Alicent had made her mark.

She stared ahead, Viserys licking his lip in what must have been annoyance, though it worried Daenys that Alicent's seemingly insulting gesture– for what else could it be, interrupting the beginning of Rhaenyra's wedding feast?– was inciting further lust in the King.

The crowd stood hastily to acknowledge her. She smiled briefly at House Hightower, then took her place beside Viserys, kissing him firmly on the cheek. Viserys tried to return to his speech. "Please be seated."

He consulted briefly with Lord Lyonel beside him, then continued, "With House Targaryen and House Velaryon united, I hope to herald in a second Age of Dragons in Westeros." The crowd cheered. "And after tonight's small affair," laughter rang, "seven days of tournament and feasting." He gestured towards his sister with a smile, "Not to worry, young knights, Ser Daeron Targaryen will not make an appearance."

Daenys raised her cup in mild amusement, still tense as she watched Alicent side-eyeing Rhaenyra. What had happened now? Viserys finished, "At the end of it all, a royal wedding, between my daughter– my heir, your future Queen– and Ser Laenor Velaryon, the heir to Driftmark."

Drums sounded, signaling for Rhaenyra and Laenor to begin their first dance together. Daenys was pleased to see Rhaenyra at least appeared happy, but there was trouble in her eyes all the same. She worried about Alicent's little performance as well, that much was plain.

She called for the maids to take her children up to their rooms as another round of dance began. She'd rather they not bear witness to any other subtle outbursts. It saved her from answering any awkward questions and kept her capable of keeping an eye on Rhaenyra and Alicent for the rest of the night.

"Come, my darling," said Rolf, offering his hand. "Let us dance."

Daenys couldn't relax even as they did, spinning each other around to the lively music. She saw Ser Gerold Royce speaking with Daemon, and as Rolf twirled her around, heard Daemon say he wished to inherit Runestone– how dare he even try to lay claim to it? Even Viserys looked insulted that he'd say such a thing to their actual guest.

Though others switched partners, she kept close to Rolf, keeping a hand on his shoulder as often as she could to hold him close when Daemon entered the dance floor, entertaining himself by dancing and whispering with the Lady Laena.

They stopped to eat for a while, Lady Arwyn retiring for the night with a sleepy Kermit. Elmo had followed after them, Lord Grover chatting aimlessly with a bored Vaemond Velaryon. Daenys watched Daemon closely, her brother not daring to approach her– he seemed to be avoiding her again. Rhaenyra had now begun dancing with Ser Harwin Strong, Laenor was with Ser Joffrey, and then–

"Gods," said Daenys, holding Rolf's wrist as Daemon moved to dance with Rhaenyra. Viserys couldn't fully see them, but she saw her brother craning his neck to catch a glimpse of him. She saw Daemon grab Rhaenyra's cheek and had just gotten to her feet when a scream tore through the hall, shrill and panicked. A fight seemed to have broken out.

"Stay with your father!" said Daenys to Rolf. When she saw Viserys scrambling to his feet, "KINGSGUARD! Protect your King!"

The White Cloaks surged towards Viserys, people pushing and shoving, the tables creaking under the weight of so many scrambling to escape. The whole feast had turned into chaos. "RHAENYRA!" shouted Daenys, pushing towards where she'd last seen her. She saw Laena first and pushed her aside, "Go to your mother, now!" She shoved two gawking idiots aside. "Rhaenyra– does anyone see the Princess?"

She saw Rhaenyra's skirts first as she was swept over the protective shoulder of Ser Harwin Strong, who had no qualms about punching someone in the face to get them out of the way. Once she saw she was safe, Daenys unsheathed Bloodrain, which immediately had everyone clearing a path for her.

In the center of the dance floor, a man was snarling in a fit of rage. She found Ser Criston Cole beating into Ser Joffrey Lonmouth with everything he had. Laenor had already been hurt trying to separate them, Laena had ignored her advice and come to tend to her brother. Everyone nearest them was watching uselessly– even Daemon was nowhere to be seen and had done nothing to stop Cole.

