aeternus | tywin lannister

I

"My lady, his grace orders you to go back to your name day feast," Margareth, one of her handmaidens, spoke, eyeing the Targaryen girl as she threw yet another stone at one of her brother's statues. The purple-eyed girl ignored her and kept throwing stones at the statues, "My lady, please, you know how cruel your brother can be when you don't act as he asks."

"Tell him to fuck off." She shrugged, but eventually stopped throwing stones and gazed at her handmaiden, whose eyes were glued to the ground, "Do you know why I'm not attending my own name day feast?"

"No, my lady."

"Because the only reason my brother is throwing it is to find a good suitor for me. It will not work, I can assure you of that, Margareth. Now, why don't you go back to the feast and tell him to fuck off?"

After a few years of accompanying the young Targaryen whatever she went, Margareth was more than used to her temped and barely flinched when she insulted the king. However, she was still scared of the King's reaction when she went back to the feast without Lady Halaena.

"Please, my lady, I surely can't return without you. Imagine what his grace would do to the both of us," she pleaded, knowing well enough that, despite Lady Halaena's ill-mannered words, she wouldn't do anything to put her handmaiden's well-being at risk. Unlike her brother, she could be kind and caring.

Halaena threw one last stone at the statue, this time hitting its eye, "Fine, I'll just go inside for five minutes or so and then I'm out of there."

The handmaiden followed her lady inside again and thought about her words earlier. Halaena wasn't wrong, her brother wanted to marry her to some lord. People didn't really like her at the castle and everyone knew that she and the king had never got along, even when they were children.

But the Targaryen had just turned sixteen years old. Many girls married younger, but Halaena still behaved like a spoiled child. She wasn't certainly ready to marry and much less have children.

All her life, Margareth heard stories about the greatness of the Targaryens and their dragons. And she had seen the five Targaryen children growing in the Red Keep. They weren't joyous or caring, but they were ambitious. Of course, only one of them was born to be king, but the others still had their great plans.

Halaena Targaryen, however, was the exception. It was rare to see her playing with her siblings even when she was a young child. She didn't like to ride or even to learn. Instead, she spent her days listening to the servants gossiping or with her tailor choosing new dresses and cloaks.

The king only had two sisters and Margareth had no doubt who would be the one he picked to marry a lord. Gods, she could only imagine what Halaena would be like as a wife.

They finally arrived at the feast and Margareth followed Halaena to her chair, with her eyes on the ground. Halaena finally sat at the table with her family and didn't even seem to notice the hall was filled with lords and ladies. The music was quite loud and everyone seemed to have a good time, but the young Targaryen simply ate her dinner and ignored everyone and everything around her.

"Are you hungry, Margareth?" She asked her, turning her head to see her standing behind her.

"No, my lady, I ate in the kitchens before the feast started."

The girl didn't say anything and kept eating in silence while everyone chatted loudly around her. She finally took her time looking around the room to see what everyone was doing. Her brother Aerys was talking with her sister, Rhaella, the Queen. He didn't seem pleased, but again, if he wasn't tormenting someone, how could he be pleased?

When she finished eating, she didn't waste time on getting up and walking towards her brother, who was still arguing with Rhaella.

"Your grace," she raised her voice, "I have already eaten and I'm quite tired, so I decided on-"