Origin Of Ire

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𝕬𝖘𝖕𝖍𝖔𝖉𝖊𝖑

CHAPTER 5, ORIGIN OF IRE

Around an hour later, it was apparent she had made herself far too comfortable; Rhaenyra had loudly entered her room, dismissing one of her usual maids. One look at her sister's face told her something had gone very wrong. Rhaenyra unclipped her necklace and launched to the furthest place in her room, causing Alaenna to grab a close hold of her own.

"What happened?" Alaenna questioned, standing from her seat as Rhaenyra rummaged through her clothing, looking for more dragon-appropriate attire. Once finding the clothes, Rhaenyra threw them on her bed, attempting to untie her dress.

"Can you help me?" Alaenna quickly moved to begin untying the strings. Her thin fingers made quick work of the knots tied to keep the dress from slipping. "He took Dreamfyre's egg. Our brother's egg." Once fully untied, Alaenna stepped backward, allowing her sister to undress.

She wondered what caused her uncle to take Baelon's egg in the first place. Had he cared so little for the loss his nieces shared, or was he just angry with his brother, or maybe both? As Alaenna snapped out of a daze, she caught a glimpse of Rhaenyra's body as she slipped on her tunic. Quickly she averted her eyes, a warm flush shining on her lips.

"Are you going to get it back?" Rhaenyra made work of pulling on her boots. It was understandable that Rhaenyra felt so betrayed. She loved their uncle; they understood each other better than their father had ever. So him taking Baelon's egg, the one she picked out, was simply a slap in the face after refusing to believe drunken rumors of Daemon naming him "the heir for the day."

"We are going to get it back." Rhaenyra had finished tying up her boots before passing her sister a set of clothes. "We'll have to leave soon if we want to get there before Otto Hightower ruins everything." Alaenna looked between the clothes and her sister. Noting the seriousness in her tone before beginning to slip on the pants underneath her dress.

"I thought Syrax was big enough to seat two yet?" Once she had shimmied the pants on, she turned her back to allow Rhaenyra access to the set of strings on her dress. Something about dressing and undressing each other felt strangely intimate. This was the closest they'd been in some time. Alaenna blamed her reddening cheeks on unusual familiarity.

"She isn't quite yet," Rhaenyra finished with the string and began to gather the long dress, helping Alaenna bring it over her shoulders. Rhaenyra exposed Alaenna's chest to the slightly colder room. She had made a show of covering them as Rhaenyra grabbed the spare shirt.

Everything seemed too slow, Rhaenyra's pace deliberate in its delivery. She was embarrassed by the lack of cloth over her breast and by what she thought was Rhaenyra staring ever so slightly. Once the shirt was delivered, Alaenna quickly threw it over her head, placing her arms through. "You know I would never let anything, anything happen to you." Rhaenyra grabbed Alaenna's hand, searching in her eyes that she knew she'd never purposefully put her in harm's way.

" I know, I've never been riding before," Rhaenyra brightened at her sister's affirmation before pulling her into a hug.

"I love you, Alaenna, and you'll be wonderful. Syrax understands how much I care for you. I'm sure of it." Releasing her from the hug, Rhaenyra began pulling her out of the room to make haste toward the dragon pit.

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Alaenna had been terrified on their way to Dragonstone. She had never experienced such high speeds, especially not on a dragon's back. Rhaenyra seemed ever so slightly humored at her sister when the winds had caused Alaenna's grip to tighten around her waist. They flew marvelously through clouds before surfacing upon the jagged hills of Dragonstone. There they saw Ceraxes looming over Otto Hightower's would-be resistance.

She had never noticed dragons having a rapport, but from the trills, Ceraxes greeted Syrax with, it seemed the she-dragon was well favored. As they landed, Rhaenyra unbuckled the harness, allowing them to slip down the dragon's side. Rhaenyra, the exponentially more experienced of the two, had climbed down first to ensure Alaenna wouldn't fall. Once both were safely on the ground, they began their walk through the Kingsguard.

"What are you doing here, Princess?"

"Preventing bloodshed." Rhaenyra looked at the Hand standing in her way.

"Ser Criston, please escort the Princesses to safety," As soon as Ser Criston made a move to touch Alaenna, Syrax let out a startling growl causing the knight to place his hands at his side promptly.

"Take care not to startle Syrax, my lords. She's rather protective of me and, by proxy, my sister." The two moved past the men to face their uncle, who held Baelon's egg.

"My father named me princess of Dragonstone. That's our castle you're living in; uncle" Rhaenyra stared up at her uncle. He was a whole head taller than her.

"Our?"

"My sister will live with me," Alaenna was surprised by this. She always assumed there would be a day when she and Rhaenyra were separated, each with their own family. She hated the idea of being separate more than anything, but any lord husband would demand they stayed at his ancestral seat.

"Not until you come of age," mere formalities of legal precedent. Daemon had prepared for this situation somewhat; it had seemed.

"You have angered your king."

"I don't see why. This is a day of celebration; I am to be wed," he played ignorant. Alaenna took one glance at the poor woman standing behind him in white. She wasn't sure if she understood, but it seemed she understood the general context with slight disgust.