Daenys kicked him so hard, she heard his nose snap beneath her foot, blood spurting over her boots. She lowered Bloodrain to his throat, snarling at those who stared on, "You useless cowardly cunts. All of you, STEP BACK!"

The lords pulled their ladies out of the way. "Leave the hall, all of you," she said, turning back to the high table. Lord Lyonel was holding Viserys steady, the King's nose bleeding into a handkerchief that Alicent held for him. Ser Harwin had Rhaenyra far enough from the rest of the crowd.

The guests began to stream out of the hall. Daenys looked down at Ser Criston, whose chest rose and fell heavily, eyes lost. His hands were bloodied beyond recognition. She turned over her shoulder, stomach turning at the sight of Ser Joffrey's once handsome face turned to ruin, crushed and bloody, a mess of flesh that rendered him unrecognizable.

Still hurt, Ser Laenor crawled to him, sobbing and cradling him in his arms. Daenys stepped off of Criston, who scrambled out of the hall like a madman, all moving out of his way while he ran. Daenys turned up to Rhaenys, who shook her head wearily– something was amiss. What reason did Ser Criston have to do this? Daenys had half a mind to execute him without explanation, for none of it could be good.

A hasty wedding was held right then and there. Ser Joffrey's body was removed, but his blood still soaked into the stone, right beneath where Rhaenyra and Laenor spoke their vows. Rolf had taken Lord Grover to his room, but not before his father said this was the most exciting wedding he'd ever attended. She might have laughed if she weren't so angry.

Viserys had collapsed during the wedding. Daenys had not gone to find Ser Criston out of concern for her brother, but perhaps she should have. It came to her attention the following day that Alicent had 'handled' the matter by questioning Ser Criston and naming him her sworn protector. The man had been ready to commit suicide in the godswood when she found him. Everyone assumed he'd been too drunk and had gotten upset, wishing to free himself of his vow with death out of shame, but Daenys knew there was something else that had triggered Ser Criston into such a fit.

Her brother was too ill to say anything about Alicent's choice. Daenys had insisted he deny this immediately, that he let her question Ser Criston herself and put him to the sword for endangering Rhaenyra and ruining her wedding festivities. He did not grant it. He was so exhausted, she did not press the issue.

The truth refused to come out. Rhaenyra would not tell her why Ser Criston might have done it, nor would Alicent admit anything. Daenys and Rolf both assumed that Ser Criston had something personal to do with Rhaenyra... once he'd been her sworn protector– now replaced by Ser Harwin Strong, it seemed– and surely they'd been close. Rolf had dared to suggest that Ser Criston and Rhaenyra had been more than close. Daenys feared he might be right.

What was painfully obvious was that Alicent and Rhaenyra were enemies once more. It did not take a maester or septa to realize that. The first few weeks after the wedding were unbearable. The castle was filled with grief, Laenor would hardly emerge from his rooms, Rhaenyra would not see her father, Alicent, or even Daenys and her children.

"My girl." Daenys sat with Alicent first, hoping she'd be level-headed enough to tell her what transpired. She'd learned just that day that Alicent was with child as well, which broke her heart more than words could say. "Please... I beg you, tell me what has soured you both again."

"I will tell you only this," she murmured, tone vicious. Her eyes were filled with contempt. "Rhaenyra lied about Daemon. She lied about her virtue. She swore on her dead mother that lies were truths and truths were lies. I defended her, I believed her, and I was played for a fool. I will never be her friend again. I wished to remedy what happened between us, but I can no longer trust her. She should not be heir to the Iron Throne."

It alarmed Daenys to hear Alicent speak in such a way. That had Otto written all over it, too. Perhaps she'd communicated with her father since the wedding. "Alicent, my darling..."

"No," said Alicent sharply. "No, you are going to defend her, aren't you? You always defend her."

