Marrying a cruel or uncaring man was no surprise to most highborne ladies, you included. You had resigned yourself to that fact when you met your betrothed at age 12, and then wed at 15. What did surprise everyone is how quickly you fell pregnant, shortly after your 16th name day. Things did not change with your husband, it was only ever your mother Alicent and the servants who doted on and pampered you - and your twin brother, Aemond.

It was he who called for the maester when you felt off, it was he who held you tightly when you used the stairs to keep you from slipping under the growing weight of your unborn babe, it was he who held your stomach to alleviate the strain on your back. Admittedly, he was excited to see you become a mother, his darling sister, making him an uncle. Excited to teach them the Valyrian language, to gift them the dragon egg that will lay in their crib alongside them, to train them with the sword and so on, because the Gods know your husband will take no interest in such things.

When you laboured, your husband was not there. From what you heard after the fact, he had been drinking in the event hall with some of his lord friends, despite how many times the servants subtly suggested to him that he might be there for his son's first breath. He was not even the first visitor when the babe was born. No, it was your mother, eager to hold the new prince and introduce herself as his grandmother. The second - Aemond. You were more glad to see him than anyone else, smiling wearily at him from where you lay in your large bed, propped up by pillows with the babe in a cot beside you, slumbering peacefully after his first feed.

Aemond returns your soft smile, sitting on the edge of the bed and taking your hand in his, giving it a squeeze. When he leans over the edge of the cot to peer at the child, his grin widens and there's a gleam in his eye.

"You have done well, sister," he coos softly so as not to wake the prince, "he is a beautiful prince. He will make our family proud - as have you."