Hi! This is a post-ADWD story, and it's a Myrcella and Aegon story.
I've not finished ADWD, and I hadn't even started AFFC when I started writing this story Young Griff is truly Aegon, son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Elia Martell and he and Daenerys plan to take back the Iron Throne together with the support of his mother's family.
No beta for this one, so all mistakes are mine (and English is not my native language).
I hope you like it
Myrcella
Her betrothed had been good to her, he never beat her, he was sweet and tried to do well by her. But he was taken by the war (the war her family started), and Trystane, the man she had learned to call her husband-to-be had left.
His family, the same one that tried to crown her Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, had left her to rot in an old tower to be used as hostage. But almost every night she climbed out of the window, and put her feet on the ground, looked at the stars and remembered what she had learned when she was younger.
For the last moon, she had barely left the tower; the Dragon Queen had arrived to Dorne asking her good-sister's family for help to take the Iron Throne. And who would deny the woman with three dragons for the girl with half her face scarred and no power whatsoever.
But, even after multiple threats, she decided to climb out of the tower that night; she missed the air breathing on her face, the smell of the flowers, the (fake) freedom the outside could give her.
She sat on a fallen tree next to a small pond and kept her eyes on the sky, she could recognize some of the stars uncle Tyrion had showed her. She remembered being happy, when he came visit them at King's Landing and he would take her and Tommem to look at the stars and he would tell them all he learned on those books of his.
"They call it the "Screaming Lion"." She heard a voice behind her; it belonged to a boy, a man. She did not turn her face, but she was curious what man would name the constellation by that name, the name her uncle gave to it.
"It's called the "Victorious Balerion". Where did you learn that name?"
"A little friend told me." And she finally turned, and she knew who he was, the silver hair with a few blue locks and the purple eyes gave it away. He was Prince Aegon VI Targaryen. He didn't flinch at the sigh of her face, her scarred face that everyone flinched at.
"Your Grace…" How many times had I said these words before.
"My aunt is to be the Queen."
"Pardon me, my Prince." Or these... When he would stroke her. Myrcella said now while she bowed to Prince Aegon.
"You know who I am but who are you?" I wish I knew.
"Myrcella Hill, my prince." I'm not lying that's what my name should be. My mother is (former) Queen Cersei Lannister, my father could be anyone. Myrcella had heard what was said about her mother, about her mother and Uncle Jaime, about her mother and cousin Lancel… And she didn't want to believe.
"A beautiful name, for a beautiful girl." Nobody had called her beautiful in a long time. But really, she hadn't a beautiful name, she had a bastard name (not glorious like Baratheon had been) that fitted how beautiful she was.
"How are you liking Dorne, my prince?" She asked trying to keep the conversation out of her.
"It's hot, but not very different from home."
"It's nothing King's Landing." She said as a matter of fact.
"King's Landing is not really home to me." Prince Aegon said looking down, like it was worst thing he could say. "Have you been in King's Landing?" Don't tell the truth but don't lie, ladies are not supposed to lie.
"Haven't been there in a long time." Almost five years.
"Haven't been there for almost twenty. What can you tell me about the city?" Don't talk about the Red Keep, it's his place not yours.
"The city is loud and…" She stopped when she heard steps from close by. "I'm sorry but I have to go, my prince." And she ran back to her cage.
Aegon
Since the night he met the young girl by the pond, he came back to it looking for her. But he never saw her again. He has asked about her on the castle, but everyone had denied they knew her and suggested she was just a common girl who wondered too far from home. But he saw there was something more, he had been taught to look, and Lady Arianne Martell showed regret and sorrow when he spoke of the girl.
This night was no different, he walked to the pond without hope of ever seeing her again – maybe she had been a dream. But there she was, he could see the outline of her shadow.
"I've came here every night looking for you." He startled her and she quickly tried to stand up. "Sit, my lady." But he stopped before she could get on her feet.
"Thank you, my prince." He got closer to her and asked permission to sit. And when he looked at her, her face was bruised, he looked down at her clothes and they were bloodied.
"Are you okay, my lady?" She flinched he wasn't sure if it was because of the pain or the title.
"I'm fine, my prince."
"Who beat you?" How could someone do this to her?
"No one, it was a simple fall." He could tell she was lying, and she was not a good liar. And he remembered the looks on the hall when he asked about her. Was this my fault?
"Why are you lying? And who are you?"
"I'm not lying. I'm no one."
"Stop lying. I'm your prince I command you to tell me." She flinched at him, and her eyes were frightened, it was like she was seeing a different person in his place. "I'm sorry." He didn't like to scare people; people said that was how his grandfather started.
