Alyssa could not believe it.

She'd called Daenys a 'liar' when she announced, upon their return, that Gemma was betrothed. As amused as this made her, she'd calmly told her daughter that she did not, in fact, make a habit of lying. All she'd said was true.

"You're joking!" Alyssa hugged her sister and squealed. "Betrothed, we're both betrothed! Oh, we must marry alongside one another, that would be beautiful!"

"Your betrothed lives in Winterfell," said Gemma, blushing. "Mine in Horn Hill. The distance is vast."

"Nothing that can't be fixed with dragons," said Alyssa, wiggling her brows. "Oh, Gem, think of it, our babes will be born at the same time and they will be the closest of cousins! Like Mother and her cousins, it will be beautiful. A Stark babe and a Tarly babe, how sweet! Aenar will be delighted when he hears."

Gemma perked up. "Aenar is here?"

"Yes!" Alyssa put her arms around them. "He returned last night. He's been sleeping, the lazy fool. Oh, but tell me, you'll wait until the war is over to marry Alan, won't you?"

"I don't know yet," said Gemma, following her gladly. Even Daenys felt more elated, hearing her son had returned. "I told Alan I'd return when I was ready, that there were things I had to do. He said he'd wait for me forever."

Alyssa squealed, "Like Father did for Mother! Cregan said the same to me, I think that means everything!"

Daenys refrained from mentioning that Otto had once made her many promises as well. None of which turned out to be true. Still, she was glad that her girls were so happy with the idea of marriage, not at all afraid like she'd been the first time around. She imagined that Alyssa and Cregan's children– her grandchildren, gods be good– were going to be a wild pack of dragon-fish-wolves who would be as untamed as their mother was. As for Gemma and Alan's children, they'd be steadfast archers but as gentle as her sweet girl.

"Aenar!" Alyssa tapped hard on his door. "Aenar, wake up, Mother's back!"

"Let him sleep," said Daenys. "I am sure he is tired. I am surprised he returned."

"Well, Gemma did summon him," said Alyssa smartly. "He said that Father could not come; he's been keeping the disputes at a minimum while Harrenhal fills, and, well, you know Father was always good at calming down a fight. Cliff remained at Stone Hedge, letting Aenar lead the men the rest of the way to Harrenhal so he could fly here from there! Uncle Daemon sends his greetings."

Daenys rolled her eyes playfully. "Of course he does." Her smile grew when the door opened, a sleepy Aenar reaching out for his mother to hug him. "Welcome home, my sweet boy. I hope the journey was not too harsh."

"All worth it to see you all again." He drew back, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Are you alright, Mother? You don't need to be strong for us anymore. We're adults. If you're in pain, we want to know. We can help you now."

She smiled, kissing his cheek. "I am fine now. I will be perfectly fine once your father and Cliff return. Come, let us break our fast. I am sure you all have much to tell each other."

Bertram joined them, though he was still reading as they ate, ever so often listening in to chime in alongside Alyssa when she spoke of the impending weddings. Gemma hoped to wear the dress her mother had worn when she married Gareth Tyrell, while it was Alyssa's hope to design herself a winter cloak for a wedding in the North.

It did not surprise Aenar to hear that Alyssa was going to be married– he even stated that he'd had a bet with Cliff that he'd return to Dragonstone and find Alyssa had dragged some lad there to make him her husband– but he and Bertram had both been surprised to hear of Gemma's betrothal.

Then, Bertram finally set the book aside to tell them what they'd been missing. While Alyssa handled patrols with Baela and while Aenar had been coming to them, he alone had been sitting at the Small Council to gather information. Lord Corlys could not be given a position as Hand, given Daenys held that seat, but he and Rhaenyra had come to an understanding and he remained her Master of Ships while still holding Rhaenys's seat as counselor.

Mysaria and Rhaenyra's little gift to the smallfolk had gone well. Around King's Landing, the smallfolk had finally gotten a chance to gather the food they needed for their sick relatives. They'd massed outside the sept while Alicent and Helaena had been praying, and even were heard to have shouted, 'Long live Queen Rhaenyra!' as they tossed rotted fish into the face of Queen Alicent.

