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I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions on them, so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.
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123 AC, King's Landing
Rhaenyra Targaryen walked with purpose, relishing the newfound warmth and the power thrumming through her veins. Even atop Syrax, she had never felt so powerful as she had in this moment, walking through the deserted Red Keep, most of the servants having likely fled the impact of the Shadowbinders' attack.
This was power that she had earned by killing the last of the Shadowbinders through the guidance of the Red God R'hllor. The foolish creatures had killed one another in their vain hope of strengthening themselves, only for Rhaenyra to take their power for herself.
If she were honest, she had doubted Kinvara's words at the start, but there was no denying what she saw in the flames, nor R'hllor's might. This was a true god, far greater than Alicent's useless ones, where the Faith was more corrupt than most merchants, or the heathens they preached about. When she became queen, she would ensure that the Red God's faith is spread across all of Westeros, even in the barbaric North, which still worshipped trees of all things.
However, for now, she had an enemy to slay, a threat to her and her children, for she swore that Harry and Daphne Potter would perish this day. It was obvious that they hid from her, now that she had the power to destroy them, and yet, they managed to evade her sight.
She needed to kill them and quickly. The Red Keep was still in chaos and mostly deserted after the attack. The Throne Room would likely be locked, with the Kingsguard protecting her father. However, that would not remain for long, hence the reason for her hurry. After all, this was the perfect opportunity to finally rid herself of the Potters and their wretched influence over her realm, before her foolish father stopped her.
Rhaenyra had underestimated them. She knew that now. Nevertheless, she did not know why they chose to corrupt Helaena of all people; the girl was simple, rarely spoke to anyone, and did not have any allies in court. The only things of value she provided the realm were the children that she birthed, Aegon, her rival to the throne, not that Rhaenyra would have any rivals after this day.
However, it seemed like the girl was far craftier than she expected. Rhaenyra did not know what kind of magicks the Potter used to achieve this, but she appeared and disappeared from her gaze, despite the fact that Rhaenyra was hunting her, with the blessing of a god behind her.
But she could hide no longer. Rhaenyra could see her now, faintly, thanks to the guidance of the Lord of Light. It seemed like her traitorous brother's blood was finally useful for something, and Melisandre had not lied to her.
She had not been sure what to feel about the woman; she had come with Otto Hightower, of all people, but it did make sense that the loathsome man would also dislike the Potters. They presented just as much danger to him as they did her, given the sorcerer's obvious influence over his grandchildren. Perhaps the man was simply desperate to use magic to fight against magic users, but that didn't matter anymore. Melisandre had shown him the truth of his station after his foolish defiance, for he was now little more than a glorified prisoner under the control of the Red Priestess, a pawn that was fooled into using his connections to ensure that their plans went without any problems.
That said, things had gone remarkably well, though not perfectly, because of that loathsome Stark.
Rhaenyra's new allies were not responsible for the Shadowbinders' attack on the Dragons. However, Kinvara saw it in the Lord of Light's flames and decided to use the opportunity to grant her the power befitting of a true Champion of R'hllor.
Nevertheless, they ensured that the attack would go perfectly, that most of the nobles would remain in the Throne Room, or in their chambers, which they arranged would be locked. The city itself would be in chaos, and the defenders would be trying in vain to fight the shadow dragon, whose main purpose was to keep them occupied in the first place.
Rhaenyra had seen Aemond escape the Throne Room, realising that the attack was a distraction, and free the dragons, using them against the Shadowbinders. In the meantime, she would kill the wounded Shadowbinders, who would be distracted by their failing dragons, ending the attack. With this, not only would she have stopped a threat to the Seven Kingdoms, ended the reign of terror of a city of magic that was infamous from Yi-Ti to the Wall, but she would also take the power of Asshai, of an entire city of magic, for her own.
Rhaenyra saw in the flames that after this victory, Aemond would lead her to Helaena, who would in turn lead her to the Potters.
Alas, while Aemond had done as the Lord of Light had bidden, Cregan Stark had not been in the flames. To make things worse, the man wielded strange magicks and was a mighty warrior, enough that she had almost failed in her objective, as the last Shadowbinder would have perished from the man's strange attack with his Direwolf.