"That's not true. I defend you as well. I have asked her to be patient with you even in her own fury. I have spoken in your favor when she wished to see me cast you aside. You are both my girls and I hate to see you so cross with each other. There must be some sort of explanation."

"The only explanation is that Rhaenyra lied. I am right, you know I'm right, even my father says you know that I'm right!"

Daenys shook her head. "Your father... that is not what I feel, he knows that."

"I know you used to love him," said Alicent. "I know you would have made him your king consort. You would have taken your duty seriously, but not Rhaenyra. I only ever wanted to help her with her matches, with mending her relationship with her father–"

"Alicent, please, listen." She wished to tell her to see it all through Rhaenyra's eyes, which was the same thing she'd tell Rhaenyra about Alicent once she managed to get a moment alone with her. Gods, they were both so young, only nineteen, they should not feel this way–

Alicent got out of her feet, ripping her hand away from Daenys. "Don't tell me what to do, Princess. You are not my mother."

Daenys's expression dropped. "I know that, Alicent. I never presumed to be a replacement for your mother. I only... I raised you after she died. In my heart, you are like my daughter, but I swear to you, I don't wish to chastise you as if I were Alyrie."

"You and I share no blood," murmured Alicent. "You will always choose her side over mine, you will never understand things as I understand them. Please leave me, Princess. Go."

She hardly saw Alicent after that. The Queen summoned her when she needed to discuss matters of the kingdoms, yet other than that, would not seek her out. Aegon and Helaena were not available for Daenys to visit unexpectedly. Her children were barred from their playmates, which made Alyssa wail inconsolably for days, missing Aegon.

Things with Rhaenyra were no better. When she told Daenys she was pregnant, several months later, she'd come looking to speak with her more often, perhaps because of how afraid she was. Daenys was patient with her, as always. She swore to be there for her, to console her and hold her as Aemma would have.

But Daenys's time with Rhaenyra was still limited. With her new duties and her own progressing pregnancy, it was difficult to find spare moments with her niece. She'd given birth halfway through the year to a little boy that she agreed to name Bertram, the name Rolf's mother would had given to his younger stillborn brother. Aenar had immediately taken to calling him 'Bert,' though Cliff found it funnier to refer to him as 'Ram.'

Some weeks later, Alicent delivered another healthy boy for Viserys, surprisingly named Aemond after Daemon. Their brother was said to be entertaining the young Lady Laena, which Corlys didn't seem about to deny, for it would be a good political marriage for Laena and a sort of thanks for Daemon helping to clean up the Stepstones after Daenys's departure. Her only concern was for Laena, who might suffer Daemon's disrespect soon enough, if not already.

Then, at last, the third and final royal child of the year was brought forth. Rhaenyra's first child, a boy named Jacaerys Velaryon, came forth squalling. He was a big one, and had given Rhaenyra a difficult first labor. By first glance, Daenys knew something was amiss. It brought her the same pit in her stomach she'd had when she first saw Aenar and Alyssa, knowing Rolf was not their father.

Her own children had the brown-red hair of the Tullys and Hightowers. All had her aquiline nose and purple eyes, Cliff even bearing one green. This boy was different. His hair was brown, his nose that of a pug. His eyes, brown as well. One would not think him a Targaryen or Velaryon of any sort. Had his hair been more blonde-brown than simply brown,Daenys might've said Jacaerys took after her mother Alyssa, who'd not had the silvery Valyrian hair.

Then, she'd tried to reason with herself that perhaps he took after the Baratheons. But their hair was much, much darker. Rhaenys bore that hair, so had Lady Jocelyn. Daenys remembered holding her aunt's hair and being told that it was black as night. She remembered how it shined in a braid. But even Lady Jocelyn's eyes had been even darker. Some Baratheons had blue or green eyes. Their noses were often sharper and upturned.

This child reminded her of others she knew from court. Brown-haired, brown-eyed, pug-nosed Strongs. Lord Lyonel and his brood, including the fierce Ser Harwin Breakbones and his sneaky little brother, Clubfoot Larys.

