AELORA

Chapter Five

After the wedding, the Northern people remained in King's Landing. Aelora, who wished to exile Otto right away, needed to think of a strategy to do it.

"Sister, are you alright?" Aelora asked. Rhaenyra had been throwing up in the morning, an indication of pregnancy.

"I am fine; the Maester will check on me later," the woman said, and Aelora nodded before scanning Rhaenyra's body. She smiled as she felt the presence of Rhaenyra's child. Aelora managed to confirm that the woman is pregnant.

"Sister, is there a way for you and Queen Alicent to reconcile?" Aelora asked, and Rhaenyra turned to her with a frown.

"Why do you ask?" The woman questioned.

"I believe your friendship ended the moment she married your father—"

"Our father," Rhaenyra corrected.

"Our father, but do you truly want your friendship to break off just because a man ended it?" Aelora asked. Rhaenyra thought about it. Aelora knows how to work with someone like Rhaenyra, who got overshadowed by a man, and she knows Rhaenyra doesn't want that.

"She's my friend, my best friend. She's the woman I counted on the most, and informing me that she will marry my father will be a head start, but she goes behind my back," Rhaenyra explained, and Aelora understands it.

Any person would feel betrayed by what Alicent did, no matter what the hypocrite people say. The woman betrayed Rhaenyra, and it's reasonable for Rhaenyra not to trust Alicent.

Aelora remembers when Alicent confronted the woman in the Weirwood Tree about Daemon and having a Queer Custom hypocrite. Aelora understands why Rhaenyra didn't tell her the truth because why would she tell her? She's not her friend anymore, and she couldn't trust her, knowing that Otto is doing everything he can to destroy Rhaenyra.

"I understand, but if you have the Queen on your side, there will be no more difficulties between you and her," Aelora said with no malice. It's like a little girl giving non-malignant advice.

Rhaenyra thought about it, and she knows it will be a good idea if the Queen is on her side. "Alright then, Little Sister. I will talk to her about this," Rhaenyra said.

Rhaenyra kissed Aelora's forehead before leaving her room. Aelora just stared at her sister before she leaves. Aelora looks around before walking towards the secret passageway. There will always be a secret passageway in each room.

She opens it, looks around the tunnels, the underpasses that she studied when she was just a ghost. Aelora shuts the door behind her and begins sauntering toward the tunnel to the Queen's chamber.

Aelora positions her ear on the door. She hears Rhaenyra enter the room where the Queen is. "Rhaenyra, is there something I could help you with?" Alicent asked.

Rhaenyra glanced at the Queen, who was holding Helaena in her arms, but the babe didn't settle and keeps on crying. She could see the way Alicent keeps on struggling to make Helaena calm down.

"Maybe I could hold her," Rhaenyra proposes. The woman frowns at her, but she gradually gives the babe to Rhaenyra.

Rhaenyra soothes the babe on her arm, and slowly Helaena stops crying, feeling the warmth of her older sister. Alicent was surprised to see how easily Rhaenyra managed to console her child, and she couldn't.

"How did you do that?" Alicent asked.

"Mother showed me how to carry a babe and settle them," Rhaenyra answers, and Helaena slowly dozes off in her arms. Alicent stared at the girl she once treasured.

"Umm... Motherhood never really came to me when Aegon was born, but I'm slowly getting used to it," Alicent said, and Rhaenyra turned to her. She noticed the wounded cuticle and mantle of the woman.