(POV/Rheanyra 3rd)
Stepping into the sept, the first thing Rheanyra noticed was the strong smell of incense that assaulted her nose, followed by the rustling sounds of the modest clothes the septas wore as they walked around the sept, performing their prayers. There were muffled murmurs that sounded like prayers all around her.
She took a moment to take in everything around her, gazing at the seven large statues lined up against the structure, almost like pillars holding the sept together.
But her admiration of the holy place came to a stop as her eyes landed on the altar, full of candles, where she had once lit a candle for both her mother and the baby brother who never got to experience life.
Though what caught her eye wasn't the altar itself, but the person sitting beside it, dressed in a distinct green gown—the very shade Rheanyra had seen more times than she could count.
There she was, the queen regent, just as the white worm had said. Alone and without guard, just as Rheanyra had wanted.
Rheanyra, seeing the opportunity at hand, slowly brought her hands together, reaching into one of her sleeves to reveal a small gleaming dagger Ser Steffon had given her just before entering, so she could use it to threaten Alicent.
But as she took slow, measured steps towards the queen regent, she began to doubt whether the plan she had concocted was a smart one.
Shaking her head of any doubts, Rheanyra slowly approached where Alicent sat, praying quietly, hands held together in a show of devotion.
As Rheanyra approached Alicent, she couldn't help but notice how much her old friend had aged in the short time they hadn't seen each other.
There was a small, almost imperceptible pang in Rheanyra's heart, which she ignored in favor of the mission.
Now beside Alicent, Rheanyra picked up one of the candle lighters used to light the candles. She went through the motions of lighting a candle for prayer before slowly sitting down next to Alicent, dagger in hand.
Alicent Hightower, the queen regent, was busy praying for forgiveness and felt a little annoyed by the septa who seemed to have no regard for privacy.
As she opened her eyes to ask for space to pray, she turned around, expecting to find the face of an unknown septa, only to be confused by the familiar face staring back at her.
Rheanyra and Alicent locked eyes. Alicent's brows furrowed, her lips parted in stunned confusion, while Rheanyra, sitting across from her, sat rigid, her fingers curled around something in her hand.
Alicent opened her mouth to speak, but her shock prevented her from forming coherent sentences, muttering a mix of "What?" and "How?" as she opened and closed her mouth.
Yet, before any words could be exchanged, Alicent's eyes drifted down to Rheanyra's hand, which was curled tightly, her eyes catching something gleaming. The dread of what the object was settled in.
"What—" she began again, instinctively reaching out her hand to grab Rheanyra's, which held the dagger now inching closer to her stomach.
Rheanyra, seeing the strong reaction Alicent had, sought to calm her, lest she be caught before they could accomplish what they had come here for.
"Shush!" Rheanyra whispered sharply, her hand clutching the dagger slowly giving way to Alicent's strength, backing away as a show of peace, her eyes darting around to ensure they weren't overheard.
"What—Rheanyra?" Alicent whispered, brows parted in confusion and fear, as she took in the sight of her old friend, wearing the clothes of a septa and simultaneously pushing away the hand that held the dagger.
Rheanyra, aware that she was in a sensitive situation, stopped her roaming gaze and locked eyes with Alicent, showing the tension in her own. She quickly spoke in a whisper, "I must speak with you."
Their hands were still intertwined as Alicent's eyes widened, her lips parted in shock. Her gaze flickered around the halls of the sept in search of a guard, before once again looking at her old friend and noticing the plea in her violet-colored eyes.
Alicent, pursing her lips in thought, glanced around the empty halls before turning back to her old friend, who was now her enemy.
"If I cry out...?" Alicent asked, Rheanyra shifting slightly in anxiousness before answering.
"Your knights would find me. I would be taken or slain," Rheanyra said matter-of-factly, before her eyes glanced down to the hand that still held the dagger, then shifted back to Alicent, who also noticed the gesture. "Though not before I killed you," she added, Alicent's eyes widening just a little before her brows furrowed, the tension in her slowly easing.
Alicent scoffed. "And then what?" she asked mockingly, realizing how unprepared Rheanyra had come.
Rheanyra, hearing the question, gave it some thought, tilting her head from side to side before letting out a sigh. Slowly, she withdrew her hand holding the dagger. "I have begun badly," she admitted, sitting up straight as Alicent, who was half-standing, half-sitting, fully sat back down. A silence descended between them as the lit candles made their subtle sounds.
Rheanyra, knowing she didn't have much time, searched her brain for a way to start the long-awaited conversation with Alicent, her gaze landing on the many candles lit before her.
An image of her mother came to mind. Her thoughts drifted to the day of her passing, and an idea formed.
"We watched the tourney together, you and I, the day my... brother was born," Rheanyra began, hesitating over the last sentence. She turned to look at Alicent, who never shifted her gaze.
