Drama Queen // Otto Hightower // Thea Queen

13. Mr Right

"Welcome home princess, you meet Mr right?" Thea questioned swirling her drink in her glass. 

"Thea!" Rhaenyra declared. It was nice to see a happy and familiar face. "I'm glad you are still here."

"Let me guess, dornish, sun kissed skin, dark hair, muscles on muscles." Thea pondered. 

"No. No one." Rhaenyra corrected. 

"Good for you." Thea agreed. "You got gramps older than death asking for your hand didnt you?"

"Yeah." Rhaenyra agreed. 

"And children still suckling their mothers teats." thea went on. 

"Basically." Rhaenyra agreed. "It's good to be home." Rhaenyras gaze shifted to Alicent. "That bitch though. Making herself at home as Queen." Rhaenyra hissed. 

"Careful thats my daughter you are talking about." Thea reminded her. 

"Gross. I can't believe you married Otto." Rhaenyra declared a bit too loudly. 

"He's not so bad." Thea offered with a shrug. 

"I suppose I should say hello." Rhaenyra offered. 

"You should." Thea agreed. "We can talk later."

'Daemon, he would venture off, abroad, winning tournaments...'

'No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.' Daemon said immediately a smile on his face

'I will not revisit this debate. You were always mother's favorite.' Viserys told him.

'No, it's no great mystery.'

'You were.' Viserys assured 'Our mother, she had no regard for custom or tradition, rules. And I, sadly, was no great warrior.'

'Congratulations on your victory.' Rhaenyra said walking up to her family and Alicent.

'Thank you, Princess.' Daemon said kindly.

'Perhaps Prince Daemon would care for a tour of the gallery? He hasn't yet seen the new tapestries gifted to you by Norvos and Qohor.' Alicent offered kindly. Thea knew Alicent wasnt terrible. She was just the opposite of what Thea was. Alicent was the daughter Moira probably wanted. 

'Oh, oh. Would you like to see the tapestries?' Viserys questioned and the siblings burst out laughing. 'He has no interest in such things.'

'I'd like to see them.' Rhaenyra said, for she had been gone on her royal tour of looking for a suitor for many moons.

'Oh, well, then you should not deprive yourself.' Viserys told her bitterly. He wasn't happy about her early return with no husband to be.

'I shall enjoy them alone.' Rhaenyra said heading off.

'More wine. As I said, you were the favorite.' Viserys went on happily

'No, you were. You were. I insist.' Daemon mused.

"Hungry?" Otto questioned holding out a plate of fruit and nuts to Thea. 

"No." Thea corrected softly. 

"Have you eaten today?" Otto countered. 

"Not hungry." Thea assured him as she finished her wine walking off. 

'I surmise the tour did not go well.' Alicent said walking over to Rhaenyra as she sat along on a bench staring at the gardens.

'I endured it for as long as I could.' Rhaenyra told her stiffly.

'To have every young knight and lord in the Seven Kingdoms fawning over you... What misery. It is rare for girls in this realm to get a choice between two suitors, no less two score of them.' Alicent reminded her.

'Those men and boys don't fawn over me. They only want my name and my Valyrian blood for their offspring.' Rhaenyra corrected

'I think it's rather romantic.'

'How romantic it must be to get imprisoned in a castle and made to squeeze out heirs.' Rhaenyra heard it as she said and looked over at Alicent with a  pinched gaze. 'Sorry.' She murmured 'How angry is he?'

'The King went through great effort to arrange your tour. He is... frustrated. But I am glad you are home.' Alicent told her 'I find I have... few friends lately. I like to believe I'm still the Lady Alicent, but... all anyone sees when they look at me now is "The Queen." Alicent told her as Rhaenyra grabbed Alicent's hand

'I've missed you, too.' Rhaenyra remarked, she didnt have to lose her friend. She didnt want to. Maybe she could look past this. All of this and they could try and be civil again.

+

"Food and Thea are not friends." Tommy remarked coming up to Otto. 

"Yeah dont push." Oliver agreed as Tommy shoved an entire cookie in his mouth. 

"You saw that?" Otto countered. 

"Yeah. But thats only because I'm looking out for her." Oliver remarked. "And I dont completely trust anyone here." 

"I offered her food, I didnt take food away, I didnt shame her, I just thought she hadnt eaten. I thought she would be hungry-" otto began. 

Daemon stood basking in the sun when Rhaenyra found him.

"You seemed so content on Dragonstone.' She remarked. 'Why did you come back?' he opened his eyes and looked down at her. 'There is surely more to your return than simply taunting my father.' She remarked. 'So... what do you want?' Rhaenyra questioned.

'Only the comforts of home.' Daemon assured as he moved to a buffet line and started picking at the food. Oliver stared back at him as he took a seat. Oliver didnt trust Daemon. Something wasnt right about him. 

'I had not thought you particularly comfortable in this home. Though I do suppose you seem changed by your adventures. More mature, perhaps.' Rhaenyra offered sparing a glance at Otto. Tommy tipped his head leading them away from Daemon and Rhaenyra's prying ears. 

'You've matured yourself these last four years, Princess.' Daemon told her 'You'll get used to the attention.'

'The attention I can endure. It's the rest I could do without. My father seems content to sell me off to whichever lord has the biggest castle.'

'There are worse things to be sold for.' Daemon remarked sitting down. "marriage is only a political arrangement.' He informed her. "Once you are wed you can do as you like.'

'For men marriage might be a political arrangement.' She corrected 'but for women it is like a death sentence.' Otto's ear tuned into that. Was that how Thea felt? How Alicent felt? Like they were trapped in a death sentence...

'Would that it were. I would have been rid of my bronze bitch ages ago.' Daemon told her. He handed over his glass, she looked down at it.

"Your wife has been fortunate,' she remarked taking a drink and Daemon chuckled 'you have not put a child in her.'

'Oh...' Daemon mused. 'I doubt a child would grow in such a hostile environment.' He mused.

"Your mother would like Prince Daemon." Otto offered. "he thinks similarly to her. Hostile wombs." Oliver glared back at Daemon. "Is Thea alright?" 

"If she says she is not hungry, dont push." Oliver offered. "Things are changing, she is confused and in a new situation... probably nerves about mother, confusion about you, over all moody Thea moody swings." 

"I want her to be healthy, your mother pushes food away from her. Your mother looks sickly with how thin she is. I dont Thea to become that trying to be what Moira deems is right." Otto remarked. 

"Tell Thea that. Dont let mother hear but tell Thea that." Oliver agreed. 

'My mother was made to produce heirs until it killed her.' Rhaenyra reminded Daemon. "I wont subject myself to the same.'

'What happened to your mother was a tragedy.' Daemon confirmed. 'But this is a tragic world. You cannot live your life in hear or you will forsake the best parts of it.' Daemon told her confidently.

"I have no desire to live in fear. Only solitude.' Rhaenyra corrected.

'Such a lonely prospect.'