- ̥۪͙۪˚┊❛ CHAPTER THIRTY ONE ❜┊˚ ̥۪͙۪◌
I LOVE YOU, I'M SORRY
❛ that's just the way life goes
i like to slam doors closed ❜

౨ৎ disclaimer
unedited !! sorry if this chapters sucks BALLS!

Every Stark to ever exist after Eudora has heard her tale, even down to Eddard's children. "She's tragic," Sansa sighed, her mother braiding her hair.

Arya found herself running around the room again. "She's a hero is what I'm hearing."

"But she didn't deserve her end," the redheaded sister interrupted. "Don't you agree, mother?"

Catelyn stopped, looking at her two daughters as she tried to think of what she could say. For one thing, the story is indeed a tragedy. But on the other hand, Eudora was a warrior to many children in Winterfell. It wasn't an either or situation. "She was unfortunate, yes... But her actions led to Winterfell's prosperity. Without her, well, we wouldn't be here today."

AEMOND TARGARYEN.

The halls of the Red Keep were eerily quiet as the silver haired prince paced relentlessly, his thoughts consumed by the unsettling news he had just received. He found himself talking to Criston more often than usual, a new confidant. "The Stark was spotted in King's Landing recently," Aemond told the knight, his eye staring at the fire which comforted the two. "Under a fake name, and rumor has it her now husband brought her back to Dragonstone."

Criston nodded his head. "Marrying that bastard of a son when she was promised to you. Another political move."

"It's a betrayal."

"And so what are you to do about it?"

The knight could see in the prince's eyes what he was about to do next. "I'll have a word with my mother."

˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚

EUDORA.

The cold air of Dragonstone enveloped the Stark once more, more than a few days has passed since Eudora has even spoken a word to Jace. With the death of Ser Erryk, and the Battle of the Burning Mill, all was tense in Dragonstone. Whilst the prince found himself by Rhaenyra and Rhaenys' side, the obvious absence of the Stark instilled a drastic number of emotions on him. The tension between them felt like a weight on his chest, and he found Eudora avoiding him at all costs. Every moment she entered a room, every meal, she would turn away to walk away from his gaze.

As Eudora stood by the window, watching the burial of the twins from afar, she felt a pang of guilt. At moments such as these, she knew she should've been standing by his side. But the fear of losing herself in their relationship, especially with the looming war, made it difficult to bridge the gap between them. Was she being selfish? Eudora felt it so, but even then, her pride got the best of her. "You couldn't avoid him forever," Helaena spoke, walking up to the Stark.

"I know that."

"You do know that in order for you to mend things, at least one of you has to talk."

"I also know that," Eudora snapped, frustration bubbling to the surface. But her voice softened as soon as she turned to look at Helaena, sweet Helaena whose eyes widened. "I just– I'm sorry, I just can't sit here and do nothing anymore. I'm as useless here as I was in the Red Keep."

Helaena only sighed. "Eudora, talk to him," she urged. "You're not the only one suffering in silence."

The Stark bit down on her inner cheek at her friend's words. "I need a word with Rhaenyra."

"Eudora please–"

"There is more that I could do. If Jace doesn't find out a second time around–"

Helaena reached for the girl's shoulder. "He will, and he won't be happy if he figured out whatever you are planning to do. Please, it won't benefit you in any way."

"I've made my decision Helaena, whether you end up telling Jacaerys or he finds out, we cannot deny that such slow actions of the council will cause all our deaths." She watched as Eudora walked past her, words stuck at her throat. Helaena had no right to be upset– that's what she feared, because in the end, whatever Eudora was trying to do would help the cause.

"I just miss you," Helaena spoke quietly.

"Miss me? I'm right here–"

"No. I miss the girls we were." With a clench of her fist, Eudora left Helaena not even a few seconds after the silver haired queen spoke. Painful it was to know that both would never be able to go back to the way they were.

˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚

JACE.

"My mother had no right in sending her with you–"

"Your wife swears loyalty to your mother, Jace," Baela tried to reason with her cousin, the prince pacing around the room. "If you would've done the same thing, Eudora would've acted the way you did but at the end of the day I'm sure she would've understood the motives."

Jace shook his head. "She's betrayed my trust."

"And yet she does so for a reason," Baela sighed. "You're not happy, but if either of you keep this up then one is bound to do something both would regret."

"That's not comforting."

"It wasn't supposed to be." Jace watched as Baela made her way to the door before turning back to look at him. "If you asked me, neither of you are saints in the hole in which you've dug yourselves into. But for the sake of your marriage, and for the sake of my sanity from watching you two avoid one's eyes, talk to her."

With that, his silver haired cousin left the room with a large boom of the door. And once more, Jacaerys was left alone in the cold– the same chambers which he was so used to having Eudora in. The past few days he's sought out the counseling of many, and all hae said the same thing. It was "Talk to her," they would say, and he would if neither of them felt the feeling to outrun the other.

But as every day passed by, the prince grew restless knowing how impulsive his wife was. How she lets her heart decide before running her actions thoroughly. Jace feared that they prolonged their separation, the itch in Eudora's bones to fight would intensify. And who knows what that might lead to.

Supper was not pleasurable, even though Jace's intention to speak with Eudora were true. As he sat down in front of the table, two particular seats were missing. It would be apparent that his wife's chair would be empty, she managed to find herself eating supper without him with ease. But that night was different, as his mother's presence was absent as well. "Where are they?" Jace asked, looking at whoever was with him.

"Last I've seen of them," Baela spoke, playing with her food. "They were with that woman... Mysaria? In your mother's chambers. They might be running late."

