Lives of Three Queens

The Lives of Three Queens is the fragments of a book written by the hand of Archmaester Bennis at the Citadel sometime during or after the reign of Queen Daenaerys I Targaryen. The notes were collected, bound and stored in the restricted section of the Citadel library. Though Bennis wrote of the three sovereign Queens of Westeros (at the time of writing), he wrote most extensively of Queen Daenaerys, and the most in-tact sections of the work that remain concern her.

I. A Daughter For A Throne
Daenaerys I, First of Her Name, Mother of the Realm and the New Conqueror, was born simply a girl. Worse than that; an unwanted girl. Her father, Prince Jaehaerys, was at the time the Hand of the Queen to his sister Baela the Good and her husband, Jaehaerys’ twin brother Aegon. The youngest son of Aegon II, the Unbroken King, Jaehaerys was not anticipated to ever inherit the Iron Throne. Yet he came to, and when he did, all he wished for was a strong son to follow him.

His sister, the sovereign Queen Baela the Good would die in the birthing bed in 175 AC; their newborn daughter Queen Rhaenyra II only rules for a day before she too died, of infantile weakness and riddled with fever. With her died the line of the Greens. When Jaehaerys’ older twin brother Aegon III then inherits the throne from his niece, he too meets with a tragic end in the Riverlands castle of Pinkmaiden, mere days before he was to take the fair maid Perianne Piper to bride. His Grace is found dead in his chamber at the bride’s keep, a hand clutching his chest in death’s throes. The Piper’s maester declares it was a failure of the heart, though the new King was known to be especially virile and robust.

Suffice it to say, not a soul anticipates the rise of Daenaerys’ father, nor had they predicted his ruthlessness when it came to the coveted Iron Throne, and that was their folly. Jaehaerys was not a particularly good King, but he had set his sights on his family’s highest honour and settled for nothing less. He had once been King-Consort; now he was self-invested King. And so what if the smallfolk japed that their King had killed one monarch in the birthing chamber and the other in the wedding bed? Those words never once reached the lofty ears of a man sitting the highest seat in the land.

Alas, we are ahead in our tale. Jaehaerys did not sit the Iron Throne as the King until some five-and-ten years after the birth of his first daughter; his tale begins back in the reign of Baela the Good. Jaehaerys had intended to marry Queen Baela and be her consort, but his elder brother Aegon had taken her hand instead, as was his right as Jaehaerys’ senior. Jaehaerys was instead named as Baela’s Hand, and together they ruled the realm more like husband and wife than Baela and Aegon ever did, for the Prince Consort was far more fond of whoring and hunting than ruling.

Though the pregnancy went as smoothly as could be expected, Viseyna had laboured for many days to bring Daenaerys into the world and that effort was ultimately lost on the Hand. It is said that when she was born the Hand demanded if she was a boy. When he heard otherwise, he dismissed them and only returned to his wife’s side when she had recovered enough from birth to be fertile again -- Even said to have taken Visenya to bed whilst his newborn daughter wailed from hunger. He was also said to be resentful of his gallant cousin, for his sister-wife bore her husband a lively lad named Baelor shortly after Visenya’s confinement.

A son would come to be everything to Jaehaerys, you see. He would come to see his fierce, warrior sister be brought low by womanly troubles, and watched his infant niece die in the cradle alongside her short reign. There was no room in his heart left for tenderness when it came to the gentile sex; it was man’s ultimate inconvenience, and a weakness to be tolerated, not coddled. All the while the Hand’s resentment grew as he saw his cousins be so fruitful, Aemon fathering three more children before his sister-wife’s health finally failed her in 169 AC when delivering their second daughter, a sickly girl named Alyssa.

Yet the plans of men are but playthings to the gods, as Archmaster Gyldayn coined. The sentiment rang true for Jaehaerys and his plans for a future son, and so Visenya only gave Jaehaerys daughters. After Daenaerys came the girls Alysanne and Jaehaera, beautiful Princesses, but not boys. Of course, the triumph of the Blacks had meant women could inherit the Iron Throne, and had done so with success before in their line…

But that did not mean that Jaehaerys himself wanted to see his inheritance passed to a weak-willed girl."“My lady wife has enjoyed enough of my mercy. Let her and the other treasonous women of the court keep one another company, I shan’t amuse them any longer.”""The Master of Laws stopped in his writing, glancing up and over the solar to the Hand, “What… Treasons have they committed, my lord?”""“They know of their crimes, and others will soon enough. Enact my will.”"

II. The Vault
After the birth of his final daughter, the Hand had had enough of the Gods’ mockery. The newest keep within the walls of the Red Keep had been constructed on the orders of Jaehaerys and Baela some years earlier, but it had remained unused for the most part. Many at court had presumed it might house the King’s various royal cousins, for there were a fair few now belonging to Prince Aemon and his kindly sister-wife Naerys, but now it was where Jaehaerys sent his daughters and wife to live, sending them from Maegor’s Holdfast in 174 AC. The cousins, for their part, were given the Kitchen Keep instead.

The ‘Maidenvault’, the court called it, for it was where they had to go to call on Visenya and her young daughters, and other female members of court who joined them in company. The nickname proved to be a bit of a delight to Jaehaerys, who agreed to have the holdfast named such officially; Queen Baela overturned the Hand’s writ, however, and the keep remained unnamed until Jaehaerys was crowned and could invest the name himself. They fought terribly over it, but Jaehaerys had to bow to the Queen’s word for a time.

Baela the Good herself was aghast by her brother’s treatment of his wives and daughters. By the reports of the elderly Grand Maester Cadwyl, the two fought viciously over the situation for days at a time, Baela repeatedly demanding that ‘if it had been me and our children, would you be so unforgiving and spiteful?’ The two parted ways dissatisfied, and though Jaehaerys was still her Hand, he did significantly less in the last rule of her reign. Baela, for her part, did not interfere in her brother’s family politics.

Queen Baela herself became pregnant shortly following her falling-out with Jaehaerys; her first child with her dismissive husband Aegon. Jaehaerys seethed at the news, sure she had finally ‘done that wretched deed’ to punish him somehow, and his love for her. Ultimately, Baela died in the birthing bed, as did her child, and Aegon III Targaryen reigned.

Only for a year.

Jaehaerys remained Hand for his twin brother, and Aegon could not give a fig for the management of the Realm, so consumed by the pleasures of life, he was. Jaehaerys truly ruled, and was truly changed by Baela’s death. He was crueler, more irritable, spiteful, and forbade his family from leaving the Maidenvault, taking their comforts from them and seemingly intent on robbing the realm of the light and love that his sister had brought to it. Aegon did not last the year as King, and Jaehaerys took what was rightfully his when news came of King Aegon’s death at Pinkmaiden, just days before his arranged marriage to Lady Perianne Piper.

When he was anointed the King of Westeros, he refused a crown to Visenya. She would remain, until her death, his ‘Lady Wife’.

It is best to take some note of Jaehaerys’ wife, for she was a sailor and a spirited rider, a true Velaryon and similar in many ways to the late Queen Baela; many assumed she would not go quietly into confinement & veritable exile upon her husband’s ascension to the Throne. But Visenya, for her part, took it in stride, supposedly unwilling to turn her children into pawns for her freedom. She fostered good relations with the other women in the Maidenvault when she could, and tried to encourage her daughters to socialize with the other courtly girls of age who had accompanied them.

Daenaerys only grew distant, however, withdrawing from the company of others and instead partaking in the books and treatises gifted to her by friends and family; a young scholar in the making, some said. Alysanne was frail and timid, frightened even by the prospect of the outside world, but was doted on incessantly for her beauty and sweet smile. Jaehaera wanted nothing more than to leave and was often caught trying to escape, though was always returned unharmed to within the holdfasts’ confining walls.