"My name is truly Myrcella. My mother is from Casterly Rock and I do not know who my father truly is and that makes me a Hill." He looked at her and he knew there was more. And she continued. "My mother's name is Cersei Lannister from House Lannister." She said with pride in her voice. "My father's name, you can take your pick, who do you prefer the man who killed your father or the man who killed your grandfather?" He took the information on a stride. Robert Baratheon or Jaime Lannister… She was Myrcella Baratheon, believed to be King Robert's daughter but in true a daughter of the incestuous relationship between the Queen and her brother. He could see it now, her eyes were emerald green, but the descriptions didn't talk about the scar on her face and they talked about long golden curls, not short golden curls. "People don't talk about my face and they made me cut my hair, I looked too much like my mother."
"I heard the Queen was a beautiful woman."
"Don't mock me. You can be the prince, but I was a princess once and even raised to Queen, but quickly I got overthrown."
"I'm not mocking you, my lady. Why did you lie?"
"I have told you I didn't lie. Do you hear who fathered me?"
"Yes. And why should it matter? Where I come from, it doesn't."
"But here it does. And don't ask about me again."
"They did that you?"
"I'm the daughter of a traitor, my prince. I'm not supposed to talk to a prince."
"I'm sorry, my lady." For a second time the sound of steps coming their way stopped their conversation. She stood up, bowed and walked away from the prince. "I'll see you tomorrow… my princess."
Myrcella
Her mother was dead; she knew this was going to happen since she had been convicted by the Faith. But it didn't hurt any less…
"Cella, are you in there? Can I come in?" She heard Aegon from the window; they had been meeting by the pond everyday for over two moons, but this was the first time he came to her bedchamber. Myrcella stood up and tried to clean the tears from her eyes, a lion doesn't cry, she remembered hearing her mother say.
"You shouldn't be here." But he entered her chamber just the same, and took her in her arms, ignoring everything they shouldn't do and whispered in her ear.
"It's okay to cry, Myrcella." But she doesn't, but she let Aegon lead her to her bed and they both sat next to each other.
"How did she die? The beheading wasn't supposed to be for another moon." He hesitated, but she looked at his eyes, begging him to tell her the truth.
"They fond her body in her cell yesterday. She had been dead for at least three days.
"Nobody came looking for her for three days." She said coldly.
"They also found a shell next to her body. Nobody knew what it meant." A shell, memories that her mother kept from Casterly Rock and Uncle Jaime. "Tell me about her."
"What?!" She looked at him in disbelieve.
"Tell me about her."
"Haven't you heard enough?"
"She wasn't just that, was she?"
"No. She was my mother."
"So tell me about her and about your family." She took a deep breath, lay down on the bed, he followed her. And they both lay there, and she felt so little – his head was next to hers, but her feet not even his knees touched.
"She was the most beautiful woman I knew, and smart, the smartest… really. She hated the stories about knights and princess but she would read them to me all the same. She would get a sword and let me hold it and learn to fight; she said she always wanted to but my grandfather never let her and that I should learn to defend myself."
"She seems like a good mother."
"She was. She did everything to protect us and so that we could have everything. I love her and I miss her and I haven't seen her in years. And now she's gone, just like that." He kept silent, and gripped her had tighter; she felt her tears falling down, and this time she didn't try to clean them up. "Joffrey used to be her favourite. I never cried when he died. Does that make me a bad sister?" He was a monster… He was a monster... Aegon didn't know what to answer. And maybe he had heard stories about him too… And Joffrey's were all true.
"What about your other brother?" He asked after she had be silent during too much time, thinking of the other scars left on her body – and sometimes the one in her back or the other just above her kneecap hurt more than the one in her face, just because her own brother had put them there.
"Tommen is the sweetest boy. He's so innocent." She tried to push away the thought that the man next to her was going to kill her sweet Tommen. "He was my best friend. Sometimes, he and I would sleep around mother in her enormous bed. He never wanted the throne. He hates beets and loves kittens." That was all she remembered, he was thirteen now.
"My sister loved kittens, too." Princess Rhaella and Balerion... "They tell me." He whispered. And this time, it's her who held his hand tighter.
"I'm sorry." She had been rambling about her family but his family was also dead. "How can you hear me talk about my family when they killed yours?"
"Because they matter to you. And probably more than mine matters to me. My family, now, is Griff, Septa Lemore,… The people who raised me. Tell me about your father." Who should she choose?
"My father was…" He could see through her and see her dilemma, so he asked.
"And how were your uncles?"
