❝ There was a feeling of inevitability when I met you. And our lives were fated to converge like some cosmic dance. And I think I had to break your heart and you had to break mine. ❞
As Cressida Black's lungs ceased to draw breath, Aurelia Martell's...
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When he walks into the nursery, he finds Aurelia Martell there. She's standing by the window, one of the babes in her arms. She holds herself tensely, and though she turns at Viserys's footstep, she doesn't seem to see him, not even as he takes his new child from her arms and hands the child to the wet nurse, kissing the tiny forehead absently as he does so.
"They look like the Queen. The girl, she has her eyes."
The words are broken, tremulous, and Viserys doesn't try to respond, only nods. He knows she doesn't really expect an answer. He places his hands on the girl's upper arms, anchoring her in place as he whispers the expected, dreaded words.
"She's gone. I'm really sorry, but she's gone."
A sharp intake of breath is the only response he gets. He is about to repeat himself, fearing the Princess hasn't heard him properly, when she looks up at him, wild-eyed.
"Tell me you were with your wife, Your Grace. Please tell me you were with her!"
"I was with her," he confirms gently, as he lets go of her arms. "I was with her. She died in my arms. She wasn't on her own, I promise."
"That's good," she breathes and some tension leaves her. "Did she name the children? She mentioned Visenya during the birth, but..."
The words hang between them, the knowledge that Aemma had said so, thinking of Rhaenyra's wish for a sister named after the warrior-queen and not because he or Aemma wished to name their daughter after the elder of the Conquerors.
"Our son is named Baelon," he whispers. "She wished for me to name our daughter after my brother. I think I shall name her Daenaera or Daena, perhaps. Which one would you prefer?"
It is unconventional, the fact that he is requesting the opinion of a foreign Princess, but he knows how deeply Aemma cared for her and perhaps this might help her deal with her grief.
"Growing up, I heard a story of a princess. Her father was frustrated because he only had one daughter. He went to a trio of sisters who could see the future and asked if he'd have a son. They told him no. He wouldn't have a son. But he would have a grandson and that grandson would grow up to kill him. Paranoid, he locked up his daughter in the tallest of his castle's towers, so she'd never have a son. But a god had set his sights on her and a few months later, she gave birth to a boy. Her father cast them out, locked them in a chest and threw them to the sea, so the boy would never grow up to kill him. The god who fathered her son saved them. They went on to found Valyria, depending on the account of the story. I admire that princess. She survived despite everything being stacked against her."
"What was her name?"
"Danae."
━━ ⋅𖥔⋅ ━━✶━━ ⋅𖥔⋅ ━━
"Your Highness," Jamie bowed after he had been admitted into her chambers. "The Queen... Queen Aemma did not survive the night. She has been taken to the Sept, so the Silent Sisters may prepare her for her lying-in."
