"You must be so excited!" Cousin Gael gushed eagerly, when the news was officially announced. "Oh, I would love to be Queen,"

Gael was a year older than Daena, though often felt like half her age. She was the youngest of her aunts and uncles, and Queen Alysanne kept her close by almost every hour of the day. Daena was the only female Targaryen remotely close to her age, and the two had been encouraged to be friends, before Grandmother Dearest realised that Daena's temperament was less than suitable for her precious pet of a daughter. Gael may not be the most clever, but Daena was oddly protective of her, and her company was less intolerable than many others.

"Queen Daena," She said, testing how it sounded on her tongue. "I do like the idea," It was a prestigious title. Her son would be King, and she liked the taste of power well enough. "Just - " She hesitated. Daena often told things to Gael that no one else would have been able to torture out of her, because who on earth was Gael to judge? "People won't think I'm a very good queen,"

The other girl's eyes widened. "How could you not be good?" She said. "You are brave, everyone admires you, and you have a dragon,"

"So might you, if your mother ever let you claim one," Daena said, moving swiftly on at the baffled look on her aunt's face; she had never once entertained the idea, clearly. "Queens are supposed to be sweet and kind and demure. I am none of those things. I can't stand planning parties or playing nice with people I don't like, and as for obeying my husband..."

In truth, she wished there was a way she could be so powerful without marrying Viserys. It was nauseating, the idea of wedding her brother. Her parents had been siblings and loved each other dearly, but she supposed her and Viserys had more of a Westerosi brother-sister relationship than a Valyrian one.

"Well, you will be a better queen than little cousin Aemma," Gael insisted.

There had been talk of her brother marrying Aemma Arryn, but she was only one-and-ten. Daena was scarcely two years older, but considerably more robust, and she was a full Targaryen besides, instead of half-Arryn. Not to mention, as Gael said, she had a dragon. What went unsaid, given that Balerion was not long for this world, was that Viserys would need a dragon on his side to hold the throne.

It would be much easier to find another husband for Aemma, anyway. Her cousin was beautiful, in a delicate, frail way. She sang with a lovely voice, was always obedient and knew her courtesies well. Daena was pretty, but not conventionally. Her nose was aquiline like her mother's had been (but blessedly not crooked), and she had somewhat stronger features than many Targaryen women; coupled with her silver hair and light purple eyes, this made her appearance striking, but not especially beautiful.

It was her attitude that was her problem, as her septa often told her. She could be charming when she felt like it, but always in a rather predatory way. She preferred to hunt and shoot things with a bow and arrow than sew with a needle and thread. She had too hot a temper - mercurial, her grandfather had often described her - was often impetuous and moody, far too brazen and daring for a princess.

But not for a dragonrider, she had always replied, coupled with a lazy grin.

"I would be a better king than Viserys," She muttered, scowling. "And he would be a better queen than me,"

*

Daena had few true friends. Of course, there were the other young, highborn girls who came to the Red Keep, ordered by their parents to suck up to the Princess. These girls either loved and hated her, often both. When she wanted to be, Daena was charming, witty and daring enough to be entertaining, to make people long to be her friend. Her moods changed quickly, however, and her temper was infamous.

"Why are you scowling so, Princess?" Leona Strong, a couple of years her elder, said with a grin. "The sun is shining, your betrothal is announced, and one day you will be Queen,"

She liked Leona, and her siblings, Perianne and Harwin.

Daena laughed only a little sourly. "Yes, Good Queen Daena, they shall call me, bringing joy and kindness to all with my sweet-natured dragon,"

Leona and Perianne snorted with laughter, as did a few others, though one of the ones who didn't laugh was the young Lady Hanna Massey.

"Your dragon chills me to the bone, Princess," She gave a slight shudder. "Why did you choose such a brute? Dreamfyre is so beautiful, and far less vicious,"

Silence. Lady Hanna seemed to realise her mistake, as every eye glanced at Daena.

"Dreamfyre," Daena smiled sharply. "Would scorch you with flame, rip you limb from limb and pick her teeth with your bones, if she took a disliking to you. The only difference is that the Blood Wyrm would do it for fun,"

*

"My sisters told me how you made poor Hanna Massey cry today," Harwin, a squire at the Red Keep, said to Daena as they wended their way through the busy, lantern-lit streets of King's Landing after dark.

Daena snorted. "The silly girl thought I was threatening her. If she cried at a joke, she'd have dropped dead from fright if I really did threaten her,"

"Poor Hanna," Willem Byrch, another squire, said, though looked as amused as Harwin did. "You are cruel, Daena,"

They did not call her Princess, not out here, when her silver hair was hidden under a grubby cap pulled low over her eyes, and she wore clothes that Willem had outgrown years ago. Daena had been exploring the secret passageways of the Red Keep since she was a child and, aged ten, had found a way out into the city, bypassing all of the guards. She was not entirely stupid, so did not go alone; Harwin and Willem were always delighted to accompany her, thinking the whole thing a grand laugh. Her handmaid Seren, who was born on Dragonstone and had Valyrian hair, pretended to be Daena asleep in bed in case anyone deigned to check on her.

