Chapter 14 - Lions Revenge Arc
RhaenysThe white gown, studded with rubies and Myrish lace laid on Rhaenys' bed. The veil and long cloak hung on a stand in the corner of her room at the top of Visenyas Tower. From the balcony of her room in White Keep, the twenty-year-old could see the whole of the Blackwater Rush, the banks lined with the white marble of New Kings Landing.
Ships of one hundred different sails lined the docks bearing trade from far-off lands, and ferrying people to the capital…for her wedding. Well, not just for her.
The seventh month of the year 300 would begin in less than a week, it was to be a month to remember, the Grand Maester Pycelle had said.
The first day would be the wedding of her and Aegon. On the seventh day, the most auspicious would be the formal coronation of her father, King Rhaegar. The fourteenth day would be the Madiens Ball, where Rhaegar would be paraded with new possible brides, the twenty-first day would be the start of the Sevens Tourney, a week of melees, balls and contest, even a mock sea battle and the last Holy Day of the month, the twenty-eighth would be Rhaegars wedding day, to his new bride…the new Queen of Westeros.
Rhaenys held the gown to her body and looked in the mirror. It was beautiful, the stitchwork, the jewels, the faint accents of sunbursts for Mother and scales for Father. It was exactly what she wanted to honour both of her parents. She only wished her mother was here to watch her bed wed.
The door of her room opened and soft footsteps walked in. Rhaenys spun around from her large bed. Her handmaiden, Lyra, walked in bearing fresh linens and a basin for washing. Rhaenys smiled and showed her the gown.
"The seamstress delivered it today, Lyra. Look at it…I think Mother would have loved it", Rhaenys swirled the gown against her body. Lyra placed the sheets on a stool and sighed, going about her work. Rhaenys said her name once again, but Lyra did not reply.
"What is wrong? Are you well? Shall I fetch a maester?", Rhaenys asked. Lyra shrugged her shoulders in her red gown of simple cloth. Rhaenys placed the wedding gown on her bed and walked over to Lyra. She grabbed her shoulders and forced the common girl to look her in the eyes. Lyra pulled away.
"Lyra, please. Have I done something to offend you?", Rhaenys pleaded. Lyra walked to the balcony and looked over the Harbour. Seabirds cried as they flew through the sky. A large ship with an orange sail and red sunburst sailed into port.
"Rhaenys. Rhaenys you really dont get it, do you?", Lyra refused to look at the Princess, "your wedding. You and Aegon. If we get caught ill be hanged and you'll be sent to be a Septa or something, at the very best you'll never have any freedom again. We're lucky we've made it this long without anyone thinking something of us. You're going to be married to the Prince of Dragonstone, you'll be Queen of the Seven Kingdoms once your father…there is no place for me. And I have to look out for myself". Rhaenys mouth hung ajar, Lyra had never raised her voice before. This sentiment she had gained had come out of the blue. It was only yesterday they promised they would try to be together forever.
"Lyra, I can protect you. Seven Hells, you know what Aegon does behind Father's back, I wouldn't be surprised if he had bastards of his own, already. I will be Princess of Dragonstone in my own right, Mother wanted us to co-rule…"
"And you think the lords of the Realm will accept you and Aegon as equal? In the ale shops, I hear them, Rhaenys. The common folk think you're a Dornish-Valyrian witch. You wield a sword and you're better than your brother, already unladylike. Your aunts did not help with the whole 'magic thing' and you barely talk to anyone. They think you're a cold cow".
"Lyra-"
"They think you'll cast some spell on Aegon. Like you're a Visenya the First reborn, sorceress. But you are not Queen Visenya, Queen Rhaenys, Queen Alysanne, Rhaenerya or any other queen who held some power, you will do nothing, Rhaenys.
It will all be Aegon. You'll just pump out his babies until it kills you like your mother, or he grows sick of you and you fade into the background", Lyra shot like hot venom, "I was going to wait until after your wedding but I can't…I spoke with the Steward, and I am being transferred to another part of the Keep. Rhaenys, please, do not ask for me". Lyra ran a hand through her brown hair and sighed. She left the room without a word, leaving Rhaenys alone with the sounds of birds crying.
A few hours passed and Rhaenys had cried all the tears she was willing to spill for Lyra. Not only had she lost her lover, but her closest friend in the Capital. She was one of the few people who really understood her, the real Rhaenys. But she could not wallow it self-pity. Besides, Lyra was right, if she was caught in an affair she could lose everything…
Her steel blade clattered against that of Ser Barrinston. He matched her blows elegantly with ease. One slash after another, none getting closer to the Old Bold. they danced around the training yard, gathering a small crowd to watch. Some cheered on the princess, some the Lord Commander of the King's Guard, but more than that, many stood and whispered about the black-haired, purple-eyed daughter of the king.
