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Teen And Up Audiences
Archive Warnings:
Graphic Depictions Of ViolenceMajor Character Death
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Fandoms:
House of the Dragon (TV)Warhammer Fantasy
Characters:
Ikit ClawRhaenyra TargaryenJacaerys VelaryonLucerys Velaryon (Son of Rhaenyra)Baela TargaryenRhaena Targaryen (Daughter of Daemon)Daemon TargaryenCorlys "The Sea Snake" VelaryonHelaena TargaryenAddam VelaryonBackground & Cameo CharactersSilverwing | Alysanne Targaryen's DragonOriginal CharactersJoffrey Velaryon
Additional Tags:
Crack Treated SeriouslyCanon-Typical ViolenceThe Dance of the Dragons | Aegon II Targaryen v. Rhaenyra Targaryen EraAlternate Universe - Canon DivergenceCanonical Character DeathCharacter Turned Into a HumanIkit got isekai'd as Jace's twinSkaven Species (Warhammer Fantasy)Death to all GreensHuman ExperimentationScience ExperimentsIkit is his own warningSilverwing still has shit taste in male ridersPOV MultipleBackground RelationshipsBackground Character Deathshow canon onlyDragon RidersAnimal AbuseIkit is an abusive dragonriderTho he's fairly mellow compared to his SkavenselfGood Parent Rhaenyra TargaryenNo beta we die like LucerysDysfunctional FamilyCannibalismBlood and TortureCanon-Typical BehaviorBAMF Helaena Targaryen
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English
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Published:2026-02-26Completed:2026-04-22Words:181,492Chapters:55/55Comments:1,270Kudos:749Bookmarks:160Hits:33,669
The Rat Prince of Westeros
SkilledWarriorKiwi
Chapter 33: Alicent
Notes:
x
Chapter Text
"You left," Helaena told her blandly.
Alicent felt tense, nervous in a way she had never been before in the presence of her daughter. After returning from Dragonstone and now awaiting for Rhaenyra and her people to descend upon King's Landing for the surrender, Alicent had sought out Helaena.
Due to Aegon being bedridden and Aemond off to Harrenhall with Cole, they never had a better opportunity to stop these senseless bloodshed. Helaena would be acting queen, in place of her husband. Just as Alicent had done so for years when Viserys sickened. This would be a grand sacrifice for the good of the realm even as Alicent remembered the words Rhaenyra had spat out at her. That she would be known through history as a petty, grasping cold queen. So be it.
She found her daughter in her rooms, sitting across from two empty cots. Her hair was loose and she was clad in black and red. In her hands she was turning a little dragon figurine back and forth, nails bloody.
Alicent had been mulling over how to break the news to Helaena, even if she knew there would be no real protest. Helaena was the most delicate of her children, and it had only gotten worse after Jaehaerys's murder. Helaena had been nigh catatonic and even in that farce of a wagon trip all she did was stare blankly at her son's corpse as her nose profusely bled. In the moons following she veered towards mumbling to herself or acting erratic and aggressive. When Aemond had tried to yank her from the room, demanding she fight after news of the dragonseeds, Helaena ended up slapping him so hard in the face she nearly knocked him over. Alicent was then forced to pull Helaena away as she started screaming and clawing at her brother's face, shouting at him for trying to force Helaena to fight.
Her mind was fractured, nearly broken, and Alicent was desperate to protect her and Jaehaera before it truly happened.
Now Alicent awkwardly fretted before her daughter, feeling like a novice before a septa, at the baleful way Helaena was looking at her.
"I went to go end this senseless war," Alicent replied.
The room was wide and empty, doors locked and Jaehaera gone with one of the servants no doubt. Ser Rickard Thorne, her loyal protector, was guarding the door. They would never have more privacy.
