“You could take the girl away, you know?” - Daemon’s voice is somewhat far away from her, Rhaenyra is too focused on watching Alicent playing with Aegon, her belly already big with another child - “Take her and disappear, far away from all this mess.”
Rhaenyra can’t answer him, not trusting her own voice, Internally, she curses Daemon for knowing all of her thoughts, even the ones she only allows herself to indulge in the safety of the night as she lays under her covers.
“Imagine her, heavy with a child that will be yours and not his.”
Rhaenyra felt the tears blooming in her eyes, her gaze angry and vengeful. Daemon’s voice was sweet, a chant made only to corrupt her.
“You love her, don’t you?” - he lays his hands on her shoulders, the weight of the statement all around them - “All that drama at the hunt was jealousy, no? You wanted her to be yours.”
Rhaenyra finds herself nodding, her eyes focused on Alicent’s gentle movements, a caress on Aegon’s head. A caress like that was made for her heirs, not Viserys’s.
“I know you well enough, Daemon, to know that you do nothing without a price” - Rhaenyra was surprised by the coldness of her own voice - “What is in this for you?”
“Freedom” - his voice changed, his tone more dreamy. Rhaenyra couldn’t take her eyes off Alicent - “A girl who loves me and carries my child as I hide deep into the isle of Tarth.”
Rhaenyra doesn’t believe him, but his voice conveys enough emotion to make her question if she even knows Daemon. She decides to take a leap of faith, and believe him for a second.
“What about the kingdom?”
Daemon rolls his eyes.
“Look around, Rhaenyra. Viserys already has an heir and it is not you” - his voice continues to whisper into her ears - “The spare is about to get here any time now.”
Her eyes fall on Alicent’s big belly, the spare eats up space around Alicent’s ribcage, depriving her of air and well-slept nights. Takes heraway from Rhaenyra, bit by bit.
“What of you?”
“I shall cut my hair and live as a simple jarl, making bastards in maids and looting” - Daemon smiles - “You shall also cut your hair and live as a mighty prince, Daemon Targaryen.”
Rhaenyra gasps and turns around to face him, surprised.
“You suggest I shall live as you?”
Daemon nods, his hands together at his back.
“Cregan Stark offered me a deal, I would be welcomed on the north and command the guard as long as I bring a dragon.”
Rhaenyra clasps her hand on top of her mouth, shocked.
“He would not betray the crown like that.”
Daemon nods, his smile wicked.
“You are thinking about betraying the crown yourself, princess” - Rhaenyra swallows - “Don’t forget that kidnapping the queen away is a war crime, dearest.”
“Fuck” - Rhaenyra turns around and finds herself looking at Alicent again. She is surprised by the hatred inside of her as she looks at the girl, how she hates the mark Viserys placed on her - “And then what?”
Daemon smiles, pleased. Sometimes, he is surprised by how well he knows his niece, their suffering one and the same.
“And then, Cregan will cease all contact with the South and fight for the independence of the North” - Rhaenyra breathes deeply, this is the first time Daemon sees the depth of her hate, of her want - “He believes that the dragon will allow him enough strength to succeed, did you know he is your age?”
“And you?” - Rhaenyra cuts him - “Do you believe he will succeed?”
“Yes” - Daemon’s statement is strong - “He will have the only adult dragon on Westeros that knows how to fight, the moment he lays the first blow Rhaenys and Corlys will fight for the independence of Driftmark and Seasmoke will no longer fight for Viserys.”
A beat.
“Dragons made us kings not dreams, right, Uncle?”
Daemon laughed and Rhaenyra turned around to walk inside the castle.
“You handle the preparations, we shall move after Alicent gives birth.”
—
Rhaenyra fits herself inside Daemon’s armor at night after he thought her the secret passages that hide on the walls. She can now move freely around the castle but focus most of her movements towards where Alicent stays during the day, now Rhaenyra can follow the queen around the castle. She sees how Alicent despises being pregnant, how she lays tired most of the time and Rhaenyra has to fight the urge to appear inside the room and take Alicent into her arms.
