These Violent Acts → House of the Dragon

013. Lords and Ladies A Plenty

"Many things upset me," Naenya said, staring down at the dancing Lords and Ladies, "You'll have to be more specific,"

"You never responded to the letter announcing Prince Aegons birth, so I'm told," Rhaenys said, neither Targaryen turning to look at the other, "I can't imagine you'd be too fond. You're a smart girl. You know the lords of Westeros would rather see their Houses fall than see it ruled by a woman,"

Naenya stayed silent, taking a sip of her goblet. 

"You're a smart woman. The lords bent the knee to you because they had no one else to rule them," Rhaenys continued on as Naenya remained stone-faced, "They have Aegon now. They will expect certain things, and your father is no fool. He will know too,"

"You speak as if I do not know this already, though I do dispute one thing that you seem to state as fact. My father is a fool. A kind-hearted and gentle King that rules a happy Kingdom well, but a fool nonetheless," Naenya finally spoke, her face remaining unchanging, "He made that obvious when he decided to make me heir and continued to do so once Aegon was born."

After some time, Naenya finally turned to address Rhaenys properly. Standing where they stood, on a bannister above the dancing, they appeared as Gods looking down from the heavens. With their white hair and porcelain skin, a Targaryen could easily be mistaken for having a heavenly glow. Two Targaryen women, watching each other carefully, could appear as battle angels. 

"It is why I have been gone from all that I love, all that I hold dear, for almost two goddamn years. You think I did so as some sort of party, Rhaenys?"

"Oh I know what your plan was, though I pause in my belief that it would have worked,"

"I didn't just speak to Lords, but their wives, the future ladies and their sons," Naenya said, a deep frown upon her face, "where I couldn't find an ally in a Lord, I found it in their wife or their child. I showed my value as ruler, and I have dressed my own home up in such heinous ways to marry myself off to one of those Lords. So that I may have even deeper ties to the Houses that wish me gone,"

Hard steely eyes stared deeply into one another, a tension so silent that a passerby would never have noticed the conflict between the two women. Only a dragon would have been able to see through the mist and into the debate occurring within. 

"You speak to me as though I have only thought one step ahead of myself. Believe me, I have not, and I am very well aware of the hills I must climb. I am sure you considered your own hills prior to when you were thrown aside, though you did have Lord Corlys by your side. You had a husband, whereas I do not. It is both a good and a bad, I suppose"

Naenya glanced back to the crowds as she took a deep breath. 

"Now, I hope to have your counsel through my ever upwards climb, but for now, I must go back to prancing around like a show pony so I may force unending loyalty to me from another House"

"How will it be unending?"

"I will have to marry a first son, of course. Their house must be mine,"

"Even if you do not love them?" Rhaenys tested.

"Especially if I do not love them,"

Naenya placed her goblet onto a nearby table, turning and walking away from her Velaryon relative. She kept walking, her head held high, until she was certain she was out of sight of the Targaryen woman. Once she was, she let herself pause, taking a deep breath as she let out a sigh. 

Grabbing a goblet of wine from a nearby servant, she took a sip before handing it back. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she rolled her shoulders back and prepared to continue onto the mating ceremony. 

Author typing...

There's still plenty to go! Naenya is having to deal with a lot of bullshit during this one night. She gonna need plenty of wine to get through this (Though, if it's not obvious, Naenya doesn't really drink. She prefers to be the only clearheaded one amongst a bunch of drunks)

I feel like Rhaenys has Naenya's best interests at heart, Naenya is far more pragmatic and realistic than Rhaenyra so Rhaenys would probably respect her for that. But Rhaenys gotta come in and spit facts because Rhaenys wants to know what's in Naenya's head, Rhaenys truly believes a female heir won't actually happen (But like, fair)