The man had insisted that he join her and Aemond and had stopped her interrogation of her one-eyed half-brother. He was able to use his magic to protect himself and allowed Helaena to escape with them, somehow, and collapsed a corridor on top of Rhaenyra. This left her with an issue, mainly that Helaena, Aemond and now, a Lord Paramount, knew of her actions, and she needed to hunt them down, for they were now a danger to her. Though they unfortunately proved very elusive indeed.
Rhaenyra had thought that her escape was some trick from the sorcerer, but now, she was not so sure.
The Lord of Light guided her towards a wall, one that should have been empty indeed. She did not know why she did this, but she gathered the power inside her and pushed it towards it. To her surprise, the wall gave way and collapsed easily, and inside, she saw a tunnel that spanned into the darkness.
Maegor's tunnels.
Rhaenyra had heard rumours of their existence but could never find any secret passages anywhere in her youth. Alas, it seemed like Helaena was able to do it. Rhaenyra quickly walked forward confidently, the darkness not bothering her, as she could easily see through it, thanks to R'hllor's blessing.
It was not long until she heard mutterings in the distance and saw a flicker of movement. Finally, she let out the fire brimming inside her with the blessing of her Lord, and yet, disappointingly, she had not injured any of them.
She suppressed the urge to growl in frustration as she continued chasing them. However, she was quickly becoming faster, having learned that she could use her newfound power to move with speeds that she would have once considered impossible.
It was easy to see what Helaena's plan was.
The girl was obviously familiar with the maze-like tunnels, enough to make this an endless chase. After all, time was on her side; Rhaenyra obviously needed to tie up any loose ends to secure her throne.
Finally, their chase ended, and her cowardly foes looked as if they were ready to face her. It was obvious that her siblings were tired from the constant running, which Rhaenyra could not, as the Lord of Light's fire ran through her veins.
However, Rhaenyra's eyes widened when she saw Cregan Stark slam his sword into the ground, and Helaena sing her dagger towards the weapon. The flash of foreign light blinded her, followed by a pulse of magic that threatened to send her flying back.
Despite her temporary blindness, she felt the tunnels around her crumbling once more, just as they had during her previous encounter with Helaena.
No! She refused to be made a fool of, to fall for the same trick twice. She felt a rage, foreign and yet soothing, well up in her heart, and she raised her hands. The shadows inside the corridors moved, following her will. For what were shadows but echoes of Light.
The entire corridor stilled, being held from collapsing by her shadows, which became as thick as stone, and finally, Rhaenyra opened her eyes.
She was so preoccupied with not being buried by the collapsing corridor that she had been distracted from her true targets, who had escaped Maegor's tunnels through a hidden exit that they had meant to destroy alongside the collapse.
The anger inside her burned even brighter at being made a fool of, at the indignity of chasing her enemies as if it were some kind of game. No, this game would end, and she was quickly running out of patience.
Despite knowing that it was likely a foolish idea, her anger demanded an outlet. She summoned her strength and, through the Lord of Light's guidance, released it within Maegor's tunnels. The entire castle rumbled as the world shuddered beneath her feet.
The pulse of power travelled across the entire Red Keep, all with a simple command, enhanced by both the Lord of Light's ire, which she could feel simmering inside her, and her own. Then, slowly, the tunnels started to collapse.
She walked out of the secret passage, hearing the destruction that her power caused behind her, as Maegor's legacy was being destroyed in the distance. Rhaenyra could not enjoy watching the fruits of her work, for she simply did not have the time to do so, as she spied her targets' presence near her.
With a grunt, she asked the Lord of Light for a boon, and her god helped her eagerly. A wave of power rose from her hands, collapsing into an intense flame, which turned blue, then a blinding white, so much that she could almost feel her skin start to burn at the sensation. She threw it with a snarl, and the ball of light soared like a star and hit the ceiling just behind her enemies, which resulted in a deafening explosion of light and dust. By the time things turned to normal, the collapsed ceiling blocked any possible attempt they could use to escape her.
Rhaenyra felt drained after the feat, and she instinctively felt that she could not repeat this feat, not anytime soon at the very least. Still, she could not deny its effectiveness, as her targets turned towards her at once, their eyes wide, frozen in their track at the realisation that they were trapped, with the only way out would be to confront her directly.
Finally, she had her opportunity to finish what she came to do, and she summoned R'hllor's flames in her hands and threw them at them. As she expected, Cregan Stark batted it away with his strange sword.
