green lies, black hearts

II

short note -- posting the "real" 1st chapter cause I'm going through and backing up the whole story for a second time (cause ao3 is stressing me out with how often it's crashing lately) and thought why not upload this chapter as well? hope y'all enjoy and thank you already for the support :)

-p

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Shaera

Shaera had found the changes in the Red Keep to be disconcerting. Religion was never something she found home in—perhaps due to her own mother and father's lack of faith—but the prevalence of seven-pointed stars seemed almost gaudy and obscene. Was there really such a necessity for that much iconography? Of course, she only remembered bits and pieces of her once home, as it had been nearly a decade, but she certainly remembered Targaryen heraldry having decorated the halls. Now, there was none to be seen. Not even a single banner for her grandfather.

"Do not tell the others that you're joining us," her mother warned her before they entered said man's chambers. "Your brothers would be furious with envy."

Shaera chuckled and pretended to seal her lips shut, earning her father's amused approval. Rhaenyra rolled her eyes in good faith, kissed young Aegon's cheek.

"Wait until I call for you and the babes, alright?"

"Yes, mother."

Rhaenyra smiled and nodded for Daemon to follow. The pair moved ahead of Shaera and passed the line of drawn curtains that kept her grandfather from view. She tried to look around to see if she could spot him, but there would be no such luck. Her mother's handmaid, Elinda—she had helped with the birth of the recent boys—shushed a fussy Viserys II, and Shaera offered to switch boys. The younger one often did well with her. When the maids could not get him to remain still in his cradle, they would come to her and ask that she rock him in a chair when her mother could not, which was rather frequent now with the newest pregnancy. Rhaenyra tried to hide it but Shaera saw her mother grimacing every now and then with a hand to her stomach.

She hoped that it was only the pains of a growing babe in her womb.

Finally, Rhaenyra pulled the curtains apart and motioned for Shaera and Elinda to enter. The eldest daughter to the princess was all too excited to finally see her grandfather after so long and almost tripped over her skirts scooting past her mother. But as soon as she laid eyes on Viserys in his bed, her heart sank and her stomach turned and she was no longer ecstatic.

He was a corpse. He wheezed and groaned and bandages covered half of his rotting face. Shaera nearly crumpled at the sight. Even growing up, he had been an ailing man, losing half of his arm quite soon after Luke's birth, but it had only been near Joffrey's that he was needing help more and more just to sit and stand and walk. At least then he looked as though he was alive. Sickly but alive.

Now he looked as though his next breath would be his last.

"Brother" —Daemon waved her towards the side of the bed— "you remember Shaera? Right?"

The young princess approached slowly, holding Aegon close to her chest. She swallowed. "Hello, grandfather."

"Shaera?" Viserys shifted in his bed and groaned at the movement but a smile lifted his pocketed cheek. His teeth were grey with rot and decay. "Oh, my dear Shaera! Come, come! Come see an old man."

She exchanged a look with her father, handing off his child to him. With a small step forward and bending at the waist, she gently hugged her grandfather. He hummed happily, though she swore she heard a wheezing coming from his bandages cheek, and rubbed her back a few times as he weakly returned her embrace.