When Rhea Royce died, the noble house of Royce blamed the Rogue Prince. Daemon Targaryen was the culprit for the downfall of the House, no matter what was said. Leaving Runestone with no Lord or Lady at its helm, a decision was made to promote a min...
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SHE couldn't help it, she had to know what was being said behind closed doors. If she wasn't shown the servant's corridors when she'd first moved into the Red Keep, she would have been tried for treason by now, as this was not an uncommon practice for Donella to follow.
It all started when she was barely thirteen, but she'd overheard Aegon shouting at Helaena. Donella knew that she'd be punished if she were to press her ear up against the door and listen to their conversation, but she was also far too loyal to Helaena to risk Aegon raising a hand against her to not listen in to their conversation.
It was Talya, one of Alicent's long-serving handmaidens who had helped the child out. She took little Donella's hand and pushed back an unsuspecting tapestry which lay against one of the corridor walls. Donella had scuttled through the tapestry and down the tunnel immediately, Talya on her heels. It was dark, and the pair could hear no more of the conversation than before. Not until Talya led her around a dark corridor, light peering out from one of the walls,
"How dare you question my authority like that in front of father!" Aegon shouted at his wife,
"You don't understand, my love, they will take it away, they will take a light!"
Donella flinched at how panicked Helaena's voice sounded, but she knew that she could not intrude on this conversation now. Talya led the girl out as the argument simmered down, recounting words told to her about the power of a conversation. She brushed a stray hair from the Royce girl's head and told her that she must use these passages to look out for her friend, and must report to her if Aegon's temper grew.
When Donella began to flourish and grow, she'd learnt that Talya worked as a sort of spymaster for the Queen, and recounted what she'd learnt when the sun set over King's Landing. Donella fed her information occasionally, to ensure that she wasn't questioned for her own reasoning for frequenting the corridors, but she kept the scandals close to her chest in the case that she'd need to use them for her own good.
It was on a particularly sunny afternoon that Donella was walking Helaena's bedsheets to the maid who worked on laundry. She heard the exchange before she saw who it involved, but the dangerous tone of the Queen's voice was enough to give her identity away.
Donella slipped through the tapestry without a second thought. The entry was too narrow to bring the wide basket of sheets, so she tucked it onto one of the stone seats built into the wall in the closest corner she could. Knowing these passages like the back of her hands, it didn't take long until Donella had slipped into a wider area now, one which led around the back of Queen Alicent's bed chambers. The entry into the Queen's chambers was through the pack of a large portrait. Donella didn't plan on entering the room, but she was thankful for the sound which bled through the canvas as leant up against the flagstone walls,
