his rose || aegon ii targaryen

Chapter 5

TW: abuse

The day of the funeral is here. Reina is looking in the mirror, arranging her black dress. She puts on her favorite chain, given to her by her mother.

Who would have thought that her life would be ruined in less than a month?

She would have wanted her mother to be present at her wedding, to support her. Anyway, she was the only one who cared about her anymore, the only one who fought to save her from Larys' clutches.

Larys. He still has not fully recovered from her attack. Reina regrets she had not kill him. That was what she wanted, that was her intention. To stick that shard deep in his heart and watch him die in agony.

No one believed her. No one believed the fact that her mother did not die from an illness, but from poison.

They all said that she was disturbed after all the previous events and that she had lost her mind.

Reina, however, swore that she would find out the truth and if her mother was indeed killed by Larys, he would perish by her hand.

She will kill him. She won't let him live this time.

She puts her black veil on her head and walks out of the room.

She forgets about everything as she heads for the Highgarden graveyard.

Her mother will be avenged.

•••

She passes through the crowd of people, without looking at any of them.

There are people who empathize with her, but there are some, most of them men, who say that what she did was totally wrong and that she should "accept her fate" as a woman.

Reina is disgusted by this foolish advice. Why should she accept her fate that she did not make? Why accept a fate made by someone else and not by your own person?

The Targaryens are at the funeral. Tomorrow they will leave, taking Reina with them. Her father will stay in the capital until the wedding, and then he will return to Highgarden to prepare her brother.

Her brother. Once these words made Reina smile, beam with joy. He was the only person, apart from her mother, who understood her. Who treated her the same regardless of whether she was a girl.

Now, he is a stranger too. He has not paid any attention to her since they came. He did not even care about her one bit.

She arrives next to everybody else and Alicent quickly wraps Reina in a hug, to comfort her. She knows that Reina was very close with her mother and that she is struggling to cope with life right now. This gesture, this simple touch from the Queen is just what she needs.

Reina hugs Alicent back and tries to calm herself.

When she calms down a little, she says to Alicent, "Thank you."

Reina watches with sadness and tears in her eyes as her mother's body is lowered into the ground.

She sees Larys watching her, though she tries to ignore him. He looks like he has a lot he wants to say but is restraining himself.

She also stares at Aegon who is silent and somber. He and Alicent are by Reina's side, comforting her. She does not want to be comforted by Larys, she does not even trust him. She is happy these two are by her side instead of her betrothed husband.

Reina stares straight ahead, at the grave, but her eyes are unfocused. She feels numb. It seems like the sun is not shining, the wind is not blowing, and the birds are not chirping. Life is dark. Her world is dark. She cannot feel much right now, except for the sadness that fills her heart.