Chapter Text
Rhaenyra scowled as a curly-haired shadow fell over her book.
“I’ve told you once and again, Your Grace, I do not wish to attend the Hunt,” she snapped, rolling her eyes and trying her best to focus on the passage she was reading, rather than the perennial irritant that was her former lady-in-waiting turned stepmother and Queen.
“Does that really work on her?” Rhaenyra’s eyes snapped up at her cousin Laena’s mischievous tone. It had been over three years since she had seen her cousin, between her father’s slight against Laena in marrying Alicent, and Lord Corlys’ departure as Master of Ships to go fight in the Stepstones. The entire Velaryon family had left the Red Keep, Rhaenys and Laena retreating to Driftmark, and Corlys and Laenor to war.
“Cousin!” Rhaenyra exclaimed, closing her book and bestowing a smile on her beautiful cousin. “I did not expect to see you,”
“Your father insisted that my mother and I join you on the Hunt. Mother sent me to ask if you would join us in our carriage on the way out,” there was a glint in Laena’s violet eyes that intrigued her, and the invitation from Princess Rhaenys took her aback. After all, her last conversation with the Princess had not been so friendly, which was then compounded by her father’s choice not to wed Laena. Rhaenyra slid her book into her satchel and stood. It surprised her, but she now was eye level with Laena. The other girl had been a head taller when Rhaenyra last saw her.
“I will be honest, I was hoping to hide here long enough for them to set out without me. I do not see anything for me to celebrate,” Rhaenyra couldn’t keep the glum words from leaving her mouth. After all, what did she have to celebrate? She was sure this was the moment she would be passed over in favor of Aegon. He had made it past infancy and was a healthy, strong son for her father, having reached his second name day. He was exactly what her father had always wanted, the dream for which her mother had died.
“Nonsense, cousin,” Laena said, linking her arm with Rhaenyra’s and leading her from the Godswood. “We have much to discuss with you,” Rhaenyra slid her eyes sidelong at the quick switch Laena made to their mother tongue, but a moment later, she saw why.
Alicent, a hand on her swollen stomach, had appeared in the archway that led back into the keep. She stood there, her brows upraised at the sight of Laena and Rhaenyra together.
“Your Grace,” Laena said, bobbing a polite curtsy to the Queen. “Should you not be with the King on the way to the Hunt already?”
“Lady Laena. I am surprised to see you here,” Alicent, for once, turned her entire attention on the woman who should have held her place instead of on Rhaenyra.
“The King sent a raven a moon ago, requesting my and my Lady mother’s presence for the celebration,” Laena said coolly. Alicent narrowed her eyes, her hands beginning the familiar fidget of picking at her fingernails that Rhaenyra remembered so well. She was anxious in Laena’s presence. As she should be, Rhaenyra thought, enjoying the sight of how uncomfortable her cousin made her former friend.
“That is news to me, but you are of course welcome to celebrate my son,” Alicent’s smile seemed too forced. “My Lord Husband has bid me fetch Princess Rhaenyra so she may ride with the family,”
“Well, Your Grace, I’m sorry that you’ve come all this way in your condition, but my cousin has accepted an offer from my mother to ride in our carriage with us. It has been far too long since we have seen our kinswoman and heir,” Laena delicately stressed the last two words. Rhaenyra watched as the fury bloomed in Alicent’s face at the dig. After all, it had been two years since Aegon’s birth, two years in which her father had not declared Alicent’s son as his heir.
“A generous offer, my Lady, but the King’s desire-”
“If my father desires me to ride with him, he will need to tell Princess Rhaenys that himself,” Rhaenyra said, cutting her former friend off. “Trust me, stepmother, after all the slights that House Velaryon has suffered at his hand, he will not wish to offend our cousin again, especially over something so trivial as which carriage I ride in,” Rhaenyra savored the wince Alicent couldn’t hide as she addressed her as ‘stepmother’. A tense silence followed, until Alicent finally stepped aside.
“Very well,” she said shortly, turning on her heel and stalking away from Laena and Rhaenyra. Laena rolled her eyes when the Queen’s back was turned, leading Rhaenyra in the same direction.
“What a miserable woman. What did you ever see in her?” Laena asked in High Valyrian, making sure that no one nearby could hear her speak against the Queen.
“She was so kind and attentive to me when she was my lady-in-waiting,” Rhaenyra said defensively, feeling the need to justify the love she had felt for her former best friend. “She was the only Lady of my household at the time who was my age, and I depended on her,” the last words were bitter. She had depended on Alicent. She still felt a burning rage in her gut for the way Alicent had betrayed her - visiting her father in the night when her mother’s ashes were scarcely cold. The revelation of that truth, and the fact that Prince Aegon had been born exactly eight moons after the royal wedding, had broken Rhaenyra’s heart. She had refused to take the single Lady in waiting that her former friend had budgeted for her Household, not wanting to be hurt like that again.
