Do Not Presume to Know The Damned (Jacaerys x Helaena)

Jacaerys VI

The wings were finished. Jace picked them from the rug, giving them a small shake to allow the feathers to fall into place and shake off any rug fibres. He'd tied them to a leather pony harness, sticking the chicken feathers to two sticks with the thick treacle he'd charmed from the cooks. It looked well enough, though he had yet to see it on the pig. The cooks already marked an old sow for the Dragonpit, though they had not been best pleased.

'The Pink Dread' Aegon called it. Besides the original idea, the sole involvement of his uncle in the plan was a name. It was funny, Jace could admit that, elsewise he would not have agreed to do it. He tried to imagine how Luke would giggle as they tried to wrestle the sow into the harness, but he was still a few days away and Aegon grew impatient. They would either need to go ahead with it without Luke, or risk the next jape targetting Jace himself. The very thought sent him stomach into knots.

Outside the window, the sky was painted in thick strokes of deep reds and purples, stars beginning to twinkle high above, piercing the dark sky. He found the Galley, an ancient ship sailing through the heavens with its starry sails. Rhaenyra once told him the Galley was Princess Nymeria's flagship, burned off the Dornish coast and fixed in the sky forever more to remind the Rhoynar their journey had reached its end.

Jace hid the harness at the bottom of his wardrobe, laying midwinter cloaks atop it. He and his mother would dine together and then he had arranged to meet with Princess Helaena in the godswood after dark. A spur-of-the-moment decision as they'd parted in the tunnels.

Whatever fear regarding the meeting he might've had become overshadowed by relief at not needing to either ask Ser Harwin to find another room to train in or ignore his aunt's cryptic warning about said room. Supplementary training was postponed for now as the Commander of the City Watch dealt with unrest in King's Landing.

From what little Harwin said and conversations Jace overheard from two maids, someone had murdered an important Triarchy man in the city. Or on his ship, according to one maid. 'Cut 'im open like a fish, my brother says,' she'd whispered to her friend as they scrubbed the floor.

"Princess Rhaenyra bids you join her, my prince," a servant popped his head around Jace's door while he was lost in thought, feeling the fur of his winter cloak between his fingers.

"Coming," Jace replied, getting to his feet and following the man to the meal.

Rhaenyra sat at the table, her brow creased as she rubbed her temple with one hand and her bump with the other. Her face smoothed when she saw Jace, her lips lifting just a little at him. He sat across from her; the table stretching out in either direction from them. The absence of the rest of their family keenly felt.

Dishes scattered between them: creamy pea soup, chicken thighs drowning in a lake of butter and parsley, mashed carrots and parsnips seasoned well with pepper, and a thick fish stew that smelled divine. Jace and his brother were only permitted one watered-down cup of wine at dinner, and Jace saw his already poured by his plate. Jace dug in, shovelling food into his mouth, but paused when he noticed Rhaenyra had not touched her food, she just swirled her spoon through her portion without lifting a bite.

"Are you well, Mother?" Jace asked. She only picked at the food on her plate, grimacing now and then between slow bites.

She glanced up, softening. "I am, sweetling. The day proved a long one. Nothing for you to concern yourself with."

He frowned. "Is it to do with the attack in the city?" he asked, swallowing a spoonful of stew around his words.

"Finish chewing before you speak, Jace," she reminded him. Jace dipped his head, admonished. "Where did you hear about this?"