Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
By the age of one and three, Daenys Targaryen never stepped a foot outside King's Landing. Outside the Red Keep, really. Hiding under her mother's gown, the princess never had a chance to see more than prayers in the Sept in the mor, the little black cat (that she innocently named Balerion after her father's dragon) that made its residence on one of her open window's edges, the early spring in the Godswood and the watchful eyes of Maester Orwylle whenever she grew sick once more. But she knew more than her siblings did at that age – she was already an expert in the history of House Targaryen, despite being held inside the Keep, she bonded with the dragon Meraxes, she was practically fluent in High Valyrian. And, above all, Daenys Targaryen knew it was only a matter of time that her father – the King Viserys – would find a match for her and married her off just like he did with her older half-sister Rhaenyra and her older siblings Aegon and Helaena.
By the traditions of Old Valyria, it was highly speculated the King would eventually wed his third daughter to her twin brother Aemond, to keep their bloodline closer than ever, but when Daenys turned ten and she stumbled across the halls of the Keep in search of her mother's kiss for good night, she heard her mother beg her husband not to allow the same fate crash down on her youngest daughter as he did for her eldest one. It was a strange thing for the Targaryen siblings – how they never had a chance to explore a sibling bond when they grew up knowing they will eventually marry one of them.
Sometimes, Daenys hoped she'd marry Aemond. Not because she would want so but because it was the only way she would be allowed to stay in the Red Keep with her family. She'd, even at the young age of one and three, sacrifice her happiness in order to remain in the familiar place. Instead of that, she sat inside the large, wooden carriage that moved through the bumpy roads of the North, her hand clasped around a wooden dragon, her small head pressed against her mother's forearm. Aemond was seated next to her, head pressed against the window, watching the outside. On the other side, Aegon mimicked his younger brother while Helaena by his side held Jaehaerys in her arms, the babe babbling something unknown to everyone. Near her, a lady in waiting held the babe's twin Jaehaera. The Queen's youngest – Daeron – sat on the floor between his eldest siblings, too focused on the wooden toys between his own legs.
