chance for happiness

A Shadow of the Past

One of the days the Lady of the Rune Stone was in King's Landing, returning from Queen Alicent's visit, so-called visits to the queen were rare and Rhea preferred to stay in her chambers and tend to her daughter, only occasionally venturing outside the four walls.

In the corridors, as in the daytime, guards stood outside each room and only torches dimly lit the way.

During her stay in the Red Castle, Rhea realised that she could not live here, even though it was much more developed and civilised than the Rune Stone, but her soul wanted to go home and she swore to herself that she would return despite everything. She didn't quite like the fact that when everyone found out about her pregnancy, they started treating her like a small child, and if she had her way, she would have told them when she was already back home, where no one would have pestered her with the same questions like, 'Are you in any pain?'. Fortunately, the Queen, who had given birth three times already, knew what it was and did not ask, but only chatted about various topics, although Rhea did not fully trust her, because she did not inspire hope, and her conversations alone were sure to get something useful and run to her father, but Rhea knew that she was not at home, she could not grumble to anyone, she could not say a crooked word to anyone, because this was not the Rune Stone, this was the King's Landing, the capital, and that was not allowed!

'Tysa must be asleep by now,' she thought.

Rhea approached the door of her temporary quarters and opened it.

She had left her daughter with her maid, Lara, but it seemed that she was no longer in the room, but she heard an eerily familiar voice.

'....-so this is how Valyria fell'

The right-hand man sat by the little princess's bedside and whispered the history of Westeros, and Lantysa fell asleep at once from this rather boring babble, although at first she listened attentively, the girl no longer remembered Otto, She had seen him when she was a little girl, but now that he had come to the chamber unexpectedly, she listened happily and smiled, feeling safe in the company of an unknown man to whom she resembled with her blue eyes and red hair.

Noticing that the girl had fallen asleep, the right-handed man got up from his knees and lightly touched Lantysa's forehead with his lips.

'Good night, sleep well,' he said softly, and then headed for the exit.

Rhea noticed that Otto was heading her way and froze, but her rapid heartbeat and breathing betrayed her.

She prayed that he would not notice her, for it was dark in the room, where a single candle was burning faintly, but the right-hand man stopped in front of her.

'Good evening, Lady of the Rune Stone,' he said, his voice tired and unconcealed indifference.

-'And he used to call me something else,' Rhea thought, and then she spoke with a touch of contempt:

-'And it is strange to see you in my chambers,  king's right hand , for you do not even come to dinner, and I thought you were not feeling well.'

Otto caught up with her and spoke in a measured voice:

'-I came to see Princess Lantysa.'

Rhea just laughed.

'-All these long months you didn't want to see the princess and me, and then you suddenly appear, I had forgotten what you looked like.'

The right-hand man pursed his lips and clicked his tongue:

'-you know full well my position and my duties, after all, the kingdom needs to be watched at all times, whether it's day or night.'

Rhea walked across the room and spoke softly, not wanting to wake her daughter:

'Good night, then, right hand, you have so much to do' - her words were both resentful and sad, and Otto seemed to feel it too and did not continue, he did not want to continue to quarrel and clarify the relationship, for him the dots had been crossed long ago and the relationship was over, Rhea was a tool for him to forget his dead wife, but no matter how hard he tried, no matter how much he worked, Otto was well aware of the tension between them, but after he found out about his ex-lover's pregnancy, he avoided talking to her in every way possible, and in the end, these conversations would not solve anything, but would only aggravate an already difficult situation, so he could only pretend that nothing had happened.

-'Good night, Lady Royce.'

The right-hand man slowly left the room, and Rhea closed the door and sat on the edge of the bed.

Thoughts flooded her mind reluctantly, and she didn't close her eyes until the morning, on the one hand she was hurt and angry that the man she cared for at least had treated her so coldly, but deep down she knew from the beginning that their relationship was a delusion, something that was not serious and not sustainable, that their relationship was a delusion, something frivolous and unstable, and in the end she was carrying a child with someone else, with Damon, a man she would rather forget and put out of her life and never think about again, but how could she do that now? The only thing that made her heart happy was that even if she was no longer interested in Otto, he still appeared in the life of their little daughter Lantysa, who was sleeping sweetly and not even thinking about anything.

The first day of the tenth month of 112 brought good news to all of Westeros: Lady Rhea Royce gave birth to her husband Daemon Targaryen's second child, a girl with purple eyes, which made her look like her father, and dark brown hair like the girl's mother. The child was born on the Rune Stone, because Rhea felt like a stranger in the Red Keep, and the hypocritical looks from all the royal family and nobles had already sunk into her soul, she could no longer see the Hand, and every quick glance he gave her made her feel even worse, so less than a week after that ominous conversation with the Hand, Rhea packed her bags and went home.

The months had passed quickly there, and the labour hadn't been as difficult as the first, so she was feeling relatively well, if you could call it that, right after her daughter was born.

There was no news from Daemon, but the king sent her a raven every week to ask about his nieces and his daughter-in-law's health, and he told her about the news from Damon: the situation on the Steps was deteriorating, although it was still under control, so the prince did not even attend his wife's birth, although he would not have wanted to. Moreover, when the news of the birth of his second daughter reached the outlaw prince himself, he seemed to be very unhappy about it, but when he was told that his daughter had purple eyes, he was overcome with pride and wanted to name his daughter Alysanne, in honour of his late grandmother.