Work Text:
Her eyes are locked onto the doorway that Daemon had just walked through to tell her that her son was murdered. When her breath starts to return to her, her cold gaze stayed put.
She sees Daemon in her peripheral trying not to look at her. She thought she saw wetness on his cheeks when he entered the room, but she couldn't be sure. The men around the table who were busy murmuring amongst each other about how to win this war finally start to notice Their Graces are in distress. One by one they stop talking and turn towards them. Towards her. One is brave enough to speak up.
“Your Grace…is everything alright?”
She does not move or even make it known that she heard what the man said. Daemon speaks for her.
“Aemond Targaryen has murdered Lucerys Velaryon and his dragon above the waters of Storms End. The Queen’s son went as a messenger and he was killed by that one eyed kinslayer.” That is all. There is nothing more to say about it.
There’s a beat of silence and then the room erupts into cries and shouts of outrage. Their voices fill the room but all Rhaenyra hears is the roaring of the sea.
In between the waves of angry ocean water inside her head, she catches snippets.
“A true act of war!”
“The audacity those traitors have!”
“We must answer in fire and blood!”
“Usurpers, traitors, and kinslayers!”
“Your Graces, we must act immediately!”
“A son for a son!”
That last one catches her attention. A son for a son. Daemon perks up at that as well. It seems they have the same mind as well as blood.
The yells and shouts of the men continue and she hangs onto those words. A son for a son. What an intriguing idea.
The ocean roaring in her head gives way to pieces of Arrax floating through the stormy waves. The water turning red around her. Her sweet boy, her second child, her baby, ripped apart from the teeth of Vhagar. The snap of her jaws. Her guttural roar. The rider on her back, laughing manically. He finally got his eye for an eye. And she’ll get her son for a son.
The plan swirls in her head. The images passing through her eyes in flashes. Revenge. Revenge is all she wants. It’s all she has. She will have it. All of them will know who they have turned her into.
Her hands shake at her side as she whispers four words into the room.
“I want them dead.”
One soldier nearest to her notices she said something and he hesitantly steps closer and asks her what she just said. So, she says it once more, a little louder. Her hands are balled so tight yet she doesn't feel her nails digging into her skin.
“I want them dead.”
More men have noticed she is talking and stop to listen. Soon the room is almost quiet. A man in the far side of the room asks once more, what did you say?
Everything she has been holding in comes out of her from deep within her chest.
“I WANT THEM… D E A D! ” she screeches. Once she let herself go, there was no holding it back.
The room is dead silent as they listen to their Queen’s rage.
“I WANT THEM ALL DEAD !!!! EVERY GREEN HEAD, EVERY SUPPORTER, SHALL BE BURNT ALIVE BY MY DRAGON. EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM WILL DIE BY MY HAND. THEY SHOULD KNOW NO HAPPINESS, NO PEACE, ONLY ME . AEMOND WILL BE LAST. I WILL TAKE EVERYTHING HE HOLDS DEAR AWAY FROM HIM. ONE BY ONE I’LL GIVE HIM THEIR HEADLESS CORPSES. I WANT TO SEE HIS FACE WHEN I HOLD THE SEVERED HEAD OF HIS SON IN MY HANDS. ONLY THEN WILL I FUCKING KILL HIM, MY BROTHER THE KINSLAYER. I WANT THEM ALL DEAD. AT. MY. FEET.”
She sucks in a breath and collapses to the floor. Daemon immediately goes to her, holding her by her waist and shoulder. He whispers in her ear.
“A son for a son, indeed,” and then to the whole room, “you heard our Queen, fire and blood!”