Rhaenys thrust forward with her blade, trying to strike at the gut of her teacher. Selmy stepped aside and struck down, sending her blade flying from her grasp. Selmy muttered and picked up her blade. He looked at her with kind old eyes.
"Again, Princess. Try it again", he said, pulling the helmet from his head and handing it to Baelon, the Hands squire and her young cousin. Rhaenys flipped the blade in her hands, feeling the wrap in her hands. She clenched the steel and took a deep breath. Again, she lunged at the old man, but instead of slapping her blade away, as she anticipated, he stepped aside and smacked her bottom with the flat of his blade. Caught in the movement, Rhaenys fell to the floor, holding out her hands to break the blow of the dirt from her face. He muttered again under his breath.
"I cannot believe you are letting this old man whip your arse, cousin", Arianne Martell laughed to their bastard cousin, Tyene Sand. The blonde hair blue eyed woman had the cheek to laugh elegantly at the jest. Rhaenys gathered herself and stood, feeling rage rise and fall like a wave.
"Martell, Sand", she said cooly. The two Dorinsh women curtseyed to their Royal cousin. They walked down the steps and Arianne opened her arms to embrace Rhaenys. Tyene stood by and smiled, her palms held over her chest in a praying kind of way.
"Come now, cousin. Let us get you washed up before your Father has my head", the heiress of Dorne said.
As Rhaenys sat in the bath, steaming with hot water prepared by her new handmaiden, a youth of about seven and ten, the daughter of some knight, the two cousins looked at the princess' gown and jewels.
"The rubies from your father, the necklace and bracelet you had for your twelfth name day?", Tyene asked, holding the pair up. Rhaenys nodded and Tyene laid them on the gown. The new handmaiden offered to wash Rhaenys hair but she refused and dismissed the girl. Arianne flopped on the small couch before her brazier and sighed loudly.
"And what is the matter with you?", Tyene asked. Arianne looked at them from the couch, her eyes wide with excitement.
"It's been a long time since I was in New Kings Landing. New people to meet, to…get to know", the Dornish woman winked.
"Arianne, you are wed now. You cannot speak like that. You have a duty to your husband", Rhaenys scrubbed her skin with a sponge.
"Yes, and Cletus Yronwood would rather spend time with Uncle Oberyn than I. and that is fine, I would rather fill my company with people who want it, like my current…friend, Gerold Dayne", Arianne sighed and Tyene giggled.
"I thought you put him aside years ago?", Rhaenys poured a cup of water over her hair.
"Well, a recent encounter with him has brought him back into my graces. Father said I could not bring him with me for your wedding, so I am left without my special friends for the long month I am here. Perhaps I shall make friends with one from the gentler sex. It has been a while", Arianne stood up and fiddled through Rhaenys jewels, styling them on herself in the mirror. Rhaenys face flushed red and Tyene puzzled her face.
"Is there something you are not telling us, cousin? You know you can tell us anything, we swear it by the gods nothing shall pass our lips if you do not wish it so", Tyene said. Once a septa's daughter, always a septa's daughter, Rhaenys thought. She sighed. If anyone would help her with having feelings for another, surely it would be Arianne and Tyene. Hesitantly she described her and Lyra, their year-long love affair and the sudden change of heart.
"So that explains why someone has a lemon-mouthed reply", Arianne said. Tyene shot her a look and grabbed Rhaenys' hand from the copper tub.
"Look, Rhaenys, I am sorry that happened to you. Life outside of Dorne has many more rules about who you may love. But have you never truly loved your brother? You have been betrothed to him since his first name day, have you never thought of him as your husband-to-be?", Tyene looked at Rhaenys with her beautiful blue eyes, clear as a sunny day, but deadly sharp and cunning, like her father, the Red Viper.
Rhaenys paused for a moment to think. The only person she had ever laid with was Lyra. When she thought of love and her hopes for the future, it was always surrounded by the women she loved, not the men.
"Father had said my duty was to Aegon. Mother, although opposed to the idea of my marriage to him in the start, eventually agreed, saying I would make the best Queen Westeros had ever seen. I know my duty as a wife, that I must lay with him. But to me, truly? Aegon is my younger brother.
