Chapter Text
The residents of the fortress were tossed aside as a hurricane was passing through the corridors. And it might as well have been.
A hurricane with platinum hair who wore a crown.
While some of the court and new servants twisted nervously with wide eyes half frightened, those who had resided in the castle for the last 10 years barely paid attention to the ball of exploding nervous energy that was their queen, opting to calmly move out of the way knowing full well that their queen had no intention of wasting her time receiving their courtesies.
The kitchen maids especially, more than used to their queen's strange behaviour in certain situations, barely moved a hair before offering her the tray full of raspberry pastries and warm milk they knew she was expecting. The queen had murmured a hurried thank you before rushing off again.
"Is...I...Is the queen okay?" the new kitchen assistant asked. Her family had served the Targaryens since the reign of King Jaehaerys and it was a title they carried with pride, especially after the considerations the new queen had had for the servants since her accession to the throne; raising their wages and offering education to the children.
The younger girls giggled conspiratorially around her as they cleaned up, before their mother silenced them with a snort.
"The queen consort announced a new pregnancy to the court yesterday."
The entire kitchen hummed in affirmation, as if that sentence made any sense in the queen's state. Her mother must have seen her confusion for she turned to her, still drying her hands with a cloth.
"You had better get used to it, child. The next six moons are going to be a maelstrom."
"By the seven gods..." Alicent snorted under her breath, hugging her wife's neck as she was carried up the stairs like an infant.
In response, her wife simply kissed her cheek as she continued on her way, heedless of the stares of the fortress's residents.
Once on the grounds, the queen carefully settled her wife into her usual seat, making sure to properly fluff the pillows on her back, kissed her plump belly and took her hand before taking a seat beside her.
"How are you feeling today? Any discomfort? Should I call the maester and the midwives for a check?" she asked against her wife's knuckles.
"Rhaenyra..." Alicent sighed wearily, somewhere between annoyed and preened. "I'm fine, let the poor people rest, you had them running all over the castle yesterday around a perfectly common nausea."
"I didn't have them running around, their only job is to look after their queen," the alpha replied stubbornly.
"You know perfectly well that is not his only job," Alicent challenged her, fighting the curve that threatened to form on her lips.
Rhaenyra looked at her in all seriousness. "It is, I command it. "
Alicent leaned in for a kiss from her lady wife and alpha, who greeted her with a contented purr.
When the kiss ended, they held their foreheads together for several seconds, both enjoying the connection their bond granted them.
"I'm fine, Nyra. I promise. The midwives say the baby is ready to come at any moment. And as much as I love being in your arms, there's no need for you to act as my personal chariot whenever I need to move."
Rhaenyra sighed and leaned her head into her wife's neck in a complete act of vulnerability, the slightly afraid pheromones brushing against Alicent's sensitive nose.
"I'm sorry, Issa jorrãelagon. I know I've been acting a little overprotective lately, I can't help it."
Alicent knew. While her previous two pregnancies passed without much inconvenience, Rhaenyra had always been scared to the bone at every turn of them, especially with the first.
Back her first pregnancy, Alicent was sure that at any moment her wife would wrap her in silken cloaks in bed and stand guard at the door for the entire nine moons until the arrival of their child.
Rhaegar arrived after more than a full day of labour, it was hard, painful and too slow; normal for a first child according to the midwives, Rhaenyra had not moved from her side for a second. Each time she slipped into unconsciousness she awoke again with her hand firmly clasped in her wife's.
She knew that the maester at the time had been furious at this, grumbling that it was inappropriate for the queen to be present at the birth. Of course, the man was only able to complain for a couple of minutes before the queen threatened to take his head off with her teeth if he kept bothering her beloved wife.
Alicent, in the midst of her contractions, had let out a laugh so loud that it had probably been heard as far away as Fleabottom, much to the man's eternal indignation. Not that it mattered much, as Rhaenyra dismissed him the next day.
Though slow and painful, somehow she managed to be calmer than her wife, perhaps because it was clear to Alicent that Rhaenyra would rather feed herself to Syrax than let anything happen to her and that she would always choose her first even over a firstborn heir, in addition to the colourful group of 20 specialists from all over the realm and Essos that her wife had collected for the moment.
Rhaenyra was a case apart, the nine moons she had been a ball of nerves and overprotection. The last three moons of the pregnancy, she had left some of her responsibilities to Rhaenys as the ladyhand, while concentrating most of her time on caring for Alicent, even though the latter had tried to refuse.
