Chapter Text
As the sun set over the horizon, the sky and the sea became less and less discernible from each other. Soon, Alicent wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the two. They would fade into each other, two things so far from each other connecting in a way unbreakable by men. Until the sun rose again, peaking over the top of the sea to begin up into the sky.
Alicent stood at the window, fingers tracing runes she did not know the meaning of on the sill. They’d been traced on her bare back by calloused fingers. She felt them on her back now, she felt silver hair floating across her skin and warm lips pressing to the space between her shoulder blades. Alicent shivered.
Behind her, Talya patted around her room silently, adding the final touches to her bath. Scented oils and soaps that would wash away the smell of rum and sweat that clung to Alicent’s skin after long weeks.
“You may go, Talya,” Alicent said. She did not look over her shoulder at the girl.
“Yes, mistress,” Tayla responded. She flitted around a few more seconds before walking to the door, closing it behind her with a small thud.
The silk of Alicent’s robe brushed over her skin as she moved to the tub, her feet bare on the stone floor. She unclasped her robe, dropping it from her shoulders before stepping into the tub and sinking into the warm water. The ends of her red hair dipped in the water and stuck to her shoulders.
Alicent let out a sigh, closing her eyes. She let her hands fall from the rim into the water, moving over her skin slowly. First her arms and shoulders, then down her chest and the fat on her belly, across the tops of her thighs and back to the space where her hips meet her legs. She traced circles there, the skin sensitive normally, but not reacting to her touch.
It had been months since Alicent last saw her, felt her touch on her skin, the fingers combing through her hair, her breath by her hair. Since she had been given pleasure from the only hands that she allowed to touch her now.
She thought of silver hair, violet eyes staring up at her, pale skin that hadn’t been sunkissed like the rest of her body, those parts of her that only Alicent got to see. At least, she liked to think that. Any other touch had been ruined for Alicent, even her own. She could not say the same for–
An object clatted on the wooden table top of Alicent’s dresser.
Alicent's eyes flew open, the fantasy in her mind blowing away like salt air as panic overtook her body. She was bare beneath the water. Vulnerable.
Why had she not locked her door? The men did like to wonder when they were drunk, but surely she would've heard him stumbling up the stairs to her chamber.
Silver hair, braided intricately, cascaded down the back that Alicent’s eyes met. Ethereal, just as the face that turned to face Alicent, familiar violet eyes meeting hers.
“Rhaenyra,” Alicent breathed. It sounded like a prayer. Alicent had not prayed in years. Her knees rarely hit stone these days.
Rhaenyra’s lips turned up into a small smile, a twinkling behind her eyes. She said nothing, stripping off her long coat and hanging it on the wall. Her hands went to her belt next, dexterous hands undoing the clasp and sliding it from the loops of her pants. Rhaenyra dropped down, fingers loosening the laces of her boots with ease, her eyes locked on Alicent’s.
Alicent’s breath came quickly. Her hands gripped the rim of the tub.
Rhaenyra slipped off her boots and stood up. She removed the straps and jewelry that hung over her chest. She pulled open the knot at the top of her tunic, exposing her pale skin.
With the sun set outside, the only light came from the candles around Alicent’s room. Their flames illuminated a warm glow, bathing Rhaenyra in gold.
Rhaneyra untucked her shirt from her pants, swiftly pulling it over her head, leaving her bare to Alicent’s gaze.
“Rhaenyra,” Alicent said again.
She took a few steps towards Alicent before pausing to remove her pants and smallclothes, the whole of her skin exposed to the air. She kept her eyes on Alicent’s even as the other woman traced patterns on her flesh with her own gaze.
“May I join you?” Rhaenyra's voice was rough but the edges had smoothed out for Alicent. There was a warmth in her tone, something in the way her lips curved around the words that had Alicent shifting in the water. Rhaenyra stepped forward again, stopping within Alicent’s reach.
Alicent released the porcelain edge from her grip and held her hand out towards Rhaenyra.
