RHAENYRA
"Good evening Princess," the dragonkeeper greets her in High Valyrian. "We were not expecting you tonight; I'm afraid we have no carriage ready."
"Not to worry, I made sure to circle the palace. They should have already sent for me. "
"While we wait, might I suggest you accompany Syrax to her nest? It has been some time since she's been confined and it will save her much stress should you stay mounted ."
She agrees and motions for Syrax to follow the dragonkeepers.
It's been some time since Syrax had been separated from Caraxes and her hatchlings , Rhaenyra realizes.
She hopes Syrax will not be in too much distress left alone. Ideally, she would soon have Caraxes for company, but Rhaenyra is doubtful. Daemon wasn't even able to look at her father until he had reason to, until he could demand something or offer something. After all their years together, she knew her husband's response to any problem: take action and avoid emotion. Sitting at the bedside of a dying man… He'd likely feel useless. No doubt he will wait until he might bring something to offer to the situation, like a new medicine to try for pain. She and Syrax will be alone here for some time, she suspects.
She'd taken little notice of her surroundings as the dragonkeepers led her through the pit, but a surprise catches the corner of her eye.
Meleys is still here .
Had Vaemond's arrangements taken so long? Did Rhaenys have other business with the council? Surely reuniting with her husband and granddaughters would take priority for her at the moment, she'd even expected the Princess to already be on Driftmark when they made it home.
Meleys groans, and Syrax turns to meet her. She replies with a noise that sounds like a question, and then both of the dragons squirm and whine.
"Shh, Syrax. Calm, " she says.
Syrax quiets, but Meleys is not hers to command, and the red queen's whines follow her to Syrax's nest.
It is not an empty carriage that greets her outside. "By what good fortune am I owed the honour of a personal escort?"
Alicent only offers a stiff smile. Perhaps she is still nervous about this new dynamic they're attempting. Or rather, old dynamic. She even stands at the carriage entrance like she did when she used to greet her. "I only thought to make up for our unavailability upon your previous arrival, Princess. This time of day has fewer affairs to compete for my attention."
Rhaenyra notes the formality of her speech and debates whether she should emulate or challenge it.
Alicent swallows and continues. "Have the children accompanied you?"
What? Why would she bring the children?
Alicent sees her confusion and elaborates. "Did you not receive the raven?"
"No, I did not. I went straight from the ship to Syrax. Is there something I should be aware of?"
"I…" Alicent starts. "The… the message. The message said that the King has been asking for you and your husband, in a half-woken state since last night. That he also started asking for Aegon and Viserys; he has seen so little of them."
Guilt floods through her. All this time she'd left her father alone simply to avoid Alicent's family. She had punished her father with her absence, she realized. "Let us go to him then."
She steps toward the carriage, but to her surprise, Alicent climbs down the steps. "Should we wait for your husband, Princess?" She makes her way toward Rhaenyra; her hands are stiff and folded in front of her.
"He will not follow for quite some time, I believe. Especially if Princess Rhaenys still remains here. We had hoped to leave the children in her care."
Alicent tightens her folded hands. "I did not consider that."
"He will come when he is ready. Likely once he's found something to offer that will make him feel useful to the situation. As is his way."
"Oh, of course." Alicent smiles through a clenched jaw. "I have not seen Syrax for some time, would a visit be out of the question before we leave?"
Rhaenyra is caught off guard; Alicent had expressed little interest in dragons, save for the demand that each of her children become riders. But she assumes this is Alicent's awkward attempt to reconnect and obliges her.
Alicent nods to a guard as they make their way back into the dragon pit. Meleys lets out a low noise as they pass.
"My, how she's grown," Alicent wonders at Syrax.
"She's thrived on Dragonstone, flying free with her mate and her hatchlings."
"You have as well, Princess." But she's not smiling.
Syrax interrupts them with a low growl directed at Alicent.
Alicent steps back.
"Dragons can sense fear, Alicent. It appears you have yet to conquer your fear of dragons despite marrying into a family of them."
Rhaenyra guides a silent Alicent out of the dragonpit and into the carriage. Alicent drags her feet, and once illuminated in soft candlelight of the carriage Rhaenyra can make out dark circles under her eyes.
Was she attending to Father through the night?
Unfortunately, Alicent chooses a topic that is closed to them. "Tell me, Princess. What did the King mean last night?" Her voice sounds more natural now that they're away from the dragons.
"It is something only passed from heir to heir in our family. I cannot speak further on the matter."
Alicent flexes her fingers trying to keep them stiff, but she'd evidently been picking at her cuticles earlier. She curls her fingers back once she sees Rhaenyra notice them.
Syrax's growl and Meley's noises come back to her.
"How is the King?" Rhaenyra repeats. Alicent had not truly answered before.
"He is… not in a state for visitors tonight. Perhaps you should take rest once we arrive, you've had such a long day, I imagine." Those hands do not move, do not relax. She cannot even look Rhaenyra in the eye. Her stomach drops and she remembers her husband's warning all those years ago.
