Baela and Rhaena were sleeping soundlessly in the bed beside her. Although Daena loved her three brothers, she had always wondered what it would be like to have a sister. Not that her brothers had ever excluded her, but that didn't change that some part of her would enjoy a sister. 

Daena looked up at the ceiling wishing that she could find sleep as easy as her cousins. She was unsettled and slowly reached up and traced the stitches across her collarbone with her finger.

A loud cry had her sitting up, the reminders of what had only occurred two nights before had her rushing out of the her chambers fearing that her brothers had gotten themselves into trouble once again. As she walked down the hall with her bare feet she wondered if maybe she had imagined the cry she had heard. The castle had gone silent, but suddenly furious commands were being given. She recognized the voice as her grandfather's, and although she was curious something held Daena back as she walked towards the top of the staircase. 

The truth was that suddenly she was afraid of what she was about to see. 

From the top of the staircase she silently watched as the guards removed a body from the fireplace, its fire still burning fiercely. Daena's eyes went to her grandmother, Rhaenys, who was weeping on the floor and crying out as the body was laid before her. 

She could not understand her grandmothers reaction, but as she slowly began to descent the staircase she got a closer look at the body. Their face was burnt beyond recognition, but one look at the boots on a burnt corpse caused Daena to freeze in horror . 

She recognized the boots as her fathers, but even then it took her a moment to truly understand what had happened. When she met her grandmother's eyes the reality of what had happened crushed her. It was like claws had dug into her chest and refused to let go. 

"Father!" She cried out as she ran down the last remaining steps wanting to be by her fathers side. As she ran one of the members of the Kingsgaurd stepped before her, picking her up in one single motion and carrying her up the stairs of the great hall.

"Look at me." Ser Alleras ordered her once he had set her down at the top of the staircase, blocking her view of the reality down below. "My princess look at me."

She did not know much about Ser Alleras, only that he was the newest member of the Kingsgaurd. At the age of fifteen he was knighted and only a year later did he join the Kingsgaurd, the youngest in its history. All thought it was unusual for a bastard from Dorne to earn such a regarded position.

Who he was mattered little her as she suddenly felt herself freeze in shock. She continued to hear her grandmother's cries of anguish and her grandsire's commands echoing through the castle but they all felt so distant to her. It was like she had left her body entirely and was not sure how to return to herself. 

She felt as Ser Alleras picked her up once more in his arm and began to carry her away from the scene. Daena made no attempt to fight him, she did not want to see her father in that state again. He was silent as he brought her back to the  chamber that she shared with her cousins. There were two guards standing outside the doors undoubtedly there to ensure that Baela and Rhaena did not leaver their chambers too. 

It wasn't until she was in bed with Baela and Rhaena by her side that she began to weep. Her cousins attempted to question her on what had happened, but the words got lost in Daena's throat. All she could do is cry on Baela's lap as she ran her fingers through her hair, but her touch brought her no comfort as all she could see when she closed her eyes was her father's burnt body. 

Within the same week Daena found herself in the attendance of a Valeyron funeral, something which she would have never imagined. The water was softly crashing upon the rocky shore, the salty wind caused Daena's silver hair to be swept up. To many the rocky shores of Driftmark with it crystalline waters and bright blue skies might have seemed like something from a dream. 

To Daena it felt as if she was in the middle of a nightmare that she could not escape. The pain echoed throughout her and there were moments that she seemed to forget that her father was gone. But when the she once again realized that it was her father's corpse in the stone coffin by the edge of the rocky cliff that pain returned more viciously than before. 

Vaemond Velaryon spoke and although Daena was watching his lips move, she could make no sense of the words that were coming out of his mouth. They were words that felt empty and offered her little comfort. They were words that spoke of what a great warrior, husband and father he was and yet none of those words truly did him justice. 

Daena absently played with the golden ring on her finger, the ring that her father had gifted her only the night before, like if he had predicted that this would happen. She had attempted to remain strong and stoic throughout the ceremony but she was overcome when they began to lower the stone coffin into the sea. Tears began to fall down her cheeks but she made no attempts to wipe them away. 

She felt as Jacaerys' grip on her hand tightened, and she wondered how he was able to remain so composed when he had just lost another father. His grip on her hand brought her some comfort but when the coffin was finally released into the sea, a small gasp escaped her lips. It almost felt as if she was falling into the sea below with him. 

Maybe it was the realization that her father now belonged to the sea, or the realization that the passing of the years would wash away the memories of her father. And she wondered if there would ever come a day when she would no longer remember her face. It was a thought that greatly terrified her. 

It was said that the Golden Princess smiled less since the events of Driftmark when she was only a girl of nine. That her smiles did not come as naturally as they did before.

Some would even argue that the day she lost her father was the day she became the Broken Princess, though those accounts would be incorrect. For the princess would face a much greater loss that turned her heart as black as dragonglass.

A/N: The final chapter for Act One. I've been really excited to finally write Daena as a teenager and seeing her really grow from this point. But before we begin Act Two I do want to remind everyone that although there are going to be some romantic storylines in this story, they won't be the main focus. More than anything this is Daena's story.