| CHAPTER NINE; Harsh Ghosts of Feelings | —————————————————————
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
—
IT WAS very early in the morning when Rhaelys had called upon her ladies to get her ready for the day. Once they had finished doing her hair, she dismissed them.
The sky was still dark, most hadn't woken up yet. But Rhaelys found herself restless.
She missed when she was a little girl. She missed when she had no taste for revenge, only love for her entire family. Even Rhaenrya, Luke, and Otto. She had no expectations. She had a place in her heart for everyone.
She remembered how close she used to be with Jacaerys. She loved him. They were supposed to marry, that was the original plan. Jacaerys adored his younger sister and had grown up under the impression that he would marry her and continue the line.
But it all changed when Rhaelys was sent to the Tyrells after what she had walked in on. Even then, she had hope. Into she was raped. She then lost all hope, forming hatred for each member of the Black family.
No one had dared to send her a single letter. Except for Alicent Hightower.
Rhaelys found a thrill in war, that was for sure. But she did not find a thrill in families fighting against families. She wished for everyone to be one again.
She missed them.
But it was simply too late. She wholeheartedly believed that her mother had been the cause of over one hundred rapes inflicted upon her.
And just then, as she stood weakly at her window...she realized— she had never received her Red Flower. She had a feeling that she would never receive it.
Her breath got caught in her throat. Would she never have a child? She had sworn herself to celibacy. Did that have to last forever? She wondered. And what if it didn't? What if she was unfit to have children? What if her womb would not even bear them?
As Rhaelys looked out of her window, she wondered if she jumped at that very moment, would she fly? Of course not. That was the upside of things.
But she then thought of Helaena. Of Aegon. The two last people that she truly loved. They had done no wrong to her, nothing that she would take to heart.
She couldn't jump, she wouldn't. She had a plan, and she had to stick to it.
