three

27.2K 869 110
                                    

There would be a celebration for Daemon's return. But first, Viserys wanted to meet his niece and Rhaenyra wanted to meet her cousin. The girl he hadn't known existed for the first few years of her life.

"Why hadn't you delivered this happy news, brother?" Viserys asked, sitting with Daemon and drinking wine while Rhaenyra held Alyssa on her lap. She had a dragon figurine in her hand and was waggling it at the young girl, making funny noises as Alyssa laughed.

"I wasn't made aware. My darling wife kept me in the dark. The first time I heard of her was in your letter." Daemon sighed as he watched his giggling daughter grabbing at the dragon toy. "I even wondered if she was mine. But I do not question it now."

"Rha-nee-rah." The young woman was sounding her name out for Alyssa, trying to help her learn to say it.

Viserys laughed and patted Daemon on the knee. "No. She truly is the spitting image of our mother. Nature is the strangest thing." Viserys looked back at Alyssa and sighed. She was going to be very well taken care of.

"Her spirit seems to be the same as well," Daemon added, referring to the girl's unshakable spirit, bravery, and love of dragons.

"I was thinking, brother, she was born so close to when I named Rhaenyra my heir..." Viserys began hesitantly, glancing at his brother. Alyssa was conceived when Daemon lost his perceived inheritance. "As a consolation, a show of goodwill, I propose that Alyssa inherit the title of princess. It seems only right."

There was a bit of personal bias behind that decision from Viserys beyond showing goodwill to his brother. It had been so long since a Princess Alyssa was at court, it felt only right Daemon's first daughter be allowed to have the title with the similarity of her features.

It was a very gracious gesture; even Daemon knew that. His daughter inheriting that title would mean a rise in station even if she was never in line for the Throne directly.

"That is very kind of you, brother. She certainly seems accustomed to the lifestyle," Daemon conceded, taking another sip of his wine.

Alyssa was waving the dragon toy around, trying to say Rhaenyra's name, and was reaching for the necklace around her neck. It was beautiful, glittery and shiny with its ruby gem.

Viserys smiled and threw his arms up, laughing and standing from his chair. He whisked Alyssa away from Rhaenyra and picked the girl up. "How does that sound, huh?" He said, pinching Alyssa's little cheek, watching her giggle and her mismatched eyes light up. "A princess of the Realm."

He was already enamoured with Alyssa. Maybe even more so than his own children by Alicent.

***

Daemon was celebrated in the Godswood of the Red Keep. Music, food, and good wine awaited him. Of course, that was no place for a child.

Alyssa was handed off to a maid to be cared for while her father and the other lords and lady's of the castle mingled.

At Viserys' request, she was cared for by the same maids who were caring for Aegon and Helaena, her cousins. They were being taken care of in the library.

Helaena was just a baby, hardly months old. But Aegon was hardly even a year younger than Alyssa. A pudgy and plump boy, the first son of Viserys.

Familiarity ||| Jacaerys VelaryonWhere stories live. Discover now