𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑢𝑒 - 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑖𝑟𝑡ℎ 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑉𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑦𝑎 𝑇𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑎𝑟𝑦𝑒𝑛

━━━━━━ ✧◦♚◦✧ ━━━━━━

━━━━━━ ✧◦♚◦✧ ━━━━━━

97 AC was a radiant year. Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen was born. Prince Viserys and his lady-wife, Princess Aemma Targaryen, were overjoyed. The joy of welcoming a royal child was tempered, however, by a quiet sense of disappointment among some in the realm at the child's gender. But neither Viserys nor Aemma allow themselves to be disturbed by these murmurs.

Rhaenyra was their daughter, their firstborn, and their happiness was genuine. They didn't care about her gender or the expectations of the court. There she was, in their arms, alive and well and in perfect health. The whole kingdom celebrated the news : a princess had been born, and the subjects rejoiced at the continuation of the royal line. The court was also delighted to have undeniable proof of Princess Aemma's fertility.

But this joy was soon accompanied by increasing pressure. The whispers of councillors, maesters and courtiers were never far away. If Rhaenyra was a blessing, everyone hoped she would soon be followed by a son to secure the succession. After Jaehaerys, the crown would pass to Prince Baelon, who would then pass it to his eldest son Prince Viserys on his death, but to whom would Viserys pass it without a male heir ? While some may have thought they had time, the deaths of Prince Aemon and the other children of the King who had already died lingered in the minds of the people, reminding them that the Stranger could strike at any time and adding to the uncertainty of the future.

In 98 AC, their prayers seemed to be answered when Princess Aemma announced that she was pregnant again. This news rekindled hopes : this time, it was whispered, it would be a boy. Expectations were even higher than for the first pregnancy. Even Prince Viserys, though deeply in love with his eldest daughter, let his excitement show.

But this pregnancy was very different. From the very first months, Aemma showed signs of extreme fatigue. She weakened rapidly, a fact not lost on the maesters and courtiers. Some saw this as a legitimate cause for concern; others took it as a good omen. The Maesters, in their eagerness to reassure, asserted that this weakness was the sign of a strong and healthy child. For many, it could only be a boy, a future prince.

Fearing for her health, the maestres confined Aemma to her apartments at the beginning of the second trimester. King Jaehaerys himself sent the best maestres from the Citadel to watch over his granddaughter's health. The months passed, punctuated by feverish speculation at court. Every visit from the queen was scrutinised, every report from the masters carefully analysed.

As for Viserys, he was torn between concern for his wife and hope for the unborn child. Though he cherished Rhaenyra, a part of him dreamed of a son. He could see it in his thoughts : an heir who would strengthen his line and cement his place in Targaryen history.

As summer reached its peak and the kingdom was bathed in brilliant sunshine, Aemma felt the first pains of childbirth. That day, the entire court held its breath, suspended between hope and fear, as maesters and servants bustled around the bedridden queen.

Princess Aemma's cries echoed through her chambers, breaking the dawn silence. Maesters and maids bustled around her, their faces grave, exchanging nervous whispers. The air was saturated with the acrid smell of sweat, mingled with the essences of the herbs the maesters were burning to ease the pain of the woman in labour.

Viserys, feeling powerless in the face of his wife's suffering, paced the room nervously, his hands clasped behind his back. His wife's every cry seemed to pierce his heart, but he could not get any closer. The maesters had forbidden him to interfere with their already difficult work, but that did not ease his pain. He wanted to hold his wife's hand.

Time seemed to stretch on forever. Hours passed, punctuated by Aemma's cries and the hurried comings and goings of the maids. And the more time passed, the more the masters thought about preparing the prince for the possibility that a choice would have to be made. But thanks to the Seven, they didn't have to. Finally, the piercing cry of a newborn broke the heavy silence that had settled over them.

There was a moment's hesitation as Viserys held his breath. Aemma lifted her head slightly, hoping to see her child as the servant wrapped him in a white cloth.

"Lie back down, Princess," the maid advised in a soft voice, holding the princess's child in her arms, for the mother was still weak. Too weak. Even for a woman who had just given birth. But that's hardly surprising, given the ordeal of childbirth.

Aemma understood that she would not be allowed to hold her baby immediately. That Viserys would be the first to hold their son. "How is he ?" she asked, seeking reassurance.

"The child is well and seems to be in perfect health, Princess," something disturbed Princess Aemma. Perhaps it was the maid's expression, or her choice of words, or even her tone, which was tinged with a certain who-knows-what. But she hardly had time to ask any more questions before the Maesters forced her to lie down again.

With the baby swaddled, the maid turned and carried the child to his father. Viserys reached out enthusiastically to take him in his arms. He gently lowered the cloth with his fingers to get a better look at the face of the son he had waited so long for.

"Then he is in excellent health, is he not ?" Viserys asked again, even though he had heard the exchange between his wife and the maid.

She seemed to hesitate before answering. "Yes, she is well, My Lord." Viserys looked up from his child for the first time and stared at the servant, stunned, convinced that he had heard her wrong or that she had made a mistake.

It couldn't be true.

"A girl, Your Grace," she finally announced quietly, like an unalterable sentence.

The words hit Viserys like a cold wave. A girl. He forced a smile, but a shadow passed over his face. "How is the mother ?" he asked immediately, almost suddenly losing interest in the child.

