The Queen's Secret

VI - Betrayal

(112 AC)

„I have decided to take a new wife", Viserys said.

Rhaenyra knew how important this decision was - and how difficult it was for her father. He looked at her and she gave him a confident nod. But his gaze didn't return her confidence. Viserys took his time with his words. The seconds suddenly stretched out like hours.

„I intend to marry..."

A dull dread crept up the back of Rhaenyra's neck. Her eyes sought Alicent, who was standing across the table from her. She looked at Rhaenyra with the eyes of a hunted deer.

„...the Lady Alicent Hightower..."

Her father's voice sounded hollow and far away. Rhaenyra must have misheard. Alicent would signal her. Wink at her. Why didn't she. Why was she just standing there, breathing heavily and pinching her fingers until they bled?

„...before spring's end."

Alicent lowered her eyes. And Rhaenyra knew: It was true.

As she left the room, the walls seemed to collapse on her. With quick steps she tried to create as much distance as possible. Away from these people, from the games they played, their secrecy and their lies, preferably away from the court and from all of King's Landing!

Alicent. She said she needed time for herself to remember her mother! Instead, she had gone to Rhaenyra's father. That irony. Her Alicent - a snake. It was incomprehensible to Rhaenyra. How could she have been so wrong? Not to mention her father. Choosing Alicent, a girl who he had watched grow up like another daughter... It had been her girl! It was all so ugly, so unbearably disgusting and repulsive that Rhaenyra felt like throwing up.

Gasping for air, she eventually found herself in the Godswood, leaning on the tree for support. Only after a few breaths was she sure that the world had stopped turning. Clouds darkened the sky. A rumble of thunder echoed over King's Landing. She should retire to her chamber. Lock the doors. And never come out again. Rhaenyra slowly turned to go, but froze as she saw the figure there between the pillars.

„Rhaenyra..." Alicent said, her voice cracking. In the dim light and with that grave expression on her face, she looked like a statue. She blocked Rhaenyra's way out. The princess clenched her fists. Staring straight ahead, she swept off, right past Alicent, who grabbed her wrist. The strength of her grip surprised Rhaenyra.

„Rhaenyra, please listen to me," she said urgently. „I know how this must feel to you..."

With a jerk, the princess tore herself free. Alicent's dark eyes pierced her pleadingly. Again a menancing rolling thunder echoed over the Red Keep. „Rhaenyra...I didn't want that."

Rhaenyra laughed derisively, „Of course you didn't want that!" She shook her head. Who was she looking at? What had become of the girl she thought she knew? „Just tell me: how did you do it? My father hardly noticed you before! Did you meet him secretly? In the evening? At night?"

Alicent's gaze flew evasively over the ground in front of her feet, fingers convulsively crossed: „We read..."

„How foolish of me to think that you needed practice for lovemaking," Rhaenyra said, a bitter taste on her tongue. She wanted to spit it at Alicent's feet.

„We only read and talked, Rhaenyra!"

„Oh, so that is what you call it?"

„You need to believe me! Don't you know me at all?"

„No, Alicent - I don't know you! No longer! Maybe I never knew you!

Tears ran from Alicent's doe eyes. Under other circumstances, the sight would have immediately made Rhaenyra want to pull her into her arms - but now it just made her shake her head in disgust: „I can't even believe your tears anymore."

„My father sent me to Viserys. I had no choice," Alicent sobbed.

Otto Hightower... It made sense. And yet the beginning didn't change anything about the ending. „So many things could have occurred to you that could have pushed my father away from you instead of drawing him to you!"

„So much? Should I have been bad to the king?"

„You could have bored him!"

„We were... just... reading..."

„And apart from that," Rhaenyra snapped, only to continue all the more shakily. „...why didn't you tell me?"

Tears welled up in her eyes and she couldn't hold them back. Suddenly both girls reflected in their tears, their desperation, their anger. Helpless and both alone.

„How could I have explained it to you," Alicent whimpered.

„Just how could you dare, Alicent..." the princess ground out softly.

„I was afraid."

Rhaenyra nodded. „You were afraid. And now..." She faltered. Swallowed. „Now you have lost me. And I lost you."

Powerless, Alicent didn't even try to stop Rhaenyra as she passed her. The rain was falling over King's Landing. Tears were falling in the Red Keep.