She continued attacking them all mercilessly, as the very stones melted beneath her feet with every step she took. Then the Lord of the North released a pulse of white light that staggered her; however, all that did was stop her attack.
Their battle finally paused by this stalemate, and Rhaenyra turned towards them and spoke up, "All of this suffering for the sake of foreign sorcerers… Sorcerers, who hid away and left you to your fate… to me. I hope that this was worth your defiance."
Helaena looked her in the eyes and spoke up, "Oh, sister… What have you done to yourself?"
The older princess scowled at the fake pity in her sister's voice, "What I needed to. I found allies, a true god to champion, one that granted me the power to protect my family."
Cregan Stark interjected, "Protecting your family… Princess, I care not for the affairs of King's Landing, but all I see is the fact that you have colluded with foreigners, took their god as your own, and used their magicks to hunt down your very siblings, and caused more damage to this fortress than it had since Maegor the Cruel ruled this castle. Do you think that this would have no consequences?"
Rhaenyra scoffed, "As far as the Lords of the Realm are concerned, I bravely killed the last Shadowbinder in the Dragonpit, nothing more. Any damage is only the result of the attack, nothing more. And anyone who would say differently would be slandering the future Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, and they, alongside all of their followers, would earn her wrath."
The threat was not a subtle one, but then again, it was not meant to be. She was perfectly willing to burn Winterfell to the ground, should she need to send a message. Rhaenyra did not want to be a kinslayer, but she would gladly become one for the sake of her children and securing their rule.
Her brother, though, did not agree, "This is madness, Rhaenyra. This is not something that our father could just overlook, as he had your children's parentage…"
Rhaenyra did not let him continue, as she sent a blade of fire towards him, which he was barely able to dodge, "Take care, brother. Do not speak of my children with your traitorous tongue. Everything that I have done, all that I have sacrificed, was for them. For a great future where the Seven Kingdoms would prosper under my rule, where it would become stronger than it ever had before, even during the Conqueror's reign. And now, you stand in my way. All of you. For what? Foreigners who whisper lies? All of this destruction is your doing, for it is you who chose to defend the Potters, sorcerers who threatened my family, who whisper in the King's ear, who lie about prophecies, about our House's duty, to increase their wretched hold over the Seven Kingdoms."
She took a deep breath and continued, "So, I beg of you, Helaena. The Potters are not worth your life nor your blood. They do not deserve your loyalty, and even now, they flee my presence for my power has long surpassed theirs."
To her surprise, Aemond and the Stark lordling scoffed in incredulity. Helaena, on the other hand, shook her head sadly, "Your sight is clouded indeed, for you do not see what truly drives you. A puppet is all you are, not the Queen you could have become."
"I tire of these riddles," Rhaenyra snarled, "Where are the Potters?"
Helaena remained defiantly silent, and the Champion of R'hllor scowled, "So be it."
Rhaenyra ran with blinding speed towards her enemies, only to be surprised as she realised that somehow, Cregan Stark had met her charge and matched her speed. He released a slash of white light that she was barely able to dodge, but she conjured a wave of flames that he dissipated with a swipe of his sword. With a snarl, she sent a volley of fireballs, this time, targeting Aemond and Helaena as well, forcing the man to abandon his charge to protect them.
As she expected, the Stark Lord ran towards the volley, but instead of batting her fireballs away with his sword, it seemingly absorbed them, becoming brighter with every moment, until it suddenly released a wave of white light that hit her by surprise, and sent her flying away.
He ran towards her with his sword swinging wildly, which she was barely able to stop by creating a shield of fire that was shattered by the impact, sending her stumbling back. He growled at her, "You are strong, but you are inexperienced. You know nothing of battle, of discipline."
He slashed at her once more, which she was barely able to dodge, and when she attempted to create ropes of magic, that cursed sword of his cut through it and then kicked her in the chest mercilessly, which sent her flying back, only stopping when her back hit a wall.
Rhaenyra groaned as she limped up, her injury being healed by R'hllor's blessing, but it was slower than it should have been, as if there was something resisting it.
She looked at the young lord and couldn't help but feel helpless.
This was not how things were supposed to go.
This was to be her greatest triumph, where she would rid herself of a threat to her rule, of a snake that was spitting poison in her father's ear. She was supposed to be strong, to burn all who came in her path, not struggle to stand up before a savage from the North.