This forced confinement was not a solution to the King’s woes, though. Even though Jaehaerys had effectively cast his lady wife aside, he was still bound in matrimony to her. And with the marriage more than consummated, the High Septon would not agree to any terms of annulment or divorce. Short of murdering his popular and beautiful wife, Jaehaerys could do little except punish her, and he dared not risk the wrath of the faithful by taking a second wife. Thoughts of Maegor the Cruel still left sickly tastes in the mouths of men, and there were no more dragons to enforce the supremacy of House Targaryen. If Jaehaerys had been a true Dragon King, then mayhaps, the argument could have been made for a new bride. But without, he was merely a man, and bound to the mortal laws of the Seven.

The King was thus consigned to making fortnightly visits to the Vault to ‘plunder its treasures’, as he told his companions in jest after a particularly lively row, but Visenya did not fall pregnant again. The prevalent word at court was that she was partaking in moon tea to punish her husband, but there was no evidence presented of this and the Grand Maester swore on the Seven that it was untrue and malicious gossip against the Queen who’d lost favour. Though Jaehaerys was said to take mistresses frequently after he realized Visenya would give him no more children, there were likewise not even bastards born of these unions.

Naturally, with so many noble women at court warming the King’s bed, but no Dragonseeds to speak of, word flourished of suspected impotence on the part of the King, only exacerbating his ill will towards others. Twice he proclaimed he was whole in the bedchamber and he ordered his Master of Whispers to kill such talk of dishonour, though behind his back his ever-growing cabal of mistresses gossiped to the contrary. These evening women even went so far as to call him ‘the Incapable’ in jest.

The three Princesses, his only offspring, matured and blossomed in their gilded cage of a Maidenvault all the while. Daenaerys was gifted with a brilliant mind, only matched by an austere, alluring presence. She was not, perhaps, as remarkably attractive as those Targaryens who had come before her, but her wit and boldness had their own appeal, for she was never afraid to speak what she thought and always had a plan waiting in the wings.

Alysanne, the younger sister, was a heartbreakingly-beautiful young maiden, a white-gold princess who feared every shadow and was in dire need of someone kind enough to show her the world. And the youngest Jaehaera had terrorized the Vault with her antics and wanted nothing more than to fight for her sister’s birthright, be it by blade’s edge or by dragon’s talons, and felt more comfortable with a sword than a sewing needle. More than once the princess had persuaded their guards to teach her a trick or two with a blade, though it was not wholly unheard of for the girls to face the wrong end of one as well for their dervish antics.

A servant’s story-- Or legend, mayhaps, is more accurate to say --of the time states that Jaehaera, the Princess known for her attempted flights, had been similarly caught with her elder sister Daenaerys in an attempt to escape the Maidenvault. T’was during the rule of Aegon III; Daenaerys had been five-and-ten, and Jaehaera had been ten, and it had been at the younger girl’s insistence that they had tried in the dead of night. They had been met with a Kingsguard sworn to protect them, but the man drew his blade, the vicious edge of the Targaryen sword Dark Sister, given to the unnamed Knight to defend the Royal Family with. Aegon had been notoriously flippant with the family heirlooms.

The fact the identity of this knight is unknown is mildly vexing, as surely if a Kingsguard of the time had been carrying Dark Sister of all blades it would have been recorded, but alas, some things are cursed to remain unknown in the annals of history. Perhaps this is for the better; perhaps his name is omitted intentionally, for the story portrays this knight as a particularly monstrous breed to pull swords on children. Daenaerys was said to have put herself between the Kingsguard and her younger sister, and though her eyes never left the rippling steel surface of her family’s sword, the clever Princess had demanded he sheathe his weapon, for he was forbidden from spilling the blood of the King’s family.

The knight, as the story goes, agreed that he was, indeed, forbidden from shedding their blood, but that he had also sworn to Jaehaerys that he would not let them leave the holdfast, and that he would not be the first Kingsguard to be forced to decide between oathbreaking and oathkeeping. It is a testament to the rule of Jaehaerys that his Kingsguard seemed so fearful of a five-and-ten-year-old Princess, enough so to draw Valyrian steel on them.

If Daenaerys had been alone, as the legend stated she was not, perhaps she might have persuaded the man to step aside. But young Jaehaera had begun to weep from fear of wrong-doing in their ‘game’ and so Daenaerys swept the girl into her arms and carried her back into the vault. But when they crawled into bed with their mother, still reeling with the idea of their own father’s men so willing to cut them down, Daenaerys dreamed of Dark Sister’s sweet, black kiss, whilst Jaehaera only dreamed of one day wielding it.

And, though Jaehaera would try other times in her life to leave the vault, Daenaerys would never find the courage to try again. Of course, this is all on the word of a servant who claims to have witnessed the mess whilst fetching a midnight meal for her lady. Is it possible she mistook the silhouettes of two princesses for renegade children who’d slipped into the castle, perhaps Essosi assassins whom the Kingsguard sought to slay in the defense of the King, with Dark Sister in hand?

We cannot know for certain, only that Daenaerys always harboured an odd fear or, perhaps, cautious reverence for the family swords after her time in the vault. It may be the case that she’d always been frightened of them, and the story came about to explain her fear of the blades, but it could just as easily be the other way around, as well, and those feelings were a result of some event that truly occurred. Certainly, none would be surprised to hear of Jaehaerys’ lackeys having such little regard for his offspring.

What we do know for fact is that upon the meager celebration of Princess Daenaerys’s eight-and-tenth nameday in 178 AC, heralding her as a woman true and grown, the sisters three, for a gift, received their ultimatum from their father, the King of two years, now. All three were coming into their grace and were of age for marriage and betrothal; they were now of some use to the King, who finally seemed to understand he would likely have no more children of his body. So his daughters would be granted their heart’s desire and be permitted to leave the vault, on the condition they married men of high standing and renowned virtue who would give them sons. Visenya, their mother, would not leave the Maidenvault until her death.

For Daenaerys, the freshly-bloomed & presumptive Princess of Dragonstone (it should be noted the title and holding was never officially granted to her, and she never managed the property before inheriting the throne), she was paired with her uncle, Lady Visenya’s younger brother, Rhaegar of House Velaryron. Putting Visenya in veritable confinement (and denying her her crown) had upset the Velaryons of Driftmark & High Tide, but a match to the presumed Royal Princess was a quick balm on such wounds. Alysanne and Jaehaera were betrothed, meanwhile, the former to Lord Richard Manderly of White Harbor and the latter to Lord Lyonel Strong of Harrenhal. Their weddings would take place in the years subsequent.

Whilst Rhaegar, Daenaerys’ husband, was a gallant knight, a sea captain and sported an infamous pale moustache (which quickly became court fashion), there was no love between him and his Princess. He was her way out of the Vault; she was his way to the Iron Throne. It was very much a business transaction. Her sisters felt likewise of their future husbands, though surely grew to cherish them in their own ways.

It was only after her marriage to Rhaegar that Daenaerys began to sign her letters with the Valyrian phrase ‘Ānogar toliot Iēdar’ -- Translated to mean ‘Blood over Water’ in the common tongue. No doubt referencing both her husband’s naval superiority and her blood claim to the Iron Throne and Dragonstone -- Even if she was not acknowledged by her father as the rightful heiress.

Experiencing life outside of the Maidenvault was disorientating for the sisters, with each one adapting differently. Daenaerys did not skip a beat, demanding her chambers and ladies-in-waiting and even demanding her rightful title from the King (which he refused to grant). There were a lot of demands made in short succession, leaving some feeling underprepared for the assertiveness of Jaehaerys’ eldest daughter. Alysanne was far more frightful and worrisome, though she was soon convinced to leave for her husband’s seat, to see the countryside for the first time. And Jaehaera was herself, provoking her husband at every turn, and establishing herself as the dominant one in their marriage.

Still, an arrangement of convenience for them all, it proved a fruitful one for the sisters. Though Daenaerys was said to have spoken loudly of her distaste for the marriage bed and the duties required of her within it, she was with child the first year of her marriage and delivered nothing less than twins, just like her Peake grandmother had with the princes Jaehaerys and Aegon.