"Uncle Stannis was boring. I know I shoudn't say this, but it's true." She giggled when she said it. "But Shireen, his daughter, is the sweetest girl I know." And her face was scarred too. "Uncle Renly was the funniest. Always laughing, he used to go try on dresses for me. Sometimes Ser Loras tagged along. These were my father's brothers. And there was my mother's, Uncle Tyrion was really smart, almost as smart as mother, and he was always teaching me new things. And there was Unc… Jaime, he was the best knight and he used to tell me I was just like Cersei." He had so much love in his eyes every time he said her name. "And my father… people say he was always drunk but he wasn't… He liked to throw me on the air when I was little, but I was always too scared and started crying, and he told me stories about Lyanna Stark. He loved her, my mother and whores never erased that." She saw how his face fell at the mention of her name; his father had loved her too and left him, his mother and sister all alone.
"She must have been beautiful. They say her ghost is taking back the north." Her ghost… Sansa Stark had disappeared so long ago, and her hair had the wrong colour to be compared to Lyanna. So it could only be, Arya… maybe she had lived, she was always a wild girl, maybe she could reclaim what was hers.
"Maybe she can fix what Lyanna ruined so many years ago." They both hoped.
Aegon
He was nervous about this, what if she reacted badly, what if she hated him for not saying anything earlier.
"My prince, why are we coming here?"
"There's someone you need to see." He could see something flicker on Lord Tyrion's eyes. They kept walking in silence; and Aegon could see that the man next to him was very nervous. "Wait here, please, my lord."
Aegon left Tyrion and went to look for Myrcella, today she had her feet on the water.
"My prince."
"My lady." He extended one hand to her to help her stood up. "There's someone I think I would like you to see."
"Who?"
"Wait here." He kissed her hand and left to fing Tyrion. "My lord, follow me." And Aegon took him to Myrcella.
Neither of the Lannister had a word to say, and before she knew it, she was running to his arms.
"Uncle…"
"Oh… my sweet niece." His hand traced the scar in the right side of her face. "What happened to you?" And she just traced the scar that went across his face and said.
"We match now." And they both smiled at each other. "How long have you been here, uncle?"
"Since the Queen arrived. I've been travelling with her." Her eyes fixed on the prince now.
"Why didn't you tell me early?" She asked Aegon.
"I needed to get Lord Tyrion alone to bring him to you."
"Where have you been, little Cella?"
"They keep me on a tower. People do not like Lannisters." Lord Tyrion laughed and said.
"I supposed so." Myrcella led her uncle to the hedge of the pond and asked him to tell her about his adventures. And Aegon left them alone, they a lot of catch up to do.
Myrcella
Aegon was leaving in a few days, she was supposed to stay in the tower, and her little brother was going to be killed.
She was waiting by the pond like she had every night for almost a year, now. She saw him approach; he looked handsome, tall in black and red.
"How's my lady faring today?"
"Fine. And, my prince?"
"Marvelously. Better if you answered yes to my question."
"What's that question?"
"Marry me." She was ugly, scarred and the enemy why would he want to marry her. She wanted to run, but she gave him an answer.
"You're supposed to marry the Queen."
"No. I'm not. Queen Daenerys can't produce heirs. I will be Prince of Dragonstone; I'll be heir to the throne until my first child comes of age. I want you to be their mother, my wife."
"I just turned five-and-ten."
"We don't need to marry right away. We can wait."
"I'm a Lannister."
"I'm a Targaryen. What does it matter?"
"You know it matters."
"It doesn't." He took her hand, looked into her eyes and said. "We are both children of war – different wars but still wars – trying to fix our family's mistakes. But we aren't them and we learned from their mistakes."
"We…"
"Forget everything you know, Cella. And answer this; do you think we would have a chance?"
"Yes…"
"So, marry me. We'll make our marriage happier than the ones our parents had." She heard the sound of King Robert slapping her mother… She didn't want that.
"Yes… but…"
"No buts."
"But please don't kill my brother. My wedding present. I'll make sure he'll never rebel against you."
"We already made that deal with your uncle. Your brother will be heir to Casterly Rock. Still want to marry me?"
"Will the Martell agree? They will find out you've been seeing me."
"My aunt is to be Queen. If she asks they will agree."
"I'll marry you the day I turn sixteen." She saw a smile growing in his face.
"But you leave with me to Dragonstone."
"Okay." And this time she smiled too. He came closer, his hands framed her face, and he looked at her as he was asking for permission, she nodded. So he kissed her lightly, it wasn't her first kiss but was a kiss of promise and hope for a better world.
I hope you liked it
And your reviews make my day better.