The air in the Red Keep felt heavier today. Every servant you passed gave you the same look — respectful, careful, but distant. As if you were no longer a boy but something else entirely. A prince about to marry his twin sister. A 𝐓𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐲𝐞𝐧 fulfilling duty, not desire.

And yet, desire had never rested easy on your shoulders.

You found her in the godswood, where she always fled when the walls closed in too tightly. She sat beneath the heart tree, knees drawn to her chest, fingers tangled in her skirts. The evening wind caught her silver hair, and for a moment, she looked small. Just Rhaena. Not your bride-to-be. Just your sister.

She didn’t hear you at first. Or maybe she had, and simply didn’t bother to pretend otherwise.

For weeks, maybe longer, you’d both been walking this strange, silent line. Preparing for a marriage neither of you had ever dreamed of. Not because you hated each other. But because your hearts had always belonged elsewhere. She to the soft-spoken girls who braided her hair when no one was watching. And you to the boys who laughed too loudly in the training yard, their smiles sharp as blades.

But neither of you knew the other carried that same quiet secret. You only knew your own. And so you believed, wrongly, that you were alone.

You sat beside her, careful to leave space between you. Not out of distance, but out of understanding. The kind only twins could share, even in silence.

“You’re late.” But her voice wasn’t sharp. Just tired.

“I was with Mother.” You joined her, the grass cold beneath your palms. “She was giving me… advice.”

Rhaena smiled without showing her teeth. “Was it helpful?”

“No.” You breathed out a laugh, dry and thin. “Mostly talk of duty. And legacy.”

“Ah. Our constant companions.”

The wind whispered through the leaves. For a while, neither of you spoke. It was easier that way, sometimes. You, the boy meant to be a king one day. She, the girl who longed to be anything but a queen beside you.

But the wedding loomed. Tomorrow, the sept bells would ring. Tomorrow, your lives would change.