Her son was named Daeron, and her daughter Rhaenyra, two perfect, fleshy, loud babies, with strong lungs filling the Keep with their dragon song. King Jaehaerys finally had the male heir he had been waiting for and wasted little time in taking the boy for his own and raising the Prince in his household. He was opposed to letting Daenaerys manage his rearing, as was her right as the mother. Enraged by this slight, for it was most certainly a slight, the new mother immediately began to plot how she would return him to her side, even whilst her baby daughter suckled at her breast."“I want him back.” She traced Rhaenyra’s nose as the girl yawned, fluttering black-violet eyes shut. Her eyelids were pale, violet, dusty like a dried lilac. How could it be that one woman could love something so much, when it was so small and precious?""“He is the King.” Rhaegar replied, though Daenaerys could sense his own quiet outrage, surely he was angry too. They were not enemy combatants, he had no right to take her son to ward without a word of her consent, especially so young; he was too raw to the Gods, how would they know of his true parents if the King kept him locked in a tower and out of divine reach?""If it was a war her father wanted, however, a war he would most certainly get.""“I care not if he is the Father made flesh. Queen Baela would not have surrendered. I will have my son or I shall lay dead at his feet.”"Thus began the war between Jaehaerys and his daughters.

Daenaerys and her sisters had an air of mystery about them in the wider royal court, and indeed, the whole of Westeros. What had been so dangerous or, mayhaps, beguiling about these Princesses to have them locked in a keep as children by their father, never to see sunlight? It was the makings of songs and fairytales, and indeed many an ambitious bard filled the taverns of the realm with sweet laments and bawdy songs on the ‘maidens in the vault’. Those expecting deformed monsters or troubled youths, however, were met with (by all accounts) three charismatic, delightful, and resentful young women bent on their revenge.

Many courtiers and prospective political allies sympathized with the plight of Daenaerys, a rising socialite, who often wept in the presence of her new friends when thinking of her only son. He who, surely as all children did at such an age, must’ve missed his mother whilst he was all alone in Maegor’s Holdfast in the clutches of the King. Lord Arthur Crane in particular became one of ‘her men’ in this time, maneuvering on her behalf with other Reachlords at court.

The internal stress did become too much for the Incapable King, however. There were too many long looks, too many whispers, too many bribes passed between men to tell the King that he could still have the boy and please his mother as well. Jaehaerys finally seemed to relent, and in 183 AC returned Daeron to the care of his mother’s household. Though the young Prince did not recognize her, she still cared for him fiercely; a dragoness protecting her clutch of eggs.

It could not be more apt, for she was pregnant again with their second son at the time, whom she named Viserys in honour of her still-imprisoned mother; another small rebellion. This time, the King did not take him from her arms, merely sending his well-wishes.

And then came more children.

III. Blood Over Water
Many jested of the virility of their future Queen and her seahorse husband, though those who knew them more personally understood it was less for the passions of marital coitus and more so because the two understood that the more children they bore, the more secure their future rule would be. Everything in Daenaerys’ life was carefully plotted and planned so that she would never, ever be reduced to something as lowly as the Maidenvault again.

The Princesses Viserra and Naerys came next, in 184 and 185 respectively, named in honour of her mother and herself. Daeron had warmed to his mother since their separation and came to appreciate his twin sister Rhaenyra, who was often said to be Daenaerys’ favourite child.

With such a spread of children, Daenaerys’ popularity in the realm began to grow. She was seen as a gentle mother, unrelenting in the defence of them, and willing to stand up to even their King if it meant the preservation of a greater good. Jaehaerys, meanwhile, sulked in his languishing relevance. He was King, but it was his children and grandchildren who ruled the court. A better man would have been happy.

The King was merely bitter, as history would remember him as.

The inevitable consequences of so many children born so swiftly came down on the Princess, however, when she experienced her first stillbirth halfway through the pregnancy. The unborn son was named Rhaegar and his ashes were sent to Dragonstone, the keep that should have belonged to Daenaerys but had never been given to her. In mourning, the Princess and her Velaryon husband spent some time apart as he returned to Driftmark to grieve alone.

When Jaehaerys did not wear mourning colours for her unborn son, the verbal sparring match between father and daughter was said to be heard from the Hill of Rhaenys. Even still, Daenaerys was still fertile, announcing her pregnancy after a trip to Driftmark to try and reconcile with her husband. Rhaegar had not returned with her, but his new babe had. Naturally, the suspect timing and the pointed absence of Rhaegar led to some unsavory rumours, ones Jaehaerys was both gleeful and resentful of.

Another son was born to her in the new year, a son she was going to name Rhaegar, but her father would not let her name a living babe after a dead one. He overruled her choice with crown authority and announced the boy was named Jaehaerys, after himself. Daenaerys was livid, but could say nothing to change his mind, for the kingdoms were already toasting to the birth of the young Prince Jaehaerys. He would eventually be sent to House Tyrell to ward some years later, for Daenaerys found herself increasingly unwilling to tend to him based on his new name alone."“You have stolen one son and now seek to claim another. I will not allow you to place your mark on my children, just as you have on me and mine!”""Jaehaerys slammed his palm against his desk to silence her, pressing the other to his nose, “Woman, I have--”""“Daughter,” Daenaerys seethed, turning on him at once, “I am your daughter.”""“I have returned Daeron to your care. Shame me, then, for seeking to see my legacy lives on in one boy, who is third in line to my throne!”""“He is seventh in line, in case you have forgotten how to count, just as I am first in line, ahead of my son.”""“Not for long, daughter. Not for long.”"Threatened, Daenaerys feared that the King would disinherit her and place Daeron ahead in the succession or worse still, seek to put the cousins on the throne with the widower Prince Aemon. That ‘problem’ was not long-lived, however, as the Dragonknight soon experienced a stroke in the training yard and died near-instantly. He was three-and-fifty, and was heard speaking his dead wife’s name before he collapsed in the presence of his son Baelor.

Even without the strength of Aemon to back the cousin’s claim, Daenaerys’s son Daeron was only twelve, a squire in the yard still. If he was made King then he would have a regency council of sycophants, and her claim and rule would be pushed aside entirely. Alas, it would also be unfair to mistake Daenaerys’ anger at the idea of being overlooked in succession as resentment for her son, who in the King’s eyes had more worth than his mother did. She had every intention of having Daeron rule -- But he would rule following her.

And yet, two years later, King Jaehaerys II was found dead, and all of Daenaerys’ problems seemed to go away at once; his Kingsguard had discovered him in pieces across the Iron Throne, with the prevailing theory being that the King had stumbled, fallen and landed in a sea of swords. Of course, there were whispers of assassination. Had someone pushed him to his death? Who would’ve been with him? Though many looked to the Lord Commander of the Kinsguard, he was not seen in the days leading up to Jaehaerys’ death, and was eventually found to have fallen on his own sword sometime after the demise of the King; discovered in a gaoler’s tunnel in the Black Cells. The note he left indicated he had failed in his duty to protect his liege from himself. Ser Allard Templeton would take command of the White Cloaks henceforth.

There was a short-lived investigation, organized by the frantic Small Council, but the truth of it was that the King had not been well-liked and not many wept at his passing, least of all his many enemies. The death of the Lord Commander was plain enough a suicide, though whether or not it was because of Jaehaerys’ death was unknown; did the Lord Commander’s guilt indicate a motive or lost knowledge? Regardless of the answer, those left asking were presented with a bigger problem now; who would inherit the now-vacant Iron Throne?

For a few critical moments, there was a power vacuum in the Capital. Jaehaerys had supporters, few as they were, supporters who debased Daenaerys’ claim to the throne, citing that the title of Princess of Dragonstone had been withheld from her and it was a sign of her unfitness to rule. The Small Council was split between crowning Daenaerys, or crowning her son, or even pushing the claim of the cousin’s line instead, who had male heirs to spare. Baelor Targaryen, in particular, was scrutinized as a prospective King as the eldest son of Aemon, but many could not overlook the Blacks victory and the hard-fought equal inheritance of the crown; the erasure of primogeniture. Under that law, Daenaerys inherited firstly.

