At The Princess´Service, chapter 1
â A Letter To The King â
Jacaerys Velaryon x fem! reader.
tags. au where Viserys its not that sick, Rhaenyra´s family never left King's Landing and the dance is avoided, strangers to friends to loversish, slowburn.
warnings!. targcest, reader is meant to have silver hair but no other features are mentioned, mentions of childbirth and dead, mentions of blood and typical asoiaf violence, both Jace and reader are aged up (18), slight use of y/n, bastardphobia, misoginy, mentions of rape and sexual abuse.
A/N: hiii, first chapter!!! again, this was proofread but if you notice any grammar mistake let me know. This is also like a chapter introducing to readers life and all, I hope you enjoy it, feedback its appreciated <3
You had never felt a single weight on your shoulders your entire life, as you had an easy and quiet life in the Vale with your aunt, your dragon, and your friends: the maids.
You spent the days delivering and writing letters, serving wine to your aunt in her council, snickering around and laughing with your friends and riding your dragon around the Vale until the sun hid and you were scolded at by the guards for being out too late. The nights were not different, peaceful dinners where you and your aunt Jayne talked about your days -uneventful or not-, careful baths where the maids would fill the water with imported scented oils from Dorne, and quiet nights where you could be alone in your nightgown reading your favorite books over and over again until you fell asleep, and the perfect nights weren't perfect anymore.
The first time it happened you had convinced yourself that the dream was a result of the current reading of The Conquerors, it had to be, as you would never burn your own fleet, so you decided to let the book down and didn't pick it up again. The second time woke you up confused and with a headache, you could´ve swore you had never seen those weird dark passages before and that it was just a product of the last council you had attended, and so, they went on: weird dreams with no purpose, a different story each time and a different reaction each night.
You felt like Morganite sensed them too, your dear dragon moving and comforting you every day when visited, you stayed with her until her pink scales shone with the light of the moon replacing the sun, flying together around the Vale until you finally forgot and had a smile on decorating your face once again, a routine that worked like magic until the night you woke everyone with a scream; the guards around reunited by the door in seconds, finding their Lady sobbing around the blankets, shivering and shocked.
If there was one thing you wished to forget: was your aunt Aemma´s screams as she gave birth as to what it was supposed to be an heir, you wished to forget the blood coming out of her and wished to forget her lifeless eyes staring at nothing as the king held a babe that only took one breath. Telling everyone it was a horrible nightmare that had to do with monsters and old tales was the easy way out, and of course everyone believed you, everyone but the person that knew you most.
The Lady Jayne Arryn loved you as her own daughter, treating you like a princess born, giving you the best gowns and jewelry, making sure you were a smart girl that grew traveling with her around Westeros for diplomatic missions and letting you listen to her every decision made as the head of the house so you would grow a strategist. She was proud to say she had made you into an appropriate Lady from the Eyrie, and she was the proudest of knowing she was raising you away of the nest of snakes that rested in The Red Keep who she was convinced would eat her sweet niece as supper the moment they heard about her, only accepting that one visit from princess Rhaenys after many letters asking to see the girl, and she only did it because she came bearing gifts for you that Lord Corlys had brought from his travels at sea.
She always made her way to get you: her little Lady everything you needed and more, old books with lots of information, the best silks for your dresses, never pressuring to get married or find a match, your favorite food and a great feast every name day, and if it were up to her: you would've been her heir, but there was things she couldn't deny when looking at you: like the silver hair that adorns you or the big dragon that roamed through the Vale, like your eternal yearning for the Targaryen knowledge, or the constant wanting for their fire and to understand them, to understand your mother and to understand yourself, and even though the dreams came without announcement it was no surprise to her that you had started to have them.
Jayne stayed late at night now, watching her niece roam through the ancient castle when the moon was the queen of the sky, walking around with a single candle and no shoes on, she had watched you going out carefully from passages only used by the service to spend the night alongside Morganite, talking to her in high valyrian, reading to her from a book you must've got from the library or just there, caressing her scales until dawn, when you finally decided to returne before being seeing and Jayne knew: she had lost her baby to the magic of Targaryen blood.