Aenar reported what Cliff had told him at Stone Hedge: their grandfather remained ill, but conscious enough to give commands. He alone remained at Riverrun, Elmo having ridden out with Cliff and his two young sons Kermit and Oscar. The boys would be participating in battle now that they were twenty-one and seventeen, respectively– it was high time, for both Aenar and Cliff had experienced their first battles well before then.

Rolf's many letters were right. Aenar was a natural leader, the men having been sad to see him depart Stone Hedge. He'd fortified the castle better than anyone could have expected, and kept the Bracken prisoners well-treated as befit their station. The lands had been cleaned of remnants of the Battle of the Burning Mill, and he'd even brokered a temporary peace with the surviving Blackwoods and Brackens, reminding them that in the end, they both cared for the survival of their houses.

House Bracken would fight under Rhaenyra's banner and get to keep their land, while the Blackwoods were rewarded with greater holdings for their initial loyalty. To honor him, she bestowed on him Ser Jon Roxton's Orphan-Maker, which Aenar renamed Wildfyre for his mother.

They'd convened for the Small Council, the men welcoming Daenys and her four children back to their seats. It seemed Alyssa had neglected to attend before their return, knowing full-well that without Aenar or her mother there, there wasn't a hope in the world that she could contain herself.

Alyssa started them by reminding those who'd been at the castle and revealing to her mother and siblings that Rhaenyra would join them shortly; she'd left early that morning after word came that Seasmoke had been seen with a rider in Driftmark. It was their hope that Jacaerys's plan would soon come to fruit, though this did not seem to have been an expected part of that plot.

For a silent moment, Daenys grieved Laenor, for if this was true, it meant he was certainly dead. Rhaenyra and Daemon had always spared her the details of what happened at Laena's funeral. Then, at last, Ser Lorent announced to them, "The Queen is unharmed."

"What of the rider?" asked Lord Corlys. "Do we know who he is?"

"He appears to be a shipwright in your employ, my lord."

Lord Bartimos muttered, "A commoner? With respect to your workers, Lord Corlys, the lowborn cannot go around seizing dragons." He questioned, "Has the thief been secured?"

"Her Grace has commanded that he remain here as a guest," said Maester Gerardys. "She wishes him to be instructed in the art of dragon riding, and that I teach him some High Valyrian."

"We know nothing about this man," said Lord Bartimos, "save that he is lowborn. What say you, Lady Hand?"

Daenys turned her gaze slowly towards him. "Lord Bartimos, I say that perhaps you are jealous that a lowborn is more capable of helping us with dragons than you have been of late." She saw him begin to redden in embarrassment. "Let us not be fools. All of you know as well as I do a simple fact my brother, King Viserys, used to remind me of as a girl. Dragons made us kings. To bond with a dragon is no easy thing. The dragon must want to bond as well. Lowborn or not, this man has shown more bravery than any of you lords. His loyalty is yet to be seen, to be sure, but I am inclined to believe he'll heed our queen more than all of you have."

Alyssa and Aenar stifled smirks as Lord Bartimos looked down at his aged hands. "We've yet to learn the nature of this man," continued Daenys. "I would not be so quick to call him a thief. Did he steal Seasmoke or did Seasmoke wish to be kidnapped? The poor boy has been lonely since Ser Laenor's passing. I will remind you all that Princess Rhaena attempted to claim him unsuccessfully. Ser Steffon Darklyn, I was told, was burned alive attempting to approach Seasmoke in service to our Queen. You, Lord Gormon, had volunteered until you saw him taken by the flames. Queen Rhaenyra will pass her judgment and we will accept it. Should another speak so distastefully about a man who accomplished what few others here have... I'd gladly place such person before Vhagar and let them tell her their grievances."

She went to find Rhaenyra once their meeting was over, little said at the rest of the meeting when the Queen did not join them. Rhaenyra had only finished speaking with Mysaria, who had recommended that Rhaenyra look among the bastards of House Targaryen to find her dragonriders. The lowborn were as like to serve her as highborns, and perhaps not so mouthy as Lord Bartimos. Daenys agreed. Should any of their new dragonriders betray them, they need only keep them around long enough to see the Greens flattened in the battlefield.

