𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝐎𝐍𝐄: 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐋𝐎𝐆𝐔𝐄 - was i ever a daughter or just something that wasn't yet an urn?
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𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐇𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐇𝐄𝐖𝐍 𝐂𝐈𝐓𝐘 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐍𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐄𝐋𝐓 𝐒𝐎 𝐄𝐌𝐏𝐓𝐘. Alicent had known it the moment she stepped out of her chambers, the moment she saw how empty the corridors were. Hewn City was never silent. There was always noise—low murmurs, the clinking of glasses, the distant sound of cruel laughter. But now, the halls stretched before her in stillness.
Her footsteps were the only sound in the vast, dark corridors. The stone beneath her bare feet was freezing, the air was thick with the scent of damp stone and something metallic—blood, maybe.
She was not supposed to be here.
She had woken in the middle of the night to whispers—servants murmuring behind closed doors, their voices hushed. They whispered when they thought no one could hear. They always did. He's furious. She defied him. She refused.
Alicent had heard their murmurs, their barely concealed terror. She had seen them avert their eyes when she passed. Something had happened. Something terrible. And even though no one had come for her, even though no one had told her to stay in her chambers, she knew.
It was Morrigan.
Her older sister had not been at the grand feast, had not been at her usual place beside their father. He had not mentioned her absence, had not even acknowledged it. That was what terrified Alicent the most.
Alicent wrapped her arms around herself as she hurried deeper into the keep, she didn't know where she was going, only that she had to find her sister. The air felt heavier the farther she went, pressing in on her small frame like a living thing. The Court of Nightmares had always been cruel, but tonight, it felt different.
It felt hungry.
A shiver ran down her spine as she turned a corner, stepping into a passageway she had never dared to enter before. It led to the lower halls—the dungeons, she realized. Morrigan wouldn't be here. She couldn't be.
But the whispers from earlier echoed in her mind. Her father's voice, low and sharp. His rage was barely leashed.
She dishonored us.
Alicent swallowed hard, her small fingers curling into fists. She did not understand what Morrigan had done. She only knew that it had been enough for their father to punish her. Enough for the entire keep to buzz with something like fear. And the deeper she went, the colder it became. She had never been to these parts of the palace before. The corridors were narrower here, the stone walls carved with ancient, writhing figures, their eyes hollow, their mouths open in silent screams.