Rhaenyra took it in her own, Alicent's hand somehow cold in hers. Rhaenyra guided Alicent’s hand to her skin, letting it ghost over for a few moments before Alicent flattened her hand on Rhaenyra’s stomach. Her index finger just brushed over the end of a long scar that traveled down from the top of Rhanyra’s hip bone.
Alicent adjusted in the tub, the water sloshing with her movements. She knelt, anchoring herself with two hands on Rhaenyra’s hips, her bare nipples hardening to peaks when exposed to the cold air. She glided her hands back and forth on Rhaenyra’s skin, tracing the curve of her waist and the outward bump of her hips. Alicent leaned forward to press a kiss to her hip bone. She felt Rhaneyra shudder at the touch. She pressed another to the skin, then another and another, her head moving over and down, wet hair dripping on the floor as she did so. She kissed the inside of Rhaenyra’s thigh, the tip of her nose grazing the hair down there.
“Alicent,” Rhaenyra sighed, and her name sounded heavenly on Rhaneyra’s lips.
Alicent kissed more, scraping her teeth over the sensitive skin, tugging it between them. She latched her lips there to suck a mark, for only her and Rhaenyra to know about.
“Alicent,” Rhaenyra gasped, her hands coming to grasp Alicent’s hair, weaving her fingers through the curls. They tightened as Alicent continued her ministrations, sending a shock through Alicent that went straight down to her core.
She whined when Rhaenyra pulled her head away, her eyes catching the blooming red mark on Rhaenyra’s thigh.
For a moment, Rhaenyra said nothing, her breath uneven as she traced circles on Alicent’s scalp.
Alicent looked up at her, brown eyes blown wide.
Rhaenyra’s own were similarly filled with desire as she stared down at Alicent.
“The things you do to me,” Rhaenyra whispered.
“Only you,” Alicent responded. She longed to feel Rhaenyra’s skin on her lips again.
“Only me,” Rhaenyra repeated. Her hands came down to hold Alicent’s face. She lowered herself to her knees, their eyes level with each other. “ My Alicent. ”
Alicent broke at her words, said with such care that they threatened to pull tears to Alicent’s eyes. She didn’t let them, surging forward towards Rhaenyra and slotting their lips together. Like the sky and the sea, they became one.
The fire that burned in Rhaenyra curled over Alicent’s skin, her hands moving back to the nape of Alicent’s neck, tangling in the hair there as she deepened the kiss.
They fit together as if made for one another, Alicent’s mouth falling open at the sharp tug to her scalp, Rhaneyra’s tongue finding hers in a dance that Alicent followed with ease.
Alicent’s hands, which had since moved to Rhaneyra’s shoulders, opened and closed from tight fists as her lower half pressed against the side of the tub. She chased after Rhaneyra’s lips when they left hers, but heaved a sigh when they instead latched to her jaw. She gasped into the air, hands drifting down Rhaenyra’s chest to settle on the swell of her breast before curving to the outside, then back again.
Rhaneyra’s lips went from Alicent’s jaw to her neck, to her collarbone, one hand brushing away the hair that fell over her shoulders.
It took every ounce of strength left in Alicent’s body not to cry out when Rhaenyra’s lips latched onto her nipple and sucked. Her teeth grazed the tender skin and one of her hands drifted down Alicent’s back.
“Rhae–,” Alicent broke off when she flicked her tongue at the peak.
Rhaenyra settled in between Alicent’s breasts, pressed a kiss there and whispered into her skin.
“I’ve missed you.”
—
Alicent collapsed backwards onto her tousled bed sheets, pleasure rippling through her as Rhaenyra continued to work her long and slender fingers inside Alicent.
“That’s a good girl,” Rhaenyra panted in Alicent’s ear, curling her fingers and pressing against Alicent’s inner walls.
Alicent couldn’t help but preen at the praise. She let out a scream at the motion of Rhaenyra’s fingers.
There was something in the way Rhaenyra said the words that set her apart from the men who used to fuck her. They didn’t care if her moans were fake or the tears in her eyes from pain rather than pleasure, as long as her cunt was tight around their cock and her body bendable to their whim.
