dancing with our hands tied | r. targaryen

liii.

133 A.C.
DRAGONSTONE
•••

"ALAYNE," BRANDON BARATHEON CALLED HIS WIFE'S NAME, BUT SHE DIDN'T RESPOND. SHE'D BEEN LIKE THIS SINCE THE BODIES OF THEIR DAUGHTER AND GRANDCHILD had been brought within the castle. She simply sat and stared at them ordering that no one touch them.

Brandon sighed softly as he approached Alayne and placed a hand on her should and she did not react. Brandon gave her should a gentle squeeze.

"We need to make arrangements," Brandon says softly, "Jacaerys's funeral will be in the morrow. Perhaps it would be best if we sent them away as a family."

"No," Alayne says, the first words she'd spoken to her husband in hours.

"Alayne-"

"That is not Cassana. And that is not Laenor," Alayne states as she looks up at her husband, "Do you truly think Aemond would kill her? He's obsessed with her."

Alayne shrugs off Brandon's hand and stands from her seat as she approaches the charred remains. This woman is too short to be Cassana. She's more Argella's height and we know that Cassana is a bit taller than her. And the baby, this is not a newborn. This is a baby, maybe one or two."

"Alayne you're in denial-"

"I am not!" Alayne says firmly as she looks at her husband, "I have watched far too many people I love die to deny death's existence. This is not our daughter nor is it our grandchild. Aemond burned the bodies so that we would not be able to identify them and so that he could take Laenor and Cassana. We did the same thing when we faked Laenor's death, it isn't implausible."

Brandon stares at his wife. Alayne was a lot of things, but she was not delusional. She saw things for how they were and if she didn't believe that Cassana and Laenor were not dead then she was probably right.

"Say Cassana is alive. Then we need to be careful how we advance-"

"No," Alayne says shaking her head, "We are not being careful. I am done being careful. It has gotten us nowhere. Jace is dead. Visenya is dead. Baela, Cassana, and Laenor are hostages. We have played safe, and we have lost. We're not doing that anymore. It is time we play how the opposition is."

"And what does that entail?" Brandon asks.

Alayne turns and looks at the burned bodies, "You heard Rhaenyra. A son for a son. A daughter for a daughter."

"Cassana isn't-"

"I'm not talking about Cassana," Alayne states, "I'm talking about Visenya. Her death will be avenged as well."

Brandon watches as Alayne sighs and looks away from the bodies of the unknown woman and child. She looks at her husband and Brandon notices something that he's never seen in Alayne's eyes before. There's a certain fear that the look invokes, but the fear isn't for him or anyone else in the castle. It's for those that aren't.

"I'm going to speak with Daemon," Alayne tells her husband. Daemon was the last person Alayne needed to speak to. The two of them plotted well together, but that was due to the fact that Daemon would do whatever was necessary and Alayne held the reins. But what would come of their plots when there was no one to rein either of them in?

Brandon followed his wife out of the room as she began her trek through the halls of Dragonstone. It was quiet and somber there, everyone was still processing the deaths of the prince, his wife, and their heir.

Alayne headed into the war room where Daemon was looking over the map. If Alayne had been staring at the burned bodies for hours, then Daemon had been staring at the map longer. When Alayne entered the room, Daemon looked up at her.