Chapter Text
Rhea Royce:
The day was beautiful, the sun was warm and the wind carried a faint smell of grass and nature but she was not happy.
She was in the yard along with her two boys.
She knew she would hate that day from the moment her husband, if he could even be called that, he had told her the news. Her son was expected at the capital, her son, not her husband’s who didn’t care enough for them and flew to King’s Landing since the night they consumed their marriage.
She expected a happy marriage with a dragon-riding Prince but how disappointed was she, at the very least he had given her a beautiful gift.
Two boys, her perfect twins, the heirs to Runestone.
Jaehaerys her eldest, is a beautiful honey-blonde boy, with a green eye and the other one being blue. He was everything someone could want from a son, he was calm, dutiful, determined, and focused.
Baelon her younger, perfectly Valyrian in appearance carries himself with such determination and charisma despite being just a kid of ten.
She didn’t choose those names, she had in mind to name them Yohn and Nestor but her husband decided otherwise and wrote to his grandfather the king stating their names.
She had slept for two whole days after giving birth to them and he used this time to name them, totally ignoring her once again but now she had grown accustomed to it by now.
She remembered clearly the birth of her twins, she reminisced about the blood, the maester and women running around, and the feeling that her very being was torn to shreds. Her throat grew dry as she recalled these moments. The blood on the hands of the maester, the taste of her tears, and the feeling of dread the impression that she would not survive.
During the birth, she was sure that she would hate whatever crawled out of her, she even swore it to the Mother and the Crone. Yet when her eyes found the little being still covered in blood and liquid, she didn’t know how to feel before being forced to push another one out and after that, she only remembered the pain and the darkness.
It was ten years ago but at the same time, even now when she thinks about it cold sweat rolls down her neck and her breath gets short.
Yet two days later when she found her babes and watched both of them she cursed herself. How could she even begin to imagine that she would hate such perfect beings, such beautiful gifts?
The moment was soured by her husband and the revelation of the names.
Daemon Targaryen the Rogue Prince, her husband and both brother and grandson to a king, but to her he was barely more than the man she was forced to marry because her father found the match advantaging.
In another life maybe she and her husband could have been a happy and blessed couple but not in this one.
She only ever had fights with him, she remembered that less than two weeks after the birth of the twins, he flew away toward King’s Landing without even telling her of his departure and disappeared in the night.
Since that day he came sporadically into their lives, he would land on his red dragon and act as if he didn’t just abandon them. He always tried to play the role of the perfect father but he never managed to get close to Baelon and Jaehaerys, no matter how many flights he took with them.
Her boy grew to be even more impressive than anything she imagined, they both picked sword as soon as they turned four and began to spar. Her uncle who served as the master-at-arms of the castle told her that he never had seen anything like these twins before, they were prodigies and fought and carried themselves ‘like men at war’ he had told her once.
Even then what surprised her the most was what maester Desmond told her, he said that her children were far above anything he had ever learned about. Jaehaerys and Baelon were able to talk by the time they were three but already could write and read since two years old. He explained to her that they showed an impressive knowledge of the different houses in the realm.
Maester Desmond explained that the twins were likely the brightest kids in the world, and had asked to write to the Citadel about them, while she agreed Rhea still asked to review the letter first before sending it.
She remembered the many nights when Jaehaerys and his brother would refuse to be separated from each other.
She heard from some of the servants that Baelon especially was prone to terrible nightmares, of course, his twin was always the one to calm him.
For many nights after hearing about these nightmares, Rhea took it upon herself to stay with her boys.
She stopped reminiscing and watched her two boys talking to each other, both with the same smile.
Jaehaerys was wearing a simple blue tunic with bronze decorations around the neck and the arms. His hair was held in a ponytail. He had always been very proud of his heritage and the history of House Royce, he had taken to heart about learning both the runes and the Old Tongue.
Baelon was a little different, his clothes reflected that he chose a deep brown tunic with red lining, she thought that if someone didn't know he was a Royce they could swear he hailed from the royal House.
He had all the looks of the Targaryen, especially his purple eyes which were from a different shade than his father’s. He was just as capable as his brother but didn't seem to be able to focus entirely on something, he was always picking up a new passion but never stuck to it.
Her eyes wandered for another short second but the shrieking sound coming from the skies quickly got her attention.
Then the sight of the red dragon appeared above them.
She hated that her boys would be separated but at the same time what could she say? The king ordered it and she would oblige.
The content of the letter didn't leave much to discuss, the words were short and clear.
Baelon was expected to come to the capital, it was not a suggestion or a proposition, it was an order. The kind of order that reeked of smoke and fire.
She couldn't even make a plea to her husband, he was in Kings Landing and he was probably the one who asked for this.
“Baelon,” she called her son.
The boy turned and came close.
She took a knee on the fresh soil not caring about ruining her dress, she pulled her second son in a tight hug before letting him go a bit and looking straight in his indigo eyes.
Since he was a child there was some distance between them, of course, she loved her son and he gave it back to her yet at the same time there was a gap that never disappeared while she never felt that about Jaehaerys.
“Baelon, my sweet boy,” she smiled at him. “I don't need to explain to you what it means that you're going to the capital.”
“Yes Mother, I understand,” he responded solemnly.
Rhea smiled at her son.
“My father used to tell me that King’s Landing was unlike anything one could imagine, both in good and in bad. He told me that in this city the worst and the best can happen, so you need to be careful.
