Alicent Hightower raised a bastard - The Stranger's Child.
Except she didn't.
Naenyra looked nothing like the Targaryen beauty that her father expected. She was, as her mother always wished, a Hightower at heart, and how she looked only proved it...
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It felt strange to be left with the King alone, the only person to join them being his personal Maester who was still working on her wound. She was worried now, concerned about how it would affect her looks everytime he pushed the needle back into the pale skin before tugging it out again.
Nyra was quiet as she sat opposite her father, eyes falling to the hands in her lap, her nails having chewed at the beds of them. She didn't know what to say to him, but he knew what to ask. "It was very brave of you to lie to your mother back there about what happened in the training yard."
Truthfully, Nyra wasn't sure why she had lied to protect Ser Harwin. There was no personal gain in protecting him, no reason for saying what she had when she could have thrown him to the dogs and been done with it. She didn't care for the man, nor could she stand him as he was the father of the Velaryon boys. But Nyra would admit to having a softness to her, a weakness for not wanting to see others harmed, she always had.
She shrugged. "I was only trying to keep some heads attached to some shoulders." She uttered softly, hissing as the needle went back in. "I'm sure she would have called for more than one head."
"Yes, she and I have had conversations about some of those heads." Viserys admitted, leaning back in his seat, contemplative. "Because of you choosing not to tell the truth, Ser Harwin will live to see the dawn. His position as Commander of the City Watch will be stripped from him, and he will return to Harrenhal - at his father's request."
She softened. "Was that because of me?" Nyra asked quietly, the sound barely carrying across the room.
Viserys shook his head. "That is because of the fight that he and Ser Cole had in front of you children." He admitted. "I cannot sanction Ser Harwin for anything unless you tell the truth." She nodded. "Not formally at least. Do you want him sanctioned?"
It was a big question to ask a nine year old who had been hit across the side of her head, if she wanted the father of the boys who caused her ire to be sanctioned for what he had done. The child in her would have perhaps said yes, but Nyra was far wiser than her years. She shook her head. "He has lost his job and will be leaving his home, that seems like a fair punishment."
Viserys nodded. "I think you are right." It wasn't often that father and daughter spent much time together, the distance that Viserys had put between them in the years previous had affected how they saw one another. At times, Nyra felt like he was a stranger because he was, and she couldn't help but wonder how different her brothers' relationship was to him. Or even her eldest sister.
Did they sit in uncomfortable silence waiting for him to speak? Did they get the same quizzical gaze over them when they were quiet for that moment too long? Or were they closer? More friendly and relaxed, the silences not uncomfortable but welcoming. "What caused the fight between Cole and Harwin?" He asked the Princess; she was quiet for a minute as she wondered if she should tell him the truth. "No one else will tell me, so I expect the truth from you."