"We knew, even then, that men who train for battle are eager to fight," she continued, pausing to glance around the halls for any guards. "I know you don't have that desire," Rheanyra said confidently, locking her gaze briefly with Alicent, who swallowed a lump in her throat.
"Rhaenys has counseled me," Rheanyra said, Alicent becoming more attentive at the mention of the queen who never was. "She has told me that you wish to avert the worst that is yet to come," Rheanyra finished, Alicent nodding in confirmation.
Yet that did not mean they believed in the same outcome, and that is what the following words from Alicent revealed to Rheanyra.
"So you have come to surrender, then?" Alicent asked, surprising Rheanyra, who almost reacted strongly, but a glance to the right showed they weren't alone—one of the monks was passing by.
Rheanyra took a deep breath before answering. "I have come to see if we can find a path toward peace," Rheanyra said before adding a small threat to incentivize the queen regent. "My dragons are restless. They smell battle," she said. Alicent's eyes hardened for a moment before she spoke her last words.
"But if you and I can come to terms—"
Before she could finish, Alicent, unable to keep her composure, interrupted harshly. "There are no terms now, after everything that has happened!" Her voice rose slightly in anger. "I could never have imagined you capable of a crime such—" Alicent spoke in anger, but she was interrupted by Rheanyra, who denied the accusation.
"I never ordered the cutthroats," Rheanyra interrupted, and the silence returned. Rheanyra looked at Alicent, seeing the doubt in her eyes.
"Think what you want," Rheanyra said, annoyed, before reminding Alicent of their wrongdoing to her. "I am a mother too, and you have yet to answer for the crimes committed against my son." Rheanyra made sure not to use the word murder, considering Lucerys was back in Dragonstone, alive and slowly recovering.
Though Alicent didn't need to know that.
"I am appalled by that with all my heart!" Alicent said to Rheanyra, whose anger was also rising.
"Of course you are!" Rheanyra mocked.
"And what of usurping my rightful inheritance?" Rheanyra finally asked, Alicent shifting her gaze to Rheanyra to refute what she said. But the sound of footsteps approaching made her stop.
Both Rheanyra and Alicent watched as a septa approached the altar from the opposite side, lit a couple of candles, then turned on her heel to return to her duties.
"Have you stooped so low that you would condemn the suffering and death of thousands of lives just to keep that drunkard you call a son—" Rheanyra spoke with venom, finally succumbing to her anger. But Alicent interrupted her... again.
"Your father changed his mind," she said suddenly, her voice much calmer, taking Rheanyra aback as she physically reeled back, unable to believe her words.
"So you say, and Otto Hightower, and all those traitorous council members who schemed to take my throne!" Rheanyra spoke heatedly. "I went to see him that night, and he reaffirmed me of my right, mere hours before I left for Dragonstone! And you expect me to believe he changed his mind?" She scoffed in disbelief as Alicent whipped her head around to look at Rheanyra.
"He did!" Alicent said, locking eyes with Rheanyra, both staring at each other with such intensity that if anyone had seen, they would have thought them the worst of enemies.
Rheanyra was the first to break the silence. "My father loved me, Alicent," she said, still staring at the queen regent. "And I believe he loved you too," Rheanyra added, barely keeping the tears in her eyes unshed.
"And you betray him in his final moments," Rheanyra whispered, her emotions getting the best of her, forgetting that the environment she was in was heavily against her. Yet she couldn't care.
All she wanted to find out was when the scheming whore in front of her decided to lay her plans in betraying her father. "When was your plan first laid? Was your ambition so keen—" Rheanyra asked heatedly, yet something in Alicent broke as she raised her voice enough to rouse a couple of monks who were passing by.
"HE CHANGES HIS MIND, Rheanyra!" Alicent shouted, looking at the monks who were passing by with her peripheral vision. Rheanyra sat frozen, surprised by the intensity with which she seemed to crack.
Alicent turned back to look at Rheanyra, their gazes meeting. Rheanyra creased her brows in confusion and doubt, yet something else lingered in her eyes, which Alicent deciphered as fear.
"I swear," Alicent started, eyes still locked with Rheanyra's disbelieving gaze. "I swear to you, on my mother's memory..." she said. And as the words left her, she watched something like a fire burning in Rheanyra's eyes slowly dim before it was completely gone. No words came from the woman's mouth.
Rheanyra, feeling many turbulent emotions, felt a tear fall down her cheek as she processed the information, still in disbelief that her father would have done that after all these years. Yet as she looked at Alicent, she knew the woman in front of her wasn't lying.
"What did he say... at the end?" Rheanyra finally asked, her voice so low that even Alicent, who sat next to her, had difficulty hearing. "Did he... speak my name?"
