𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 | 𝐝𝐚𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐲𝐞𝐧.

𝐈. 𝐃𝐄𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐃 𝐎𝐅 𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐖𝐄 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐁𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐄𝐃 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇

"They say, Henrietta Hightower is the kingslayer!"

"Huh? She is just a healer. And didn't she spend a year in captivity of the Mad King?"

"She did, and they say when the army had finally reached to the wrecked castle, to find her, the King was already dead!"

"You are wrong. It is her friend, Aros, from the House of Darklyn, that beheaded the Mad King and saved her!"

"But..."

(Whispers of people, King's Landing.)

/ 

Examining the woman that watched at her from the reflection, felt strange.

Henrietta was standing in front of the mirror, fingertips dancing around her skin, touching cheekbones and tracing them down. And as she did so, there was no recognition in her eyes.

Partly, she excepted something like this to happen. War was the place, where you simply didn't have time on checking yourself out. But if you managed to see yourself from aside, somehow—in the shine of blades of fallen soldiers or in the pools of blood—you would only see a tormented face, covered with dirt. And Henrietta genuinely couldn't remember the last time, she saw herself in the mirror. Perhaps, for the better.

Because she looked... Dead. Was it how survivors looked? As if they never managed to escape the death?

'...Oh, by the way, Rhaenyra asked you to visit her. She gave the birth to her third kid a few days ago, so, you should probably go yourself in her part of castle.'

Right. Rhaenyra.

They weren't that close, especially after Rhaenyra's wedding, but there were times when Alicent—who introduced them to each other—was attached to her hip, and therefore, Henrietta learned how to grow fond of her company as well. There was some simple connection between two girls, who understood each other in their wish to go against society; something Alicent never shared with them.

'It is a shame that your old friend, Ser Strong, missed your arrival,' Alicent added, more quiter than before.

Oh, Harwin! How she liked him, and what a good companion he was once. She prayed for him and Rhaenyra to find their peace, but from what she knows, it was hardly like this.

'And when he comes back?'

A deafening silence was the answer.

Henrietta thought that she will be sad, at least; yes, the time of their friendship was past, but memories weren't. But in the end, there was nothing. It seemed impossible to evoke any emotion in her after what she had seen.

Now, death was something usual. It was walking side by side with her for so long that she forgot that it was not something others could understand.

'Well, I will visit Rhaenyra later, then. Tell me, how things are going with kids? I would love to hear something about how they live. What they like and what they don't? I feel that I missed so much time with them...'

It was hard to call Henrietta a family person, at least in these circumstances, but she knew from her own experience how important it was, to have a good aunt or uncle. When she was a kid, it was her uncle, who had the greatest impact on her life. And Viserys looked like a father, who cared about his kids less than her own.

'They are such a mess,' Alicent huffed. 'Aegon is terrible. This boy is wasted almost every day. He spends time in taverns more than in his own house. Fucking whatever moves. Acts a lot like you in his age, actually.'