One morning Jayne herself waited for you on your chambers sitting and watching her surroundings, how everything felt like the air breeze the girl she raised was and spent hours just looking at the portrait that was made for you on your seven and ten nameday. When the sun was finally going through the windows, the door crooked and that was the announcement you were finally back, silver hair a mess, feet dirty and the circles beneath your eyes darker and heavier by the minute.
"I had started to wonder when you were coming back" Jayne didn't turn immediately, eyes still on the portrait ", I wanted to speak to you"
You stayed still for a bit, watching her sitting on your bed, with that perfect posture of hers, a blue nightgown and her brown hair undone, you walked until being close enough, leaving the candle with no fire on a near chair "I didn't meant to worry you" that was all you could say.
The floor was cold, cold enough to wake you up every time you needed it, like right now. The air wasn't thick nor tense, everything had a sense of comfort and you were now just waiting for a response, something that told you answers.
"I know, but I am now." your aunts gaze was focused on you now, you had expected to see a mad stare, something that felt like you were about to get yelled at, perhaps grounded, but there wasnât any signs of it âYou see, iâm afraid i have failed to protect youâ and that was definitely scarier.
âNo you havenât, not at all dear auntâ both of your hands found hers soon enough as you ran to find a place to sit beside her, her hands felt softer while yours left a trace of dirt behind, âWhat even makes you say things like that?â
âThen, why didnât you trust me with your dreams? I can understand your silence when it comes to the maids, the guards, the maesters, but what about me, Y/N?â her voice didnât sound desperate, instead, she was calm and collected like she usually was when handling an issue âI do not ask for much than your trust.â
âI donât even know what they areâ you answered, hands trembling, eyes struggling to keep open â, I have no idea where they came from and I fear I cannot scape them.â
âWell then tell me, talk to me and tell meâ your aunt grabbed you by the cheek, drawing soft circles in it with her thumb â, and if I canât understand iâll never judge you for it. You are my blood and my kin, and i shall be by your side no matter the time.â
Explaining was hard, hours were spent just the two of you together trying to piece everything out, failing to find a true meaning, a reason behind or to tie them with her own experiences.
âI donât want to be sent to prayâ your voice sounded bitter, bitter than usual ", It doesn't do anything and it will not help me sleep... I´ve tried"
Jayne had to rethink her choices, she wondered if she really was the one who failed you, she wondered that perhaps if she had let Princess Rhaenys see you more than once, it would've stopped this, she wondered that if she took you to the king, that if she took you to Princess Rhaenyra you...
"I´ll have the maesters fetch you some tea for better sleep, you can stay the whole day in your chambers if you feel like it" Jayne gave you one last kiss on the forehead before letting you alone again, your chambers colder than ever.
As you sat on the bed, you had no other option but to curse yourself, you were cursed already after all, right?, you were going to die cursed and lonely for deprived sleep and hallucinations of dead people. You let a loud groan out, grabbing your pillows to suffocate your desperate screams, throwing it across the room with as much force as you could, and then, you started crying.
You wished you could see your mom again, you wished that if you were to dream with anyone who had died, at least it could be your mom, so she could tuck you in bed like she used to and sing Valyrian lullabies that you try to keep alive singing them to Morganite, you wished someone could tell you what was happening to you and why you were going crazy.
The tears stopped no much time after, the white blankets absorbing the salt of them and leaving you tired and puffy, eyes red and lips bleeding from the constant chewing of them. Ellya and Adrianne came as the sun was finally settling with your tub and the tea your aunt probably woke the maesters to do.
"My Lady... Are you alright?" Adrianne had hurry to stand by your side, trying to look for fever or even blood on the sheets to see if your moon blood had arrived.
"I'm dying, I might, tomorrow morning."
"Not true" Ellya got close too, handing her the tea just made, hot and smelling like all the right herbs to calm her down, her voice strict ", drink. "
Between the hot water from the tea and the hot water from the tub, you found yourself relaxing to the feel of Ellya scrubbing your back and their voices filling your ears.
