HOTD SI: The Bloody Prince (OC x Rhaenyra)(OC x Alicent)

Part 28

Chapter 28

ALICENT HIGHTOWER

For the last four days her life had been monotonous as she followed a simple routine. Her nights, which were often riddled with nightmares, screams, and sleeplessness, were the only time she would spend in her room.

The rest of it all was spent in the room of Prince Aegon, who, despite the prayers and medications, had yet to wake up. All the maesters and the acolytes were oblivious to what was wrong with him or what ailed him.

Many spoke of poison. Others whispered of magic, speaking of the crows that had come to her rescue. And speaking of her rescue, there were stories about it, whispers both good and bad, presenting her as a spoilt woman, while others touted her as a child blessed by the Seven, or more specifically, the stranger.

There were all kinds of stories, whispers about crows and strangers protecting her, and yet she knew them all to be false. She knew that it was no God, that had saved her that day. No, that was not god's work.

It was his. It was Aegon. He had rescued her, and even the crows and their actions were his doing. She was a learned girl, born and raised a Hightower who sponsored the center of knowledge known as the Citadel, and so she had an inkling about what she had witnessed, how this was but an extension of what she had heard him whisper months ago to his dragon.

She had kept it all to himself, all the details of that night, claiming to have not seen anything in her hysteria. It was a lie, a grand line, but no one could call her out on it, not after what she had gone through.

And now she waited, with a heavy heart and burning eyes, sitting beside a bed alongside an acolyte, hoping, praying for the boy lying infront of her to open his eyes. And yet for the last four days her prayers had gone unanswered, and the world around her—around them continued to shift with every passing day.

The King's announcement about her eventual marriage with Aegon had been made, despite her protests, while the Crown now prepared to launch an attack on the Stepstones; all the while, House Velaryon got itself another dragon rider in the form of Lady Laena Velaryon, bonding with the behemoth Vhagar.

Word of that had dampened the whispers about her own abduction as the court realigned itself to better suit the new political avenues, especially given that House Velaryon was set to benefit the most from the campaign in the pirate lidden islands.

"He still has not woken up," and she was broken out of her reverie. She looked to the side and found Rhaenyra walking towards her. The Princess had been her only companion in this solitude, keeping her company in this time where she was but all alone.

"Not yet," she answered, not realising just how dry her throat had gotten as she picked up a glass and drank some water.

"The maesters do not know what is wrong with him," she added helplessly, as Rhaenyra's lips thinned.

"I am beginning to realize the maesters don't really know as much as they would like us to think," she said sharply, and there were rumors about the King suffering an ailment of his own, one that was that had also rendered the maesters helpless.

"Some say that he might never wake up or may never be the same person even af..." and just imagining that, imagining that she had done this to him. That all this predicament was because of her made her heart twist, for that was just the beginning of his suffering, suffering that would only grow with years as she would be used as shackles around his arms and legs by her own father.

And yet she could do nothing. No, there was much she could do, much she would do, but only when he was awake.

"They are wrong," Rhaenyra added as she held her hands, and she finally noticed that her old habit had returned and that hand had become bloodied from how much skin she had torn off of her thumb.