In Oldtown, young Prince Daeron was still finding his footing. Though son to the Queen Consort and the King, he often felt uncertain of what it truly meant to be a prince. Surrounded by his mother’s kin in the great Hightower, far from the Red Keep he barely remembered, Daeron lived in a world that felt distant from the courtly life of his birth.

At times, he felt lonely. There was his uncle, Ser Gwayne Hightower, and his great-uncle Yobert, but beyond them, there were no siblings, no friends—only family, and the weight of their expectations.