Chapter Text
Alicent was in despair.
Her son lost an eye - had an eye taken from him by one of those bastards - and was now feeling as if he was an outcast.
To make it worse, those children were here whilst the king celebrated the hasty marriage of his daughter and brother. Laena was barely dead and Laenor killed and they were throwing a feast.
Leaving the small Sept in the Keep after her morning prayers, she was startled by the little girl.Was she lost?
Rhaena was the image of her mother. Alicent remembers Laena well. A bright, knowledgeable and kind girl who grew into a fearsome and courageous, yet gentle woman.
"Oh! Your Grace," She remembered to curtsey and it was clumsy. Rhaena shuffled nervously, as if wanting to ask her something but was unsure how.
"Lady Rhaena." Alicent greeted.
"Do you ever wear blue?" The young girl blurted out.
"Sometimes," Alicent replied, eyebrows raising at the question. As far as questions she had imagined from the young girl, that was not one she thought she would ask.
"I do not have anything blue and I do not know how..." Rhaena whispered but Alicent could hear her, "I do not know where to get dresses."
"Oh." Alicent said. An unbecoming response but she blinked and nodded several times, "Your grandmother could help, surely?"
"She is far away and busy helping Baela." That's correct. Baela was partially fostered at Driftmark, she recalled. She supposed it would be better for an actual Velaryon to inherit the place.
"Ah." Alicent nodded, "Where is your father and the Princess?"
"I did not want to disturb them but Prince Aemond said you would know where to get the dresses from." She rambled.
The girl wanted dresses and her father paid her little mind. Alicent felt sad for her. Even with her father's manipulations, she had new dresses and jewelry and access to her mother's dresses.
"Come." Alicent held out her hand, and Rhaena looked at it before clasping it.
***
The Queen's dressmaker had various fabrics that stunned the young girl.
A deep sapphire blue silk. It's beautiful, but not a shade Alicent would consider for herself.
"That is a very nice blue. Like the sea." Alicent said encouragingly
Rhaena looked at her and nodded silently. Her mother. She wished to wear blue like her mother did.
"I should get a red one too?" She asked. Her father and Rhaeynra wore red and black.
Alicent smiled gently at her, "They can make you a red one too. Why not a nice robe too?"
They ended up ordering a few dresses and nightgowns. Admittedly, Alicent had never spent so much time with someone else picking out dresses. Heleana was unenthusiastic and very particular about what she wore. Rhaena was shy but grew excited at the Queen's encouragement.
The dresses were completed a few days later and the Queen was said to deliver them to the girl's chambers herself.
Rhaena wore one of her new blue dress at a dinner. It was a simple gown with small flowers embroidered in the neckline, skirt and sleeves. She had her dreadlocks pulled back in a low ponytail smiled when the king said she looked very pretty.
She was sitting at by herself, picking at her lunch when Aemond approached her.
"You look blue." Aemond said bluntly. Rhaena frowned slightly.
"I like blue. Your mother helped me," Rhaena said quieter, fiddling with her braids. She didn't look at him, but he nodded and his shoulders relaxed slightly. She finally did and offered him a small smile.
Alicent watched them with interest.
"My love?" She turned to Viserys who had been trying to engage her in discussion with Lady Lannister. She smiled at him and continued the conversation.
"Apologies, husband. I was lost in thought." She smiled slightly when she saw the children stand from the table to play.
Her son lost an eye but seemed to have gained a friend.
Afterwards, Alicent walked Rhaena back to her side of the Keep. She was to move to Dragonstone soon which explained her sombre mood.
"I can still see Aemond, can't I?" She asked like a child who knew the answer.
"I think he would like that very much." Alicent replied, squeezing her hand.
Turning a corridor, they were met by Daemon and Rhaenyra. Like a newlywed couple, they stood close to one another and had a matching suspicious look towards Alicent.
She was the Queen.
Ignoring them, she knelt down and smiled at Rhaena, "The next time you are here, you must let me know whenever you wish to visit the King's Library again, and I shall ensure it. Or a new dress. You wear red and blue much better than I,"
"Thank you," Rhaena said with a smile. She leaned forward and hugged her. It surprised her initially, but she slowly embraced her in return.
She supposed Heleana's aversion to touch from anyone who was not Viserys meant she did not realize how lovely a hug from a daughter was. A pang of envy hit her chest for the life Laena had lived.
She pulled away with a smile and stood to meet Daemon who was glaring at her. He gently moved his daughter behind him, as if she would try to take her.
"Your Grace." Daemon greeted coldly.
"Good brother. My condolences, again, for the Lady Laena." She said diplomatically, "Rhaena is a delightful person. She would be proud."
The next time Alicent saw the Lady Rhaena, she was all grown up. But still had a kind and warm smile for the Queen.