Rhaenyra flies a lot more as well, she learns how to do sharp turns with Syrax and urges the dragon keepers to prepare a more fit-to-war kind of saddlery for her dragon. As well as a saddle big enough for two, with all the comfort necessary for a queen.
Daemon exchanges letters with the north, and Tarth. He trains her with a sword every night until her body can’t move and she can’t raise her arm, he shows her no mercy as he knocks her to the ground time and time again. Daemon only allows her to train with his sword when she knocks him to the ground for the first time, Rhaenyra feels the weight of the valyrian steel sword against her hand and enjoys the power it gives her as the steel shine brights with the moonshine.
With the little time they have, Rhaenyra becomes a better swordsman than most of her father's men, she studies the north and how fiercely they protect what is theirs. Bit by bit, she understands the strategy behind Cregan’s move, and how she wouldn’t be able to win a battle on her own. Most specifically, she studies the way Daemon walks and learns how to wrap her body in a way that will make her look like a man and how to carry herself with the same dignity and confidence.
Rhaenyra knows she should be bothered by no one noticing the way she is limping, but it doesn’t bother her. In fact, it forces her to train even harder.
But all goes to shit when Alicent gives birth. At first, the babe doesn’t come, hours of laying on her bed as she turns around in pain and fever until the child starts to rip its way out of her. Rhaenyra doesn’t walk in, she stays inside her room as Alicent’s scream fills the space around her.
Helaena comes into the world screaming and blonde, a beautiful Targaryen babe that is sure to spit heirs until she dies. Rhaenyra denies the offer to meet the child, unable to stop shaking.
Alicent lays in bed with a fever for two weeks and is fairly sick for a month. It delays their plans, but Rhaenyra is committed to taking her away by the next full moon, where she is sure she will be able to see at night.
She feels her whole body shaking when her father announces the pregnancy of Alicent as they break fast. Rhaenyra has to fight the urge to throw up as Alicent looks at her with apologetic eyes, she was forced to sleep with him even in sickness.
He makes Alicent spit heirs that he loves more than Rhaenyra and denies his woman her rest? Rhaenyra looks at Daemon, who questions her with his eyes. She nods, determined.
—
“Rhaenyra?” - Alicent whispered into the cold air of the night - “What are you doing?”
Someone lit a candle inside her bedroom, Alicent was almost falling asleep when they arrived. She had told the king she was feeling indisposed after she spent her whole afternoon throwing up, the baby inside of her forcing her to spend most of her time on the bed.
“The seed” - Rhaenyra tells her, her voice rough as she forces the words to come out of her mouth - “Is it strong in your belly?”
Alicent nods, too focused on Rhaenyra’s hands on her shoulders. Alicent sighs when Rhaenyra’s musky scent fills her nostrils, she can barely remember the last time Rhaenyra touched her.
“Alicent, please, be quiet then” - she could see Rhaenyra in front of her and Daemon close to the candle - “I can’t get you out of here if you talk.”
Alicent doesn’t have enough strength to move when she feels Daemon’s arms on her body, picking her up from the bed without a second thought. And suddenly they are moving, Daemon leading the way through secret castle passages Alicent has never seen before. The scent of tunnels is strong, with mold and rust from being closed for years, tunnels open only for the eyes of the smartest of the Targaryens.
“Where are you taking me?”
Daemon glances at Rhaenyra, his eyes holding a certain plea to them. Rhaenyra stops, the candle shaking in her hands but her eyes hold the same fire as always.
“To the north” - a pause, Alicent can barely register the first words - “Away from here, somewhere we can be free. Cregan Stark has promised me his protection.”
Daemon nods, his voice rough and somehow, at the same time, sarcastic and ironic.
“Should I put you on the ground, your grace?”
Alicent can see now, under the light of the candle her short white hair and well-polished armor and decides she is going to go wherever this woman takes her. For a moment, here in Daemon’s hold, Alicent looks at Rhaenyra and thinks about how she has never had a home where there wasn’t Rhaenyra, where she would go Alicent would follow.
“No.”
—
Alicent blinks and her lids feel heavy around her eyes but she can see that the walls around her are made of thick rocks, there is a window by the side of the bed and she is sure she can tug it open if she gets up but she can feel the way the wool duvet hugs her body, and how it calms her heart. It smells like lemon and musk, Rhaenyra's scent.