She pushed the thoughts from her head as she looked down at Rhaenyra settled between her open legs, fingers inside her dripping cunt and lips nipping at the soft skin of her thighs.
“Right there,” Alicent moaned when Rhaenyra’s fingers shifted inside her. “More, more.”
“Here, love?” Rhaenyra rasped, doubling her efforts on the spot. Her violet eyes stared at Alicent from her position, pupils blown so wide with pleasure they were nearly black.
“Don’t make me beg, Nyra,” Alicent panted out, even as she felt her climax building, almost spilling from her. She curled a hand in Rhaenyra’s hair.
“But you do it so prettily,” Rhaenyra responded, nipping at Alicent’s entrance.
Alicent rode Rhaenyra’s fingers through her high when she broke, bucking against them, pushing them deeper and stretching herself more.
“Very good,” Rhaenyra mumbled, making Alicent’s walls tighten.
Alicent used the hand in Rhaenyra’s hair to pull her away from her entrance.
“Enough, enough,” Alicent panted, sensitivity overtaking the pleasure Rhaenyra had brought her.
Rhaenyra pulled out her fingers and Alicent felt the loss deep inside her, though she didn’t show it beyond a weak whine.
“Shh,” Rhaenyra soothed, pressing a kiss to Alicent's drenched cunt. Typically, she would have sucked but instead settled for small kitten licks that brought Alicent down. She pulled back with a smirk on her face, and looking at Alicent splayed before her, hair spread and skin flushed, she took the two digits into her mouth, closing her eyes and moaning.
“You even taste good,” Rhaenyra said.
Alicent shook her head at her, or at least tried, and lifted one foot to press against Rhaenyra’s bare chest and push her away. Her silver haired lover fell back dramatically, rolling off the bed onto the rug beneath Alicent’s bed.
“You’re ridiculous,” Alicent laughed. She shrieked when Rhaenyra grabbed her ankles and pulled her down the bed, lifting herself up so she was eye level with Alicent’s still exposed center.
“You like it,” Rhaenyra said, with the intent to bury her face in Alicent again.
“Enough of you,” Alicent ordered jokingly, pushing Rhaenyra’s face back.
Rhaenyra conceded, but not before biting the skin on Alicent’s thigh again, making another mark appear on her sweaty skin. Rhaenyra's eyes sparkled as she joined Alicent back on the bed, pulling both of them to the head.
Alicent reached for the sheets to cover herself.
Rhaenyra brushed a hand over the fabric now covering Alicent’s thigh.
“Why do you cover yourself?” She slid a hand under the sheet and started towards Alicent’s center.
“You’re shameless,” Alicent chastised, but didn’t stop her. She almost frowned when Rhaenyra withdrew her hand.
“You're beautiful,” Rhaenyra whispered, kissing the top of Alicent’s head and Alicent couldn’t believe she got to share her bed with such a woman.
Not just their pleasure bed, but the after and the before. She got to lay in their bed, still warm from Rhaenyra’s body, as her lover walked around Alicent’s room bare for her to see, as she braided her hair at Alicent’s vanity, as she opened the door to leave before the sun came up, only to dash to Alicent’s side to kiss her one more time.
They would lay in bed together on the morning’s Rhaenyra had time to spare, eating food from the kitchen downstairs, sharing stories and whispers like they were girls again. Rhaenyra would trace patterns on Alicent’s back. They would laugh and smile into kisses that stayed just kisses.
“What’s on your mind, love?” Rhaenyra asked, and the name took on a different meaning when they weren’t in the throes of pleasure.
“Nothing,” Alicent replied. “I missed you.”
“The sea is a cruel mistress, keeping me from you for months,” Rhaenyra said. “The boys are glad to be on land again.”
“And in a woman too,” Alicent added.
“As am I,” Rhaenyra said.
“Vulgar,” Alicent said.
“You mean to say you didn’t miss my fingers?” Rhaenyra asked, her hand sliding beneath the sheets again.
Alicent shook her head. She did not discourage Rhaenyra’s touch.
