twin flames | daemon targaryen

forty-five

Something was wrong, Daemon could feel it in his very soul.

The Rogue Prince stood alone in the courtyard of High Tide, servants and members of House Velaryon walking past him as they went about their duties. Daemon's violet gaze focused across the waters of Blackwater Bay to where the faint shape of the Crownlands and King's Landing could be seen on the horizon. A deep frown pulled at his lips, his eyebrows furrowed, his expression one of suspicion and concern.

It had been nearly a week since Daemon and his children returned to Driftmark and nearly a week since they had left Rhaella, the twins, and Rhaenys to stand alone in the den of vipers that the Red Keep had become, surrounded by towers and snakes, and far from any protection Daemon would provide them. The thought made Daemon's stomach churn anxiously.

He had been against the plan from the start. They had been lying in bed, Rhaella and him, following that last dinner when all the Targaryens reunited under the same roof again. She had told him of what Alicent and Rhaenyra had said, of the plan they had created to reconnect and rejoin the fractured pieces of their house together again. Daemon could hear the hope in Rhaella's voice, and dread grew in his stomach as he lay there listening to her speak. He knew that no good would realistically come from such a meeting between the three matriarchs of House Targaryen, not after so much had happened, not when so many outside forces would be acting upon them to ensure that House Targaryen remained apart.

But, Daemon knew his wife well. He knew that the visions she had seen since she was just five name days old were horrific, terrifying, life-altering. In the 20 years since they had been married on the shores of Dragonstone, Daemon had laid beside Rhaella each night as she dreamed, waking up from his slumber to hear her murmuring nonsensical High Valyrian. When she woke and screamed in terror at the blood visions she had seen, Daemon would be there comforting her with his touch and presence.

He had been there through it all. He knew that if a lesser person had been selected by the gods to receive these visions, they would have broken and gone insane under their power. But not Rhaella.

Daemon had come to trust his wife when she spoke of her dreams and her plans. Daemon knew that Rhaella did not want to stay in the Red Keep any longer than he did, and he knew she was as wary of Alicent and Rhaenyra as he was. But, whatever horrors she had seen in her dreams were enough to push her toward the two women, towards hope that their union was one last chance to stop the bloody, horrific events she had seen from coming to fruition.

So, Daemon relented and agreed to Rhaella's plan. He knew with Ser Robert's presence, Rhaella would be safe within the Red Keep. He trusted the knight's abilities, having chosen the Frey knight all those years ago when Rhaella had first been pregnant with Baelon for a reason. Daemon had studied the knight in the training yards of the Red Keep, had sparred with him himself, and had his spies find everything they could on Ser Robert Frey. With every test, Robert succeeded, and Daemon knew that the knight could be trusted. And now, all these years later, Daemon had faith in Ser Robert to keep his wife safe Red Keep.

When Aemma and Rhaegar had approached Daemon and Rhaella with the request of also staying in the Red Keep with Rhaella and Rhaenys, Daemon knew that his twins just wanted to stay to get up to mischief within the Red Keep and visit their old haunts within King's Landing, but Daemon could not deny he felt better knowing that Rhaegar and Aemma would also be there to watch over Rhaella and support her in the face of the Greens and the Blacks.

But now, as Daemon stood in the courtyard of High Tide, a pool of dread growing in his stomach, Daemon knew that he should have pushed harder for Rhaella to abandon her fool's errand and return to Driftmark with the rest of them. He was wrong to have believed that the presence of Ser Robert, Aemma, and Rhaegar would be enough to keep Rhaella, to keep them all safe, in the Red Keep when they were so outnumbered.