Signs of Fire

Chapter 35

Rhaelys and Arthur talk, he finally tells her the truth of what happened. I hope you guys like it 🥰

She wished she could say she hated Arthur, that she despised him for all the things he had done, but the truth was that she couldn't hate him. For so long he had been all she had, the only contact with the outside world. Arthur had always treated her like she was the most important thing in his life. He had always tried to make her isolation a bit better and had spent as much time with her as he could. The man she had seen since being away was a very different man than the one she had grown up with. He had hidden a large part of himself from her and she was mad about it. Rhaelys wasn't a child, she understood that things were not black and white, there were gray areas. Someone could be ruthless and merciless and still have a great capacity for love. The biggest example was Daemon, she had never met a man who enjoyed killing as much as he did, but she had also seen the way he loved Rhaenyra and his children.

Arthur still saw a child when he looked at her, he had refused to tell her the truth about so many things. He had kept her sister away from her and kept her locked away. After only a few months of freedom, she would have to return to her prison again. It was a small price to pay for the safety of her niece and nephew.

She got out of the car without saying a word and walked towards the small plane. She heard the other door slam close but decided to ignore it, she wasn't sure what to say to him. "Rhaelys, you can't ignore me forever."

"Of course I can." She stopped at the bottom of the stairs and turned to look at the man who had raised her. "I don't know if you remember but you are the one who taught me how to go for days without talking to someone."

"Rhaelys, I'm sorry about keeping you locked away." His look was apologetic. "But I did that for your safety."

"Don't lie to me!" She was pissed. Did he really think she was so stupid? "I know that I have been safe for years. My father died over six years ago, you knew there was no danger to me and you still kept me locked away, like a dog, like I didn't matter."

"Of course you matter." Arthur took a step towards her but stopped when she stepped back. His eyes were incredibly sad. "I have always loved you Rhaelys, more than anyone else."

"Liar," She hated that he was trying to make her feel guilty. "You don't imprison the people you love, you don't keep secrets from them. You never loved me, I'm not even sure why you protected me all those years."

"Because I promised your mother I would." The way he said it, like that was supposed to explain everything. "I loved your mother since the moment I met her, even when she belonged to someone else."

"What are you saying?" Even as she asked the question, she already knew the answer.

"I loved your mother, we met a year after she gave birth to Rhaenyra at a gala." Arthur gave her a sad smile. "Her husband was already having an affair with Alicent and was mistreating her. I loved her beauty, her goodness, and her sweetness."

"You and my mother?"

"Yes, we fell in love and I would have done anything for her. I did everything for her." He seemed to get lost in thought for a moment. "I was going to abandon my family so we could run away and have a life together. We had everything planned, but then Aemma found out Viserys was planning to kill her and he refused to let her leave the house with Rhaenyra."

"My mother wouldn't leave my sister behind." It wasn't a question.

"No, she wouldn't and I wouldn't ask her to, a few weeks later she found out she was pregnant." He moved a bit closer and this time she didn't back away. "We knew that she would be safe as long as she was pregnant, Viserys was sure that it would be a boy and he wanted an heir. That's why she never told him she was having a girl, she was afraid he would kill her and the baby. The plan was for her to take Rhaenyra while Viserys was away on business and we would leave before she gave birth."