Until we die • Rhaenyra Targaryen

The Heir's Heir

5th day of the first moon, 116 AC, Kings Landing

Edric was pacing.

Rhaenyra hadn't been feeling well the last couple of days and the Maester was looking after her now.

Edric didn't want to leave Rhaenyra there alone but the King commanded him to stay outside.
Of course, after Edric argued with the Maester for almost an hour.

He paced and fumbled with his ring.

"My lord." A voice broke him out of it.
"Maester?"
"The princess..."
"What?" Edric looked at the man expectedly.

"She was started her labour."
"Her labour? My child will be born? Today?"
"I can't say for certain, my lord. These things take time and with her mothers-"
"Do not finish that sentence!"

The maester quieted.

"What are you doing here?" Edric snapped.
"Go, get the things you need, get a midwife."
Edric sighed and waited until the maester was out of sight.

Then he walked in.

"Rhaenyra?"
"Edric." She cried.

Edric ran to her side and grasped her hand.

"My love." He sighed.
Rhaenyras's hold was strong.
"I'm scared." She admitted.
"I don't want to die and I don't want our child to die."
"You won't. I will not leave you alone."

Rhaenyra smiled.
A better man than my father, Rhaenyra thought.

"We are going to be parents." She smiled.
"We will be great." He caressed her cheeks.

The maester, and the midwives all began to come in. The king has been altered and the preparations for the tourney had begun.

A tourney for the heir's heir.

"My lord. You need to leave. This is no place for men." Someone said Edric had no idea who.
He wasn't listening. He was entirely focused on Rhaenyra.
"No, I won't leave. No matter who commands me, who tries to carry me out of this room. I won't leave."
And they let him be.

Rhaenyra's labours were quite short.
It was shocking as her mother usually laboured for days.

Not even three hours after her labours began, their child was there.
Their son.
Her heir.
Jacaerys.

Edric and Rhaenyra cried when they saw him, when they heard him scream.

...

During the day, many people were around them.
The masters and midwives, of course, checked if the princess and the new prince were well but also the elated King.

King Viserys cried when he saw his grandson.

"A mighty prince he is. A mighty King he will be." He proclaimed.
Edric couldn't agree more.

The new hand came also. He was a much nicer man than Otto Hightower.
He said his congratulations and left.

And during the evening and night, they were alone.
With their babe.

"He looks just like you, Edric," Rhaenyra whispered as she played with her son's fingers.
Edric smiled brightly.
"He does."

He looked at his son.

Edric felt different now.
He thought he had been a man before but now, he was a man.
He would give anything for his son.

Rhaenyra felt different now.
She was a woman grown now. Somehow, she felt her fire quieting.
Her fire had been loud now it was only in the back of her mind.
Her child was the most important thing now.

"Thank you," Edric said.
"For what?"
"You made me a man. You made me a father. Without you, I would still be the shy boy I was five years ago."
She laughed.

"I didn't do anything. He did." She looked down at him.

...

Rhaenyra fell asleep not long after that, but her baby wouldn't.

"Jace, you will wake your mother up." He whispered.
Edric picked up a small blanket.

"Let us go for a walk, yes?"

...

"And this is the Godswood. That tree is older than... a lot of things. The people of the north, worship these trees. It's the old religion." He told his newborn son.

Alicent stood a few feet behind him, he hadn't noticed her yet.
She thought about walking away but she was mesmerised.

"Is this him?" She asked.
Edric turned around, shocked.

He recovered fast.

"Yes. This is Jacaerys." He showed her the baby.
Alicent smiled and walked closer.

"Do you want to hold him?" He asked.
"Yes." She said softly.

The transfer was easy and Jace didn't fuss.

"He looks just like you." She whispered.
"He is beautiful."
Edric smiled.

"He is."

"How is Rhaenyra?"
"Well. She was scared."

They both knew why.

"But she was great. She handled it very well. She's tired now and Jace here was all fussy, so I decided to show him the castle."
"He isn't fussy now." She said.
"He likes you."

Alicent smiled.

Why was it easier to love this child more than her own children?
Because he was Edrics? And Rhaenyras?

Alicent handed the young prince over to his father.

"Will you tell me about Rhaenyra? About her condition?" She was scared to ask.
"Of course."