Why did he have to leave the frozen wasteland that was the North? Why did he have to protect her sister? Why hadn't he followed his father's oaths to her and obeyed her as the future Queen of the Seven Kingdoms?
These were all valid questions, but that did not change the fact that she knew that she was outclassed, with his useless magicks. And it was not the Lord of Light's blessing as well; it was her own weakness that stopped her. Rhaenyra looked at the man's grim expression and instinctively knew there was nothing she could do to stop him, nothing that she could stop herself from losing everything she cared about.
No!
NO!
She would not lose! The Lord of Light was with her? She pleaded inwardly that he would help her. She promised that if he would, then the moment she became Queen, she would ensure that every person from Dorne to the Wall would worship him.
Suddenly, she felt a great fire grow within her, one that quickly overwhelmed her every thought, and she felt the world turn crimson, and her mouth opened and moved on its own. Rhaenyra did not know what exactly she said, for it was in a language that she did not recognise, but it was definitely not without effect.
Cregan Stark's eyes widened, and he quickly raised his sword to protect himself, but the shield of light shattered, nonetheless. The man was then sent flying back away from her, and she instinctively knew that he would trouble her no longer.
She did not have the time to enjoy the elation she felt, for the pain came next. She found herself unable to open her mouth to say anything, for it burned as if she had drunk Wildfire. Her inner flame, her power, felt drained by the act.
She struggled as she limped up, and she must have been a scary sight indeed, given the fact that she noticed Aemond's grip on his weapon shake slightly, and yet Helaena's expression of disappointment and sadness did not waver. That last fact alone fed her rage even further.
Rhaenyra would kill them both for ruining her plans, and she quickly realised that she would enjoy them. All thoughts of battling the Potters had long left her mind, for all she cared was to see everything burn.
Yet, she first needed to rid herself of the weakness that plagued her, and foreign knowledge quickly appeared in her eyes, a sacrifice to regain what was lost… She wondered if Helaena would finally show something other than disappointment when she cut her up into pieces.
As if it were listening to her thoughts, a dagger appeared in her hand with a small burst of fire. She could feel its endless hunger for blood, a hunger that she would satiate.
To her frustration, the girl did not look afraid, "You will win very little with this, Rhaenyra, and lose far more than you thought possible."
Rhaenyra's voice was too raw, too pained to speak, and her rage would have made it hard to formulate an answer either way. However, before she could start attacking Helaena, she heard a gasp of horror on her right.
She looked at its source, and her fury soared to new heights for Alicent Hightower stood there, looking horrified, with her traitorous father alongside her.
The future Queen of the Seven Kingdoms did not so much as give Otto Hightower a look, focusing solely on the features of the woman who had once been her greatest friend, one whose betrayal still stung to this day, one who had once raised a knife to one of her children.
Without even thinking, she turned away from Helaena and walked towards Alicent. She heard her half-brother's protests and half-heartedly waved her hand, creating a pressure that overwhelmed him, with nary a thought.
She raised the blade in her hand, eager to finally repay her treachery, and she quickly brought down her weapon, for Alicent was hers, and hers alone. It felt fitting that she would pay back for what was taken from her.
She felt it then, the strain that she felt since the battle with Stark lessened, and her thoughts became clearer every moment. As the haze of red and endless fury faded away, Rhaenyra finally looked down, ready to meet Alicent's eyes.
She froze in complete shock as she realised that they were not Alicent's eyes, but those of Otto Hightower. For the former Hand stood between her and his daughter, his body slack, his expression one of stunned disbelief as blood darkened his robes and spilt over Rhaenyra's hand.
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AN: I tried something a bit new with this, which I'm not really sure how it came out. I wanted the chapter to feel pretty chaotic to reflect Rhaenyra's POV, which is pretty unreliable, including a few repetitions to show the not-so-subtle influence that R'hllor has over her thoughts. Her logic is meant to be twisted and have holes in it, and her actions are reckless, too, including the disregard for the destruction around her.
However, I'm not sure it came out as naturally as I'd have liked. I also left a few things out, mostly since there are things that R'hllor would not want Rhaenyra to consider. Still, what happened in the end will be explained better in the next few chapters, since I didn't feel like adding this explanation would fit Rhaenyra's disjointed thought process. As usual, please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions.
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If you want to support me, check out my patréon at https://www.patréon.com/athassprkr
I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions on them, so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.
Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.