Rumors in the Red Keep have a way of spreading, sometimes slowly, sometimes swiftly. It was the latter sort that revealed that Cassella Vaith, the Dornish hostage that Prince Aegon had taken (and was allowed to keep) as his mistress, was in child bed. Her labors lasted through much of the night, it’s said. The Grand Maester himself did not attend on the birth, apparently, although it was claimed he personally directed an assistant to deal with the matter. Prince Aegon, as it happened, was away for hunting in the kingswood (having quickly forgotten, it seems, the loss of his other mistress Merry Meg ). None of the lady’s friends from among the Dornish hostages were present, for that matter, her contacts with them grown limited. The lady’s brother, Ser Jossart, did regularly inquire into the progress at least . . . but through a messenger, rather than directly.

In the small hours of the morning, the lady at last delivered the fruit of what Prince Aegon had planted in her womb: a daughter. The child is robust, according to reports, and bawled loudly enough that the midwives later remarked that bastard blood oft proved stronger than true to begin with in life. Word was sent to the kingswood, to inform the absent prince on the occasion. Little other remark was made of the matter, outside of the Dornish Tower, perhaps, or the bower of Princess Naerys and her ladies.