1.01 - Aelyx

Aelyx - 01​

Vhagar's roars shook the island as the last of the Conquer's dragons howled in grief for her rider. I pulled Baela and Rhaena close, settling them onto my lap, as they sobbed into my chest. At only four they were not truly old enough to understand that their mother was dead, but they could obviously comprehend that something was deeply wrong. I curled my arms around the twins pulling them close and offering what soothing words that I could. I fought to keep my voice steady, Laena might not have been my mother, but I had known her for years and we had cared deeply for each other in our own way. Perhaps it was because she had known me before she wed my father, but she had not once raised objections to my presence in Daemon's life. In the year the three of us traveled Essos I had spent just as much time mounted behind her on Vhagar as behind my father on Caraxes.

I had known that this might happen. All my life I'd had premonitions, fragments of memory not my own, and attitudes that didn't quite line up with the norm. It wasn't until my father announced Laena's second pregnancy that everything had come together. A floodgate opened and memories of another life had poured into my mind. The memories of a world so much more advanced than my own were both fascinating and teryfing. However, I quickly realized something disturbing, within that other world existed a story that chronicled the downfall and eventual destruction of my family. If I did nothing, my father would die in a duel with his own nephew, while my mother would be whipped to death in the streets of King's Landing by some up-jumped gutter trash who wanted to play kingmaker. I did note that my very existence meant that the world I knew was different from that of the books I remembered. Buoyed by that knowledge I attempted to make my first deliberate change. All it had taken was a casual mention to my father that I had heard a rumor that women who had given birth to twins often struggled in subsequent pregnancies and he had been summoning every maester and midwife in Blackwater Bay to attend to his wife. It wasn't enough. I had been helpless as my stepmother screamed through my younger brother's still-birth and languished uselessly for the next three days as she slowly slipped away. No matter how much I hated it, the simple truth of the matter was that in a world with no proper sterilization techniques and no antibiotics childbirth was a roll of the dice that could kill even the strongest woman.

A shadow fell across the three of us and I looked up the see Princess Rhaenys standing in the doorway. I locked gazes with the Queen Who Never Was as her red-rimmed eyes took in my tear-streaked face and two sobbing children on my lap.

"She's gone" the once heir choked out.

"I know" I murmured. She looked confused for a moment before I clarified "I've never heard a dragon howl like that." That seemed to break her and I bore witness to the Lady of Driftmark letting a tortured sob before crossing the room and settling onto Baela's bed beside me. Normally Rhaenys and her husband treated me with a sort of distant politeness, making it clear that while my father may have given me the Targaryen name during his brief tenure as King of the Stepstones they considered Rhaena and Baela to be his true heirs. Today, none of that was present united in grief as we were for the beautiful and vivacious woman who had been taken by the Stranger far too young. She reached over and pulled Rhaena from my lap to hers. I sent her a look of gratitude, a pair of four-year-olds in your lap was heavy.

"Oh, my darling girl." She whispered. I did not know if she was speaking to the granddaughter in her arms or the shade of her daughter that already seemed to haunt the keep. We sat there side by side as we let the twins cry themselves to exhaustion. After half a turn of the hourglass, I realized that Baela's breathing had turned rhythmic with sleep. A glance to my left confirmed that Rhaena and also drifted off. Rhaenys put a finger to her lips, before standing and crossing the room to Rhaena's bed where she laid her. I in turn slid Baela out of my lap and settled her onto the mattress. With a sigh, I pulled the blankets up over the girl while Rheanys did the same to her twin. I got to my feet and moved to stand by the door, watching silently while the Princess kissed her granddaughters' foreheads. Then the two of us slipped from the room.

In the better-lit corridor, I took the opportunity to examine my companion. For once she looked every one of her six and forty years, her normally regal face was blotchy with tears and worn with her exhaustion, while her jet-black hair hung limply down her back rather than being pulled into its normally immaculate style. It was obvious she was barely hanging on to the shreds of her composure.

"We should let them sleep." She interrupted my scrutiny. "They've had a long few days" I nodded in agreement.

"I'm sorry for your loss, your grace" I offered, it was all I could really say.

"Thank you" came the route response. A distant corner of my brain wondered how many times the same exchange would take place over the following moons. Before an awkward silence could fall, I saw an approaching figure over her shoulder. Giving the lady of the castle a brief bow, I stepped around her and moved to greet my father.

"Kepa" I pulled into a tight hug.

"Aelyx" he breathed the anguish clear in his voice. Behind me, I heard rapid steps as Rhaenys hurried away. I saw Daemon's eyes go to the closed door of the nursery as he released me and stepped back.

"They're asleep"

"I'll be quiet" he promised. I watched not saying a word as he opened the door and entered the room, leaving me standing alone in the corridor.