Rhaella Targaryen always knew that there was more behind her mother's death than what she was told. Alysanne was a healthy, strong woman, and yet she was gone in a couple of days because of a mysterious illness. Rhaella was only a child when the tra...
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DRAGONSTONE
132 AC
SUPPER WAS SOMETHING that Rhaella hated. It might sound odd, but she would rather spend the night alone and eating by her own than being forced to play the big, happy family in the perfect picture Alicent had created for herself. A perfect, false picture of the family she had wished for.
Everything during those moments was uncomfortable and also irritating. It was clear that nobody ― especially Aegon and Aemond ― wanted to be there. Rhaella could understand them, as she was as well forced to grin and bear it while the only people she actually liked in the room were Heleana and, sometimes, Aemond.
Maybe, the only person that actually enjoyed the meals was Heleana. Otto always asked the musicians to play her favourite ballads and he often danced with her, since Aegon always refused to do so. But it didn't matter how badly he treated her, he was always disclosed as a very nice husband, which infuriated her. She couldn't believe Alicent was that blind, she knew she was willingly ignoring how bad the idea the marriage between her children had turned out to be. She always wondered if the Queen sometimes regretted not accepting Rhaenyra's offer. Probably not, since she didn't know Jacaerys and couldn't be aware of the man he had turned out to be.
Rhaella also hated the fact that they were all obliged to pray. She had to pray to some Gods she didn't even believe in because the Queen said so. There was a time in which Rhaella was fascinated by the Sevens. She didn't properly believe in them, she was too young for that, but she was curious to learn more about them. That curiosity faded as soon as her mother died. If there were any Gods above them, Rhaella couldn't believe they would let such a thing happen. Not to a six year old girl. Then, she had learned that unfortunately those things happened a lot more than she thought.
And if the thought of Gods allowing a six year old girl to grieve her mother was unbearable, even worse was the fact that babies could lose their mothers when they were too young to remember them, that mothers could lose their babies soon after birth, that people died in the streets because there wasn't always enough food and meanwhile rich people shoved food down their throat. Where was the Mother, when her children were dying, starving? No God could allow such a thing. Therefore, being forced to pray was torture.
Even if she hated supper, Rhaella knew she had to attend the one Rhaenyra had invited her to. It was the least she could do, the Princess had literally brought her out from a place that was almost like a living hell. Moreover, it was a chance to see her favourite people again. She was pretty frustrated for how things had started with Jace, but she would work to go past the first impression. Maybe Rhaena was right. Maybe he was just nervous because she was the person who was going to become his wife, and that was a pretty big deal. She was nervous too.
