Chapter Text
The world ended in 305AC. It ended in the cold and a darkness that swallowed everything. Not even the gods saw the end, only the dead. The Night King sat upon his throne of eternal winter, proud before his army of the dead, and then he slept, for what else was there for him to do? The war against the light, the living, and the warmth was won. The world passed into darkness for eternity.
If the gods could see it, perhaps they would weep. Then again, perhaps not, for how could dead things feel sorrow?
The world ended in 305AC, but this was not that world.
This world did not end in 305AC, in fact, it did not end at all. This world was saved by the most inexplicable circumstances and unlikeliest series of events. The saving of this world started in 110 AC by none other than Daemon Targaryen, his beloved lady wife, a bottle of arbor gold, and an argument that would go down in history.
It went something like this…
Daemon Targaryen and Rhea Royce hated each other. It was no secret, even amongst the small folk. They hated each other so publicly and loudly that their wedding was an awkward affair for all involved.
Once wed, they both went their separate ways until four years later, King Jaehaerys called a great council to announce his next successor. The candidates, of which there were many, came down to two, Deamon’s brother Viserys and his cousin Rhaenys. Though Rhaenys had the stronger claim, being closer in line to the throne and already with two children herself, the council named Viserys, and set a precedent for a male heir.
This was the start of the eventual downfall of House Targaryen. But unknowingly, nearly ten years later, the savior of the house of dragons came into existence.
In an effort to keep things civil long enough to get through the congratulatory feast after the declaration of Prince Viserys becoming heir apparent, King Jaehaerys had more wine brought out and ordered the serving staff to keep the cups full at all times.
Due to the nature of the council, every lord, lady, prince, and princess of import had been summoned to attend. So Prince Daemon and Lady Rhea were reunited for the first time since their wedding night and forced to seat together. Disgruntled and more than a little angry, they waspishly exchanged insults between cups of wine as the night went on.
When the feast concluded, and both retired to their shared chambers, Daemon poured more wine for both of them as their heated argument continued, not that either could recall what it was they were arguing about by the time morning shone through the windows. Four years of hating each other at a distance cumulated into an angry drunken night that somehow finished with their marriage finally being consummated.
Neither of them had planned on consummating their union. In fact, Daemon had hoped to avoid the bed, and his boorish wife, altogether to sleep on the settee. Instead, he had said something uncouth, demeaning, and perhaps a little deserved – or at least he thought so – when Rhea threw what was left of the wine at him.
He wasn’t proud of what happened next, having never laid hands on a woman before in violence, even if she completely deserved the backhand for throwing a goblet of wine at a prince – people were beheaded for such actions, a backhand was perhaps a kindness – and their screaming voices could be heard throughout the keep. The servants talked about nothing else for days, some claiming it was the ghosts of Harrenhal coming back to haunt the living.
Somehow, despite all of the hate, the yelling, and the throwing of things, despite the fact that neither of them wanted to, or planned to, consummate their marriage, their marriage did end up somehow consummated. Neither of them remembered much of the night to recall if they had enjoyed any of it, but both agreed it would never happen again regardless. Lady Rhea took her moon tea and swore to forget the incident and both man and wife went through the next few years pretending it never happened.
That was, until nine years later, when King Viserys held a grand tourney for his daughter’s thirteenth name day. Prince Daemon had been in Essos, having once more been banished from the capital the year prior – something that Otto Hightower reveled in – and had decided to pay his brother an unannounced visit. Like all the times before, King Viserys was pleased to see his younger brother, letting bygones be bygones, but as the Prince was not planned for, and the Red Keep was quite full, Viserys had Daemon roomed in the apartments of his dearly beloved wife, who also happened to be in the capital to visit her cousin, Queen Aemma.
Neither Daemon nor Rhea were pleased with this outcome.
Like the Great Council nine years earlier, husband and wife traded vicious barbs and poorly disguised insults throughout the night. Embarrassed, and more than a little exasperated, Viserys and Aemma kept the wine flowing and tried to distract both parties with conversation as much as they could tolerate. That night, like the one previous, ended up with Daemon and Rhea once more moving their public fight to their quarters, where servants claimed that it proceeded to only get much louder until the early hours of the morning.
They both awoke late in the afternoon in the same bed, hungover, angry, covered in bruises, and quite naked. Unlike the morning after nine years ago, they did not get dressed quietly and go their own ways. Unfortunately for the servants – and the family members that had to suffer them – their fighting continued until finally King Viserys declared both unreasonable, had Rhaenyra moved to her mother’s chambers, while Daemon took his niece’s apartments until the celebrations had concluded.
Separated, but still in vicinity of one another, Daemon and Rhea's bickering lasted until the end of the festivities and both parties separated, Prince Daemon to Dragonstone and Lady Rhea to Runestone. They remained separated and did not see each other again until nearly seven years later, when Daemon visited his lady wife and later that same day, became a widower.
So incensed with each other, Lady Rhea did not remember to request moon tea delivered to her rooms, and proceeded to forget about it until much later, and much too late. Neither of them realized the consequences of their union for quite some time, Lady Rhea much sooner than her husband.
Lady Rhea Royce gave birth eight months later to a little girl with silver hair and lilac eyes. The pregnancy had not been an easy one, and as House Royce was between Maesters since the last one had passed, she only had a midwife that was old enough to have seen her grandmother into the world. Lady Rhea hated that woman almost as much as she hated her husband. Six months into the pregnancy and the midwife had put her on bedrest. She had only bled a little bit during her daily ride and had made the mistake of mentioning it to the old hag.
By the time her labors had started, Rhea was ready to murder the hag and the child both.
Despite being nearly a month early, and quite small for a baby, Rhea still labored for nearly a day and a half before the squalling baby was brought into the world. The infant looked just like her husband, and she hated her instantly. Handing the baby to the wet nurse, Lady Rhea rested and recovered from her labors. A fortnight later and she was back on a horse and hunting deer to get herself back into shape. She did not once ask about the baby.
Rhea thought about contacting her husband to have him retrieve his spawn, but she ultimately decided against it. She wanted him nowhere near the Vale, and she was most certainly not taking the dragonspawn to him. If he wanted to find out, it would be easy for him to gain the information himself. She was not going to go out of her way to apprise him of it.
Instead, she ordered the wetnurse to continue her care and tried her best to forget about the child she refused to call daughter. Prince Daemon did find out about the consequences of the consummation all on his own, entirely by accident, during another feast. His niece’s wedding feast, to be precise.
And this is where the story begins, about how the world was saved by a little girl who had a father that didn’t know she existed and a mother that pretended she didn’t.
