Nightmare

Chapter 8

A/N: Above is who I envision for Rolf Tully! To keep you updated on ages, he is Daemon's age (34 this chapter), while Daenys is 31.

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The Red Keep, King's Landing, 115 AC

The 12th year of King Viserys the Peaceful's rule

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Viserys loved his celebrations.

Even as a young man, she noticed he would happily accept tourneys and hunts in his name to celebrate passing years or minor accomplishments. While Daemon wanted glory beyond such things (though he happily participated) and Daenys wanted as little attention as possible, Viserys had indulged in feasts every chance he got.

Daenys had had less time to find Viserys annoying, as of late. She had other things to worry about, the list of responsibilities growing even further because of her own choices.

No one but her knew that her first pregnancy had been sired by Otto. And she knew it for certain because her bleed never came, the dream returned thrice, and she began to see her belly rise much sooner than she knew it to happen. She'd kept it well-hidden until a reasonable time to show it without arousing suspicion, Rolf happy to explore becoming a father.

She'd taken to the skies often, fearing her mother's fate, choosing to believe that the strength of Vhagar would pass onto her babe, to her, and keep her safe when the time came to give birth. She made Rhaenys promise to see to her children, should anything happen to her and later Rolf.

Shortly after Viserys and Alicent wed, Daenys went into labor. She'd welcomed not one but two babes, a girl and a boy with brown hair on their heads. Rolf immediately decided the girl looked like Daenys and said the boy was a perfect mixture of the two of them. Her daughter, she'd named Alyssa and her son, Aenar. Viserys had been overjoyed, and she saw Rhaenyra peek into their cradle with great interest, just as Daenys had done with her eighteen years prior, back when she, a girl of only thirteen, had thought the world would always be so happy.

Alicent had given birth around the time Daenys realized she was pregnant with another child, this one surely Rolf's. Daenys had been there, seated beside her as she wailed and begged for her mother, holding her tight and stroking her hair until she brought into the world a pale and silver-haired little boy that Viserys named Aegon, for the twin brother Daenys had had and lost.

She was glad she'd liked the name Aenar too much to deny it to her son, because otherwise it would have been far too confusing with two Aegons of the same age. Rhaenyra was less enthusiastic that time around, but had still cared for him, knowing he was innocent in all of it. Daenys's only concern was the glee in Otto's eyes when she watched Alicent present him his grandson, the boy he would want to sit the Iron Throne.

Rolf was overjoyed when, in the middle of the following year, Daenys gave him another son: a dark-haired and tiny boy he named Cliff, for his grandfather. Daenys admitted she was happiest with the fact he, too, had been born without Valyrian hair, so the appearances might all be explained by a resemblance to people from the Riverlands. So far, all three of her children had shining purple eyes— Cliff had even inherited one green eye from his grandmother.

Viserys had wished to celebrate this new year— where both Alicent and Daenys found themselves pregnant again— with a royal hunt. He considered calling it for Alyssa, Aenar, and Aegon's second name-days combined, but Daenys and Rolf politely declined and insisted if he wanted to celebrate his son, he do so. The twins were months older and Daenys didn't want everyone wishing to hold them. The enthusiasm Viserys showed worried her— would he really keep Rhaenyra as heir now that he had the boy he'd always wanted?