1 Year Later

It was a cruel joke she had had to be in the Dragonpit with the boys. It will teach you how to command a dragon one day, her mother had said. No, it was cruel. She had to stand and watch her brothers and oldest uncle bond with their dragons all the while she had to observe.

"Shame you don't have a dragon, ironic actually. Of all your Bastard siblings, you're the only one that actually looks true born," Aemond mumbled.

She glared at him. "Watch it, Uncle. What you speak is treason."

"What I speak is truth."

"Says the one also without a dragon. A second son and dragonless? What use did the gods have to put you here?" Visenya asked.

Aemond's nostrils flared in rage and she smirked, happy to strike the nerve she meant to. She turned back to a very small Arrax, Luke petting his small snout. The only thing she understood about her uncle was their shared pain in not sharing a dragon.

"You'll never be a dragonrider, Bastard." Aemond hissed.

"My name is Visenya, named after the greatest female Targaryen. One day I will wield Dark Sister and ride Vhagar like my namesake. I will ride the largest dragon in the world."

"Ha!" Aemond laughed. "Your father is married to the rider of Vhagar, do you plan on her dying soon?"

"My father is Laenor Velaryon," she lied.

"Even I can tell you don't believe yourself," Aemond rolled his eyes.

And he was right. She was so bad at convincing herself she couldn't even convince people around her. "You can believe whatever you wish, Uncle, but at least I know my parents love me."

Aemond's head snapped in her direction. "You may be the heir's daughter, but I am the son of the king. You didn't even get the dignity of being named heir. At least I am a prince in this city. What are you, a scared Targaryen girl destined to marry a fat lord and push out ten babes in a land you know nothing of? I'm sure someone like Cregan Stark needs a bitch to -"

She raised her hand and hit him before he could finish. "I may be a princess with no lands but between you and my mother, we both know which child your father prefers. Keep going and I will use that against you."

"Aw, brother, ready to fuck our niece already? If she's anything like her mother, she has a predisposition for uncles." Aegon smirked.

She reached to swing at him and felt a set of arms pull her back. "Visenya, calm down."

"Father, let me go!" She groaned, struggling in Laenor's arms.

"Come on, little knight," Laenor chuckled and dragged her away from the Dragonpit. He picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. "Always getting in trouble."

"I could have hit them! Did you hear what they were saying?" She yelled.

"Yes, I heard all of it from the door. You fed into it. When you react, you give them everything they want." Laenor said, setting her down when they reached the wheelhouse.

She huffed, pushing the loose strands of hair out of her face. "Not that it matters, considering it's all true," she mumbled. They sat in the wheelhouse alone while it made its way back to the castle.

"You've always been so aware, I warned your mother you were too smart for your own good." He said with a pained smile.

"I'm sorry, Father," she sighed and looked at her hands. "I didn't mean offense."

"I know, sweet girl. I fear maybe I haven't been the father you needed all these years. When my mother told me about the conversation you had last year, I thought it best not to approach it. Maybe keep some false sense of security. I'm sorry for the distance between you and your mother," Laenor spoke softly.

"Is that why you came to get me because she needs me?" She asked.

"No, I was going to ask if you wanted to go riding on Seasmoke. He's down by the beach with Syrax enjoying some of the largest fish I have ever seen."

She perked up with a smile and nodded. "Yes!"

"There's my favorite smile," he chuckled and crossed a leg over the other. "I truly wish you would have been given a dragon."

"That's okay. I know one day I will claim Vhagar. It's my namesake, my birthright."

Laenor rose a brow. "I will ask this even though Aemond asked it, are you planning on killing my sister any time soon? I'm sure dragons have an aversion to the people that slay their rider."

Visenya let out a giggle and shook her head. "No, but I know it'll happen one day. And then I can run circles around Aemond and his stupid older brother."

"Listen, I know it's hard. I've had my own imperfections people like to taunt. But you have to walk past them and hold your head high. Because truth or not, you have more Valyrian blood than they do, you have Daemon and Rhaenyra's blood. They have that awful Hightower blood."

"Father!" Visenya laughed, covering her mouth.

"I'm sorry, did I say that out loud?" He smiled and placed his hand on hers. "You are destined for more greatness than them."

She nodded and looked at him, wishing it was him she looked like. "Thank you for being my father. No matter what, even if I meet him one day, you are my father."