She'd hidden her disappointment well enough the first day, while she gave Rhaenyra a chance to recover. But on the second day, she'd sat beside her niece, nursing Bertram after the wetnurse had taken Jacaerys. Rhaenyra seemed to anticipate what was coming, for she stiffened when Daenys said, "The babe certainly looks interesting."

"I remember your own children looked strange the first days after their birth," said Rhaenyra casually, holding her shawl tight over her shoulders. "Aenar and Alyssa were the first babes I ever truly beheld so close, and I thought they appeared wrinkly and... peeling."

"You know what I mean," said Daenys sternly. "My dear... I love you. I have always loved you like you were my daughter. It is why I have to tell you that this... is not what I meant when I told you to perform your duty. You are stacking obstacles against yourself with this."

"Gods, here we go again," said Rhaenyra, looking hurt.

"I wish I did not have to have this conversation with you again. I am trying to help you because I've known trials all my life simply because I didn't have a cock. Rhaenys was passed over as heir, I remember that Great Council vividly. The way the lords looked at her with disdain for even daring to stake her claim. I know you did not ask for this, I know the situation is impossible, but... how could you risk it? You affirmed your duty and then you... risked a bastard? It would have been better not to conceive a child for at least a year while he grieved, to at least give him time to steady his mind and give it a proper attempt."

"As you did?" Rhaenyra's eyes were accusing, a dragon looking down at its prey. "I know about the twins."

Daenys stared at her seriously. "It is different. I would have drank tansy tea and ripped them out of myself if I'd been heir to the throne." Actually, I would have married Otto if I were heir to the throne. I probably wouldn't have met Rolf until I was a married woman. I wouldn't have Cliff, Gemma, or Bertram. "My children and I are already far down the line of succession, they will never sit the Iron Throne. And at the very least they look enough like Rolf that no one but those closest to me have ever questioned it to my face. If I knew my children were going to sit the Iron Throne, I would have never paraded them around as true borns if that were not the case."

When Rhaenyra refused to answer, Daenys lost her temper. It was not the first time she was having this sort of conversation with Rhaenyra and it upset her that she was willing to risk her already unstable position over something like lust. As unfair as it was that a man could father as many bastards as he wanted with no one blinking an eye, she could not risk this and still she had, and the fruit had been different from the one everyone expected to be borne.

"I am disappointed in this outcome," said Daenys curtly. She got to her feet, covering her breast as she burped Bertram. "I warn you against a second child looking like Ser Harwin Strong. If making children with Laenor proves difficult, I suggest you either find a willing Velaryon or even dare to tempt Daemon so they might at least look Valyrian. Your mother and Rhaenys used to tell me that you and Laena were curious with each other as little girls. I'm sure she'd not object."

"Say what you really mean," said Rhaenyra. "You are disappointed in me."

"I am," she replied bluntly. Her niece looked as though she'd been slapped. "The cards are already stacked against you, the gameboard has been rearranged in a way where you have only one way to win. And you are willing to throw away the cards and pieces without a fight. You are making it easier for the wicked men of this realm to underestimate you and disrespect you. I expected better of you, Rhaenyra. When your father chose you to be his heir, I thought you could handle it, I thought you were willing to fight for your right to that throne. Perhaps I was wrong."

She cried to herself that night, unable to believe she'd let such words spill out of her own mouth. Then, she cried more to think that both her girls wanted nothing to do with her, wanted to ignore her advice and would be going down a path that pointed more and more towards war.

In the morrow, she told Rolf she was serious about Dragonstone. Her only requirement was that the children attempt to claim dragons before they left– they would need them. It was better for both the children and their dragons to grow free on Dragonstone. Daenys needed space, too. She worried for Viserys, for Alicent, for Rhaenyra, but for once, she was too exhausted to try and clean up her family's messes.

