Signs of Fire

Chapter 1

Like a lot of my other stories, this one got in my head and would not leave until I wrote it down. Let's see where this goes. 😊

The world she lived in was not made for women, it was stuck in the fifteen hundreds and still refused to advance with the times. Being in the mafia was not something she would have chosen for herself, but she had been born into it. If being a mafia woman was bad, being a mafia princess was almost impossible. The expectations she had grown up with were overwhelming and so was the danger she had grown up in. Mafia women were raised to be wives and mothers, that was their whole purpose in life. They were supposed to stay chaste and away from men until they were married and they were surrounded by bodyguards, at least the ones belonging to the most important families were. Even with all of that, they were always in danger.

The first time someone had tried to kill her she had been five years old. Someone had run her and her mother off the road and then started shooting. Her mother had been killed, but her uncle had been able to save her. That was not the only attempt that had been made on her life, the only difference was that her uncle was not there to protect her anymore.

Rhaenyra was the daughter of the biggest mafia boss in Westeros, or at least her father had been until he and her uncle had parted ways. She still wasn't sure what had happened, but one day her uncle had left and never returned. Her father and Daemon were not really brothers, they were cousins who had been raised together. When Daemon's parents had been killed in a drive-by shooting, Viserys's parents had taken Daemon in and raised him as their own. Daemon had always been Rhaenyra's favorite uncle and she was hurt that he had not tried to contact her in the past eight years.

Another thing Rhaenyra hated about being a mafia princess was all the events she was forced to attend. As an eighteen year old she loved a good party as much as the next girl, but the events she was forced to attend with her family were stuffy and boring. During these events, she was also forced to play nice with her stepmother and her stupid brother, like she didn't know her stepmother was looking for someone to marry her off to. Alicent Hightower, now Targaryen had always hated her. She had not wanted to raise another woman's daughter, but her marriage to Viserys had not left her much choice. Not that she had done a lot of raising, the maids and bodyguards had been the ones doing most of the raising. Things had gotten even worse after Alicent had given birth to her son, whom she called the heir. Not that it was surprising, in the mafia women were not allowed to inherit anything but some money, they could not take over the family.

Now that Rhaenyra was eighteen the hunt for a husband was on overdrive. It wasn't just her stepmother any longer, but her father was looking for one too. Her father was dying to get her out of the house so he could be alone with his wife and son.

"You look incredibly beautiful." Laenor appeared beside her and handed her a glass of wine. "I thought this night was going to be boring."

"Why?" She took the glass and rolled her eyes. "Did your father force you to come too?"

"Yes, he is not happy with some of my decisions and wants me to spend more time with the family." The family was what people called everyone belonging to the Valyrian mafia. "He is also looking for a wife for me, he wants me married as soon as possible."

"A wife?" Rhaenyra gave Laenor an amused look and lowered her voice. "Isn't your father aware that you would be much happier with a husband?"

In the mafia being gay was a dead sentence, it was lucky that the Velaryons had been able to keep it a secret for so long. Rhaenyra felt bad for Laenor, he had no choice but to marry a woman or his life would be in danger.