Chapter Text
Had she known that the morning after her wedding would be the last she saw of her husband for near on seven years, Alysanne isn’t sure she’d do anything different. She’d resolved herself not to want him and to avoid him and her so-called duties as much as she could, and that’s what she ended up getting. Her marriage was one of distant childhood memories and empty air, nothing more nothing less.
She’d grown up watching how her mother was treated as a wife. There are worse things than a distant marriage.
The years after her wedding were rather dull if she had to pressed. Of course, she had her own fun but none of it pushed off the ever-present boredom she felt. There were routines she fell into, tasks she did because she was forced to, and days spent moving from one fancy to the next.
Her mother had transformed the court after Rhaenyra’s departure, slowly chipping away at the Targaryen court and crafting a bleak and austere one in its place. Gone were the tapestries and statuaries that had lined the halls since the Red Keep’s building. The castle was the Targaryen’s in name, and the Hightower’s in actuality. The heir hadn’t shown her face in years, and the one who sat the Iron Throne more often than not was the Hand. The king still ordered balls, tourneys, and hunts among other things, but they were growing few and far between while his health deteriorated. The queen and the Hand preferred to consolidate their power, and to them, wasting coin on such matters fell at the bottom of their interests.
Alysanne sighed, leaning against her pillows. The morning sun fell through her windows, brighter and bolder as the afternoon drew nearer. A maid had tried to rouse her, prepare her for whatever the Queen had planned for the day, but she thrown the girl out of her rooms. She cared not what her mother wanted. It had been her who’d ordered Alysanne confined to her rooms and the Red Keep.
For well over two months, her every move had been watched. She couldn’t even escape to Sunfyre without knights and guards dogging her footsteps. Worst of all, Aemond had begun to watch her when their mother grew sick of adding more and more watchers to her erstwhile daughter’s group.
At least a few of her ladies were useful. They distracted and disturbed her guards allowing Alysanne a modicum of freedom to break her boredom.
She knew what her mother was doing. It was plain to see. Anyone with eyes could see that the queen was trying to ensure that Alysanne was not and did not fall pregnant or start even more rumors regarding her conduct on the Street of Silk before Rhaenyra and her brood came to court.
Really, Alysanne snorted to herself, the greater insult to Rhaenyra’s faction would be to have their heir’s wife pregnant with a bastard.
The doors to her room slammed open. Alysanne rolled over with a sigh burying her head under her pillows. Joy of all joys, her mother was here and in the most terrific of moods it would seem. She wondered what had set her off this time, the maid in tears or laying in bed rather than getting ready for her mother’s battles.
While her mother’s shrill voice echoed about her chamber, Alysanne wished for this day to be over with already.
-
Her cheek was still smarting an hour later. The warm water of her bath had done nothing to soothe the queen’s harsh hands. Alysanne supposed that at least her mother had chosen not to wear any rings this morning. Somehow, she is sure that resulting scratch would have driven her mother to true insanity. As it was the damage caused could be covered with powders and Alysanne’s usual lazy smiles.
The halls of the Red Keep were quiet. No surprise really. The mood of the court had grown depressingly somber the last few years, and today of all days would not be the day that all changed.
Alysanne climbed the steps upwards. No servants or knights wandered this area of the keep. All of them would preparing for the coming days. The focus would be on the rooms of the Velaryons and Rhaenyra. A distant guest wing mattered little when they would not be in use.
It was a shame. These rooms offered her a balcony with the most delicious vantage point to watch Rhaenyra’s arrival. Her mother had ordered all to vacate the courtyard. The celebration that would usually greet the returning heir to the Iron Throne was absent, and Alysanne was sure that the reactions would be utterly hilarious.
Leaning against the red stone of the railing, Alysanne watched the road heading towards the courtyard and waited. Not normally a patient creature, her waiting paid off. No sooner had a half hour passed before she saw two wheelhouses pulling in. Both were splendid, of course they would be her mother wanted to shame Rhaenyra not the Iron Throne, but they were the ones used for less important guests. Their trimmings were modest, and they were a pale grey rather than the black that Alysanne and her family used when they ventured out of the Red Keep on official business, mostly when they visited the sept at her mother’s urging.
Alysanne laughed.
“All hail Rhaenyra of House Targaryen, Princess of Dragonstone and heir to the Iron Throne, and her royal consort, Prince Daemon Targaryen.” A Kingsguard judging by his armor called out to the empty courtyard. He said nothing else before disappearing back into the castle.
Her lips twitched up into a smirk. Quite a snub.
Jacaerys and his siblings had waited for their own introduction, but when none came, they all climbed out of the second wheelhouse.
Alysanne found herself almost holding her breath. This would be her first glimpse of her husband in near on seven years. She only remembered the little boy who’d trailed after her, and part of her wanted to see what kind of man he’d grown into. Under Rhaenyra’s spoiling, she doubted he would be anything worthwhile, but the anticipation could not be stopped.
A darkhaired man stepped down from the wheelhouse first. He was pale like most of Targaryen blood. From this angle, she could not judge his height, but he held himself proudly. He moved like Rhaenyra, at least how she remembered Rhaenyra.
