Line of Bastards

III

Alyssa

In the early morning light, Alyssa Rivers, in her pink dress, was involuntarily attracting attention as she made her way through the corridors of the Red Keep among the servants running around for the tournament. On a normal day, the last thing she wished was to be the centre of people's gaze, but in honour of Rhaegar's wedding, it would have been disrespectful not to wear the dresses the queen had ordered for her.

She had gathered some of her dark hair behind her head in a braid as at the feast, but this time she had left the flowers missing. Considering that she would spend most of the day in the outdoors, it was possible that the flowers she had carefully selected would be blown away by the wind and she did not have the heart to wear the pearls sent by the queen.

Of course, the queen could not replace her mother, whom she had been missing for as long as she could remember, but the love and respect she felt for the woman who held on to life for her children in this keep despite the lack of support from anyone was immeasurable. For that reason she would never have dreamed of flaunting the riches the queen offered her. The biggest part of her life in the keep included attending to the needs of the queen who provided her with all these opportunities, even if it was not expected from her. For the young bastard, the way to show her gratitude was to make herself useful. And lately, her greatest occupation was the young prince.

When she arrived at Prince Viserys' chambers, the king's guard greeted her as he was accustomed to do every morning, and the ladies who were attending to the prince inside stalled away from the prince when they saw her. The smile on Alyssa's face when she held the prince, one of her greatest joys in the keep, made little Viserys smile too. He squinted his eyes, a dark shade of purple shining in the morning light. Although he shared his brother's smile his eyes reminded her of Aerys Targaryen too much for her liking. But Viserys wasn't like him and wouldn't be, he was Alyssa's dear boy, always smiling warmly and demanding her love.

"Good morning my little dragon, are you excited to see your mother?" she cooed as she walked out of the chamber with the little boy in her arms. As expected, the kingsguard followed her as she made her way to the queen's chambers. With the king's paranoia growing every day, the prince was not to be left unprotected at any hour of the day.

In front of the queen's chamber, Arthur Dayne, a close friend of Prince Rhaegar and the last of the Kingsguard, was on duty. Alyssa always adored him, because of his gentleness despite being a skilled fighter, or perhaps because of his charming face. The Dornish knight had the handsome traits of his lands and Alyssa would be laying if she'd said her cheeks never reddened when he smiled at her. The young knight bid her good morrows but signalled them to stop before opening the door. "The Queen is having tea with Lady Cersei."

"At this hour?"

"It seems so."

Hearing the Lannister girl's presence was enough to change Alyssa's mood. Tywin Lannister's daughter had been staying with her father in the capital for the last few moons and during this time no friendship had developed between the two girls, who were close in age. Alyssa knew, of course, that the reason for Cersei Lannister's behavior was her birth, and she was not bothered by this treatment, which she was facing not for the first time in her life. But there was something about the look in her eyes as she strode through the corridors tossing her golden hair, that disturbed Alyssa Rivers, perhaps because it epitomised the falseness she had grown accustomed to in the King's Landing.

Alyssa turned her attention to the baby in her arms as Viserys began impatiently playing with the strands of hair that escaped from her braids. Smiling, she planted a kiss on his cheek and released her hair from the prince's small hand. "I'm afraid someone more important than Cersei Lannister wants to see the queen," she returned to Kingsguard. As the door to the queen's chambers opened, she involuntarily tousled Viserys' silver hair, though it was questionable whether she was trying to encourage the boy or herself.