Her eyes were on Aemond, however.
...
Aemond was her shadow. Rhaena had noticed that when they returned to the Keep. He always moved silently.
So silently that she did not hear him approach her in the armory.
"Prince Aemond." She greeted pleasantly. Her smile fell as he moved closer. He was close. Closer than was proper.
"Lady Rhaena." He greeted, leaning over her to put down his blunt sword, "What are you doing here?"
"I was curious. About the blades. Not that I wish to use them but I read a book..." She rambled but trailed off, avoiding his gaze.
"I suppose dragon less must occupy themselves somehow." He jested dryly but she did not recognise the joke.
She swallowed, not wishing the words would get to her.
"Excuse me," She muttered, movin around him and walking away.
"Was that inappropriate?" Aemond asked, surprising her.
She stood slightly taller, "It was hurtful."
"I did not mean to hurt you. Only compliment your varied interests," Aemond said, "You are a intellectual because you spend more time on the ground."
"One usually compliments the colour of a lady's dress or the way her hair is styled." Rhaena pointed out, fighting a smile at his oddity.
"I do not like blue."
"Well, I do." Rhaena retorted. She supposed if he spent time with women you paid, he did not truly interact with ladies of the court.
Aemond merely nodded.
The following day, Rhaena knew he was watching her in the library. Curled up in a chair, she read through her book when she saw a shadow loom over the page.
"Aemond?" She asked, wondering what he wished to say. She turned to him and looked up at the prince.
He was unusually nervous, his hands clasped behind his back.
"The purple in your dress brings out your eyes and the shape accentuates your lovely figure." Aemond said, then nodded.
She grinned at him, "Thank you, Aemond."
Rhaena figured out Aemond's dislike for blue strangely from Prince Aegon.
She met the troubled prince on her way to Aemond's chambers as she carried two books she wished to discuss with him.
"Not matching my brother's eye, my lady?" Argon drawled, a teasing smirk on his face.
Rhaena frowned. Today she wore a black and red gown, but she had a sapphire ring on her right hand.
"Aemond's eye is purple. Like the King's." She replied. Purple was simple. Aemond's eye reminded her of an amethyst crystal with an ink black circle in the middle.
"Not that eye," Aegon smirked before strutting away.
When Rhaena reached Aemond's chambers, she let the question of seeing Aemond's other eye sit in her throat. Sitting on the floor with him, Rhaena had stopped reading to stare at him.
"Does it hurt?" She asked, concerned. Having a jewel in the eye did not sound like the most comfortable thing.
"Does what hurt?" Aemond asked, his eye on the book in his lap.
"Your other eye." Rhaena said.
He did not answer, so she asked, "May I see it?"
"Does blood not scare you?" He asked sharply.
"I am a woman."
"Women are squeamish creatures."
"Women see more blood every month than most men do in a lifetime."
He smirked, the closest she had ever seen him smile and there was a light in his eye at her joke, "Lady Rhaena, how crude of you. Your septa must weep."
Having Rhaena flee from him or cry would hurt him. He would not admit that aloud. But she did not seemed deterred in any way.
"You truly wish to see?" She nodded, sitting up. She shuffled closer to him.
Slowly, he reached back and undid his leather eye patch. Then he let it fall to the floor.
Gasping softly, Rhaena studied the wound. A faded scar ran down his his eye. The sapphire somehow seemed to fit perfectly. Her hand gently caressed the scars and sapphire and he closed his living eye, exhaling gently.
"Sorry, did I hurt you?" Rhaena asked, seeing the tear fall down his cheek. She had not meant to hurt him. Truthfully, she did not think she could. She recalls that fateful night he had lost his eye and whilst she blubbered in her grandmother's arms, he had smirked and affirmed his belief that Jace and Luke were bastards.
"No." Aemond whispered.
She leaned up and kissed him on both cheeks, chastely but she was so close that Aemond could smell the lavender she used in her soap and the slight peppermint in her hair. He turned his head when she kissed his left cheek, brushing his lips against hers.
He heard her inhale softly and his hand came to cradle the back of her head, gently stroking her locs.
"Such a sweet girl," He murmured, brushing his lips against hers against again. She kissed him back.
"Aemond!"
The voice of the queen startled them.They separated. Rhaena looked at the floor, mortified as Alicent walked further into the room.
"Mother." Aemond greeted. Rhaena still could not look at either of them.
"Aemond. Lady Rhaena." Alicent greeted, her tone scarily even. She clasped her hands together, "Rhaena, I believe you must prepare for the ball this evening."
"Uh, yes. Yes, I do, Your Grace." She whispered, leaving the room.
Looking back at her son, Alicent's lips thinned in worry and disappointment. Alicent would never admit aloud that she had favourites, but Aemond was hers. Her sweet boy.
