"Are you feeling alright, princess?" a servant asked the princess as she wiped the sweat from her body.
"Yes..." Rhaenyra, calming down, answered. "Water, give me water."
At once, another servant fetched the water jar and poured it into a chalice before bringing it to the princess's hand.
"My princess, look. Here is your firstborn, the little prince." The midwife holding Henrik came beside the princess and made her look at him.
Rhaenyra looked for the first time closely at her enigmatic child, and she was just ecstatic and a bit apprehensive about him.
The infant's eyes were wide open as he observed his surroundings, then focused on her. Rhaenyra felt a little shudder, as if being studied by the baby while she was doing the same to him. His eyes were a beautiful purple color, like hers and his father's... Daemon. So bright and shiny, like little amethysts with hues of soft gold in some spots.
And his hair, a beautiful soft patch of silver-gold, stood stark against his dark, bloodied scalp.
She was elated by the child. It was a fine son she had made. A soft smile of joy appeared on her tired and sweaty face.
'So this is my mother?' Henrik looked quietly, without blinking, at the woman's face. She was truly beautiful—it was the version of Rhaenyra from before the timeskip, but even more gorgeous, so much more. 'Her eyes really are purple here...'
He was really captivated. 'You are gorgeous.'
Rhaenyra's lips twitched, freezing her smile and making her face look quite funny and awkward as she heard that voice and those words again. She didn't know what to make of it. Was this child some kind of monster? Was he really her baby? Why did he talk like someone grown up instead of making baby sounds?
What was even more weird were his line of thoughts. They were quite disturbing; those words...many she didn't understand their meaning or implications, while the most that she did were perverted in nature.
She felt nervous now that she thought about it.
Rhaenyra's arms trembled a bit, timid and apprehensive, as she reached for him. The midwife looked at the princess with doubt in her eyes at her hesitation as she passed the child to her. "Are you feeling well enough to hold your child, princess?" Rhaenyra stilled midway, hearing her words, as she looked at the woman who looked at her with doubt. "Maybe you should rest first. Your hands are trembling."
Rhaenyra felt ashamed, feeling fear of her own child—or... whatever it was... but... she had carried him for nine months, growing inside her. It was hers! It was her child. She took a breath and looked calmly at the woman. "Give me my child."
The midwife felt a coldness in her back and quickly passed the little prince into the princess's hands before moving aside. The moment his small, warm body was placed against Rhaenyra's chest, the world stilled around her. She somehow felt whole at that moment, with a happiness and joy she had never felt before, as she stared at her little prince—the one she had made. And the babe, at the same time, was staring at her as a little arm went up, as if wanting to touch her.
Rhaenyra extended a little finger and put it into his tiny hands, and he grabbed it. She smiled like a flower at that moment as she looked at her son, while also feeling surprised by the strength of the baby's grip, which was quite tight and firm. The women around, seeing the princess smile so happily, shared in her joy.
She was feeling a soothing warmth all over her body that spread from the left side of her neck, the source, where the dragon mark that she didn't know yet... and something she didn't know how to describe—an attraction, or maybe a pull, perhaps?—to her baby, as if her body told her to be closer to him.
'You... You are no Visenya. You are not what I wanted. I will be a bastard from the Rhaenys line now, and I don't know what went wrong. I hate that I'm at the wrong time and place... Still... You are so fucking gorgeous that it doesn't even matter, even if you are not the fearless and beautiful princess warrior.'
The princess's smile stagnated as her brows furrowed while she looked at him, removing her finger from his little hand in indignation. 'How dare her baby say that of her? Compare her to Visenya while praising her and at the same time insulting her, all in the same phrase?'
'So hateful!'
'This princess is called the realm's delight because of my beauty, you know!' She stared hard at him.
Henrik somehow felt shy and apprehensive before that look, which morphed into a bit of anger and indignation.
'Why are you giving me such a scary look now?' Henrik cowed a bit in thought.
