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When she was a child and had a nightmare Helaena would run to her mother's chambers to seek comfort. She had run in there now except the nightmare was real and her son was dead. All she knew was that she needed her mother.
She doesn't care that her mother was screwing Criston Cole. Maybe she should, her father was barely dead and she's found another to share her bed with. But the tie between mother and child is eternal, she needs and wants her mother to make things right. To make all the bad things go away, shake her and wake her from this bad dream.
Was this how Rhaenyra felt? The only person who could understand the depth of her loss was now her enemy.
“Helaena!” She wanted to tell her mother she didn't want to be Helaena Targaryen anymore. She didn't want to be queen or here in this place. Helaena wanted to be a Smallfolk. No one would know her name. Nobody would murder her son in revenge. Her family wouldn't be slaughtering each other over a throne. But the words won't come. A dragon has stolen them and swallowed them down. They will all be consumed by fire and ice, turned to ashes then freeze. She sees it inside her mind, but no one ever listens. “What’s happened?”
“They killed the boy.” If she used her son's name Helaena was afraid her heart would shatter into pieces and her mind with it. The grief she felt was too much to bear, too much for any mother to bear.