Blood of Dragons

The uproar that followed Queen Naerys’s vindication when Ser Morgil Hastwyck—captain of the Band of the Dragon, Master of Horse, companion to the king—was slain by her brother Prince Aemon before the eyes of gods and men had scarcely settled over the court and the city of King’s Landing. Then word spread of a new battle taking place, not one the city was privy to, not out in the open before a sept.

Instead, it was the battle of the bloody bed, of childbirth. Princess Daena’s labors began as the trial ended, in the relief and hilarity of victory for her kinsman and some jest from her sister Princess Elaena, and an escort led by the City Watch under Ser Luthor Rivers carried her back to the Red Keep and her apartments in Maegor’s Holdfast. But though her water had broken, it was reported, it was hours before the forceful labor truly began. In that time, the princess was said to walk back and forth, and rest awhile, and then walk again. But she began to grow anxious, and began to send away her ladies-in-waiting, and hovering maesters. Those ladies, Kera Manderly, Lenora Lannister, and the rest, waited outside the chamber instead, tasked with keeping unwanted visitors away.

And then news came that she wanted her sisters, Elaena and Rhaena. Elaena had stayed near after helping bring Daena to the Red Keep, but Rhaena had been in prayer all that morning for the queen and the Dragonknight, and had stayed knelt in prayer when news arrived of the queen’s proven innocence but also of Daena’s impending childbirth. Both entered, one after the other. When they left the chamber, they announced that Princess Daena wished to give birth in the apartments that Queen Daenaera—their mother—had birthed them and their brothers. It was the queen’s chambers no longer, for Naerys had never left the apartments given to her when King Viserys came to the throne. Now it belonged, at King Aegon’s command, to his mistress, Bethany Bracken.

What Lord Bracken the Hand made of the princess’s decision (and demand) is a topic of speculation, but it’s said Lady Bethany was graciously solicitious and offered to attend on the princess herself. And so it was done, though Daena did not accept that generous offer, and indeed wanted no more hoverers and well-wishers, demanding an old midwife—the same who had delivered her and her sisters—to attend her with Elaena, with only a maester to consult at times and carry word back to the court of how matters progressed. When Queen Naerys was said to have questioned the wisdom, and even suggested to the king that they should intervene, the king was ill-disposed to his sister’s concerns, and said Daena would have her way, as she always did.

And still, the labor stretched. The ladies-in-waiting hovered outside for want of anything to do, until word came that the princess called for her natural son, Daemon Waters. The boy of six came eagerly to his mother’s side, and for a moment one the ladies-in-waiting was with them. It was from her that it was later reported that the princess must have had an omen that something was wrong, because she wept—bravely hiding it, wiping the tears away—at their parting. The disquiet came from the fact, often said, that Daena the Defiant had not wept a day in her life since infancy. But others reassured themselves, that it was natural in the fits of labor for tears to come at times unwanted. Regardless, Daemon was given over to the care of the ladies-in-waiting, and it’s said that Princess Elaena later had her own companions lead him to join her twins, Jon and Jeyne Waters, for company.

It was in the evening, at last, that Daena was able to expel the child from her womb. To grief, alas: the infant, a girl with fine soft brown hair and eyes that by candle light seemed murky grey, had been strangled by the birthing-cord. The ladies-in-waiting wept to hear it, as the little bundled body was given over to them, and to the maester after he entered the chamber and consulted. It was from him that the court would learn that the princess had been exhausted by the effort, but should recover in time.

More time passed, for some reason, and well-wishers were again turned away, even Queen Naerys and the Dragonknight. The king, on the other hand, was not—for he made no effort to visit. Elaena herself would come out bearing bloody linens and basins, asking for new, and bear them again; but she looked grim.

After a time, Kera Manderly was told by Princess Elaena that she should seek out Aisling Dayne, and ask her to come to see the princess. What that Dornish-wed northwoman had to do with the matter would lead some to ponder that Kera, too, was a northwoman… and that there might, after all, be credence to the rumors that it was a wolf in her belly, put there by one of the sons of Cregan Stark. Yet others said the lady was said to have great knowledge of healing and herbs, enough to rival a maester, and surely that was why. Certainly, she came at the hour of ghosts with a leather bag laden with vials and phials and sachets. Princess Rhaena departed again to prayer, red-eyed, lighting candles for the dead babe and begging the Mother’s mercy for her sister, and many took her leaving Daena’s side in this moment as a dire sign rather than a hopeful one.

Perhaps her efforts amounted to some use, to at least ease the princess. When Lady Aisling emerged at the hour of the nightingale, pale and weary, she said Daena was sleeping, at least, and told the ladies-in-waiting to quietly bring more cool water and linen, to help Elaena keep Daena cool and comfortable… for as long as that could matter.

The waiting maester, annoyance piqued, questioned her on what woodswitchery she had given the princess, and the lad’s answer won a grudging acknowledgment. But the reason for her drawn look was clear, when the maester entered, and left the room as pale as the northwoman: fever had taken hold in Daena’s body, her humors ran hot as dragonfire, and her pallid skin and the linens of the bloody bed showed that she had lost a deal of blood. When this was later carried to the king, it is said Aegon threw a heavy golden wine cup at the bearer of the news.

By noon, Princess Daena Targaryen, daughter of Aegon III and Daenaera of House Velaryon, beloved sister, defiant to the last, drew her last breath. She had slept, at least, through her last hours—a small mercy. Princess Elaena finally yielded and allowed her kin to visit. Princess Rhaena and Naerys prayed over her, and it’s said that the Dragonknight himself held back tears. King Aegon, on hearing the news, had the grace to visit her body, ordering all others out, and even his companions in debauchery and carousing would later say they had never seen him struck with such grief after leaving. Daemon Waters was allowed by the princess’s bedside, and even now those who witnessed swallow tears when they think on the boy’s grief. The king commanded the silent sisters to tend her body, and announced that Daena and her stillborn daughter would share a pyre in the Red Keep’s courtyard.

Bells rang throughout the city at His Grace’s command. Banners were lowered on the walls. The city weeps.