Mellos, meanwhile, seeing there was no problem with the child except for the visible scales, sighed with relief but also pity. Pity because the little scales on her made her quite a terrifying sight to people, as he noted how the maids and midwives were quite fearful and anxious—some even with a bit of disgust—seeing the little scales on her tiny body.
"The little princess seems fine."
"Maester! Are you sure this child will live? Just look at her little body... She is... terrific..."
The abrupt words of a midwife pulled Rhaenyra from her son as she raised her head at the voice.
"Shh! Don't you dare say any more," Mellos quickly reprimanded her. This damned woman would have them killed.
"How dare you. How dare you speak those words!" Rhaenyra shrieked.
"I... I'm sorry, princess!" The midwife knelt on the ground, head down and terrified, as she trembled all over, regretting even saying her previous words. What if the princess had her whipped—or worse... killed because of it?
The princess gave her a single look of disgust before looking at Mellos. "My child, Mellos! I want to see it."
Mellos quickly dared not delay any longer in keeping Rhaenyra from seeing her daughter. As he walked, he spoke: "Congratulations, princess! You had a daughter. Your second child, after the little prince, is a little princess."
"But..."
Rhaenyra's body trembled as tears started pouring unknowingly from the corners of her eyes.
"But... the little princess is afflicted by some birth problems."
...
Sobbing as she hyperventilated, Rhaenyra looked at her daughter's right face, which was adorned with things over her skin... that weirdly enough looked like scales. Her sight was quite...
"How..." she said hollowly. "How did this happen...?"
"Can you cure her?"
Mellos was quite meek beside the princess, knowing he had to be cautious with his words, lest he be killed because of them. "The little princess grew like this in your womb, princess... There is nothing we can do."
"If we were to try to remove them, it would only hurt the child. They are part of her," Mellos tried to explain.
"And that isn't the only difference about the little princess." Mellos then opened her closed eyes. "She has eyes like those of a beast..."
"Dragon eyes..." Rhaenyra said between sobs as she looked at her daughter's purple eyes, which looked similar to those of Syrax.
"Could it be that those weird protrusions on her body are scales?"
"Yes, yes," Mellos quickly said while holding the child and pointing at them. "I believe the little princess's scales are some deformation present in her body because of the blood your family carries, which could maybe twist and appear like this... There is a case like this recorded in our archives that happened in your family."
Henrik was sad and sorrowful as he looked and heard about his new little twin sister, whom he had just come to know. 'How could she have been born like that? Since when had the Targaryen—or better yet, the Valyrian—blood had those problems? Could it be some kind of mutation in her genes?'
'Now that he thought about it, it was said the Valyrians were quite proficient with blood magic, and because of that, they were able to tame the dragons. Maybe the dragonlord families had dragon-like genes inside them, with the help of blood magic, and that's why they could bond with dragons.'
'That would explain why the dragonlord families were the only ones able to have dragons while the rest of the other Valyrians could not.'
Even then, it was sad seeing the little baby born like that. Every Targaryen woman born was destined to be a beauty, but his little sister was afflicted with skin problems.
Rhaenyra, hearing the voice's words and explanations, trembled as she processed their meaning. How could he know of those things? She also felt even more doubt about this child and her daughter the more time passed.
'What kind of children had she given birth to in this world?'
Mellos continued speaking without stopping, unaware of the thoughts of the mother and child in front of him. "During Maegor the Cruel's reign, one of his wives, Queen Elinor Costayne, gave birth to a child with characteristics described as dragon-like, like the little princess, but he was stillborn—born dead."
"Are you saying... that my daughter will die?" Rhaenyra sobbed as she looked at her child.
Mellos hesitated but firmly said, "I... I don't think so. I actually believe the little princess is quite healthy."
"She wasn't born dead like Maegor's child, and she also has a strong and healthy heartbeat. Her little body is normal at first sight and reacts like any baby should. The only abnormalities are her eyes and the protrusions over her body."
'That's a relief,' Henrik thought with happiness and sorrow. At least she would not die. He looked at the quiet Rhaenyra, who was just sobbing, and he chided her in his mind as if he were speaking to her. 'Come on, stupid woman. Take your daughter. What are you hesitating for?'