family?
"We cannot go headfirst into this daemon! why would i wish for my allies to meet their deaths so soon?"
"waiting will bring forth nothing, the sooner we attack now the better chance we have at winning, their heads will be spiked by the morrow if it were i leading the charge"
"do you hear yourself? how could you possibly be that closed minded into solely think..."
their voices drowned out as zaenya laid her head onto her folded arms, she could care less for their arguments, thats all her father and rhaenyra had been doing for the hours now—simply arguing and fighting on what their next move will be
she could be doing something more worth her time than this rather then listen to their quarrels "our dragons is our best route on succeeding, and with zaenya with us there is a bigger chance of the victory you don't believe we'll have so soon" said daemon with a subtle roll of his eyes
rhaenyra sighed turning to the laying woman "what do you think of this zaenya?" all eyes now turned to her
she peaked her head up "oh, you're finally done with your silly disagreements?" she sat up
daemon narrowed his eyes "this is serious zaenya"
zaenya hummed leaning her cheek against her palm "well i for one would suggest calling upon your allies firstly before any acts of violence"
rhaenyra gave daemon a pointed look "wonderful choice that i whole heartedly agree with"
"but taking slow paced steps awaiting their next move would ultimately set you back because you'll never know what they plan next, what their intentions might be that may not be as peaceful as your claim to theirs" the tall woman continued "gather all needed allies here and now and plot your next move wisely if you wish not for bloodshed and dragonsfire, send out ravens to all who bended the knee to you when crowned heir and see who had been truly loyal to your side"
daemon looked to his daughter certainly a surprise look glazing over his eyes, he had never knew zaenya would be this level headed in anything, would restrict her wild nature and plan more smartly
....hm he wondered what had changed
lord simon staunton perked up "if i may your grace" rhaenyra nodded for him to continue "i must agree with what zaenya had said though ravens would have to be sent cautiously if we do not want the usurper finding these letters"
"what do you propose we do than lord simon, if letters are inconvenient?" said maester gerardys
the man looked between the royals "well ...their royal highnesses do have dragons.." spewed the man out the suggestion
zaenya tilted her head at that but didn't doubt his words "...dragons are more faster than ravens and handing personal letters would be a better convince than a mere raven" she agreed with a small nod
rhaenyra looked at her husband, whom stayed still and nodded along "well than, i could not leave on syrax personally and zaenya cannot deliver all these letters alone..."
"you forget the prince jacaerys and prince lucerys, both with dragons aswell" piped lord bartimos celtigar in
"mere children?" zaenya furrowed her brows not liking the idea of sending the two boys out when many dangers could come their way
"nearly men grown" retorted daemon
zaenya rolled her eyes "lucerys is all but ten and four"
"the very age you first killed a man, i'm sure he will be fine" the tall woman sent a glare daemons way in response to his words, just because she tainted her hands with blood at a young age doesn't mean lucerys needs to be involved in any of this "stormsend is the shortest route here from dragonstone, lucerys can deliver the letter and return here with no difficulty—jacaerys on the other hand has a bigger dragon than lucerys and has little experience in warfare and swordsmenship he can fly to winterfell to ensure lord cregan stark kept to his father's oath" the rogue prince continued
"or you could just let me go in both their steads and leave them out from all of this" zaenya leaned forward turning her head to rhaenyra "rhaenyra, jacaerys is your heir and lucerys is heir to driftmark you cannot possibly endanger their lives when we won't know what element of surprise we'd expect"
rhaenyra parted her lips to speak but lord simon spoke up "the prince daemon is right, the princlings do need involvement in this oncoming war if they are to keep the thrones bestowed upon them, stormsend would be a best option for the prince lucerys and winterfell are timid people, no harm would be done on prince jacaerys"
zaenyas brow twitched but kept her eyes on rhaenyra "send me instead" she's determined, steadfast on her word
the queen contemplated looking between her council before letting her gaze fall back on zaenya, a sigh left her lips "zaenya ...we will need you here more than ever rather than sending you away, you are our most important alley in this moment"
the tall woman groaned running her hand down her face "for what exactly? keeping post with the guards whilst my brother's could possibly risk their lives for something i could've done easily"
"you will lead the march to surround kings landing once we terminate otto, his grandson aemond and their allies—the usurper and his scheming, lying bitch of a mother will have no way to escape and that's when you, kronos and our men attack and stake their heads on a spike" once daemon said their plan aloud
zaenya felt her face drop, she knew not to feel this way after what happened between her and alicent—but the way her father spoke of alicent made her brows knit together and her eyes of two sharpened, she could rip out his tongue and feed it to her dragon for calling alicent names of such
and he wants her to kill her alic-
zaenya
alicent.