Eventually, it was decided between the Hand, Lyonel Tyrell, and the new Lord Commander that the Princess Daenaerys indeed had the rightful claim. Though some tried to call for a Great Council, the two jointly became ‘Queenmakers’ and sent out letters declaring the rule of Daenaerys to have officially begun. Those allies of Jaehaerys, few as they were, had little hold on to and soon disseminated or turned cloak to the new Queen.

When the raven reached Driftmark, at once Rhaegar sailed to King’s Landing aboard his flagship the Seadragon and witnessed his wife’s ascension. She had finally overcome her father and surpassed him. Her story outshone any of his paltry accomplishments, and she intended to keep it that way. In a show of good faith, her first royal act was to purge the Keep of her father’s unfruitful mistresses, returning them to their families with gold for their future dowries and apologies to their Lord fathers for her own father’s monstrous and unvirtuous behaviour towards them.

Her second act was to send for Prince Daeron, and she presented him with Blackfyre, the family blade, taken from the Lord Commander who had held onto the blade after Jaehaerys’ demise. ''“It is a Targaryen’s weapon, ser. I would see it in the hands of a true Targaryen.”'' There had been no argument. They say the new Prince of Dragonstone grinned so wide it seemed his face would split in two and he scampered away to already begin practicing with the kingly weapon. Dark Sister was kept sheathed, however, and always stowed in Daenaerys’ chamber, and not given to a daughter like some expected it to be. It was hidden away from public view, just as the Queen herself had been as a girl.

With the son she had fought so hard for at her side and her husband kneeling before her, she was hailed as Queen Daenaerys I, the Mother of the Realm, and she publicly reconciled with Rhaegar and had him named her consort formally. They were anointed together by the High Septon in a grand and royal procession to Oldtown, and treated it much as a second wedding, partaking in a new marriage bed in a realm reborn. This time, the new Queen boasted eloquently the next morning, she had enjoyed herself far more.

From that reconciliation, their last daughter, Rhaegelle Targaryen, was born; the only one of her children with Rhaegar to be born whilst Daenaerys ruled as Queen and named for the girl’s father, no less. But the young Princess was born under a bad omen. The moon had turned black the night of her birth, all had seen it, and so the smallfolk remarked that she was thus a cursed child. This allegedly came true as months later, in the celebrations of a new year, the Stranger came to the Capital and demanded his due for Daenaerys’ triumph over her father.

IV. The Black Moon
The Shivers had not been seen in Westeros since the time of Jaehaerys and Alysanne, years past, and it was a deadly plague. It was feared by all, for even Targaryens died from the pestilence that made one’s lips turn blue and cough blood until there was none left to give. True, there were none left alive who remembered the scourge, but all recalled the stories of how the sweet Princess Daenerys had been taken away by the pestilence. Now it threatened the Queen of similar name.

The Queen’s third anniversary of her coronation had brought much trade and bounty to the Capital, including attracting many foreign merchants from across the Narrow Sea. This is what is believed to have caused the initial outbreak, for the first cases were heard of in the docks, around the Essosi vessels and their foreign crews. From the docks it leapt to Flea Bottom, where it found many victims among the squallor.

At once, the City Watch petitioned the Queen to lock the city down, to close the city gates and send word to neighboring cities and castles that none should approach. Daenaerys agreed whilst already looking inward, attempting to assess if her family was so threatened by the sickness spreading through Flea Bottom and soon the Street of Silk. They were on a hill above the city, yes, and safe behind the red brick, but for how long? For as mentioned, even a Targaryen could perish if caught unawares.

Perish they did, when the Shivers finally breached the walls of the Red Keep; Princess Aemma Targaryen, the Queen’s cousin, was the first to perish outside of the immediate royal family. She was found dead in the Kitchen Apartments. Frail like her mother, the senior Princess Naerys, she’d gone swiftly, within the day, and the disease spread through court from there. Rhaegar Velaryon, Daenaerys’ husband, was the first of the inner household to fall ill; he sequestered himself immediately to try and protect his family. Not swift enough, though, for the sickness soon spread and soon the children’s nursery had to be quarantined, as well, and Rhaegar, already ill, with them.

Daenaerys was forced to weep from behind a barred wooden door as she listened to her children's fear for their lives, trapped with only each other and their father, and listened to her eldest son wither and eventually perish all unseen. She could not even say goodbye, for fear of the sickness spreading to Her Grace."“No, no. Do not tell me.” The Queen stared out over the city, but saw nothing of it. Daeron danced before her eyes, laughing as she presented him with a new stallion. The purest white, it had been, and she had said it was a mount fit for a King…""“They say the Prince of Dragonstone and the King are gone, Your Grace. They fear that the other children are ill as well. The Queensguard guard the chambers, but many are too fearful to enter, to--”""“To what?”""“--To retrieve their bodies for burial. Your Grace.” The servant bowed as she retreated, a cloth pressed to her mouth.""Daenaerys sunk deep into her chair overlooking the city. And she threw her crown into the pit of spikes ringing Maegor’s Holdfast, a wordless scream of grief leaving her tangled chest.""“Bring me the Conqueror’s crown!” The Queen all but wailed of her maids, “And if my son and husband are not seen by the Silent Sisters within the fortnight so that their spirits join the Father Above in his grace, I will have the heads of whoever is too cowardly to let them pass, I swear it by the Old Gods and the New.”"Daeron had only been ten-and-five when he had been struck down, a squire, a charming boy; now he was dead, and his twin sister Rhaenyra was poised to be named the new Princess of Dragonstone if she survived the outbreak herself. Other notable courtiers died of the Shivers as well, including the Hand of the Queen, old Lyonel Tyrell, who had given Daenaerys her throne in the first place. By the time the disease faded, it had taken near half the royal court.

After the death of Daeron, Daenaerys was never the same. The people’s love would never compare to her son, the boy she’d clawed back from Jaehaerys to be with her once more. That battle now had been for nought, and all Daenaerys tasted was ash when she once had sweet revelry. And though they had not loved one another much, she too mourned Rhaegar, for he had given her the children she loved so dearly, and had been a fine and loyal husband, never straying to the bed of women of the court or otherwise shaming her and their marriage. She had even come to be fond of him in the waning years of their marriage, with them exchanging frequent gifts and spending more time in each other’s company platonically. He was the one who’d given Daenaerys her infamous opal locket, one she would later bestow upon those seeking her favour at tourney.

A state funeral was held, father and son carried in procession through the city together as the royal family flew black banners. Daeron was burned; Rhaegar was given to the sea that he had loved so much, his body carried out on his flagship and sunk, with the vessel, to the bottom of the Blackwater Rush.

For two years Daenaerys ruled alone and without much fanfare. The Queen’s old friend and leal ally Arthur Crane was elevated to the office of Hand and together they sought to fix what her father Jaehaerys had neglected or bungled in his rule of the Seven Kingdoms. There was a brief scandal when the Queen fell pregnant with a bastard out of wedlock, announced to be fathered by her cousin Baelor, who sought her hand in marriage to unite their House lines. The Queen was vulnerable in her grief and had bedded him, but had ultimately rejected his hand, though it would have united the succession. Daemon Waters, their son, was born a royal bastard.

A rumour at court was that Daenaerys had meant to name him ‘Daeron’, or had otherwise spoken her dead son’s name in delirium, but the midwife had heard ‘Daemon’ and had the herald announce that name for the Queen’s first and only son born to the wrong side of the sheet. Despite her ability to legitimize him, the Queen chose not to and a bastard he indeed remained -- And, despite the rumours, he could not replace Daeron in her heart. He was the only child she did not have a personal hand in raising, and instead left to the nurses of the Red Keep.

In her solitary rule, the Queen’s courtiers remarked that she had truly come into her crown. She sponsored multiple public works projects not only in the capital but across Westeros, and any Lord or Lady was invited to present their case for royal funding to improve the lives of their smallfolk or to restore their ancient seats of power. Daenaerys envisioned a rebuilt Westeros, glittering at her feet, and used her smarts to fill the coffers with gold to fulfil such a dream.

