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friend: oh like romantically?

me: no. like cursed object passed between hands for centuries, they are cosmically linked, probably bonded by blood ritual, I think they’ve fought in a war together in at least three lifetimes, and their souls make direct eye contact every time they breathe in the same room

friend: so… romantically?

I was vibrating in my seat with the ambiguity of that “you and I”. Alicent says it as a way to refer to everyone else but Viserys (a statement about Viserys), but also as a way to put herself and Rhaenyra on the same side of something again. Like, yes! They are uniquely positioned to understand what the other is going through. There’s so much sudden intimacy in that shared, exclusive burden. It’s like Alicent is testing the waters in that regard and Rhaenyra doesn’t pull back.

Also the way Alicent is so sure that she still understands Rhaenyra deeply enough that she can make an assumption about how Rhaenyra sees the world without batting an eye. It’s so understated, but it’s pretty daring, that assumption.

uhhhhhhhh

Then Alicent steps into her chambers with a request of her own. Rhaenyra steels herself. Gods, she is so tired.

A casket sent to Oldtown.

This, this she can provide.

The room is finally quiet. Her head even stops buzzing for a moment. How dare she be Rhaenyra’s singular source of relief in the whole of the realm?