He squeezed her hand and nodded. "I wouldn't trade it for anything. When your mother told me she was pregnant only a week after our wedding, I vowed to accept you as mine own. I was nervous and slightly upset but when you were born and I held you, everything made sense. Your mother and I strangely made sense. I started to believe all her children would look like us and we would be fine. She could ... 'dine' as she pleased, as could I. I loved you from the moment I looked into your little purple eyes. For a while, we had everyone convinced that you were just born early."

"What happened?" She asked.

"Right around the time your mother got pregnant with Jace, you were six moons. At that point, your skin paled and Alicent noticed your nose. It was the exact shape of Daemon's own nose. It was the little differences from there. Even though almost all Valyrian's have purple eyes, Velaryon's eyes are a darker purple like our skin. Yours shine brighter than Daemon. Laena and Daemon's children have skin as dark as hers and yours is so light. Pale as a ghost, they say. Once Alicent figured it out, nothing was the same. Then on your first birthday, a birthmark formed on your arm."

She tilted her head. "What's wrong with a birthmark?"

"It's identical to a mark on Daemon's arm, the same spot I reckon. Same spot and shape. It's like the universe wanted everyone to know you were his daughter," Laenor said.

"But I'm not. I never will be. I have no doubt he knows of me and yet he left me here. Daemon isn't one that cares for the rules, he would have visited if he wanted. He's not the one that takes me for rides on his dragon, he doesn't save me from fights with my uncles, he didn't teach me how to write or read, and he didn't try teaching me Valyrian."

"My Daughter, at this point no one can teach you Valyrian. I tried for days on end and you just can't get it," he teased.

"At least I tried! Has Jace even asked?"

"No, he has yet to take an interest," laenor smiled. "I wished she would have named you heir. The men in our family seem to be a bit dense."

Visenya laughed but nodded in agreement. "I am inclined to agree. Today he wanted to see how good frogs would taste after Luke caught one. We're going to be ruled by a frog eater."

Laenor laughed once again and shook his head. "If you ask me, women should have been in charge from the start."

"Which is why I don't understand Mother's order. I was made to believe that Grandsire told Rhaenys and Corlus that the firstborn would be made heir, no matter the gender. Mother skipped me because I am a girl!"

"Your mother was trying to do what she could to keep the realm together, something your grandsire did not. When Rhaenyra was named heir, it upset many lords. When you were born, it further upset the realm. People barely expect your mother as heir, to accept a second woman in a row would set the realm on fire. I am not defending her but that is the truth of things. Things would have been okay had Viserys not gone to father three sons. Just one would have been enough but then the queen had Aemond and Daeron. She was trying to protect you all."

Visenya scoffed. "I hate this world."

"You are about to hate it more," Laenor sighed as the wheelhouse came to a stop.

"Why?" She asked. 

"Your mother is pregnant again."

Visenya pulled her hands away from her father, eyes wide in disbelief. "Another?"

Laenor nodded.

"She has not only shamed us by having two brown-haired boys but now she is to have another brown-haired babe? It's like she wants us to be tormented! Every day I wake up in that fucking castle and hear them whisper about me. That's fine, I can handle myself. But then I have to watch Jace and Luke get ridiculed which is worse because they don't even understand the insults! I love my brothers and I want them to be ok and she has made that impossible, Father! And now she is to have another babe and I know no matter how hard I'll try not to, I will love it with every ounce of my being. Which will hurt all the more when I watch him or her get harassed."

Laenor looked shamed at her words. "I know, Sweet Girl. You have done so much to protect your brothers, something I see as a marvelous trait."

"And something Mother denies! She thinks just because she says they aren't bastards that the bullying will stop but that it only makes them worse. I want to protect my brothers and I can't, Father. It's like she parades her sins around, not knowing they are affecting us more than her."

Seasmoke suddenly roared outside of the wheelhouse and Visenya had forgotten where they were. 

"Visenya, maybe it is time to discuss a betrothal so you can get away. I know there are fine men that would be good to you and not care about any rumors. You wouldn't have to marry them immediately, you could live at their castle to court them. But I think getting away from the damn castle would be best for you. You deserve to be free."

"I can not be free without a dragon."

"I promise you will claim a dragon, Sweet Girl. My sweet girl, I will get you a dragon. I will round up over one hundred fucking dragons for you. I will walk every inch of this world to find the perfect dragon for you. There isn't anything I wouldn't do for you."