The maid hesitated, lowering her eyes. "Princess Aemma is... weak, Your Grace. The maesters are doing all they can to stabilize her condition."

Without further ado, Viserys handed his daughter back to the servant and rushed to his wife's bedside, his heart beating wildly. Aemma lay on the bed, pale as a ghost. Her hair clung to her sweaty forehead, framing a face marked by exhaustion and pain.

Viserys approached and knelt beside the bed. He placed his gentle hand on his wife's before bringing it to his mouth to plant a tender, comforting kiss on her knuckles.

"Where is she ?" Aemma asked of her daughter, trying to look past everyone around her, her eyes desperately searching for her little girl.

"The baby is fine, Aemma." He reassured her. "Rest now, you can see them later." Aemma noticed the words her husband used. «The baby» and not «our daughter» or «She is fine» or «her». As if it was too painful to say, or as if admitting out loud that he had a daughter and not a son would tear his throat out.

"I want to see her. I want to hold her." Aemma spoke directly to Viserys. She had been repeating these words for several minutes, but was completely ignored by the masters and maids who cared for her. But their concern only fuelled the princess' desire to hold her baby.

If anything should go wrong, she wanted to hold her little girl at least once.

"Aemma..." Viserys wanted to protest like everyone else. The Arryn understood but refused. She mustered every ounce of strength she had left to speak in a tone of authority.

"I want to hold my baby. I want to hold my daughter," she demanded this time.

Viserys surrendered. He sighed and turned back to the maid who was still holding the child, beckoning her forward in their direction. She gently placed the baby on Princess Aemma, whose face lit up with a smile.

She wrapped her trembling arms around her daughter. Viserys gently slid his arm under his wife's to support her weak grip. He put his other arm behind her, forming a kind of hug around their daughter.

Aemma's eyes never left the child. For a moment Viserys allowed himself to be carried away by his wife's joy. He looked at their little girl and curled his lips into a thin smile.

The child, so small and fragile, seemed almost asleep, oblivious to the expectations she had just shattered and the tension she had just aroused.

"Visenya," Princess Aemma whispered weakly, looking up at her husband. "She will be called Visenya."

His wife's words snapped him out of his reverie and brought him back to the reality that their expected son was a girl with that chosen name. "Aemma..." he began, but his voice trailed off.

She smiled weakly at him, reading his mind. "She is our child, Viserys. Our daughter. No matter what anyone else says."

Viserys nodded slowly but his eyes betrayed an inner struggle. He would love this child. He already loved her, but that love was tinged with a disappointment that never seemed to go away. A disappointment that had not even appeared for a moment when Rhaenyra was born.

For though Viserys adored Rhaenyra and would never have wished her to be anything other than what she was, he had only hoped for a son to complete their family, he wished Visenya was a boy.

At that moment, a handmaiden came to examine the child and picked it up, while a maester bent over Aemma, whispering to her to keep her strength up. The king stood looking at his family, torn between his love for them and the weight of expectation on his shoulders.

A Maester approached, pushing Viserys aside slightly who turned to speak directly to his grandfather's Grand Maester, Maester Allar. "What is it ? Is my wife..."

Viserys dared not put words to his darkest fears, lest he give them life. His worst nightmare, unrealisable in his reality, suddenly seemed terribly close in the face of the Grand Maester's grave expression.

But instead of feeding his fears, Grand Maester Allar slowly shook his head. "No, no, don't worry. Princess Aemma should recover and regain her strength. However, she will need plenty of rest, much more than is usually recommended for a woman after childbirth."

Prince Viserys breathed a long sigh of relief, as if a great weight had just been lifted from his shoulders. For the first time in hours, he could breathe freely. Yet he had not noticed that the Grand Maester's grave expression had not vanished. It was only when the Grand Maester spoke again that Viserys realised his respite might be short-lived.

"But that's not all, my prince."

"Come on, speak up !"

"The birth was especially complicated. It was a rough one and..." The Grand Maester was silent for a moment as Viserys hung on his lips. Allar knew the news would not go down well. It was rarely welcomed by men, let alone a prince... "It would be better if it was the last."

Viserys frowned, not quite understanding. "Aemma can no longer bear children ?"

"Yes, in theory she can. Princess Aemma has shown her fertility for the past two years, but another pregnancy could harm her. It could affect her badly and perhaps even cause death."

(Princess Aemma will have fivemore pregnancies after the one that led to the birth of Princess Visenya. The last would be fatal).

The next day, news of Princess Visenya's birth spread throughout the kingdom. While some rejoiced at the arrival of another royal child, many muttered their disappointment : yet another girl.

In the royal chamber, a greater tension had set in. Aemma, though alive, remained in an alarmingly weak state. It would be many days before she improved, and several weeks before she regained her full strength. Viserys, for his part, kept his fears buried deep within him, unable to express them aloud. But the worry weighed heavily on his heart.

He now faced an agonising decision : resign himself to never having a male heir of his own, or risk Aemma's life to gain the son they had hoped for in Visenya.

━━━━━━ ✧◦♚◦✧ ━━━━━━

Hello everyone, here is the prologue to this new story. At the moment I'm making good progress on this story and the first chapter is already written, so maybe it'll be out soon.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter ! Have a good day/night <3