Queen Rhaenyra's letter to Lord Mooton

Queen Rhaenyra's letter to Lord Mooton is an order whose paired demands place Manfryd Mooton between the queen’s command and the safety of two guests under his roof. It calls for Nettles’s death for high treason, forbids harm to Daemon Targaryen, and requires Daemon’s return to the queen. Its arrival turns a written command into an immediate test of loyalty and judgment.

Contents and Contradictory Demands

A raven brings the letter from King’s Landing to Manfryd at Maidenpool, on the Bay of Crabs. The queen directs him to deliver Nettles’s head, but explicitly protects her husband and asks that he be sent back once the deed is done, because she has urgent need of him. The order therefore distinguishes sharply between the two people it seeks to control: Nettles is condemned, while Daemon is to be preserved and returned. Carrying out the first demand, however, would mean confronting Daemon, who is with her.

Reception at Maidenpool

Maester Norren’s account describes Manfryd as so shaken by the letter that he loses his voice and recovers it only after three cups of wine. He summons his guard captain, his brother, and his champion, Ser Florian Greysteel, and asks their counsel. The captain proposes taking several men to subdue Daemon if he interferes. Manfryd rejects the proposal as a moral and political danger: the queen has forbidden harm to Daemon, and killing two guests in their beds would compound the wrongdoing. His regret at having read the letter underscores how the written order has made refusal, obedience, and responsibility inseparable.

Disclosure and Consequences

The Chronicles of Maidenpool do not preserve the rest of the council’s discussion. Norren instead recounts finding Daemon and Nettles at supper that night, sharing boiled beef and beets after a day of fruitless flight. He shows them the letter. Daemon reads it, asks whether Manfryd’s men are waiting to capture them, and is told by Norren that he came alone. Norren admits that he has broken his maester’s vows, but falsely assures Daemon that Manfryd and the other men of Maidenpool do not know the letter’s contents. Daemon lets him leave and orders him to keep silent until morning.

At dawn, Daemon helps Nettles saddle Sheepstealer for the last time. She feeds the dragon a black ram, the largest in Maidenpool, before taking flight toward the Bay of Crabs. No farewell is spoken; Caraxes cries from the town as Nettles disappears into the morning mists, and she is never seen again at court or castle. The letter’s surviving record thus connects a queen’s demand with a departure, while leaving unrecorded what Daemon and Nettles said or decided during their final night beneath Manfryd’s roof.