Work Text:
Princess Rhaenys Targaryen, the Queen Who Never Was, felt that she could neatly divide up her life into chapters. Her childhood in the Red Keep was lively and full of happiness and joy. For the first eight years of her life, she knew little of suffering. Most of her family still lived in the Keep at that point - and the Targaryens were at their prime.
Rhaenys was the first to be born in their generation. Her parents, Prince Aemon Targaryen and Jocelyn Baratheon, showered her with love. She was her father’s heir and he made such a fact clear to everyone who would listen. She learned how to rule the Seven Kingdoms at the knees of her father and mother as soon as she could talk.
Viserys was born when Rhaenys was three, to her Aunt Alyssa and Uncle Baelon, and Daemon was born four years after that. Gods, she remembered how the two of them would follow her around like little ducklings. There was even talk for a short while of marrying her to Viserys, but luckily that fell through. Viserys stuck around her for a bit, but it was Daemon who wouldn’t leave her alone, especially after Alyssa died. He was a wild child, and both his parents encouraged it. At the very least, he was always entertaining.
There was also her Aunt Gael, who was only a year older than Daemon. The last child of Queen Alyssane and King Jaehaerys was frail from birth, but she was a sweet girl. Unable to keep up with some of the boys’ wilder antics, she would seek refuge with Rhaenys when she was studying whatever assignments had been given to her from her muna or kepa. There were four young Targaryen children running around the Keep, causing all sorts of trouble, but the halls were always filled with laughter.
And the children her age weren’t the only ones who made her childhood enjoyable. Rhaenys had countless aunts and uncles always looking out for her. Sure, they were older than her, but it wasn’t by much. She was the oldest of her cousins, which perhaps gave her an advantage over them when it came to seeking out their extended family’s time.
Alyssa was one of her favorites. She didn’t let anyone talk ill of those she loved and she cared little for the expectations at court. She taught Rhaenys to be bold and courageous and that the opinions of the nobles that surrounded them mattered little. It was Alyssa who taught Rhaenys how to use a sword and shoot a bow, skills she passed down to her own girls. Alyssa could always be counted on if she needed a laugh, as well.
It annoyed her, when Viserys was so quick to condemn Daemon’s actions. She had heard those at court whisper that he would be Maegor the Cruel come again - Otto Hightower’s work no doubt. In the time of her childhood, the nobles would have never had the gall to say such things, let alone be allowed to. But even disregarding that fact, it was not Maegor who Rhaenys saw in Daemon. No, it was Alyssa. Daemon was his mother’s son through and through and it pained her that Viserys could not see that. Was he so blind that he didn’t remember the little boy that would trail around behind the two of them, desperate to hang out with his older brother and cousin?
Baelon was her favorite uncle, not that she had many to choose from. Still, he was close with her father and would often join in on the lessons Rhaenys had with him. He was a jokester, and he loved Alyssa dearly. It was plain for her to see, even at such a young age. He had never been quite the same after her aunt’s death. It was just another thing that changed during that time.
Viserra was only three years older than Rhaenys herself. When people talk of her now they call her vain, but Rhaenys never thought of her that way and she refuses to remember her in that light now. Viserra was confident. Gods, was she confident. It was the kind of confidence that drew everyone who saw her towards her. She knew how to talk to people and how to use her skills to an advantage. Rhaenys loved spending time with her, and the two would spend hours running around the keep or talking about some random thing. She was wild though, and that would end up being her doom.
Saera, though, was seven years older than her. She wasn’t as close to her as Viserra, but she still loved her. They were a bit similar, Saera and Viserra. Even then, people called her rude and brash. Rhaenys thought her firm and unyielding. She would not bow to anyone else’s commands if she did not wish to - not even her own father’s. Saera had all the traits that would have been favored had she been born a male, and it wasn’t until Rhaenys experienced the injustice of the world for herself that she truly understood her aunt.
Her aunts Daella and Maegelle, Rhaenys did not know well, unfortunately. Maegelle left to join the Silent Sisters before she was born and only visited occasionally, but Rhaenys knew her as a calm and steady presence. She was always nice to her. Daella, on the other hand, was in the Keep for a bit before she left to marry Rodrick Arryn in the Vale. She was sweet, but Rhaenys rarely saw her. She often spent her time with her mother, so the two weren’t close.
All this to say, the Keep was always abuzz. There were always visitors from noble houses wishing to see the King and Queen and Rhaenys never had to worry about being left alone for there was always some family member free to entertain her.
And then Alyssa Targaryen died.
It was not the first tragedy House Targaryen had seen. Little princess Daenerys and prince Aegon had both died in childhood and Daella had died two years prior, giving birth to little Aemma Arryn. But Alyssa hit everyone hard. She was beloved by those in the Keep and in the city proper both. Rhaenys herself was distraught, but that was nothing compared to the anguish of her uncle Baelon. She was ten when it happened. Viserys was seven and Daemon only three. It was a terrible time. She remembers her mother having to take over watching her cousins more often than not, for Baelon was too incapacitated with grief to do much of anything. Grandmother Alyssane was a wreck - two of her daughters dead in two years. Grandfather Jaehaerys became more closed off and threw himself into the work of the realm. It was the beginning of the end, but they didn’t know it at the time.
