Different Kind of Beautiful / Larys Strong / Vaera Targaryen

32. We Don't Talk Anymore

"You are never going to beat Vaera." Rhaenyra told Alicent confidently. "You will always come second best to her. Everyone does." Rhaenyra added. "Father has loved Vaera more than anyone, ever. You are... insignificant compared to his baby girl."

"Same goes for you." Alicent assured. "You get that don't you. He named you heir but Vaera is the one he wishes he chose."

"That's a lie."

"She didn't fuck up like you did."

"Hi Daddy." vaera cooed. 

"Hi baby." viserys held her close. "Dont tell me you are pregnant again, you are glowing." 

"I got my moons bleeding today." Vaera countered. "We are trying." Vaera assured. "Emma is so perfect. My boobs kind of hurt, her teeth are just breaking through and she wants to gnaw on me." 

"I wish i knew how to help you with these things." Viserys admitted. "But... that was your mothers department. Can you speak with Rhaenyra or Alicent? Surely they know how to-"

"Daddy we dont really... talk." 

"What do you mean?" 

"Nyra and I." Vaera answered. 

"I have noticed a distance between you two." Viserys admitted. 

"We havent been close for a while." Vaera whispered. 

"I'm sorry to hear that love." Viserys agreed. 

"I think I want lots of children, they will be the best friends, they will have to be, like good siblings should be." Vaera added. Like herself and Larys didnt have in their siblings. 

Harwin was a better brother than Rhaenyra was a sister to Rhaenyra but Harwin wasnt Larys favorite person. His brother and father both thought he wasnt good enough for Vaera, they doubted him and he resented them for it. 

He also didnt like how Harwin looked at Vaera, how his gaze lingered on her and her full breasts after Emma was born. 

"Did mum keep any journals?" Vaera pondered. "About her time being pregnant? About Nyra and I when we were younger? Something i might be able to learn from?" Vaera pondered. 

"I kept all your mothers things, they are still in her room, I didnt have the heart to get rid of them. I left it..." he sighed. It had been years since Aemma and yet it still hurt. "Her chambers, I left it how it was." Vaera hadnt noticed, she had no need to go into her mothers chambers before, for she wasnt there and Alicent had taken a different chamber worthy of a new queen. She hadnt thought about why alicent was placed in a different chamber but if Viserys kept all Aemma's things that would be a good reason. 

"I will look." Vaera agreed heading off. 

"There's mama." Larys had Emma  in his arm, she wiggled and squirmed seeing Vaera. Larys dropped his cane in the process as he tired to keep from dropping her. Vaera rushed towards them grabbing Emma. 

"Hi baby girl, you miss me tons?" Vaera  asked, peppering her face with kisses. 

"She is getting bigger every day." Larys remarked. 

"Must be your Strong genes." Vaera added crouching to grab his cane. "Because I'm still a shorty." He wrapped his free hand around his girls. 

"Where were you? We were looking for you." Larys informed her as they walked. 

"With my father." 

"Should have known to look there first." Larys admitted. 

"I wanted to stop by my mothers old chambers. Take a look around." Vaera added. Larys nodded letting her led the way. Emma started crawling around when they got there and Vaera looked at the thin layer of dust on the wardrobes and counter tops. She saw that the bed was made and the bloody sheets from her mothers demise were gone. But there was a blood stain on the floor that wouldnt scrub out. Splatters of blood on the rub at the side of the bed that the staff didnt notice and now was surely too late. 

Vaera sucked in a tight breath. Larys offered to open the window and let the fresh air in, vaera nodded feeling suffocated. This was the last place her mother breathed breath. 

Vaera scooped up Emma, coughing at the dust flying around and headed out. Larys instructed that the room be cleaned, and aired out. The staff got to work cleaning the sheets and bedding, removing all dirt and dust, moping the floors and noticing the bloody speckled rug. 

It was three days later that larys said he had a surprise for her and brought her back to her mothers chambers. 

"Larys I can't." Vaera countered "It hurt too much." Seeing all the dust, feeling the stuffy air made if feel like her mother had been forgotten. Left to sit and be forgotten by all, a relic to be ignored and replaced. 

"Please," Larys extended a hand. 

Larys was a passionate man, he loved with his whole heart and his heart belonged to Vaera. she was his world and when his world was sad, he got angry, he had to fix it. For her. What Vaera felt, he felt. So being the one to be able to turn this space into a place Vaera could come and sit and remember her mother was something he was eager to do. 

"Larys..." Vaera looked around and the room didnt look dead. It looked alive again.

"I have asked the staff to bring a new vase of flowers in every week." Larys added. "But I picked these myself." Vaera moved to the roses touching them gently. "You wanted to come here for a reason, whatever that reason was, I want this place to bring you joy, happy memories of your mother. Not pain." Vaera launched herself at Larys holding him close. 

Larys would do anything for Vaera. This was one of the easier things he would do for her.