“My hands on your skin, in your hair,” Rhaenyra whispered in Alicent’s ear. “My breath on your neck, my lips on your cunt?” Rhaenyra slithered down the bed and under the sheets, her hot breath fanning against Alicent’ skin in the cocoon she’d created.
“Absolutely not,” Alicent insisted, even as she shuddered at Rhaennyra’s breath against her entrance.
“Didn’t sound like that earlier,” Rhaenyra said, kissing up her thighs. “So desperate, so needy, so willing and open and dripping for me.”
“Rhaenyra–,” Alicent breathed. She reached for Rhaenyra’s head, throwing off the sheet and spreading her legs wider.
“I want to taste you again,” Rhaenyra said. “Straight from the source.”
“Yes,” Alicent moaned out.
“My beautiful.” She pressed a kiss to Alicent's thigh. “Perfect.” Another, to the juncture of her thigh and center. “Girl.”
The shriek Alcient let out was not from Rhaenyra finally pressing her lips to Alicent’s waiting cunt, but from the sudden opening of her chamber door.
“Mistress–,” The girl began, then stuttered off at the sight of Alicent, her mistress, in such a wanton position, Rhaenyra between her legs. “Oh my!”
Alyne was new, she did not know of Rhaenyra and her relationship with Alicent. Few of the girls did. It was best to keep such affairs private.
Rhaenyra sprung up from her position, turning over onto her back and covering Alicent quickly.
“Alyne, you must knock!” Alicent said.
“I know, mistress. I apologize, I did not know you had company.”
“Seven hells,” Alicent panted, holding the sheets over her bare breasts.
Rhaenyra had no such qualms.
“Well, what is it?”
“There’s a problem with a patron, mistress,” Alyne said, her eyes casted down, “Tayla told me to fetch you.”
“Fetch my robe from the wardrobe,” Alicent said, standing swiftly and making her way to the tub where she had left a folded nightgown for her to change into.
Alyne helped fasten the ties on the back.
“Rhaenyra?” Alicent called as she pulled her robe on and tied it shut.
“Yes, love?” Rhaenyra responded, a slight rasp to her voice and a pink tint to her pale cheeks.
“Join,” Alicent told her as she started towards the door, Alyne following behind her. She heard Rhaenyra stumble from the bed and onto her feet before she descended the stairs to the second floor.
Noise floated up from the bottom floor, riotous and drunk men hollering.
“Here, mistress.” Alyne said. “One of the men, he assumed and– well, one of the girls heard her screams.”
Alicent nodded and pushed the door open that led to the hallway of private rooms. It was early in the night, most of the rooms were empty and those that had occupants remained closed. She felt Rhaenyra at her shoulder and saw heads of familiar silver hair in the hallway.
Quiet sobs mixed with the hushed berating of one of the boys.
Rhaenyra’s brother, Aemond, had her other brother pinned against the wall, though Aegon hardly fought back. He barely appeared to be able to stand on his own two feet.
Alicent left the boys to Rhaenyra, who stormed to her brothers in only a nightgown from Alicent’s room, and instead focused on the room with the door ajar and two of her girls sitting around a younger girl. Alicent approached them.
Dyana was young, barely fifteen. She worked in the kitchen, she cleaned rooms and washed clothes. She didn’t go out to the tavern once the sun set. Her hair was a mess, stuck to her cheeks with tears as one of the girls wrapped an arm around her.
“What happened?” Alicent asked, arms wrapped around herself.
Talya stood by the door, hands folded and face flat.
Dyana hiccuped and when another girl tried to speak for her, she stopped them.
“I- I only we-went to change the sh-sheets, mistress,” Dyana stuttered out. “I had thought th-the room empty.”
“What happened, sweet one?” Alicent asked again, kneeling before the young girl.
“I didn’t see him,” Dyana said, her breaths coming in evenly now as the other girl rubbed a hand up and down her back. “When I did, I thought he was asleep. I only wanted to check on him, mistress. Make sure he was okay.”
“Who?” Alicent asked.