Each of us is capable of depravity — more than you would believe.
It is Hightower men, she realizes now, that ride along their carriage.
Seven Hells .
She does not want to think about what this could mean about Alicent, about the King.
Not just a king... but your father. Your brother. Your husband... and your grandsire. Who may not, it seems... walk for much longer among you.
Alicent does not look at her for the rest of the ride. Rhaenyra runs through her dwindling options in silence.
No longer to her surprise, they're greeted at the entrance by Lord Otto.
They're trying too hard .
But why? They have her in hand already. Unless she iss catastrophizing. Her husband's influence runs too deep these days, perhaps.
Otto smiles . "Shall we see you to your chambers, Princess? You must be dreadfully tired; what a journey for someone so far along in their term. I will have the Grandmaester see to you at once."
She rubs her stomach. "I assure you I'm fine, Lord Otto. Pregnancy has always agreed with me."
None of her men are here; the castle is quiet.
She keeps her face directed at Otto but watches Alicent from the corner of her eye. "What is the condition of my father? I'm to understand he's been asking for me." Alicent's words had been careful, specific. Lord Otto does not possess her same code.
"He was awake on and off throughout the night and into the afternoon; I believe he was confused. He's only now settled into sleep; it is best not to disturb him."
Alicent scratches her cuticles.
Each of us is capable of depravity.
"And when will your husband and sons be joining us?" Otto pushes too far. She can see that he's realized it.
She wants to fall apart right then and there. But she cannot. She remembers the snake charmers from their family trip to Volantis. Never show the vipers fear. She has to play along for as long as she can. She has to…
"Actually," Rhaenyra says. "If my father is so truly indisposed at the moment, I wonder if Princess Rhaenys would receive me. I have many affairs for the royal wedding to discuss with her, and I'd like to catch her tonight lest she depart on the morrow."
She can only hope the vipers' venom has not spread that far.
The relief on Alicent's face tells her everything she needed to know; the Dowager Queen jumps at this opportunity. "Yes, of course. I will send a servant to check on her." She excuses herself from the courtyard.
Rhaenyra, in the most casual tone she can manage, relates to Otto all the plans the girls have debated for their weddings. They both pretend to be inested until another guard appears, one she does not know. "The Princess Rhaenys will see you now, Princess. If you'll follow me."
She can only hope that Alicent is desperate enough to not be the one to tell her as she follows the guard to a room that was not Rhaenys's the night before. The guard closes the door behind her without announcing her presence.
The door locks behind him. Every act of confirmation hurts more than the last.
She considers barricading the door, but then takes in the two bedrooms connected to the suite. They do intend to send the Princess to her after all. Alicent does not want to be the one to tell her. And whilst Rhaenyra chews on the betrayal and cowardice of that realization, a call comes closer and closer.
"Unhand me at once!"
She'd been on the receiving end of that tone enough to recognize Rhaenys's indignation. The door opens and the Princess is pushed in, along with their bags.
"Do not trouble yourselves," says the guard. "We've had this floor cleared of any servants with uncertain loyalties."
He closes the door and locks it again. After testing the strength of her new confines, Rhaenys turns to face her with that mix of contempt, anger, and disappointment that always made her feel like a child. "You foolish girl."
But Rhaenyra does not take the bait. "Tell me."
"I told you long ago; you did not listen. And now you've ensured the destruction of mine own family alongside yours."
Rhaenyra ignores her again. "When."
"Sometime last night, early morning mayhaps? I have been locked in my room since dawn. Apparently, Alicent thought me too much a threat with a window at my disposal."
They survey the room and, indeed, none of the windows are large enough for an escape, or even to yell through.
"Why am I still alive?" Rhaenyra starts to move furniture and feel along the crevices in the walls. Rhaenys follows her.
"So you don't know."
"I know only that my father must be dead, and what that must mean for me." She tries to pry off the filigree grating. Not it .
"And yet you so freely walk back into the vipers' nest."
"I did not know until the vipers sang a song too sweet." She moves a table and pushes on one of three shelves similar to the one in the suite she shared with Laenor.
"You should have known simply from the state of the King. Whether or not you knew of his fate, you should not have returned without an army. Or better yet, returned at all."
"I had a responsibility you would not understand." That responsibility is all that holds her composure, but it is slipping away without the need to perform normalcy.
"A responsibility to get us all imprisoned. And why have they put us together?"
"Because I requested to see you, and they jumped at the chance to have me come quietly and to have someone else explain whatever it is you're about to tell me about my hypothetical fate." She tries the second shelf; no luck.
"And how does being imprisoned alongside me benefit you? Aside from the company in misery?"
"Because they've taken us not to the dungeons, or the allocated prisoner suites. They would not risk insulting House Velaryon so." Third time's the charm…
"And how in the—" Rhaenys stops as the shelf slides open.
Rhaenyra grins in triumph. "The viper does not know its own nest. But dragons are restless creatures, we always have an exit."