chapter four
❪ sorrowful farewells ❫

▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

Daenyra was hiding, she had left her brothers in their chambers to get cleaned up after their disastrous training session, she then went to one of the only quiet places in the Red Keep. The library was one of her favourite places to get away from everything and everyone.

She was hiding because she knew word would spread about the brawl between the two knights and no doubt herself, her brothers and mother would somehow be brought into it. They were of course usually the targets for gossip. So she had decided to put her head into one of the many books she loved to read and do her best to escape her reality for a while.

One of her favourite things to read about was the history of the Targaryens. Especially Aegon's conquest. The three conquers Aegon the first, Visenya and Rhaenys the first; all three were idols in some sense to Daenyra. They were the reason she and her family were where they were today, ruling the seven kingdoms.

Their names forever remembered for their strength, bravery, determination and so much more. Something Daenyra aspired for. To be remembered, written and talked about many years after her death. And not just because she was a Targaryen princess but because she did something courageous and worth remembering.

No one really spent time in the library, daeny sometimes wondered why they even had one. She of course was grateful for it. But considering no one ever used it caused confusion to take over when she heard the doors open.

"Daenyra, are you in here?" The quiet voice of Aemond called out.

"Over here." Daeny replied, turning her gaze back onto the pages of her book.

Aemond followed her voice to find her sat in a corner, closest to the large window that was displayed in the room. His breath hitched a little when he saw the way the sun shined down on her face, causing her smile to look even warmer and brighter than it normally would — The freckles that scattered across her cheeks becoming more noticeable and her lilac eyes twinkled in the light like purple stars in the night.

There was no denying that Daenyra was a beautiful young girl. People of Kings Landing have never denied such a thing even if they enjoyed whispering about her parentage. After all she was the Realms Rose, as they called her. She became more beautiful the more she grew and despite never being willing to say it out loud, Aemond had taken more notice of it as the years went on. He denied it to himself more times then he could count but it became harder and harder the older they grew.

"Aemond." Daenyra's soft voice snapped him from his trance, "are you alright?" She raised a concerned brow.

The boy shook his head slightly to come out of his daze as he spoke. "yes, yes of course."

"Are you sure? Because I've been calling out to you for the past two minutes," she told him as she closed her book and sat up straighter.

"Just lost in my own head I suppose." he forced out a chuckle.

Daenyra nodded in understanding. "What brings you to the library?"

"I've been looking for you all over," he shrugged as he walked closer to her. "Your mother told me, I might find you here."

"You spoke to my mother?" She raised her brows at the revelation.

Aemond scoffed, "don't look so surprised, daeny. It's not like I've never talked to her before, she is my half sister after all."

"I don't believe you or your siblings have ever had a full conversation with her in your entire lives." she retorted, knowing that Rhaenyra had always kept herself distanced from her half siblings whose mother was once her best friend.

The prince rolled his eyes, "whatever. Now, why are you hiding yourself away in here?"

Daeny shrugged, "after Cole and Harwin's incident, I didn't feel like dealing with anyone."

"You know, you took Cole by surprise with kicking dirt in his face and threatening him." Aemond chuckled humorlessly as he thought back to the look of Criston's face while Daenyra dragged her brothers away after what she had said and done.

"Good," the girl rolled her eyes. "It was not like he did not deserve it. The stunts he pulled out there today were ridiculous."

The boy shrugged, "well, your brothers —"

"Aemond," she reprimanded sharply with narrowed eyes aimed at the boy.

He bowed his head, not liking the disappointed look she was giving him, "forgive me, Daeny."

Daenyra sighed. "I know you have some type of rivalry with them, but they are still very much my little brothers, Aemond. I will not stand by and let them be disrespected by anyone, not even you. Besides, anything you say about them reflects on me as well."

"Yes, I know. I am sorry," he replied sincerely. Though he didn't understand how she stood up for them every time, especially when they were just bullies. She always said she couldn't let anyone disrespect her brothers but he never saw much sense to that because he wasn't close to his siblings, he himself talked down on Aegon all the time because the older boy was just a mess. But what he failed to realise was that even though many did not come at the girl like they did Jace and Luke it did not mean anything they said about them didn't relate to her as well. At the end of the day they shared the same blood. They had the same parents.

