The Dragons and Their Sun (aemond/oc)

rhaenyra IX

 To say she was pissed off would be the understatement of the century. She had just seen her father the next before; he was fine. Sick, yes, but fine. All of the sudden, he was fatally ill, and no one could see him? Surely, they had to know just how stupid they looked.

Or it was a sign as to how stupid they think Rhaenyra is.

"That was the most insulting thing I have ever heard," Aegon said after he finished laughing. Rhaenyra didn't blame him; she wanted to laugh as well.

"Grandfather was fine last night," Jace said, his little face scrunched in confusion.

"Of course, he was, darling. Your grandfather is fine," Rhaenyra reached out to ruffle his hair.

He frowned, lightly pushing her hand away. She smiled slightly at him. Aemond looked annoyed as he spoke up, "What do we do, then?"

She felt horrible for the boy. He came to her the night before, thoroughly upset that Alicent hadn't changed after all.

He burst through her door without a knock, causing her to jump slightly.

"I hate it here," he told her, his face blank.

She hid her pity as she knew it would only upset him further, "As do I."

"Why couldn't she change? It's not a big ask. Just one thing. All she had to do was show that she was willing to move on. She couldn't even do that. Aegon said she does this. Why does she not want us? She has to know that she's not gaining any favor with us. Why is she doing this?" Aemond paced in front of her.

Rhaenyra sighed and stood, crossing over to her bed to grab a pillow. She handed it to him, motioning to the bedpost. She had destroyed many pillows growing up in anger. It would work much better than punching. She eyed the black eye on her little brother, slightly shaking her head. She could discipline later, he needed comfort and support now.

He took the pillow with a confused look, "What do you want me to do with it?"

"Use it," she made a hitting motion at her bedpost.

He lightly smacked it with the pillow, "This is stupid."

She went to sit down again, keeping her back to him so he felt like he had some privacy, "Harder. Hit until you don't need to anymore."

She heard him mumble something before the sound of another hit sounded throughout the room. A moment of silence. Another hit, harder this time. Before long, he wasn't leaving any time between his hits. She hated that she had to have him do this. She hated that he had so many negative feelings that he needed to violently release them. She could only hope that this would help him.

Eventually, his hits got slower as he began to cry. Rhaenyra knew this moment would come. He needed to cry. He needed to let it out. She waited until the hits got even softer before she stood up to go to him.

She let a few feet stay between them as she opened her arms. He needed to come into them. He looked at her with tears streaming down his face, and he choked out a sob before rushing into her arms. She held onto him as tight as she possibly could.

He had quieted into sniffles quite a bit later. She let him hold her as long as he needed to come down from his breakdown. No words were said as none were needed.

He sniffled and pulled back, wiping at his face, "Thank you."

She looked around at the feathers covering her floor, and she laughed slightly, "Anytime, little brother."

Aemond looked around as well. With a slight blush, he also began to chuckle.

She looked at the annoyed boy, "I'm going to see my father, and then, we're going home. They won't keep us here under the guise of lies."