Rhaenyra and Daemon are quite the dynamic duo in House of the Dragon season three. They walked into King’s Landing like bosses, took the Iron Throne, and showed detractors that there were consequences for not accepting her as their rightful Queen. But, their newfound power is plagued with money issues, literal and metaphorical rats, and unanswered questions. In episode four, Daemon makes a choice to lie to Rhaenyra about something incredibly important, which could backfire against him and cause a rift between them in the future.
Daemon goes to the Vale to basically beg Lady Jeyne Arryn for money because they have no gold reserves. He says that a gift of gold would be an act of fealty to the crown and also speed up his departure. She agrees to get rid of him (totally understandable) and he mounts Caraxes with two bags of gold. Daemon tries to leave but his dragon is very uneasy and flies off towards a cave on the side of a cliff. Daemon carefully dismounts, drawing his sword to face whatever is in the cave.
And surprise, surprise. It is Rhaena, who no longer has her long hair and looks incredibly haggard after living in seclusion. It doesn’t take Daemon long to piece together that Rhaena was the Sheepstealer rider who indirectly caused Jace’s death. This deeply disturbs him for good reason. He knows that Rhaenyra wants to kill the person who took away her son, but he also wants to protect his daughter’s life.
Daemon tries to get her to go with a cover story and leave Sheepstealer behind, but she refuses. She says she’s essentially his forgotten child and, as a Targaryen, is nothing without a dragon. Daemon tells her that he doesn’t want to betray his wife by lying to her, but she asks him to do this one thing for her. Rhaena simply wants to be left alone and Daemon decides to let her ride off with Sheepstealer.
When he returns to King’s Landing, he does it in dramatic fashion. Daemon interrupts a meeting and tosses the head of some random dude on the table, claiming that he killed Sheepstealer’s rider. Rhaenyra clears the room and is obviously both upset and full of questions that Daemon cannot easily answer. She wanted to be the one to deliver justice to this person, and she fears that they may have others out there who oppose her rule.
Rhaenyra wants to know how this person claimed a wild dragon and where Sheepstealer is. Daemon says Sheepstealer fled and there’s nothing to worry about, and Rhaenyra says she supposes that she should thank him. Things end on a terse note with her choosing to not follow his suggestion on how to use the gold. Could this mean a fracture between Daemon and Rhaenyra will arise in House of the Dragon following his lies? Maybe.
Rhaena is out in the world with Sheepstealer, and it is not clear where she is going. If someone spots her or finds the dragon and makes the connection, it will be all bad for Daemon. Of course, it is pretty hard to try to kill Rhaena now because of her dragon, but it is also possible that she should’ve left the wild and unpredictable dragon alone. It has already gotten her into enough trouble, and more could be on the way. We will have to wait and see if Daemon’s choice has any future consequences.