Helaena stared at her, the whites of her eyes so heavily bloodshot they looked scarlet. Alicent felt her stomach tighten, knowing she had abandoned her daughter to uncertainty, to her tears and grief. Out in the woods Alicent lamented then her regret that sent her to Dragonstone and beg to Queen Rhaenyra. But now she was here, to try and bring a stop to the madness.
"And how did that go," Helaena said, more to the dragon figurine than to her.
"I...in two days time, Rhaenyra will fly to the Red Keep with her riders and take her throne. If you will it, the goldcloaks will not fight and the gates will open. The city will surrender without further bloodshed."
Helaena smiled, purple eyes unfocused as she turned the dragon around and around and around.
"The land is burnt and bare. The sky is ablaze. Men are fallen and armies scattered. Dragon and rider become one," Helaena said dreamily.
"We will go away once this is all done. You, me, little Jaehaera," Alicent said, as Helaena continued to mumble. A part of her wanted to run towards her daughter, embrace her, yet a deep instinct was warning her to stay away.
"Go where? You asked me once, remember? After you paraded my dead son through the street," Helaena said to the figurine, her head slowly tilting to the side. "As I said then, where would we go? Away from your shame? Run away to Qarth and eat cakes forever?"
Alicent took a breath, ignoring her blaring instincts and stepping closer. After a moment she settled on the ground before Helaena, a hand resting on the couch next to her daughter as she knelt.
Her voice was soft as she said, "I made many mistakes that I cannot take back. This is my chance to put things right. To protect you and Jaehaera."
"By letting Aegon and Aemond be executed?" Helaena asked, still not looking at her. "That was part of the deal, wasn't it. To end the war. You sacrificed your sons."
"I had no choice."
"What about Daeron? Or did you forget about him, like everyone else does."
Alicent couldn't admit she had, in fact, utterly forgotten about her youngest son while talking to Rhaenyra. Instead she said, "Daeron has not fought in any battle as of yet. Once Aegon and Aemond are...once they are dealt with, we can treat with the Hightower forces and have them surrender. Daeron can be kept safe. We can end this now and no further blood will be spilled."
"Aegon is gone," Helaena told her simply. "Jaehaera as well. They vanished shortly after Aemond left on Vhagar. I don't know where they are. I have been all alone."
"They- what?"
"They're gone," she said, smiling at Alicent as she finally made eye contact. "I don't know where Aegon left, or where they took Jaehaera. Most likely Storm's End or to Oldtown for safe keeping. They told me nothing, no one cares about me. Well, almost no one. But what do you think Rhaenyra will do when she can't find Aegon? Will my sister paint you a liar? You've been one for years now."
Alicent surged to her feet, heart in her throat, "How soon ago were they taken away? It was Lord Larys, wasn't it? He's always spying and scheming. Where is Orwyle? I must speak to him-"
"If Rhaenyra comes into power, your very life could be forfeit. She could move to cut off any challenge to her succession," Helaena's hand snaked out, seizing Alicent's wrist in a bruising grip.
"What are you talking about?" Alicent tried to tug her arm free, only to wince at how tightly Helaena was holding her.
Helaena's smile widened until it was like a beast baring its fangs at her, "You said that, don't you remember? You spent years raging how Rhaenyra is a disgusting whore, how her children are bastards born of sin and depravity, how we must prepare for the throne and that Rhaenyra will murder us if she ascends. You beat it- sometimes literally -into Aegon's and Aemond's heads, you poisoned them with your lies and delusions and jealously and now you run away and cry to my sister when your actions have caused this war? You're a weak woman, mother. Pathetic, jealous and grasping and you ruined all your children! Weak, weak, weak are meat-"
"Helaena you're hurting me," Alicent cried out.
"Good! How do you think Jaehaerys felt when his head was being sawn off?" Helaena's voice raised to a scream, her nails digging bloody furrows into her skin. "How do you think Aegon felt as dragonfire melted his flesh? How do you think Aemond felt when his eye was cut out?! All your fault! All your fault!"