Alicent thought back to the night as her eyes filled with unshed tears as well.
Say what you will about Alicent Hightower, but one thing that no one could doubt was the love and fondness she held for Viserys I. His death, like it did for many, took a toll on her.
So as she thought back to the night of his demise, their final moment together, she felt a pang of sorrow as she slowly shook her head in answer to Rheanyra's question.
"He was weary," Alicent began, sniffing lightly as her eyes seemed to be transfixed on the candle fire. "It was hard to understand him at times, but he spoke Aegon's name, that I'm sure of," Alicent finished, glancing briefly at Rheanyra, who wiped the tear away.
Both women sat silently, in sorrow over the man they both loved.
Before Alicent spoke again, this time something that made Rheanyra perk up.
"He said that Aegon was the prince that was promised."
And as Rheanyra heard those words, she turned around like a woman possessed, grabbing Alicent by the shoulder, her cheeks streaked with tears.
"Did he say that? Did my father use those words?" Rheanyra asked Alicent, who looked surprised by the woman's reaction.
"Did he?" Rheanyra asked again, this time Alicent nodding in confusion.
Rheanyra slowly backed away from Alicent, staring at her in shock before asking, "My father spoke to you about the Song of Ice and Fire?"
Alicent looked on in confusion as she shook her head, not knowing what Rheanyra was talking about.
Rheanyra, calming down, sighed. "It's a story he once told me about Aegon the Conqueror," she said dismissively before she came to a realization and turned to look at Alicent, whose eyes were wide like a deer in a crossbow's sights.
"Th... The Conqueror?" Alicent stammered. Both women slowly came to the understanding of where the mistake lay.
It wasn't that Viserys had named Aegon the heir, nor was it that Alicent Hightower was lying. All that had happened and all that was going to happen was because of the ramblings of a dying man and a misunderstanding of a mother who wanted her son to inherit the throne.
Rheanyra, who was taking a moment to digest what she had discovered, was too busy to notice more and more septas and monks filling the sept.
While Alicent, who was also shocked by the turn of events, noticed the traffic becoming more prominent, she watched as one of the septas lit a chandelier. That's when something she remembered made her heart almost leap out of her throat.
"Rheanyra!" she spoke, grabbing the shoulder of the woman, who looked like color had returned to her face. "You must go, now!" she said urgently, confusing Rheanyra, who shook her head and replied, "There's been a mistake."
Though Alicent, panicked, shook her head. "There's been no mistake. Now listen to me, Rheanyra. Leave before he arrives." Alicent spoke quickly and urgently, and Rheanyra finally realized that something was wrong.
"What? Before who comes?" she asked, as Alicent stood up, grabbing Rheanyra's hand and helping her to her feet.
"Aemond. Aemond is on his way, and if he sees you here, even I cannot stop him," she said urgently. Rheanyra's eyes widened before Alicent pushed her forward, urging her to leave. Yet, Rheanyra, who knew that if she left now, there would be no chances like this again, grabbed Alicent's hand before saying:
"You can prevent this, Alicent. All of this. A terrible war is looming." She spoke in a grave tone, while Alicent's eyes darted to every entrance, hoping that Aemond would not enter through one of them.
"Even victory may be so bloody as to be counted as a loss. Do not let your pride blind you, Alicent." Alicent, hearing the words, froze in place before turning to look at Rheanyra.
"It is too late..." Alicent started, her eyes locking with Rheanyra's as tears finally poured from her eyes. "My father's gone from court, Cole is on the march, and Aemond..." she said, choking, as Rheanyra looked on in fear. Before Alicent continued, "You know what Aemond is."
Rheanyra, slowly realizing that there was no other way but war, looked at Alicent with a gaze Alicent could only decipher as pity mixed with fear for her safety.
"Then pray that my son has mercy on you," Rheanyra said, her last words, before turning on her heel and walking toward the main entrance she had used to enter, tugging at the headpiece covering her hair.
All the while, Alicent stood there, looking at Rheanyra's back in shock, before her eyes shifted toward the exit Rheanyra was leaving through. Her blood went cold as the last person she wanted to see strode in with his rigid walking style.
"No..." she whispered as she extended her hand. Rheanyra, walking toward the door, was too busy looking at the ground to ensure no one recognized her.
As the two neared each other, Alicent watched in both horror and hope that Rheanyra would not be recognized.
But that hope was crushed the next moment when Aemond's hand shot forward and suddenly grabbed Rheanyra's arm. The woman in question yelped in surprise and horror as she realized who exactly had grabbed her.
There was a silence as Aemond looked at the face of his older sister, and the corners of his lips slowly rose upon seeing the quivering eyes of Rheanyra.
"I knew I smelled a whore," he said, his voice reverberating through the sept.
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