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𝘔𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘦 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘻 - 𝘗𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘧𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘳
✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ: - :･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ: - :･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧

"You are a strong young woman, my little one. I am so proud of you and yet I am so afraid over you. I don't want you to put yourself through so much." Aruna stroked her daughter's wet cheek and then hugged her tightly. In such a short time, the two had to say goodbye again and it broke Aruna's mother's heart. "I'm just a letter away."

Edith looked at her mother's face and it was as if she was looking in the mirror. Aruna, like Edith, had tears running down her already wet and red cheeks. "I am so grateful towards you for everything, my dearest mother." She thanked her.

It was long overdue, because Aruna had done everything for her firstborn and she would do much more, but Edith was starting to have to fend for herself and deal with her problems.

"I will do my best and keep you informed." She promised her parents and hugged them both tightly again. "Please don't do anything you don't want to. Fight back." Advised her father. Daemon of course still wasn't thrilled, neither was Aruna, but they didn't have a choice.

The girl nodded and then smiled sadly at her siblings, then hugged Rhaena and then Cassian. "Please take good care of Mother, will you promise?" she asked her little brother as she knelt in front of him. Cassian nodded and hugged his big sister. "I will. I love you, Edda." He whispered in her ear and Edith's heart swelled right up. "I love you too, Cas." She whispered back.

She remembered at that moment that she did everything for her family, everything for her parents and her siblings. Edith would fight and not let it get her down so easily.

One last hug, one last kiss on the cheek and Edith left the chambers of her parents and finally the castle. She had already parted from Rhaenyra and her boys after breakfast and now it was time to return back to King's Landing.

"Can we?" asked Daeron as she approached him. Slowly she nodded and tightened her bag around her shoulder before letting him help her onto his dragon. Aemond and Vhagar were already waiting impatiently for the two high in the sky, and Rainfyre quickly followed the larger dragon.

~~~

As he had done when their journey began, Daeron flew back to the dragon pit alone with Edith on his dragon. His brother, as soon as King's Landing was in sight, had flown in another direction to land there with Vhagar.

And Adrik was also waiting for the two of them in the pit again, to accompany them personally to the Red Keep. On the way there, they kept silent and only briefly exchanged formalities.

Once in her room, she was given a moment to freshen up and change. She even managed to unpack her things and hide her dragon egg under her bed again. Luckily for her, nothing had happened to the egg on the journey.

All too soon there was a knock on her room door and she was led to the queen's quarters by an unknown guard.

Edith's heart beat quickly against her chest and she felt sick. Again.

She hated that she felt so weak here and also so helpless. She desperately needed to change that and get back to her old self-confidence.

"Your Grace." The girl greeted the queen and curtsied to her. Edith was still well-mannered, even if she hated formality.

"Edith." Smiled Alicent and pointed to the chair in front of her. "How was the visit?"

"It was good to be back home, but the time went by too quickly." She reported to her honestly, while a maid poured the young lady some tea and refilled the queen's cup. Afterwards, Alicent sent the maid away and the two women were alone in the room.

"How is your mother?" the older woman wanted to know from her and a certain concern could be heard in her voice.

"She survived." Edith couldn't help it and had to smile in relief. She was glad that everything had gone well and everyone had survived. "She's fine and so is my newborn brother. Father and her have named him Viserys, after the king." Somehow she felt like telling this to the queen, for whatever reason.

Alicent nodded in amazement and took a sip of her herbal tea. The younger girl also took her cup and drank a sip, listening to the queen and watching every move she made carefully. "That sounds good. I'm glad everything went well. Adrik will be happy to hear this." Alicent only said to that.

"He already knows. He picked me and Daeron up from the pit and brought us here." Edith told, and then she could see Alicent's lips twist into a line. "Oh did he?" she asked again, though she knew the answer. Confirming, Edith nodded again. "He did."

She didn't seem satisfied with the girl's answer, and Edith quickly realized that Adrik hadn't been there on the queen's orders and had acted on his own.

For a brief moment she was afraid for her uncle, but then she remembered what her mother had confessed to her. Not only had Aruna told her daughter about her real father and Edith's grandfather Viserys, but she had also warned her about the relationship between Adrik and Alicent. The two had been having a secret affair for years and the fathership of Daeron was also doubted behind closed doors.

Edith had long suspected it like everyone else, but had never given it a second thought, even when she heard the whispers of the servants at the Red Keep itself.

"I asked him for it." Edith then said quickly and unconsciously. She was defending her uncle after all, and she didn't even know why. "Adrik is my uncle and I'm trying to build a better relationship with him now that we have more time together, and I'd be happy... if we got along better too?" She was trying to distract from the real issue and have an advantage of her own. An alliance with Alicent could only mean good things and be helpful. "Your Grace." She added quickly.

The words seemed to please Alicent and appreciatively she nodded to the young woman. "That would please me greatly. I look forward to welcoming you as my daughter." Smiled the queen.

Edith had to pull herself together not to screw up her face. It still sounded so surreal. Still, she nodded and then set her cup down. "Have you decided yet?" she asked cautiously.

"I have, and I hope you will respect my decision and come to terms. I wish only the best for you and my son, but I won't tell you just yet." You could visibly see the disappointment on Edith's face as Alicent finished her sentence, but she didn't dare contradict her. "You may go now."