“Who among us hasn’t been fooled by a beautiful face,” Laena murmured, switching back to Common as they exited the Keep and into the commotion that was the Court preparing to head out into the Kingswood. Laena navigated them expertly, stepping around Lords and Ladies, knights, grooms, servants and huntsmen to lead them to a beautiful carriage that flew the Velaryon coat of arms, a silver seahorse on a field of sea green.
The cool interior of the carriage was well appointed, with sheer silver gray curtains veiling the windows, and richly embroidered benches in Velaryon colors on each side. Sitting facing them when they entered was Princess Rhaenys. The Princess had not changed as much as her daughter had in the last two years, still just as imposing with her long crown of raven-black hair braided as if she would be riding her dragon, and her sharp violet eyes assessing Rhaenyra and Laena as they entered.
“Princess, thank you for your invitation,” Rhaenyra said, nodding respectfully to the older Princess. She winced inwardly, remembering how disrespectful she had been to Rhaenys the last time they spoke.
“Of course, cousin. You are our kinswoman, and it’s been far too long since we spoke,” Rhaenys’ gaze lingered on Rhaenyra as the two girls sat across from her. Rhaenyra fought the urge to fidget. How did Laena fare, when it felt like her mother was able to stare into her very soul?
The footman outside shut the door as the girls settled in. Rhaenys obviously had not extended the invitation to anyone else. The three Valyrian women were silent for a long moment before Rhaenys spoke again.
“I will be honest with you, Rhaenyra, I have some motivation for inviting you to ride with us today. There are things you need to know,” Rhaenyra looked to Laena on her right, meeting her cousin’s beautiful lilac gaze before turning back to Rhaenys. She did not say anything, but nodded to her cousin. This was the first contact Rhaenyra had with any of her family in years, with her Uncle fighting a war and her cousins having quit Court after the betrothal announcement. She did not want this encounter to end as her last conversation with Rhaenys had.
“You are a woman grown now, and without a mother or grandmother of our family to speak with you, to initiate you into the secrets of our family. The duty falls to me, as the only adult woman of our House,” Rhaenyra was taken aback by the Princess’ words. She placed so much weight on a truth that Rhaenyra had not even realized. With her own mother, Aemma, and grandmother, Alyssa dead, and all of her great-aunts by King Jaehaerys and Queen Alyssane dead, exiled, or bound by vows to the Sept, Rhaenys, Rhaenyra, and Laena were the only women of their bloodline left - and Laena herself was a Velaryon by name.
“This is closely guarded information in our family, passed only from woman to woman. The men, sadly, are too far gone into Andal culture to remember, or to be trusted with the truth anymore. My great-aunt Rhaena was the one to see this truth, to swear the women of our House to secrecy, to protect our magic. I need you to swear to me that you will tell what you hear in this carriage to no one save the women of our House who come after you, to teach them what they need to know. Maybe someday, the men of House Targaryen will turn back to the Old Ways, but you and I will likely never see that day. You cannot tell your father, your uncle, your brother, or even your son if you someday have one,” the Princess’ grave words fell into silence, waiting for Rhaenyra’s answer. There was, of course, only one she could make.
“I swear it, cousin,” she said solemnly, maintaining eye contact with Rhaenys. A long silence followed, in which the carriage began to move, following the caravan into the Kingswood. At last, Rhaenys nodded, seemingly satisfied with Rhaenyra’s answer.
“The greatest secret of our House, Rhaenyra, the one that was lost to the men when my grandfather Jaehaerys took the throne, is that the magic flows from the bond between Valyrian women and their dragons. It is only through a bonded woman and dragon that new dragons can be hatched. The fertility of their eggs is tied to the bond they have with us. Our own fertility is connected to them as well. The magic - our dreams, the resistance to heat and to disease, our very ability to bond with our dragons - all descends through the female line. Great-Aunt Rhaena warned my grandmother and mother of this, and now I warn you. She told them that Aegon’s Dream and the conquest he was driven to because of it will mean nothing if proper Valyrian inheritance, through our mothers, is not restored to our House. There must always be a Lady of Dragons amongst our House, a bonded dragon rider whose mount will be able to lay fertile eggs, whose hands will bless the cradle-eggs and allow them to hatch beside our children. In the proper order of things, that woman would be Queen, the rightful inheritor of House Targaryen. Without that bonded rider, we will see the death of the dragons,” Rhaenyra’s heart stuttered at Rhaenys’ words. The death of the dragons? She could feel her bond to Syrax stretching as the carriage continued rolling along, getting further and further from her Golden Lady.
“Great-Aunt Rhaena was a dragon dreamer, like Daenys before her. She saw in her dreams that unless we can restore true Valyrian customs to our House, restore proper inheritance and nurture our girls into dragon riding women, the dragons will die out. The Long Night that Aegon foresaw will consume the world without the light of dragonfire,” Rhaenys’ eyes bored into her, making her feel small. “You, my dear, have a chance to be the balance, to restore our true inheritance as Targaryen women, and make sure the dragon lines continue on into the future. And you are wasting it.”