CHAPTER 2- A mother's love

265AC

Rhaella POV

It has been a year since Daemon was born. It feels like it was just yesterday that he was in my womb. When I became pregnant with him I knew that this child of mine would be special.

In a lot of ways this pregnancy was different than when I was with Rhaegar. Whenever I think of the circumstance of Rhaegar's birth I get frightened . What happened that day would always haunt me till the end of days. The Maesters named it the "Tragedy Of Summerhall". That day the whole of westeros lost a good king. A king who fought for the rights of smallfolk. A king who knew what it meant to struggle in life. My grandfather King Aegon "The Unlikely".

When i close my eyes i remember sitting on my grandfather's lap as he would tell me stories of his childhood. He used to call them the "Tales Of Dunk And Egg". I remember him telling me about how all the lords trample on the lives of smallfolk, as if they were cattle and that no matter what happens he would try to change that. He did try wooing the lord paramounts by offering his children's hand in marriage , but see how that turned out.

Uncle Duncan married a peasant , Jenny Of Oldstones. He gave up the Iron Throne for love. They called him a foolish boy falling in love with a half mad woman, but no matter what he married her , thereby breaking his betrothal with the daughter of Lyonel Baratheon also called the "Laughing Storm". It ended in a rebellion which was crushed by the Legendary Commander Of The Kingsguard Ser Duncan the Tall when he defeated the "Laughing Storm" in single combat.

In order to heal the wounds between house Baratheon and Targaryen , my youngest aunt was married to Ormund Baratheon which resulted in the birth of my cousin Steffon, the current Lord of the Stormlands.

My father was a good man,not a warrior though. Ever since he was a babe he was sickly. But still my mother , his sister fell in love with him and they ran away and got married. This resulted in two broken betrothals. My mother was promised to Luthor Tyrell the Warden Of The South while my father was betrothed to Celia Tully the sister of the Lord Paramount of the Riverlands. While my uncle Daeron was betrothed to the sister of Lord Redwyne and when they reached majority they both decided that they weren't meant for each other. It is said that he was in love with a knight and that was the true reason for the broken betrothal . That woman later went on to become the wife Of Luthor Tyrell, The Warden Of The South. They call her the "Queen of Thorns". An apt nickname for her since she is known to have a sharp tongue. So when all of his children broke their betrothals for love, my grandfather decided that the only way for him to enforce his laws was to bring the back the dragons.

He felt that with the might of the dragons all the lords would listen to him like they did to his forefather. But sadly the last dragon had died a century ago . They say that with the help of the pyromancers he tried to bring them back to life but in the end the wildfire consumed them all. On that fateful day the majority of the small council , the royal family as well as the kingsguard perished. The Lord Commander Of The Kingsguard saved me. And after making sure i was alright he went back into that flaming inferno to try to save anyone who was still alive. Alas he never came out of there again. A True Knight if i ever knew one.

Even though many members of house targaryen died that night a new targaryen was born. Rhaegar my ever soft ,bookish and loving son. I was only 14 namedays old when he was born. After all that tragedy at least something to be joyful about happened. Ever since he started reading he never stopped. The people in the court would say that must have swallowed some books when he was in my womb. The only good thing to come out of my marriage with Aerys.

Ever since I was a child i never liked Aerys he was always mean towards me . He was more interested in chasing skirts than talking to me. Even after I married him I never truly loved him . The same goes for him. Just a week after our marriage he was busy running after some noblewoman. The only true love of my life was Bonnifer. I met him at a tourney . Even though he wasn't of high noble birth to be considered a suitor i still fell in love with him. When he won the joust he crowned me the "Queen Of Love And Beauty". I still remember that day and sometimes i wonder how my life would have been if i had run away with him. But when that damned woodswitch which was brought to the court by Jenny Of Oldstones told a prophecy regarding the prince that was promised which would be born in the line of Aerys and me , my father did not spare even a second and married me to Aerys despite my grandfathers refusal and disgust towards marriage between siblings.

But by that time my grandfather absolved his hands from all this and rather focused on getting the dragons back. At times I miss the friends I had when I was a young girl. But the two closest to me were Joanna and the Princess of Dorne . Oh how i miss those days when my life revolved around my family rather than keeping my children safe from the sycophants who surround Aery's court. After my father Jahaerys the second passed away it did not take much time for my mother to follow him to the grave. After their deaths the only family i could count on was Steffon. Even when he first stepped foot in Kingslanding he still retained the same joy and laughter . Always telling bawdy jokes laughing gregariously. He truly was the grandson of the "Laughing Storm". The only two true friends which Aery's did have were Steffon and Tywin. Even at a young age Tywin was always serious ,Joanna had told me the reason for him never smiling or laughing was because he was worried that he maybe perceived as his cowardly and foolish father. The only time he did smile was when he would spend time with Joanna. Despite Aerys acting as if he was better than everyone else he did have feelings for Joanna but he never acted on it since even he was afraid of what Tywin might do. And when Tywin married her Aery's grew cold for sometime after which he drowned himself in other women.

But no matter what now all that matters to me are my two sons, they have become two strong pillars in my life. As long as I have them by my side I know that i will always be happy. Daemon in may ways was different from other children . I remember how scared i was when i thought the he was born stillborn but to my surprise it turned out that he was just quite. Only after I had asked the grandmaester to hand him to me did i hear him crying. When i saw his face for the first time i knew that i would give my life if it meant that i would be able to save his life . He had small patches of silver hair just like Rhaegar but then when i saw his eyes i was pleasantly surprised. He left eye was violet in color while his right was emerald green. He looked perfect. Another thing which was different in him was that he only cried when he was feeling hungry or when he soiled his pants. He never smiled. It seemed that he was angry at the entire world. But finally i saw him smile when he came face to face with Tywin . I still remember that day vividly.

Now after a year passed since the day he was born Rhaegar and I went to collect him for the feast, and what happened next brought tears to my eyes. My little dragon finally started crawling towards Rhaegar and the first word that he said was none other than his dear brothers name,"Rhaegar". At that moment I knew that these two brothers will have a stronger bond than the one me and Aery's share . You could just say that It was a mother's Intuition.