Changing Destinies

Chapter 9

Daemon starts his courting, There is a bit smut in the first part. Daemon and Aegon have a talk. I hope you guys like it 🥰

Rhaenyra entered her chambers and immediately started undoing her braids. Her maid had made them especially tight andit was making her head ache. The fact that she had spent the past two hours talking to her father and trying to convince him to allow her to have more say in her siblings' upbringing had made that headache even worse. Her father was an idiot and acted like he had no say over his own children and could not do anything without consulting their mother. Rhaenyra had convinced him to allow her to take over the children's day-to-day studies and training, she had told him the queen deserved some time for herself with how busy she was. Her father had appeared very happy, believing that she wanted to have a better relationship with Alicent and Rhaenyra had almost bit her tongue as not to tell him what she truly thought about his wife.

"I brought you a gift."

Rhaenyra squealed and jumped at the sound of the voice before turning to glare at her uncle. "Have you lost your mind? You gave me a fright."

He just looked amused. "I am sorry."

"What are you doing here?"

"Like I said, I brought you a gift." He gestured towards the small parcel sitting at the table. "Do not worry, I came through the secret tunnels so no one knows I am here."

Rhaenyra moved closer to her uncle. "I heard you spoke to my father about your intentions to marry me."

"Yes, I wanted him to know my intentions and realize I was not going to hide. I am going to court you in the open."

This time it was she who was amused. "And yet you came here using the secret tunnels so no one would see you."

"Well, I am still me." He took one of her hands and pulled her closer to the table. "I am not always going to follow the rules, especially when it comes to winning you."

She rolled her eyes, before moving to where the small parcel was. She opened it and frowned at the book, there was no title on it. Her uncle had gifted her many things throughout the years, including books. She opened it and tilted her head when she was met with a painting. It was a young woman with silver hair and purple eyes, there was a small child sitting on her lap. The small girl had silver hair and blue eyes, she looked familiar but Rhaenyra could not place them.

She gave her uncle a questioning look and he pointed at the painting. "That is Daella and your mother."

Rhaenyra's eyes snapped back to the painting and she realized he spoke the truth. The woman looked similar to the paintings she had seen of her grandmother, but even more life like.

She cleared her throat before trying to speak. "How..."

"I hired a painter from Essos, I have been working with him for weeks." She turned the page as he spoke and her eyes filled with tears when she saw a painting of her mother when she was her age. "I showed him paintings of Daella and Aemma, I also described both women in great detail until he got them right. I know that Daella barely had time to hold her daughter, so I had the man make a painting of them together."

Page after page was filled with paintings of her mother, and they looked so lifelike that Rhaenyra felt like she could reach out and touch her. There were even a few paintings of her with her mother.

She turned, took Daemon's face in her hands, and smashed their lips together. Gods, she loved him, even when she was upset about something he did she could not help but love him. He immediately returned the kiss, using his tongue to tease her. His hands moved down her back and he pushed her until her bottom was pressed against the table. He broke the kiss but did not move his face away and their eyes locked together. She was not sure what he was planning to do until she felt his hands raising the skirt of her purple gown.