A Valyrian Heart

Chapter Fourteen

Baela sometimes liked to hang out with her dear stepchildren. Not necessarily because she wanted to be around her supposed new family any more than needed, but loneliness can do that to a person. She had no one else to talk to, the letters she sent off to Driftmark still haven't been received, and she suspects her father might have something to do with it. He had always said that Rhaenys was the sole reason behind her stubbornness, maybe if he cut Baela off from speaking with her grandmother then she might be in the right state of mind to listen to him better. He was her father of course and only he genuinely cared about her, and if he insisted that staying in King'slanding was her calling, then no one else had any right to question it.

But Baela had tried writing to her sister as well, how she longed to hear from Rhaena, she worried about her sister's mental health as much as she worried about her own, but Rhaena probably didn't get her letters as well. So Baela really had no one to turn to apart from the twins. So here she was, painting the dark walls of the palace in bright colors with them. And she would never mention it to another soul, but it was relaxing. It distracted her from the everyday thoughts that plagued her mind, thoughts of when the next storm would come and whether or not she would be able to sneak away without anyone noticing.

Aemond surely noticed, and so did her soon-to-be husband. But she told herself to not worry about it, both men had better things to do than spy on what Baela did in her spare time. She supposed it would have been a whole lot easier to do this if she had been in Driftmark, where the storm was always a certainty and her reputation made it so that no one paid any more attention to her wild adventures than they did when she was younger.

" Are you painting your dragon?" Jaehaerys looked over his own painting of a sunflower ( it looked like it, though the lines and strokes were very much off ) at her's. Baela smiled at him, she hadn't even noticed that she had indeed been painting a dragon, large and powerful with wings that could cast shadows upon the whole of Kingslanding.

" Yes, do you find it beautiful?"

" It looks a lot better than what Jaehaera is painting " The boy whispered to her " But you didn't paint it green. I assumed you would paint it green since you love green so much "

" I do not love green. "

" Your dragon is green "

" Well, I certainly had no say in that " Baela stares back at the Dragon etched on the wall of the Red Keep, and she wonders if she should have painted moondancer instead. She should have, but at the time all she thought about was her mother's dragon who was no longer her mother's. It is a known fact that Baela has a soft spot for Vhager, but maybe her love for the old dragon would have grown much deeper if Rhaena had been the one to claim her, they had all hoped it would come to that.

Baela remembers the night of her mother's death, she remembers Rhaena's tears as she swore she would claim their mother's dragon, to prove to their father that she could be just as good as a son - Baela knows that indirectly Rhaena might have compared herself to her sometimes, but Rhaena would never mention that - but Aemond had taken that opportunity from here, her sister still held a grudge, and Baela wished she could feel the same. But the truth was she cared about Aemond far more than she could ever feel for her mother's dragon. It's sad, but she was falling in love with the color green, and that was what scared her. When she would have to take a side, her father would expect so much from her, what then?

" Uncle Aemond, you are here?" Jaehaera's voice draws Baela out of her dark thoughts. She pushes herself to her feet, she feels a bit embarrassed at having paint on her dress, but to be fair she hadn't expected Aemond to show up - what was she kidding, he always showed up. He was like a shadow that always loomed over her.