Her most curious and controversial appointments during her reign were dubbed ‘the Speakers’. They were seven men and women, one from each Kingdom and of a lesser House, sent to represent their liege lord and their native lands at the Queen’s Small Council in an advisory position. They did not hold any other function than to keep the Queen appraised of the goings-on in their homelands, offer advice in matters concerning the people they came from and their cultures, and liaison between the Throne and the Great Houses who oversaw each of the Seven Kingdoms. These speakers would not expand to eight when Dorne joined the Seven Kingdoms; the Queen, at the time, was cited cruelly as stating that they would need to ‘earn their place’ at her table after the conquest.

Those members of the Small Council remarked often that the council was no longer so ‘small’. Between the Queen, her Hand, the Grand Maester, the four Masters and the Lord Commander of the Queensguard, they had no less than fourteen (at the time) sitting members in the council chambers. A new table had to be brought in just to fit them all. Some remarked on renaming the Council to better reflect the evolving purposes it served, but Queen Daenaerys dismissed the notion. “We are still small men and women, working to serve the smaller peoples of our realms,” She had said to a counsellor when the topic came up, “And so a true Small Council we shall remain.”

Though rulership came naturally to her, solitude, unfortunately, did not. Daenaerys was a woman who could not stand to be alone, or even feel as though she was alone, which was part of why she had entertained her cousin’s affections at all. The Maidenvault and the effects of its isolation followed her everywhere.

And though many were content with her sole rule, happy, even, her councillors urged her to consider a new match, a man to stand beside her and support her. The Queen in response to the requests announced the start of her first Royal Progress, to tour the realm and to see where her gold had been invested. It was during this that she would meet the husband who would fill the ache in her chest; a Stormlander, and a brute of all things.

V. Like Lightning
To understand the full story of how the Queen chose a second-born widower for her next consort, one must understand the man. Though 190 AC was notable as the year of the death of Jaehaerys the Bitter, the King’s death was not the only one to be recorded. Hanna Hawthorne was a girl of gentle breeding from a minor West house, her hand given to Ser Durran of House Dondarrion some years passed. Not much was recorded of the maiden beyond her birth and her marriage contract, though the manner of her swift and sudden death is of note.

Early in pregnancy with the couple’s first child, Lady Hanna was, apparently, killed at the hunt when she lost her balance and fell from her horse, breaking her neck near-instantly (at least, that is what the Blackhaven Maester recorded when preparing her for the Silent Sisters). A horribly gruesome and tragic fate, especially for an expectant mother. Ser Durran was left widowed and childless as a result, and grieved five years for his wife and child. It seemed, however, upon the arrival of the royal retinue in early 195 AC, something had changed.

This same Durran Dondarrion was so bold as to demand the Queen’s favour and that of her young daughter Naerys when she was on Royal Progress in the Stormlands, at the fields nearby the Rainport. Impressed by his courage (or, perhaps, his nerve), she granted it to him, a necklace of white opal and silver. It is even recorded that the Queen herself helped her ten-year-old daughter tie her handkerchief to the Knight’s lance when he presented it to the little Princess. Armed with silver and silk, he proceeded to win both the melee and the joust in her honour and name. He would, expectantly, end up proclaiming her both his Queen of Westeros and his Queen of Love and Beauty, presenting her with a crown of lavender and lilacs.

Utterly swept up in the roguish charm of this Stormlander, Daenaerys invited him to attend her for the rest of the Progress, though many murmured that he did much more than merely attend the Queen in that time, for he never seemed to leave her side."“I do not let most men into my presence. They all wish the same thing.”""“And what is that, my Queen?”""“Oh, to fuck me, I presume, but they seem to forget that I have so many children already. And age, the birthing bed and the Small Council chamber have taken what beauty I had to start with. I offer little besides a seat by my side.”""“I believe you offer much more than that. My Queen.”""Daenaerys found herself smiling, a pale brow raised, “Is that so, Lord Dondarrion? And what can you offer me that my suitors have not already promised thrice over?”""“A family. My Queen.”""“Daenaerys. Use my name.”"This closeness and favour proved to be ideal when it was Durran who defended the Queen’s royal person from Dornish assassins whilst she visited Highgarden, striking the killer down in broad daylight with a single, mighty swing before even her Queensguard could react after the fool had rushed the Queen’s dais. After that, there was no doubting the fate of the two, for he was never far from her again.

It was also during this progress that the first of the Queen’s two infamous sworn protectors would come into her service. The Knight of Alyssa’s Tears fought in a tourney at Gulltown to celebrate the Queen’s arrival, and though they did not fare well in the joust, they dominated the melee and won the honour of the Queen’s blessing for a well-done display. When Daenaerys requested that the Knight unmask themselves, the crowd was aghast to see it was a woman, broken nose and all. There was no such disgust or shock from Daenaerys, who gave the woman, a Vale bastard by the name of Sedge Stone, the victor’s laurel. In the sight of the attendants she elevated the woman to her personal guard, and accepted her oath of fealty.

Upon the court’s return to the Capital, the Queen had already announced her decision to wed the Stormlord Durran Dondarrion and preparations for a royal wedding were well underway. He was crowned her new King in a lavish ceremony in the Red Keep, and it was a testament to her husband’s eagerness that they proved fruitful as well (Though, judging by the arithmetic, it appears Daenaerys may have been carrying far before their royal wedding, as early as the Gulltown tourney). It was a sign of the Queen’s immense love and respect for her second husband that she permitted him to name their offspring, as opposed to her choosing names of Valyrian heritage. And so it was that Prince Lyonel was born first to the happy couple, a strapping young boy, though the eve was dark with storms and fire in the Godswood.

Durran had taken to loving Daenaerys' children from her first marriage quite eagerly. He was a fatherly type by nature, and taught the Queen’s eldest boy Viserys the ways of the blade and sword, and encouraged his step-daughters to pursue their passions as well. He even had time for her bastard son, which is certainly more care than Daenaerys herself gave the boy. He saw to it they learned swordplay and chivalrous values personally.

Though some bloomed under Durran’s care, others withered. Rhaegelle, in particular, suffered regardless of which marriage her mother had made. She was the one least popular with the people, and had no interests or pursuits to fill her time with. Books did not amuse her, nor did needlepoint or song, and though she was a fair rider, she didn’t like to leave the walls of the Keep or Capital for fear of the smallfolk. Stories had spread of her birth under the eclipse, you see, and many thought of her as an ill omen simply by existing, though there was truly nothing to it except peasant superstition. Nonetheless the belief was strong enough to give the girl a healthy dose of fear of causing a riot.

Regardless of Rhaegelle’s complacence, her and Naerys were nearing the age at which they would be suitable to wed, and so Daenaerys made the choice to take them into her own household as ladies-in-waiting to the Queen. It meant she could keep them much closer than her eldest daughter was, who was occupied managing Dragonstone, and show them the fine points of courtly intrigue personally.

Why Viserra, the daughter born between Rhaenyra and Naerys, was never included in these lessons is unclear. Likewise is the reason why she was never married when she came of age, for she was a woman bloomed and fair with the harsh beauty of Old Valyria. Rumours, of course, spread that perhaps she was sterile, and therefore of no wedding value to the Queen, or that she’d had bastard children and had soiled her maidenhood too much to be wed in the light of the Seven-Who-Are-One; some even whispered that perhaps men were of no interest to her at all and she had made such plain to the Queen. However, Princess Viserra did go on to become the Commander of the City Watch for King’s Landing in the years following; perhaps, in the rare cases of some willful Targaryen women, she simply sought a destiny outside of the marriage bed. It was known to happen, albeit rarely, and they had such a luxury being of royal breeding.

Other women of the court attended the Queen, but none of them were permitted to stay in her bedchamber long into the evening like Naerys and Rhaegelle were, listening to her private, scholarly ruminations on how best to run the court on the morrow in her favour to accomplish what she needed for their family and the Realm. Naerys took to such lessons eagerly, but Rhaegelle was more hesitant, always fearing her own misfortune would spoil any plans laid with her sister and mother. Worse, Daenaerys was not especially fond of her cursed child either and refused to even look at her most days, even whilst addressing her directly.

