twin flames | daemon targaryen

twenty

Three months had passed since Rhaella's pregnancy was announced. Her stomach had swelled considerably by that time and the Targaryen princess could no longer see her feet, instead relying on Daemon or Sara to put her shoes on for her.

It amused many of the lords and ladies of court and the servants of the Red Keep to see the Peaceful Princess waddling through the corridors, though she looked as radiant as ever. Pregnancy did her well, as Alicent put it one day.

Aegon found her growing stomach hilarious. He often teased that the reason she was growing so big was because she ate too many lemon cakes during their meals, causing Daemon to snicker under his breath beside her. Rhaella would, in turn, stuff three lemon cakes in her mouth, which caused her little brother to go into a fit of laughter.

Rhaella took to spending most of her time in the gardens with Helaena, Alicent, Sara, and other visiting ladies. Sometimes Daemon would join her when he had nothing better to do, which was often. Viserys continued to refuse him a position of importance among his advisors.

Helaena accompanied her the most often. Ever since Rhaella announced her pregnancy, Helaena had grown increasingly clingy, practically glued to her sister's side. When she wasn't caught up in lessons with her septa, she was with Rhaella. Helaena liked the gardens best, having taken an interest in studying the insects and critters that inhabited the royal garden, so that is where Rhaella often brought them.

That was what they were doing one afternoon, set up in Rhaella's corner of the royal gardens, hidden from view by the cherry blossoms and daisies. Ser Robert, Rhaella's personal guard, stood just out of view, ever watchful for threats against the pregnant princess.

Ser Robert Frey had been hand-picked by Daemon from the rest of the Kingsguard and had served Rhaella loyally for the last three months. He was allergic to pollen, as they had discovered early on. Still, he continued to dutifully accompany her into the royal gardens with the occasional sneeze.

"Rhaella, what is this?" Helaena asked, holding up a small caterpillar in her hand for Rhaella to look at.

They had been in the gardens for a couple of hours, enjoying the beauty and tranquilness from under the shade of the cherry blossoms. The distant murmurings of the ladies of the court filled the gardens along with the melodic singing of the birds in the branches above them.

Rhaella and Helaena sat on top of a large blanket they had set over the grass. Rhaella sat up right with an embroidery ring balanced against her swollen stomach, leaning back against the base of the tree they were under and Helaena was sprawled out on her front, her legs kicking up in the air as she peered at the insects that crawled through the grass in front of her.

Rhaella set down the embroidery she had mindlessly been sewing and examined the creature in Helaena's dainty palm. The corners of her lips quirked up as she took in the fuzzy caterpillar crawling across Helaena palm.

"It is a caterpillar, Hel," Rhaella said amusedly. Helaena's eyes widened with wonder. "As they grow up, they wrap themselves up in cocoons and become butterflies. You love butterflies, Hel."

"Butterflies?" Helaena confirmed, a large smile stretching across her face at the thought of her favorite creature. Helaena watched intently as the caterpillar continued to crawl across her palm and gasped with fright when the insect reached the edge of her hand and fell off.

"It's okay, Hel," Rhaella said soothingly as Helaena began to cry softly. Rhaella leaned forward with difficulty, peering through the blades of grass for the caterpillar as her stomach pressed uncomfortably up against her chest.

The older woman quickly found the insect and plucked it from the ground, holding it out for Helaena to see. "Look, it's just fine. Caterpillars are very resilient creatures."