Ink black curls rustled in the wind when he turned back to help a young woman dressed in red climb down then a young boy who barely came up to the man’s waist. A second boy older than the child but younger than the man climbed out with hair almost as dark as the man’s.
All of the boys were dressed identically in blue and silver. Each of them bore cloaks embroidered with the Targaryen and Velaryon crests.
The eldest of the boys stared about the courtyard clearly searching for something. His head moved slowly but surely. Alysanne leaned further out, trying to get a better look down. He had not glanced up once granting her only a view of his hair and nothing else.
Rhaenyra gathered all of her children to her. Daemon trailed after her. The pair spoke briefly with them before they headed into the castle following a lord Alysanne did not recognize but had to be one from Rhaenyra’s faction if he dared go against the queen’s plans. Despite her mother’s best efforts and Rhaenyra’s own absence, the court still held some.
A deep sigh escaped her. She’d been expecting more, shouting or cursing perhaps. Maybe Rhaenyra refusing to enter the castle without a proper greeting. Some sort of show to make up for the effort wasted.
No matter, she truly cared little for the war between her mother and Rhaenyra. Her mother’s fruitless endeavors mattered little to her. She’d simply hide away entertaining herself until her presence was demanded as she always did.
Behind her she heard the door to the guest room click open. Her shoulders stiffened awaiting chastisement until she heard nonsensical whispering that marked the entrance of only one individual in the Red Keep.
“Helaena.” Alysanne greeted turning her head towards her sister. Helaena smiled at her in greeting though her whisperings did not cease. Her hands were twisting at a bit of embroidery. “Come to watch the show? I’m afraid you’ve missed it all.”
Helaena shook her head. Alysanne shrugged turning her attention back below them. Her sister was odd, and more often than not it was better to just let her get through these moods of hers rather than expect anything else from her.
Alysanne leaned down, laying her head on her open palm. The metal of her wedding ring was warm against the skin of her cheek.
The courtyard had become busy in the few seconds she’d looked away. Servants rushed about carrying luggage or handling the horses. Compared to earlier, the commotion below was slightly amusing. Rhaenyra’s welcoming being a single lord and servants. The beloved Crown Princess greeted so coldly.
“Green dragon.” Helaena said beside her.
Alysanne’s eyes flicked towards her sister.
“He’s waiting.” Helaena beseeched her. Alysanne hadn’t the first clue what her sister was going on about.
“What are you talking about?” Alysanne asked her. Occasionally, if you asked the right question, Helaena made partial sense.
“The green dragon waits for you. You must go before the sea swallows him whole.” Helaena continued leaning towards her. As if that made any more sense. Her eyes were nearly as large as dinner plates when they stared down at her.
“Alright, I’ll go find your green dragon, Hels.” Alysanne leaned away from her sister. For some reason that prompted giggles to erupt from her sister’s mouth.
“Oh, I think he’d prefer if you called him yours.” A mischievous smile lit up Helaena’s face, a sight rare to see.
A laugh startled her. It took a second before she realized it was her own. Alysanne found herself laughing along her sister.
A breeze caught her unbound hair sending it flying about. Alysanne stood with a stretch, hands reaching up to get some control of her hair. Helaena tried to help her, but Alysanne waved her away, tucking strands behind her ears and giving it up as a lost cause. Just so long as her hair wasn’t flying about her face, she didn’t care about it at the moment.
Her eyes were drawn back towards the man down below. He was leading the rest of Rhaenyra’s children into the castle holding the hand of the youngest boy.
Helaena shuffled closer to her. Alysanne turned her head back towards her sister but found her simply staring down at the courtyard. Brushing off her questions, Alysanne flicked her eyes back to the emptying courtyard. She’d stay a little while longer, wait until she was sure everyone had moved on before she made her own escape. Maybe she’d head to the Dragonpit while her mother was busy with Rhaenyra. Sunfyre would probably need her with all of the dragons now crowding the place.
Golden brown eyes stared straight back at her.
Alysanne jumped, hands clutching at the railing. Her ring scratched the stone.
The man, Jacaerys she forced herself to name him now, stared up at her. Before she couldn’t have been sure, but now she was. The man below, the boy now a man grown in her absence, watched her, a solitary figure in the empty courtyard.
Her heart beat wildly in her chest, whether at being caught or at being surprised she couldn’t say.
He had to have heard them laughing. He had to, there was no other reason for her to look up at this specific balcony. It was not so high that the wind would have carried off the sound of her laughter, but it was slightly more hidden than the other walkways or balconies.
Jacaerys’ eyes seemed to shimmer in the sunlight, glowing honey-bright while he held her gaze. Despite the distance, she could see them so clearly, and she wondered if he could see her own pale purple eyes.
As befitting a proper prince, Jacearys bowed though his gaze never left her own. That could have been read as an insult, her mother certainly would have named it so, but Alysanne felt that he was perhaps as bewitched as she. His gaze was perhaps just as trapped as her own.
The spell was only broken when Jacaerys’ attention was forcibly pulled away from her by his little brother. With one final glance up towards her, Jacaerys disappeared through the great doors of the castle.
Alysanne clenched her hands into fists feeling how her rings, one in particular, cut into her fingers. She allowed Helaena to take her arm and lead her from the room.