There’s a line in one of the teasers where Rhaenyra says to Baela that there is treason in their midst that she needs to uncover. I got to thinking about what that could be, can’t be the Two Betrayers because their treason is very obvious and it’s probably too early for Corlys to move against her. I think the “traitor”, in this case, will end up being Baela (and Daemon).

Baela will very likely end up in the Vale soon and she is the scout of the team. If they got word Sheepstealer, the dragon and rider they promised to hunt down last episode, was spotted there, it would be Baela who goes looking and who first uncovers that Rhaena was the rider at the Gullet.

The writers have said they want to test loyalty to Rhaenyra this season though, so I think Rhaenyra is going to be super amped to murder Sheepstealer’s rider (at some point they’ll probably start calling her Nettles since I don’t know where else the name would come from), and because of this, Baela will keep Rhaena’s secret to herself. Daemon will likely be involved in this plot because of how intertwined he and Nettles’ story gets in the book. I think it’s also possible Corlys might find out to fuel the growing feud between him and Rhaenyra, but either way, Rhaenyra will be kept in the dark.

They will be helping Rhaena evade capture for most of S3 I expect. I’m not sure if Rhaenyra will ever discover Nettles’ identity, it could go either way depending on how sympathetic they want to make her towards the end, but I think it’ll end with her lashing out at Baela and Daemon for covering for her. Baela will be confined to Dragonstone in time for the duel with Sunfyre and Daemon will be given the order to arrest her, and he’ll probably have completed his arc by then and choose to save his daughter over loyalty to the throne and Rhaenyra.

I think the sisters’ taglines could tie into this arc well. Baela is “Baela the Brave”, who fought in the Gullet and chased the Green armies into hiding, but now in Rhaenyra’s eyes, she’s become a coward for not pursuing Nettles. Baela has to discover a more subtle kind of bravery, keeping the secret of what her sister did even in the face of the queen’s fury.

As for Rhaena, Burn Purpose is so fitting if Condal was indeed telling the truth that history will still remember her as Nettles. All she ever wanted was to stand shoulder to shoulder with the other dragon riders in her family and have that recognition. She has to throw that all away now and her deeds will be forever memorialized under a different person’s name. Not sure if the story will still end with her going into hiding as Nettles or stepping out of the shadows as Rhaena once again after Rhaenyra’s death, could go either way.