The boy who claimed Seasmoke was a shipwright, certainly common, but had declared not only that Seasmoke was the one following him around until he chose him, yet also that he would serve Rhaenyra faithfully. Daenys spoke to him after Gemma had sneakily gone to gain knowledge of him on Alyssa's behalf. Both she and her daughter agreed that he had a kind temperament, and was already fiercely defensive of Rhaenyra. He was handsome, too, which Alyssa would like if she weren't already betrothed to a more rugged Cregan. His relationship to Corlys was less certain, for the mere mention of his name made the boy twitch.

Bertram had been the one to suggest him as one of the Sea Snake's bastards. After all, Corlys and Rhaenys had wed and waited quite awhile before they began having children. Daenys had always known that Corlys married Rhaenys for proximity to the Iron Throne, though he'd grown to greatly love and respect her. Still, a man so proud was bound to have bastards lingering about. She wondered if Rhaenys knew, if she suspected. What she would have said or done.

Daenys swore to herself that if Rolf ever told her he had a bastard lingering around, she'd want that child– old or young– to benefit from his own ties to the Iron Throne. To leave them wanting for food and clothes was not right. To have them shunned was even worse. That child would hold no fault in their own existence, why should Daenys hate them or prevent them from meeting their half-siblings?

And so another of Mysaria's messages was dispatched. Rhaenyra called for Targaryen bastards to make themselves known. A ship would be arranged to bring them to Dragonstone at a set hour, to leave under the noses of the Gold Cloaks. Elinda Massey was in King's Landing, waiting to receive word and begin recruiting in Rhaenyra's name.

Daenys liked it, though admittedly wished– for the sake of the sullen Jacaerys, who seemed to believe this a slight– that Bertram and Rhaena had been willing and capable of claiming the wild dragons here. Then, they would not need to be making this call to find mounts for Silverwing, Grey Ghost, Sheepstealer, and perhaps the Cannibal.

"Leave him to me." She offered her torch to Ser Lorent, who offered her the keys to the cell. "And please, Ser Lorent... keep a guard on the upper door." Aenar had wanted to come with her, but she'd not thought it a good idea. Knowing Alyssa's mind for mischief, she could not know if Aenar would take to it in the hopes of defying her.

As the Queensguard walked away, she walked the rest of the way down the moist stone hallway, deep in the bowels of Dragonstone. Chipped dragon heads lined the tops of the cells, only the very last one filled. She'd had the gaolers clean the cell and its prisoner before her visit, in the hopes he'd be more receptive to anything she might want to say.

She couldn't understand why she'd even wanted to do it. Perhaps because she should have done it from the first and then killed him. Perhaps it was the anxiety from waiting for the dragon seeds to arrive. Or even knowing her daughters were going to be wed, which reminded her of her own history with men and weddings.

At any rate, Daenys walked clearly to the last cell, turning the key and keeping a hand on her sword hilt as she swept in. The chamber was small, windowless save for the cell door, and had but one torch to light it. Otto Hightower was curled up in the corner, flinching up at the light that streamed in from the hall as she shut the door tight, carefully lowering herself to the ground. Her knees didn't work as well as they used to, cracking as she bent down. Her back ached as she finally rested against the wall, gods she missed being young.

"Daenys," he said hoarsely. He'd probably not had a conversation with anyone since his arrival there. "I am... in Dragonstone, then. They had a hood over me when I was brought in. I could only assume."

"I commanded my daughter bring you here," said Daenys. "No sense in letting you get back to scheming in Oldtown."

He snorted. "I ought to have expected it. You are not one... to make a mistake twice."

"No, certainly not. Someone betrays me once, I remember it and get my revenge sooner than late. You've been in here awhile... and you were on the move before. You've not heard of Rook's Rest."

He didn't show any recollection. "Last I knew... Ser Criston sent Ser Arryk here to murder your niece."

