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English
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Published:
2025-12-16
Updated:
2025-12-23
Words:
10,051
Chapters:
5/20
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6
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39
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The Quiet of Winterfell

Summary:

In the aftermath of the Dance of the Dragons, a widowed Targaryen princess is sent north as both reward and restraint.

Once a child of the Red Keep, later the wife of a kinslayer, she has survived by silence, loyalty to blood , and the careful concealment of grief. Now bound by royal decree to Cregan Stark, she leaves the warmth of King’s Landing for the cold endurance of Winterfell carrying with her the memory of a war she is not permitted to mourn.

In the North, where oaths are kept and truths linger, she must decide whether survival is enough or whether something gentler, and far more dangerous, might yet take root in the snow.

Notes:

This fic is set post–Dance of the Dragons and follows a canon-divergent OC: the daughter of Daemon Targaryen and Rhea Royce.
While the major events of the Dance remain largely intact, her presence alters certain personal dynamics particularly within the Greens.

This is a slow-burn, politically arranged marriage that will cover grief, survival, and restraint rather than instant romance. There are no “good sides” here only people shaped by war. Please mind the tags.

Chapter 1

Chapter Text

Hello all

Thank you for clicking my little story please find a bit of world building before we get into the story :)

 

This story is set in the aftermath of the Dance of the Dragons, after the death of King Aegon II and during the early regency of King Aegon III. The war has ended, but its consequences have not.

Aelys Targaryen is the daughter of Prince Daemon Targaryen and Lady Rhea Royce, Aelys was raised between Runestone and King’s Landing. After her mother’s death, she was brought to court to live among her father’s kin by order of the king. She had a fairly easy childhood with little ambition.
She grew close Aegon and Aemond but got along fine with the other children in the family.
She does not belong to any faction of the Dance, though she has been claimed by both. Her loyalty lies with House Targaryen as a whole, and with survival above all else.

Once wed to Prince Aemond Targaryen, Aelys became a Green by marriage.
Publicly, she maintains that their union was political. Privately, their bond was far more complicated .... and far more dangerous to acknowledge after his death.

Now widowed, she has stayed a familiar presence at court, Aelys remains both valuable and unsettling to the crown.

Prince Aemond Targaryen is remembered by history as the Kinslayer and by connection many see her the same.
To Aelys, Aemond was first a childhood companion intense, lonely, and fiercely loyal. Their closeness predated the war, and the love that grew between them.

Aelys first encountered Cregan during the Hour of the Wolf, when he questioned her in the aftermath of Aegon II’s death. Their exchange was measured and marked by mutual caution.
Now, by royal decree, they are to be married. An alliance meant to reward the North and remove a complicated Targaryen presence from court.

This is not a love match.

Not yet.