NOVEL NEXT Chapter 50: The Fight II
(Baelon's POV)
"She will be sad?" Rhaenyra said as tears ran down her face, "What about me? Have you thought of how I would feel? You're the last thing our Mother left us.....I...."
"I know, Rhaenyra." I said, "But this is different. This is-"
"No!!" She exclaimed, "This is ridiculous! Have you never thought of how I would feel?! Every day since you were born, I was cast aside, ignored like some common piece of trash. And just when someone showed me genuine interest, I thought I would be happy, Baelon! And you're saying that it was all false? That Trevor never truly loved me?"
"You were not trash, Rhaenyra!" I told her, "I loved you! You are my sister! I loved you, dearly. I remember the times you would hold me in your arms when I was a scared little boy! Back when Mother was focusing on my siblings, on our siblings! You think I forgot the way you treated me, the way you looked at me with the love that a beloved sister would have for her brother? We are blood! Do you seriously think I would just forget that? Trash? You were never trash, Rhaenyra! Why would you ever consider yourself that!"
"Oh, I know how you have looked at me." She said with a sarcastic tone, "You always looked at me with the eyes of a lecherous little boy."
"That's not true and you know it." I said with a scowl, "Even now, you know it."
"I'm a disgrace, Baelon. Your little eyes have been set up on a dirty whore like me. Someone who has fallen in love with a stupid man she's known since he was a boy." She said
"Don't say that!" I said, "Don't you dare speak about yourself like that. You are not that, Rhaenyra. And I won't have anyone, not even you say otherwise."
"You hold me up on a pedestal all you want, that is the truth." She said, "I cannot keep the same feelings I have for my husband. Instead, I am forced to look at you, the stupid boy I have fallen for. But this is what you want, right? This is what you always wanted, Baelon. You wanted me to stop loving him, so you can have me all for yourself. You claimed you never understood why we Targaryens did what we did but you have always wanted to fuck your elder sister."
"Stop that." I said seriously, "Don't say anything you are going to regret."
"What did you think was going to happen, Baelon?" She said with a sad frown, tears flowing down, "That you would execute Trevor and suddenly, I would come running to your arms?"
"Stop it." I warned
"And what? You'll repeat what the Conqueror did? You have Balerion and his sword, what else is next? Two sister-wives. One older, one younger." She said, "You will be King one day. Nobody would challenge you. They can try but the display that you showed with Skagos will simply keep them in check. That's what you wanted, right Baelon?"
"No." I said, "I simply want to make my sister happy."
"By making your other sister miserable and kill her husband?" She asked, "Fuck you, Baelon."
She tried to walk away but I grabbed her by the hand.
"We're not done here." I said seriously, "You will tell me where Trevor is. Now."
She swung her left hand at me as a slap but I stepped back and dodged it.
"Let go of me!!" She shouted
"Swing that arm again at me." I retorted, "And I will be forced to return a smack of my own, Sister."
"I would love to see you try." She said as she tried to pry herself off me
I pulled her closer to me, "Don't you understand what all this is?" I asked her as I grabbed her by the waist, trying to keep her close, "This is what he wants, Rhaenyra! Trevor has never been normal! The way he stares at people, his eyes devoid of emotion! There was never any good in him!!"
"Shut up!" She smacked against my chest, "Let go of me! You stupidly strong piece of shit!"
"Listen to me, Rhaenyra!!" I said, "Do you want this Realm to burn?! He intends to start a war! Can't you see that?!"
"What I see is that you want to turn me against him!! You have never liked him, Baelon!!" She glared at me, "You always made that clear! You hated him! Because he had me and you didn't!!"
"I told you! Those were not my real feelings, Rhaenyra!!" I told her
"Then what is?!" She said as she looked at me, "You don't want to take me here? Right now? Is that what you're telling me?! You feed these ideas that my husband is a monster that wants to overtake the Realm using your precious dragon.....what for?!"
"To save the fucking Realm!" I shouted, "That is what I am, a servant of the Realm!! My people depend on my very existence, Rhaenyra!! Without me, who knows what could have happened!!"
"Look at yourself, Baelon! That is fucking hilarious!!" She looked at me, "Do you think so highly of yourself? That you're the lynchpin that holds everything together!!"
"My dragon is the symbol of power, the symbol of strength that everything that breathes understands, Rhaenyra." I said, "Even when he was weak and starved, nobody dared to make a move on our Family. And right now, he's as healthy as when the Conqueror rode him. And I am the only one who is worthy to wield the power he possesses! If he falls into the wrong hands, the Realm will burn! It would be worse than when he was in Maegor's hands! Your husband, he's the one that's trying to get rid of me. Because he knows that so long as I am alive, Balerion will-"
"Shut up!!" She cut me off, "Let go of me!"
I held her firmly and pressed her body against me as I held her arm with my other hand, "Please, Rhaenyra!" I said, "Don't let him drive a rift between us!!"
She then spat on my face, "Fuck you!!"
Her spit had hit me on the eye and I flinched, stepping back as I let go of her. As soon as I let go of her, she swung her hand again across my face, leaving my cheek stinging.