With Gemma too young and Bertram only a babe, Daenys had taken her three eldest children to the Dragonpit a week before they were to depart for Dragonstone. It did not surprise her that Cliff had been the first to claim a dragon. He'd chosen one of Vhagar's hatchlings– Goldhorn, black as night with golden horns on his head and specks of glitter on his leathery wings. The dragon was as mischievous as him, and the Dragonkeepers had been beside themselves with fear when Cliff's first command after the bonding was for Goldhorn to blow fire right at the ceiling.

Then, Alyssa had been quite taken with Frostbite, a white beast with blue specks seeming to be snowflakes. This was the most temperamental of Vhagar's hatchlings, which Daenys found suitable for Alyssa. The last of them to bond was Aenar, who had been unsure whether he felt more of a connection to Aegarax, green as a garden snake, or Starbeam, a sky blue with streaks on her wings like falling stars crawling up to her neck. In the end, it was Aegarax who chose him.

With four dragons in tow, their family left for Dragonstone. Daenys had not looked back as they sailed out, their mighty beasts looming overhead. Vhagar seemed as pleased as Daenys that her children had bonded with Vhagar's own. It was high time they left that place... Daenys had once loved King's Landing, had always wanted the closeness of family, but that time had passed. She loved her girls, she never would stop loving them. But she had five children of her own to worry about, and for their sake, she had to think of her own happiness.

"I like it here," said Rolf, always one to be optimistic. He had already taken a dive into Dragonstone's library, holding Bertram in one arm and a book in the other. Aenar had joined him until he became more interested with watching Alyssa try to ride Frostbite, the first of them to attempt mounting, though she would not be permitted to fly until she was at least six. The last thing Daenys needed was her four-year-old daughter, who was already good at riding horses, zipping through the sky unattended.

"I'm glad you do," said Daenys. "I know it is not the adventure I promised you when we married."

"Nonsense, there is grass everywhere for me to run around. I can be the master-at-arms here. I am still happier than I would be at Riverrun, and I'm sure my lord father is glad I don't bring us and four dragons to visit. But you, my love..." He cupped her face. "You are still troubled."

She half-smiled. "It will be difficult to adjust to living here, but it was the right thing for me. For us."

"Your family has always seen you as their protector... the one that guards their emotions. King Jaehaerys and Queen Alysanne seem to have used you to cope with their own losses, to not face the reality of their actions. Prince Baelon used you as a substitute for Princess Alyssa, to pretend she was still with him. Viserys protected himself from guilt by projecting his feelings onto you and Daemon shielded himself from accountability by hoping you would give him an out and love him in spite of his wrongs. As for Alicent and Rhaenyra, you were always the woman who protected them from harm.

"Yet..." He ran his thumb over her cheek, drying her tears. "You are so much more than that. Who has protected you? You have been to the seven hells for your family, you continue to care for them even when it hurts you, you try to teach them right from wrong and guide them down better paths... but they will not listen. And eventually, one must... step away and let them make their mistakes. I know you will always support Rhaenyra. She will learn from her own choices. It is not up to you to make her see that anymore. She'll find out the hard way. I only hope her children and ours will not suffer for it."

"I hope the same," she whispered. She let him kiss her forehead in comfort. "I am afraid, Rolf. Afraid of what is to come. Perhaps I should have let Viserys marry me, to keep the Hightowers away. Perhaps I should have killed Otto and Daemon and Ser Criston, Ser Harwin..."

"Let them clean up their messes for a bit, my love. You and I will be here with our little ones. When you are ready, we will visit King's Landing again. Remind them that you are still close by, but they must be the ones to ask for your help this time. Humble themselves enough to realize how much you have tried to help them. Perhaps the next time we go, Gemma and Bertram will claim their own dragons."

Daenys rested her head on his shoulder. "Thank you, Rolf. For always being my protector."

"Now and always, Daenys," said Rolf. "Family, Duty, Honor. You are my family, you are my duty, and it is my honor to serve you."