"You already have a wife."

"Not of my choosing," he ceaselessly reminded everyone. He had married off under the wishes of his late grandmother sometime around Alaenna's birth.

"And this required you to steal our brother's egg," Specifically the one Rhaenyra hand-picked.

"You shared a cradle with a dragon when you were born. I want the same for my child" Daemon stood closer, staring down at Rhaenyra. Alaenna had half a mind to walk between the two.

"You could've had any egg; why Baelon's? Dreamfyre has many others, I assure you," Alaenna stood partially covered by Rhaenyra's protective stance in front. His eyes finally flitted to the younger Targaryen. His resolve was weakening the longer this conversation went on.

"You're to have a child?" Rhaenyra almost scoffed, looking at Maria. They both knew their uncle had his fair share of whoring, but if she mattered to him the way he said she did, she'd be long pregnant.

"One day," he said; as a matter of fact, it seemed he wasn't sure, however, with whom.

"I'm right here, Uncle, the object of your ire, the reason that you were disinherited. If you wish to be restored as heir, you'll need to kill me." Alaenna looked at Rhaenyra with a firm grasp on her forearm. They did not come here for Rhaenyra to throw her life away to the proverbial wolves. But part of her, no part of them both, knew Daemon would never do so. He would not be a kinslayer, just a rogue to the rules of etiquette.

"So, do it and be done with all this bother."Daemon simply looked down at them before walking away and tossing the egg. A victory for all, especially Rhaenyra, more than proving her worth.

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The joy of victory was fleeting as their return had caused somewhat of an uproar. They were currently being escorted to their father's quarters. The halls were dim, lighted only by torches as they passed through a series of dragon paraphernalia.

Entering that room was similar to being in a vacuum of anger. The heat rising off of their father was palpable. "You disobeyed me. You fled King's Landing without a word, and you acted without The Crown's leave. You are my heir, and you thought to bring your sister. You could've been killed less had her thrown off a dragon."

Alaenna thought his anger had been reasonable. Even if they weren't presently speaking terms, she could understand his worry.

"May we sit?" Rhaenyra asked unashamedly. It was a good plan, one that worked.

"You went to Dragonstone."

"And retrieved the egg without bloodshed. A feat I'm not sure Ser Otto could've accomplished alone." Despite Otto Hightower's patience, Daemon grated his nerves like no other and was the only person Alaenna knew of that caused a rise in rash reactions.

"Yes, well, I sometimes forget how alike you both were. Alaenna was always more like your mother, and I suppose it's a blessing and curse neither of you took after me." Viserys sadly chuckled.

"Your mother's absence is a wound that will never heal, one you probably feel the most, Alaenna." While it pained her to hear it, she was glad he had recognized the bond they shared. No one had spent more of their waking hours with her mother than she had.

"Without her, the Red Keep has lost a warmth that I dare say it will never recover. I'm sure you agree, father." This was their first time genuinely speaking in what felt like eons.

"I do, Alaenna, I truly do."

"It pleases me to hear you say this. To know that we are not alone in our grief." Rhaenyra took hold of Alaenna's hand, relishing in the comfort that he had missed them almost as much as they had.

"I wish I had known better what to say to you in the aftermath. To the both of you." Viserys looked especially at Alaenna. "I struggled to realize that one of my daughters had so quickly become a woman grown. But I know they understand what is now expected of me."

"The King must take a new wife," It saddened both girls, but it was simply the truth.

"I could never replace your mother—no more than I intend to replace you as heir. But you are my only children, and our line is vulnerable, too easily ended. And by marrying again, I may begin to ensure that we are better defended."

"Against whom?"

"Whomever may dare to challenge us. I do not wish to make us estranged, even more so than we have been. I want to return to how our days used to be eventually."

"You are the king, and so, your first duty is to the realm. Mother would've understood this. Just as we do." Alaenna had only hoped whomever it was would be kind. She'd read many stories of ambitious wives seeking to disempower previous children for her own.

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For the first time in a long time, Alaenna had smiled at her father. She had been invited into the council room upon the announcing her father's intent to marry.

"Good morrow, my lords. I have decided to take a new wife." While Rhaenyra reassured their father, she couldn't help but get a chill seeing Alicent's appearance in the room.

"I intend to marry," Viserys fleeting glance at Alicent and his children confirmed the fear Alaenna had. She took Rhaenyra's hand, only assuming how to hurt and betrayed she must feel.

"The Lady Alicent Hightower before spring's end." Otto's happiness for the situation felt like an ooze covering her mind. Had he not cared for his daughter marrying a man twice her age, he didn't care what this would do to his daughter's relationship with Rhaenyra.

"This is an absurdity. My house is Valyrian, the greatest power in the realm." Lord Corlys felt like the only reasonable person in the room if only it weren't for the wrong reasons. His outburst began to connect the pieces in Alaenna's head. The only person he could give to marry was his daughter, Laena Velaryon.

Alaenna fell into shock staring at three men who were no better than the other. Her father's words fell on deaf ears as she ran behind Rhaenyra's hasty exit. All the small promises of a better relationship were shattered. What had he done?