The Princess of Dragonstone, as aforementioned, was too mature and too well-learned herself with such lessons with her mother; a master did not need a teacher, after all. Rhaenyra had been matched to Ser Owen Costayne some years earlier, as he was a man of the Faith and Daenaerys had been leery to giving her daughter’s hand to one of her cousins when she could forge regional alliances instead (and, besides, it was rather well-known that the cousins had fallen out of Queen’s favour after naming one of their brood ‘Daeron’, which the Queen had taken as some sort of ill-intentioned mockery to her deceased son; there was little chance in the Seven Hells that she would consider such a bridging wedding after that).

Everyone at court had their eyes on the Crown Princess, her Reachlord husband, and her growing belly; pregnant within the first year, same as her mother, surely a sign of favour from the Seven. In fact, in a twist of fate, the Princess and the Queen were both with child at the same time and spent many days in each others’ company as their pregnancies progressed. It was the younger everyone truly observed, though, wondering if a future King or Queen would be delivered soon by the Princess.

It turned out to be both, for Rhaenyra, like her own mother before her, delivered twins for House Targaryen; young Aegon and Aella, a new Prince and Princess. There were seven days of feasting to celebrate the birth of the future King, though soon black humours filled the capital when the news came of the children’s frailty. They had been born too early and were said to be too small, and all feared they would perish in the cradle not long after their births. Young Rhaegelle once more took the blame, for word spread that she had been present in her sister’s chamber at the time of delivery. Such whispers would even overshadow the Queen’s own delivery, as she bore her King a daughter named Elenei a mere week after Rhaenyra took to the birthing bed.

The news of the sickness of the twins, in particular, is why the Queen’s son Viserys shocked everyone when he received a white cloak at the Queen’s name-day celebration in 200 AC. Only ten-and-seven, most had wondered why the Queen had not yet announced a match for her oldest living son, and a gallant knight too, for maids across the realm dreamed of having him for their own.

Rhaenyra was the heiress, of course, and she had heirs of her own in the nursery. And yet, if anything were to happen to her and her young children, it would indeed be Viserys who was set to become the next Prince of Dragonstone. But a Queensguard-- as they had been rebranded to with Daenaerys’ ascension --swore off their claims, titles, lands and relations to serve the Iron Throne, not to sit it. With Viserys in a white cloak, it meant that succession beyond Rhaenyra and her ill babes fell to Viserra and Naerys, the younger sisters.

Such fears, gossip and interest were eventually waylaid, though Naerys herself had been quite pleased with the temporary scrutiny by the court as they pondered her potential future. Aegon and Aella recovered from the circumstances of their birth and soon joined their young aunts and uncles in filling the Red Keep with the sounds of delighted and playful children. Aegon, who grew up to be a noted stoic, even partook in their royal games in his youth. And, on occasion, even the bastard Daemon Waters was invited to partake.

The children of Daenaerys and Durran found themselves scrutinized from a young age; newly-born Elenei Targaryen received most of the public attention. With startling violet eyes to match the lightning of her father’s sigil, and hair black like sin or raven’s feather, it seemed only natural that men would come to dote on her. She charmed easily, finding herself oft attached at the hip to her older brother Lyonel, who was nearly forced to take her wherever she went for she would beg so sweetly if she went without him. Durran, in a fit of fatherly pride, proclaimed her to be the ‘delight of his life’.

Always eager to please her husband and to call back to her family heritage of the Blacks, Daenaerys had it proclaimed henceforth that her daughter, the Targaryen-Dondarrion Princess, would be referred to as the ‘Realm’s Delight’, just as Queen Rhaenyra I Targaryen had as a little girl. The title had been largely affectionate or personal when handed down to the first Queen of their line, but with Elenei it became something more, as she charmed and befriended her way into benefiting the peoples of the Realm, who returned her love tenfold.

Also popular with the smallfolk was the aforementioned Waters, the boy they sometimes called the Blackwaters Prince. Daemon was not the only bastard sprung from Baelor’s loins-- Many say he took his cue from his uncle Prince Aegon the Lusty, who famously died riddled with the Lover’s Pox --and was not likely to be the last, either. No matter that he was no Prince, for bastards could not hold such a title, but the smallfolk either did not care or did not mind the fact, for he was the prince they chose to toast to when he came to share in their drink and listen to their woes. Those at court, of gentler and proper breeding, still called him by crueler nicknames as he languished around the Red Keep; chief among them, the Queen’s Regret.

How else to explain why Her Grace did not even spare him the time of day? At least her King did, and spent hours with the boy in the yard as he did with all Daenaerys’ sons.

One son the King and Queen both had time for in spades was, to be expected, their son Lyonel, the firstborn of their marriage. Yes, it is true that he would never replace her true firstborn, just as Viserys, Jaehaerys, and Daemon could not have. But, ‘the second firstborn’ as he was called, perhaps came the closest to mending that old, old wound. There was seldom a boy-- Much less a Prince --in the Seven Kingdoms who wanted for less or was surrounded by more parental love.

The boy was quick, and gifted with all manner of weapons, or so said cousin Maekar, the Master-at-Arms of the Red Keep, and Durran took it upon himself to teach the boy ‘the Stormlander’s way’ of fighting. Daenaerys would on occasion force her not-so-Small Council to attend her in the courtyard where she could observe her husband and son at their practice, and was always willing to be named the Queen of Love and Beauty by the winner of such playful contests.

Viserys himself also later commented on Lyonel’s prowess, promising the boy had the makings of a fine knight and warrior, and offered thrice to take his younger half-brother as squire. Daenaerys always insisted that Lyonel would be better served learning from his father than his brother, however, and Viserys always respected the sentiment. It was no doubt true, for both father and son favoured the Stormlands maul, whilst Viserys now had the honour of being the Targaryen to wield Blackfyre, the family blade. There would have been little compatibility between the two half-brothers, in terms of styles of warfare.

Dark Sister, the other Valyrian Steel sword, meanwhile, remained in Daenaerys’ care just as it had been from the day she was crowned Queen, though not for a lack of trying. Many members of her family wondered why the Queen kept the blade of Queen Visenya in her chambers and not in the hands of a warrior as tradition dictated, but whatever her reasons, be they the legends of her childhood woes or something else, the sword never left the Queen’s care until the outbreak of war. That was when it was given to her second husband, to take to battle.

But the war is far ahead in our tale. What remains between this happy family and the yawning, fiery death that shattered it is that which begins every great and legendary inferno.

A spark.

VI. A Stranger Summons
Many at court understood that the announcement of the Queen’s recent pregnancy was likely to be her last. She was nearing forty, and would soon lose her fertility as most women did when coming into their matronly age. The children by Durran were surely gifts from the Mother Above herself, blessing the Queen in her happy and living marriage, which was more than other noblewomen might be able to say. Much less, a ruling monarch who had to contend with the stresses of the crown.

It all threatened to end prematurely one chilly evening, when the Queen partook in a meal that had seemed simple enough but had also set her to spasms and shakes after a few spoonfuls. Servants ran and her Queensguard sent Maegor’s Holdfast into a tailspin, and then into a complete lockdown to keep any would-be killers from leaving. The Grand Maester deduced swiftly that the food had been poisoned, but due to a dosage error, it had not led to the Queen’s death straightaway, thank the Seven. Rather, the drug had sentenced her to a hellish limbo, caught between the light of the Mother and the claws of the Stranger.