"I was hoping you'd take a walk with me. I thought you could use a distraction," he suggested, timidly fuddling with his hands.

She nodded as she set her book on the table. "I would love to."

Aemond grinned brightly at her acceptance and held his hand out to her, "shall we?"

She smiled as she placed her hand in his. "we shall." He pulled her up and they stood face to face, only inches between them. She could fill his warm breath on her face. "We should go," she whispered.

"Hm," he hummed, slowly taking a step back. His eyes still locked onto hers, "yes, come on." He turned, still hand in hand with her, as he walked towards the exit.

As soon as they reached the library door, it opened and Ser Erryk stood on the other side.

"My Prince," he nodded at Aemond before turning to his favourite royal. "Daenyra, I apologise for my intrusion."

Daenyra smiled although she could see the annoyance radiating off of Aemond. "That is quite alright, Erryk. Is everything okay?"

"Your mother has asked me to bring you to her chambers," he announced as he glanced down at the prince and princesses intertwined hands.

Aemond sighed loudly as he mumbled, "of course."

Daenyra nudged him before nodding at the knight. "could we have a moment?"

"I will wait for you outside." Erryk bowed his head before he exited the library, closing the door behind him.

"Why is it we are interrupted every time we have a moment alone?" Aemond asked himself more than anyone else.

"I'm sorry." Daeny sighed, "my mother will most likely want to talk about what happened earlier."

The prince looked down and mumbled, "I just wanted to take a walk with you."

Daenyra smiled at his soft tone, knowing he was embarrassed to admit that. "I will find you after I'm done talking with my mother and we can go anywhere you want."

Aemond turned to her with hopeful eyes, "promise?"

The princess giggled, "I promise."

Aemond stared at her for a moment as they fell into a tense silence. He slowly leaned closer to her causing Daeny to freeze nervously. As Aemond neared her face, he moved to the side and kissed her cheek slowly as if savouring the close moment.

"I will see you later," he whispered. After that he rushed out, not looking back.

Daenyra stood in a trance. He had never done something like that before. It was unusual and strange. Yet she felt a weird flutter in her stomach that made her shiver.

"Princess," Ser Erryk piped his head into the room to see her staring blankly at the door, confused on why aemond had rushed out without her. "are you alright?"

The girl shook her head, snapping out of her clouded mind. "Yes," she forced a smiled. "I am fine. Let's go."

Erryk, still puzzled and a little concerned, nodded and led her out of the library, down the hall and towards her mother's chambers.

• • • •

When Daenyra made it to Rhaenyra's room, the last thing she expected was her brothers and Harwin Strong to already be there. She quickly realised that she had come to say farewell. Never did she think she would be having to say goodbye to her mentor, protector and birth father.

But she should have seen it coming. Of course Lyonel Strong would resign his position as Hand of the King so he could take his son back to Harrenhal. Lyonel needed to get Harwin away from Kings Landing, from the whispers that circled him and the heir to the iron throne as well as her children.

So Daenyra now stood beside her mother. Tears filled both their eyes which they tried to push away as they watched Harwin talk to the boys.

"Be good to your mother, lads. I'll visit when I can. But that may be some time." Harwin stood from his crouched position to face his eldest son. Jace turned away from him and walked over to his older sister who wrapped her arms around him tightly.

"It's okay," daeny whispered to him soothingly.

"Jace, Daeny." Rhaenyra sighed softly.

The siblings just kept their eyes on the floor, staying wrapped in each other's arms as Harwin came towards them. Neither of the two wished to accept the circumstances they were in.

"I will return...I promise," he gave them both a sad smile before looking at his daughter. She refused to meet his eyes though, staring at anything but him until he grabbed her chin gently. "You'll keep an eye on them all, won't you?" She nodded. "And yourself. Keep practicing your swordsmanship. I know you will be a fierce fighter the next time we meet, my little warrior."

Daenyra let go of Jace to embrace the man, who melted into her touch. "I'll miss you," her voice dropped to whisper so only Harwin could hear.

Harwin exhaled deeply, "and I you."