Visenya lept from her seat and into his arms. Laenor wrapped his arms around her, kissing the top of her head. "No matter, you are my daughter. No one can take you away from me. If Daemon were to show up tomorrow, I wouldn't let him take you."

"Because that would mean he was leaving your sister?" She teased.

"Contrary to our mutual opinion of him, I have heard her loves her quite a bit. As long as he has Laena, he is no threat to this family. His marriage to her is what I believe is keeping him away from your mother. Anyone that saw them could tell just how much they loved one another."

Visenya pursed her lips, reaching for Laenor's hand. "Let's go ride, Father. I no longer wish to be sad."

"Anything for you, darling."

-

It was maybe a week later that Visenya was walking the halls late at night, something she often did, when she ran into someone. For weeks, she had been able to embark on these late-night rendevous without crossing paths with another soul but tonight she did.

And tonight, she ran into Aemond.

"I can not wait to tell my mother about this," Aemond smirked, following her as she made her way to the library.

"I am fully dressed, Uncle, I have done nothing wrong."

"Gods, you have nothing in you. You are so weak and a pushover. You rarely fight with words and yet you come from Rhaenyra and Daemon, two people that share the true blood of the dragon. You are a disgrace to your name and you are just a timid little girl. Probably on your way to being a whore like your mother."

She tried to push the tears away but they fell freely down her cheeks.

"Now you are crying like a little girl. You don't deserve the name of Targaryen. Last week was the first time I saw you fight back," He smirked and stood in front of her. "What a fucking crybaby."

"Leave me alone, Aemond," She sniffled. 

"Why? So that you can go cry in the library? No thank you, I was headed there."

She wiped her tears away and looked at the ground. "Just leave me alone," She whispered. 

"Or else what? Going to go cry to mommy? As if she cares. She skipped you as heir, you really think she's going to protect you now?"

Visenya leaned back against the wall of the hallway and cried. "Stop."

"Seven hells, no fire in you at all. Boring," He rolled his eyes and walked away. 

She slid down the wall and cried into her arms, wishing her mother would just hold her for once and tell her everything was going to be ok. Instead, her mother was too worried about sending Visenya off to her studies. She read and read until her eyesight grew blurry with each word. And then repeat every day. After last week's altercation, she wasn't even allowed to go to the Pit anymore with the boys. 

"It is time to stop wasting valuable hours you could be spending studying. You are getting close to being ten, it is okay to accept you will not have a dragon. We can spend more time studying and maybe Helaena can teach you how she does her stitching."

Her mother believed she would never claim a dragon. Maybe she saw her the same way Aemond did: just a Targaryen with no blood of the dragon. 

She was not strong, she was not fast, and she wasn't a warrior. She didn't even have a dragon she could ride around or ride into battle one day. Even simple Helaena had Dreamfyre. But she couldn't even defend herself. All she had was her looks. The one thing she inherited was her mother's beauty. Everyone that knew Rhanyra has a girl would look at Visenya and have to do a double-take. She was Rhaenyra's twin except for the few Daemon features she had. 

And her sickly pale skin. 

She was a disgrace to the Targaryen name and acknowledging it made her cry more. She forgot about the library and pushed herself up, walking back to her chambers. She wished she had a sister she could share a room with and find comfort with. She had once been friends with two of Borros Bratheon's daughters when he stayed in the capital for a few moons, and she envied them. 

When one had a nightmare, they would lay together at night to calm the other. They were inseparable and were the closest of friends. 

Visenya felt alone.

When she entered her room, the light was on and she heard someone humming to themself in the washroom. Visenya tilted her head and looked hesitantly.

"There you are!" Helaena smiled. 

"Aunt, it's almost two hours past our bedtime. What are you doing?"

"I could ask you the same thing silly. I was looking for lavender oil but you barely have any oils at all."

"My mother prefers me to smell fresh and clean as opposed to those fancy oils," Visenya mumbled.

Helaena pulled a bottle of lavender oil out of the pocket of her robe. She set the bottle down and reached for Visenya's hands. 

"It can be our little secret."

I just wanna start off by saying that I hate writing crybaby girls. Makes me feel like I am doing a dishonor to my fellow ladies to redact a woman down to being just a weak cryer. But I have a lot of character development in mind for Visenya so right now she is irritatingly weak and slightly justifiably angry. Just try to enjoy the ride.