“A girl, Aegon!” Rhaenyra's voice screamed. “Not even a woman, a girl. A child.”
Alicent turned at the sound.
“Didn’t feel like a girl,” Aegon mumbled.
Rhaenyra raised her hand and slapped him.
Alicent flinched at Rhaenyra’s action.
“Have you sunken so far into your cups that you lost your sense?” Rhaenyra asked, anger clear in her tone. She leaned in close to Aegon and whispered something Alicent couldn’t hear.
Alicent tried her best not to shrink into herself. Alicent knew Rhaenyra, or she liked to think she did, but she rarely saw this side of her.
Rhaenyra was fierce and protective, but she’s also violent and quick to anger. She’s captain to twenty men and just as Alicent had to earn her girls respect, Rhaenyra has to earn her crew's respect. Her brothers are no exception.
Just because Alicent understood didn’t mean she liked it. Didn’t like to see fury in Rhaenyra's eyes, see her use the hands that hold Alicent and bring her pleasure for violence. See how they bruise and cut and hurt.
Sometimes she worries if she ever displeases Rhaenyra, if she ever disobeys her or wears her patience thin, Rhaenyra will turn that fury and anger on her. That those strong hands that are supposed to hold her and soothe her, will instead hurt her, strike her, make her bleed and cry and feel like a smaller version of herself.
They’d met as girls, Alicent sixteen and Rhaenyra fifteen, brought to the tavern by her uncle so she could learn the way of men. Mysaria had offered Alicent, a maiden at the time, though she had done plenty for men, but her maidenhead remained intact and so Mysaria used that to her advantage often.
Rhaenyra did not take advantage of her that night. It wasn’t until they were eighteen and nineteen that they finally touched each other, that Rhaenyra first brought Alicent pleasure. They were just girls, barely women.
Rhaenyra was the first to give Alicent a choice.
Some men liked to pretend they did, but once they were inside her, they took and took from Alicent, not a care in their mind for how she felt, only how her cunt felt around their cock.
Rhaenyra was different. She took care of Alicent and her body. Brought her pleasure before she found her own, kissed her with warmth, made sure she was ready before she entered her, and would only do so with Alicent’s leave.
It was hard to see that girl in the woman she watched now.
“You're lucky I don’t leave you to the sea’s mercy,” Rhaenyra hissed. She shoved Aegon back against the wall and stepped back.
Aegon lost his balance, falling forward onto the floor.
“Take your brother back to the ship,” Rhaenyra said to Aemond. “Be sure he doesn’t die by his own sick.”
“Yes, sister,” Aemond responded, then quickly corrected himself. “Captain.”
Just a boy, listening to his elder sister. His missing eye was nothing compared to her wrath.
Alicent pulled herself back to Dyana and her girls.
“Tayla, draw Dyana a bath,” Alicent said, standing. She beckoned the other woman over and whispered her question. “Will moon tea be needed?”
Tayla shook her head.
Alicent breathed a sigh of relief.
“Alyne, help Dyana to her bath. Add lavender and vanilla,” Alicent told the girl.
“Yes, Mistress,” Alyne responded, helping Dyana to her feet and out of the room. Tayla followed them with a look in Alicent’s direction.
Alicent walked out after them, passing Rhaenyra without so much a look. She left the hall and climbed the stairs back to her room, Rhaenyra’s footsteps behind her. She dreaded what was to come, what she had to do.
Rhaenyra beat her to it.
“I’ll go,” Rhaenyra said, the door closing behind her.
“Rhaenyra, you know–,” Alicent tried, avoiding her eyes.
“I do, love,” Rhaenyra said, approaching Alicent and holding her face in her hands. “I would never.”
“I know, Nyra,” Alicent sighed.
This was not the first time this had happened.
Alicent would ask Rhaenyra to leave.
Rhaenyra would promise.
Alicent would believe her.
Rhaenyra would try.
Alicent would tell her to leave.
Rhaenyra would go.
Alicent wished it could be different.
“Go.”
“ Love .”
“Go.”
Alicent would let her.