King's landing

110 a.c.

"I told you not to come." Rhaenyra said quietly as she sat under the oak tree reading about Aegon's conquest.

"I know, but Rhaenyra you can't stay mad at me forever for something like this." Alicent said as she looked down at Rhaenyra but she still didn't meet her eyes.

"On the contrary, I can especially when it comes to betrayal by my best friend" Rhaenyra finally looked Alicent in the eye.

" Oh Please Rhaenyra, not telling you that I was with Orys and Borros Baratheon for 1 hour, gossiping is not a treason." Alicent said, glaring at Rhaenyra.

"If I ask you one question and you answer it without lying to me, I will forgive you." Rhaenyra said gravely in a serious tone.

Alicent froze in fear of what Rhaenyra might ask her and just shook her head in agreement.

"Was Cassandra there?" Rhaenyra said with a small smile on her face as she looked at the worried Alicent.

"Is that the important question you wanted to ask?" Alicent asked, now drowsy but angry at Rhaenyra's question. "No, she wasn't there, why are you interested in her?" Alicent asked in a spiteful tone.

Rhaenyra knew Alicent was jealous of the Storm's End beauty, but she had reason to. As children, when there were tournaments or hunting, the Baratheons always came, invited by the king, and Cassandra, Borros, and Orys played along with Rhaenyra and Alicent.

When this happened, Rhaenyra was always with Cassandra and left Alicent with Borros and Orys, hearing about knights and swords and other manly things Alicent had no interest in.

Cassandra and Rhaenyra had always gotten along well, until on the 37th King's Name Day, while they were in the garden, Alicent deliberately pushed Cassandra, out of jealousy, into the freshly watered roses the Tyrells had brought as a gift for the queen.

Casandra got water and mud all over her brand new dress that her father had given her. Cassandra cried and ran to the first maid she saw to clean her, but the expensive white cloth that had been imported all the way from Dorne had no cleaning.

Cassandra cried all day as the Baratheons boarded a ship and sailed back to Storm's End. Since then, no matter what happens, Cassandra stays in Storm's End, and her brothers and father come to King's Landing.

"You know she hates you, right?" Rhaenyra asked wryly.

"You know she hates both of us, right?" Alicent asked laughing, but Rhaenyra didn't find it funny because she liked Cassandra. They played together since childhood, but because of Alicent, that changed. Rhaenyra wasn't mad at her. She thinks that if Cassandra wanted to stay friends with her, she would, but apparently their friendship isn't that important to Cassandra, as Rhaenyra thought, but she was wrong..

Cassandra didn't start ignoring Rhaenyra just because she was Alicent's best friend, but because when Cassandra fell in the roses, everyone laughed and didn't help her up, even Rhaenyra, who was her closest friend out of all the others. Cassandra knew that Rhaenyra was not to blame for Alicent's actions, it was just that Rhaenyra had hurt her.

After her fall, Rhaenyra didn't even look up to ask her how she was, but continued to play with Alicent and the boys.

~~~~

It had been three days since Alicent and Rhaenyra had spoken about Cassandra.

The king organized a tournament in two days to celebrate the birth of his second child.

The day was like any other until King Viserys sought out his daughter to be summoned to his chambers for a conversation. Ser Laurent Marbrand went looking for the princess and found her in the Godawood, reading with Alicent.

"Hello Princess!".

“Hello Sir Laurent.” The princess did not know why the Second Lord Commander of the Kingsguard was looking for.

“Your father, the king, is calling you to his chambers.”

Rhaenyra wondered why her father would be calling her to his chambers at this time of day, but it was clearly important.

The door to the king's chambers opened.

"Come on darling, come in." Viserys said as he sat by his bed.

"Hi father, you called me." Rhaenyra said as she looked around her father's chambers. In the middle of the room was a large scale model of Old Valyria.

"I wanted to talk about something important that I learned about the other day". Viserys looked at his daughter.

"Okay, let's talk. What's this about?" asked the princess timidly as she looked into her father's eyes.

"Cassandra Baratheon" the king said as he watched his daughter grow uneasy at their topic of conversation.

" I know her." Rhaenyra replied quietly.

" I know you know her, that's why you're here and we're having this conversation. Now I want you to tell me what happened on my 37th name day without lying to me, because since then I've noticed that Lady Cassandra doesn't come to the tournaments and celebrations I organize ."

Viserys knew the whole story but wanted to see if his daughter would lie to him to protect her best friend or tell the truth.

Rhaenyra told the whole story, changing the fact that Alicent had pushed Cassandra and said that she had fallen herself.

Viserys feigned ignorance and thanked Rhaenyra for telling him.

"Tomorrow morning Lord Boremund arrives with his sons and Cassandra, and while he and his sons are hunting with me you will spend all this time with Cassandra, and Alicent will go to the old town with his father, the Hand.."

"But dad I don't know her, I don't know anything about her. I can't spend that much time with her." Said Rhaenyra who was worried about her meeting with Cassandra.

"You were friends before, you will find something in common." Viserys said as Rhaenyra looked at him hoping to change the plan but Viserys was determined to punish his daughter for lying to him.

"May i be excused?" Rhaenyra asked.

"Yes, yes of course. Go get ready for tomorrow." Viserys said as he watched his worried daughter exit his chambers.

Rhaenyra quickly went in search of Alicent to tell her what her father had told her. She saw her sitting under the oak tree in the Godswood.

"Alicent!" said the princess loudly so Alicent could hear and see her.

"Rhaenyra! What happened, what did he say?" Alicent asked curiously.

"Tomorrow you leave with your father for the old city and I stay with Cassandra Baratheon."

What!? How!? What am I going to do with my father in the old town? For how long? A day? Two?" Alicent asked angrily. She had no problem going with her father to the old town for a few days, but she had a problem with leaving Rhaenyra with Cassandra. Yes, Alicent was jealous, but not of everyone.

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine," Rhaenyra said softly. "She's not that bad, she's a Baratheon after all and we used to be friends."

But neither Rhaenyra neither Cassandra know what will happen when their eyes meet again...