Rickard Thorne burst into the room then, sword partially drawn, "Your Graces, what-"
"As queen I order you from this room," Helaena snarled in such a violent tone the kingsguard instantly obeyed.
Alicent found herself being forced down onto her knees, Helaena's grip like steel and near breaking her wrist. There was something completely mad and empty in her eyes, as if it was something peering at her through Helaena's body and that it in itself was empty. Blood was beginning to seep from the corner of her eyes.
"I'm sorry," Alicent managed to shout. "I was blinded by my sense of duty-"
"Liar. You were jealous Rhaenyra had a loving father while Grandfather just saw you as a means to the throne," Helaena laughed, blood dripping from her nose to join the crimson lines staining her cheeks like tears. "You were jealous Rhaenyra had freedom while you were forced into duty. You were jealous her children loved her and she loved them and you destroyed us from birth because of it! For a stupid war that you try to run away from the instant you know you're losing!"
"I thought the king changed his mind! Helaena please-"
"Liar! Liar! Stop lying! Just admit it, you wanted a son on the Iron Throne!" Helaena screamed at her, shaking her violently. "And because of you my son is dead! I see him everywhere, his head on my pillow, his body on the floor, his blood on my hands, and you were too busy rutting with that stupid petty man as my baby was being murdered! Now you say it doesn't even matter!"
"I didn't know this would happen! I made mistakes, and you are right- I wanted the Iron Throne! I suffered through a marriage I didn't want, I was pious and true for decades while Rhaenyra flouted her life! I was jealous, I wanted my life to mean something! Even in King Viserys's dying breath a part of me didn't want to admit that it would be a sick man's delusions, but I wanted all my suffering to mean something! And I was wrong to do so!"
Helaena's features twisted up into something demonic, her grip a hairsbreadth from breaking Alicent's wrist, before she threw Alicent away from her with alarming strength.
Alicent hit the table, crying out in pain as her back struck the legs painfully. She remained on the ground curled around her wrist, which had an ugly welt upon it as if burned. Blood stained the skin.
Shaking and struggling to hold back tears, Alicent slowly got to her feet as she clutched her wrist while her back throbbed. She sniffled, looking up at Helaena who was now just blankly staring at her. All the rage and fury had vanished from Helaena, even if blood still stained her face.
"I have no excuses," Alicent finally admitted, voice hoarse. "I played a large part in this coup. And I will never be able to take it back. I helped destroy this peace of decades for my own selfishness. If Rhaenyra chooses to take my head for it, as she plans to do so for my sons, then I will accept it if it means she spares you and Jaehaera."
Helaena smiled at her, "You forgot to tell Rhaenyra about the Triarchy, didn't you?"
Alicent flinched, her fear vanishing as a sickening clench gripped her stomach, "I...I..."
"You didn't. Alas. Well I only hope none of Rhaenyra's children die or be taken when the slavers invade. It should be soon or even happening right now, shouldn't it? A new year, more blood spilled. He cares not from whence the blood flows, only that it does. He has been there for me, ever since Jaehaerys died. When all the rest of you abandoned me. Left me to suffer alone, stole my remaining child. I now know He only wishes to see me true. I understand. I understand."
"Who? Helaena, has someone been speaking to you?" Alicent dared to move forward, even as she kept a grip over her injured arm.
"You are dismissed," Helaena just replied blandly, eyes becoming unfocused as she settled back down on the chair as if nothing even happened.
Helaena picked up the little dragon, clenching it so tightly the figurine broke even as the hard clay pieces bit into her skin. Alicent shivered, looking over her shoulder and expecting something to be lurking there but it was only them in the vast lonely room. Her heart ached as she looked back to Helaena with her bloody face, knowing her actions had caused the fracturing of her daughter.
What had been done to my girl...my sweet gentle girl, Alicent thought, losing the battle to hold back her tears.
"I will send Maester Orwyle for you, to see to your hands," Alicent managed to say before she turned and fled the room.
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