"He failed. Ser Erryk stopped him. I buried them side by side. Ser Criston is a fool. A great fool, it seems, for at Rook's Rest... well, your Aegon suffered for what he chose to do the day he dismissed you. He is formidable, the Kingmaker, but foolish. Aemond and Vermithor killed my cousin Rhaenys and her dragon. They ripped them apart and let them burn as they took the castle. But Aegon was there... with Sunfyre. Meleys did her damage and I've been hearing reports that Aemond turned on him as well. Our spies in the Red Keep say that Aegon lingers close to death. Aemond has been named Prince Regent."

"Gods be good." He shut his eyes. Even with the cleaning of the cell, it smelled of mold and piss. Not a pleasant thing for Daenys. Otto's face still had dirt along the edges, but his cheeks shone with what might've been tears of frustration.

"You were wrong about a lot of things, Otto," said Daenys. "Mostly about Aegon... he turned out to be a failure."

"I never... I never..." What? She wanted to ask. You never thought he'd be inept, you never thought Rhaenyra would fight for her throne, you never thought I'd leave you the moment I learned what you truly wanted?

He swallowed hard. He reached for a small goblet of water and drew a shaky sip. His hands trembled; when did he get so old? She remembered holding those hands, she remembered kissing his knuckles the way he kissed hers.

"I shouldn't have done any of it," he said at last. That made her turn away in anger. Now, barely, after all this time, you only just regret it? Only after you've seen Aegon ruin everything you thought you created?

"No, you shouldn't have," she said sharply.

"My family... what I did to my family..."

She felt herself beginning to cry. "The family we had... the family that was ruined. Do you ever... do you ever remember it, Otto? Do you ever... think back to how happy we were? You, me, Viserys, all great friends. We used to have so much fun at the council meetings. Alicent and Rhaenyra, how they used to run around with me, how I'd bring Alicent to the Tower of the Hand every night and put her to bed then steal one of your quills? The boys, my first boys, Gwayne and Norman and Bryndon, who I taught to use swords... we all cared for each other."

He squeezed his eyes shut. Daenys put her head in her hands. Gods, yes, she was happy married to Rolf, happy to have the children she did. But she never forgot what might have been. "We would have married, you and I," said Daenys, voice breaking. "Perhaps your children would have teased us, but I was practically already caring for them like a mother. Perhaps I would have been the heir, I would sit the Iron Throne now and you'd be at my side. Perhaps Rhaenyra was still chosen but you and I would be there for her, she'd have kept you as her Hand because she'd know how wise you were. Alicent would still be her best friend, guiding her through this new period of the realm. Alicent, sweet Alicent, she would have married someone good and kind, she wouldn't have had to have children so young, she would probably have likedbeing a mother instead of resenting her children. Her children would respect her."

"Everything..." He couldn't bear to look at her. "Everything would be different. Everything... I never thought... I only knew, I knew of this war. I was certain of it, you remember."

"We would have kept the realm together in spite of it. We would have found a way, I know we would have. We were so powerful when we were together. But you– you with your ambitions. It blinded you. It was all thrown away. I am happy, Otto, I am, and I can forgive you for breaking my heart, but I can never forgive you for what happened to our girls. I can never forgive you for how Alicent and Rhaenyra were pushed away from each other. I always knew I'd survive losing you, but to have lost Alicent, to have watched Rhaenyra lose her, to know that my children would never see her as an older sister..."

She heaved a sigh. Why she wanted to say this, she did not know. Perhaps it was only to hurt him. "The twins. Aenar and Alyssa. They're not Rolf's. They're yours."

She had a feeling he knew, but hadn't wanted to accept it, for the look on his face was not entirely one of surprise. It held longing and further regret, it held wonder and excitement. "We would have had them," whispered Daenys, "right after our wedding. If I was heir, Aenar would be Prince of Dragonstone now. Even if I wasn't, then my children would know you as their father. Gwayne would have taught Alyssa and Aenar to ride, Alicent would have brushed Alyssa's hair and taught her to be a lady the way I taught her."

