ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴀʀᴋ ꜱɪꜱᴛᴇʀ - House of the Dragon

CHAPTER THREE

Aunt Laena's funeral was awful.

The twins, Baela and Rhaena, cried hugging our grandmother Rhaenys. Lord Corlys held his lady wife's arm tightly, perhaps thinking she would fell to her knees in any giving time.

Uncle Daemon did not cry. Not even a single tear.

I held my father's hand as tight as I could, drawing circles with my thumb in the back of it in the way my mother always did with myself. He did cry, quite a lot. But couldn't blame him, if I lost one of my brothers I would probably kill somebody, or go crazy.

Or both.

My mother was holding my father's arm, her other arm around Luke's body in front of her. Jace was beside me, his brown eyes in the coffin made of stone that held aunt Laena's corpse.

"We join today at the Seat of the Sea to commit the Lady Laena of House Velaryon to the eternal waters, the dominion of the Merling King where He will guard her for all the days to come." Ser Vaemond said in High Valyrian. "As she sets to sea for her final voyage, the Lady Laena leaves two true-born daughters on the shore. Though their mother will not return from her voyage, they will all remain bound together in blood. Salt courses through Velaryon blood," He continued, looking directly to our direction. "Ours runs thick. Ours runs true. And ours must never thin"

Uncle Daemon let out a laughter, and every pair of eyes in the place fixed on him. It seemed as he did it to drag the attention to him, instead of us, and I could felt my mother's body instantly relaxing despite not being next to her.

The ropes holding the coffin tightened when the two sea soldiers pulled them. My older brother's hand quickly found mine the moment the stone hit the water, getting lost at the bottom of the ocean for all the days to come.

They made a little reception after that. Old people ate, drank and laughed. Like it wasn't someone's funeral.

Father lost himself in the water they buried his twin sister in, his dark clothes soaking with salt and tears.

"I have an equal claim to sympathy." Jace's voice dragged my attention.

"Jace." Mother said, the warning clear in her tone.

"We should be at Harrenhal, mourning Lord Lyonel and Ser Harwin."

"It would not be appropriate. The Velaryons are our kin and the Strongs are not. Do you understand?"

Jace disappeared without another word, getting lost in the tide of bodies of the place, and I walked closer to my mother, letting go of Lucerys' hand with a last squeeze.

"You know he is right." I muttered, keeping my eyes in the sea in front of us. Mother nodded twice, a little smile making it's way through her uneven lips.

"You remind me so much of him." She said, bringing her hand to my hair.

"You mean, apart from this, right?" I asked, bringing my own hand to my hair and grabbing one of the silver strands that crowned my face. She shook her head, her smile only growing.

"He used to say you got the best from us both. He really loved your hair, Visenya. That is the reason we did not cut it once." She confessed, gently cupping my cheek, stroking her thumb against my skin in the same delicate movement her lips kissed my forehead.

"My hair is the reason they make fun of me."

"My beloved girl. You are a Targaryen, a dragonrider. Princess of Dragonstone and the strongest person I know. People will always come after our family, wishing to destroy us. They will hate you as much as I love you. Let them talk. Let them hate us. At the end, they will always bend the knee." She said, embracing my body in a tight hug.