~~~

Of course, she didn't need to be told twice and left the Queen's chambers. In her fancy dress and braided hairstyle, she felt like an actress and it didn't feel right to walk around the Red Keep in the Southern Dresses while her family was full of worries and problems waiting for news in Dragonstone.

But at the same time these dresses looked so good on the girl and also the hairstyles flattered her beautiful face, which made her look like a real lady and heiress, which she really was. In addition, she could move so elegantly that no one noticed that she actually preferred to wear leather dresses, pants and dark robes.

As if automatically, the girl walked to the chambers of the princess. The way had already burned itself into her memory so that she would have found it even blindly.

Carefully she knocked on the door and entered the room almost shyly. The maid, who was making the bed, left the room with a curtsy, leaving the two women alone.

Helaena lifted her head from her knitting and looked at her friend with her violet eyes almost shocked. Her subconscious had told her she would be back, but her traitorous heart had made her think other things. "Edith!"

"Hello Helaena." Smiled the lady at the princess. Helaena put the wool beside her and then stood up to walk towards Edith. Then the two stopped in front of each other with little distance and looked at each other smiling.

"You're here again." Stated Helaena, eyeing the other girl with relief.

"I told you I wouldn't leave you here alone. When I leave, I'll take you with me, Hel." She reminded her friend and took her hands. Helaena didn't like psychic contact, but she had gotten used to Edith's and even missed her tender touches. "Did you miss me?"

Helaena nodded and suddenly hugged her. "Of course!" the silver-haired one answered honestly.

Surprised by the hug, Edith needed a moment to grasp the situation, but quickly returned the embrace. "I missed you too." She whispered to her, even though they were alone in the room.

The princess then took the lady's hand and led her to her large bed. A moment ago a maid had freshened it up and now the two girls were lying in it in their beautiful dresses, wrinkling them and also the white bedsheets.

But they didn't care and they didn't care that they had been lying in bed all day while the weather was so nice. Two days they had been apart and yet they had so much to say.

"How are the twins?" inquired Edith. The girl was lying on her side, resting her head on her hand, while Helaena was lying on her stomach with her head on her folded arms. "They grow very fast and I think they missed you." Replied Helaena with a smile.

She really believed that her children liked her friend. How could they not? Edith was a warm woman and welcomed everyone with open arms. She had often read to them and played with them when she was with Helaena.

And her mother had also taken a liking to her, although she could hardly relate to her new and unknown feelings.

Edith smile widened. "Did they?" she asked again.

"Of course they did!" said Helaena dreamily, nudging her friend lightly. She had never done anything like this before, but with her she literally blossomed. "Do you want to stay here tonight?" The silver-haired girl looked dreamily out of the window. By now it had already become dark.

The dark-haired one liked the thought, but at the same time a knot formed in her stomach. "I don't really know... What about Aegon? Where is he going to sleep?" she inquired. She wasn't entirely comfortable with this.

"Aegon can find another place to sleep. I want you to stay with me." Determined the princess in a serious tone, in which she spoke only very rarely. "Have you talked yet?"

Sighing, she shook her head. "No, unfortunately, not yet. I haven't seen him yet and I honestly don't know how to meet him..." she confessed in a low voice.

"I don't know that either." Answered a voice other than Helaenas.

Startled, the two girls sat up in bed and looked at the person standing at the doorframe. "Aegon!" Edith exclaimed unstoppably as she looked at the young man. He looked even paler than usual and a dark purple ring could be seen around his left eye, which harmonized with his eyes in an ironic way.

"Hello Edith. How was the trip?" he asked casually, closing the door behind him.

Slowly Edith slid off the big bed and walked towards Aegon. She was glad to see him again too, and perhaps her heart rejoiced a little too much, but the sight of him shocked her deeply.

"What happened, Aegon?" she wanted to know and carefully touched his injury with her fingers, but Aegon turned his head away so he couldn't look at it any further. Edith understood and quickly took her hand back. "The trip felt good and my mother is fine." She then answered his question.

