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It had swept in quickly and quietly, a silent killer that had already taken so many lives, and left so many others sick. The Targaryen dynasty it is often said are closer to Gods than men, but even they were not immune to the unknown sickness that was spreading throughout King's Landing and the Seven Kingdoms.

It had started with the Prince's Aegon and Aemond, they had quickly spiked temperatures and their bodies could not compensate for the rapid increase, so the Maester's had provided them with Milk of the Poppy which put them into a painless sleep as their body would either survive or succumb to the sickness.

Everyone took great care to avoid the newly born children of Princess Rhaenyra but the sickness still slipped its way in, and the two children, barely 4 moons in the world had both gotten sick.

Prince Jacerys and Princess Helaena were the only young royal children spared from this cruel sickness, so the two former friends agreed to send their only healthy children to Dragonstone with Ser Criston Cole and Ser Harwin Strong (each woman's fiercest champion, and most trusted protectors).

After saying goodbye to their healthy children (not without tears from each small child, and with little Prince Jacerys informing his mother that he had finally picked out the perfect dragon eggs for his younger siblings), the two mothers made their way back to their children's bedsides.

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Alicent sat staunchly between both of her sons' beds, her hands moving at a rapid pace as she made two prayer wheels, silently begging the Gods to spare her sons. Every few moments she would rise from her seat and touch her hands to their foreheads, hoping that their fevers had broken suddenly.

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On the other side of the Keep, Rhaenyra and Laenor were both trying to calm the screaming twins to no avail. The Maester's had offered to provide Milk of the Poppy for the babies but it was immediately refused; they were much too young, and even the smallest dose of the sedative could prove fatal.

"Hush little one soon all will be well," Rhaenyra whispered to Rhaella, hoping that soon, all would indeed be well. She looked over at Laenor who was looking at their younger son with worry over the top of the bassinet, the Maester's had warned the Princess and Knight that too much movement of the twins could make them worse.

It was clear they, like their uncles were spiking fevers, their skin hot to the touch, but they were freezing by the way that they were shivering. The dragon eggs that Jacerys had picked out lay in the far corner of their cribs, they emitted a very dull heat that Rhaenyra hoped wouldn't exacerbate their fevers but would help calm their shivering.

For the two mothers, it was a waiting game, either their children would live, or they would join the thousands of others that had gone and greeted The Stranger. The Maester's had taken note of the fact that this night would prove if they lived or died.

The Crown Princess had never considered herself an extremely religious person (not like House Hightower who were devout followers of the Faith of the Seven) but she would allow herself to pray to the Mother this one time. She prayed that Jacerys was alright being at Dragonstone, she prayed that Harwin was keeping their son safe, and she prayed mostly for the fact that Rhaella and Lucerys, her Ella, and Luke would survive.

By the time the sun set, the trial of life began for the young Velaryon's as they both had finally settled down, sleep overtaking them. Now whether they woke from that sleep was purely up to the Gods.

Rhaenyra and Laenor barely spoke to each other, and if they did it was to tell the other to swap places so they may each spend time with the other child; or to share little things they had noticed whether it be the calm look on Lucerys' face or the slightly grimaced face of Rhaella. Other than those few words the only thing that could be heard was the dull roar of the fire, and the sounds of breath.

Time seemed to march on slowly, too slowly for the Princess' liking, the Queen's Handmaiden Talya had appeared briefly to inform Rhaenyra and Laenor that her half-brother's fevers had broken and they had woken from their comas. Neither the Princess nor her husband could find themselves overjoyed with the news as two of their own children were still ill.

Houses Targaryen and Velaryon, the blood of old Valyria, the people who were considered closer to Gods than men, did not take into account a very human element. Exhaustion. The royal twins had been entering their fourth night of the sickness, and Rhaenyra and Laenor had not slept once since Lucerys coughed for the first time. Laenor and Rhaenyra had both sworn they would only close their eyes for a brief moment, but that brief moment became a few hours as exhaustion had finally won the battle.

The Princess of Dragonstone only awoke when the first lights of dawn had broken through the windows of the royal nursery. Realizing how much time had truly passed, Rhaenyra took off her shoe and threw it at her husband who was immediately startled from his slumber.

"What happened?" Laenor asked as he rubbed the remnants of sleep from his eyes. "We fell asleep!!!" Rhaenyra hissed, also rubbing the sleep from her eyes as they properly focused in on the twins, praying that they had made it through the night and did not die while she selfishly slept.

Rhaenyra was relieved to see that her children were indeed not dead and that they were sweating through their nightclothes, a sign the Maester had informed them of that signified that their fevers had broken. What Rhaenyra and the now fully awake Ser Laenor were not expecting, however, was that their children would not be alone in their cradles.

Staring at the cradles slightly stunned they saw two newly hatched baby dragons laid at the feet of the now giggling Rhaella and Lucerys. Rhaenyra and Laenor both knew that there was about a fifty percent chance of either egg hatching, so this was somewhat of a miracle. Now Houses Targaryen and Velaryon would have two more Dragonriders in the near future.

Picking up their children, Rhaenyra and Laenor both let out sighs of relief. They were thankful their children were two of the few that had survived, and they were thrilled that the mighty House of Dragons would add two more to the dragonpit.

The game of life did not win this round against the Prince and Princess. At least, for now. 

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And just like that Chapter Two is officially done! To be honest, I'm a little insecure about the ending, but I'm starting to gain a solid footing on how I want the remaining chapters to go.

The good news is that I already have the ending finished (which is a good thing for me but also slightly scary because it was the easiest thing for me to write). The bad news is the episodic chapters will most likely take me a bit to write because I want them to be perfect. I also may or may not have a few more GOT/HOTD stories in my drafts for you guys so hopefully once this book ends you'll follow me over to those.

Anyways, thank you, guys, so much for reading and I hope you all enjoy this chapter!

P.S. Don't forget to comment! I love reading what you guys have to say, don't be shy!