Daemon chuckled though he coughs up a bit of blood while doing so having not completely healed from the punch the king gave him "Barristan please give us some privacy" Rhaella asks, the knight nods and walks further away into the forest though he keeps a vigilant look out.
Rhaella walks closer to Daemon, seeing him in such a state because of her almost broke her heart "How can you smile at a time like this" she asked with a trembling voice.
"Because you're uninjured," he says with a smile still present on his face. Rhaella couldn't help but be taken back in time to a person who had said the same thing to her.
(Flashback)
Rhaella felt that she couldn't breathe, all she could see were the flames, they had engulfed her grandfather leaving nothing but ash, she could hear the mad laughter of her brother who stood in the centre of the flames his entire body engulfed and burning. She couldn't move, she had felt her body go into Labour.
She started to cry as her firstborn would never live to see the world and would die in this twisted attempt to bring dragons back to the world. Nevertheless, she tried, she tried so hard to push her aura out something she rarely did, it allowed her to move though the pain of her contractions slowed her down as well as the numbness in her legs.
"Please... not like this, I want my child to see the world... gods if you have to take me" The young Rhaella who was only 13 name days old begged as she walked through the burning building with chunks of stone collapsing around her.
"That won't be necessary my lady" A voice said from behind her, and she looked up to see the massive form of the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, Ser Duncan the Tall.
He had burns along his body with steam coming off them, it looked as if he had managed to put them out though how she did not know "Please save my babe" she said tearfully to the tall knight.
He smiled gently at her once again as he lifted her into his arms wrapping her in a cloak that was dripping wet "I will save you both" he said as he rushed through the building the entire thing collapsing around him, whether it through debris or flames he ran through them his body was no longer a concern, the only concern was getting Rhaella out.
And eventually, he did burst through the main doors of Summerhall and into the fields surrounding it, he took her a safe distance away and put her on a nearby horseless carriage. Her contractions started to become more intense and she could feel that her babe was coming, she screamed in pain as she couldn't stop the babe from cooking out, Duncan softly takes the babe using a dagger to cut the cord, he then wraps him in his tunic that he ripped from his body.
He hands the baby to Rhaella "The perfect prince" he says to her with a smile. It was only then Rhaella could see the injuries that Duncan had taken in the process of getting her out of Summerhall. He grunts painfully as he falls to one knee, Rhaella looks at him tearfully "How can you smile at a time like this" she said as she wept for her knight.
Duncan looks up at her still kneeling in front of her with a smile on his face "Because you're uninjured" and those were the last words that came out of his mouth. Ser Duncan the tall passed away, knelt in front of his princess having just saved her and her babe from certain death.
He died with a smile on his face and lived up to his reputation as the truest Knight the Seven Kingdoms had ever known.
(Flashback end)
Rhaella couldn't help but weep in front of Daemon the mix of the memories as well as his beaten form
Was too much for her to take "Do not cry for me Rhaella, I am glad to be able to take this burden from you" he says with a smile.
Rhaella looks at him with a mix of sadness and anger "Why! Why would you be so willing to do what even the Kingsguard are not!" She shouts at him.
Daemon looks at her for a second then goes to answer but stops himself, he then starts laughing much to the confusion of Rhaella "I thought I had the answer and I do but it was not the one that I expected" Daemon stated chuckling to himself.
Rhaella scrunches her eyebrows as she looks at him incredulously "What do you mean?"
"I thought I was doing this because it was the right thing to do, and that I'd do it for anyone" Daemon explained.
"But when I went to say that... the words felt false in my mouth and I could not say them, but it allowed me to divine the real reason" he continued.
"And what is the reason you'd do something so dangerous and foolish?" she asks.
Daemon chuckles "It seems obvious now... it's because I love you," he says much to the shock of Rhaella, she felt tongue-tied, unable to speak. No one had ever confessed their love for her, they were all afraid of her husband and what he could do. Not even her husband had told her that he had love for her.
"I-I a-am old enough to be your mother," Rhaella said like a stuttering fool, she was 30-name days old and she was acting like a damn maiden.
Daemon shrugs his shoulders "You are one of the kindest women I've ever met, you remain strong despite the obvious misery you endure and despite not knowing me you gave me a way to obtain my dreams"
"Even if I am only realising it now, the words are true, I am in love with you," he says once again making Rhaella's stomach tighten.
Rhaella can not think clearly, she cared deeply for Daemon but she hadn't romantically thought of him either now that he had brought it up she couldn't help but think of all the things that he had done for her that a lover would do.
However she is interrupted from her thoughts by Daemon "Rhaella, do not overthink this, I have simply told you the reason for why I go so far, you needn't respond to my feelings, you should retire to your tent you look tired. And I must master this aura exercise lest your husband dispose of me" Daemon said, the last part being with a small chuckle.
Rhaella numbly nods her head but she does something she never would've expected from herself, she walks forward and pecks Daemon on the lips before leaving and heading back to her tent.
Daemon couldn't help the stupid smile that was on his face for the rest of the night.
(AN: So Daemon here is like Ser Duncan the Tall one of the best knights there have ever been, maybe not martially but in heart and spirit.)
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