To Take What Is Rightfully Ours

Chapter 3. Taking Back the Freedom

The meetings of the Small Council were boring to Rhaenyra, but mostly because she was instructed to shut up and serve drinks. How was she to learn how to be Queen if she wasn't allowed to do anything or even voice her opinion? That was exactly what Otto Hightower wanted, she figured. The more incompetent and incapable she looked, the easier it would be for him to convince others Aegon was a better heir. Rhaenyra knew she had to do something, turn the tables around somehow, but she had no idea how. She had no friends and no allies. What was she to do?

Rhaenyra's grim thoughts were interrupted by a messenger who all but ran into the room. 'News from the Stepstones!' the boy declared, showing the paper in his hand.

Otto immediately stretched his hand out, and the boy handed a scroll to him. 'What is it, Otto?' Viserys asked. Rhaenyra was trying hard to act normal but nerves were swirling inside her chest. Oh Gods, let it be good news, not the bad ones. She had already lost her mother and then saw her father marry her best friend, she couldn't lose Daemon as well.

The silence stretched as the Hand read through passages. Then his face changed. As soon as Rhaenyra recognized Otto's displeasure, she knew what the news was.

Good news.

'It seems like the war for Stepstones is over. The Crabfeeder is dead.'

Rhaenyra couldn't help but ask, 'And Prince Daemon?'

'Alive and thriving, apparently,' Otto answered, the displeasure evident. Rhaenyra barely suppressed a sigh of relief.

'That's good then,' Viserys concluded. 'Anything about my brother's future plans?'

'No, not at the moment,' the Hand read the scroll some more. 'An unknown dragon was sighted during the last attack,' he added, amused.

'What do you mean?' Viserys asked.

'Apparently, Prince Daemon had some additional help. Not from Velaryons, and surely not from us.'

'Who is the rider?'

Otto put a scroll on the table with the sigh, 'They do not know.'

The conversation continued with Otto promising to find who Daemon's new ally was, but Rhaenyra barely listened. An unknown dragon? That was exciting. Except for a few wild ones, all of the dragons were accounted for. And dragons don't just come out of nowhere. Rhaenyra hoped she would be able to meet that new dragon and this mysterious rider.

***

The Vale of Arryn was peaceful. And nice. And boring. Diane could see why her father hated this place so much. She was not a fan of calm and peaceful life herself but she did enjoy it once in a while. Even more so after everything that happened recently. She just needed a break from the constant rush and life-and-death situations.

Diane pondered on what it said about her as a person if she thought about being on a mission to kill her father's wife as "a break", but decided not to dwell on that. She flew from the Stepstones right to the Mountains of the Moon where she found for Silverwing a cozy cave (well, at least as cozy as caves go) and went down the mountain on foot. It would be faster to fly right to the Vale, but she didn't want to alert anyone and wanted to make sure nobody would be able to place her dragon anywhere near the "accident". It was probably just slightly paranoid, but Diane learned the hard way that even walls have ears so she was justified to assume that valleys have too.

She sneaked past Bloody Gate with ease because the guys there were on the lookout for tribesmen and invading armies, not for a teenage girl (it was hard to think about herself like that but Diane was aware of how she looked now) in a grey cape. Daemon gave it to her and said it was a tradition but didn't explain exactly what this tradition was. Diane didn't care enough to ask clarifying questions. Then there was a highly uneventful stroll to the outskirts of Eyrie where she stole a horse and rode to Vale. She could have bought it out, of course, but she didn't want to risk being remembered.