RHAENYRA

"Move move move!" Luke yells. He comes running into the back lounge of the ship and leans over. The strong wind behind the choppy waters was making for a quick journey for all but her poor greensick Luke; he took more after his Targaryen grandsire than his Velaryon one, she liked to say.

The whole family was lounging on the back deck under the afternoon sun. Aegon and Viserys had settled into naps under the midship shelter whilst Joffrey sat next to Daemon as he read him accounts of the old dragonlords. After declaring that the boys had no taste, Baela and Rhaena had banished Jacaerys and Lucerys to excitedly debate their wedding ideas.

"Would a double wedding give us double the budget?" Rhaena asks.

"No double wedding," Baela declares. "I want to do it Valyrian style, and we only have three robes!"

"You need not plan with such urgency," Rhaenyra says. "You are all very young and we've had this plan for years, in truth. Luke and Rhaena need only wed right away should the Sea Snake pass and Luke assume his seat. You have time to enjoy your youths in freedom."

Daemon rolls his eyes at this. "And what rule is there that one cannot enjoy freedom and marriage together? Marriage liberated Laena, not constrained her." No one dares mention Rhea or how Laena had been known to wish to return to Westeros. It's too heavy a topic for a bright afternoon.

Jacaerys takes a different angle. "A woman in a well-matched marriage might enjoy freedom with her beloved. But I've yet to meet a mother who did not feel at least a little slowed down by the weight she carries." He gestures to Rhaenyra's protruding belly. His attempt at levity fails, however, and Jace drops his smile as he realizes his mistake.

Daemon, Rhaenyra and the girls remain silent amidst the ghosts of those they've lost to the birthing bed. Losing Aemma and Laena had not only been an incredible loss for their families, but also for their cause. At least the third child had been Laena's idea, her death an accident from the gods. But Aemma…

Still. Although she was adamant her stepdaughters should not share the same fate by being forced to bear children at such a young age, she no longer had the energy to be angry with her father. Especially after their last meeting. Especially after their conversation.

She'd been quiet all morning while contemplating the Dream and the threat from the north, and whatever her father intended for her to do. She needs to see him again. Alone.

"I'm going to fly back as soon as we dock," Rhaenyra announces. Off-topic, but it breaks the awkward silence nonetheless. "I regret leaving him so suddenly. If I depart right away, he may not have even noticed we left."

"I don't think he'll notice much of anything Rhaenyra," Daemon says.

"I want to be with him, I don't want him to be alone. You can follow once Rhaenys returns and we find out how Corlys has faired. Whichever way it goes, the children should spend some time on Driftmark."

"I don't know if Grandsire will want to see much of me right now," Luke has turned away from the water. "Not after Vaemond…" He casts an anxious glance at his stepfather, worrying he's offended him.

"Vaemond earned his fate, Lucerys. No man, let alone a dragon, can call himself a man should he let another man dishonour his wife and live for it. Corlys understands this." Daemon directs his attention to his two eldest stepsons. "And I expect any man married to a daughter of mine to understand."

"I can defend my own honour just fine, Father," Baela says.

"Let them be," Rhaenyra keeps her voice low for just Baela and Rhaena. "Few things will more endear a man to a woman than letting him think he's all that stands between you and dishonour." The girls snigger.

"Besides," Jace says. "It was not a misplaced sense of honour or concern for his house he spoke from. Regardless of what slanders he believes, he still ignored Baela and Rhaena. Their right supersedes his. He spoke only from ambition."

"Jacaerys," Daemon says. "I would rethink your enthusiasm for pushing my daughters' claims. Do you know what happens to girls with a valuable birthright but no family to protect them?"

"I think we are all too aware," says Jace.

But Daemon proceeds anyways. "Trophy queens, they used to call them. Win the queen, win the throne, put the queen away on a shelf to be seen and not heard. Your Baratheon relatives know that all too well, children. I don't know if Vaemond sought to jump Baela and Rhaena out of ambition or compassion, but he was right to do so."

"I certainly hope you're not insinuating that any female heir is nothing more than a key to power — considering the fact that you're married to my mother," Jace says.

"Your mother has the King in her corner. She has dragons. And she has the ability and resources to assert her own claim."

Jace smirks. "Is that why she used to lock you in the Dragonmont?" Daemon is not amused. Rhaenyra turns to the girls and mouths yes .

"Worry not, Young Prince. You will be in no danger of Baela needing to assert her position in a similar manner. It's become very clear after that embarrassment of a display last night."

Jace turns red. "They're both older than us, and trained at the Red Keep."

"When I was your age, I was—"

"Trained at the Red Keep, with all the experienced warriors."

"Do you know how it makes me look, for my own stepsons to make such an embarrassment out of themselves in combat? Like I cannot even teach my own children how to fight."

"You don't teach us how to fight. You said it was a waste of your own time to spar with those so inept."

"Under the assumption you would eventually rise to a level in which you would actually benefit from my instruction. Why has that not happened yet?"

Jace is lost for words and Rhaenyra speaks. "Daemon, that's enough. Not everyone has to be a warrior."

But it's Jace who takes the most offense at this. "I can still be a warrior! I want to! We were just always… behind. Ser Criston never saw potential in us, or maybe just didn't like us. But I can, I just need to put more time in."

Daemon puts things together and cackles, Rhaenyra gives him a warning look. Here on a ship so similar to the one they once shared, it was the last place she wanted to talk about this.

He takes no heed of her warning. "Are you telling me that's why you're so behind in your training, because of Ser Crispin Cole ?" He laughs some more.

"What's so funny?" Jace demands. "He's always hated us because of his weird obsession with Queen Alicent." Daemon is laughing harder and harder.

"Daemon," she warns. "Mind your tongue."

He obeys. But she can hear him mouth the words, tell you later, to Jace.

"You will tell him nothing because there is nothing to be told."

Daemon continues. "After further consideration, dear stepsons, I suppose in a way it is somewhat my fault that you're such poor fighters. We will set up a regime for you on our return. But you must promise me something, Young Prince."

Promise me. Everything keeps calling her back.

"And what is that?" Jace asks.

"Don't fuck the help."

Rhaenyra is too lost in her thoughts to scold him. Besides, her husband makes sport in provoking people, and she knows better than to further indulge him. She stands up. "I'm going to try to find sleep before we land tonight. I wish to leave right away."

She returns to her cabin and packs a small bag that will fit upon Syrax. Her attempts at a nap are in vain, however, as her head swirls with guilt over leaving her father and the growing urgency of the Dream. Daemon joins her once the sky darkens and the air cools. "There is but one good way to pass the time on a ship, after all." She does not need convincing, save for the caveat that any effort or initiative be left with him. She was late in her term with a night of riding ahead of her, she didn't want to arrive totally exhausted.

When they land she goes directly from the ship to her mount, lest any business in the castle attempt to delay her. She'd promised to return quickly. Promise me, Rhaenyra . She can feel that promise approach closer and closer.

And she intends to honour it.