Widowhood II
Haelyx arrived at the capital with a black veil covering her hair and her face. She was wearing a black dress fit for a lady in mourning. The dress was austere, inconspicuous, and simple to a degree that even the poorest of gentlemen would not normally go to. The only detail of color in her entire outfit was a silver fish-shaped brooch that closed the neck of her dress.
She was surprised with the reception she received. Honestly, she hadn't expected anyone. Literally no one. But there were the Queen, Otto Hightower, Aemond, and Helaena. Behind the princess there were nannies with her children. Jaehaera and Jaehaerys were only four years old.
Maelor, the young Maelor was only a few months old and tears ran down Haelyx's face at the thought of her daughter, who was in Avalon in the care of Oscar, a wet nurse and an army of house elves.
But without her mother. Her Iolanthe was without her
Helaena approached Haelyx and hugged her tightly while whispering soft words in her ear and Haelyx simply fell on top of her. It was hard to remember that Helaena was only nineteen years old.
Otto made sure to give a proper welcome and the Queen escorts Haelyx to her childhood chambers. Someone had cleaned the place and aired it out before they arrived. everything was warm and cozy
-Later I would like to see his Majesty, if it is not too much trouble
The Queen put on a complicated expression
-Viserys is suffering a lot, Haelyx. Half the time he can't stand the pain without the milk of the poppy and he's lost his eye. He…
-When I was four years old I contracted fevers and was in bed for many moons. On several occasions he was told that I would not survive the night. And all those times my uncle came to sit by my bed. He wiped the sweat from my forehead and took my hand. This is the moment when I can return the kindness that he showed me. Give him the same treatment that he gave me. And if I get infected... What would it matter? I've already lost everyone I've loved, I would only reunite with them.
The Queen could see the tears slipping down Haelyx's chin, the only thing visible in the black veil she wore.
She just nodded and said that she would take her to the room that afternoon.
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The smell of medicinal herbs, ointments and milk of the poppy was stifling despite all the incense they had been burning to mask the smell of rotting meat on the King's body.
Haelyx knew what disease it was. Leprosy, even in Harry's world, even with wizards, was incurable when it got that far. Not even the tears of the phoenix could save Viserys Targaryen
Haelyx removed the veil from her face and sat down next to her uncle. She took her uncle's hand in hers and squeezed it lightly, feeling the first signs that leprosy was consuming the man's arm.
--- Haelyx, you are beautiful. You have grown a lot. – The man was not completely serene and the girl's eyes filled with tears against which she fought. She would not cry before her uncle
- Hello uncle, I have come to see you
- Has your husband also come?
Haelyx looked at the Queen and she shook her head.
-No, in the land of the rivers there are problems with some bandits and my husband thought that she would be safer in the capital
-He is a very good man. If he hadn't married you I might have given him Helaena. Such good men are rare
-I know. I am very lucky to be married to him. Now let me take care of you, uncle. I want you to recover soon
The King smiled showing missing teeth
-What a good girl, one day you will be a great mother. – Haelyx was paralyzed again but recovered faster this time
-I'm sure I will, man, I'm sure.
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Healyx entered the Sept of King's Landing looking around her. She worshiped the old gods, but now she had to play a role. The Septon came out to greet her and Haelyx spoke with him for a few minutes before sitting down to pray in one of the seats.
She remained silent for a good two hours before getting up, sharing a few more words with the Septon, and leaving for the Red Keep to eat.
She had to do a routine that made her look insignificant, like a fly. She is a poor and unfortunate princess, forgotten by all.
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It was much easier than Haelyx thought. Every morning she broke the fast in her room in private. Then she went to the King's chambers for four hours to help the Queen take care of the King, which made her see the extent of her uncle's illness. Sometimes he was fine, sometimes he was delirious and spoke to Rhaenyra, Aemma, or Rhaenys, depending on who he saw in Haelyx's face that day. That made Haelyx's heart ache.
After that she would go to the sept for at least an hour before going back to the keep to eat something. She then went to the dragon pit with Aemond and she rode Hedwig through the sky, feeling free for a few moments. After returning she would go back to her uncle's room until it was time for dinner. After dinner she would retire to her rooms where she would remain in solitude until she fell asleep.
Actually she went to Avalon every night to take care of the affairs of her Kingdom that needed her Queen. She also spent time with Iolanthe and talked with Oscar. She then returned to sleep in the Red Keep. She would have lost many hours of sleep if it weren't for the ease she had sleeping in carriages or in the Sept.
The good thing about her routine was that the Queen had absolutely no complaints about her, since Haelyx proved to be a good girl and a believer of the seven. There was also the fact that she helped take some of the heavy load off of King Viserys' constant care.
