dancing with our hands tied | r. targaryen

lxv.

134 A.C.
KING'S LANDING
•••

ALAYNE HEADED TO THE CELLS WHERE HER FATHER AND THE OTHER FOLLOWERS OF AEGON SAT IN WAITING FOR THEIR EXECUTION. Enough time had passed and most of them had begun to grow comfortable and were no longer waiting for their executions. Alayne was coming to disrupt that.

She stood outside her father's cell and Ser Steffon opened it for her and she stepped inside. Otto glanced up at her, his hair long and his beard longer, spotting with grey. He looked no better than the men that lived in Flea Bottom. It brought her great satisfaction to see how the man had fallen.

"Alayne."

"Father," she says as she steps into the cell, "You may leave us Ser Steffon."

"I'll be just upstairs my lady," Steffon says as he hands her the key before taking his leave.

Alayne and Otto sit, staring at one another.

"I always looked forward to the day of your execution," Alayne confesses, "But now that it has arrived, I feel impossibly empty. Because I know watching you get your head cut off will not bring them back everyone you have cost me through the years."

"I'm sorry," Otto states, "I wish my death could be more comforting for you."

Alayne sighs, "I came here to ask you something. No games. No lies. Just the truth."

Otto nods his head, "Just the truth."

"Did you ever love us?" Alayne asks. She feels small and vulnerable. She feels like the girl that was always late to read to Queen Aemma and she hates the way it feels. She hates that she needs to know, "Gwayne? Alicent? Me? Did you ever love us?"

Otto looks away from her and Alayne's heart sinks. He can't even look at her. Of course, he never loved them. It was all about power. It had always been about power and his daughters had been pawns.

"I did love you," Otto confesses.

Alayne eyes snap to him, "What?"

Otto purses his lips as he looks at her, "I did love you all. Even now I love you, Alayne."

Alayne feels her eyes burn, "Then why? Why did you do all of this?"

"Because I wanted better for you all," Otto states, "I – I wanted you and Alicent to rise. Wonderful girls you both were. Any King would have been lucky for either of you. Yes, I wanted power, but I wanted the best for you girls."

Alayne is surprised as her father reaches up and wipes a tear from his eye, "I know I was hard on you. I neglected you but you look so much like her. But you didn't just look like her, you would constantly challenge me and it was almost like she was here again. You'd smile like her, laugh like her, god every trait I adored of your mother's, you bore."

Otto shakes his head, "I couldn't stand it, knowing she was gone. I never grieved properly, I just wanted to be rid of every trace of her. But you were her."

Alayne doesn't know what to say. She's always known her father's distance was due to her resemblance to her mother but hearing him say it. Hearing how much he loved her mother; she doesn't just see the monster. She sees traces of her father.

"I loved her," Otto states, "I could never look at another woman after her death."

"She was wonderful," Alayne says softly.

"The best," Otto responds, "I'd never seen her happier than the day you were born. She finally had one that favored her. She had high expectations for you Alayne. And you lived up to every single one of them."