"Gods. Gods, gods, gods." Otto looked as though he wanted to scramble further away, but there was nowhere to go. "I didn't... I thought I saw a resemblance, but I don't... I don't think I wanted to believe it could be possible."

"You often don't like seeing the plain truth," said Daenys. "You like making the truth yourself and convincing yourself of fact."

"Do they... do they know?"

"They know. Rolf knows, their siblings know. Aenar wanted to come and speak with you but I forbade it. Either way, the twins love Rolf as their father. They have said it themselves."

Otto drank more water; he looked ready to choke on it. "They hate me, don't they? They hate... everything I did. Aegon, I was so... so very wrong about Aegon. I should have known early on... he was thirteen and drunk at Driftmark and the twins were... I saw them with him, they reminded me of... of everything. But I thought, I thought Rhaenyra was not ready at Aegon's age either, I wanted to stop a war..."

"Rhaenyra was wild, yes, but she was not a drunk or a raper at least. Viserys did nothing to prepare either of them. You and I, we should have banded together to prepare Rhaenyra. Instead, you went the other route and you usurped her."

"I'm sorry." He burst the words out. "Gods, I erred, I erred so deeply. There is nothing I can do to undo it, any of it. Alicent, my little Alicent. Alyrie would have hated it... I saw how you hated it... the twins, gods, the time that was lost, the time we would have had... all of it, gone. Happiness, gone. I stopped knowing laughter the day you left to find Rolf. I could not bear to face it then, I could not bring myself to admit any wrongdoing. I couldn't even hate Rolf when I wanted to. He was a good man. He was devoted to you in the way I should have been. Devoted to your children as I should have been with mine. I never forgot, Daenys, I have never forgotten. All of it, it lives in my head. I can never take it back. Never. For that, I will always be sorry. I will always hate myself."

Somehow, she felt she had all she wanted from him. She stood as carefully as she could, holding tight to the grooves in the wall. She heard him let out a sob once she shut the door behind her, leaving him alone once more. She wiped the tears clean from her own face.

I never forgot any of it. I wish I could, but I haven't. I remember realizing I loved you, I remember the first time we kissed. The first time we bedded one another, terrified but so mad with passion. We spoke of marriage and I thought I'd be with you forever. I thought our girls would always be friends, that we'd stop this war and protect them all.

How many will die because of the choices you made? Because you could never truly respect me as a woman unless I gave you the exact power you wanted? Cry, cry, choke on that and choke on the false promises you made me, choke on the realization that Aegon brought you nothing.

There is war, you prevented nothing, and your grandson will never sit the Iron Throne. But our son could have.

Aenar tried to question her about their meeting, but she gave him few details. Only that Otto seemed sorry, but it was easy to seem sorry after everything had fallen apart in his hands. Her son remained curious, she knew, but she begged him not to go and see Otto. He might still try to manipulate his way out of the cell, and in Aenar's search for answers beyond the million his mother had already given him might make him an easy target.

"I heard you spoke to him," said Rhaenyra as the two of them looked down on the dragon seeds arriving a few mornings later. Almost all had silver heads, and there were many to be seen, but Daenys knew very few would be able to say they claimed a dragon and lived.

"I did," said Daenys calmly. "I felt compelled to... rub it all in his face, I don't know. See his regret. It doesn't matter. Mysaria told me a few things about some of these. One is supposed to be my aunt Saera's bastard son. Another... I've been told he's claimed in a hundred taverns to be my father's bastard."

Rhaenyra made a face. "Your father's bastard? Do you believe it?"

"Not for a second," said Daenys. "Someone else's get. Perhaps more distant. No, my father, it could not be possible. My father devoted every second to me, to Daemon, to Viserys. He hardly had time for himself. He rejected Viserra... he would not have gone for any other woman. He loved my mother so much, he never forgot her. And if he ever had an inkling that he begot a bastard, he wouldn't have let him grow up in poverty."

"Would you... be as loyal as him? If Rolf passed?"

"Yes. I'd never marry again. I'd wait for death to bring me back to him." Even with Otto here in the dungeons, I'd sooner kill myself to join Rolf in death than be with any other. My father was much the same. Viserys and Daemon, unfortunately, did not take after him.