"It's not my fault that the girl has no spine," Daena said, dodging a cursing man who had just been thrown out of a tavern. "Gods, I've missed being out here. I was tempted to go on my own,"

"Enjoy ending up bleeding out in a gutter, Daena," Harwin grinned.

"I can defend myself, Strong," She glared at him.

The two boys had thought it was hilarious to teach her how to fight with a sword and dagger. Though it started off a joke, she turned out to be a natural talent. Fighting, in a way, was almost like flying. It made her feel more than just a Princess, dependent on others for everything, wrapped in silk and satin and shielded from the good and bad of the world.

"I wouldn't go alone to half the city after dark," The boy said. "And I am twice your size,"

Daena ignored him. "Let's go in there,"

It was a lively-looking tavern, with music and raucous laughter coming from within. The kind of place she would never have been allowed to even know existed ordinarily. Daena enjoyed being anonymous, some nameless squire who no one paid any mind to. Every now and again, at least. She liked being a Princess much more.

The two boys shrugged and followed her.

"I'm not carrying you home again," Willem warned. "Not after last time. I know you're a Princess, but you're heavier than you look, and I will leave you behind,"

She grinned. "I could drink you under the table any day, Byrch," She did her best impression of her Grandmother. "But I won't, as soon I will be a married woman, and married women have more dignity,"

Her friends both snorted with laughter.

"You're thirteen," Harwin said. "You'll be married before you're a woman,"

The night went typically for them. They went from tavern to tavern, spending Daena's coin, drinking, dancing and avoiding anyone who might recognise her through her relatively weak disguise. It was only on the way back to the tunnels, in a darker part of the city, that trouble started.

Daena had grown complacent. She lagged slightly behind the other two, with a lingering glance at the window of a shop, and paid no mind to the footsteps behind her. The thief took her unawares, slamming her against a wall, holding a rusty blade to her neck.

She supposed it had to happen at some point, having got away with it for years.

"Your purse, boy, sharpish, or I'll slit your throat and leave your corpse for the City Watch to ignore later,"

His breath was foul, his hands filthy, and her heart was beating fast. No one had ever spoken to Daena like that before, nor put their hands on her in such a way. He truly did not know she was a woman in the dark streets, or his threat would likely have been a lot nastier. She did not want to speak, lest she give herself away. Those eyes were desperate enough to scare her.

"Oi! Get off her - I mean, him!"

Harwin was striding forward, Willem close behind - both of them panicked themselves, knowing the consequences would be dire if she was harmed - but Daena would not rely on these dashing heroes to save her. At the very least, their shouting startled the thief, who turned his head, enough for her to bring up a knee and kick him between the legs. It was enough to make him grunt in pain, but not enough to do any damage. His skinny arm was deceptively strong, as his rotten teeth bared in a snarl, and before she even realised what she was doing, her fingers were finding her own knife and plunging it into his gut.

Hot blood spilled down her wrist. The man stiffened and gasped, before she gave him a sharp shove. He fell, dying, into the gutter, just as Harwin and Willem reached her.

"Shit," Willem gawped at the corpse.

"Come on," There were onlookers watching, and no doubt the City Watch would be upon them soon enough; corrupt as they were, Daena did not trust them, and the last thing she wanted was to be dragged back to the castle. Everyone would think her a drunken fool like Viserra, or a whore like Saera, alone in the company of two squires.

The three of them fled.

It was only when she had reached the safety of her chambers through the passageways - the guards outside the door not knowing that she was ever gone - and Seren was horrified over all the blood on her, that Daena realised she had killed a man.

She did not regret it. He would have stabbed her and left her for dead, for the sake of a few coins. Should she feel guilt? Seren certainly seemed upset enough for both of them, though had sworn not to tell another soul.

There was something intoxicating about wielding the blade that ended a life. A kind of power that Daena had not known before. She was the blood of the dragon, and she would not be scared by a gutterborn thief.

*

I was unsure how much freedom to give Daena. Alyssa was allowed to fight with a sword and Viserra was allowed out into the city, or at least they couldn't stop her, but since then Jaehaerys and Alysanne may have grown more wary. I've settled for everyone knowing that Daena is learning to fight but not that she sneaks out at night. Also, there is nothing that states Ser Harwin's age in canon (only that he was born earlier than 90 AC), so nothing saying he can't be the same age as Daena. Thanks for reading, please let me know what you think!