Blood Upon The Snow ||| Cregan Stark

nine

Jacaera was very glad to be out of the hall when it was all over. Her face was still throbbing when they left the hall with the Maester, Corlys following them up to make sure they arrived safely.

Rhaenyra had been cut by Alicent and she needed stitches too. But being the mother she was, told the Maester to treat Jacaera first. She would survive with a cloth pressed to her forearm to stem the bleeding.

Corlys quietly assured Rhaenyra that he would find his son and left the room as the Maester began to work on Jacaera.

He dealt with her broken nose first. He did the same to both Luke and Jacaera. Pulling quickly, and painfully, on the nose to put it back in its right spot.

Jacaera yelped at the sudden pain, squeezing her mother. But it felt better, she could breathe better. She really would have liked to hit him when he began pulling on the horizontal cut on her face.

"It will heal," he'd said as he began to stitch it, weaving the needle in and out of Jacaera's skin. It was all she could do to sit still for him. "But it will scar."

It would be a jagged scar, too. Rocks didn't cut clean.

That was one of the only reasons Rhaenyra didn't feel regret for that boy. One look at Jacaera's face was all she needed to know her children had acted in self-defence.

Jace and Luke sat to watch Jacaera be stitched. Luke had cloth stuffed up his nose for his bleeding nose and the faces he was making didn't help Jacaera feel any better. But the Maester was quick and thorough.

He washed away the blood from her cut, examined it, and determined it would heal. The stitches could come out in a few weeks' time.

Then it was Rhaenyra's turn. Jacaera waited on the other side of the table with her brothers to watch the Maester work on her cut.

"You will scar, but the wound will heal. Valyrian steel cuts clean."

When the Maester was just finishing Rhaenyra's stitching, the door opened. The children towards the door and found their father. He'd been missing all night, unable to defend them from the accusations.

"Gods..." Laenor said, staring at the state of his family. Three children with blood on their faces, one with a massive cut, and a wife who was being stitched up. A right sight they were. "Is everyone alright?"

"Broken noses and a cut are the worst of it," said the Maester, dropping his needle back into the bowl of water.

"Thank you, Maester." Rhaenyra groaned softly, thankful to be done with her stitches. "Leave us."

Obediently, the man gathered his things and made for the door. Rhaenyra looked over at her children.

"You as well." Rhaenyra gave them all a knowing look. "You've already found enough trouble today."

Jacaera and Jace gathered Luke. "Yes, mother." They took their brother and walked past their father, who placed a hand on their shoulders as they went.

They went to sleep. Or tried to, after they cleaned themselves up. No one wanted to see the King's family off. They didn't want to face it.

All of the children were unaware of the plot that was being discussed. That was being planned right under their noses.

The plot to kill their father.