Rhaenyra gave her a warning look. "Perhaps you ought to avoid the man claiming to be my grandsire's son. It will upset you."

"Yes," agreed Daenys. "Therefore, he is lucky it is me who is here and not Daemon. Daemon would have his mouth cut from ear to ear for spreading such lies."

"And what will you do, Aunt Daenys?"

"Nothing so bad... depending what he's like."

She left Rhaenyra, Baela, Jacaerys, and Maester Gerardys to deal with the dragonseeds, for she had larger problems to worry about. The Dragonkeepers were upset as it was with these new arrivals, and Daenys had to keep the lords of the Small Council at bay while they waited to see who would emerge victorious. Lord Bartimos Celtigar still sneered at the idea of 'commoners' trying to claim dragons. One more word out of him and Daenys worried she'd cut his head clean off.

Thus, she'd been the one trying to argue with the Dragonkeepers to see reason while Rhaenyra risked entering the caves with the dragonseeds, leading them to where the old dragons lingered. Silverwing, Daenys knew, was happy to be around people. But the same could not entirely be said about Sheepstealer and Grey Ghost. The Cannibal, she doubted, would ever let himself be claimed.

It was a bloody affair, in the end. Sixteen died, three times that number resting burned or maimed for Bertram and Maester Gerardys to tend to when it was finally over. A man called Silver Denys, who claimed he was descended from a bastard of Maegor the Cruel, lost his arm to Sheepstealer. When his own sons tried to staunch the wound, the Cannibal ate them all, driving Sheepstealer out of the caves altogether.

In the end, but two dragons were claimed– the elusive Grey Ghost accepted for his mount a blacksmith, a towering man called Hugh Hammer and Silverwing accepted the man who called himself Ulf the White (but was known to be called Ulf the Sot for his drinking), the same one who'd been claiming to be Baelon's son.

Hugh, she did believe to be Saera's bastard. He was an honest man who sought to provide for his sick daughter. Daenys had sent for the girl to be brought here. Bertram would do his best to care for her, and Gemma offered for herself and Dyana to learn how to help her as well. Ulf, however, brought her frustration from their first interaction, where he hadn't even had the decency to greet her with the respect she'd grown to expect after nigh-sixty years as a Princess. He'd tried to call her 'sister,' and that had been a mistake.

Whether her mother was alive or dead at the time, she refused to believe her father would have slept with any other. Undoubtedly, he had dragon blood, but he could easily be a bastard of any of the other men in her family. She had half a mind to feed him to Vhagar and find another rider for Silverwing. She even thought to put him in front of Vhagar and let Vhagar decide what she ought to believe. But she knew Vhagar would react as she did and burn the man outright.

With a hard punch across the face, she knocked Ulf to the floor the moment he dared to call her 'sister.' She had no other brother, he was not to come here to be a second brother now that she'd lost one. Jacaerys, Alyssa, and Aenar had happily supporting her. Jacaerys especially had found Ulf insufferable.

She found herself thinking of Otto as she turned away, leaving Ulf with a bleeding mouth and probably a few less teeth. None of this should have happened this way. This war, it was starting to bother her. Seeing her daughters engaged, watching her sons helping the wounded and leading men. Knowing Daemon and Rolf were so far away, that she hadn't seen Cliff in months while Otto, one of the puppetmasters of it all, sat down there in a dungeon with few consequences. Aegon might be dying, but Aemond would rise in his place and that continued to anger her the more she thought of it.

I never forgot but I wish I could. The sooner they had that throne for Rhaenyra, the better for Daenys.

-

A/N: I keep thinking about Daenys x Otto and idk why I feel that 'About You' by The 1975 is such a perfect song to make me think about them, what they had, the little family that was destroyed when Otto betrayed her. Ugh it just sort of encompasses what Daenys feels when she thinks back to happier times. Angst is coming soon and I am sad even though I've been planning it for awhile ahhhh. Going to start writing freehand soon since we have no other seasons to base ourselves off of, so Fire & Blood will guide the rest of the story. Comment for more!