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Most days were quite boring really, Alicent thought as she stared out of the window and over the rolling hills that led away from the tower.
The forest below was a speckle of green from this height and today was a lovely and rare clear day, not a cloud in the sky or even a whisper of wind. Alicent thought she might be able to see through the trees to the paths below. The clearing below the tower had once been neat and tidy from willing suitors trampling down the plant life. Now it was all growing back, thornier and more ferocious by the day.
Her father had ordered that the wooden stairs be removed years ago now, and there was no other way down. She tried not to think too much about that.
According to the prophecy, as her father had told it anyway, the moment a suitable prince came along he’d instantly know how to rescue her. And there had been several for the first few years, certainly more than a few dashing knights had made their way to the tower and shouted up at it, their voices drowned out by the wind billowing past the window. On a day like today she would have been able to hear them quite clearly, but they never seemed to come on the nice days. Sometimes she couldn’t see them at all for the fog that swept through the forest and yet a few had still persevered, arriving in groups from Kings Landing. Fetching ladders and ropes from the nearby Oldtown. It had never done any good. There was nothing tall enough to scale all the way up and even if there had been, the moss growing to the outer brick made it dangerously slippery.
A few of them had demanded she throw down her long hair for them to use to clamber up the last few feet. ‘You can’t climb my hair!’ She had always screeched back, ‘It’s attached to my head!’
Word had got out about the impossible lady trapped up in the tower and they had all stopped coming. The only visits she had now were her father bringing food, the light packages carried by birds. For all that he kept her trapped here, he would not let her die of starvation.
It was quite a surprise when the rumbling noise she thought she was imagining became a huge creature flying past the tower. Alice slid off the window ledge in fright and landed with a thump on the floor, looking up again just in time to see the dragon return for another pass. Much too gracefully for the size of such a beast, it landed gently at the bottom of the tower.
Alicent risked a peek out of the window and her eyes widened at the sight. There was a woman down there, she realised, with the brightest blonde hair she had ever seen and a full set of black, plate armour. The stranger had dismounted from the dragon and was looking upwards to her window, her hands on her hips.
‘Hello!’ The woman called. ‘Are you alright?’
Alicent pulled her head back inside her bedroom quickly. Maybe if she hid then the woman would think she wasn’t in, she almost laughed at herself, of course she knew she was here. No one would come here if they didn’t, there was no other reason to. She steeled herself and then pulled herself up to the window again, brushing the dust off her green dress as she did so.
‘Fine,’ she said, as though she were speaking to a casual acquaintance at a party. ‘Who are you? What do you want?’
The woman didn’t seem fussed about her rudeness at all. In fact her face broke into a wide grin, showing all her teeth. ‘I’m Rhaenyra Targaryen.’ She said, her voice full of strength and confidence. ‘And you are?’
Alicent paused, she reasoned that if the conversation went awry then she could just retreat further into her bedroom and hide. Even if the dragon blew its flame in through the window and killed her, at least it would be an end to the story, one she was only reluctantly part of in the first place. ‘I’m Lady Alicent Hightower’ Alicent said.
‘Yes,’ If she had been closer Alicent was sure she would have seen a flicker of amusement cross Rhaenyra’s face as she stared up at her. She could hear it in her voice. ‘I gathered you were a lady in a high tower.’
Alicent rolled her eyes but couldn’t help the smile that crept over her face. ‘You’re the kings daughter,’ she said. Rhaenyra nodded but didn’t reply. ‘You still haven’t told me why you’re here.’ Alicent said trying hard to sound annoyed.
‘I heard a few stories about a woman with the most beautiful hair anyone has ever seen.’ Rhaenyra explained. Alicent looked behind her at the long chestnut plait of hair that wove all the way around the room. ‘And I wondered…’ Alicent held her breath. ‘I wondered if you could tell me what you use to wash it?’
‘What?’
‘The thing is, there’s to be a tourney in a few weeks time and I need to look my best at court,’ Rhaenyra was definitely laughing now. ‘My father is trying to marry me off and I want to look amazing when I turn them all down.’
‘You’ve come here,’ Alicent said, suddenly furious. ‘To ask about my hair care regime?’
‘Seemed as good a spiel as any to get you to talk to me.’ Rhaenyra said seriously. Her face wrinkled in frustration. ‘Gods I can’t hear you at all from down here. I’ll come up.’
‘I won’t throw down my hair!’ Alicent said, wanting to speak to Rhaenyra closer but terrified of the pain of it. The snap as the plait would rip from her skull.
‘What?’ Rhaenyra looked up at her, brow furrowed. ‘Don’t be stupid, I’ll fly up.’
She clambered back onto the dragons back as gracefully as it was possible to do such a thing and yelled, ‘Syrax, sōvēs!’
The beast roared as it propelled itself into the air. Alicent stepped back from the window again, picking at the skin on her finger nails nervously. Rhaenyra waited until Syrax was level with the window and then leapt from her back. Alicent gasped, surely she would fall all the way back down? She didn’t.
When she pulled herself up and inside Alicent could see the armour clearly, admire the rubies and the three headed dragon stamped to the breast plate. More than that, Rhaenyra herself was beautiful, her eyes a wonderful shade of purple and her hair almost glowing. Alicent suddenly found herself feeling nervous, twisting her own fingers together. Rhaenyra, who didn’t seem like she had ever suffered with nerves for more than a fleeting moment in her life, peered around Alicent’s room in curiosity.
‘Would you like to come back to court with me?’ Rhaenyra finally asked as though something in the small room had decided it for her. ‘I’d much rather dance with you after the tournament than anyone else in all the Seven Kingdoms.’ She held her hand out to Alicent and gestured to the window, where Syrax was circling the tower still. ‘You can tell me all about your hair care routine over a feast of lemon cakes.’
Alicent thought about it for a moment, and then she nodded and took Rhaenyra’s hand. After all, her father had said the prophecy called for a prince, but surely it could just as well have meant a princess.