CHAPTER FOUR ─── betrothals

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          "𝕴 would rather die that marry him!" 

"Alaelanna." Rhaenyra turned, having been hearing the spiel of furious ranting from her daughter for the past half hour. "I can not think with you wittering in my ear about this. I know you do not want to marry him, and I will deal with it. Seethe quietly, please."

Alaelanna huffed, scrunching her nose and glaring as she finally sat still. Her mind was racing however, filled with horrible thoughts of being forced to marry her uncle, who she had not had a proper conversation with since she was ten. Even that had not been a proper conversation, more a forced hello and goodbye. 

Her father was the only other person in the solar, her brothers having been sent off to train to get some of their aggression out. None of them had been happy about the suggestion, practically foaming at the mouth to kill either the hand or their uncle. For once, Malkym was the quietest of the family, merely sitting by his daughter as he thought over what to do.

"The only way I can think to get out of this is to say we have already found and been planning a betrothal." Her mother turned, as Alaelanna's eyes narrowed. So to get out of one betrothal, she had to marry another? It was not fair.

"Well, we have not been doing that for the reason that we wanted to wait until Alaelanna was ten and eight."

"You know better than anyone that they consider the marriage age to be ten and seven." Rhaenyra replied, as Malkym hummed.

"But that was the reason we wanted to wait. I was pressured into marriage at ten and seven, as you were. We did not wish for that."

"I do not wish for marriage." Alaelanna spoke up. "Is it simply not an option for me not to marry?"

"Darling." Rhaenyra shot her a look. "Unfortunately, you were born a princess and the heir to a great house. You have to marry, to secure your bloodline and because that is what is expected of you."

"Yes, but not to my uncle!" Alaelanna hissed. "I would have to remain here, in this snake pit until I became lady of Alterwoode, because this is where he is situated. I would be stuck with this family! I do not wish for that."

"Well, then who do you wish to be married to?" Rhaenyra replied. "I cannot disagree with this unless I have a better alternative in place, because the Lord Hand brought this up in front of the court and the king. Your grandfather's memory is addled by milk of the poppy, he will say yes to whatever they ask to secure our families peace. Unless I can prove a better alternative, I do not know what I can do."

Alaelanna settled back down, watching as her mother took a deep breath to steady herself. Her father was on his feet in an instant, hand on her belly and the other on her back, keeping her calm as he too thought.

"Let us look at this another way," Malkym turned, glancing between the two women. "What can we gain if Alaelanna did marry Aemond?"

"Father!"

"Hear me out." Malkym pointed a warning finger at his daughter, who had already started to grind her teeth in displeasure. "If we had Aemond in Alterwoode, would that not mean we would also have Vhagar? If Vhagar is under our control, in our home, as is Aemond, then would that not mean that Alicent and Otto would struggle to truly exert any power or authority over us? They will have lost the war dragon that would be able to decimate our younger dragons? Does it not make sense?"

"Are you asking our daughter to marry someone so that she can trick them into coming to Alterwoode so that we are able to secure our right to rule?"

"That is the simplified version, but yes." 

"The only issue is, father, I can not come back to Alterwoode whilst you are still alive." Alaelanna hissed, "and you're assuming that I will be able to control myself and pretend to like Aemond."

"Well, you do not have to like him, just make him like you and that is not hard, you are truly wonderful." Malkym winked at his daughter.

"You are my father, you have to say that. Not everyone likes me."

"Then they must be both blind and dumb."

"Aemond is half-blind, does that count?" Rhaenyra sighed, rubbing at her temple as she looked between her daughter and husband.

"You two are both horrible at points. We are not asking our daughter to marry one of Alicent's spawn, who hates our family, simply because we want to trick him into giving us Vhagar?"

"Well, she could also spy on them whilst here in King's Landing. I think it is a good plan." Malkym nodded, looking at his daughter, "and if he tries anything, she is a far better fighter than him."

"You do not know that."

"I trained her myself." Malkym approached his daughter, kissing her head gently. "I know she is."

"I am."

"See?"

"We are not doing this." Rhaenyra shook her head. "We are not asking our daughter to marry just to reassure our claim. We did not ask Jace, or Luke. We will not be asking Camryn or Viserys, or the baby to do that, so why should we ask our daughter?"

The trio sighed.

"We will figure a way out, so that Alaelanna is safe, with her family." Rhaenyra approached both of them, squeezing their hands and pressing kisses to their cheeks. "I will not subject you to this."

Alaelanna paused, her eyes growing soft as she wrapped her arms around her mother and leant into her warm embrace. Rhaenyra smiled gently, brushing her hair and kissing her forehead as Alaelnna sighed.

"Come, you should change for dinner. Your grandfather has asked that we all attend."

"Will I be forced to sit with Aemond?"

"No, your brothers will be there. Gods know that they would rather die than let you sit next to any of Alicent's spawn." Malkym replied, before smiling. "Go on, off you go. Your mother and I need to talk about some other things, but we will see you at dinner."

"Of course." Alaelanna leant up, pressing a kiss to her father's cheek, before hurrying out of the room to her own chambers. Jace was waiting down the corridor from their parents chambers.

"So?"

"What?"

"What have they said?"

"That they will do everything in their power to make sure that I do not have to marry him." Alaelanna sighed. "You know they will try."

"I despise the fact that it was even suggested." Jace ruffled his dark hair. "He is not a good person to be married to."

"That is something I already know, dear brother." Alaelanna patted his hand as her brother hummed. "We are to all dine together tonight. By order of the king."

Jace merely scoffed once more, before they reached the atrium of the Thorne children's set of rooms. Camryn and Luke were waiting inside, looking nervous.

"Sister." Luke was on his feet, hurrying to her side as Camryn went rushing to clutch onto her leg. "Is everything alright?"

"Do not fret, Luke. It is all being dealt with." Alaelanna smiled at her brother, who looked anxious. "You know that mother and father will do everything in their power to make sure that I am alright."

"Are you leaving us?"

"Not if I can help it." Alaelanna promised Camryn, who hummed. "Come, we have dinner and you three stink from training. Go and bathe."

She shoved her brothers away from her, making a face at the smell of them. All three glared and stuck their tongues out, before hurrying off as Alaelanna strolled to her own chambers, more than ready to bathe away the day's stress and madness.

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Hiya,

So, Malkym and Alaelanna are both just incredibly bitchy and just don't like people, also they're suggesting manipulative things which is great for them. Rhae is despairing, but I do love this family dearly and am very excited for you guys to see what happens next. We also have the dinner scene next, and Alaelanna and Jace are having a lot of fun bullying their uncles.

Let me know what you think,

Love Li xx