Rhaenyra's rape story and how she ended up in the British Isles. Warning: a bit graphic
Author Note: this is a RAPE story so be warned of that.
As Alicent began to seize power in the weeks before she wed King Viserys, she had asked, demanded, that Rhaenyra's own chambers be moved farther away from the chambers of the King and Queen and down to the end of a long, dark and cold, and largely abandoned hallway. Yes, the chambers were larger than her former ones but they were also far more isolated from everyone else. The King gave into his bride's demand since the size was bigger and his bride said having his daughter farther away would make it easier for her to conceive a son.
The move was fully done a week before the wedding.
On the day of the pre-wedding feast, Alicent had told Viserys that, since the Kingsguard and Royal Guard needed to be at their best on the day of the wedding, that perhaps the Royal family should be protected by other guards. Otto seconded the motion and volunteered the guards and knights of House Hightower for their protection. Viserys agreed. Rhaenyra did not and she thought it was a bit suspicious. Since she knew her way through the Keep's secret passages, when she was able to claim she needed rest before the night's festivities and as such, locked herself in her chambers, she decided to investigate. The Princess snuck into the chambers of her once friend and Lady Companion and found, tucked away several documents with her name on them that were seemingly being overlooked with the packing of the chamber. She also found, hidden beneath a couple loose floor boards, a couple journals that spoke of her and her mother. They were taken as well and brought to a hidden room in the Red Keep Rhaenyra had discovered years before. Then she went back to her chamber as she knew it was nearly time for her to be readied for the feast.
That night, she used all of her royal training to keep smiling and cheerful as the Lords of the Realm made thinly veiled insults to her about herself as an inept heir, and her own dear Lady Mother who'd been killed not six months before and her inadequacies compared to the Hightower girl.
The Princess danced and played her part as the Realm's delight to the fullest that night.
That night, the girl's fears about the Hightower guards would come true.
As she was escorted to her chamber by the Hightower guard, several low level Lords and a few other knights and guards loyal to House Hightower would join them. The Princess would be informed that all of her maids had already been dismissed for the night and that all the men there were to help her undress. This scared her; however, she had no escape. Soon they all had entered her chambers and her door was bolted shut and the Princess knew she was prey surrounded by predators. She was absolutely helpless. One man quickly grabbed her by her waist and stuck his tongue down her throat while another began to unlace her gown as all of the others began to make lewd comments to and about her and what they planned to do to her. As soon as possible, the bodice of her gown was shoved down and her breasts exposed and then grabbed by two different men. One took her tit into his mouth and began to bite and suckle it while the other grabbed the whole thing and began, with both hands to massage it and to squeeze her nipple between his fingers. The sensations were nearly overwhelming to the 12 year old girl who knew almost nothing about the ways of coupling, especially once her gown was fully removed from her frame and the man who had undressed her then spanked her bottom hard while another shoved his fingers inside her womanhood. That night, all ten men would force their cocks into her mouth and cunt at least once before they bathed and dressed her in her sleeping gown and tucked her into bed.
The next morning, the Princess could only cry over her treatment and, upon hearing that all of the Kingsguard and Royal guard were being assigned to the King and his bride for their first month of marriage, was devastated as she knew there would be a repeat.
As she feared, it did happen again. The Princess tried to gain an audience with her father several times but he was too enamored with his bride to speak to his child throughout his first month married to his second wife.
Since her father refused to speak to her, she decided to work on gaining evidence as to the crime against her. She found letters from Otto to the lesser Lord's asking them to ruin her, orders to the guards and knights to "protect" her from within her chambers and permission to take liberties with her as payment for their service. All in all, it was horrifying. In the end though, it didn't matter.
A month after she was first assaulted, her father summoned her to court. There she was charged with and condemned with ruining herself, her reputation, attempting to sabotage the Royal Wedding and being a whore. Her punishment: she lost all of her titles and allowances, had the Targaryen name stripped from her, her dragon was bound in chains in the deepest part of the Pit and then that part sealed off and finally, she was banished from Westeros for life. She was unable to help but see the look of absolute pride and victory in the eyes of Otto and Alicent. When she tried to speak up in her defense later, in a more private meeting with her father, along with all the evidence she had gathered, he told her that the truth didn't matter, only perception and that enough people believed her to be a whore, so that was all that mattered. He then told her that she was the biggest disappointment of his life and that he wished she had died like all of her true born siblings. He said that the realm would have been better off for it and that the only reason why she wasn't being executed was that Alicent had spoken up in her defense. Then he told her that he didn't consider her his daughter anymore and that he did not care what happened to her from that point forward.
She was only allowed to gather a single trunk full of belongings to take with her, but nothing of too great value. She chose to take all of her evidence, a couple books in her mother tongue, a portrait of her mother, her simplest gowns, a portrait of her dragon Syrax, the bag of her collected foreign coins and her small dagger. At the docks, she was handed one other bag of coins from Ser Westerling who said it was from her father so that she might have some chance of survival. The first ship she boarded took her to Dorne and from there, she chose the British Isles. She knew she couldn't trust the Hightoweres and she also knew that she had spoken often to Alicent of her dreams of traveling East and exploring all the lands her Uncle had visited. Fearing her life and safely, that's why she went West, to the lands that Westeros had so very little to do with. In the West, they knew very little of Valyria and the dragon lords and had very different Gods. She had to hope she would be safe.
Author Note: Otto does expect Rhaenyra to go east to join Daemon. When she never arrives, he's convinced that she must have died. He figured she'd chosen the Dornish ship just to leave but then would have wanted to follow her childhood dreams and so, from Dorne, to head east. When it didn't happen, he figured the Dornish killed her but also figured that it was no big loss.