Chapter Text
Alicent had always been terrified when Viserys fell asleep on her after their couplings.
He was a gentle lover most of the time and seldom took any anger out onto her in their marriage bed. It was rare for him to be rough with her. But still, she dreaded the calls from her maids into his chambers. She would try little ways to be less attractive to him – if she heard him say something negative about a certain fashion, or hairstyle she would wear it to make him not wish to bed her that day.
Unfortunately, the past week had been full of the wedding celebrations of his brother Daemon, so he’d been paying a lot more attention to her than normal. Every night she had been called into his chambers, and though she usually tried to sneak out of his bed after he’d taken his pleasure from her, lately he was falling asleep whilst on top of her. She’d heard from other married women from the court, most of them older, about the chance that a husband could die whilst rutting into his wife from over-exertion, but she’d hoped it would never happen to her.
Viserys was a Targaryan, after all. His blood was forged in dragonfire. He'd rode the largest dragon in Westerosi history. And he was currently slumped atop her, crushing her ribs under his weight, and not breathing.
She was already sore from the night they’d had – one of his councillors had angered him and tonight he had been rough. He’d taken her from behind as if she were a dog, and she had cried into the pillow as he fisted her hair roughly. He’d apologised afterwards but hadn’t let her leave like she usually did. Instead, he’d told her to stay where she was and left for a while. When he came back, he took her again, this time the same as he usually did, lying her on her back and grunting out words she couldn’t quite understand. She thought it would end, but then he sat up on her, clutching at his chest, and fell hard on top of her.
At first, she thought he’d just fallen asleep, but when she tried to move him, he didn’t awaken. It took her ten minutes of desperately trying to shift him off her, to realise he was dead. By that point, he had become very pale, and she began to cry out to anyone outside the corridor.
His body was pressing hard against her chest and stomach, so every shout was painful and tiring. Eventually, she heard a commotion outside the chambers, and then two guards stormed through the door to see what the worry was about.
The guards managed to pull the old King off her, but she was naked under him and had to pull the sheets over her for modesty. Then the guards sent for a Maester, who came and checked Viserys’ body.
Time of death, the hour of the wolf.
The guards placed the dead king’s body beside her, and the Grand Maester came over to her and asked questions she didn’t know the answer to – did she know if there was anything wrong with her husband apart from his sores? Had anyone come in and spoken with the king? Did the king drink anything before their coupling?
She replied that she didn’t know and tried to tuck herself further into the covers. There were several men in the room now, and she’d never felt so humiliated.
“Does the Princess know of her father’s death?” Asked the Grand Maester, and she shook her head. He gestured to a guard and sent him off to tell Rhaenyra of what had happened, of the news that she was now Queen of the Seven Kingdoms.
The final step of Alicent’s humiliation, was for her former dearest friend to find Viserys had died whilst fucking her.
Rhaenyra burst through the doors some minutes later in tears, followed closely by her husband Laenor, his sister Laena and the King’s brother Daemon.
Alicent heard her demand to know where the King was, and the guards brought her to the King’s bedside, Alicent cowered next to him, trying to cover herself up as much as possible. The princess stopped suddenly in her tracks.
“Why hasn’t Queen Alicent been taken back to her chambers?” She demanded to the closest Maester, but he only shrugged.
“We cannot send her back to her rooms until she is clothed, Your Grace.”
“She has not been given clothes?” Rhaenyra was swiftly turning a colour Alicent had very rarely seen, apart from when she was arguing with her father. Her eyes were bulging, and there was a vein popping out of her neck. “If you cannot take care enough of my stepmother, then how can I trust you to take care of my father? Get out!” The Master seemed to stumble back from her shouts a little, and though he tried to protest, the Valyrian steel Daemon liked to carry seemed to give him enough reason to leave and take most of his colleagues with him. “Husband, Uncle, take care to make sure those little men stay out of my father’s chambers and inform the King’s Hand of his death. Lady Laena, help me dress the Queen.” The men left the room, leaving Alicent with only Rhaenyra and Laena.
“Do you know where your clothes are, my lady?” Asked Laena, and Alicent silently pointed to an ottoman beside the bedroom window. It was where she’d left her dressing gown – though she wasn’t truly sure of where her nightdress was. Viserys had all but ripped it off her and flung it somewhere she didn’t see before he’d forced her head into his pillows.
Rhaenyra picked up the dressing gown, and looked at it for a moment, before sighing and passing it to Laena.
“This was my mother’s dressing gown, Laena. He gave Alicent my mother’s dressing gown.”
Alicent felt a tear appear at the corner of her eye and tried to wipe it away before the new Queen saw. She didn’t need to seem weaker than she already was. Rhaenyra sat on the bed beside Alicent and grabbed a hold of her hand.
“We shall take you back to your chambers, and then send for your father. I’m sure all you want at the moment is comfort from your family.” Alicent felt a pang of hurt. Rhaenyra used to think of her as her family. Closer than family, sometimes. Lady Laena seemed to see this on Alicent’s face and interrupted her cousin.
“I shall stay with you in your chambers, if you wish, as part of your family too. Rhaenyra needs to see to her father’s remains and Daemon and Laenor will help her with that, but they will join us in your rooms after we have sorted things out, so we may mourn as one.”
“Thank you, Lady Laena.” Alicent managed out, but it came more as a rasp. She didn’t realise how loud she’d been shouting underneath the dead king’s body, but her voice was almost completely gone.
The two women eventually found her nightgown helped her dress and went back to her chambers. Between her thighs was sorer than they usual, so they helped her lay back in her bed. Rhaenyra left swiftly after, walking angrily back to the King’s chambers.
“I’m so sorry that this has happened to you, my lady.”
All Alicent could do was try and not to cry, knowing that her father would be there soon, reprimanding her that she hadn’t been taking enough care of the king. That he had now died, and Rhaenyra was free to take the throne, leaving little Aegon in the dust. All that she had endured would be for nothing.