queen Aemma and Prince Baelon."
"We'll be right down, thank you." Rhaenys replies, her face falling solemn once more, stepping to the bed where she's already gotten Aenyka's dress laid out, handing it to her.
"Thank you, Rhaenys." She says softly, and the blonde offers a nod of her head, before dismissing herself, and Aenyka holds the heavy garment, staring down at it.
"Aenyka, you have got to let me help." Rhaenys demands as gently as she can while still getting her point across, starting to lose her patience with the unsettled woman.
"Leave me be!" A harsh scream emits from her in slurred words, tearing at the back of her throat as she struggles against her sister in-law to keep her from getting the black dress on her.
"You cannot show up naked – "
" – I'm not going!"
The dress is thrown onto the bed, Rhaenys taking a step back, reigning her emotions in to remind herself that she's witnessing the sickness of heartbreak, and it can't be remedied with feeding the hunger for unrest and havoc it's made Aenyka crave now more than ever.
She opens the door of Aenyka's chambers, not even having to speak to Daemon for him to know she's at her end trying to get a hold of his beloved.
"She's all ready except for her dress." She says so quietly that only he hears, not that Aenyka is even paying attention to them. "She says she is not going."
He nods, Rhaenys leaving the room with a sigh of relief as he walks around the bed to see her sitting on the floor.
"Aeny, we have to go." He says to her, and she slowly looks up at him, the expression on her face letting him know she's too drunk to go anywhere right now.
"Did you know dragons cry?" She speaks softly, making him question whether she's talking to him or not.
"What?" He asks.
"Dragons, my beloved." She answers, looking at him once again. "They cry."
The shrill from Caraxes echoes in her mind, as well as Daemon's.
He'd been the one tasked to pluck the child's body from the sea, after all, the boys father upon him.
"They feel just as we do, Aeny." He walks to her, sitting down on the bed, his knees on either side of her shoulders.
"I tried to go after him, Daemon, when he fell…I went after him…" She recalls to her husband and he's closing his eyes. "...And he wouldn't let me." She continues. "Your brother and his…" She trails off for a moment. "...All I could do was just watch him fight and be pulled under with the tide."
"Aenyka."
"How great I am, sister to the Sea Snake, to have a son who knew how to ride fucking Dragons, but had been neglected to ever learn how to swim by his own mother."
Daemon's throat tightens as he wishes he could light a flame to the scene also replaying in his mind, also finding too many similarities between this day and the one they bid farewell to their son.
But he does thank the Gods he doesn't have to scrape his brother off the floor, help sober him back out of a drunken stupor, and postpone the funeral pyre by a couple hours so the man can have time to clear his head and gather his thoughts.
One way this will be handled is far different than the passing of his son. Tears will be shed here and there, but he's confident that everyone will act accordingly in the ways of stifling emotions for the sake of their duty.
He needn't worry about having to hunt anyone down and drag them back home in the late hours of the night, kicking and screaming because their mourning is self-destructive.
Descending the stairs to accompany his brother and niece as Otto Hightower starts, "Your grace, there has been word that Lady Velaryon will be in attendance today."
Viserys furrows his brows, looking to his king's hand.
"Lady Laena is not expected to be in attendance."
"Why would she be, she's a child." Daemon adds to undercut whatever false gossip he's heard from his hounds that run around the city scrambling for any piece of information to be fed to the king whether it's true or not.
Otto's lips press together, his thick brows furrowing as he says, "Lady Aenyka of House Velaryon," he specifies.
Daemon, Viserys, and Rhaenyra all snap their full attention toward him, the princess the only one of any happiness to hear of her aunt's return, though the feeling has to claw its way through a blanket of despair to bring forth the very, very small smile it pulls to her lips momentarily as Daemon's eyes close and he fights to keep himself from causing a row on today of all days.