Jace's eyebrows furrowed. His mother and Eudora, once more conspiring without him knowing. He should've known it would come to this, but as the minutes passed neither of them were seen. It made him upset, to say the least. But whatever they were doing shouldn't have taken the whole night to discuss, if it was taking them hours then the prince knew it wasn't going to be good.

˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚

EUDORA AND RHAENYRA.

"Are you sure this would work?" Eudora whispered, her head low as the pair moved swiftly through the crowds of King's Landing. The city was busy, and yet a guard was stationed in almost every area their eyes could see. "Wouldn't the people know?"

"No commonfolk has laid their eyes truly on what we look like, no mural or painting comes close to our true images," Rhaenyra reasoned, keeping her voice low. "We will be fine."

Speak to Alicent whilst she was alone, that seemed pretty simple on paper. But executing the plan could go one of two ways, and Eudora hoped that it would go as she and Rhaenyra planned. The Great Sept that day had almost no one inside, except the occasional nuns who came and went. Their disguise was almost perfect, perfect enough that they did end up sneaking into the church.

There Alicent kneeled, hands clasped together as she prayed. Her eyes slowly looked towards the nun who kneeled beside her, eyes widening as a knife was held against her below the candles. Another nun sat to her side, the two women Alicent never thought she'd never see again appeared in the flesh. "What– Eudora–"

"I must speak with you," Rhaenyra whispered.

"If I cry out?"

"Your knights would find us, we'll be taken or slain though not before Rhaenyra kills you," Eudora answered, hands clasped in front of her as though she prayed as well.

"And then what?" Alicent asked, Rhaenyra sighing at how things have escalated.

"I have begun badly." Rhaenyra told them both. The church fell silent before the queen spoke once more. "We watched the tourney together, you and I... The day my brother was born. We knew, even then, that men trained up for battle are eager to fight, to seek blood and glory. But you are– I know you do not have that desire within you. Rhaenys has counseled me, she saw in you a wish to avert the worst of what may now come–"

The Hightower interrupted Rhaenyra. "So you've come to surrender then?"

"I have come to see if we may uncover some path towards peace. My dragons are restless, they smell battle. But if you and I may come to terms–"

"There are no terms now. You have no army, your allies turn from you when they hear of your depravity, your hands are bloodied in a crime I could never have imagined you–"

"The trespass was not mine," Rhaenyra argued back. "Think what you will, I am a mother too and you have yet to answer for the murder of my son."

"I repudiate that act with all my heart."

Eudora only scoffed at Alicent's words. "Of course you do," she sneered. "And the usurping of Rhaenyra's inheritance? What of it, Alicent?"

The Hightower has never heard the Stark's voice in such manner, she has not heard the Stark's voice in what seemed like forever. But it wasn't Eudora speaking, no. It wasn't the Eudora she knew of– this person was different. "What happened to you, Eudora?"

"I've stayed the same, at least I think I have," the girl answered, beginning to massage her knuckles. "Many things could happen when you're caught in a struggle for peace."

Rhaenyra was next to talk. "Have you now stooped so low that you will countenance the suffering and deaths of thousands, in order that your feckless son–"

"Your father changed his mind," Alicent bit back at Rhaenyra.

Eudora shook her head at the words spoken. "Viserys stayed true to his words till his death, I know of it."

"I saw the king that night," Rhaenyra then reasoned. "Mere hours before I left him, he had affirmed my right to the throne, a right he upheld steadfastly every day of his life after my mother died. And yet, you will maintain that his mind was changed in an instant?"

"I will."

Rhaenyra's eyebrows furrowed. "You lie. My father loved me, Alicent. And I believed he loved you too. Did you betray him at the very last? When was your plan first laid? Was your ambition so keen–"

Then words that neither Eudora nor Rhaenyra wished to hear came from Alicent's lips. "He changed his mind, Rhaenyra. I swear this to you on the memory of my mother." Words spoken from the silver haired woman herself all those years ago. "I have been, at times, unkind, but never untrue. I pronounced before all gathered in tha room that you would make a fine queen. Do you think me capable of such naked deceit?"

Rhaenyra stared in shock, it wasn't what she expected to hear. Her father, changing his mind at the last minute? Surely careful words crafted to manipulate her thinking. "What did he say, at the end? Did he speak my name?"

"He was weary. It was hard, at times, to understand. But he spoke Aegon's name, he said that he was the prince that was promised to unite the realm."

That caught Rhaenyra's attention. "Did my father use those words? The Prince That Was Promised? He spoke to you of the Song of Ice and Fire? It's a story he once told about Aegon the Conqueror."

"The C– The Conqueror." Alicent froze, her eyes wide open at the realization of how wrong she was.

"You crowned Aegon," Eudora whispered, eyebrows furrowed. "All because of some misunderstanding."

"There is no mistake–"

"But you know it deep down you've made one," Eudora interrupted, locking eyes with Alicent. "And yet here you are, swearing at the memory of your mother, kneeling in the sept, lying because you couldn't bare to see yourself in the losing end."

Alicent began to pick at her nails. "Who are you to decide if I've done wrong or not? You're just a girl–"

"I know you more than you believe to be true," the Stark answered. "I know you're as scared as we are."

"You can prevent this, Alicent," Rhaenyra pleaded. "A terrible war is looming, and even victory may be so bloody as to be counted a loss. Do not let your pride blind–"

"There's been no mistake," Alicent told the pair, her expression remaining as calm as she could make it. "My father is gone from court, Cole is on the march, Aemond... You know what Aemond is. It's too late."

Alicent got up to leave, causing Rhaenyra and Eudora to sigh in defeat. There was no way to break a queen from her chains which bound her to her duty, especially if it was a queen named Alicent Hightower. So caught up in honor that she forgot that this honor was the root of her troubles from the start.

(( 🏹 ))