Great Constructions & Dark Divinations
Brinaera’s POV
The thoughts of last night kept playing in my mind, over and over like some twisted dream on repeat. Aemond was still absolutely on my list of those I do not take kindly to at this moment… But hearing him say that I was his, how rough yet gentle he could be… It made my skin crawl yet sent ripples and shudders of longing through my body like a bolt of lightning. For some time, years, I had longed for Aemond, pining after him and yearning for his being in secrecy, and now for it all to come to a boiling point like this? How deliciously morbid…
I gripped the railing of the balcony of my bedchambers, looking out at the view of Blackwater Bay, biting my bottom lip as I became lost in thought, the warm and slightly humid winds blowing through the air. I let out a small exhale as I continued to stare off into the distance, not even hearing or noticing that someone had entered my bedchambers until I heard someone’s throat being cleared. As I turned around and came gaze to gaze with the other person in my bedchambers, I was surprised to see the Queen Dowager herself.
“Alicent… Forgive me, I didn’t hear you enter.”
“No… No, I suppose you didn’t. It seems your mind is preoccupied with other things.”
I didn’t like the sound of Alicent’s tone, it seemed far too sharp and pointed, much like a slightly dulled dagger. I could see the look in her eyes, and I knew that she was most likely here to lecture me. I watched her every move,seeing her walk closer towards me, a certain… anger in her movements.
“What right have you to just flee King’s Landing and go to the Stormlands, all on your own? Have you any idea what sort of peril you put yourself in?”
“I didn’t go alone, I asked Aemond to come alongside me.”
By the old gods and the new, perhaps I should have kept my mouth shut. The incredulous and shocked look on her face said it all, and then it transformed into anger.
“So you drag my son into your personal issues with your own family? Surely you are telling me a brazen lie.”
“It is the truth. What would I gain from lying to the Queen Dowager herself? Alicent, you must understand I did this solely to receive answers from my father himself.”
“And my son has a part in that plot, how? By risking his life for some– some bastard born girl?”
As soon as that tainted word left Alicent’s lips, I went wide eyed in surprise, anger and hurt. I knew she disliked them, but I didn’t think that she would so easily throw it in my face.
“Even if I hadn’t asked Aemond to come along with me, he would’ve found a way to follow me anyway. You also should thank me, Alicent, seeing as how I stopped him from killing Rhaenyra’s son Lucerys. Should that have happened, a war for certain would have started. Is that what you wish to happen? For war to run rampant throughout the realms, cities burning and people slaughtered by the hundreds?”
Alicent immediately seemed to have stopped talking for a moment and listened to me speak, hearing what I had to say. It seemed to finally dawn on her that I can be useful at times. She let out a sigh before speaking.
“I suppose… you have stopped great chaos from happening across the realms. I… apologize for bringing up your current status.”
I continued to stare at Alicent, raising a brow at her hasty response before letting out a sigh, speaking in a slightly exasperated tone.
“I accept your apology, Alicent. If that is the only matter you wish to discuss with me, then please leave me to think in peace.”
I could feel Alicent’s stare linger upon me for a couple spare moments before silently leaving my bedchambers, leaving me in the solidarity of the walls that kept me somewhat sane. I sighed and walked over to my vanity, taking a seat and undoing the braids Ursa had done for me earlier in the day. As I hummed to myself and brushed the deep brunette locks of my hair, staring at my reflection in the vanity mirror, something felt…. Off. The air went eerily still and quiet, not even a single sound, a pin could drop in the streets and it would’ve been heard.
As I looked back at my reflection in the vanity mirror, I felt a searing pain, the burn like a dragon’s fiery breath. The sting was like that of a thousand lashings, unbearable. A sound of great agony escaped my throat, feeling as if I were choking on sea water itself. My head felt as if it was being impaled and caved in, over and over and over again. It felt as if my eyes were burning out of my skull, the whirring sound in my head like thousands of flies and hornets, a hellish cacophony. Then, a voice empty and echoing calling out, cutting through the droning like a sword.
‘You poor thing… Sweet little fawn, writhing in agony like you were caught in a hunting trap. You, atrabilious little sweetling, are blessed with a gift. Powers of this world and its natural disasters. The storms run through your blood like a rushing river, intertwined with your veins and webbed through your entity.’
I let out a grunt of pain, drool from sheer agony escaping my lips. I felt as if the soul of my very being was being shredded by a dull blade a thousand times over.
“Seven Hells! Argh, guh… it burns…. Why me!? What purpose do you have for me!?”
‘You cannot escape it, for it is fate. You cannot beg or scream or manifest it gone, and you will embrace it. Be the force you always wished to be reckoned with, Brinaera.’
I could feel the echo in my skull, driving me mad with fear and empowerment, feeling myself give into the voice. I felt myself become leaned back on my knees, head leaned back, my eyes rolling to the back of my head, sounds emitting from me as I embraced it all. The power coursed through me like a toxin, flowing through my body and squeezing like a vice. I then let out a hollow exhale, my expression becoming akin to being enlightened, inspired…. Reborn. As my lips parted, a breathy voice escaped me, words finally finding their way out to hang in the air.
“Yes…. I deserve this… ”
‘Yes, sweetling. But such divination requires a sacrifice. The thing you love and long for the most, you will be unable to bear him children, no heirs to precede him. This is your price, Brinaera Baratheon.’
As the voice finished speaking, the whirring in my skull ceased, the pain disappearing from throughout my body, my body limp and drained from whatever creed I had just signed…
I felt as if I were floating calmly throughout a storm across the waters throughout the world. A high whine and ringing wormed its way through my ears, waking me from the peaceful realm of slumber. I felt my eyes flutter open, adjusting to the dim flames of lit candles, my fireplace kindled and the pale moonlight of night.
“Thank the gods you’re awake, my dear. It seemed as if you were ill or who else knows. Seven Hells… ”
I let out a small chuckle, knowing the maternal voice of my handmaiden Ursa. I looked over at her and raised a brow, sitting up a bit, wincing as I felt a sting and burning sensation on my right arm, all the way around it.
“Seven Hells, son of a whore… I’m sorry for my language Ursa, but it stings.”
Ursa looked at me with a frown of concern, pulling down the sleeve of my sleeping gown, showing what seemed to be a burn or branding, around my bicep in the shape of a band of thorns. The creed… I have two equally painful reminders for the rest of my life of the cost of such transcendental gifts. A storm phitonesse…
“My lady, what in the Seven has happened to you… ?”
I slowly looked up at Ursa before staring off into the view of Blackwater Bay, a storm uglier than the realms’ current politics rolling in. The storm, the water, the energy… it all called to me, like a siren lull. I then spoke up in a hushed tone.
“You were right, Ursa… I was always a force to be reckoned with. I know that now… ”
“Oh dear girl, you must be sick, you’re babbling an awful amount of nonsense.”
I let out a sigh, knowing that I wouldn’t be believed, no matter what I said, so I pulled the covers and furs up over my shoulders, turning onto my side as my head hit the pillows, becoming lulled back into sleep, entering the realm of newfound confidence and abilities…. I was the Stormborn Bastard, the Natural Sorceress…. And I was the illecebrous force to be reckoned with.