Chapter Text
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Rhaenyra leans on the balcony, mouth turned to a frown as she looks over the Red Keep. The sound of the main gates opening scratches against her ears. Syrax screeches from afar, senses the turmoil in her rider’s heart.
Queen Alicent waits at the front of the steps that lead to the Keep, her father at her side, though his arm offers her no support as she struggles to stand with her large belly waiting to pull her down. It is a miracle, in the end, that the Queen has not yet popped open, though Rhaenyra wishes she would.
Riders enter the Red Keep, the Hightower banner at their back. In the front, a lonesome knight stops his horse and gets off quickly, his quiet enthusiasm as clear as the sky.
When the knight takes off his helmet and dark red hair appears from beneath it, the Queen smiles and goes to embrace him.
Melina Strong grabs Rhaenyra’s arm from next to her, entwines it with her own and squeezes closer. “Oh, but he is so handsome, Princess!”
Rhaenyra manages to smother her sneer. “Handsome he may be, but the Hightower blood runs thick.”
❁
To feel anything
deranges you. To be seen
feeling anything strips you
naked.