She wants to lay around in it and lay still, in peace for a long time. Long enough for the babe in her belly to come out.
The baby.
Alicent's eyes open wide and she sits on the bed for a second, desperate to get up and find out what is happening to her. She doesn't remember much after getting on top of Syrax, surprised with how the saddle was made for her and Rhaenyra. Rhaenyra has brought her here, to Winterfell on the North. A desperate attempt to keep Alicent as hers.
Alicent is still surprised by her decision to accept, understand the plan, and say yes. Momentanelly, she thinks about her children down in the south. and how long it will take Viserys to find her a substitute to raise them. A younger and prettier girl, she is sure.
With the news of her kidnapping by Prince Daemon, the legitimacy of her children will be put at risk. But she can barely think about it as she lays her hand on top of her womb, Alicent shakes her head and smile.
An affair with Prince Daemon? What a gossip, her father is probably with his hair up trying to understand when she got the time to do such a thing. Seducing a king and his brother all while she maintained the proper pose of a lady.
“What are you laughing about?”
She turns her head to the side to stare at Rhaenyra’s frame. The girl is wrapping her body in white bandages, the cold air of the north making her shiver.
“The absurdity of your story, prince Daemon.”
Rhaenyra stops binding her body and turns to look at her, her eyes squint as she is surprised by the irony of Alicent’s tone.
“I thought you would be far more worried about your children.”
Alicent sighs, pulling the covers up to her chin as she lays back on the bed.
“They were never mine” - a pause - “Although I forced myself to love them, they were never mine.”
Rhaenyra ends her wrapping and walks towards the bed with a different energy. Now, Alicent can see her slowly transforming into the character she has constructed for herself, her hair short in the way men do it here in the north, the way she walks with more confidence.
Alicent blushes, thinking about giving herself to a man like Rhaenyra’s Daemon. And thinks, for a second, what it would be like to carry Rhaenyra’s seed inside her belly.
“This one is going to be yours, Alicent” - her voice is the same, but the way she lays on the bed tells Alicent that she is a completely different person - “No one is going to take him from you, and no one” - a beat, violet eyes staring deep inside hers - “No one is ever going to take you away from me again.”
Alicent fights the urge to kiss Rhaenyra, as she often did when they were young and Rhaenyra delivered bold statements like this. But now, things have changed, Alicent has birthed Viserys his male heir and Rhaenyra has taken her back.
Somehow, Alicent’s conscious side wins and she is able to look at her hands and not at Rhaenyra.
“What do you think we should call him?”
“Well” - Rhaenyra is up, already pulling her undergarments on - “I think it is only fair if we call him Daemon.”
Alicent laughs.
“I don’t want to name my son after your creepy uncle.”
“Our son, Alicent” - Rhaenyra pulls up the first layer of her clothing, male trousers that fit her perfectly - “Don’t forget who we are up here.”
Alicent sits up again, surprised by Rhaenyra’s statement. She breathes and weights the words on her tongue before speaking.
“Well, I am sure that if I had a son with Prince Daemon he would be much warmer with me in the mornings.”
Rhaenyra stops closing her shirt when Alicent speaks, her eyes show her surprise at Alicent words. She moves slowly to Alicent’s bedside, her boots making noise on the ground, her steps firm and decided.
Her hand lays softly on Alicent’s cheek, the coldness of the ring on her pinky finger bothers Alicent a little, but she focuses on watching Rhaenyra’s face, her lilac eyes.
“I thought it would be harder” - Rhaenyra confesses - “To leave my father behind, to be with you here” - she touches her forehead with Alicent’s.
Alicent moans, Rhaenyra’s scent is intoxicating, her touch heavy and filled with desire. Rhaenyra kisses her first, her touch soft and her lips light against Alicent.
“You didn’t bring me here to kiss me like that.”
Alicent crashes their lips then, their teeth knocking as she laid back down and pulled Rhaenyra on top of her. She can feel the warmth of Rhaenyra’s mouth, how hungry this woman was for her during all those years. Alicent can feel all the words Rhaenyra never told her about her touch, how she grips her waist and holds Alicent with raw desire.