"You make a great father," the words came out so quietly Harwin was unsure if he made them up in his head but as Daeny pulled back and gave him a sad teary smile he knew they were real. And despite how upset he was about leaving them, hearing her words made him undoubtedly happy.

The knight slowly let go of his little girl to than stand in front of Rhaenyra. Leaning down to kiss Joffrey who rested in her arms. "I will be a stranger when we meet again," he said and Rhaenyra was trying hard not to let her fears fall. "Princess." he nodded respectfully before turning, grabbing his belongings and exiting for good.

Jace grabbed Daenyra's and pulled her out of the room to watch their father go. Both of them missing his presence already.

If only they knew it would be the last time they would ever be in his presence again.

Rhaenyra followed after them, wrapping an arm around Jace. "We will exchange letters by raven. Won't that be fun?"

Daenyra smiled sadly seeing her mother try and mask her own pain, "of course, mother."

"Is Harwin Strong our father?" Jace suddenly asked, taking both princesses by surprise. He looked Rhaenyra in the eyes and questioned, "Are we bastards?"

Daenyra, seeing her mother in a stunned state, made her brother face her as she cupped his jaw, "we are Targaryen's. We have dragons to prove it. That is all that matters."

She wiped a tear that fell from Jace's eye as he nodded to her words. Rhaenyra smiled at them as tears escaped her own eyes, pride shining in them at her daughter's reassurance to the younger boy. "Your sister is correct as always. You are and always will be Targaryen's."

• • • •

Daenyra laid in her bed, trying not to think about how horrible the day had been. She hadn't gone to find Aemond after leaving her mother's chambers like she promised, only wishing to hide away from everyone in her room. She wished Laenor was around to read to her, that always put her to sleep but she was unable to find him anywhere. No doubt off with Ser Qarl Correy.

She sighed deeply at the silence that surrounded her room unsure if she enjoyed it or not. It only left her with her thoughts which was something she didn't want to be lost in.

Her door suddenly burst open causing her to jump. She turned to face whoever had barged in only to be met with an angry Aemond.

"Are you alright?" She tilted her head in confusion.

He ignored her question as he glared slightly, "did you know?"

Daenyra waited for him to elaborate but he didn't so she was left puzzled, "know what?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Daenyra," he sighed, shaking his head in annoyance.

The girl scoffed at his ignorance. "I have no idea what you are talking about, Aemond."

Aemond rolled his eyes. "Did you know that your mother proposed that you marry Aegon? That she wished for you both to rule as Queen and King consort together."

It was quite obvious to anyone that by the look of Daenyra's face she hadn't a clue about this proposal. Her mother clearly had not mentioned it to her before she announced it to the council.

"Where did you hear this?" She asked blankly.

"I overheard my mother raging about it just now. I came here straight away to see if you had a part in this arrangement," he explained with disgust.

Daenyra instantly stood up from her bed with a scowl on her face. "you seriously thought I would ever agree to marry your brother?"

"I don't know." Aemond threw his hands up. "I do know that you would do anything for your mother. I thought this may be one of those things. She did call you to her chambers just before."

Daeny sighed exasperatedly. "I had no idea about this, Aemond. I swear. I went to my mother's chambers to say goodbye to Harwin Strong."

The boys face fell, his demeanour softening, "i, uh, heard about Harwin. I'm sorry, Daeny. I know you two were...close."

Daenyra rolled her eyes at his sudden change in demeanour and the subtle hinting which only irritated her more than she already was. "did you just come here to aggravate me?"

"No. I came to make sure you weren't marrying my mess of a brother." he said as he crossed his arms.

"What does that matter to you anyway?"

Aemond scoffed, yet took a moment to come up with a response. "It doesn't. I just don't think my brother is worthy of a wife. Your mother could pick you someone much better."

"Yeah?" She raised a brow. "like who? You?"

Aemond's eyes widened as he began to stutter, "uh, n-no, i just mean, any-" he cleared his throat, "anyone would be better than Aegon."

"Hm," daeny hummed as she nodded her head. "no argument there."

"I actually don't think it's going to happen anyway. My mother seemed rather against the idea when I heard her speaking of it."

