Melissa Blackwood

When the court cast Barba Bracken aside, Melissa took her place as Aegon IV's sixth mistress. She stayed at his side for five years, and in that time bore him three children: Mya, Gwenys, and Brynden Rivers. The court's fondness for their mother later opened doors for Brynden, who could move through King's Landing with an ease other bastards never had.

She was described as slender, younger and fairer than Barba, the mistress she had replaced. Modest and generous by nature, she found friends within the royal family itself, growing close to both Queen Naerys and her brother Aemon, the knight they called the Dragonknight.

Being the king's chosen woman came at a price: Melissa became the target of other lords' scheming as they angled for her place. Lord Bracken, helped by his own daughter Barba, set his sights on Bethany, his youngest daughter, hoping she could do what Barba no longer could.

The chance came in 177 AC, when Aegon traveled to Stone Hedge to visit another of his bastard sons. There he noticed Bethany, and it was she who returned with him to King's Landing, ending Melissa's time as the king's mistress.

Her years at court left behind a memory carved in stone: a statue of her stood in the godswood of Raventree Hall, and Hoster Blackwood maintained that Missy had been far more beautiful than Barba. Aegon himself made his preference known in his own way — when Barba mocked Melissa as flat as a board, the king renamed a headland once known as Barba's Teats, which became Missy's Teats instead.