"That's good." Aegon walked past her and looked briefly at Helaena before going to the bar and pouring himself some wine and finishing it immediately, then handing a glass to Edith as well as his wife and pouring himself another too. "I tried to find another way for you...for us." he said.

"She didn't listen to me either. I tried to talk her into it." Added the girl on the bed. Immediately Edith looked anxiously at her friend and clutched her cup tightly. "She? Your mother? Did she hurt you too, Hel?" asked Edith immediately, looking back and forth between the two. But the princess shook her head.

An unspeakable anger at the queen welled up inside Edith. Only this morning she had seen her and talked to her. Alicent had not seemed as if she felt guilt after what she had done. She had beaten her own son, hurt and humiliated him.

It was hard for her to comprehend such a thing. How could anyone hate their own children so much that they could hurt them?

"I didn't even get to thank you..." She didn't even need to say that she felt guilty, because it could be seen in her face. Edith put down her empty goblet and then walked closer to Aegon. With one hand she reached for his hand, with the other she took Helaena's. "You have done so much for me and risked so much more. I don't know how I can ever repay you."

Aegon smiled exhaustedly at her and shook his head slightly. "You can, by staying with me, with us." Helaena agreed with her husband with a nod. "We'll help you."

"You are not angry?" asked the girl with brownish hair in wonder, since she could not quite understand it.

"You can't help my sadistic mother's plans... You won't be my wife, but I still want to support you." He explained to the girl his heart belonged to. "So you don't hate me anymore?" it escaped her softly and innocently. She had rarely been so shy. "I still don't like you, but you're good to Helaena... and me." Aegon grinned and winked at her.

There was definitely no more talk of hating between the three of them, but he wasn't ready to say his feelings out loud.

Edith was more than touched by his words and couldn't help but hug him. "Thank you." She breathed gratefully into his ear, then hugged Helaena and sat down on the bed with her again.

"Are you going to sleep here?" Helaena looked joyfully at her friend with her violet eyes and pulled Edith further onto the bed. "I don't know-" Edith was about to say, but was immediately interrupted. "Yes you will." Determined the silver-haired one.

Aegon stopped in front of the bed and leaned against the pillar. He was glad that Edith was not angry and was ready to continue being a friend to him. Only, unfortunately, not his girlfriend and that, in turn, broke his heart.

Helaena watched her husband very closely as he looked at the other girl, but she felt no jealousy. She knew Edith could give him what she herself could not give him and at the same time she felt a fear inside her, the fear of losing her friend again.

"Will you stay with us?" the princess asked the prince, holding out her hand. A peace offering and an attempt to come to terms with each other.

He looked in amazement at his sister's outstretched bright hand. Never before had she reached out to him or touched him or anyone else voluntarily. But since the two young women spent a lot of time together, Helaena dared to come out of her shell more.

And so Aegon took her hand and joined them both on the bed.

No one dressed for the night, no one dared to move much in that narrow bed, and suddenly everyone was as shy as a teen. Edith lay in the middle, Helaena lay on her left and Aegon on her right.

"Good night you two." Edith wished them both with a smile when they finally decided to sleep.

For a long time the three of them talked and talked. They talked about their fears and dreams and what was to come. It was about their future, it was important, and still these topics tired each of them.

"Good night" replied the two with silver hair.

Despite the fact that they were all wearing their clothes, they had covered themselves with the big white blanket. And when they all fell asleep with a smile on their lips, at first one hand grabbed the other hand and then another hand grabbed the other hand of the girl in the middle.

~~~

First there were loud footsteps and thumping, then the double door was torn open and the noise grew louder. "Search the rooms!" a man shouted in a deep voice, rousing those present from their sleep.

Startled, Edith straightened up and Helaena also sat up, pulling the blanket over her body, although she was still wearing yesterday's dress.

"Lady Edith!" another man yelled across the room when he spotted the two girls in the bed.

"What's all this about?" Edith wanted to know annoyed and looked around the room. Briefly she looked beside her, but where Aegon had lain just the previous night, there was only an empty spot. Edith decided not to think about it now, when she was pulled out of bed by two men. "Stop! What are you doing?"

"The queen has had everyone looking for you! You guys are late. Come." The first man enlightened them, while the other two literally dragged them out of the room.

"Late for what?" asked Helaena in her soft voice, which was almost overheard by the guards, but one had heard her.

"For the royal wedding, princess."

***

I'm so excited to hear what you guys think about this chapter! :)

Who do you think will marry her in the next chapter? O.o

Have a great day! See you soon♡

This chapter is dedicated to:
Daisy_DerangedAf