Seven hells, he's a cock but I would die for him, give my life for his if the Gods wanted it, but bed him? Serve him as a wife? He will be the father of my children if I have any at all. It is not what I truly hoped for myself", Rhaenys looked at her reflection in the water, bright purple eyes and black hair, a Dornish complexion but Valyrain nose and cheeks looked back up at her. Her mother said the Gods had blessed her with the best features from both of her ancestors, a beautiful ruling Queen to be…
"And have you ever had feelings for any man? Besides your brother?", Arianne asked, now interested by the conversation. Rhaenys shook her head. The three sat in silence for a moment.
"Well… that puts a bit of an issue into it, does it not?" Arianne added. Tyene shushed her quickly and shook her head. Rhaenys narrowed her eyes at the pair.
"What do you mean, Arianne?", Rhaenys asked. Tyene's face fell into her pale palms. Arianne's dark eyes shot around the room, avoiding her gaze. Rhaenys asked again what the pair meant, but neither replied. A heat burned inside Rhaenys, she did not want to be left in the dark, not today. She stood from the bath, water dripping off her body.
"You will tell me, or I shall have Father place you on room arrest until your long month in the capital is over, now for the last time, what did you mean by an issue?", Rhaenys the Dragon commanded. Tyene suppressed a smile.
"See, it is no issue at all. We will be able to make it work, she is not as soft as your father thought", Tyene said. Arianne rolled her eyes and picked up a circle of gold, studded with pearls, a gift from some lord long ago, trying to win Rhaenys' favour.
"Father had been planning with Princess Elia for many years. Plans in case of her early death she knew her body was weak, but her mind was strong. Plans to ensure her eldest child…her eldest daughter, succeeds the Iron Throne. The way of Westeros is dated, Rhaenys. Dorne has it right, the eldest, regardless of gender should rule, your mother knew this" she pressed the diadem into Rhaenys' hands, "you should be Queen of the Seven Kingdoms after your father, Rhaenys Targaryen".
That night, supper passed like a blur. During the day, while she avoided Tyene, Arianne and the rest of the Dornish party, she stumbled across Aemma and Edric, their parents nowhere to be seen. The pair seemed quiet, they'd said their mother and father had barely spoken the past five moons. They nearly did not attend the month of festivities until Robert was finally able to convince Shaena to leave Storms End. She asked about Sunchaser, Shaenas dragon, and they said she had been left at home. Shaena had not spent a day with her since she hatched.
Over the course of supper later that evening, with the slowly massing royal host, they shared stories of all they had lost. When Elia was mentioned, Rhaenys felt sick to her stomach. How did she know so little about her mother's intentions for her? Did Father know? Did any of her family know besides the Dornish?
Next to her Aegon held her hand in a comforting way, sometimes he was kind to her. She felt the food in her stomach churn.
"Excuse me, lords and ladies. I am not feeling well, I shall retire for the night", Rhaenys stood from her seat. When Tyene rose and offered to go with her, Rhaenys refused.
She half ran-half stumbled her way back to her chambers. She peeled off her gown, a simple one of red and black, and threw herself into her goosedown bed. Feeling like she was about to spill her stomach, the Princess raced from her bed and hung over the bannister of her balcony. When no food came up, she stood back for a moment. Rhaenys stared off out across the Black Water and to the lights of the white marble city.
She wrapped herself in a nightgown, feeling the night's chill. Rhaenys decided to stand on the balcony and feel the light breeze hit her face, causing her body to goosebumps. Off in the distance, Rhaenys spied the newest construction project of New Kings Landing, a dragon pit.
The old one had been razed with the old city. A Sept, named the New Sept of Baelor had been built, alongside White Keep, to mimic the Red Keep, but King Aerys had not commissioned a new Dragon Pit to be built, instead, a great amphitheatre called the Dragons Pit, to host games and tourneys.
She did not know what her father would call the new dragon pit, since two Dragon Pits would be confusing, she thought. She smiled at the joke she made to herself, Lyra would have laughed at the joke, too. Lyra loved Rhaenys dry humour.
Feeling the cold too much, Rhaenys sat on her couch, thinking about what her cousins had told her. How she then yelled at them, saying she would not steal her brother's claim, how he would honour their mother's wish and they would co-rule…but the dark thoughts began to steep into her mind.
She loved Aegon but not like that. She loved no men like that. Even more, he was impulsive, arrogant, and entitled, he had never worked a real day in his life. She was the better swordsman, scholar, and diplomat. She was the one who paid attention during Small Council and helped serve Father.
Yet, Lyra was right. She was cold to strangers, often silent when uncomfortable unlike Aegon who oozed charisma and charm, she was often hostile and calculating whereas Aegon was relaxed and easy-going. It did not help there were rumours she was a witch. The people would never accept her…right?
