helaena was special in a way that one might deem unusual instead of remarkable, but she wasn’t stupid. she knew that she would be married off one day and she knew there were only two options for her husband: her cousin, jacaerys, or her older brother, aegon. she knew it before her mother thought of it, before her father had agreed to it. one way or another, she was going to belong to another man, whether she ( or he ) liked it — just like most of the women in the realm were and would continue to be. so it came as no surprise when her mother came to her the other afternoon, a determined yet sympathetic look on her face when she asked her to put her jar of spiders aside for a moment.
“he and i will not love each other.” she says it with a certainty that she shouldn’t, that she can’t have, but her words are more than likely to be true. aegon had no love for her even as a sibling; helaena had no doubts that that wouldn’t change even once they were husband and wife. if knowing that was supposed to bother helaena, perhaps she would only feel it later on as a wife. “aegon rather prefers it when i don’t speak to him, anyway.” an arrangement that, truly, she doesn’t have much of a complaint with herself.
but rhaenyra’s question makes her pause. her older sister was more akin to a distant relative, in spite of the fact that they had lived in the same place for much of her life. it was kind of her to offer herself as an advisor for such a big change in her life. “how different will i feel... after?” after we lay together was the true end of that sentence, but helaena knew her sister would understand. “will it be quick?”
@ofhalfyear - from here !
