Come Back To Me

Chapter 9

"Seven hells, are you still rambling about your little swim?" Daemon whispered sarcastically as he rolled his eyes. Daena shot him a nasty look as she crossed her arms, continuing to watch as the trial unfolded before her.

The two of them were hardly paying any attention Vaemond Velaryon had to say. They kept swapping jokes towards each other, but especially against the greens. Daemon had his eyes fixated on Otto Hightower, who looked quite cozy sitting atop the throne.

Daena looked up at the Hand every and now, remembering her last encounter with the older man. She only had one interaction with him, the one where her title was stripped. The smug look on his face over hurting a child was something she'd never forget, nor Daemon.

"Why isn't the king in attendance? I thought he'd be here, not...well, that." Daena nodded her head up at the throne with her arms crossed.

"Would you two knock it off before I send you both back to your quarters?" Rhaenyra glared at her husband and eldest child as she tried her best to focus on the trial at hand.

"If the king isn't here, the trial is already set in their favor. Why should any of us bother listening to what they have to say?" Daena scoffed, but her mother simply grabbed her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. The younger princess could feel a warmth beating in her chest as she thought about summoning her loyal beasts to end this trial. Daemon could easily tell what Daena was considering and shook his head sternly at her.

"Well, it may in fact be rigged now that you've struck one of the princes in front of the members of court." Rhaenyra shot her a glare, but Daena just pursed her lips together to contain her smile. Daemon snuck a proud glance to the side of him. Rigged or not, he couldn't deny the satisfaction of hearing she'd knocked the one eyed prince flat on his ass.

Daena looked over across the throne room where she found Aemond staring right back at her. His face hardened when she finally met his gaze. She rolled her eyes once again, but before she said anything more, the main doors swung wide open to reveal the king weakly limping towards his throne.

Everyone stood shocked at the sudden appearance of Viserys as he made his way towards Otto. Otto rose from the throne with a faulty expression, one that Daena caught at just the right moment. Even if the trial was far from over, that fear in Otto's eyes sparked more joy in her than she'd ever felt.

"I...will set things right...granddaughter." Daena's head snapped away from the throne, where she saw the king stopped directly in front of her with a regretful look on his rotting face. Viserys looked up at his granddaughter, hopefully any memory of him would come to mine. But to his disappointment, she still looked at him as just the king.

Viserys continued on and retook the throne, slumping down exhaustively. Vaemond was furious when the king dismissed him and instead, listened to Princess Rhaenys' testimony. Daena recognized the older princess from her last encounter on Driftmark, but couldn't help but smile.

Rhaenys did all but declare her support of the blacks when she reassured the court of Luke's claim. It was exactly how she remembered her last and only encounter with her grandmother. Standing up for her family and supporting them the whole way through. Surely, her grandmother looked past her issues with Rhaenyra to know her grandchildren needed the support.

"Then the matter is settled...again." Viserys announced, feeling more out of breath the longer he endured the trial. A wash of relief poured over Rhaenyra and her sons, but Daemon and Daena were eyeing Vaemond quite skeptically. 

"You break law...and centuries of tradition...to install your daughter as heir." Vaemond slowly approached the center but not before he shot Daena a dirty look. "Then have the common sense to remove your granddaughter as heir. Yet you dare tell me who deserves to inherit the Velaryon name."

Daena thought her eyes might fall back into her skull with how hard she rolled them. Her hands folded right in front of her lap, which Daemon was quick to notice. He nudged at her side with a stern look in his eyes.

"Don't even think about it." He whispered.

"So I am to let him just insult me as well as mother?" She scoffed.

"And I will not see it ended on account of this..." Vaemond trailed off, finally making the mistake of making eye contact with Daemon.

"Say it." Daemon baited just loud enough for the court to hear his challenge.

Vaemond's grin grew more and more as he turned away. The bitter man snapped back with his finger pointed directly at Luke with venom swimming his eyes. "Her children...are all...BASTARDS!"

The whole court was in shock at the open accusation against the king's grandchildren. Daena began to step forward, but Daemon quickly yanked her back.

"I will not tell you again to leave it alone." Daemon growled in her ear.

"And she is a whore." Vaemond smirked at Rhaenyra and snuck a glance at Daena, who was trembling with a rage she hadn't felt in her entire life.

"I...will have your tongue for that." Daena became distracted by the king's declaration as he weakly rose from his throne. The distraction was just enough for her to not even notice Daemon snuck away from his family.

Swipe.

The whole room was in uproar when all focus returned to the noise in Vaemond's direction. All eyes were on Dark Sister swiping clean through Vaemond's head, then to a proud Rogue Prince standing with his sword planted in front of his feet.

Daemon chuckled to himself as he looked down at the twitching corpse of the man that insulted his family in more ways than almost anyone understood. "He can keep his tongue."

"DISARM HIM!" Otto Hightower shouted to the guards, panicking over how his plan crumbled before him.

"You can be next if you don't shut it, Lord Hand." Daena joined her stepfather's side with her arms crossed and hip popped. She looked up at Otto with such dare in her eyes, but she wanted to make sure Otto knew it wasn't just him she was talking to. Her eyes wandered back over to Aemond, who was staring back at her with an odd look of what she swore was admiration.

Alicent narrowed her eyes as she looked between the Rogue Prince and the former heir. They both stood proud of the murder before them. This wasn't the little girl she remembered from all those years ago.

It confused her, almost breaking her concentration. Thankfully, enough distraction was made for everyone when Viserys groaned loudly, almost collapsing against his throne. The queen rushed over, helping him back to his feet and pleading for the guards to escort him back to his chambers.

The guards did as they were told, whisking him away, but Daena didn't even have a moment to process his departure as Daemon was already dragging her by the arm through a hidden pathway he remembered. Once it was just them, he tossed her away from him and let out a grunt. "What is wrong with you?! I told you to leave it be!"

"Wh-why are you yelling at me?! You are the one that decided to murder the man in front of the entire court!" She retorted, covering her arm where his hand practically left an imprint on her. Surely she would bruise.

"Yes, I did that. Not you. I told you to leave it be. It is of no concern for you to insert yourself into matters that do not require you." He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms when he realized she wasn't listening even in the slightest.

"So I am to just sit by and take whatever insults or actions are taken against me? I am no one to that court! They've already taken my life from me, what else could I possibly lose?" She could feel tears building in her eyes, but she refused to let any fall. Anger began to fill her chest, which Daemon quickly noticed and redirected his anger.

"It's not always about what you could lose, princess." He whispered under his breath before taking her into his arms with a sigh. "Just try to pretend you don't want to murder them all. Your mother has to rule in this castle someday and from the looks of it, that might be soon."

"Fine."

"Especially at supper tonight with them."

"What?!"