Though Alicent knew her alpha's mind held bad memories of Queen Aemma's births and her abrupt death at the hands of King Viserys, she did not know how bad it was until she awoke one night in the dead of night to find Rhaenyra kneeling on the floor beside the bed, trembling hands holding in hers, whispering desperate promises to the gods and to Alicent herself.
When the little prince arrived, with violet eyes like his mother and silver hair, Rhaenyra stood firm.
When Alicent affirmed her decision to name him Rhaegar in honour of his very loving, loyal and strong mother, Rhaenyra kissed her and whispered words of thanks and love with her son held tightly against her chest.
As Rhaegar was cleansed and placed in the arms of an Alicent now free of the blood of childbirth, Rhaenyra cried. Thick tears of relief and elation as she cuddled her beloved wife and their firstborn son.
Her second pregnancy passed in a similar fashion, with Rhaenyra breathing down her neck at every turn. At times it was truly annoying, and at other times downright helpful, especially when the cravings attacked her again during the first six moons. Fortunately, the delivery was much quicker though no less painful, and brought with it an unexpected surprise.
Prince Aelerys and Princess Alysanne were born at the genesis of a new day, both named by Rhaenyra after the strong mother who had brought them into the world, both with Alicent's nose and large eyes despite the purple colour and platinum hair.
Now in her third pregnancy, Rhaenyra seemed determined once again to indulge her every whim and envelop her in overprotectiveness. Alicent could only complain so much, especially knowing so well of her wife's fears.
"I know, my love" Alicent leaned towards her queen, stroking the fine hair at the nape of her neck affectionately. " Our little and I will be fine, after Aelerys and Alysanne this is no challenge at all."
Rhaenyra let out a giggle against her neck and Alicent hummed, pleased with her reaction.
"What if we are blessed with a double birth again?"
-Then may the gods have mercy on Kingslanding, the fortress barely survives on your two maelstroms, I don't think our coffers can support what we'd have to pay the nursemaids"
Another chuckle echoed against the skin of her neck, sending shivers down her spine. "Poor Talya is already complaining of aging early. "
Alicent shared her amusement. Where Rhaegar had been a quiet toddler, the twins were the opposite, running away from all lessons that had nothing to do with swords and climbing up the castle to the heartbreak of their nursemaids. Both of them were so much like Rhaenyra in attitude as a child, if she had to listen to the whispers of the elders of the court.
"Can you blame her? Your children are tornadoes."
"They are dragons," the alpha declared, barely pulling away from her wife to meet the brown eyes, “And why are they my children when they cause a disturbance but yours when they are well-behaved?” grumbled.
Alicent smiled and leaned down to kiss her."Because that restlessness comes from your side of the family"
Rhaenyra merely nodded with clear eyes, already leaning in for another kiss.
When they parted several seconds later, Rhaenyra fiddled with the auburn curls that fell about her wife's shoulders. -I hope she has your hair," violet eyes roamed over her omega's abundant hair, so much beautiful hair as bright as fire of the gods to brown deer eyes that promised absolute peace. "And your beautiful eyes" declared softly, staring at her wife with pure devotion.
Alicent melted into her care, happy to let herself be stared at and pampered with caresses.
"No silver hair and purple eyes?"
Rhaenyra shrugged with a smile, still looking at her. " I don't really care what they look like as long as they're healthy. But it would be lovely to have a darker hair running through the corridors, don't you think so sweet Alicent?"
Alicent imagined it for a moment, so far all her children were born Targaryen-looking, especially Rhaegar who was practically a carbon copy of Rhaenyra. Then she imagined a little girl with brown eyes and hair like her own, who would be loved and adored by her older brothers, sister and parents as Alicent herself had never been.
"I would love that. "
Two weeks later, Aemma Targaryen was born, named by Alicent after her late good mother who had been so kind the few years she had known her and had managed to raise such a good woman with such limited time. Aemma Targaryen was born with abundant reddish-brown hair a shade lighter than Alicent's, lovely flushed cheeks, with one blue eye and another brown.
She had her siblings and Rhaenyra around her tiny little finger from the first moment, and then, when on her first onomastic she greeted all the guests at court with absolutely adorable baby smiles and never once cried, every lord and lady in attendance seemed to fall for the sweet princess's charms, especially the one who would be Lady Jayne Arryn, that sobbed as she held and watched closely the distinctive blue eye and rosy cheeks with Aemma Arryn's soft features.