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FROM THE ASHES
— 3. Absence

 Absence

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111 AC

Ten years had passed since the day Shaera had been married off and since then, Shaera had been remarried another two times and was onto her fourth husband, the Lord of Winterfell, Ellard Stark. All that came before him had found themselves dead, one way or another. And all but Roland Hightower died before the marriage was even consummated.

Ellard was much older than her and a lot crueler than the husbands that came before him but Shaera felt the need to tolerate it, knowing if one more of her husband ended up dead, scandal will emerge and she had no time for that.

She had three children now, Rhaegon, who was a boy of ten, and Viserra, a girl of eight. And lastly, Daemion, who had been born just three moons before.

At Winterfell, Shaera sat in her chambers, holding Daemion in her arms and Viserra playing with toys at her feet.

The Targaryen woman smiled, humming a lullaby as she rocked Daemion to sleep. However, having an odd feeling in the pit of her stomach, she looked around. The castle was far too quiet, especially with Rhaegon not in her sight.

She turned to Viserra who had asked to come join her just moments ago out of nowhere. It had been an odd request, especially when she and Rhaegon were usually attached at the hip.

"Viserra, where is your brother?" She spoke up and Viserra froze, his face changing at the question, "Well?"

"He is hiding in the Godswood, Lady Mother," Viserra confessed, much to Shaera's concern.

Moments later, Shaera found herself walking through the Godswood, searching for her eldest son. It was snowing and Shaera hated the snow. She was born in summer and the cold of the North did not suit her nor her children. They were born from fire, of course, not ice.

It wasn't long before she laid eyes on Rhaegon, who sat against a tree, his knees pressed to his chest. "What are you doing?" Shaera asked her son in a calm yet stern tone, "You know you were not supposed to leave the castle unaccompanied."

Rhaegon sighed, slowly lifting his head to stare up at his mother. "He wished to take me with him to the Dreadfort. He wanted to go hunting ," He answered in a quiet tone, "But I do not wish to. What is the point? Not with him. He'll just bully me like last time. He gets angry with me and says I will be a shit warrior one day. And that I'm the son of a whore and will amount to nothing. All because I do not wish to harm an innocent animal."

Shaera sighed, staring down at her son sadly. She knelt in front of her son and held his hands in hers. "You mustn't listen to him. He is just jealous," She assured him and placed a hand on the side of her son's face, "Jealous that is he nothing compared to us. We are Targaryens. We are dragon riders, born from fire. He is nothing more than a weak wolf of the North."

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