Your story was a joy. To take what was canon and what fans have disputed over into new directions so well is a skill. I feel a lot of the stories with a Rhaenyra/Alicent subplot fics are unnecessarily salacious, this feels committed to them actually loving each other. A lot of fics get obsessive about her relationship with Daemon but with when your story starts, why would the eternal exile be more important in her life? You’ve had her enemies make smart decisions at times, her allies make understandable mistakes and grey characters act true to themselves in different circumstances.
Thank you for this lovely comment! This fic started as a what-if imagining Rhaenyra with a mentor in Lyman and snowballed from there. I'm glad the Rhaenyra/Alicent relationship came across as loving, it was tough to show it properly from Lyman's POV. As you say, with Daemon being away so much he's mostly an absent figure that Rhaenyra thinks of kindly at the start. I tried to balance the characters so Rhaenyra and co don't act too perfect and her enemies aren't blundering fools. It keeps things interesting.
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hueyfreeman on Chapter 1 Mon 27 May 2024 01:50AM UTC
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Capulet730 on Chapter 1 Thu 30 May 2024 10:19PM UTC
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