After that, it seemed more tragedies came in quick succession. Saera was banished that same year and fled for Essos the next. She hasn’t been seen since. Viserra died two years after that in a terrible riding accident the night before she was to marry a northern lord. Four daughters of House Targaryen just gone. As quick as that. Three dead and one as good as exiled.
There were spots of happiness in those years too, of course. Rhaenys claimed Meleys, the dragon who had once belonged to her Aunt Alyssa. Baelon had cried when she had done so, out of both happiness and sorrow. She spent time with her cousins and her remaining family, and continued learning how to be heir to the Seven Kingdoms. And of course, she married Corlys. She was happy then, even when things began to go downhill.
Her childhood ended in 92 AC.
In 92 AC, her father and Uncle Baelon left to deal with Myrish pirates in Tarth. Only Baelon returned. Her father had been shot by a rogue pirate and had bled out on the shores of Tarth. Baelon had decimated the remaining troops in retaliation, burning them until nothing but ashes remained. It brought Rhaenys only a miniscule measure of relief, for her entire life had changed.
Unlike the death of his wife, the death of his brother left Baelon filled with an unholy amount of rage. He went from sobbing to cursing the pirates in a single breath, although he was still kind to her and his sons.
Her mother was bereft in the privacy of their chambers, but was as strong as ever in court. Joeclyn Baratheon did her duty in public and held Rhaenys as she cried when they were alone. She knew what Rhaenys didn’t at that point. She had just lost not only her father, but any claim she had to the throne as well.
Jaehaerys named Baelon heir to the throne and Prince of Dragonstone shortly after his return from Tarth. Her mother was furious, berating her half brother in private and entreating her half sister to persuade Jaehaerys otherwise when she wasn’t screaming at him. Corlys was likewise furious, but his was a more silent rage. Not directed at her, never at her, but at the King and Westerosi nobles who did not wish to see her on the Iron Throne.
It was Baelon himself who came to her shortly after the declaration, dropping to his knees in front of her and begging for forgiveness for his father’s decision. Rhaenys had given it to him without hesitation. She loved her uncle, no matter what happened. She didn’t think anyone knew about that interaction even to this day.
Rhaenys herself felt numb. Everything she had imagined her life to be had just fallen apart. Her father was dead, her mother retreating to Storm’s End indefinitely, her aunts either dead or out of reach, and her cousins engaged in their own lives. Viserys and Aemma married and Daemon was betrothed to Rhea Royce in the Vale. And so she and Corlys left King’s Landing behind and went back to Driftmark. It was the start of a new chapter in her life. It was not a happy one.
It was a time full of ups and downs - Daemon claimed Caraxes and flew to visit her in Driftmark. She had laughed when she saw him land, and the two of them and Corlys had spent many happy days catching up. But then Maegelle died from grayscale and they had to return to the capitol for yet another funeral. It was miserable at court, and not just because of the morbid affairs. The knowledge that she had been passed over as heir made her the topic of every piece of courtly gossip. She took it all in stride, but it did not make for a pleasing experience.
That chapter of her life came to an end the day her twins were born. Laena and Laenor Velaryon, they called them. They were the best part of her life and gave her new meaning. She would do anything to protect them and give them a happy childhood, even if the way things were going for their house were anything but. She placed dragon eggs in her children’s cradles - a privilege she fought for with the aid of her mother and Baelon - and Laenor’s hatched. She took them on their first flights on dragonback and the world was perfect.
A year later Rhaenyra was born and it seemed their dynasty was on an upward climb. They had suffered, yes, but things were getting better. A year after that, Vaella was born. Her birth only seemed to solidify their good fortune. Everyone was happier. The new babes did not erase the family they had lost, but they made it easier to heal and move forward.
But good things never last. It was a lesson Rhaenys was forced to learn, again and again.
Gael died when her littlest niece, Vaella, was just a year old. Illness, they said her cause of death was. And Rhaenys believed it, until her mother told her that Gael had given birth to a stillborn child out of wedlock and had drowned herself when she found out her babe did not breathe.
Rhaenys was furious. She had disliked Jaehaerys for quite some time now, not just because of his own slight against her. He had exiled Saera, driven Viserra to her death, and forced Daella to marry. He was the reason so many of her aunts were gone, and she held both him and Alyssane fully responsible for sweet Gael’s death. They had refused to allow Gael to leave the Keep for any reason. There would be no betrothal for her Winter Child and no visitations to her family outside of King’s Landing. Gael was younger than her, for the gods’ sakes! They had treated her dear aunt as a child and forced her to take measures into her own hands and Rhaenys would never forgive them for making her attend yet another funeral. She was so sick of fucking funerals.
But apparently, the gods didn’t agree with her because less than a year later, Good Queen Alyssane was dead. The whole realm mourned. It seemed everyone came to her funeral. Jaehaerys almost completely withdrew from anything that did not directly involve ruling the realm. Her family fell even further apart before her very eyes.
