𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭

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[𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 @hightowerborn]

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[𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 @hightowerborn]

࣪𓏲ּ ♔┊ ❛ 𝕴n time, Alicent Hightower would come to be known as a formidable queen and mother, but in her youth, she was the very image of courtly grace and devotion. ❜┊. ࣪ ˖

[𖥸 @nixscriptum]

my ribs are cathedrals, filled with prayers I was too afraid to speak aloud.

[𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 @hightowerborn]

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[𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 @hightowerborn]

» a world she was meant to inhabit, though she felt unmoored from it. @sulliedcloak’s helm tucked beneath his arm, dark curls clinging damply to his brow, and though his expression was unreadable, his eyes found hers in the hush —— 𝑜ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑒𝑦𝑒𝑠.

[𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 @hightowerborn]

⠀⠀⠀𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐊 too long. To do so was to court ruin. It was to invite the sharp edge of a blade against her throat, to feel the slow, inexorable tightening of a noose she had not tied but would, in the end, hang from all the same. »

[𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 @hightowerborn]

» And still—𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑙—her gaze betrayed her so terribly, drawn to him as if by some unseen strings, some whispered temptation that unraveled all sense and caution. The feast raged on beyond the shadows where they lingered, all golden light and riotous laughter, »

[𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 @hightowerborn]

» depth. She swallowed thickly, betraying the treacherous flutter in her chest; her fingers curled against the book’s worn leather binding, pressing deep.

“ . . . Perhaps if you let me read in peace— “

[𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 @hightowerborn]

⠀⠀⠀𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐁𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐓𝐀𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐓 to fear the flame—to bow before it, to respect its hunger, to never let it lick too close to her skin. But @conquerorsbraid was fire incarnate, and gods help her, Alicent had never once possessed the strength to turn away. »

[𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 @hightowerborn]

» And then, the scent of her; the untamed breath of the sea tangled with the honeyed trace of something far too sweet. It wrapped about her, clung to her, seeped into the marrow of her bones, and she had no name for it ——— no language vast enough to contain its »

[𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 @hightowerborn]

⠀⠀⠀𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐄𝐀 nestles in her grasp; its warmth fleeting, its taste uninspired—flat, absent the comfort she craves, eyes drifting toward the decanter of wine, ruby-rich, whispering promises of solace, of something deeper, sweeter. Perhaps 𝒐𝒏𝒆 cup wouldn’t hurt.

[𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐃 @lushrapscallion]

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[𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 @hightowerborn]

» She took, and took, and 𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒌, and the realm bent to give her more.

“ Ser Breakbones. “

[𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 @hightowerborn]

⠀⠀⠀𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑴𝑶𝑹𝑵𝑰𝑵𝑮 𝑳𝑰𝑮𝑯𝑻 𝑺𝑷𝑰𝑳𝑳𝑺 through the high, arched windows of the Queen’s solar, gilding the stone floor with molten gold, slanting across the embroidery hoop resting limply in her lap, its intricate pattern left abandoned, her fingers frozen »

[𝐥𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 @hightowerborn]

» “ . . . And then you wake betrothed to the strongest knight of the Seven Kingdoms. “ The words are hollow, gutted of all softness, of all meaning beyond the deep, aching wound they leave in their wake. Rhaenyra had never been stripped of anything. »