❝ 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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The Red Keep, King's Landing,
March 112 AC
Viserys broke his fast with her, something that they had begun to do since she left her confinement after Aegon was born. They ate in silence, each too deep in their own thoughts to be bothered to speak, though Alicent knew either did not mind. She herself found the silence to be comfortable, calm, peaceful.
"I worry for Danae," her husband said. "They tell me she is running her nurses ragged, that she barely calms and calls for the Princess Aurelia every chance she has to do so."
"She does," Alicent nodded, and she touched his arm, trying as best as she could to comfort him through the table. "My aunt came to me with a request."
"What request?" Viserys frowned.
Alicent stood up and walked around the table, holding her skirts in hand. She walked until she was next to Viserys, close to him. "She wishes for leave to call on some Reach lords, loyal vassals of the crown so their daughters may join the nursery and spend time with our daughter."
"Wards?" Viserys let go of his fork and she placed her hands on his shoulder, trying to calm his nerves, which were often nervous as of late. "She's still a babe. The time for companions is later, when she's older."
"I know, I know, but Lady Rosamund fears that being alone is detrimental to Danae's wellbeing," she sighed.
Viserys sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Very well, I am willing to hear the complaints of a worried governess. But be sure to remind you aunt that's all she is. A governess."
"That's the thing," said Alicent, hesitating over the entire matter, "She asked me to make her the lady mistress of the royal nursery. So she may make decisions for all of our children, without having to disturb us."
Viserys was about to refute her, but then her words hit him. He stopped and turned to her.
"Our children?" He said, walking to her. "As in, more than one?"
"I am not sure," she answered. Alicent took his hand and placed it over her belly, still flat after she lost the weight from Aegon, but somehow softer. He could not feel anything there, but he did not worry about that. It was too soon and the new child was probably so deep in its mother's womb that even her body was only slightly aware of its presence. "But my courses have not come for the past three moon turns. I think we'll have another child soon."
"Another son," he savored the idea in his mouth. "Vaeryn, we shall call him."
Alicent swallowed her disgust at the name, understanding why he chose it. For the Vale. For the Arryns. For Aemma.
"And if it's a girl?" She asked boldly and he raised an eyebrow before stepping back, thinking. Another daughter would not displease him, he was sure, especially not with how happy Rhaenyra and Danae made him. In fact, he quite liked the idea of having another little girl toddling behind him.