Westeros had never been a ruling Queen before, and both times it nearly occurred, with her namesake, Rhaenys the Queen who never was, and Rhaeneyra the Black, the Realm fought back. She would not plunge the Realm into chaos for a metal chair.
But Aegon could be a monster when pushed and he was quick to temper, a true son of the Dragons Blood; as children he picked fights for no reason, and he was a bully to their cousins and servants.
He did not have the mind to rule, instead wanting to chase women, deer and boats all day. But with the power of dragons at his back, and no one to keep him in line, Aegon was sure to strike war with the Free Cities or greater Essos. To expand the Seven Kingdoms as his own namesake had. Aegon Reborn many called him... And he took it to his head.
But she could guide him to rule as his equal ruling wife, curb his worst tendencies…or she could rule in her own right, as her mother had apparently wanted. Thousands of thoughts flooded her head. She wanted them to all go away.
Fight, flee, run, hide, the crown of a queen or a consort, mother and wife or ruler, alone. Why had the Gods given her such difficult decisions to make?
Rhaenys breathed in the cool night air from her room, feeling it wrap around her body. She thought it would be like to ride a dragon through a night like this, to feel their warm scaled body under her and be free to the stars above.
With the rate the dragons were growing, the maesters estimated another five to six years until large enough to bear riders, mayhaps less for some. Apparently, Dusk, Aunt Daenerys' mount, was the size of a dire wolf, already, the largest of them all. She might be able to take to the skies before anyone else did.
From the stables outside her room, Rhaenys heard the cries of the smaller dragon. Vaedario, her father's beast had been slow to grow but it loved to sing. She was friendly and preferred the flesh of fish to meat. But Father kept her locked away, for her own safety, he said.
Although many Gold Cloaks patrolled the White Keep, he still did not trust that there would not be an attempted Dragon Slayer in the castle. Especially with the plots in the West brewing. Rhaenys stifled a yawn. The hour had grown late.
The princess climbed into bed and fell into a deep sleep, one that she could not wake herself from as hard as she tried.
The Princess flew around the Wall, a great sadness filling her heart but she did not know why. She found herself on dragon-back, the large beast flying elegantly through the dark sky like a dancer in a ball. The Wall was alight with flames in the night. They flickered up and up the icy fortress sending flames of ungodly colours into the clouds.
Chainmail armour studded in leather hugged her body, a feeling she was familiar with. By her side a new blade hung, its pommel had two dragon wings and shone in the Walls flames.
Valyrian Steel, she thought hazily. She tried to unsheath the blade but it fell from her grasp. Rhaenys watched the wings from the pommel begin to flap and fly away…over the flaming Wall and into the darkness beyond it.
Rhaenys grabbed the reigns of the dragon and pushed towards the Wall, commanding the dragon to take her to the flying sword. The dragon approach the Wall at full speed and bucked her off like a horse once they reached the barrier the Wall formed between the Seven Kingdoms, and the lands beyond.
She flew through the sky, flying on her own right now, flapping her arms like wings. She was surrounded by nets and spears that tried to wrap her and drag her towards the dark forests and snowy landscape below. Rhaenys tried to swat them away, but when she stopped flapping, she fell from the sky.
The Princess hit the floor with a thud, landing in a large pile of snow. She tried to become airborne again but could not. The spear with an odd head, and the nets laid by her feet. She kicked them with heavy snow boots, full of rage…but felt a dark feeling seep into her spine. She looked up, and a dragon made of ice fly above her. Rhaenys froze as the dragon searched for her.
She picked up the spear and net and ran forwards, avoiding the Icey Dragons' gaze and the darkness that came with it. A voice called to her from the base of the largest Weirwood she had ever seen, it wept tears of blood.
In the cave, under the roots of the tree, sat a man and green children. One offered her a hand and another pointed to the old, greying man in the roots of the Heart Tree. He opened his mouth and thousands of grave bugs' worms, beetles and many others spilled forth. He opened his eyes, they were blood red. She tried to scream but bugs fled from her mouth. She reached for a sword at her side, to slash away the man who scared her and felt a grip in her hand.
She unsheathed the steel, it was the same blade she had followed over the Wall.
"Find me beyond" the room bellowed as the ceiling caved in, burying her in snow and ash.
Rhaenys woke with tears in her eyes as dawn broke over New Kings Landing. She ran to her bookshelf and opened her journal. Father had commanded that if they dreamt anything…like that, that they wrote it down so it could be analysed.
It was her first ever Dragon Dream.