And then it shattered.
Baelon Targaryen died of a burst belly and the realm was thrust into uncertainty. The line of succession was muddled at best. Who would be Jaehaerys’ heir? Corlys worked hard to get her allies, but even before the Great Council was called, Rhaenys knew she would not be chosen. She had already been passed over once for the throne, they would do so again. When Viserys was chosen, Rhaenys clapped politely and returned to Driftmark shortly after. Her life continued on and she devoted herself to her twins and Driftmark.
The second chapter of her life ended the day Princess Vaella Targaryen arrived for them to foster. She didn’t know it at the time, not like she did the others, but her life would be irrevocably changed. Vaella was a force to be reckoned with, even at such a young age. She had claimed her own dragon, Dreamfyre, and practiced fighting as well as studying her history. She loved listening to Corlys’ stories of the places he had seen and she adored Laena and Laenor.
But most importantly, Vaella reminded Rhaenys of the Targaryens she had grown up with. She was Alyssa in the way she fought and Baelon in the way she laughed and Aemon in the way she studied. She had Viserra’s confidence and Saera’s firmness. She was sweet like Gael and kind like Maegelle and though she hadn’t spent much time with him, Rhaenys would wager she was intelligent like Vaegon. She was all of the best traits of their House with all the fire of a true dragon and Rhaenys just wished her aunts and uncles were still around to see her. Vaella quickly became close to both her and Corlys’ hearts.
And then Vaella let it slip that she was ignored at the Red Keep. She spoke of how Viserys rarely talked to her and Aemma was often indisposed and how that meant it was just her and Rhaenyra, but her older sister had her own friend - some Hightower girl, and didn’t that just disgust Rhaenys. Vaella talked about how it was Daemon who taught her Valyrian and Daemon who taught her how to fight. She spoke of how he always had time for her and would bring her books and fabrics and jewelry. Rhaenys realized that Daemon was one of the only positive influences in the girl’s life, and the only thing she could think of was, yeah, that makes sense . Because of course it was Daemon who would raise a girl to be everything their House used to be.
It was around that time that Vaella became more like a daughter to her and Corlys than a niece, a feeling that was wholeheartedly reciprocated by the girl herself. Later, she would call them muna and kepa , just like her own twins did. She would call Laena and Laenor sister and brother and Rhaenys would feel more content than she had since the first chapter of her life had ended.
So it wasn’t unusual that Rhaenys was the one to run to her youngest daughter’s rooms when a maid awoke her saying that Vaella was hysterical. She had had nightmares for as long as Rhaenys could remember, but when she arrived in Vaella’s rooms, she could tell that it was worse than usual.
The maid hadn’t been exaggerating when she said the young princess was in hysterics. Vaella was sobbing uncontrollably and rambling on about something Rhaenys didn’t understand. She had simply taken the girl - her daughter - into her arms and rubbed circles on her back, whispering soothing words into her ear until she calmed down enough and fell back asleep. Rhaenys had stayed with her that entire night, unwilling to leave her side in case she was besieged by another nightmare.
When Vaella woke up the next morning, she was much calmer than the night prior, but still looked exhausted. It was with a small voice that the little seven year old asks if Rhaenys can promise that if she tells her something, she won’t tell anyone else. Her eyes are more somber than Rhaenys thinks she’s ever seen on a child all of seven years. Yet as she looks at this girl, she sees the remnants of all the Targaryens that came before them and Rhaenys knows in the deepest parts of her soul that she will do anything she asks if it means she can help her.
That morning, with the early morning light coming in through the window and the blankets bundled around the two of them, Vaella tells her of a future to come. She tells her of treason and murder and war and usurpation and kinslaying. She tells Rhaenys how she Saw it every night for months when she was only three years old until she could recall even the slightest detail. She tells her how she still gets them sometimes - these Dreams of a potential future and a past already written in stone. It’s terrifying. It’s daunting.
It makes the dull fire that had been hibernating for what seemed like the longest time ignite in her veins. Rhaenys felt more like a dragon than she had in years. Gods, she hadn’t realized how subdued she had become, how much she had just been drifting along in life. How had it taken her daughter to make her realize it?
So Rhaenys hugs Vaella to her chest as the young girl cries and promises to help her in any way she can.
Her niece is a Dragon Dreamer, the likes of Daenys the Dreamer and Aegon the Conqueror themselves. Even better, perhaps. It makes Rhaenys want to laugh. She had said, again and again, that Vaella was more Targaryen than any she had seen in a while. How right she was.
The third chapter of her life is spent making endless plans for the future Vaella saw and teaching her children the way her mother and father taught her. They may not be the heirs to the throne, but she would be damned if she left them unprepared. She taught them everything from history to politics to fighting to flying. There were lessons on managing keeps and war strategies and embroidery. She taught them how to manipulate people in court and how to keep up their own facades in the eyes of those they don’t trust. After so long, Rhaenys feels alive again, and it’s brilliant. As much as she wants to throttle Viserys for the treatment of his daughters, she wouldn’t trade Vaella for anything in the world.