"Either way, I think it best I go have a word with my mother to find out what in the seven hells she was thinking." the girl mumbled to herself as she rubbed her eyes in an exhausted manner.

"I do suggest you tell her that she has terrible taste in picking her daughter's future husband." he whispered to himself spitefully.

Daenyra rolled her eyes, "yeah, yeah. Come on I'm not leaving you in my chambers alone."

• • • •

"What were you thinking?" Daenyra questioned angrily as she sat across from her guilty looking mother.

"I know it was a distasteful proposal, but I needed something to try and unite our family," the elder princess defended.

"And to do that, the only thing you could come up with was for me to marry my foolish uncle?" Daeny retorted.

Rhaenyra sighed deeply. "if it makes you feel any better I proposed Jace marry Helaena as well."

Daenyra gave her a look of utter disbelief. "it does not actually. I would rather marry Helaena than Aegon. I would rather marry a sheep than marry Aegon Targaryen!"

"Daeny, marriage isn't just about love or happiness. It is often a duty more than anything else. It's an arrangement that every woman must go through."

"It is an arrangement I only wish to refuse." daenyra mumbled as she crossed her arms.

"We do not get that pleasure, sweet girl." Rhaenyra whispered softly. "Marriage can work even without love, if you and your husband can come to a similar goal. Sometimes you come to an agreement and make it work."

"You mean like you and father," daeny retorted. "Cause that has worked out wonderful for all of us."

Rhaenyra narrowed her eyes. "Daenyra..." she spoke in a warning tone.

The younger princesses' eyes softened as she realised what she had said. "I'm sorry mother. I'm just hurt that you went behind my back with this."

"I did not mean to, my rose. I swear that I didn't. I needed something that would get Alicent and the rest of the snakes in this castle off of our backs." Rhaenyra explained in guilt. "I wished to talk to you about it afterwards but things got in the way."

"Is that what I am to you mother? Someone you use for your own gain?" Daenyra questioned, upset at the possible revelation.

"No!" Rhaenyra exclaimed instantly, "of course not. Why would you think such a thing?"

"Because it seems that you are just going to marry me off to whoever has the most to offer. Then I'll be sent away from our family to live out the rest of my days in a far away place, breeding babes like an animal."

"Daenyra Velaryon that is the last thing I would ever want." Rhaenyra came to sit beside her daughter reaching for her hand which Daenyra let her take. "you are my heir. You are to be a queen despite what anyone has to say. I am sorry for offering your hand to Aegon, that was wrong of me, I know that. From now on I will talk to you about these situations. I need you to know that I truly want what's best for you."

"I understand that. But it isn't just about Aegon, mother. I do not wish to marry...especially to someone that I know will treat me horribly or worse someone I don't know a thing about. I know that marriage comes with being Queen or even just a woman, but even so I will not be stuck in an unhappy situation for the rest of my life because of that."

"I do not blame you for that. Trust me, I understand it more than you know," Rhaenyra whispered thoughtfully. "It will need to happen though. We will need to pick you a husband. Not just to be Queen or to have children but for protection as well."

"I don't need someone else's protection," daeny scoffed, "my dragon will grow to do more in that department than anyone ever could."

The older princess laughed softly. "I don't doubt that for a second."

"I'm sorry for being snarky."

"That's alright. You were upset and you had every right to be." Rhaenyra frowned as she wondered something, "how did you find out anyway?"

"Aemond overheard his mother speaking about it. He came to me very angrily, thinking I had something to do with it," the girl rolled her eyes.

A knowing look came across Rhaenyra's face, "what reason could he have to be angry about it?"

"I don't know. He gave some pathetic reason about Aegon not deserving a wife."

"Huh," Rhaenyra did her best to hide the smirk that was making its way onto her face.

"I think I'm going to go prepare for bed. It's been a long day." Daenyra said before kissing her mothers cheek and standing to leave.

"Oh, Daeny. I forgot I have some news."

The girl turned with a confused frown, "what is it now? Haven't we had enough news for one day?"

Rhaenyra took a deep breath. "I don't think you're going to like it at all."

• • • •

Daenyra ran out of the Red Keep as fast as she could with one destination. The tree she always went to with her siblings, aunt or Sabina.

