The Emancipation of Rhaegar

Chapter 9

Nine

When Arianne had stepped into the room, Rhaella noticed how the room of seven women which consisted of, Elia, Ashara Dayne, Merida Whent, Lysa Tully, Catelyn Tully and Lyanna Stark, went silent. She had invited eight ladies to join her and Arianne was the last to show up, she seemed unfazed by the sudden silence, curtsied to her and Elia and sat next to her older sister. Elia was able to attend only because the tea was served in her room, to save her energy for a short appearance at the joust that would be held later that day.

"How was your morning?" Rhaella asked Arianne. The other ladies, Lysa, Catelyn, and Merida, seemed to cut her off from their giggles and hushed conversation. Elia, Rhaella, Ashara and Lyanna were the only ones who paid her any attention.

Early that morning, Ashara had rushed into the room after her breakfast to inform the Queen of the gossips she had heard. Rhaella merely smiled to herself and made Ashara vow not to tell the Princess of what she had heard. She would make sure that any rumour about her son and a girl who held a special place in her heart would be crushed by the next morning. Any soul who would be heard talking about it would pay with a finger.

That should teach them. Rhaella thought. Or not. She pondered. If she punished all the gossipers, she would be seen just as her brother-husband was, mad and delusional believing everyone was against her. Perhaps we should let the rumours die. She then told Ashara that Elia was to attend the feast that night if she could, dance with Rhaegar and prove to all those idiot lords and ladies that all was well. She had also slipped in that Oberyn and Arianne were excellent dancing together. There. If I keep Rhaegar away from Arianne the whole night, they'll think it was a one-time thing that is never to happen again.

"So I hear you have caught the eye of my brother?" Elia smiled. Her dark hair was twisted into a bun at the nape of her neck, her tiara delicately on top; one wrong move and that precious piece of jewellery would be in pieces. Her dress was a sheer golden one, Rhaella was very jealous that the Princess could have a child and her body seemed to bounce itself right back into place. She remembered how Aerys made her starve; he said he refused to have a fat Queen standing by him and laying with him after she had Viserys. She remembered how she forced food down her mouth out of spite.

She also remembered how Aerys had questioned her the night before. She had worn a long sleeved dress as to hide her bruises on her arm.

"Who is that girl? And don't lie to me and tell me she is Rickard's bastard. Nothing like that could be made in the North," he sneered as the door shut behind them. She heard the clanking of Barristan's armour; he had whispered to her that if she let out a cough, he would come into the room and inform that Lady Whent was calling on her. Barristan was Rhaella's only protection from her husband.

"She is a bastard," Rhaella responded sitting on the couch, Aerys following her and standing in front of her. She was so mad at him for allowing his beauty to fade away, at least then something good would be said of him. At least once.

"So you're telling me Rickard fucked Serene when you sent him on that trip to Dorne to 'ally with us'?" He said, looking at her with one brow raised.

Rhaella shrugged. "What Rickard and Serene did was between them."

"You sent him on the last day of the full moon. It takes nine moons to conceive and birth a child and almost three moons to travel from Dorne to the North. I may be mad, but I'm not stupid. That girl, you've kept her hidden from me. Why Rhaella!?" He shouted, grabbing her hands and shaking her violently.

"Because of who you are. You would've had her head cut in half before she even saw the world!"

"You sent Serene away because she was pregnant with my child?" He let go of her, his eyes somewhere else. "Joanna, you sent her away because she was with child too. Do you know what this means?"