Love and War - Aemond/Aegon Targaryen

Chapter 15

Aegon hadn't been particularly lucid on the day that Aemond left. He'd spent most of it asleep, and the brief moments that he was awake were spent in agony asking for water and more milk of the poppy.
The day after was much the same.
And the day after that.
It was on the fourth day that he finally came to, finally pulled himself out of the daze of drugs and pain.
The first name he called out for was her's.
But he hadn't needed to.
She was already right there.
“Are you alright? Should I call a maester? Do you need water? Is it your-”
“No Maesters. I'm fine.”
It was the most he'd said in days. And the grumpiness in his voice told her he was returning to normality again.
“Good. You had me worried.”
“I can tell. You're mothering me.”
“I am not mothering you.”
“You are.”
“Am not.”
“Must I waste my last breaths on arguing with you?”
She pursed her lips and frustratedly folded her arms. “Do not say such things. Even in jest. It isn't funny.”
“It's funny to me.”
She huffed. Then walked over to the other side of the room.
There was a table with a jug and cups on it. Usually, the jug was full of wine. But Arlenna poured out a glass of clear liquid for him and then brought it over.
“Drink.” She commanded, holding it up to his lips.
He followed the order, only because he'd not had anything to drink all day and it was late in the afternoon.
His lips were dry and his head had that heavy sort of feeling... Almost like a hangover.
When he was done, she pulled the cup away and placed it on the table beside his bed.
“I take it Aemond has left then.”
She didn't so much as glance at him, busy arranging his bedsheets and pillows. “What do you mean?”
“I mean that you're acting like a madwoman and it's starting to disturb me.” He said.
She continued fussing around him without so much as frowning at his words.
With his good arm, he tried to swat her away.
“Stop it.” She said, dodging him.
“You stop it.”
“Aegon! Stop being a baby.”
“Stop being my mother.”
She sent him a raised brow, hinting that his choice of words probably said more about him than they did about her.
“No, no, no. Don't do that. I know what you're about to say.”
“No you don't.”
“Yes I do.”
“No you don't.”
He groaned, throwing a pillow at her.
She didn't have enough time to duck and it whacked her square in the face.
“Aegon!”
“Arlenna.”
“If you weren't injured I'd hit you with this pillow.”
“You'd hit the King?”
“I would.”
“That's treason, my love.”
She rolled her eyes at him, moving to sit back down. But just as she was about to take her seat, he grabbed her hand.
Arlenna turned to face him.
“Read me something. I am going insane from boredom.”
“So you want to read? Aegon, I do not recall you ever reading.”
“That's because I'd rather be fucking but I can't do that right now. So read me something.”
“Charming. I'll be the backup to your whores then, shall I?” She huffed, before going to try and find books in the mess that was his chambers.
He didn't correct her. Didn't tell her that he'd not been talking about whores. Instead he watched her. Silently.
He did own books, much to her surprise.
He owned a fair few, in fact.
And all of them were her favourites. All of them were books that she remembered chatting away to Aemond about when they were younger.
She glanced over at him, meeting his eyes, and she was sure that her cheeks had grown pink.
“Have you read any of these?”
“I always meant to.” He answered honestly.
He looked almost guilty.
Arlenna smiled as brightly as she could and picked one of the books.
She walked over to where he lay, carefully hopping onto the large bed beside him.
Aegon stared at her as she did.
“Well, now is as good a time as any.” She said gently.