After the news her mother gave her she went to check her room to see it being cleared out by maids, packing everything in sight. She didn't have much time but she needed to say goodbye.

After finding that Aemond was not in his chambers she ran to the garden where she spent a lot of her time, in hopes of finding someone, anyone.

She wanted to say goodbyes to the people she now had to leave behind and her mother hadn't exactly given her much of a heads up. And when she had finally made it to the garden, the three people she had been hoping to find were there.

Each of them sitting in the ground, Helaena had her full attention on some type of bug crawling on her hand whilst Sabina and Aemond sat next to each other laughing together.

They were happy and even though Daenyra didn't exactly realise at the time, she was jealous. They were going to be fine without her, her moving away wouldn't impact their lives as much as it was going to impact hers. They would still be together and they would grow accustomed to her missing presence. At least that was what she was currently convincing herself. Because after all they would still have each other.

She watched as Sabina shoved Aemond away with a giggle after something he said and Daenyra felt her stomach churn for a reason unbeknownst to her in that moment.

Helaena soon looked up and turned towards daeny's direction with a sorrowful expression on her face as if she knew why daeny was there. The young Targaryen princess glanced between her niece and brother than to Sabina with a knowing look. It was something Daenyra caught onto but decided to ignore for her own sake.

Breaking from her trance, Helaena spoke, "daeny, is everything alright?"

This caught Aemond and Sabina's attention who finally noticed the upset princess standing there. Aemond squinted at the state she was in.

Daenyra pushed her multitude of thoughts away as she responded to her aunt with a sad smile, "no, no it's not."

Aemond frowned as he stood up and moved away from Sabina, closer towards Daenyra. "what has happened?" he asked.

Daenyra sighed. "i've come to say farewell to you all. I am to leave with my family to Dragonstone."

"What are you talking about?"

"My mother has decided it is best we go live there from now on. We leave shortly," she explained vaguely, considering it was all she really knew.

"Daenyra if this is some sort of sick jest..." Aemond trailed off as she gave him a look indicating there was no jest being made.

"And you leave shortly? How soon is shortly?" Sabina queried.

Daenyra fiddled with her fingers as she avoided looking at any of them. "they are packing our things onto a ship as we speak."

"So this is it?" a solemn Aemond figured.

"I'm afraid so," murmured the princess.

Without hesitation, Aemond strutted towards her wrapping his arms tightly around her waist, his face falling into the crook of her neck. Daeny's tense body relaxed at his touch as her own arms found their way around his neck.

"Don't leave, please." Aemond pleaded in a whisper for only her ears to hear.

"I don't have a choice, Aemond." She mumbled as she pulled out of his embrace to face him. "Hopefully, I will see you soon," she gave him a small sad smile as she let him go and moved towards Helaena.

Aemond just stood there in the same spot, staring at the ground feeling as if he was losing a part of himself. He knew Rhaenyra would not return to the Red Keep unless completely necessary which meant they no longer would be able to sneak around causing mischief, she would no longer be able to tell him about the book she was reading, he wouldn't be able to practice sword fighting with her when no one was around. He wouldn't have the person who always stood up for him by his side anymore.

Daenyra wrapped her arms around Helaena gently, knowing the girl wasn't the biggest fan of contact.

"Who will help me search for new creatures?" Helaena asked in a quiet tone.

Daenyra sighed, not having a good answer, "maybe you could convince Sabina to join you sometime." They both knew that was unlikely. Sabina despised bugs, she was the type to scream murder when there was a spider on her wall.

"black and green dragons clash, like the waves on a windy night. Nothing will ever be set right."

Daenyra narrowed her eyes as she listened to the girls words. "Helaena? What does that mean?"

Helaena snapped out of her daze, shaking her head lightly. "What does what mean?"

The brunette princess sighed as she smiled sadly. "nothing. it does not matter."

Helaena nodded with tears in her eyes. "I will miss you greatly, Daenyra."

"As will i. you are my greatest friend helaena, never forget that." daeny spoke in a whisper and it caused helaena's expression to brighten evidently.

as soon as daenyra stepped away from helaena, sabina's arms wrapped around her tightly taking the princess by surprise. she stumbled back slightly but still wrapped her own arms around the girl.