If I had any power over this decision you would have stayed here with us, but the king's word is the law and we all must obey.”
“You will get to train with the King's Guard, brother, I'm jealous,” Jaehaerys said.
She understood what Jae had just done, he tried to lighten up the situation since she had grown quite somber as she spoke.
“Maybe by the next time we meet, I'll stand a chance against you,” Baelon answered.
“Maybe, but I doubt it,”
Baelon had an uneasy smile and turned back to his mother as she pulled a ring she had on herself.
“This is for you, it symbolizes your heritage as a Royce. I know that in King’s Landing, you will be close to your father's family but never forget Baelon, that Runstone is your home.”
She gave her son a ring made of Bronze, a simple circle with runes graved on it.
The ring had belonged to her father who himself got it from his uncle, it could be traced all the way to Tristifer Royce III one of the ancient Bronze Kings, she wanted to give it to one of them and she hoped to do it when they would have been older but now that they would be separated, probably for years, Rhea made her decision. Baelon will have at least this heirloom, while Jaehaerys will have everything else, from Lamentation to the Armor of the Elder, then at least Baelon would have the ring. She passed the ring in a simple silver chain that she carefully placed around the neck of her second son fighting the tear swelling in her eyes.
“Baelon, Jaehaerys I… I…” She tried to say something but the words died in her throat, clumped by the emotion.
She took this chance to hug both of her children like she always did since they were babies, she understood that she would not have another occasion for some time.
She kept her boys in a tight hug but her eyes went to the form of Daemon Targaryen coming close to them.
She watched as her princely husband came closer draped in his black shirt, his hair slicked back and the same cocky look he carried.
Maybe in another life, there would have been some love between them, maybe he would have been a good man and husband to her, a good father to the twins. Sadly this life was the only one she had, and Daemon Targaryen was who he was.
She was suffering and the thought of abandoning her child to him made her suffer, but she wouldn't show that to Daemon.
She let go of her sons and rose to her feet again, she was by no means a small woman but Daemon was easily a head taller than her.
“Husband,” she knew her words sounded false but she didn't care. “You finally bless us with your presence.”
“Yes, yes I had urgent matters to attend to in Bronzeport,” Daemon said with a smile.
“Jaehaerys, Baelon come here.”
During one of the days when he was here, she heard him say that Jaehaerys was very similar to his mother, apparently from his blonde hair, to his eyes of two different colors.
While Baelon apparently shared similarities with the now-deceased Prince Aemon Targaryen, Daemon’s uncle.
Rhea watched her sons come close to their father if Daemon was any indication of what they would look like then they were both blessed.
Many people had told her that her children had inherited the beauty of Old Valyria but she hoped they only took the looks and not the proclivities.
Daemon seemed to smile at his sons before taking a good look at Jaehaerys.
“Look at you, if it was only up to me I would take both of you on Caraxes and bring you to your rightful places,” Daemon told her eldest not caring at all for her or the guards of Runestone.
“Father, my place is here not in King’s Landing,” he briefly explained with an uneasy smile.
“Hmmm, Baelon are you ready?”
“Yes, everything is in order, Father,” Baelon responded.
“Good, make your goodbyes and we will depart.”
Baelon turned to his mother and gave her a warm smile even if it was still a bit formal. She didn't care and brought him close to her clutching him like he was about to vanish into a cloud of smoke, after a short second he reciprocated it deepening his embrace.
“Mother, I will make you proud.”
“I know you will, you always did,” she followed choking on her words.
She withdrew from her boy whose eyes seemed to swell a bit, as she saw him go on to hug his brother.
After they separated, she saw Jaehaerys place a hand on his brother's shoulder.
“The next time we meet, you will be the one dressed in all black.”
“Most likely, but it was always more your color than mine.”
She wondered sometimes how she managed to have children like them, she had heard many times of brothers hating each other, and even her husband’s house seemed prone to infighting, yet her sons were as thick as thieves and were always there for the other.
As her sons talked a bit Daemon came close to her while she glared back at him.
“You just took half of my heart with you, at least take care of it,” she said.
“Half you say? Is there no place for your loving husband in your heart,” he joked back to her.
“There isn't, Jaehaerys and Baelon were meant to stay together. You chose to do this, to separate them the least you can do Daemon is to take care of him.”
“He is my son as well, and you don't even have to worry about him. In King’s Landing, he will have his family, one day he will have my sword,” he turned his head toward Caraxes. “And his rightful heritage, as much as Jaehaerys will as well.”
“I want to believe you, but I don't.”
“I cannot say that I really care about whether you believe me or not, but by giving me sons, you fulfilled the only thing I would ever need from you.”
She left it at that, there was no point in arguing with him.
Soon enough the twins made their final goodbyes and hugged each other again. Her second son came closer to them and hugged her tighter than the one before.
“Mother” he murmured. “I will be fine, I will write to you and Jae as soon as I reach King’s Landing.”
“I know that you will be fine, but that doesn't mean I won't worry for you,” she smiled at him.
“Baelon, we need to leave now if we wish to reach King’s Landing before nightfall.”
“Yes, father.”
Rhea watched with a heavy heart as Baelon walked to his father’s side. Her boys were now separated and only the gods knew when they would be together again.
Jaehaerys also had a somber expression but even then he remained as calm as the skies.
“Baelon will do just fine, mother.”
“I hope so.”