But, to most of the world, Haelyx Targaryen was a sad and lonely figure. Invisible in her constant pain for the loss of her husband and son. A person who was better left aside, since she was suffering deeply despite being only fifteen years old.
Most of them expected her to remarry within a respectful period of years and while she was still young. News of her stay in the Red Keep reached Dragon Rock where the Rebel Prince and Crown Princess sighed with relief. Haelyx was a good girl and she would stop Alicent from poisoning Viserys' sick mind.
It never occurred to them to go take care of Viserys themselves.
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Haelyx went down the tunnels. She liked to go down herself for Hedwig. She liked the tunnels hot and humid. With the smell of dragon skin and fire. Hedwig was in her niche, she had claimed him from that cavern shortly after arriving despite Vhagar's grunts. And that despite the fact that Vhagar had a cave three times the size of that one. Hedwig was lying on the ground and Haelyx noticed that the straw that covered the ground had been removed.
Haelyx looked at her dragon, amazed as always by the two long, curly, golden horns that had sprouted in less than two years.
- Is something wrong, dear?
The dragon blew on Haelyx and then brushed some straw away from her. There were dragon eggs buried in the straw. Haelyx knelt down and looked at them. Five. Red and gold, green and silver, blue and bronze, yellow and black, and the last egg was multicolored. Hedwig pushed that egg away and pushed it towards Haelyx.
She took the egg and held it up delicately while she looked at it. She had never seen an egg like this. Each scale of the shell was a beautiful color, each one different from the one before and yet they all fit together in perfect harmony.
-Is it for my baby? For Iolanthe? – Hedwig blew lovingly on her rider. -Thank you…. But who is the father?
A low, powerful growl sounded from the alcove's entrance and Haelyx tensed. All who descended from the dragon house knew the snarl of that beast. It was something in their blood.
The hatchling hunter
egg eater
The cannibal dragon
The beast was entering the cave, its large body the color of charcoal and its poisonous green eyes fixed on Haelyx. Haelyx had heard no rumors that the cannibal had left the dragonmount in the family's ancestral home. That meant that one of the tunnels must have been an exit to the outside and the cannibal had entered through there.
The beast was snarling as he approached her and Haelyx was afraid for the eggs. The cannibal ate eggs. He quickly placed the egg on his back and looked at the dragon. She was surprised that Hedwig wasn't helping her. Then the cannibal rested her head against Haelyx's torso and growled in a lower tone than she thought….
A purr?
Was the great bloodthirsty beast purring?
Haelyx stroked the scales and the dragon was happy.
- You are the father…. Hedwig's couple. – She whispered it. - You look better. You were cursed and when I purify Valyria I heal you too?
The dragon didn't nod but it was close. Haelyx wanted to laugh at that. She scratched the great beast between the scales.
-Five eggs. One for Iolanthe, but I don't know who to give the other four to. For now I will hatch them all in Avalon. – Haelyx looked at the cannibal. – You can go to Avalon, if you don't want to stay here
The dragon pressed protectively against the white dragon.
-Very good very good. You want to stay with your partner. – Haelyx looked at the dragon. – I don't like to call you a cannibal, if those were your actions under a curse. Nightfly, night flight, I think that's a better name for you.
That day Haelyx did not fly and stayed with the dragons in the niche. That night a brazier was placed in the princess's room with the five eggs warming on a constant fire. Occasionally a house-elf would kill a small animal and throw it into the flames so that they would become more powerful and the eggs would hatch to reveal young dragons.
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Haelyx knew that she could not hope to live in the keep without meeting Aegon at some point. But seeing her cousin totally stripped of hers and singing while she clung to a maid was something she didn't expect to see. And neither was the Queen standing by Haelyx's side.
The Queen was sighing so long that Haelyx wondered what the woman's lung capacity was.
Aegon was very obviously drunk. And in one of his hands he carried a glass of wine that he spilled on the floor. Haelyx looked at his member and blushed. Aegon was very, very well served in that regard. Hell, if it wasn't for the fact that he was the male equivalent of a whore and a drunk most women would willingly spread their legs for him.
Haelyx shuddered. He had tried to put that thing into her eleven year old body. He would have torn her apart, he would have killed her if he had managed to complete his deeds.
-Mother! And the prudish cousin! – Aegon threw himself on them and Haelyx felt how the man squeezed one of her breasts with force, despite the fact that Haelyx still had her face covered with a veil. - They are big! Come on, cousin, I'll fuck a Targaryen child in your womb….
Aegon was unable to finish because of Aemond's punch that knocked him unconscious. Haelyx hugged herself feeling dirty. She was not only feeling, she was dirty
How long had Aegon not bathed?
Aemond began to drag the naked prince and Haelyx wondered if what had happened was a common occurrence. Apparently it was, because no one was surprised at the sight of the second prince carrying his burden.
