Chapter Text
c. mid-96 AC - The Red Keep
The chamber doors swung open with aplomb. "There you are," Corlys sighed with relief, stepping across the threshold into the bedroom. Rhaenys, curled up in an armchair in front of the fire, did not answer. Her eyes remained fixed on the flames.
Corlys hesitated, his head tilted slightly with concern. He approached the armchair gently. "Your sudden absence at the feast has been noted, wife," he said, offering a soft smile.
Rhaenys glanced up at him forlornly. "By whom?"
Corlys took one of her slender hands in his. "Your lord husband," he answered as he placed a gentle kiss to her palm. "Who was left undefended against the hordes."
Rhaenys reclined her head against the back of the chair, wearily looking towards the ceiling. "They're all in their cups today. I did not mean to abandon you," she assured him.
Corlys knelt beside his wife, anger on her behalf swelling within him. "Did some drunken lord make–"
Rhaenys glowered at his words, her eyes full of dejection.
"What happened?" he entreated softly, composing himself.
Her jaw twitched in reply as she stared daggers into the fire. Corlys waited, his thumb making soothing circles against her skin. Finally, after a deep, steadying breath, Rhaenys spoke, her tone hard and bitter.
"Ever since we wed, I have been asked the same question over and over again." A single tear rolled down her cheek. "When will I give Lord Corlys a son?"
Corlys' brow shot up with shock. "Rhaenys, you know that it doesn't… I don't–" he tried to explain, but the distress he felt fumbled his words.
"I do, husband," she cut in, meeting his gaze in a moment of fondness. She cupped his cheek with her free hand. "My quarrel is not with you." Her face hardened again as she continued. "It's those leeches who endlessly pry. I am to be queen one day, and yet all they care to ask is if my womb has quickened."
It was Corlys' turn to breathe his own steadying breath. His grip on her hand tightened in reassurance.
"I have borne it," she continued. "But I couldn't face them any longer, Corlys. Not today."
"Let's not dwell on this, my love," he offered in an attempt at optimism. "Today is one for celebration."
Rhaenys shot him a weary look. "Aemma is my younger cousin, Corlys," she countered, her tone stern. "She and Viserys were wed more than a year after us."
Corlys swallowed hard. "They have had their share of struggles," he reminded her.
"I know," Rhaenys agreed. "And I am happy for her, truly. Baelor is a beautiful child. But in the eyes of the court, she has done her duty as a wife. I have not."
Corlys bowed his head in her lap, distraught by her words. "You are far more than just a womb, Rhaenys," he pleaded for her to remember. "If those fools could only see how happy you make me, children or no." He paused for a moment, cautious. "And we– you were pregnant."
"We don't know that." She shook her head as though to banish the memory of the sudden, painful bleeding two nights prior. She scoffed. "It does not matter. If there was a child, I lost it."
Corlys rose, gathering his wife to him in silent comfort before easing them both back into the spot in the armchair she'd previously sat.
Rhaenys, perched across her mariner's lap, nestled into his chest. "Mayhaps this is all the gods will afford me," she whispered against his tunic as tears fell from her eyes. "A child would be too much happiness."
Corlys pressed his lips to her temple with reverence. "We can try again."
Rhaenys sighed, defeated. "All we do is try. It's been nigh three years, Corlys." She glanced down at her hands, fiddling with her rings. "I fear you have yoked yourself to another Maegor."
Corlys' eyes widened in horror. "You are not Maegor." He lifted her chin to make her meet his gaze. "Rhaenys. You would not stoop so low in pursuit of heirs."
The princess conceded to him with a small, sad nod.
"We will be alright," Corlys asserted, holding her closer to him. "Children will come. I know it. If I have to round up the orphans of Driftmark for you, I will. As many as you like."
Rhaenys smiled faintly at her husband's earnestness, soothed by his words.
Corlys kissed her temple again. "Until then, and perhaps it is selfish of me, but I will treasure the time I have you to myself."