as evening falls

Daeron had barely left her side all day. He stayed whilst her maid, Mariya, washed and dressed her. They broke their fast together with his father and sisters. Daeron sat quietly at her side all the while. His silence was, she assumed, due to a headache more than anything else. Daella and Rhae talked loudly to one another, and Daeron winced, holding his head in his hand. The other rested on her thigh beneath the table.

He remained with her throughout the morning and some of the afternoon; walking in the gardens, talking in their bedchamber, and finally the library. That was where he left her. Reading seemed to be dull to Daeron, but he knew how Alyssa enjoyed it so. He pressed a kiss to her temple as he stood from their loveseat.

“I shall leave you to your reading,” he told her, and made his leave.

Alyssa had no clue where he had disappeared to, after he left her to her reading. Wherever he had been, he had been drinking.

Her maid dressed her for the night, and combed and braided her hair. She was a sweet, short girl, who had followed Alyssa between King’s Landing and Dragonstone for years. Now she had followed her to Summerhall.

A commotion rose from the courtyard below. Alyssa almost knew without looking. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and went to the window. The sun had not yet set. It was easy to see Daeron trying to lead his horse, without reins or saddle, away from the stables. A groom and stableboy tried to speak with him, presumably to reason with him. The horse lifted its head, ears pricked, and whinnied.