"I'm going to miss you so much, daeny." sabina said.

daenyra smiled, leaning her head on the other girls shoulder. "i will miss you too, sab. be good, ok. and take care of helaena and aemond for me."

"I will." sabina nodded as she pulled back from the hug. "i promise. you too, need to take care of yourself."

"don't worry, i have that covered. you don't need to fret over me, i'm going to be fine. I always am."

sabina frowned. "you can't always be fine, daeny."

the velaryon girl only smiled in return as she moved away from sabina. preparing to walk away, daenyra felt her arm being pulled, causing her body to crash into someone else's softly.

she relaxed as she realised she was in aemond embrace once more. "two hugs in one day? you must really care about me, huh?" she said playfully to try and lighten the mood.

aemond was in no mood for jokes though. "please, daeny. don't leave. stay, for me."

"you know i can't, aemond." she replied sadly.

"I'm sure i could speak to my mother and she can talk to the king. you know your grandsire would be elated to have to stay with him." aemond tried hard to convince.

daeny only shook her head as she pulled away from the hug. "no, aemond. i have to go and be with my family. i can't let my mother and brothers leave without me."

the prince let out a deep breath, realising there was no hope in convincing her. "you will at least write me? and visit as often as you can?"

"of course," daenyra replied instantly. "you will see me soon, don't worry."

she gave him one last smile before stepping back and looking over to helaena and sabina who stood side by side watching the niece and uncle duo. "bye girls, don't get into too much trouble without me."

"have fun at dragonstone, daeny."

she turned to aemond one more time, smiling lightly before walking away with a heavy heart.

She was having mix feelings about going to dragonstone. On one hand she was excited because there were said to be wild dragons hidden in the area and Daeny being the dragon lover she was, had always wanted to stumble upon a wild dragon. Then on the other hand she didn't want to leave kings landing; the place that had been the only home she had known her whole life. The place that had her grandsire, Helaena and Sabina. Three very important people in Daenyra's life. Hell she might even miss Aegon's crude sense of humour.

And of course, Aemond. Even though she would never admit it; deep down it pained her most to leave him. It seemed she herself was the only one Aemond truly enjoyed being around besides his mother. Daenyra was the only one able to put a smile on his brooding face and now she was leaving. He would be alone and who knows when she'll be back with him in King's Landing.

Daenyra also didn't think that her mother packing up her family and fleeing the red keep was wise. Daeny knew Rhaenyra was moving away because of the whispers, that much was obvious to probably everyone. She believed Rhaenyra's impulsive decision made it look like they were running.

Which she was; Rhaenyra was running from the talk of her children's appearances. The glares, judgements and gossip had finally gotten to her. Daenyra understood for it was frustrating for her as well having eyes on her and especially her brothers all the time.

But in the young princesses opinion — running was not the answer. It was cowardly and pathetic, something a future Queen should not be doing. Those in the Seven Kingdoms already quietly protest against having a Queen over a King but one thing that they would see worse than a queen is a feeble queen. And despite knowing she would never say such things out loud especially against her mother; running made Rhaenyra look guilty and weak. No future Queen should ever run.

• • • •

Arriving to their new home, Rhaenyra led her family closer towards the castle that is Dragonstone. Daenyra walked beside Luke, holding his hand as she looked around admiring the place.

Luke squeezed his older sister's hand causing her to do the same back. she let go and wrapped her arm around his shoulder instead.

"do you think this place will feel like home, daeny?" the young boys wondered quietly.

daeny thought for a moment before looking down at him and answering. "it does not matter where we are, valonqar, as long as we are together we will always be home."

luke grinned brightly at her words.

as daeny looked up she caught her mothers eye who already seemed to be staring at her. rhaenyra gave her daughter a loving smile and daenyra returned it.

as long as they had each other they were home.

▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

( author note )
hi, my lovelies! have you missed me?
i'm trying to get back into writing and i'm hoping this is a start, so please enjoy the chapter i'm not sure when the next will be out but i hope it will soon :)
thank you for all your support even in my absence

-kaylee