Bedridden and terrified for her due child, Daenaerys writhed in pain as she was leeched and prayed over, her husband ever at her side, whilst her son Viserys and daughter Viserra questioned the kitchen staff and saw men beheaded for their part in the plot; once again thought to be a Dornish scheme. Though she never spoke of what visions she saw whilst in her torment, the Queen often wept and screamed from fear of what she saw in the nothing. All the while midwives worried over the health of her unborn child; her confinement lasted near two months. The drama of it all led to her daughter Rhaenyra, once more pregnant herself, to be called to bed herself earlier than necessary, delivering yet another set of twins for the House of the Dragon. Even that blessing from the gods, a sign of supree holy favour no doubt, was overshadowed by the fear that the throne would be passed down sooner than expected.

When the Queen finally delivered her own last child, her son named Orys, many still thought Daenaerys would nonetheless die from weakness following the birth and the trace poison in her system, a similar fear many had for the infant Prince. It is known now that, at the time, that the Hand had already drafted a royal proclamation announcing the death of the Queen before her recovery, for that was how confident her advisors were that she would not survive the ordeal. It is even suggested that rudimentary preparations for a funeral & subsequent coronation were underway, with the moving of gold in the coffers to facilitate such."“They mock me.” Daenaerys murmured, her hand covering Durran’s, “They do.”""“Who, my love?” She felt his rough-hewn fingers clutch hers, desperate.""“The people.”""“We are alone. Believe it so, for I have sworn to never lie to you.”""“I will die a weak Queen.” Daenaerys already felt tears gathering in her eyes, spilling over her cheeks, thin with how much weight she’d been losing.""“No. You will outlive me,” Durran insisted, and he pressed her knuckles to his chin, a warm smile ever-present, “I am sorry to tell you that I will not know a life without you in it; I simply refuse to.”"As promised, Daenaerys recovered, and persisted, as she had done all her life. She famously stumbled into the Small Council chamber still in her underclothes and proceeded through her first meeting back from her poisoning & pregnancy dressed so casually it made some of her Speakers and councillors feel scandalized by the Queen’s near-nakedness. But what mattered is that she was well again, and whole, and had a new babe in the nursery, her eleventh child. And so the realm rejoiced and called her Mother.

Everything in their life seemed far too perfect. Though Jaehaerys was off warding with the Tyrells and Viserys spent his nights guarding his mother instead of cajoling with her, the family was near-picturesque with Orys delivered safe and unharmed and Daenaerys’ four grandchildren on her and Durran’s knee. He had kept her candlelight promise to her; he had given her a family, rebuilding the one she’d lost into something stronger.

There were troubles along the way, surely, as in every family, be they royal or lowborn. Baelor Targaryen’s love of the flesh was renowned throughout the Seven Kingdoms, and he was said to have ‘made the eight’ many a time to the pleasure of maidens from Lannisport to White Harbor. And he had already fathered two known boys, Baelon and Daemon; it was not a surprise to have more make themselves known, and to have them be brought (or sometimes arriving themselves) at the Red Keep to be cared for by their wayward father. Viserys Waters was the first to come after the turn of the century, brought to the Red Keep by another one of Baelor’s brood, sporting the red hair of a whore but the distinctive purple eyes of a Targaryen.

Though many disputed the boy’s paternity, Baelor Targaryen eventually admitted to more than a few tumbles with the boy’s mother, ‘Red Rosey’, and claimed him as his son, to the disappointment of the Queen who had been so hopeful that her cousin had changed. Matarys Storm was another the next year, sent by House Mertyns in the Stormlands, no mistaking Baelor’s mark left there. And when Haegon Rivers arrived as the second son of Lady Bethany the year after that, Princess Rhaenyra was heard loudly referring to her cousin as ‘the Bastardmaker’ when discussing the newest arrival; these three sons were the same age, after all, and had thus been sired all in the same year. Baelor’s infamy was cemented, then, with him henceforth going by the Bastardmaker.

Disregarding the cousins and their woes, the royal line of Targaryens was as happy as one could be, and yet already Daenaerys knew that such happiness could not last eternity -- Even if it was her wish or command as Queen. Already she feared the oncoming disaster, whatever it may be, that would see them splintered and she would spend nights awake worrying, despite the comfort of her husband. The two attempts on her life weighed heavily on her mind and she developed a vicious streak of paranoia.

Little did she know that such a storm would be of her own doing, a bed of her own making, a disaster she brought about. Little did she know that she should have trusted the voice in her mind telling her that there was danger in every shadow. The spark had found kindling, and now set ablaze.

VII. Bending, Breaking
One does not simply go to war over night. Rather, it is a slow burn, like roasting meat over open fire. Over and over one spins on the roast on a spit, only just brushing the wispy flame. So too was Queen Daenaerys’ sentiments towards Dorne slowly waning, each slight and assassin sent another kiss of fire to her singed skin. And she was sorely tired of being burned.

The lead into the Conquest of Dorne took many years; nearly thirteen of them, in fact, from the last inciting incident of the Queen’s poisoning to the first declaration of intent and the stirring of the Stormlands. In that time the Queen’s children matured; Rhaenyra sat on her mother’s council a woman grown, perhaps not as fertile as Daenaerys but surely twice as sharp and keen to lead. Viserra, the younger sister, came to command the city guard; her beloved brother Viserys was an impressive and well-known member of the Queensguard, said to be next in line for Lord Commander. Lyonel had indeed been taken as a squire by King Durran, and lived up to the hopes of his potential in the yard and on the jousting field. Naerys and Rhaegelle prepared for their future betrothals, and Elenei and the Princess of Dragonstone’s children took their lessons from the royal tutors with young Prince Orys in tow.

But Daenaerys only felt, and saw, simmering rage. Indeed, she herself had begun to lose sight of what her husband had given her, and only saw what was threatened to be taken away.

It was too far now, she raged, the last attempt. They had not only sought to kill her, but her son, and she had buried two sons too many for her tender’s mother’s heart. The insult of it stuck to her and soon came to influence every aspect of her in the years leading up to the start of the war.

Cruelly enough, the bloody conquest of Daenaerys began with her father. If she shared one thing with her sire, it was a shared distaste for the lands past the Red Mountains. Jaehaerys, himself a veteran of the Stepstones, had spent many hours planning his own invasion of Dorne, but he had died before he could see those plans come to fruition.

These plans became the surprising framework of the Queen’s war plans. Ravens took wing in a dark cloud from the Red Keep; the banners were called to war.

What King Consort Durran thought of the war, we do not know entirely. If he disapproved, then it demonstrates the Queen’s commitment to the war, for not even he could turn her eye from Dorne. If he approved, it would have only fed her desire.

Whilst the Marcher lords raided and were routed, the royal host assembled in the shadow of King’s Landing. Much pomp and circumstance was afforded to see the Dragon off to war, for many a Targaryen was going personally to ensure their victory.

For her husband, Daenaerys at last bestowed Dark Sister upon a wielder. She gave him the blade as he prepared to march to join his brethren in the Stormlands, and he swore that it would be returned to her when they returned victorious.

Dark Sister did, indeed, return to Daenaerys, but not by his hand as he had so sworn.

The Queen’s part in the Conquest is, admittedly, minimal at best. She had no mind for stratagem and was a poor warrior herself, and it would be remiss of this author to not advise a curious reader to seek out a more truthful and closer source of knowledge concerning the war, for Daenaerys herself never even stepped foot in Dorne throughout the entirety of her bloody conquest. And as we are exploring her side of this story today, so too, will we not venture too far into the sands of Nymeros Martell.

This we do know. Daenaerys stayed behind in King’s Landing with the younger children, with those Targaryens either unwilling or ill-suited to joining the army. Viserys went with his step-father as the Queensguard assigned to protect the King, and Lyonel and Daemon Waters went with them both as the King’s squires. The other various royal bastards too went, led by their father Baelor the Bastardmaker as though he were the captain of his very own mercenary company. Princess Viserra initially remained to hold the City Guard, but left her post shortly after to join the effort after news came of her family’s plight in the sands.

Ravens and runners came frequently to inform the Queen’s ever-present council of news from the front. The decimation of the fleet on the Greenblood was quickly rectified with the summons of the Ironborn, who butchered their way through the sands with reckless abandon.

