BOUND BY DUTY | daella targaryen | hotd fanfiction

II. blood and purity

When in 82 AC a letter was delivered to King Jaehaerys I. from the Eyrie, about the death of his eighth child, he was already convinced that the fate of his children was cursed.
His dear Daella, who had been sent to the Eyrie by his order, never returned home to him.
All that was left of Princess Daella was a little baby girl that The Good Queen Alyssane named Aemma.
Grief and sorrow haunted the King for the rest of his life during which he lost all his eleven children.
Joy returned to him only in 97AC when a little girl was born at the royal court to his grandson, Prince Viserys and his granddaughter, Princess Aemma Arryn.
The little Princess was a light to the royal family and a pearl to the realm.
Another cry of a newborn baby was heard three years later, on the first day of the first moon of the year
100 AC, who was to be the promised son of Prince Viserys. A holy child, born exactly one hundred years after Aegon's Conquest, a son sent by the spirit of Aegon himself.
A great imagination, however, when the doors to the chambers opened, his wife, Princess Aemma was waiting for him with a little girl in her arms.
Prince Viserys was happy to have another daughter, but she was not a son that was needed now, when Viserys was to be the possible heir to the Throne after his grandsire, King Jaehaerys.
The Princess from the Eyrie named her second daughter after her beloved mother, Daella.
The Little Dragon was said to be a reminder to King Jaehaerys I. of his own daughter Daella, until the end of his days.

-

6th day of the ninth moon, 117AC

Daella woke up with a scream from a dream that seemed so realistic.
She dreamed of the same fate as her mother and grandmother had.
A little girl was born to her, but she was still not fully formed. It had a body with dragon scales, a head bigger than a body, and eyes the same as a dragon.
Her thights were covered in blood and there were no people around her bed. Just she and her baby girl who was dead. Daella could feel that the end was coming for her too. That soon, she will be with her baby girl. She was slowly dying, later she fell asleep on the bed full of her blood next to her little dragon baby.
Daella took two deep breaths and sat on the bed and wondered what time it might be. It was slowly dawning outside, the dew was hugging the windows of her chamber.
The princess decided that she would not fall asleep again, not after a dream such as this.
She decided to get out of the bed and take a bath that would help her forget about this dream and clean her mind and body from the negativity left of it.
The Princess called the maids who prepared a hot bath for her and in a moment she was immersed in it. Daella prepared some of her spices and potions next to the bath tube and ordered the maids to leave her chambers.
When she was finally alone, she slowly poured the contents of the small bottles into the hot water and immersed herself with her whole body. The chamber smelled of various herbs, potions and blood.
The blood belonged to a white swan, it was the blood of a pure animal, of innocence poured into the hot water, which she bathed in.
Blood stank, but that didn't stop her from completing her cleansing ritual.
The princess came out of the bath which was slowly getting cold, and covered herself with a robe.
The elixir she poured into the bath afterwards, eliminated the red color of the blood, and a moment later, when she looked into the tub once more, there was only water full of herbs, clean water without the blood of the swan that was killed few days ago on her demand.
Daella smiled and called the maids back, to get her dressed for today.
It was the fourth day after the welcome dinner.
Princess Daella waited for her father's invitation every day since that evening.
She still didn't find her place in the court, she felt like a stranger in her own home. Everyone was always around the Queen, there were afternoons when the Queen was talking for hours about primitive things with her nobility, so Daella was forced to spend her time in the gardens so she wouldn't hear the stupid talks that could be heard all around the Red Keep.
Daella also had to quickly get used to the children's cries, which could be heard constantly in the corridors, especially in the morning.
The Princess visited her half-siblings several times in those four days, but only got along with one of them. Helaena was the quietest of the four children, she always had something to entertain herself and obeyed without creating arguments. She even played with her in the gazebo in the garden one afternoon.
On the contrary, Queen Alicent's eldest child was always everywhere but not where his siblings were. Little Prince Aegon spent most of his days in the corridors, sometimes the guards found him in the royal kitchens or in the laundry room watching the servants do their job.
The second-born son, Prince Aemond was constantly with his mother, always watching his mother and his younger sibling Daeron in her arms, or studying history with Maester Mellos, rather than playing with other children of noble families in the Keep.
Daella strongly felt the absence of the Targaryens in the castle. The chambers, halls and even the corridors were full of Queen Alicent's people.
She and her father were the only Targaryens in the Red Keep that belonged to their family only. However there was an another Targaryen in Kings Landing, just not located in the castle.
She hadn't seen her uncle since the welcome dinner, but she didn't blame him either.
If she could, she would also prefer to stay away from the fortress as he did.