"What did you say?"
Rhaenyra, whom Danyla had sent to hunt Ocean Behemoths in the Narrow Sea and the Shivering Sea, had already been close to overflowing with resentment toward her.
But when Torrhen Manderly, the new Earl of White Harbor, brought her the news that Danyla had fallen in Athetislia...
It felt as though a blade had plunged into Rhaenyra's chest, hurting so badly she could barely breathe.
"No... that's absolutely impossible!"
"Nothing in this world could possibly hurt her!"
"What happened? What exactly happened?"
Rhaenyra felt as though her chest would burst from the pressure. Disregarding all decorum, she seized Torrhen by the collar, the fury in her eyes almost turning into tangible flames.
As Danyla's trusted confidant and younger brother-in-law, how could Torrhen be any less incredulous? Danyla had not only been the queen he served, but also the subject of his sensual dreams as an innocent young man.
"Princess Rhaenyra, do you think I want to believe it either? But this proclamation was issued jointly by Princess Igaia and Princess Ilisa, so surely..."
Releasing Torrhen, Rhaenyra ran toward her Great Dragon, Syrax, her increasingly massive hips swaying. She had only one thought now: to go to Athetislia and confirm whether it was true.
By the time Rhaenyra reached Athetislia, nearly all of Danyla's children had arrived as well.
After hearing Igaia and Ilisa's explanation, they had no choice but to accept the truth, though they still struggled to face it.
Under the direction of her eldest son, Aurelion, her children carved Danyla's likeness from weirwood branches and brought it back to Holy Flame Island as her substitute for a grand funeral.
Danyla's passing plunged the people of the Ten Kingdoms into nationwide mourning, and many commoners spontaneously began enshrining images of her in their homes.
Every