With the Bloodroyal kneeling before the Targaryen banner, the tide finally turned, news came. Sunspear was sacked and the vassals of Dorne, among them the Princess of Dorne herself, were made ready to sail to King’s Landing to deliver their oaths of fealty to the Iron Throne.

The royal host had been marching through the Red Mountains, returning to the capital, when the worst tragedy of the war befell the Queen. Her son and her husband were set upon by honourless Dornish, who had not yet heard (or did not care) that the war had been won. Both were killed in a hail of arrows, and in response, Ser Jacklyn Caron set the mountains ablaze with the final sackings of the war, and the bastards of Baelor collected the Targaryen blades to bring them home.

News did not reach the Queen of her husband’s demise until the last possible moment. The host poured into the capital and the battered Targaryens returned to the Red Keep."“Queen Mother, they’re home.” Elenei fluttered, curling fingers into her silk skirts. Daenaerys kept a hand on her shoulder, but once the banners dipped past the gates into the courtyard, she let her daughter go. Two steps at a time she took down from the promenade, a tumble of white gossamer and black hair, but soon enough she stopped.""Prince Lyonel led Durran’s black charger by the reins, atop his own destrier. The King was nowhere to be seen.""That was when the Princess began to scream. And the Queen turned away."And so the Dornish Conquest was won. Before the skulls of the dragons the Dornish were made to kneel and swear fealty evermore. The Carons of Kingsgrave were now installed as the Wardens of the Sands and Princess Naerys was wed to Lord Yronwood as reward for his aid. And though resentment was bred by those still loyal to the Martells, the nearby Stormlands stood ready to assist if necessary. But the price had been too high, many said, chief among them Her Majesty herself.

The Queen had not truly understood what it would cost to win her war, and now that it was won, how bitterly she regretted the whole bloody affair. They called her ‘Conqueror’ like her fore-bearer Aegon, cheered her for her victory, and she wept to hear it.

VIII. Immortality or Martyrdom
Durran’s death left an unfillable hole in Daenaerys’ heart, by the word of those closest to her. He had been the man she’d chosen, the husband she had truly loved, the warrior who had defended her from Dornish blades and now she had fed him to those same swords like the meat to a hungry lion. It was nothing like the grieving she had done for Rhaegar Velaryon; this grief completely tore the Queen asunder and left her bedridden on even the best of the days.

The King had been honoured with a funeral befitting his rank and Her Majesty ordered him burned as a Targaryen would’ve been. His ashes were sent to Dragonstone, to await the time when they would be joined in death together, and though she accepted Dark Sister back from ‘Bloody Baelon’, her bastard cousin, the Queen returned the blade to her chamber and near never spoke a word of it since, so black with rage she was that the powers that be had let her husband go with a sword ‘as accursed as that one’.

The Queen hardly had time to recognize the death of her son Viserys, who had died with his stepfather together, and who had as well had the blade Blackfyre returned with him by Daemon, the Queen’s Regret. Surely she regretted him then when he laid the sword at her feet without her trueborn son there in the flesh. Viserys’ body was given to his sworn brothers to be tended to, and he was burned in his white cloak by the Lord Commander himself, who was unashamed to weep at the loss of such an honourable knight, brother, and friend. Viserra too was distraught, for she’d arrived too late to the war to see her beloved brother spared the Dornish wrath.

The sword of kings, Blackfyre, soon joined it’s dark sister in Daenaerys’ rooms, in a corner where none but her might look upon them. The ancestral blades of House Targaryen, once wielded by Aegon the Conqueror himself and his sister-wives, have not been seen nor wielded since.

Melancholy unlike any other swept the court. The Queen wore only the mourning black and no longer hosted her feasts or attended Small Council meetings. It seemed like time itself was slowing to a crawl, with Arthur Crane and the Princess Rhaenyra forced to compensate for the Queen’s absence. She became irritable, snapping at her children and her servants, and in the evenings the halls of Maegor’s Holdfast would echo with her haunting sobs as she mourned her love and lamented her now-empty bed. Orys, her baby boy, became her companion, reading her stories of times past and tending to her in her frozen grief. Her daughter Naerys too, despite now being the wife to a loyal Dornish lord, shared in her mother’s grief for Durran and wrote to her often from Yronwood to try and soothe her broken heart. The letters normally went unanswered, but that did not stop her from sending them. Daenaerys’ other children were forced to rally around her as well.

As mentioned, the Princess of Dragonstone found herself thrust into the spotlight all at once, despite having four babes in the nursery. Alongside the Hand the rule of the realm fell to her whilst her mother was incapable of overseeing it. Elenei, the Realm’s Delight, assumed much of the Queen’s charitable and financial works, donating in her name and becoming a well-known patron in the city; a bright spot amidst the sea of grief. Lyonel, who had been called the Dragonstorm thanks in part to his own supposed glories during the Conquest, turned to a life of tourneys and competition in a bid to erase what had been done. Rhaegelle tended to her mother’s chambers and kept quiet to avoid her mother’s temper, and Naerys did her duty by her Dornish husband to keep their new peace.

Time was a fair maester to wounds, but it could not heal everything. It would take five years after her conquest of Dorne for Daenaerys to return to public life, announcing her intention to reinvigorate her Queenship, to make it more glorious and well-known than it ever had been before. She’d spent her time in mourning not only in the sparse company of her family, but also corresponding with the High Septon in Oldtown and had come to deeply appreciate the Faith and its virtues.

That same year she announced the construction of a grand sept to grace the top of Visenya’s Hill; the Great Sept of Targaryen, she proclaimed it would be named. With her new coat of arms flying behind her (Eleven single-headed dragons-- one black to represent her Regret --under the tri-headed beast of Targaryen and flanked by House swords), the Queen swore to raise a monument that would glorify the Seven for generations to come. Many in the Realm were, naturally, sceptical of such an undertaking, but Daenaerys’ ambitions were well-known. She would either become ‘immortal or a martyr’, she was overheard saying to the Master of Coin, who was frantic with the cost of it all. Whichever one she turned out to be seemed to be of little consequence to her anymore, after all she had loved and lost in this life.

To coincide with her announcement of the Sept’s construction, Daenaerys also announced the reinvestment of the Queensguard. With her son’s demise, she had come to feel that none other were worthy of the white cloak, and thus ordered her sworn knights to shed them instead for the seven holy colours of the Faith; white wool was exchanged for red, orange, yellow, and so on. Though some referred to them as the Rainbow Guard or the Holy Guard, in the eyes and minds of many they still simply remained the Queensguard, for that aspect of their duties had not changed, simply their appearance changed to reflect the Queen’s renewed faith.

For House Targaryen, too, it was a time of renewed prosperity… If not cyclical nature. As Archmaester Gildayn aptly said of the time just proceeding the Dance, ‘Never before or since had the Seven Kingdoms been blessed (or cursed, in the view of some) with so many Targaryen princelings’. So it was true again; from the line of Prince Aemon the Dragonknight and his beloved Naerys came a smattering of fecund Targaryen sons, and from their loins more sons, eager to sow their seed in whichever nobleborn maiden caught their eye.

From bastards to Ashfords to Graftons to Stokeworths, many a House either gave the hands or, failing that, at least the maidenheads of their daughters and sisters to the Dragon. Though the Queen was more stingy with the marriages of her direct descendants, her cousins had no such reservations or woes and the Kitchen Keep was soon overrun with young, silver-haired princes and princesses, filling the succession to the brim.

By the turn of the century, there were no less than twenty Targaryens standing behind the Queen in inheritance, male and female alike, royal line and cousin line. That number only grew with each new Dragon whelped.

In 215 AC, it seemed that perhaps, at last, the Queen was ready to move on from her victories and losses. Queen Daenaerys called for the first Royal Progress since her last some twenty years ago, and that Harrenhal would be their first stop, a place of a grand tourney and feast, a ball of beasts and man alike. None could be mistaken now; truly, the Queen had come back to them from the grips of whatever maladies had held her since the war’s conclusion. What state she had come back in, however, was a different question entirely, and many wondered if she was still the same ruler they recalled so fondly…