"... And I think the sheep boy is oh so charmed by you" Adrianne teased, making Ellya splash some of the water from the tub to her.
"He is quite the gentleman, always opening doors for you, making sure you walk in front to check for your safety. " you said, glancing at your friend, who was hiding her face in her blonde hair.
"He does the same for you, my Lady"
"Because that's his duty, but he doesn't owe any duty to you or anyone else for that matter and still, he seems to favor you" that got a laugh from Adrianne, who turned to look at you.
"He favors her... Quite the right word"
"Im afraid, my Lady, that Targaryens usually tend to... Miss their own" the Maester kept himself standing at Lady Jayne's side as she looked through the huge window in her personal office, slightly biting her lip in anxious.
As the day became warmer, her thoughts had turned harder to take and decided that perhaps blaming herself wasn't the answer she was looking for, and after spending the afternoon looking for her own she finally decided call for the Maester, who âwhether she liked or notâ could know more about the situation than her.
Jayne looked over at her niece's pink beast, who was playing in the green grass all by herself, looking happy, free of all, and she reminded her of her little Lady, of how she looked the first time she took a flight in her.
"She cannot miss people she has never met" Jayne spitted, turning to the Maester who look like he was carefully thinking his next words ", Its impossible"
"Blood doesn't lie, my Lady..."
"Well, she's my blood too."
"With all due respect my Lady, you don't have one of those things flying around, don't you?"
"Morganite is an educated dragon..."
"You know what I mean" and she did, of course she did.
"Sending her there is not our wisest option." Jayne heard the maester sigh.
"And I agree, but keeping her here would just make her dream more, more and more until she passes from fatigue, my Lady. Im convinced you have raised a fine girl who's ready to let herself be seen in court, and even if the dreams don't stop, im sure they'll be in control, and in a place of people who will understand her."
As the Maester walked away, Jayne found herself defeated, and for the first time in her life: useless. How could she protect her now when she will be so far away from her? would they take care of her like she has done? would they try to move her like a game of chess?
And as she kept looking through the window watching the beast play in front of her, she had to remind herself of who her niece actually was, not a baby anymore but a woman who was not afraid to speak or laugh in a mans face when she thought they were making a mistake, and so, she sat on a desk again and grabbed a quill and parchment a letter directly addressed to the King with what she knew, was an odd request: find a place for her niece in the Red Keep.
You had never felt a single weight on your shoulders your entire life, as you had an easy and quiet life in the Vale with your aunt, your dragon, and your friends: the maids. But it seemed, you were about to experience one for the first time.
"It's an amazing opportunity, my girl, being the princess' pupil" you looked at your aunt with a raised eyebrow.
"An opportunity given to me after weeks of sent letters, isn't that right?" Jayne dropped her fork at her nieces words.
"Are you trying to get rid of me?" your voice sounded hurt and you also had to drop your fork and knife to actually look at your aunts face, how her whole calm facade faded at your questioning, how she looked as hurt as you did.
"Y/N no, im not, believe me that if didn't think that this was... Not the best but the most appropriate thing for your situation, I wouldn't be doing this, not in a million years" Jayne reached for your hand on the table, her soft fingers caressing your with a careful nature ". That said, I think you've been raised to be appropriate for this job"
The taste of sweet strawberries turned suddenly bitter at the mere thought of leaving your home, you thought of your friends who you would surely miss, your aunt who won't be there to laugh with you over nonsense jokes, you thought about busy Lords who will surely try to convince you into a horrible marriage, you thought about the pure air of the Vale, your long flights with your dragon and of course, how beautiful it'll be to watch Morganite alongside others of her own, you thought about her making dragon friends, you thought of a place full of Targaryens who could teach you your own history by making you part of it, you thought of having people who understand your Valyrian as something sacred, and you thought about meeting Princess Rhaenyra for the first time and search in her face the lost face of your mother, and how beautiful it could be to connect with her blood.
"And if I ever wish to come back?" you asked.
"A letter will be enough to send a carriage for you."
You were about to experience weight for the first time in your life.