"Nothing happened." He assured her.
"That does not matter. Aemond, you must be smarter than this." She snapped.
"Rhaena is not a bastard." He argued.
"No. But her father..." Daemon could see a wrong look as a slight. He detested them. Kissing his daughter? A graphic image of her son being struck down by Dark Sister ran through her mind. Would Viserys do anything about it? Would Rhaenyra? She did not trust them to.
"Daemon will kill you. It matters not how you or Rhaena feel." Alicent warned him urgently, "It does not matter how you or Rhaena feel."
Rhaenyra wore a deep red and gold gown, a long silk train. Baela wore a black gown which had highlights of red in the long skirt.
But Rhaena stood out when her family entered the Great Hall, for she wore sapphire blue. A deep sapphire blue gown that had long open sleeves and sat off her shoulders. A gold patterned belt in the shape of a dragon demonstrated her allegiance as the colour left questions.
She danced with Cragen Stark and one of the Lannister twins - she never could tell them apart - then Luke, who twirled her around happily.
They sat for dinner and she tried to ignore Aemond's stare. She knew he was looking at her, even as Jace and Aegon tried to bait one another into an argument.
Rather than join in, he stood when the next song started. He walked past his mother and past Rhaenyra, Baela and Jace and stopping by Rhaena.
"Would you like to dance?" Lucerys stared at his uncle in shock at the audacity of his uncle, and Rhaena calmly stared up at him with an unreadable expression before nodding and sliding her hand into his.
"You look nice," Aemond said shortly, as he turned.
"You hate blue." She said
"I find the colour growing on me," He admitted. She smiled shyly.
"My mother warned that I should stay away from you. For your father may kill me." Aemond said.
Rhaena frowned, "I did not mean to-" She stopped. She liked kissing him. He was not her first kiss; that had been Luke.
"I did." Aemond said. They no longer danced, looking at one another.
"Are you asking me to forsake my family? My sister? My father?" She asked.
"We need not forsake anyone. We are dragons; those concepts are for others." Aemond said.
"Well, I do not wish for my father to kill you." Rhaena turned to the table and was relieved to see her father speaking with
Alicent watched them dance. They moved in sync and Rhaena looked up at her son with an unreadable, yet so familiar expression. She had seen it on Rhaenyra's face when she looked at Daemon.
Rhaenyra.
They saw eye to eye on little but they agreed their children should be happy and protected.
She looked at the floor and found she could no longer see Aemond or Rhaena. She stood, trying to contain her panic. Viserys looked at her concerned, but she merely leaned down to kiss him on the cheek.
"Princess. May we speak." She asked of Rhaenyra.
"Your Grace." Rhaenyra was clearly concerned and confused. She stood and walked with Alicent.
Neither knew what to say. Or how to begin. They went outside on a balcony, the cool night air a relief from the noisy and warm ball.
"What do you want, Alicent?" Rhaenyra asked.
"It is about your stepdaughter, Rhaena and my son Aemond. I believe they feel deeply for one another." Alicent admitted.
If Rhaenyra was surprised, she did not show it, merely raising an eyebrow, "We are planning to betroth Rhaena. To Luke."
Alicent nodded but then indicated that Rhaenyra looked down into the garden. Under the weirwood tree, there was Rhaena and Aemond.
They were speaking lowly, but it appeared that Aemond was pleading with Rhaena who was pacing, conflicted.
"I am asking you." Alicent began, swallowing her pride, "Because I know not what Prince Daemon would do."
"I doubt he would kill Aemond for an infatuation." Rhaenyra said.
"You have more faith in him than I. But if Heleana and Jacaerys showed interest in one another, would you not share my fears?" She reasoned
"As a mother, I ask that you give Aemond a chance." Alicent said, "And Rhaena... well she seems like the sort of girl to love someone forever if she could. Girls like her do."
"Girls like her?" Rhaeynra asked, ready to defend her.
Alicent looked at her seriously, "Girls who do as they are told. Who miss their mothers."
The two women stared at one another for what seemed an eternity. Rhaenyra looked again to the garden.
"We used to sit here for hours." Rhaenyra mused.
"I studied; you mocked the septa." Alicent corrected, but there was a warmth behind the words.
"I will speak with Daemon." Rhaenyra promised, "And Princess Rhaenys. She wants Rhaena happiness as much as I and there would be benefits to this partnership."
"Yes." Alicent hummed. Viserys would be supportive. Her father, not so much.
The two walked back inside. Rhaena was back at her sister's side at the table, whilst Aemond sipped wine. As if nothing had happened.
But there was a slight redness in Rhaena's cheeks that contrasted with the blue of her dress and white of her hair and Aemond had a smugness about him.