dancing with our hands tied | r. targaryen

lv.

133 A.C.
SOMEWHERE IN THE RIVERLANDS
•••

CASSANA BARATHEON WASN'T DEAD, BUT SHE WANTED TO BE. SHE WASN'T SURE HOW MANY DAYS HAD PASSED, what the hour was. She didn't see the sun and had no way to keep track of the time. She had nothing but four walls to keep her company.

Except when Aemond came.

Cassana wasn't sure what image she'd once had of Aemond, but it changed with every visit. Sometimes he would simply sit and talk to her, but he never told her anything of substance. She didn't know what was going on with her family or the succession. She knew that Aemond wasn't at his brother's side and that they weren't in the Red Keep, but that was all she knew.  Those were the days when Aemond simply wanted her to listen, because Cassana never added anything to the conversation.

She hadn't seen Laenor since when she'd initially woke up. Aemond said that she wasn't allowed to see him until she was willing for them to be a family. The three of them. Cassana would give anything to see her son, but she was unwilling to feed Aemond's delusions. She wouldn't give him what he wanted when Aemond had taken everything from her.

The uncertainty of where she was, of what was going on with her son made Cassana want to die.

The door opened and Cassana jumped in fear and began to move toward the wall in fear that it was Aemond who was coming in. Luckily, the chains around her ankles allowed her to make the distance. Instead of Aemond, it was a woman she'd never seen before with a candle. Cassana stared at the woman, observing her dark hair and green eyes.

"Who are you?" Cassana demands, her voice unfamiliar to herself since she hadn't spoken in ages. It was hoarse and scratchy.

"Alys," the woman responds.

"What is your last name?" Cassana requests.

"The Prince ask that I come check on you," Alys ignores the question as she closes the door behind her.

Cassana's eyes narrow at the woman. She wasn't dressed like a servant but not much like a noblewoman either. She also noticed that the woman was careful to answer with just her first name, not giving a family name.

"Why? Was he too busy himself?" Cassana asks, bitterness in her words as she leans her head against the wall.

"He is," Alys answers, "You however seem fine."

Cassana watches as Alys goes to retreat from the room and panic sets in, "Wait!"

Alys stops and looks at Cassana curiously.

"Can you," Cassana's words falter as a tear slips from her eyes, "Can you tell me how my son is doing?"

"I see little of him, only when it's time for feeding," Alys answers, "The Prince insists that no one else interfere. He takes the boy with him everywhere. As though he was his father. Is he?"

Feeding? So, Alys was a wet nurse. Which meant she had given birth recently. That meant that she was a mother. Cassana didn't know how she felt about the woman feeding her son.

"No!" Cassana answers, "Jacaerys Velaryon is his father." 

Cassana squeezes her eyes shut at the words and silent tears begin falling from her eyes. She knew that with the amount of time, Aemond spent with Laenor that he would begin to confuse things. That he may truly grow to believe that he was his father.

"Why don't you give him what he wants?" Alys asks curiously as she watches the young woman.

Cassana's brow furrows as she looks at Alys, "Do you know what he wants?"