daemon wants her to kill alicent
rhaenyra perked at this, at zaenya's small reaction, one of which made her curious to say "leave us, not you zaenya" with the command of the queen, they all bowed and left the room so the two women would be alone
zaenya stood from her seat "what is it now?" quite rudely to say the least but zaenya was clearly not in the mood, rhaenyra squinted her eyes watching zaenya's every move before nearing the tall woman pouring her a heafty goblet of wine "what truly happened there?" asked rhaenyra
the tall woman gave the woman a simple glance before returning it back to the wall "i do not know what you speak of" she mumbled
"i believe you do" rhaenyra retorted, much sternly at that
zaenya sighed for what it seems the hundredth time today "nothing that will interest you, i assure"
rhaenyra hummed "i am not as dense as you think zaenya, i can see straight past your lies-"
"no you do no-"
"yes, i do" the queen hardened her eyes as her voice now commanding
zaenya scoffed slamming down the goblet in her hand against the table, the bits of red wine spilled from the cup as the woman walked straight past rhaenyra wanting to leave the room "you are not my mother to demand me anything"
"but i am your queen and i order you to stay, zaenya targaryen" authority dripped from the woman's voice as she narrowed her eyes at the paused figure from the tall woman "and you will tell me what in the heavens above happened that made you like this, act like someone all of us, your family does not know anymore" rhaenyra was quick to switch to a more pleading tone, begging for zaenya to open up just for once in her life
silence now filled the room, deadly silence at that as neither moved from their place with one awaiting a reply with replaced care in their eyes whilst the other kept their back turned—but soon the silence was filled with a laugh, a dry laugh that tumbled from zaenya's lips as she shook her head "seven hells, what am i doing" she said to herself with more chuckles following after
peaceful, a bliss was the life of zaenya when she had not placed herself in her royal stead, had enjoyed and lived out her life with excitement, no cares in the world, not knowing how to feel nor to cry—hell even to love. no ounce of worry and doubt swirled in her head as she drunk and fucked her nights away, no nights letting the warm tears slip from her eyes as she stared at that boring old ceiling, that damned ruby covered chandelier made from black steel, no thoughts of pained memories taunting her like a pledge
none, t'was peaceful her lifetime before yes ...but now, now everything shifted and zaenya felt like losing herself into madness completely
with warm tears stinging at her eyes, zaenya wiped them harshly before they could fall onto her cheeks letting her face fall blank before turning to rhaenyra and shrugged "only my eyes have seen and my entire being endured something, even if i were to tell, something you ...wouldn't understand and i wish not to say" was all she said, was all she left rhaenyra to figure out
the woman neared her and once in her reach, took the tall woman's hands in hers "you can trust me zaenya, i would not tell a single soul and if you were for me to vanish what was said moments after it was told, that is what i'll do"
"what you can do is order your husband to not let me surround and attack kings landing when innocence reside within the red keep, even if an innocent roaming its castle walls is covered by sin forced upon them" thoughts of helaena and those small young children—and still after everything, zaenya was thoughtful, was considered of her safety, not wanting her to be at the end of a sword
"you said i was an important alley, let my word be agreed on like it is my fathers, like it is your council" she urged on
rhaenyra let out a heavy sigh of her own but she nonetheless sighed giving zaenya's hand a squeeze "alright than"
zaenya felt the small weight on her shoulders lift as she gave the queen a nod of respect before ultimately leaving the room, in hopes that all of this won't spiral into something terribly darkening
aye, grasp onto that hopeful thought whilst it last