"Fuck...." I said as I wiped my eye, "I will let that one slide because you are my sister and-"
"And what? You love me?" She said, "I am not so sure about that."
I glared at her, "Don't you dare assume what I feel for my family." I said, "All I do is for us. For all of us! But right now, I do it for the Realm, and more importantly, I do it for Helaena! If you won't think of me, think of her!! Your husband was going to kill me right in front of her, on our fucking Wedding!! And you're going to defend him?! How is Helaena going to take this betrayal?!"
"Don't use her against me, you bastard!!" She spat at me
"Take that back!!" I shouted, "All of those words, you don't mean any of them!!"
"I don't know if I do or not." She said as she wiped her tears away, "But I do know this. I am at a point where I don't know what to do. If I should stay with the man whom I don't even know where he is or if I should be with the man whom I love. I don't fucking know, Baelon!! But you.....you may have dropped that dagger back at Harrenhal.....but.....you still plunged it into my heart.....and I hate you.....I hate you so much for it...forcing me into this position....."
"You forced yourself into this position, Rhaenyra." I said coldly, "Allowing a scumbag like him to manipulate you. And maybe you're right. Maybe I wanted you all by myself but it's too fucking late for that. I am with Helaena and I promise you that I will be loyal to her until the day I die. I made a vow to keep her happy and if staying alive is what gets that done, then so be it. Your Husband is a treacherous piece of filth that should burn. Maybe those feelings are biased because I hated him all my life, but the truth is that when I find definitive proof that all of this is his doing, I will fucking kill him, Rhaenyra. Do you understand my words right now? I will fucking kill him and there won't be a thing that you will do about it."
"To think that I love you..." She said softy, "Even now...."
"I love you too....." I said as I clenched my fists, "Oh, I love you so much...but guess what? I love her more. And I don't give a shit anymore...do what you fucking want....I don't want to see you....."
"Y-You think I do?" She managed, tears flowing down her cheeks, "Good riddance, Baelon Targaryen....."
She turned around and began to walk away.
"I am glad our Mother is dead." I said with an even colder tone, looking ahead of me, "She won't have to see the kind of woman you've become.....defending a bastard like him."
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that she stopped before the door, staying silent for a few seconds.
"I will never forgive you for uttering those words. Y-You understand that..." She said shakily, "You....who never once knew what it was to be loved by her....."
I closed my eyes, "Get out of my sight."
There was a bit of silence but I didn't hear the doors open and close so I opened my eyes to see that she was still standing there, staring at the door as her shoulder shook.
She turned around, giving me a sad look, "If I walk out of this room, I will never speak to you again....." She said with her voice trembling, "But my legs won't listen to me...."
I didn't move from where I stood, "And my legs won't listen to me.....since I want to keep you from leaving this room..." I told her with a serious expression, "Guess we are alike in that manner...."
I saw that she clenched her fists, "You fill me with so much anger....and sorrow, Brother.....why?" She said as she sniffed, tears falling down her cheeks, "Why must you cut me so deep?"
"You made your choice." I said as I looked away, my eye twitching, "You will live with it."
"Tell me this...." she said, "Would you be so willing to kill your own sister should I get in the way? Because I will stand by my Husband's side, something that everyone expects of me? Why won't you put yourself in my position? Why leave me in this pit of despair, brother...?"
I didn't say anything. She knew the answer to that. I would never hurt her. I would never harm a hair on her and her children's hair. All I cared about is bringing Trevor to justice, I knew it was him! It is him who is behind all of this!!
I looked at her, "There's the door."
"I..." She started, "I have always had love for you..."
"So you've made it apparent." I said seriously, "Now leave."
"And I still will..." She said, "I will never stop loving you...."
"You speak about cutting deep...." I told her, "But it is you who has cut me the deepest."
"Your own flesh and blood."
*************
I walked up to Helaena, a numb feeling in my hands and the rest of my body. I simply looked at her....no....past her...
She was sitting on the couch, looking at me as she held a book in her lap, "Baelon?" She said, "Aemma left about an hour ago. One of Rhaenyra's maids came for her. Apparently she's left in a hurry?"
"Huh...." I said calmly, "Is that so?"
"Is something wrong?" She asked me
"You were right, Helaena....." I said as I looked at the floor, "What you saw...Rhaenyra and I.....we fought....."
"What?" She said softly, "Baelon, what happened?"
"All I ever wanted...." I said, my voice trembling as tears formed in my eyes, "All I ever wanted is for all of us to be happy...and it seems that no matter how much power I have in my hands, I can't fucking have that...and I fucking hate it!!"
Helaena stood up and walked up to me, grabbing my hands, "Baelon..." She said softly, "Shhh....it's okay, my love....It's okay...."
Her voice was gentle and sweet, soothing to hear.
"I...." I said as a tear ran down my cheek, "I don't know what to do...."
She patted my cheek and gave me a smile, "It's okay, my love." She said with a gentle tone, "Just lie down a bit with me, okay? As long as we're together...."
"Everything will be okay."