Unintended

Chapter Two

Harwin had made himself scarce, those first several weeks after agreeing to the princess's request. It was easy enough to distract himself with his duties as the newly appointed– by the king himself– Commander of the City Watch, spending late nights out with his men as they drank their way through the pubs and taverns of Flea Bottom. His men had, on several occasions, attempted to drag him to pleasure houses, teasing him for being a green boy when they learned he had not yet been with a woman. But he could not stomach it: the thought of bedding a stranger did not hold any interest for him.

The only woman he had any interest in was the one who took no interest in him at all. He was relieved he only had to see the princess for supper in the evenings, the king insistent on hosting everyone for large family gatherings. The king seemed oblivious to the tension between his daughter and Harwin, simply overjoyed at the fact that he would not have to worry himself with finding a new match for her.

Harwin could barely look at her, hoping with each day that passed he would suddenly find himself uninterested in her entirely. The king had agreed to delay the wedding two years at the princess's request, until after the princess's eighteenth and his nineteenth nameday. Surely that would be enough time for him to rid himself of the feelings that plagued him whenever he caught sight of her or thought of her.

He had mulled over her proposition for the past weeks and could not rid himself of the nagging memory of her suggestion that they do as they pleased after fulfilling their duty. At first he had hoped, somewhat naively, that she simply wished to be left alone to pursue her own hobbies.

But after weeks of thinking about that moment almost constantly, he could not dismiss the dread-inducing feeling that 'doing as they pleased' suggested she wished to have her freedom to pursue less savory interests. And why, he wondered, would she suggest such a thing if she did not already have someone in mind that she intended on keeping as a lover?

Even though he was sure it would cause him great pain to know the identity of the man she wished to share her bed with, he decided it was worse to wonder. He spent countless hours befriending the maids, doing favors for them and listening in to their endless gossip in hopes of picking up any information on who the princess may or may not be seeing. Nothing of significance had come to his attention yet but if she was secretly seeing someone, the maids would be the first to know, and he would be informed shortly after.

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Rhaenyra had not realized how much time she spent on a daily basis catching Ser Harwin's eye until he was no longer paying attention to her. Turning to him and finding that he was not already looking at her initially came as quite a surprise. In the months that had passed since they agreed to continue with the betrothal, he had only spoken to her when necessary, busying himself with his duties for a majority of the day. She saw him nightly, at supper, but his attention was not on her. Not on anyone, really.

Her interest in him began innocently enough, she supposed. She realized that she did not know much about him, they had grown apart since the time they used to play together as children, before the reality of their situation set in for her and she no longer wanted him in her presence if it could be avoided. He had always tagged along with her and Alicent, was nicer to them than the rest of the boys but still a constant and unwelcome reminder of her future. She had not been very kind to him then, but he had never wavered or treated her any differently as a result.

She had watched him closely for many weeks. Learned his schedule, slipped out from under Ser Criston's overly attentive eye to discreetly follow him around. Her interest in his comings and goings was strictly to ensure that she knew the type of man she was marrying. She had given him permission to do as he pleased, but she needed to know that he was not doing anything that would bring scandal or disgrace to the crown. That is what she told herself, at least.