Haelyx left to go clean up and calm down.
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The next time Haelyx was in Aegon's presence was during a family dinner. Aegon looked as if he had been dragged out of bed and he had a huge hangover. He looked at her and grimaced.
Haelyx was using a spell to avoid being noticed unless the person was specifically looking for her.
Helaena started talking about the embroidery that she and Haelyx were doing. It was a great attempt to make conversation. The King, for once, accompanied them and was conscious. He inquired about the dragons they were embroidering for a blanket for Maelor and was pleased to learn that Balerion was among those dragons.
---- Has his egg hatched?
They all fell silent. An egg that didn't hatch was rare, but not very rare. This generation was strange for all the eggs that had hatched. Hedwig, Tessarion, Sunfyre, Arrax, Vermax, Tyraxes, Squall, Moondancer, Shrykos, and Morghul. Quite a few new dragons.
Only two eggs had not hatched in this generation. Aemond's and Rhaena's. Maelor's egg was running late, but it was still slower than normal. In the previous generation, only Syrax hatched. The rest of the dragons were inherited.
- Not yet, but we do not lose hope. After all, Haelyx's egg was over a hundred years old, an egg laid by the same dragons of the conquest. --- Helaena smiled. – Maelor's egg comes from the same clutch, it will be a great dragon.
-I still say it would have been better to use a fresher egg, dear. – The Queen took her daughter's hand in hers. – Eggs this old may not hatch.
- It will open, I'm sure of it. --- – Helaena smiled at her own words. – He is such a strong child, so lively,…
The conversation turns to the children as the Queen and Aemond look on disapprovingly as that Aegon clown asks for his cup to be refilled over and over again.
Haelyx locked her door with a thick plank of wood that night and every night since.
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The multicolored egg had opened revealing the most beautiful dragon Haelyx had ever seen in her life. More even than the pompous Sunfyre and the proud Hedwig. The little dragon wrapped around Iolanthe with ease, covering her body with long wings.
he was a male
Oscar watched as Haelyx nursed Iolanthe while the dragon suckled on her other breast. The modesty had vanished between them a long time ago. And ever since the dragon was born Iolanthe refused to eat unless the dragon also drank milk from her mother's breast.
-How do you want to name the dragon?
-Calling the dragon Rainbow sounds very… Childish and feminine? He is a male I want to call him in a beautiful way. He is my daughter's mount. hope for the future
-Jaelarys.
-Do you speak High Valyrian now? – Haelys smiled at the man who blushed.
-You learn things as you go. Jaelarys, the dragon of hope.
-I like it. --- Haelyx smiled. - And what would you call Hedwig?
-Hedwig, the mother of dragons. The mount of the first Queen of Avalon, the mother of the first dragons of Avalon
Haelyx laughed. At least that was better than the snow dragon, as some people called her.
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Haelyx was in a chair next to the King as he hummed. The Queen was gone and she was embroidering a spider on a handkerchief for Helaena. A maid entered the room and approached Haelyx to whisper something in her ear. The best thing about being there was that she had direct access to all of his spies.
And that she was killing all the greens she knew committed crimes. For some reason the blacks were much more honorable than those who supported the future usurper. Leaving a cleaner court was his gift to his uncle before he left.
She shook her head as she clicked her tongue.
-Why are some men guided only by their dicks? I don't understand. Then she got serious. -She is his daughter and she is only ten years old, damn pervert. If she wanted to fuck a kid that much, brothels could get him that. But he has chosen to rape his own daughter. – Haelyx finished the spider's leg while the maid remained silent. – Suicide is a very big sin in the eyes of the seven. I think they don't even allow burial if that happens. It's a good way to die for a wretch like him.
The maid bowed and left. Then Haelyx noticed that the King's breathing was no longer shallow. She looked at him and saw how the only eye of the man looked at her
-I know how to recognize a Queen when I see one. My mother, my aunt, my wives, Rhaenys, Rhaenyra,…. All of them were Queens from the moment they were born. – Viserys then smiled. – Queen Peverell, am I wrong?
----You are not wrong, dear uncle - - Haelyx approached him and fluffed the pillows around him.
-Your father also tried to create his own Kingdom, but failed. Too arrogant, too pompous, he bragged too much instead of focusing on defending his territory, sure no one would attack him because he had Caraxes. Are you going to conquer my Kingdom?
-I won't be a second Aegon. Hayley smiled. – My little corner of the world is enough for me. And I want nothing to do with this Kingdom
-I believe you
Won't you say anything, man?
-Who would believe me? I delude most of the time because of the pain, who would believe me? Still, let me give you a few tips.
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During the following weeks the King called Haelyx "Rhaenyra" and gave her advice on how to be a good Queen and ruler. Alicent always bit her lip in anger at her husband's rantings.