New chapter is live.
Settle in, take your time, and let’s see what waits in the dark 🖤 ✦ “A boar attacked me,” Rhaenyra said, ruffling Aelor’s hair.
“So I killed it.” Her tone carried a trace of pride.
“Oh.
The valiant Lady Boar-Slayer.” The words slipped out before Aelor could stop them.
Rhaenyra’s face darkened at once.
Before the sleeping dragon of his sister’s temper could fully wake, another voice interrupted them.
“Princess, I heard you faced a boar alone?” The voice came from beside the roasting rack.
Aelor and Rhaenyra looked over and saw a broad man with brown curls and a thick beard.
There was something familiar in his features, though Aelor had never met him.
Rhaenyra knew him.
“By luck more than skill, Ser Harwin Strong.” At the name Strong, Aelor understood why the man looked familiar.
Larys Strong.
The one who had made him uncomfortable.
Rhaenyra noticed the change in his face and lowered her voice.
“He is Lord Lyonel’s eldest son.
A famous knight.
They call him Breakbones.” “Breakbones?” Aelor asked, half joking.
“Does he break his enemies’ bones?” Harwin, who was skinning a pigeon for the fire, laughed as he answered.
“Once, in a fight, I crushed an unlucky man’s skull with a warhammer.
The survivors gave me the name.” “Impressive.
Then you truly are a strong warrior.” Aelor’s reply was mild, though he could hear the pride in the knight’s voice.
A man with a name that fearsome had some right to be proud.
Harwin finished preparing the bird, wiped his hands on a cloth, and stepped forward with an easy smile.
“I am not half bad over a fire, either.
I saw the prince enjoying himself earlier.
Would the princess honor me by tasting some?” The tall knight spoke with humor and ease.
It was difficult to imagine him cracking skulls on a battlefield.
Rhaenyra gave the handsome knight an apologetic smile.
“No, thank you.
My father is waiting, and no one says no to the king.” “Of course.
I will be serving in King’s Landing for some time.
If the princess ever wishes to test my cooking, she would be welcome.” Harwin was tactful.
He showed interest without pressing too hard.
In him, Aelor saw something that Rhaenyra was rarely given.
Respect.
Rhaenyra, a little older and more aware than Aelor, saw it too.
For a moment she seemed unused to it.
She clasped her hands behind her back, and her smile became more sincere.
“I will remember that, Ser.” Harwin bowed and did not disturb her further.
That, more than anything, raised him in Rhaenyra’s eyes.
Aelor watched his sister brighten and could not understand it at all.
He pursed his lips.
“I am going to see Father,” Rhaenyra said.
“Walk around if you like.” She had no time to linger and soon left.
Many nobles in the camp noticed the bloodstained princess.
The lively gathering quieted all at once.
Rhaenyra hated the stares.
She walked past them with a cold face, meeting certain eyes as she went.
More often than not, it was the others who looked away.
Aelor watched her lift her chin, contempt curling at the corner of her mouth as cowards lowered their heads before her.
For all the attention fixed on her, he thought he could see loneliness in the set of her shoulders.
The Kingswood hunt ended.
Viserys entered the carriage first and took his family back to King’s Landing.
For the siblings’ separate mistakes in leaving camp without leave, their father gave separate punishments.
The princess was of marriageable age, but she disliked the men the king chose for her.
So Viserys spared no expense and arranged a royal progress for Rhaenyra across the realm.
Officially, the heir would visit lords great and small, strengthen her ties with her future vassals, and display the authority of House Targaryen.
In truth, that was exactly what it would do.
Since becoming heir, Rhaenyra had mostly listened to affairs of state from the side.
She held no real power, and many of the lords who had sworn to her barely knew her.
Viserys meant to raise her presence in the realm and help the lords accept her as their future queen.
At the same time, tourneys and feasts would be held in each region.
Those would give Rhaenyra a chance to look over possible husbands.
If she disliked the men her father chose, Viserys reasoned, then she could choose for herself.
The realm was full of fine young men.
Surely one of them would please her.
That was how much the king valued his daughter’s marriage.
Rhaenyra’s problem was difficult.
Aelor’s was simple.
On the excuse that he needed to recover, Viserys ordered him to remain deep within the Red Keep and forbade him from passing beyond its gates.
Several maesters were assigned to examine him on a schedule and confirm whether his frailty had truly left him.
Aelor naturally protested the loss of his freedom.
After a long argument, Viserys decided his eldest son was old enough to begin a stricter education.
Two elderly maesters were assigned to teach him reading, writing, and letters.
Aelor was appalled.
When the misery began, he was dragged from bed at dawn, forced through eight hours of lessons, and given exercises to be checked the next day.
Within days, Aelor was utterly miserable.
Viserys did not treat him like a child newly recovered from illness.
His attitude was simple: if studying would not kill the boy, then the boy could study as if it might.
Under that style of education, Aelor’s cheeks lost some of their sickly pallor.
But the dark circles beneath his eyes grew heavier by the day.
‘Damn those maesters.
Damn the Citadel.
One day, I will reclaim everything they stole from me.’ Facing the two old maesters’ iron discipline, Aelor practiced his letters and quietly swore revenge.
He asked Viserys when his freedom would be restored.
The answer was merciless.
“When your sister returns to King’s Landing, you may leave the Red Keep.” From that day forward, Aelor’s longing for Rhaenyra became profound.
He missed his sister terribly.
She had to come back.
Half a year passed.
Autumn yellowed the leaves around King’s Landing.
As a city by the sea, the capital did not change sharply with the seasons, but the farmers outside its walls grew busier.
In the Red Keep, Aelor received good news.
The sister he had longed for day and night was coming home.
Rhaenyra had ended her royal progress early.
She had boarded a ship from the Stormlands and would reach King’s Landing within days.
Whatever anyone else thought, Aelor was overjoyed.
Each day after lessons ended, he sat before the glass window of a Red Keep tower and stared out toward the sea, hoping to see the ship that would bring her home.
“Wonderful.
Sister is finally coming back.
My hard days are almost over.” Aelor regarded the past half year as a grave injustice.
He did like books.
But when he had been frail, reading had been a way to pass time because he had no other choice.
It was not meant to be prison under another name.
“Prince, it would be best not to say that too loudly.
The king was quite angry when he heard the princess had returned early.” The voice came from inside the tower.
Aelor did not need to turn to know who it was.
In silver armor and a white cloak, Ser Erryk stood before another window, straight as a spear.
“Ser, you know my daily life.
Do you not feel any sorrow for me?” Erryk could not help smiling.
“The king certainly hopes you will gain knowledge.
But eight hours of lessons followed by more exercises seems less than humane.” ✦ ✦ ✦ Want to keep going?
I hope this chapter gave you another reason to stay with the story.
There’s still plenty ahead, and things are only starting to unfold.