Standing on the soft sand, Rhaenyra shook the water from her boots. Rhaegar's call came from somewhere in the distance.
She looked up, but Rhaegar was nowhere in sight.
Panic seized her. She hurriedly called, "Where are you? Should I come find you?"
"I'm over here! I'll go take a look first!"
Rhaegar's voice came again, though much fainter this time.
Rhaenyra hurried toward the sound. Moss-covered cliffs stretched on and on, riddled with countless caves at their base.
"Where did he go...?"
She stared blankly at the cliffside, its surface dotted with caves, unable to tell which one Rhaegar had entered.
"Rhaegar, stop playing hide-and-seek with your big sister and come out!"
Rhaenyra shouted, searching for her brother in growing anger and frustration.
She thought Rhaegar was deliberately playing a trick on her.
But after a long wait, Rhaegar still didn't answer.
Now Rhaenyra was truly panicking.
She checked the cave entrances one by one. All she found were bat droppings and shells and conches left behind by the receding tide.
There was no sign of Rhaegar.
She took a deep breath, her pupils widening as she realized Rhaegar wasn't playing hide-and-seek with her after all.
He really had gone into one of the caves.
"Seven hells! Who knows how deep these caves go or what's inside them?"
Beside herself with worry, Rhaenyra took off running back to gather the guards and have them search.
Inside the castle.
Viserys was fast asleep in his bedchamber.
Now in middle age, he had started to put on weight, and his energy was no longer what it had once been.
Before Rhaegar was born, he would certainly have embraced his wife and made love to her before drifting off to sleep.
Alicent opened the door and glanced at him. Seeing him