An Unwanted Gift

[Westeros]

In normal circumstances, word that a princess was with child would be met happily. Yet the last such occasion was fraught: the Princess Naerys nearly died, the twins she gave birth to died in the cradle, and King Baelor nearly fasted himself to death, praying for forgiveness for whatever sins he might have committed against the Seven to make them withhold their blessing. So, it would be no surprise if the court received word of a royal pregnancy with caution.

That is, if it were Princess Naerys who was pregnant.

The rumors first came from serving women who tended to the king’s sisters and their attendants in the Maidenvault; or, rather, came because of them, for several were dismissed in quick succession with no apparent cause, and the women were found new employment on Dragonstone. That made some wonder if they had been caught out as having assisted Princess Daena in her escape from the Red Keep that lasted several moons before she turned herself back into the gilded confinement that her brother (and former husband) had made for her. Mystifying as this event was, things became clearer when certain ladies of the court sought audiences with Princess Naerys, and she in turn was seen going to the Maidenvault with a pair of septas… and the aged Grand Maester. And with that, things escalated: Naerys departed, and was escorted directly to the Tower of the Hand, and then it was Viserys who was going into the Maidenvault, and finally he left to make his way to Maegor’s Holdfast.

By then, word had spread like wildfire: Princess Daena, whose past escapes had been examples of her defiance at her brother’s imprisonment of herself and her sisters, had taken that defiance a step further by concieving a child, and hiding this from the court for as long as she could. It’s said that the king was disbelieving, until he met with Daena as well. Then, he left the Maidenvault in tears, and immediately sought counsel from the High Septon, and prayed for guidance from the Seven.

With all this news, however, one item remains a mystery: who is the father of Daena’s child? If she named him, those who heard it have not admitted it. But there are some who claim to have heard certain ladies in attending on the princesses gossiping that Daena refused to name the father, refusing the entreaties of her cousin, her uncle, and even brother.

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